Background: With respect to the importance of medical record as a useful tool for supervision, assessment, and planning in order to improve our system facilities, the present study was carried out to evaluate the performance of medical record department of specialized-teaching hospitals of Iran Medical Science University in 1380.

Materials and methods: It was a descriptive study. Data were gathered via checklist through face-to-face interview. Performance evaluation was achieved in 4 different categories reception, coding, statistics, and archiving, each with 8-9 indices.

Results: Total performance of the medical record department was 55.4%. Coding and statistics units have the best (64.2%) and the worst (50%) scoring. The least index of reception and coding units was the presence of a guideline (20%). Shaheed Heshemi Nejad and Shaheed Navab Safavi had the best and worst performance, respectively (70.5% vs. 48.8%).

Conclusion : The overall performance of the evaluated hospitals was good. Preparing specific guidelines, staffing and employing graduates of medical records, implementation of continuous and regualra training courses, design of suitable software package, allocation of budget, space and equipment may improve medical record department performance

Background: Resin of Ferula assa-foetida has medicinal properties and various studies have shown its antioxidant and anticancer effects. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxic effect of ethanolic extract of Ferula assa-foetida resin on HepG₂ cell line.

Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, the effect of ethanolic extract of Ferula assa-foetida resin on HepG₂ cell line and L929 normal cell line was investigated. The RPMI medium contains L- glutamine, penicillin , streptomycin and 10 % FBS. Morphological changes were evaluated using an inverted microscope 24 , 48, 72 , 96 hours after adding the resin of Ferula assa-foetida extract (10, 50 , 100, 200 μg /ml) . Cell viability was determined using MTT assay .

Results: Ethanolic extract of Ferula assa-foetida resin ( 50, 100 , 200 μg /ml ) were induced morphological changes in HepG2 cells after 24 hours which were prominent after 48 , 72 and 96 hours. At concentrations of 100 and 200 μg /ml, morphological changes were observed in normal cells. Results of MTT assay showed a significant decrease in viability of HepG₂ cells at concentrations of 50, 100, 200 μg /ml . Concentrations of 100 and 200 μg /ml significantly reduced the viability of L929 cell (P<0.05).

Conclusion: Although Ferula assa-foetida resin (50 μg /ml) has cytotoxic effect s on HepG₂ cell line, but at this concentration the extract have no cytotoxic effect on normal cells . Therefore, this concentration can destroy cancer cells with minimal damage to normal cells .

Background: Colon cancer is the most common digestive cancer and also the fourth cause of cancer death around the world. On the other hand, many processes can be affected by electromagnetic fields and such fields may have different effects on cells.The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of low-frequency electromagnetic field on HT-29 cancer cell line.

Materials and Methods: HT-29 and L929 cell lines were cultured in RPMI medium containing fetal bovine serum and antibiotics. Cells were exposed to 50 Hz electromagnetic field with intensities of 50, 200 and 400 gauss for 3 hours. Growth, proliferation and morphological changes were photographed using an inverted microscope. MTT assay was used to quantify cell viability.

Results: Viability percent of HT-29 (81.097±2.703) and L929 (89.375±3.672) cell lines in the vicinity of electromagnetic field with intensity of 50 gauss was not significantly decreased compared to the control group. Viability percent of HT-29 (30.807±4.479) and L929 (35.179±4.137) cell lines in the vicinity of electromagnetic field with intensity of 200 gauss was significantly decreased compared to the control group. Moreover, viability percent of HT-29 (18.391±3.091) and L929 (23.046±3.513) cell lines in the vicinity of electromagnetic field with intensity of 400 gauss was significantly decreased compared to the control group.

Conclusion: Electromagnetic field with frequency of 50 Hz and intensities of 200 and 400 gauss has an inhibitory effect on the growth and proliferation as well as a cytotoxic effect on HT-29 and L929 cell lines.