RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Detection of cancer at the early stage is of utmost importance to decrease the morbidity and mortality of the disease. Apart from the conventional biopsy, minimally invasive methods like serum evaluation are used for screening large populations. Thus, this study aimed to estimate serum levels of sialic acid and fucose and their ratio in oral cancer patients and in healthy control group to evaluate their role in diagnosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Serum samples were collected from 52 healthy controls (group I) and 52 squamous cell carcinoma patients (group II). Estimation of serum levels of sialic acid and fucose and their ratio was performed. This was correlated histopathologically with the grades of carcinoma. Statistical analysis was done by using analysis of variance (ANOVA) test and unpaired "t" test. RESULTS: Results showed that serum levels of sialic acid and fucose were significantly higher in oral cancer patients compared to normal healthy controls (P < 0.001). The sialic acid to fucose ratio was significantly lower in cancer patients than in normal controls (P < 0.01). However, comparison with histological grading, habits, gender, and age group did not show any significant result. CONCLUSION: The mean serum sialic acid and fucose levels showed an increasing trend from controls to malignant group and their corresponding ratio showed decreasing trend from controls to malignant group. The ratio of sialic acid to fucose can be a useful diagnostic aid for oral cancer patients.
RESUMO
Technology has been used to deliver health care at a distance for many years. Telemedicine is a rapidly growing area and recently there are studies devoted to prehospital care of patients in emergency cases. In this work we have developed a compact, reliable, and low cost PDA-based telecommunication device for telemedicine applications to transmit audio, still images, and vital signs from a remote site to a fixed station such as a clinic or a hospital in real time. This was achieved based on a client-server architecture. A Pocket PC, a miniature camera, and a hands-free microphone were used at the client site and a desktop computer running the Windows XP operating system was used as a server. The server was located at a fixed station. The system was implemented on TCP/IP and HTTP protocol. Field tests have shown that the system can reliably transmit still images, audio, and sample vital signs from a simulated remote site to a fixed station either via a wired or wireless network in real time. The Pocket PC was used at the client site because of its compact size, low cost and processing capabilities.
