A Review Paper on Wireless Body Area Network for Healthcare Monitoring Applications

Recent developments and technological advancements in wireless communication, MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) technology and integrated circuits has enabled low-power, intelligent , miniaturized, invasive/non-invasive micro and nano-technology sensor nodes strategically positioned in or around the human body to be used in diverse applications, such as personal health monitoring. Body area network (BAN) is the most advanced technology in wireless communications and electronics. The recent BAN?s applications prove how this becoming more demanding to each one. Some of these applications are medical applications, it is possible to implant, or wear, tiny health monitoring sensor nodes on the body so that the fundamental body parameters and the movements of the patient can be recorded and communicated to the medical amenities for further actions such as processing and diagnosis as well as it is also used in non-medical application areas such as entertainment, military. Apart from that BAN have specific hardware and network necessities with low power consumption

Dental management of diabetic patients: a clinical review

Diabetes describes a group of metabolic diseases resulting from impaired insulin secretion, varying degrees of insulin resistance, or both. Management of the diabetic dental patients must take into consideration the impact of dental disease and dental treatment on the management of diabetes as well as an appreciation for the comorbidities that accompany long-standing diabetes. Those comorbidities include obesity, hypertension and dyslipidemia. Management of the diabetic dental patient should focus on periodontal health and the delivery of comprehensive dental care with minimal disruption of metabolic homeostasis and recognition of diabetic comorbidities

Comparative analysis of four biomarkers in diagnosing premature rupture of membranes and their correlation with onset of labour

Background: The diagnosis of equivocal cases of premature rupture of membranes (PROM) with traditional methods has been unreliable therefore various biochemical markers have been sought to confirm the same. This study aims to determine the most reliable marker amongst β human chorionic gonadotropin (βhCG) ά fetoprotein (AFP), prolactin and creatinine in vaginal washing for diagnosing PROM and to establish the correlation between the level of these markers and the onset of labour.Methods: Fifty pregnant women between 20 and 40 weeks of gestation with history of leaking per vaginum (study group) and an equal number of gestation matched pregnant women without leak (control group) were recruited to the study. All women underwent speculum examination aiming to sample and assay the two markers. The duration from PROM to onset of labour was recorded in the study group. Data was analyzed by student’s t-test, receiver operator curve and chi square test.Results: Vaginal washing concentration of the markers were significantly higher in the study group (p<0.01) thereby rendering them as markers for diagnosing PROM. There was negative correlation coefficient between the levels of markers and duration from PROM to onset labour, denoting early onset of labour in patients with higher levels of markers.Conclusions: AFP and creatinine were better markers for diagnosing premature rupture of membranes while β human chorionic gonadotropin was the better predictor of onset of labour.

Assessment of physical and sexual quality of life in women undergoing planned hysterectomy in tertiary care hospital

Background: The objective of the study was physical and sexual quality of life (SQOL) in women undergoing elective hysterectomy following six months after surgery.Methods: This was a prospective observational study in which all women undergoing elective hysterectomies in the department and fulfilling inclusion criteria through any routes and benign indication were recruited after taking informed written consent. Women with endometriosis, previous pelvic surgery and emergency hysterectomies were excluded from study. Each woman was subjected quality QOL questionnaires-SF-36 and SQOL-F prior and six months after surgery. Questionnaires used were in their own language, validated and already tested in pilot study. The required sample size was 65 (taking 20% lost to follow up) by using Epi-info software, total 78 eligible women taken in the present study. All data was recorded on excel spread sheet and analysis done by SPSS-21.0 and Wilcoxon-test as appropriate.Results: All aspects of physical and sexual quality of life was found to have improved following hysterectomy. However, only emotional wellbeing worsened.Conclusions: Hysterectomy improves physical and sexual quality of life post-surgery but sexual quality of life improves more in abdominal route than vaginal route.

Collision tumour of ovary: a rare combination of fibrothecoma with serous cystadenoma

A collision tumour is defined by presence of two separate tumors in one organ on gross, microscopic and immune-histochemical studies without any admixture. These tumors are reported from oesophagus, stomach, liver, lung and thyroid glands. Such tumors are extremely rare in ovary. In case of ovaries most common histological collision reported between mucinous tumors and teratomas. We are reporting a rare combination of fibrothecoma with serous cystadenoma in right ovary of a premenopausal woman. Both gynaecologist and pathologist should be aware of such combination. It is important to differentiate such tumors from malignant ovarian tumors. Frozen section and scrape cytology are important tools which help in appropriate management of such cases intraoperatively

A comparative study of antenatal and fetal complications in pregnant women with and without history of polycystic ovary syndrome

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome in the present generation is a very common reproductive disorder and the prevalence is on the rise. Aim of the current study was to compare the maternal outcome in normal and women with PCOS.Methods: This study was a case-control study conducted in Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, SMS Medical College and attached group of hospitals, Jaipur from May 2019 to August 2020. Pregnant women with history of PCOS were taken as cases and with no such history were controls.Results: 9.49% women developed gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in cases as compared to 1.61% women in control group. The difference in the incidence of GDM in the two groups was statistically significant. When hypertensive disorders of pregnancy were considered, a statistically significant difference was observed as 11.2% cases and 2.42% controls showed HDP. Mean birth weight of neonate in cases was 2.43±0.31 kg and in control group was 2.71±0.29 kg. Mean APGAR score at 1 minute in cases was 6.21±1.23 and in controls was 7.21±0.24. APGAR score at 5 minutes in PCOS group was 7.89±1.40 and in control group was 8.12±0.21. 12 neonates from the cases group were admitted in NICU. The difference was statistically significant when comparedConclusions: With a detailed comparative analysis of this case-control study, it can be concluded that many antenatal and fetal complications are per se increased in women with a history of PCOS

