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Introduction: Several studies showed inc-reased prevalence of celiac disease (CD) in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) how-ever, the evidence is conflicting and often dose not propose to explor CD in the patients. This study aimed to investigate the preval-ence of CD in patients with diarrhea pred-ominant IBS. Materials & Methods: The present research was a descriptive cross-sectional study that performed on 1000 IBS patients with diarrhea- predominant clinical picture refe-rred to a gastroenterology clinic in Ilam during 2008 to 2012. Blood samples were taken from all patients to assay IgA to tiss-ue transglutaminase (IgA anti tTG) by ELI-SA method. Biopsies samples from the sec-ond part of duodenum in the patients were provided by endoscopiy and sent to patholy clinic for histopathological evaluation and final diagnosis. Finding: The mean age of men and women participating in the study were 11.41±29.59 and 11.73±28.42 years, respectively. More than half of the participants were female (50.3%). The mean titer of IgA anti tTG in men and women with IBS were 17.17±5.25 and 25.4±7.22 U/mL, respectively. 76 IBS patients had high antibody titers (IgA anti tTG ≤10), among which 41 patients were female and 35 patients were male. Among the patients with high antibody titer, 57 subjects (75%) had CD (based on histo-logical findings). The prevalence of CD was 5.7% among the patients with IBS. Discussion & Conclusion: The results of this study suggested that all IBS patients with diarrhea-predominant clinical picture are needed to examine for the presence of CD. The diagnostic approach presented in this study may also be useful in the asses-ssment of CD.

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Introduction: More than 400 million of Muslims deal with fasting during the fasting month of Ramadan. Given the high prevalence of diabetes, lipid disorders, and abnormalities in liver enzyme levels and also the presence of contradictions about the effect of Ramadan fasting on metabolic parameters, we decided to assess the effect of Ramadan fasting on the above metabolic indices. Materials & Methods: The before and after study was carried out on 120 subjects referred to the Mustafa hospital in Ilam city during 2012. All subjects were included into research according to ethical standards and after signing a written informed consent. People who were not fasting during Ramadan excluded from the study and the sample size was designed to be 98 subjects. Before and the days of Ramadan, the metabolic indices (fasting blood glucose, triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL, HDL and liver enzymes) were measured. The indices were measured by BT3000 instrument and the paired t-test was used to analyze data. Finding: The mean levels of alanine transaminase (ALT) enzyme were 17.44±23.15 U/mL before Ramadan and 34.85±29.32 U/mL after Ramadan, which their difference was statistically significant (P=0.02). The mean levels of LDL were 25.84±106 mg/dL before Ramadan and 22.12±94.99 mg/dL after Ramadan, which their difference was statistically significant (P=0.000). The mean levels of glucose were 85.54±12.25 mg/dL before Ramadan and 85.17±13.97 mg/dL after Ramadan, which their difference was not statistically significant (P=0.07). Discussion & Conclusion: In the study, the mean levels of triglyceride, LDL and HDL reduced but significant increase in ALT was created after fasting. No significant difference was found between the glucose levels before and after Ramadan. And total cholesterol levels were significantly increased after Ramadan.

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Introduction: Self- immolation is considered as a great tragedy for the families. This study was conducted aiming to identify related factors and determine the epidemiological characteristics of suicide attempters in Ilam province during the years 2011 to 2015.

Materials & methods: In a descriptive study, all medical records of self-immolation patients were studied over a period of 5 years. The required information was collected and analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics methods in SPSS 22.

Findings: Results revealed that out of the total 236 people, 168 women (71.2%) and 68 men (28.8%) had the experience of self-immolation. The mean age of the participants was 34.85 years, ranging from 11 to 90 years. 81.4% of those people died due to severe injuries. 6.35% of the total participants were addicted. The mean burn surface area was 80%, ranging from 20% to 100% of body surface burns. In 96.6% of the cases, the ignition-causing material used in the suicide was oil. 55.1% of the individuals were married, 25.8% were illiterate, 68.2% were citizens of the urban areas and 74.2% were housewives or unemployed. Most cases of self-immolation occurred in the spring (28.4%). The mean of incidence and the total years of life lost due to premature death from suicide within five years were 8.43 per one hundred thousand individuals and 8388 years, respectively.

Discussion & conclusions: Paying more attention to the younger generation, especially women, presence of women in society, increasing the awareness and education level of people and having a good job can be effective in preventing and reducing the phenomenon of self-immolation.