The Diabetic Foot Blog

En Route to National Venous Ulcer Working Group Meeting

2012-01-27T14:52:00.001-07:00

Greetings from the air en route to the National VLU Working Group in Dallas. I very much look forward to catching up with some old friends and rolling up our collective sleeves.

Near instant infection detection: The Future is Now

2012-01-27T08:06:00.000-07:00

Our Hamilton, Ontario SALSAmigo Perry Meyer sent us this and I must say, I have to clean the coffee off my keyboard I'm so excited. Great stuff. Great potential.

New device will detect infections, cancer in minutes - Technology & Science - CBC News:

New breakthrough allows glucose to be measured in saliva, avoiding finger sticksh

2012-01-27T06:41:00.001-07:00

Great work from Biomedical Engineering at Brown University.

New breakthrough allows glucose to be measured in saliva, avoiding finger sticksh:

Foot Recognition Is the New Face Recognition

2012-01-26T19:18:00.000-07:00

Here's to a little foot respect and recognition!

Enjoy this article from Gizmodo

Foot Recognition Is the New Face Recognition:

Aubrey de Grey, SENS, anti-aging drugs, and clinical trials. - Slate Magazine

2012-01-26T15:44:00.000-07:00

Aubrey de Grey, SENS, anti-aging drugs, and clinical trials. - Slate Magazine:

The Dangers of High Heels - NYTimes.com

2012-01-25T12:01:00.002-07:00

Our ever observant daughter Alexandria, is credited with this find from Gretchen Reynolds at the NYT. Enjoy.

Phys Ed: The Dangers of High Heels - NYTimes.com:

A Packed House: College of Science Lecture Series

2012-01-24T18:42:00.001-07:00

Standing room only in the cavernous centennial hall on the UA campus for the launch of the college of science lecture series "living beyond 100". We will see you here, on TV, or online!

CDC: Diabetes amputations falling dramatically

2012-01-24T15:27:00.001-07:00

Bottom line: Amputations have been falling since 1996 in the USA. This is the same time that changes in the definition of diabetes likely brought many more new-onset patients into the population. In other words, our denominator increased. We'd like to think we're making a difference-- and it appears as though we are, but what we really have to ask is:

Is this a day at the beach, or the calm before the next big wave? Cheers, -DGA

The Associated Press: CDC: Diabetes amputations falling dramatically:

Experts stress selectivity in advanced ulcer care

2012-01-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

Experts stress selectivity in advanced ulcer care

Diabetes experts focus on foot ulcer recurrence

2012-01-24T10:04:00.000-07:00

Diabetes experts focus on foot ulcer recurrence

What Dr. Smartphone can do for you

2012-01-23T13:18:00.003-07:00

As Smartphones Get Smarter, You May Get Healthier: How mHealth Can Bring Cheaper Health Care To All | Fast Company: "Smartphone"

'via Blog this'

amednews: Federal rule would ease access for face, hand transplants :: Jan. 23, 2012 ... American Medical News

2012-01-23T13:14:00.000-07:00

This interview features our very own Warren Breidenbach and our Cleveland Clinic Colleague Maria Siemionow.

amednews: Federal rule would ease access for face, hand transplants :: Jan. 23, 2012 ... American Medical News:

Tactile Imaging Sensor Could Facilitate Early Diagnosis of Tumors

2012-01-23T10:13:00.000-07:00

This from the folks at MedGadget.

Imagine palpating an aneurysm with this. Imagine exploring the depths of a wound and building a CAD-CAM model of it?!

Tactile Imaging Sensor Could Facilitate Early Diagnosis of Tumors:

UofA Update: How Autonomous Robots Built to Survey Planets Will Bring Sight to the Blind

2012-01-23T05:58:00.001-07:00

Really "groundbreaking" work from University of Arizona Engineering's own Prof. Wolfgang Fink. I ask you to read this and think of the possibilities.

Professor's Research Helps Restore Sight to the Blind | UANews.org:

Medical technology business Eykona takes 3D to America - Telegraph

2012-01-23T05:53:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Oxford's Eykona, who are, after 6 years, taking their intriguing scanning technology over to the USA.

