Tom Burke Articles

Nitric Oxide Series, Part Eleven: Wound Care with Nitric Oxide Therapy -- The Basis for The Anodyne System

Use of the Anodyne Therapy System (ATS) appears to elevate NO locally so that blood flow can be increased directly at the site of application. This...

Nitric Oxide Series, Part Twelve: The Current Science and Benefit of Nitric Oxide and Diabetes

Diabetic patients, their physicians and health care providers, including certified diabetic educators, all recognize that diabetes is a disease in which blood flow slowly and insidiously decreases over time. The heart, kidneys, eyes,...

Nitric Oxide Series, Part Ten: Nitric Oxide (NO) and its Role in Wound Prevention and Wound Healing

In previous articles we have alluded to the positive effects of NO on wound healing. In this article we address the overall implication of NO in wound prevention and wound healing.  

Nitric Oxide Series, Part Nine: How Light (Photo Energy) May Increase Local NO and Vasodilation

Light-mediated vasodilation was first described by R. F. Furchgott, in his nitric oxide research that led to his receipt of a Nobel Prize in 1998. Later studies conducted by other researchers confirm and extend Furchgott’s early work...

Nitric Oxide Series, Part Eight: Nitric Oxide(NO) and Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (DPN)

Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (DPN: peripheral nerve damage) is a common complication of diabetes. Almost 70% of people with diabetes develop DPN within five years and after five, years the incidence rate increases to almost 100%. DPN most...

Nitric Oxide Series, Part Seven: Nitric Oxide (NO) and Relief of Pain

Nitric Oxide (NO) offers pain relief in a number of ways. In fact, NO is the mediator of the analgesic effect of opioids such as morphine. In this article we describe how NO affects pain responses and, in particular, certain pain responses in...

Nitric Oxide Series, Part Six: Nitric Oxide's effects on Proliferation/Differentiation

Nitric Oxide (NO) and its interrelationship with essential growth factors is critically involved in the entire continuum of events associated with wound repair, including cell division, maturation, neovascularization, and collagen synthesis...

Nitric Oxide Series, Part Five: NO and Neurotransmission

Diabetic patients are particularly at risk for damage to sensory and motor nerves in the feet or to dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system that innervates internal organs, for example, the intestine. The clinical diagnosis of the latter...

Nitric Oxide Series, Part Four: How Nitric Oxide (NO) Causes Vasodilation

NO initiates and maintains vasodilation through a cascade of biological events that culminate in the relaxation of smooth muscle cells that line arteries, veins, lymphatics. While somewhat complex, the sequence of biological...

Nitric Oxide Series, Part Three: NO (Nitric Oxide) Metabolism in Diabetic Patients

To understand NO metabolism in diabetic patients we must first discuss the normal process of NO formation. NO is a gas that is also a short-lived, unstable free radical...

Nitric Oxide Series, Part Two: Isoforms of Nitric Oxide Synthase

Nitric Oxide Synthase (NOS) is the enzyme that generates NO from L-arginine as described in Part 1 of this series. However, the enzyme exists in three different forms called isoforms. Each isoform synthesizes NO but does so under different...

Nitric Oxide Series, Part One: Discovery of NO, Nobel Prize, Relevance in Vasodilation

This is the first in a series of articles that relate specifically to nitric oxide (NO), a free radical gas that is a powerful regulator of circulation (It is an endogenous vasodilator.) and a neurotransmitter (It helps in the processing of...