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Introduction: Celiac disease (CD) or gluten-sensitive enteropathy is a malabsoption of nutrients due to hyoersesitivity of gluten. Some etiologic facrors are environmental, immunologic and genetic factors. The frequancy of Celiac disease is not studied in western regions of Iran, therefore this study is done to determine the frequancy of Celiac disease in general population of rural regions of Arak. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study in which 700 people between 20-56 years old in rural regions of Arak were selected by multistage random sampling (364 male and 336 female). After completing questionnaires, blood samples were collected and serum IgA levels (to rule out IgA deficiency), and serum t-TG Ab were assessed. All cases that had positive serologies and those who had high clinical probability of having Celiac disease underwent second duodenal segment biopsy. Data was presented using mean, standard deviation and frequency distribution. Results: Serum IgA levels were normal in all samples. 8 cases were positive for t-TG Ab, 38 cases had high normal levels of t-TG Ab and the others had less than 6 Au/ml t-TG Ab. Only in patients with high normal serology, histology was positive. 1% (10 in 1000 people) of all studied subjects demonstrated intestinal lesions due to Celiac disease. Most of them were asymptomatic. Conclusion: CD frequency in rural regions of Arak in people between 20-65 years old was 10 among 1000 cases. This frequency is the same as studies done in northern and southern regions of Iran but was higher comparing to the other parts of the word. This amplifiles the importance of screening of CD in Iran. Also the sensitivity and specificity of t-TG Ab was found high because all cases with high normal levels of t-TG Ab were approved by histology.

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Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) which is characterized by chronic abdominal pain and changes in bowel movements is the most common gastrointestinal disease. Curcuma is one of the traditional medications which has been considered in treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. In this study, the effects of curcuma on IBS were investigated. Materials and Methods: In a double-blind randomized study, 140 IBS patients after meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria, regardless of sex and age and based on internist’s diagnosis, were involved. The patients were randomly divided into case (curcuma) and control (placebo) groups which included 69 and 71 patients, respectively. For converting subjective criteria to objective ones, treatment forms were filled out before the treatment and two and four weeks after the treatment according to visual analog scale. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and t-test. Results: Using curcuma and placebo before the treatment and two and four weeks after that improved patients’ clinical symptoms except for vomiting (p=0.001) however, no significant differences were observed in the effectiveness of placebo and curcuma on improvement of clinical symptoms of patients in case and control groups (p>0.05). Conclusion: Using curcuma does not offer any significant differences in controlling and reducing the symptoms of IBS in comparison to the placebo, but its application improves the clinical symptoms of IBS patients.