Modified activated carbon with zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-n) as carbonaceous adsorbents was prepared by chemical and heat treatment of the used tire in N 2 atmosphere. Heat impregnation method was used to modifying the activated carbon with ZnO-n. In fact, Chemical activation, carbonization and heat activation of raw material were toke place in the presence of ZnO-n. The produced carbon sample before modification show specific surface area (S BET) 19.271 m 2 g-1 and pour volume (Vp) of 0.273 mL g-1 and after modification the cited parameters were 90.469 m 2 g-1 and 0.427 mL g-1 respectively. The SEM images of adsorbent materials later and after impregnation showed excellent differences that lead to increasing the sorption properties related to non-modified activated carbon adsorbent. The prepared samples were studied as adsorbents for removal acid green 25 in aqueous solutions. Amount of adsorbent, dye concentration, time of process and pH of aqueous solutions as effective parameters were optimized. Modified adsorbent showed better results than the non-modified adsorbent and sorption capacity using the Langmuir isotherm was 111.3 and 306.8 mg g-1 for acid green 25 sorption on non-modified and modified adsorbent respectively. This study showed the potential ability of used tire as abundant raw material to production of activated carbon adsorbent and modification of it with Zno-n to increase the sorption properties.

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Background and Objective: Beta-thalassemia major is an important health problem in Iran. A high rate of psychiatric disorders has been reported in patients with thalassemia in different surveys and may be one of the reasons that cause problems in the quality of their sleep. Although sleep quality is important for the health and quality of life (QOL) of these patients, a limited study in Iran on sleep quality and its relation to the mental health status of these patients has been conducted so far. Materials and Methods: A total of 101 patients with thalassemia were assessed. Data were collected via a demographic information checklist, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). Results: Participants in this study had an average age of 25.90 ± 5.63 years and 71 (70.30%) of them were women. Seventy-seven patients (76.2%) suffered from poor sleep quality while the mean and standard deviation (SD) of the patients' total general health score (31.66 ± 11.35) was good at the general health level. Among the demographic factors, there was a significant relationship between job and sleep quality. Sleep quality, subjective sleep quality, sleep delay, sleep duration, sleep disorders, use of sleeping pills, and daily functional disorders had a positive and significant relationship with general health. Conclusion: Thalassemia reduces the quality of sleep. There is a positive and significant association between sleep quality and general health, meaning that by improving sleep quality, patients have a greater chance of improving their general health.

Aim The Self-evaluation of Negative Symptoms (SNS) has been developed to allow schizophrenia patients to evaluate themselves in five dimensions of negative symptoms. The present study aimed to examine psychometric properties of the Persian version of SNS. Methods A group of 50 patients with schizophrenia and a group of 50 healthy controls received the Persian-SNS. Severity of negative symptoms were evaluated by the Scale for Assessment of Negative symptoms (SANS) and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Results The results showed that the Cronbach’s alpha for the Persian SNS was 0.95. The Persian-SNS and its subscales showed significant positive correlations with the total SANS score and SANS subscales as well as BPRS negative subscale, thus confirming the validity of the scale. Finally, the Persian-SNS showed the ability to discriminate patients with schizophrenia from healthy controls. Conclusion The acceptable properties of the Persian version of SNS demonstrated that it is a practical tool for screening negative symptoms in Persian-speaking schizophrenia patients.

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