No abstract

BackgroundWireless local area networks (WLANs) are considered the next generation of clinical data network. They open the possibility for capturing clinical data in a prehospital setting (e.g., a patient's home) using various devices, such as personal digital assistants, laptops, digital electrocardiogram (EKG) machines, and even cellular phones, and transmitting the captured data to a physician or hospital. The transmission rate is crucial to the applicability of the technology in the prehospital setting.MethodsWe created two separate WLANs to simulate a virtual local are network environment such as in a patient's home or an emergency room (ER). The effects of different methods of data transmission, number of clients, and roaming among different access points on the file transfer rate were determined.ResultsThe present results suggest that it is feasible to transfer small files such as patient demographics and EKG data from the patient's home to the ER at a reasonable speed. Encryption, user control, and access control were implemented and results discussed.ConclusionsImplementing a WLAN in a centrally managed and multiple-layer-controlled access control server is the key to ensuring its security and accessibility. Future studies should focus on product capacity, speed, compatibility, interoperability, and security management.

A b s t r a c t Routine diagnosis of pathology images transmitted over telecommunications lines remains an elusive goal. Part of the resistance stems from the difficulty of enabling image selection by the remote pathologist. To address this problem, a telepathology microscope system (TelePath, TeleMedicine Solutions, Birmingham, Ala) Increasingly in medicine, electronic images are replacing film-based media. Radiology, remains the one medical specialty that routinely uses electronic images for diagnosis.1-3 The reasons for the disparity between radiology and other medical specialties are varied but of special importance is the requirement for color in pathology, as well as in other clinical specialties. Pathology also requires multiple fields of view and multiple optical magnifications. Telepathology, the use of images transmitted over telecommunications media for diagnosis, has been successfully implemented in a small number of settings, but widespread acceptance has remained elusive. 4-9Two quite different models of telepathology have been developed. The "dynamic model" uses real time transmission of video images along with remote control of the microscope to provide immediate diagnoses using images selected at the home site. The "static model" uses still digital images selected at the remote site and transmitted at a later time for remote diagnosis. [10][11][12] Each of these models has distinct advantages. The dynamic model allows the remote user to select the images for viewing. It is useful for real time intraoperative diagnosis or consultation between pathologists, but it requires high bandwidth, and most of the images transmitted are of modest quality. The static model usually provides images of superior quality, but the number of images is limited. It is usually not feasible to transmit the images in real time, and the selection of images by the remote site requires that 2 pathologists share the interaction. Because bandwidth requirements are low for this system, images can be transmitted over the Internet.

This report describes preliminary research and experiments towards the collaborative viewing and manipulation of three-dimensional computer models of human anatomy and physiology on low-end computers using limited bandwidth. A proposed system is described using a set of recommended requirements. Experiments that were conducted to explore the feasibility of some aspects of the proposed system are also described. The resulting experimental system was implemented on networked 100 MHz and 90 MHz Pentium-based computers enhanced with 3-D graphics accelerators. Geometry for the anatomy models were stored in Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) version 1.0 files, which could be accessed remotely over the Internet. Some models were later implemented as VRML 2.0 files, which enabled the storage of simple physiological behaviors with the geometry. The use of VRML, the de facto standard file format for 3-D modeling on the Web, in a medical collaboration system would help make such systems, which have been typically implemented on special-purpose hardware with proprietary anatomical and physiological models, much more accessible.

Precision openings for construction of an optical backplane have been machined in an optical fiber using an excimer laser operating at a wavelength of 193 nm. The openings were made by imaging the laser beam onto the polymer fiber cladding with a telescope, then ablating the cladding with a sufficient number of pulses to expose the core.Circular openings measuring 250 and 625 microns and elliptical openings measuring 650 x 350 microns have been made in the cladding of a 1 mm polymer-clad silica fiber. Examination by scanning electron microscopy reveals that the best quality openings are obtained with either the smaller circular geometry or the elliptical geometry. For various reasons, elliptical openings, with the major axis oriented along the longitudinal axis of the fiber, appear more suitable for tap construction.Individual optical fiber taps have been constructed by attaching a tap fiber to a laser machined opening in a central fiber using a ultraviolet-curable acralate. Individual tap measurements were made on the elliptical and the 250 micron circular openings. In addition, a triple tap assembly was made using elliptical tap openings. These results indicate that the excimer laser machining technique may be applicable to the construction of a linear tapped bus for optical backplanes.