A role of radioprotective agents in cancer therapeutics: a review

In the field of medicine or dentistry, cancer is one of the most common causes for death of the individual worldwide, in which oral cancer accounts for about 10% of it. One of the most important treatment modalities for cancer includes radiotherapy. During radiotherapy, exposure of the normal tissue to these ionizing radiations, results in mutagenesis and cell death. Several modalities and clinical approaches have been made to reduce these early and late complications of the radiotherapies and one among them is, by the means of pharmacological agents. Many experimental and clinical studies have given rise to new concepts of chemical and molecular pharmacological agents that could be effective in protection and treatment of radiation damage to surrounding normal tissues. Clinical Significance: To reduce the significant complications in irradiated patients, the clinical implication of these radioprotective agents have emerged as potential drugs and with anti-tumour effect in the radiotherapy of various cancers including oral carcinomas

Power systems automation, communication, and information technologies for smart grid: A technical aspects review

Smart grid (SG) introduced proven power system, based on modernized power delivery system with introduction of advanced data-information and communication technologies (ICT). SGs include improved quality of power transmission/distribution from power generation to end-users with optimized power flow and efficiency. In addition to above modern automation, two-way communications, advanced monitoring, and control to optimize power quality issues are the classic features of SGs. This ensures the efficiency and reliability of all its interconnected power system elements against potential threats and life time cycle. By integrating ICT into the power system SGs improved the working capabilities of the utility companies. Resultant of ICT with SG leads to better management of assets and ensure energy management for end users. This review article presents the different areas of communication and information technology areas involved in SG automation

Photodynamic Therapy – A Non-invasive Treatment Modality for Precancerous Lesions

Introduction: Oral premalignant lesions are conditions having high potential tendency for transformation into malignancy. The use of a conservative and effective treatment modality is one of the best strategies for cancer prevention. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a non-invasive method for topical and selective treatment of oral precancerous lesions. The present study was taken up to determine the efficacy of PDT in oral precancerous lesions.Methods: The study consisted 13 patients with 24 oral leukoplakia (OL) lesions and 8 with 20 oral lichen planus (OLP) lesions, divided into control and study groups. These lesions were affecting various intraoral sites, the buccal mucosa being the most common site followed by tongue and gingiva. The treatment regimen of PDT included 98% 5–aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) which is topical applied and irradiated with light emitting diode (LED) of 420 nm wavelengths at several sessions.Results: In OL 16.6% of cases showed complete response, 66.6% partial response and 16.6% no response of the lesions to the treatment. In OLP 80% and 20% of the lesions showed partial and no response respectively. The differences with control groups for OL + OLP were found to be significant (P < 0.001).Conclusion: Based on the results of the present study, we can conclude that PDT appears to be a feasible alternative to conventional therapy for oral premalignant lesions

Quantitative Immunoexpression of EGFR in Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders: Oral Leukoplakia and Oral Submucous Fibrosis

Background and aims. Many oral squamous cell carcinomas develop from potentially malignant disorders (PMDs)which include a variety of lesions and conditions characterized by an increased risk for malignant transformation. Thisstudy evaluated the quantitative expression of EGFR in normal oral mucosa, oral leukoplakia and oral submucous fibrosis to predict the malignant risk in compliance with the intensity of staining with EGFR. Materials and methods. Thirty subjects were included in the study, consisting of 10 oral leukoplakia (OL), 10 oral sub-mucous fibrosis (OSMF) and 10 normal oral mucosa (NOM) as the control group. Owing to the histopathological confirma-tion of precancerous state of tissue, 4-μm-thick sections of tissue were taken from paraffin-embedded wax blocks for im-munohistochemical staining for EGFR. Results. All the control cases showed positive expression for EGFR, while 20% of oral leukoplakia and 40% of OSMF cases showed strong expression (3+), 40% of OL and 30% of OSMF cases showed weak expression (2+), and 40% of OLand 30% of OSMF cases showed poor expression (1+) compared to controls (P=0.012). Conclusion. EGFR expression levels in the premalignant lesion appear to be a sensitive factor in predicting the neoplastic potential. This suggests that EGFR may serve as a biological marker to identify high-risk subgroups and guide prophylactic therapy with chemopreventive drugs or surgical intervention to prevent progression to carcinoma. Hence, further investiga-tions in the direction of chemopreventive trials with a larger sample size are suggested to determine its role in the head and neck tumorigenesis