Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy Management

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy affects approximately 60-70% of diabetic patients and a total of 347 million people worldwide.1 This complication is not only associated with painful symptoms, but can also lead to significant consequences such as paresthesia, loss of sensation, ulcers, osteomyelitis, gangrene, foot deformities, and amputation. Common symptoms of diabetic peripheral neuropathy are listed in Table 1. Because the symptoms and complications of diabetic peripheral neuropathy can lead to a significant decrease in a patient's quality of life, it is important to evaluate the effectiveness of the various treatment options available in the management of diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Unfortunately, treating…
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Merkel Cells in the Fingertips

That a finger can distinguish the texture of satin from suede is an exquisite sensory discrimination. Largely relying on small sensory organs in the fingertips called Merkel discs containing Merkel Cells. Jianguo Gu, Ph.D., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has now unraveled how the sensory information is processed in the Merkel discs. As well as further conveyed to the ending of a sensory nerve, the start of its journey to the brain. Such molecular understanding about the sensory information transmission between Merkel cells and nerve endings could be radical. And may lay the foundation to treat patients' intense…
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Regenerative Biology: A New Molecule Regenerates Bone Tissue

Researchers from California discover the key to simplifying the creation of engineered bones: adenosine. This naturally occurring molecule can be injected into bone tissue to coax human pluripotent stem cells to regenerate. REGENERATING BONE TISSUE The incidence of bone disorders, particularly in populations where aging is tied to rising obesity rates and poor physical activity. Bone disorders have been increasing steadily— so much so that it is expected to double in the coming years. To date, bone grafts have been the only solution to this problem. But researchers from the University of California in San Diego have now found a…
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Regenerative Stem Cell Therapy for Knees & Shoulders

The power of the body to heal itself is amazingly evident in a promising newer treatment known as regenerative stem cell therapy. Which orthopedic surgeon Kevin D. Plancher, MD, founder of Plancher Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, is tapping more frequently to help restore pain-free movement in patients with stubborn knee or shoulder problems. A branch of healthcare known as regenerative medicine, stem cell therapy uses immature, self-renewing cells found in the bone marrow to rejuvenate a wide variety of tissues. This rapidly evolving field, the focus of mounting research, is helping people heal faster and more naturally. As well as…
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Therapeutic Interventions to Effect Repairs and Fight Disease

Applications from regenerative medicine to gene therapy as well as antiviral therapeutic interventions emphasize self-healing possibilities. Therapeutic Interventions Emphasize Self-Healing Therapeutic interventions of various kinds try to improve the body’s capacity to defend, repair, and even cure itself. Interventions that attempt to enhance self-healing span cell-based therapy, gene therapy, small molecule drugs, biologics, and tissue engineering. Advances in each of these areas are being followed by Allied Market Research. Which has concluded that stem cell technologies look especially promising. For example, stem cell technologies are set to revolutionize the human ability to produce neural cells in abundance. Stem cells may…
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Treating Visceral Pain

Visceral pain relates to pain in the organs of the body. So it could be the chest, or more likely, the abdomen or the pelvis. It is somewhat unlike other pain syndromes. In a sense that visceral pain activates the autonomic nervous system, specifically the parasympathetic nervous system, the sympathetic nervous system, or both. Which is why a lot of patients who have visceral pain also have associated nausea, vomiting and sweating.  More women than men suffer from visceral pain. More specifically from chronic pelvic pain; pain that can come from the bladder, the uterus, the fallopian tubes, the ovaries.…
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Substance P: new chemical capable of controlling pain

Recently scientists have found a substance that activates pain along the central nervous system. This substance is also able to decrease pain in the peripheral nervous system. It was named Substance P. And may be the reason many pain management drugs appear to be successful amid laboratory tests. As well as unsatisfactory in real-life circumstances. The study was published in the journal Antioxidants and Redox Signaling, on June 15. Explaining how scientists from Hebei Medical University, and the University of Leeds came across Substance P. It is a peptide that promotes pain responses of different kinds through the nervous system. Substance…
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Hamstring Tendinopathy

Athletes who complain of deep buttock pain and pain when sitting may have hamstring tendinopathy. Playser with deep, posterior, upper thigh pain may be suffering from high (proximal) hamstring tendon injury as well. Chronic high hamstring tendinopathy is becoming increasing recognized as a causative factor in both sitting and activity-related posterior hip pain.1,2,3 Unlike an acute tear, the pain usually comes on gradually and may be aggravated by repetitive activities. Such activities as running or biking, and worsened by prolonged sitting. How Does Hamstring Tendinopathy Pain Develop? The body has many tendons, which anatomically are fibrous tissues that connect muscle…
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Food as medicine: importance of nutrition in disease

‘‘Get your health from the farm, not from the pharmacy.’’ That’s not necessarily what you’d expect to hear at an international medical conference. Especially one attended by some of the biggest names in the world of medicine and nutrition. Nor do you expect this declaration to be received with clapping, whooping and cheering from a respectable crowd. A crowd of multidisciplinary healthcare professionals and for it to be tweeted and retweeted ad infinitum. However, the title of the conference should give this some context. ‘Food. The Forgotten Medicine’ was convened by the College of Medicine (9 June 2016). The conference…
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Ultrasound-Guided Percutaneous Peripheral Nerve Stimulation

Dr. Brian M. Ilfeld, MD, MS, feels this strongly about the potential for ultrasound-guided percutaneous peripheral nerve stimulation. It's a technology that he says has the potential to forever change the way anesthesiologists treat acute postoperative pain. He discussed the results of a prospective feasibility study. As well as the potential for the technology’s future—at the 2016 annual Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine meeting (abstract A1265). Gradually, a Technique Emerges “There were very early reports of using electricity applied cutaneously to provide analgesia following surgical procedures,” said Dr. Ilfeld. He is a professor of anesthesiology in residence at the…
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