Specialties

  Engineers at MIT and the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) have devised a new way to detect cancer that has spread to the liver, by enlisting help from probiotics — beneficial bacteria similar to those found in yogurt…. Many types of cancer, including colon and pancreatic, tend …

Low fat, low GI diet results in lost weight, some reduction in diabetic nerve pain… Encouraging lifestyle and dietary modifications is a standard protocol for physicians and educators working with type 2 diabetic patients in an effort to reduce diabetes-related complications. In a small pilot study researchers investigated whether or …

A female patient on insulin, 67 years of age, required more and more insulin to manage her glucose levels. She was eating healthily, exercising, monitoring, and taking her insulin as prescribed. I asked her when she had last seen her dentist. She confessed that this was one part of her …

Deficiencies in iron, calcium and vitamin D were more common in the gastric bypass group…. A new international study found that two years post-surgery, those who had gastric bypass have better diabetes control, but they also had higher risks of infection and fractures. Researchers recruited 120 obese patients with type …

Presence of 2-3 metobolic factors resulted in greater risk for black women compared to white women… An international team of American and Danish researchers identified 14,364 postmenopausal women from the Women’s Health Initiative who had data on fasting serum lipids and serum glucose and no history of cardiovascular disease or …

David Levy, MD, FRCP      Cataract Diabetes is a strong risk factor for cataract, and it occurs earlier and progresses faster than in the non-diabetic population. Cortical cataract is the most frequent, with its typical radial spoke opacities. Indications for cataract surgery include impairment of vision that reduces quality of life, and …

David Levy, MD, FRCP      Pre-proliferative retinopathy An important diagnosis, as there is a very high risk of progression to proliferative retinopathy and significant visual loss. Pre-proliferative changes are characterized by the following. Multiple (> 5) cotton-wool spots. Multiple large blot hemorrhages. Venous abnormalities: irregularities, beading, looping or reduplication. Intraretinal microvascular abnormalities: …

David Levy, MD, FRCP      Non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy Background retinopathy Microaneurysms Small, red, intraretinal lesions usually found at the posterior pole of the eye, around the disc and macula. They occur in areas of capillary non-perfusion and show leakage of fluorescein. It is worthwhile estimating the number of microaneurysms as it has …

David Levy, MD, FRCP      Introduction Diabetic retinopathy is the most common clinically significant microvascular complication of diabetes, but cataract is the most common ocular complication, with a prevalence of about 60% in those aged 30–54, five times more frequent than in those without diabetes. Diabetes is also associated with raised intraocular …

Score proposed to help facilitate diagnosis among population that infrequently sees primary physicians… As a part of campaigns to alleviate the health and financial burdens of undiagnosed diabetes, and because many Americans regularly visit their dentists, but not medical doctors, diabetes screening in dental offices has emerged as a promising …