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Background and Objective: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common gastrointestinal disorders characterized by abdominal pain or discomfort and altered bowel habits. Although IBS etiology is poorly understood, some psychological disturbances and food allergies have been proposed. This study was done to determine the effect of food allergen exculsion on symptoms and quality of life in IBS. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive and anolytical study was done on 100 IBS patients in Tabriz, Iran during 2011. Food allergies of specific origin and effects of non allergic regimens on quality of life, pain severity and disease symptoms were evaluted during one month period. Data were analyzed using SPSS-16, student’s t-test, Chi-Square and Fisher’s exact tests. Results: Patients age were 31.5±7.2 between 15-43 years. Specific antibodies against allergic foods were detectable in 31 (31%) cases. Penaut showed to induce the highest food allergy in 5 (16.1%) patients. The median disease duration was 4.5±2.6 years in allergic patients while 3.5±2.9 in non allergic group with no significant difference. The changes is quality of life was significant in non allergic regimens after one month in allergic group (P<0.05) while disease symptoms such as mucus defecation and flatulence had no significant changes. Conclusion: This study showed that one month non allergic regimens reduce abdominal pain and improve quality of life in IBS patients.

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Background and Objective: Iron oxide nanoparticles have wide applications such as MRI contrast agent and drug delivery. Nevertheless, their effects on human health have not been fully investigated yet. After cellulose, chitin is one of the most abundant organic materials in nature which is widely used in food industry, cosmetics, agriculture, medicine and the environment. This study was done to evaluate the effect of iron oxide nanoparticles coated with chitosan on renal functional indeces in rat.

Methods: In this experimental study, 60 adult female Wistar rats were allocated into 10 equal groups. Concentrations of 50, 100 and 150 mg/kg/bw from chitosan, iron oxide nanoparticles and chitosan coated nanoparticles were intraperitoneally injected into 9 groups and animals in control group were received normal saline. Blood samples were collected directly from the rat heart in the days 15 and 30 post after injection and renal functional indeces including urea, creatinine, uric acid, sodium, potassium and total protein were measured.

Results: There were no significant differences in the level of urea, creatinine, uric acid, sodium, potassium and total protein in the groups whom received chitosan-coated iron oxide nanoparticles compared to control. There was no mortality during the study time.

Conclusion: Short-term using of iron oxide nanoparticles coated with chitosan does not create any toxicity in the rat kidney.

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Background and Objective: Dietary acid load affects acid–base homeostasis, which may be associated with overweight and obesity as well as dietary quality index international (DQI-I), mean adequacy ratio (MAR), energy density (ED). This study was done to determine the association between dietary acid load with weight status and dietary quality indices among women.
Methods: This descriptive-analytic study was randomly performed on 306 women aged 20 to 55years. Dietary acid load was calculated by potential renal acid load (PRAL), net endogenous acid production (NEAP) and dietary acid load (DAL). DQI-I, MAR, ED were estimated for the participants.
Results: The probability of obesity (95% CI=0.97-5.50, OR=2.33, P=0.04), as well as abdominal adiposity (95% CI=1.21-4.50, OR=2.4, P=0.005) was significantly increased with tertile of DAL (P<0.05). While even after control of confounder variables, other dietary acid load indices (PRAL and NEAP) showed no significant association between dietary acid load and obesity, overweight or abdominal obesity. Also ,with increasing dietary acid load scores, DQI-I and MAR significantly decreased whereas energy density showed a significant increased across tertile categories of dietary acid load indices (P<0.05).
Conclusion: DAL was associated with increased risk of obesity and abdominal obesity. PRAL, NEAP and DAL were good indicators of diet quality indices.