Psoriasis Severity May Influence Type 2 Diabetes Risk

Psoriasis severity may influence type 2 diabetes risk

People living with psoriasis are not only at higher risk of type 2 diabetes, but their risk also rises in line with the skin disease's severity, according to recent research from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia.
The team — led by Joel M. Gelfand, a professor of dermatology and epidemiology — reports the findings in a paper that was published recently in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
"We know psoriasis is linked to higher rates of diabetes," Prof. Gelfand explains, "but this is the first study to specifically examine how the severity of the disease affects a patient's risk."
He and his team suggest that the findings support the idea that there is a biological connection between psoriasis and type 2 diabetes.
Psoriasis and diabetes
Psoriasis is a serious medical condition that affects around 7.5 million people in the United States. It develops from a fault in the immune system that disrupts the normal biology of the skin and joints.
About 80–90 percent of people with psoriasis have plaque psoriasis, an inflammatory condition in which the immune system sends faulty signals that make skin cells grow too fast.
As the cells reach the surface of the skin and die, they form lesions that appear as thick red patches covered with silvery scales. The patches typically develop on the elbows, palms, face, scalp, lower back, knees, and soles of the feet, but they can also affect the mouth, nails, genitals, and other places.
Around 40 percent of people with psoriasis have psoriatic arthritis, which is a form of the dise Continue reading

Rate this article

Total 1 ratings

Why Aren’t There More People of Color at Diabetes Conferences?

Opinion
I grew up in a small town in Northeast Georgia with a fairly large African American population, but a lot of the things I was interested in wasn’t popular with most of the black kids in my community. As a kid, I was usually the only black kid into something, whether it was band, 4H, or chorus.
I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes around 1989 when I was 25 years old. I had all the typical symptoms but didn’t think much of it, since I knew nothing about diabetes. Eventually, my roommate set me up with an appointment with the urologist (you read that right) who diagnosed me.
sponsor
Back in my day, there was no Meetup or Myspace, and definitely no Facebook, so meeting others who lived with diabetes was pretty much a crapshoot. When I found a group, it turned out to be made up mostly of seniors; as a 25-year-old guy, that was not my idea of a party.
It would be many years before I found groups and organizations that helped people with diabetes connect and support each other. I basically had to wait until I had internet access to find these groups.
By the time I transitioned all my friends from Myspace to Facebook, I had my first insulin pump. I also had my first experience with diabetic retinopathy in one eye. By the time my other eye became damaged, I had begun taking my diabetes more seriously than I had in years past. I tried to learn more about how I could save my vision and my overall health.
Facebook helped me connect with several advocates, and others with diabetes. Through those connections I was able to learn more about the effects of diabetes, not just on Continue reading

The incredible colour changing tattoos that monitor the blood sugar levels of people with diabetes in real-time

Researchers have developed a biosensing tattoo ink that reacts to sugar in the blood to help diabetics control their conditions.
The colour-changing ink turns the body's surface into an 'interactive display' to alert diabetics when their blood sugar is too low or high.
When blood sugar goes up, the glucose sensing ink changes from blue to brown in real-time, a colour change that reverses when blood sugar drops.
Scroll down for video
‹ Slide me ›
The ink senses changes to the body's interstitial fluid - the liquid that surrounds tissue cells in the body.
If blood sugar is low, it changes from brown to blue, and if high, it changes from blue to brown.
The tattoos could one day act as a non-invasive method for diabetics to control their condition.
The ink acts as a biosensor that reads interstitial fluids - the liquids that surround tissue cells in the body.
Other biosensing tattoo inks developed by the team, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, monitor the body's salt and pH levels.
The salt sensing inks, which track the mineral by measuring sodium levels, fluoresce under UV light, shifting to an intense green when high salt levels are detected.
The pH sensing inks respond to alkalinity and change from pink to purple as it increases.
The researchers suggest that their tattoo inks, which they say are currently just at the 'proof of concept' stage, could offer new ways of monitoring the body.
For diabetics, the glucose sensing ink provides a way to track blood sugar levels without having to prick the skin and take a blood sample every few hours.
One biosensing ta Continue reading

Color-changing tattoos could revolutionize how we treat diabetes (VIDEO)

Get short URL
Scientists are testing new tattoo ink which morphs in color depending on changes to your health.
The Dermal Abyss project by researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is being tipped to change the way common ailments like diabetes are monitored.
READ MORE: Almost 1/3 of people worldwide overweight, says new study
Using biosensor ‘ink’, which interacts with glucose, sodium and other chemical compounds produced by humans, it’s hoped the tattoos may be able to show when a person’s body is experiencing health-impacting changes.
For example, Dermal Abyss may make the daily piercing of the skin a thing of the past for diabetics, since glucose levels would be revealed through the colors of a tattoo.
It could also provide an instant warning to those in danger of suffering from potentially fatal complications deriving from hyperglycemia.
Developed by MIT researchers Katia Vega, Xin Liu, Viirj Kan and Nick Barry, the first stage of tattoo testing was carried out using skin from a dead pig.
READ MORE: Artist develops ‘soundwave’ tattoos to immortalize voices of nearest & dearest
Footage of the technology explains how traditional inks are replaced by biosensors “whose colors change in response to variations in the interstitial fluid.”
According to MIT, the exploratory stage of the project is still ongoing and there are no plans to pursue clinical trials at this moment. Continue reading

7 Must Read Books for Diabetics – Best Books On Diabetes

In today’s society and lifestyle, diabetes has already reached nearly endemic levels. Actually, in a research conducted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2005, they found out that approximately 7% of the population or 20.9 million Americans had diabetes and about 6.2 million of them are not even aware of it. Best books on diabetes are must for every diabetic.
Diabetes is fairly known as a common disease. However, patients who are just being hit by this illness together with their loved ones really get affected making them very uncomfortable. Each new diabetes patient senses a feeling of abandonment, anger, and confusion. It is hard for them to stay in touch with anybody.
Moreover, if you are a person with diabetes you are most likely to be strong and you shouldn’t think of your illness that much –instead, you should be knowing more about your condition. You can read books on diabetes for you to know what are the dos and don’ts if you have diabetes. Hence, if you have not enough time to go out of your house and go to the library to research, you can actually go online for it.
Nowadays, if you want to find for diabetes books, you can just surf the internet and you can find a lot of it. If you are not into reading eBooks, you can purchase your own books for diabetes in any online shop like Amazon.com.
Reading books about diabetes will help you gain more knowledge about your health condition. Likewise, it is also one way to relax and escape stressful thoughts which are very essential if you have been thinking about your health situation. Hence, it Continue reading