Medical technology business Eykona takes 3D to America - Telegraph:

The Fast Life of Oscar Pistorius - NYTimes.com

2012-01-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

This is a must-read for people interested in this field and its future. It features not only Oscar P, but also Hugh Herr of MIT. The Fast Life of Oscar Pistorius - NYTimes.com:

Stretchable Solar Cells to Power Super Skin

2012-01-22T12:31:00.000-07:00

Wow...Forget the SPF 36. We at SALSA are gonna slap on some superskin right next to our stretchy solar skin to power our iPhone10. Thanks to the always superb Beth Andrews for spotting this.

New stretchable solar cells will power artificial electronic 'super skin':

Extraterrestrial Microbes: No Spacecraft Assembly Required?

2012-01-22T10:20:00.002-07:00

NASA's Search for Extraterrestrial Genomes --Was There an Earth-to-Mars Microbe Shuttle? | Digg Science:

Robots for the Elderly = Fukushima Repair operation? Necessity is the mother of invention

2012-01-22T07:52:00.001-07:00

Please see this excerpt from the NYT.

"Yoshiyuki Sankai, an engineering professor at University of Tsukuba near Tokyo, was similarly inspired to update one of his inventions after the tsunami. In his case, he transformed his Hybrid Assistive Limb, or HAL — a lower-body, robotic exoskeleton — so it could assist people working at radiation sites.

The original HAL, introduced in 2008, helps patients who can't walk by monitoring the signals sent from their brains to their muscles. Sensors in HAL pick up these signals and then, essentially, walk for the person. The robot suit has been commercialized and is leased by hospitals and wellness centers in Japan.

Dr. Sankai was already working on other uses for HAL when he received a call last summer from a company involved in the cleanup of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the site of the nuclear disaster resulting from the tsunami. Could HAL assist workers who had to wear incredibly heavy, anti-radiation tungsten vests at the site?

Less than three months later, Dr. Sankai had his answer: yes. "The principle behind the two suits is the same," he said of the versions of HAL, describing the philosophical mission as "supporting and expanding the human ability."

But in the new model, an upper-body frame supports the tungsten plates, which can weigh up to 132 pounds. Without that support, it would be hard for individuals to work in the suit for long stretches of time. "So now the worker doesn't feel any weight," he said.

The new HAL has received a patent but is still in the prototype stage and is being tested. Dr. Sankai says it will take an additional six or seven months of development before it's ready for commercial use."

The Greatest Running Shoe Never Sold - Businessweek

2012-01-21T17:13:00.001-07:00

The Greatest Running Shoe Never Sold - Businessweek:

Work out, lick wound, rinse, repeat: Exercise increases antimicrobial peptides in saliva

2012-01-21T08:37:00.001-07:00

While we at SALSA are in no way advocating licking wounds, we thought this work from University of Greenwich interesting during our daily perusal of the literature.

Podimetrics: Idea draws on engineering and business to help diabetics - MIT News Office

2012-01-20T15:02:00.001-07:00

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/podimetrics-lgo-0120.html

Amputated Gecko Tails: Almost Immortal?

2012-01-20T06:24:00.001-07:00

This engaging article is based on the work of the basic science team that is pioneering work with newts (no, not that Newt-- far more primary than that). Enjoy, -DGA

Nike's Fuelband: The next "Jawbone"?! (From Gizmodo)

2012-01-19T13:09:00.001-07:00

FITNESS

Nike+ was a super sweet tool for runners to keep track of their workouts. But what about the rest of your life? What if Nike+ could keep track of that? That's what the brand new Nike+ Fuelband, an evolution of Nike+ in a simple Livestrong-styled wristband, tries to do.Nike's Fuelband Is an Awesome Fitness Wristband for Your Entire Life

The idea of wearing something to track your fitness activity in everyday life isn't exactly new. Fitbit's done it with some success, Jawbone spectacularly failed at it and there are so many fitness watches you can wear one on every one of your appendages. But Nike+ Fuelband is a slightly different beast, its goal is to provide one simple measurement for every kind of activity. How does it work?

The Fuelband doesn't count steps. It doesn't tick off miles. What's unique about Nike+ Fuelband is that it uses "oxygen kinetics" to figure out the amount of oxygen you're using and then translates that input/output into a "universal currency" named Nikefuel. Everyone, whether you're a basketball player or a football player or a life player or a PC game player, is measured with Nikefuel. The more active things you do in a day means the more Nikefuel you earn in a day. Nike says that they've correlated oxygen intake with specific fitness activities and then created a way to translate it to Nikefuel. Basically, it's a smart and Nike-branded algorithm that brings everyone onto the same unit of measurement.

