Background and Objective: Some changes in newborns growth indices are related to several risk factors; though, a distinct etiology is unknown. Due to the available evidence about highly concentrated levels of lead in our province particularly in comparison to non-contaminated regions, this study was designed to evaluate the relationship between lead levels of umbilical cord blood and newborns birth weight variations in Zanjan, Iran.
Materials and Methods: 300 newborns were enrolled in this case-control study in Zanjan province. Cord blood samples were obtained  from 150 low birth weight (LBW) infants (birth weight lower than 2500 gr) as the case group, and  150 normal weight infants (weight= 2500-4000 gr.) as the control group. The blood lead level was measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The collected data were analyzed using independent t-test.
Results: Umbilical cord blood lead level was significantly high in LBW newborns (79.17±37.10 mg/L) in comparison with the control group (73.4±42.9 mg/L). there was not this type of relationship(raised mean level of umbilical cord blood lead in LBW newborns compared to normal weight newborns)in newborn groups who distributed based on mother’s age and education level variables but there was significant statistical differences in mean level of lead in both these groups in according with gender variable.
Conclusion: High blood level of lead in cord blood samples can potentially be considered as one of the reasons for LBW.

Background and Objective: Different studies have investigated the link between helicobacter pylori and extra digestive diseases such as idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. However, the relationship between ITP and H pylori is less clear. Most of the studies have focused on H pylori eradication in chronic ITP, so we focused on the effect of H pylori eradication on chronicity of ITP in adult patients with ITP.
Materials and Methods: Eighty five patients with acute ITP whose platelet count were less than 30x10⁹/L were enrolled to the study. Urea breath test (UBT) was carried out for all the patients and based on its results; the patients were divided into 3 groups: Group I: H pylori positive patients who underwent standard triple therapy. Evaluation of H pylori eradication for this group was carried out one month and six months after the treatment. Group II: ITP patients negative for H pylori and Group III: ITP patients' positive for H pylori but without eradication therapy.
Results: 52(61.2%) patients were female and 33(38.8%) were male with mean age of 34.8±12.2 years. There was no significant difference between the mean age and gender in different groups. No significant difference was seen in mean platelet count at the baseline among the groups, but there was a significant statistical difference in mean platelet between the groups at the end of the first month. However, a significant difference was not seen in mean platelet count in months 2 to 6. Chronicity in group I was statistically less than the group III. Also, the chronicity rate in non-infected ITP patients was lower than the H pylori positive patients (P=0.03). Likewise, the chronicity rate was lower in the intervention group than in the control group (P=0.035).
Conclusion: Our results show that eradication of H pylori can reduce the chronicity rate in adult patients with ITP. Further studies on larger number of patients with longer follow-up are recommended.