[ study of abortion licences being issued by legal medicine office of Kerman in 2005 and a short comparison with last years issued licences]

Our great leader fatwa allowing abortion in the case of fetal disorders created fundamental change in therapeutic abortion. The aim of this study was to study therapeutic abortion licences being issued by Kerman legal medicine office in 2005 and comparing them with last years issued licences in order to increase the medical team information about the indications of therapeutic abortion and its appropriate time. This is a non interventional and periodical study and the sample group was pregnant women referring to legal medicine office in 2005 in order to get the abortion licence. All relevant data were recorded in a questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS software. Therapeutic abortion licence has been given to 24 out of 47 who has been referred during one year. From 24 issued lincences, 68% has been issued due to fetus diseases or abnormalities and 32% has been issued because of mother's illnesses. The most important fetus problem was major - thalasemia and the main problem in mothers was cardiovascular diseases. Mean age of mothers at the time of abortion was 29 years and that of fetus was 17 weeks. Increase in the rate of therapeutic abortions can decrease the rate of illegal abortions and this in turn increases the pregnant women's health. Therefore, women health can be improved by increasing medical team information about the circumstances under which therapeutic abortion is permissible and its rules as well as criminal abortion punishments. Moreover, it can reduce the gynecologists' problems in this regard

[Radiographic survey of third molars development in relation to chronological age in Iranian population]

Age estimation is one of the important issues for treatment planning and determination of patient's rights in forensic medicine. In spite of various methods which have been introduced for age estimation, there is still no specific practical, non-invasive, and rapid method of age estimation for Iranian population. The aim of this study was to find a precise criteria for age estimation in Iranian native population based on the development of the maxillary and the mandibular third molar teeth. In this study 750 panoramic radiographs which were taken from 1993 to 2006 and belonged to healthy persons between 5.5-25 years old were collected in 5 different cities. Our criteria for selection of the cities was based on racial and geographic distribution and access to high amount of the cases. The cities were Isfahan, Ahvaz, Mashhad, Kerman and Tabriz. One hundred and fifty radiographs were collected from each city. The radiographs were randomly divided between two radiologists who independently evaluated the development of the mandibular and the maxillary third molar teeth based on Demergian calcification criteria. Statistical analysis was performed by Spearman and Pearson coefficient of correlations. From 750 paranormic radiographs 535 [70%] and 215 [30%] belonged to females and males respecively. According to the results, in both genders, there is a significant difference between the upper and lower jaws regarding to the tooth development of the third maxillary molar [P<0.05]. So that, upper third molars in male people were calcified faster in all Dermirgian phases in comparison with female ones. Demirgian formation stages is applicable for age estimation in Iranian population. The age of calcification was not similar in male and females that shows the role of gender on teeth calcification stage