The Fuelband looks like a bulked up Livestrong band that has a three-axis accelerometer to track movement, LED lights to display your progress against your goal (red is bad, green is good), show the time and has a snazzy hidden USB port. It's all controlled by one button so the Fuelband is dead simple to use. It connects to your iPhone wirelessly via Bluetooth and to the Nike+ webapp when you plug in the band. When I wore it, it was actually pretty comfortable—surprisingly cool and light on the wrist and simple to use (one button wizardry). Nike says the battery can last 4 days on a single charge and that it'll talk nice to Facebook, Foursquare and Path. The Fuelband will cost $150 and start shipping on February 22nd.

It's a clever idea! As balancing the differences of various activities (sprint, jog, etc) can provide the token to improve overall fitness since you're gunning for the same goal, in this case, a Nikefuel benchmark. Nike believes that life is a sport, every human is an athlete and everything you do should be measured. I'm definitely interested in seeing how much Nikefuel I gain for surfing the internet. [Nike]

Choosing a shoe: Stiffness matters

2012-01-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

Shoe stiffness and pressure patterns | Lower Extremity Review Magazine:

New Study: Tuberculosis vs. Toes: Isoniazid for wounds?

2012-01-19T06:22:00.000-07:00

We at SALSA had to look twice when this came across our desk. Most of us know isoniazid as a first-line agent to treat tuberculosis. This group are embedding it into a dressing.
We're interested to learn more about a proposed mechanism of action.

Bridge BioResearch Announces the Approval of the Phase 2a Trial Protocol of Isoniazid - a Novel Treatment of Chronic Ulcers - World News Report:

Mr. Jobs: does this look good on me? Apple patents clothes that track how you wear them, tell you when it's time to update your wardrobe

2012-01-19T06:11:00.000-07:00

Apple patents clothes that track how you wear them, tell you when it's time to update your wardrobe -- Engadget:

Obesity Rates Stall, But No Decline - NYTimes.com

2012-01-18T15:34:00.000-07:00

Obesity Rates Stall, But No Decline - NYTimes.com:

Toe and Flow: Van Nuys center takes new approach to prevent amputations - LA Daily News

2012-01-18T13:51:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Drs. Andros and Rogers, our toe and flowmigos. Van Nuys center takes new approach to prevent amputations - LA Daily News:

See the Lab on a chip: You've heard of microfluidics, now meet photoelectrowetting!

2012-01-18T07:11:00.000-07:00

Really cool stuff going on in Lille, France outlined by Technology Review's Physics "arxiv" blog this morning.

First Demonstration of Actuation-At-A-Distance Effect For Labs-On-A-Chip

Microelectromechanical devices could soon be remotely controlled using light thanks to a proof-of-concept experiment demonstrating 'photoelectrowetting'

KFC 01/18/2012

Moving water is fairly straightforward on the human scale: a pump or a bucket will usually do the trick. But in the last couple of decades, various teams have begun to study ways of moving liquids around on the much smaller scale of micrometres.

Their goal is to create devices, such as a lab-on-a-chip, that can carry out self-contained chemical and biological tests on tiny samples. To that end, researchers have developed various new ways to move liquid around using exotic pumps relying on things like electric fields. So-called microfluidic devices are having a big impact in areas from pathogen identification to environmental monitoring

Last year, Steve Arscott at the The University of Lille in France added another tool to this armoury. He showed that light could modify the wetting angle of a conducting droplet sitting on an insulated conductor.

This system is essentially a capacitor: one conductor separated from another by an insulating layer. Physicists have known for some time that changing the voltage in such a capacitor sets up a force that alters the wetting angle of the droplet. This effect, known as electrowetting, is the basis for various kinds of electric pumps.

Photoelectrowetting works in a similar way, says Arscott. With a voltage across the capacitor, the incident light generates charge pairs within the droplet that influence the electric field in the capacitor and this changes the wetting angle.

That was an interesting advance because it raised the prospect of pumping small volumes of water using light and very little power (since there is almost no flow of current).

Today, he and his pal Matthieu Gaude put the photoelectrowetting effect into action. These guys have made a cantilever sitting above an insulated conductor and placed a droplet of water between them so that it fills the gap by capillary action (see above).

Zapping this system with light changes the wetting angle the droplet makes with the cantilever and the electrode below. This makes the droplet thinner, pulling the cantilever down.