Huge myxoid leiomyoma of cervix presenting as irreducible prolapse- management by vaginal myomectomy

Cervical leiomyoma consists 1-2% of all leiomyoma and myxoid degeneration of cervical fibroid is very rare. We present an old neglected case of huge necrotic cervical leiomyoma presenting with prolapse of mass and pelvic organs in a woman with multiple co-morbidities. Early management was necessary for improving her quality of life and controlling blood sugar. In lack of fitness for anaesthesia we performed her vaginal myomectomy under Intravenous Sedation. Prolapse was reducible and in absence of septic foci blood sugar profile improved. Vaginal myomectomy is a safe and quick procedure with least surgical morbidity and should be considered in cervical fibroids

Prevalence of abnormal cervical cytology and HPV DNA positivity among HIV positive women

Background: The relationship among HIV, HPV, and development of CIN is complex and incompletely understood. Present study is undertaken to find out the prevalence and relationship of abnormal cervical cytology and HPV infection in HIV positive women.Methods: This was a cross-sectional, case control study conducted on 95 HIV seropositive and 95 seronegative women. Specimen was collected from the cervix for HPV DNA testing, subtyping and cytology.Results: HPV DNA positivity was higher in seropositive group (18.6% vs. 7.4%). Premalignant conditions were found only in seropositive group. At CD4 count 500 HPV DNA positivity was 19%.Conclusions: Prevalence of abnormal cytology and HPV DNA positivity is higher amongst HIV positive women and there is an association between HPV DNA positivity with lower CD4 counts.

FOXO3 gene hypermethylation and its marked downregulation in breast cancer cases: A study on female patients

BackgroundFOXO3, a member of the FOX transcription factor family, is frequently described as being deregulated in cancer. Additionally, notable role of FOXO3 can be easily recognized in the process of ageing and survival. Even though various studies have been done to acknowledge the tumour-suppressive or oncogenic role of FOXO3 in cancer, still there exist a lack of understanding in terms of cancer prognosis and treatment. Therefore, to provide better insight, our study aims to evaluate the role and function of FOXO3 in breast cancer in Indian female patients. We examined the FOXO3 expression levels in breast cancer samples by analyzing mRNA and protein expression along with its clinicopathological parameters.ResultsA total of 127 cases of breast cancer with equal normal cases (n=127) were assessed with methylation (MS-PCR), Immunohistochemistry (IHC), mRNA expression using Real-time PCR was analysed and 66.14% cases at mRNA level were found to be downregulated, while 81.10% of cases had little or very little protein expression. Our data state, the promoter hypermethylation of the FOXO3 gene and the downregulated protein expression are significantly correlated (p=0.0004). Additionally, we found a significant correlation between the level of FOXO3 mRNA with ER (p=0.04) and status of lymph node (p=0.01) along with this.ConclusionData suggests the prognostic significance and the tumour-suppressive role of FOXO3 in breast cancer cases studied in India. However, there is a need for the extended research targeting FOXO3 to measure its clinical potential and develop well-defined therapeutic strategies

Views and experiences of behaviour change techniques to encourage walking to work: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: High levels of physical inactivity are linked to several chronic diseases including coronary heart disease, type-2 diabetes, obesity, some cancers and poor mental health. Encouraging people to be more active has proven difficult. One way to incorporate physical activity into the daily routine is through the journey to and from work. Although behaviour change techniques (BCTs) are considered valuable in promoting behaviour change, there is very little in the published literature about the views and experiences of those encouraged to use them. METHODS: The Walk to Work study was a feasibility study incorporating an exploratory cluster randomised controlled trial. The 10-week intervention involved training workplace-based Walk to Work promoters (volunteers or nominated by participating employers) to encourage colleagues to increase walking during their daily commute. The intervention used nine specific BCTs: Intention formation, barrier identification, specific goal setting, instruction, general encouragement, self-monitoring of behaviour social support, review of behavioural goals and relapse prevention. Digitally recorded interviews were undertaken with 22 employees, eight of whom were Walk to Work promoters to understand their views and experiences of using these techniques. The Framework method of data management and constant comparison were used to analyse the data and identify key themes. RESULTS: For each individual BCT, there appeared to be people who found it useful in helping them to increase walking to work and others who did not. Following training, the Walk to Work promoters varied in the extent to which they were able to fulfil their role: additional support and encouragement during the 10-week intervention may be required for the promoters to maintain motivation. Wider contextual (economic climate, unprecedented wet weather) and organisational (workload, car parking facilities) issues were identified that influenced the delivery of, and response to, the intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Walk to work interventions employing BCTs should include sufficient techniques to enable participants to choose a ‘package’ to suit their needs. Additional support at organisational level should also be encouraged, and consideration given to wider contextual factors that impinge on the delivery of, and response to, the intervention. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN72882329. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-868) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users