en Environmental Health, Sciences, and Engineering Environmental Health, Sciences, and Engineering پژوهشي Original Article <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><b><span new="" times=""><font color="#000000">Background:</font></span></b><font color="#000000"> </font><span new="" times=""><font color="#000000">Sampling was conducted on particles smaller than ten microns (PM₁₀</font><font color="#000000">) in a high-traffic urban region once a week for two years in which fifteen heavy metals were measured.</font></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><b><span new="" times=""><font color="#000000">Methods: </font></span></b><span new="" times=""><font color="#000000">positive matrix factorization (EPA-PMF₅</font><font color="#000000">), was used for source apportionment and characterization of the collected PM10. Assessment of cancer risk resulting from metals including arsenic, cadmium, chromium, nickel and lead was conducted in three concentration ranges of maximum, average and minimum.</font></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><b><span new="" times=""><font color="#000000">Results:</font></span></b><font color="#000000"> </font><span new="" times=""><font color="#000000">Results for children and adults living in the region indicated that cancer risk indexes at different concentration ranges of carcinogenic metals were between 10^-4</font><font color="#000000"> to 10</font>^{<font color="#000000">-6</font>}<font color="#000000"> for adults and children. Since EPA recommendations suggest that planning should be conducted if cancer risk is in the range of 10</font>^{<font color="#000000">-4</font>}<font color="#000000"> to 10</font>^{<font color="#000000">-6</font>}<font color="#000000">, using PMF</font>_{<font color="#000000">5</font>}<font color="#000000"> model, source characterization of pollutants was implemented by all measured heavy metals.</font></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><b><span new="" times=""><font color="#000000">Conclusion: </font></span></b><span new="" times=""><font color="#000000">It was found that 41.5% of PM₁₀</font><font color="#000000"> resulted from fuel and combustion, 12% from waste dump soil of lead and zinc industries, 35.7% from suspended open soil and 11% from industrial activities. It was also found that cadmium, nickel and, chromium have higher cancer risk than other metals and, suspended open soil, industrial activities and industrial fuel and combustion are the main sources of these metals respectively.</font></span></span></span></p> Risk assessment, Cancer, Air pollution, PMF5 ,PM10 79 88 http://jhehp.zums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-102-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Zohre Farahmandkia zfarahmand@zums.ac.ir 10031947532846009404 10031947532846009404 No Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran. Faramarz Moattar 10031947532846009405 10031947532846009405 Yes Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Environment and Energy, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. Farid Zayeri zfarahmand@zums.ac.ir 10031947532846009406 10031947532846009406 No Proteomics Research Center and Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Paramedical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Mohammad Sadegh Sekhavatjou 10031947532846009407 10031947532846009407 No Department of Environmental Engineering, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz Branch, Ahvaz, Khouzestan, Iran. Nabiollah Mansouri 10031947532846009408 10031947532846009408 No Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Environment and Energy, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.