The ability to actuate at a distance using light alone could have many applications because it eliminates the need for the complex circuitry and pumps now used to transport droplets. It could also allow optical addressing of autonomous, wireless sensors.

Incidentally. that's not unlike the light actuation of metamaterials we looked at yesterday. Perhaps there's a new era of light actuation ahead.

Ref: arxiv.org/abs/1201.2873: “Actuation At A Distance” Of Microelectromechanical Systems

Amputation rate high among Irish diabetics - Health News, Health - Independent.ie

2012-01-17T06:38:00.000-07:00

18-fold difference in amputation risk between people with and without diabetes. Amputation rate high among Irish diabetics - Health News, Health - Independent.ie:

Mobile Technology Is Transforming The Health Industry, But To What Extent? | TechCrunch

2012-01-16T16:35:00.001-07:00

Mobile Technology Is Transforming The Health Industry, But To What Extent? | TechCrunch:

Turn your kitchen window into a monitor!?

2012-01-16T11:25:00.001-07:00

This is definitely what we should have been seeing at the CES this past week. How'd we miss it?!

Samsung Turns Any Window into an Amazing Computer

Windows! Yes, not the phone, or the operating system, but the thing you fling open when it's too hot, wave to your friends from, and perhaps throw trash out of. Samsung's turning your household glass into a touchscreen wonder.

Mea culpa—this is probably the one thing we genuinely missed out on at CES. A sole regret. Chalk it up to the fog of war—or maybe because from afar, Samsung's "Smart Window" looks just like... a window. At any rate, this thing is very cool, and unlike most "smart" (ugh) products we saw, actually looks like it could fit into a sci-fi home of the near future.

Essentially, the Smart Window is Haier's transparent TV, only not utterly stupid and pointless. In actuality, it's a TFT LCD panel with the ability to go fully transparent, like any other pane. But floating across the glass are a diversity of apps and images—you can check the weather, read email, Twitter, and recipes. Or just watch TV. It's all touch-controlled, and looks very smooth. And worry not, food and porn multitaskers—Mobile Nations says the panel will only be visible from the inside.

I balk a little at Samsung's idea that I'm ever going to lean across my kitchen counter for serious computing stuff, but for casual info peeks, it'd be a nice little luxury. And that virtual blinds feature! Pure eye lollipops and gumdrops. Just make sure your neighborhood baseball-slugging kids are at a safe distance when this thing arrives someday, or never. [Samsung]

From PT Online: Breaking Out Of Our ‘Echo Chamber’ At Conferences. THREE things to look for

2012-01-16T08:27:00.001-07:00

David G. Armstrong DPM PhD MD

As a new year begins, so does a new slate of podiatric scientific conferences. Podiatric physicians have no shortage of educational experiences from which to choose.

I regularly attend the annual American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA) conference, the Diabetic Limb Salvage (DLS) meeting, the Diabetic Foot Global Conference (DFCon), the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care Spring/Wound Healing Society (SAWC Spring/WHS) meeting and the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) meeting. I regularly attend other meetings outside North America that have other foci in plastic surgery, infectious diseases, diabetes, rural As a new year begins, so does a new slate of podiatric scientific conferences. Podiatric physicians have no shortage of educational experiences from which to choose.

I prefer meetings that are, in the truest sense of the word, interdisciplinary. We have a tendency in life in general, and in medicine specifically, to enjoy hearing what we want to hear and what is familiar. In other words, it's often easier to be reassured with a soothing message from an "echo chamber" than it is to be challenged. I think putting some effort into leaving that echo chamber is ultimately worth it. It expands your "silo." It's frankly exhilarating. It makes me want to bound back into clinic and the wards on Monday and apply what I've learned.

The most important factors in putting on an educationally valuable conference are speakers, content and moderation.

The speakers should be superb. When that happens, one knows they are going to do their best to bring their "A" game because their colleagues are doing so. A good speaker takes an odd lecture request as a challenge to expand his or her horizons and the audience of colleagues is also the beneficiary.

The emphasis on content speaks for itself. However, the content should be controlled toward a theme. Just as Apple arguably does a good job in controlling its "ecosystem" on the iPhone and iPad, so too should the organizers control the topics and "soul" of a meeting.

Moderation is where most meetings could do better. Most believe moderating is keeping time and introducing people from a list. It is so much more than that. The mindful moderator must know the content and be an enthusiast. He or she must also challenge the speaker — pleasantly — with the goal of getting to those key kernels of truth that we love to mine at a meeting.

Dr. Armstrong is the Conference Co-Chairman of the Diabetic Foot Global Conference (DFCon). For more information, visit www.toeandflow.com.

Swallowing Parasitic Worms May Heal Your Ails | Intestinal Worms & Hookworms | Wound Healing & Immune System | Worm Therapy | LiveScience

2012-01-15T13:09:00.000-07:00

Swallowing Parasitic Worms May Heal Your Ails | Intestinal Worms & Hookworms | Wound Healing & Immune System | Worm Therapy | LiveScience:

'via Blog this'

A new hormone revs up the body's fat-burning engine

2012-01-14T18:30:00.000-07:00

A new hormone revs up the body's fat-burning engine

High-tech beds to help the elderly and infirm - San Jose Mercury News

2012-01-13T20:15:00.001-07:00

Hospital grade equipment at a consumer price. Now we're getting somewhere. Cheers, -DGA

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_19675475?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

Diabetes patients head to Toronto or lose a limb

2012-01-13T20:12:00.001-07:00

This "call to action" by Joanna Frketich in today's Hamilton Spectator features our friend and colleague Perry Meyer. Enjoy...

Diabetes patients in danger of losing limbs are being sent to Toronto for treatment because Hamilton's waits are too long.

The Mayer Institute, which specializes in diabetes wound care, sends patients needing urgent treatment, within 30 days, to vascular surgeons at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre instead of waiting for diagnostics and surgery at Hamilton Health Sciences or St. Joseph's Healthcare.

"In my world, I wait an inordinate amount of time," said the institute's medical director, Dr. Perry Mayer. "It's a ridiculous situation in Hamilton. We have brilliant, gifted surgeons here, they're second to none. But their hands are tied."

Hamilton's lead vascular surgeon says the problem is that 90 per cent of patients referred to them are urgent, so it can be difficult to determine who gets the care first.

"A lot of us feel overwhelmed with the sheer volume of disease," said Dr. David Szalay, division head of vascular surgery at HHS, St. Joseph's and McMaster University. "The challenge can be to try to work through your list and make sure nobody dies of a ruptured aneurysm waiting for you, nobody has a stroke waiting and you can intervene on the leg quick enough to prevent limb loss."

Szalay says the delays occur when patients are referred and waiting for their first appointment and again when surgeons order diagnostic tests. In contrast, Toronto has more vascular surgeons to share the load, so patients get their first appointment faster. The doctors at Sunnybrook also have access to their own angioplasty suite so they do the diagnostics themselves and immediately do the treatment.

"Their model is ideal but pretty unique," Szalay said of Sunnybrook.

Angelo Maletta says he would have lost his foot if he'd waited any longer for treatment. The 61-year-old Welland maintenance worker was told in August his right foot would have to be amputated because of a diabetic wound.

His cousin knew someone whose leg was saved by Mayer and recommended the clinic on Railway Street. Many of Mayer's patients tell the same story of finding the institute by chance from friends or family after being told they'd need an amputation.

"My cousin, who I hadn't seen in months, happened to be at my house the day they told me they wanted to amputate," said Maletta, who shudders to think what would have happened otherwise. "It would have been terrible for me."

Maletta saw Mayer at the end of August. Tests showed there was not enough blood flow in his foot, so he was referred to Sunnybrook in October and had surgery on Nov. 9.

"Everything was just boom, boom, boom," said Maletta, commenting on the speed of treatment.

His foot is now healing well.

Getting treatment fast is significant considering Wound Care Canada reports there is a "small window of opportunity" for therapies. More than 50 per cent of lower extremity amputations are due to non-healing foot ulcers and the long-term prognosis isn't good for amputees. The death rate is 39 per cent to 68 per cent over a five-year period.

There is hope that waits will ease a bit in Hamilton as another vascular surgeon is being recruited — the equivalent of three fewer surgeons are practising in this area compared to seven years ago. A second vascular ultrasound opened last week to double diagnostic capacity, and other health professionals such as physician assistants are being added to the vascular team.

But until then, Mayer says he will continue to send patients to Toronto: "These people can't wait. The patients who don't get to me lose their limbs. They lose their limbs at an astonishing rate."

jfrketich@thespec.com

905-526-3349 | @Jfrketich

Genome: $1000 sequences you in 24 hours.

2012-01-12T16:13:00.000-07:00

http://yfrog.com/page/addthis?server=859&filename=rzblxf.jpg&yfrog_url=http://yfrog.com/nvrzblxfj&is_photo=true&screen_name=daniel_kraft

$1000 genome sequenced in 24 hours (while u wait). Wow.

The Diabetic Foot: Our Population Has Changed, but our Methods Haven't

2012-01-12T06:32:00.001-07:00

We'd ask you to begin thinking about the people for whom your're caring-- wherever in the world you're seeing them. Are they the same as 15 years ago? Ours certainly have.

Many of the methods we use to both evaluate them and treat them assume they haven't changed.

This manuscript from our team and our colleagues from France, University of North Carolina, Medical College of Virginia and University of Miami just became available.

Glucometer - Measure, Trend & Care

2012-01-10T15:25:00.002-07:00

Telcare brings the frontier platform; a smart glucometer that measures, trends and logs the readings for diabetics. T-mobile is the communication partner for the handheld meters, that lets online storage for patient/clinician access.

This shift in personal technology is inevitable, we would see more health data ported online (especially for chronic disease care) and mined using smart algorithms in 2012!

Portions have grown- So has diabetes- which can lead to amputation

2012-01-10T14:57:00.001-07:00

Here is the poster from the New York State Department of Health. Get your copy here.

New York anti-obesity ads pair soda, leg amputations

2012-01-10T10:10:00.001-07:00

This from Jonathan Allen at Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A diabetic man with a penchant for sugary drinks who lost his legs to amputation is the latest posterboy in the city health department's hard-hitting anti-obesity campaign.

The disturbing image of an amputee sitting near cups of soda was plastered in city subways on Monday, part of a series of ads aimed at shocking people out of dietary habits that can lead to obesity, said Thomas Farley, the city health commissioner.

"These are hard-hitting images because we really felt we need to drive home a point that large portions are not completely benign," Farley told Reuters.

The advertising campaign has previously used such arresting images as consumers gulping from a frosty glass filled not with a beverage but with globs of fat.

The newest ad tells subway passengers that as portion sizes have grown over time in the food and restaurant industries, so too has the incidence of obesity and Type 2 diabetes, which it says "can lead to amputations."

The tagline reads, "Cut Your Portions, Cut Your Risk."

Stefan Friedman, a spokesman for the American Beverage Association, criticized the campaign for creating an "inaccurate picture" of the impact of soft drinks.

"Portion control is indeed an important piece of the solution to obesity," he said in a statement.

"Instead of utilizing scare tactics, the beverage industry is offering real solutions like smaller portioned containers and new calorie labels that show the number of calories in the full container, right up front, to help people chose products and sizes that are right for them and their families," he said.

The Department of Health says the campaign is necessary to warn consumers that they may be consuming more than they realize. Drink sizes at a fast food chain have quadrupled in the last five decades, while the size of a portion of French fries has doubled in that time, the department said.

Nearly 57 percent of New Yorkers are overweight or obese, the department said, and about 10 percent of New Yorkers have been told they have Type 2 diabetes.

Earlier advertisements in the anti-obesity campaign include 2009 images of oozing fat being poured into soda containers in an attempt to illustrate the link between the excessive consumption of sugary drinks and obesity.

There was some evidence that the campaign has had an impact: The percentage of adults drinking at least one "sugary drink" a day declined from about 36 percent in 2007, before the ads appeared, to about 30 percent in 2010, the department said, citing department surveys.

Marion Nestle, the Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, said that portion sizes were a very important factor in determining how much people eat, or overeat. People can be fooled by larger portion sizes into thinking they are eating less than actually are.

The city has forced certain chain restaurants to prominently display calorie counts for each item on their menus. Farley, the health commissioner, said it was likely that this requirement was making some restaurants reconsider the size of their portions rather than have to publicize "embarrassingly" high calorie counts for food items.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Paul Thomasch)

SALSAisms: Update

2012-01-09T17:39:00.000-07:00

As requested, we have an update to the SALSAisms list here http://diabeticfootonline.blogspot.com/p/salsaisms-list.html enjoy.

SALSA Operating Room Playlist, January 2012 Edition

2012-01-08T10:33:00.001-07:00

By request, here is the SALSA O.R. Playlist, January Edition.

Any other suggestions? Feel free to leave a note.

On a related note, one of our favorite patients, under significant anesthesia and mumbling through an oxygen mask suggested the "Iron Butterfly Channel" on Pandora. What a hit. I'm sure some of those will make later playlists.

Anyway, please enjoy.

Vetiver – Right Away
Miracle Parade – The Dying Physicist
The Dead Weather – I Can't Hear You
Elvis Costello & The Attractions – I Hope You're Happy Now
The Bewitched Hands – Hard To Cry - (album version)
F*****d Up – Queen Of Hearts
The Wave Pictures – Friday Night In Loughborough
Atlas Sound – Mona Lisa
The Wombats – Techno Fan
Future Islands – The Great Fire
Jane's Addiction – Mountain Song
Ingrid Michaelson – Can't Help Falling In Love (Recorded Live at Daytrotter)
Jet – Look What You've Done
The Joy Formidable – Whirring
The Decemberists – Calamity Song
The Beat / The English Beat (USA) – Doors Of Your Heart
Bright Eyes – We Are Gonna Be Friends (feat. First Aid Kit)
Michael Andrews – Mad World
The Elected – The Bank And Trust
Killing Joke – Love Like Blood
Okkervil River – Lost Coastlines
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band – Air Mattress
Koufax – Roll the Dice
Vampire Weekend – Giving Up The Gun
Rubblebucket – Came Out of a Lady
Bright Eyes – No Lies, Just Love
Aimee Mann – Save Me
Bright Eyes – Poison Oak
John Prine – In Spite Of Ourselves
The Black Keys – Everlasting Light
J Mascis – Is It Done
Brown Recluse – Impressions of a City Morning
Fun. – I Wanna Be The One
Bright Eyes – Pull My Hair
The Raincoats – Lola
Julie Ruin – Apt. #5
The Psychedelic Furs – Love My Way
WU LYF – Heavy Pop
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Cheated Hearts
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Same Mistake
Belle And Sebastian – You Made Me Forget My Dreams
Bright Eyes – Poison Oak
Bat For Lashes – The Big Sleep
Damon & Naomi – How Do I Say Goodbye
Galaxie 500 – Tugboat
Stars – Dead Hearts
Ingrid Michaelson – Breakable
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Home
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Janglin
The Tributers – Video Games - Tribute to Lana Del Rey
Sonic Youth – Superstar
Iron And Wine – Such Great Heights
Iron & Wine – Half Moon
Gladys Knight & The Pips – Midnight Train To Georgia
Neil Young – My My, Hey Hey - Out Of The Blue Album Version
Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit
Handsome Furs – When I Get Back
Handsome Furs – Serve the People
Beirut – Elephant Gun
Beirut – East Harlem
Mates of State – Maracas
The Byrds – My Back Pages
Uncle Tupelo – Moonshiner
White Mystery – Birthday
Titus Andronicus – A More Perfect Union
R.E.M. – Near Wild Heaven
Galaxie 500 – Strange
Sleigh Bells – Crown On The Ground
Cults – Go Outside
David Bowie – Ziggy Stardust
Carla Bruni – Absolute Beginners
Bright Eyes – No Lies, Just Love
Bright Eyes – Poison
Metric – Help I'm Alive
Gladys Knight & The Pips – Midnight Train To Georgia
Stars – Dead Hearts
Sebadoh – Truly Great Thing
Cold Cave – The Great Pan Is Dead
The Raincoats – Lola
Yo La Tengo – Speeding Motorcycle
Neil Young – My My, Hey Hey - Out Of The Blue Album Version
The Church – Under The Milky Way
Titus Andronicus – Arms Against Atrophy
Elbow – One Day Like This
Blur – Song 2
Grouplove – Betty's a Bombshell
The Wave Pictures – I Love You Like A Madman
Grouplove – Naked Kids
The Smiths – Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone – Bobby Malone Moves Home
Drive-By Truckers – Everybody Needs Love
The High Kings – Raglan Road
Supertramp – The Logical Song - Remastered Version/2010
Brown Recluse – Contour And Context
Bright Eyes – Pull My Hair
Fiona Apple – Across The Universe
Black Sheep – The Choice Is Yours
Regina Spektor – My Dear Acquaintance [A Happy New Year] - iTunes Live Session Performance
Billy Bragg – Brickbat
Violent Femmes – American Music
The Byrds – My Back Pages - Live

Toe and Flow: SALSA Cartoons

2012-01-06T07:56:00.001-07:00

For years, people have sent drawings our way. Here's one drawn minutes ago by our very own SALSA fellow, Joe Fiorito (we call him FreeToe). He's clearly playing off the riff of "toe and flow" and our frequent discussion with our new patients that they "pulled up to the full-service pump". Well played, FreeToe.

Surgeons and Hospital that Treated Giffords Build on Success

2012-01-04T16:10:00.000-07:00

This article is from today's Arizona Republic and USA today. Making something positive out of something so profoundly negative is quite a feat. Our hospital, healthcare team and friends Mike Lemole and Peter Rhee have done just that.

Surgeons, hospital that treated Giffords build on successes

By Ken Alltucker, The Arizona Republic

Updated 9h 31m ago

Comments

PHOENIX -- This week marks the first anniversary since University of Arizona Medical Center's doctors and nurses worked round-the-clock to treat U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffordsand other victims of a Tucson-area shooting rampage.

P.K. Weis, AP
This is the first anniversary since University of Arizona Medical Center's staff treated U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and other victims of a Tucson-area shooting.

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P.K. Weis, AP

This is the first anniversary since University of Arizona Medical Center's staff treated U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and other victims of a Tucson-area shooting.

In the days after the Jan. 8 attack that killed six people and wounded 13, the hospital became the focal point of Tucson's efforts to recover in the aftermath of tragedy.

Life has changed dramatically for the two surgeons who became medical celebrities with their daily media briefings on Giffords and the other shooting victims. The hospital has gained boosts both in philanthropy and reputation.

But its staff also has coped with other key issues that continue to affect the Tucson community: a health-care system merger and a new name, state budget cuts for health care and an increasing volume of trauma patients.

Formerly called University Medical Center, the hospital has been renamed the University of Arizona Medical Center, which is part of the University of Arizona Health Network. The Health Network was formed from the 2010 merger of University Medical Center Corp. and University Physicians Healthcare.

Hospital representatives said that this week gives them an opportunity to reflect on their role in last January's shooting.

"It's an opportunity for us to look back on how we came together," said Karen Mlawsky, the hospital's CEO.

Dr. Peter Rhee, the trauma department's medical director, has maintained a high profile. He has attended a White House dinner honoring South Korea's president, hosted a fundraiser for the UA hospital's trauma center and raised awareness about issues such as gun violence and trauma funding.

Giffords' neurosurgeon, Dr. Michael Lemole, also has used his fame to advocate for the hospital and has worked tirelessly to build his medical practice and expertise in skull-base surgery.

The shooting brought worldwide attention to southern Arizona's only Level 1 trauma center, but Lemole and Rhee said their individual efforts were nothing out of the ordinary.

"We're doing this all the time," Lemole said. "What looks like an exceptional event, for me and my partners, it happens a couple of times a week with a blood clot in the head or a gunshot wound."

One year after the tragedy, the goodwill generated from the hospital's efforts to treat the victims is still trickling in.

Generous donations

As hospital staffers worked to nurse the victims back to health, the hospital's foundation was deluged with offers of financial help.

"We got a ton of calls very quickly," said Kent Rollins, president of the UMC Foundation. "As early as the next day (Jan. 9), we got our first check for $5,000."

Hundreds of individuals pledged donations ranging from $10 to $5,000 in the days and weeks after the shooting, Rollins said.

Many donors expressed interest in contributing directly to the shooting victims, particularly 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green, the youngest victim. Her parents established the Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Foundation with the goal of funding charitable and educational projects in the girl's honor.

Donors also have been generous to the medical center's trauma department, with an estimated $150,000 in gifts. The largest gift to the department came from Raytheon, which agreed to donate $100,000 for research on treating wounded veterans.

Rhee said he approached Raytheon about a potential donation to aid research on behalf of wounded veterans. Through his years as a battlefield surgeon, he said, he learned of the damage bombs and missiles can inflict on soldiers, so he thought Raytheon would be interested in funding efforts to help returning veterans recover from injuries.

Rhee returned to Tucson on Christmas Day after a two-week stint at a military hospital in Germany, where he tended to soldiers wounded in Afghanistan and met with Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Rhee said these wounded soldiers -- many recovering from amputated arms and legs -- are "the soldiers I had in mind when I wanted to fund a Raytheon trauma center."

Rhee said such external funding sources are even more important now, considering Arizona's cut to health-care funding.

The hospital and medical staff also cited the event as having an impact on recruitment for new doctors and nurses.

The hospital does not keep any statistics on how the tragedy helped recruitment efforts, but hospital administrators and physicians anecdotally say the hospital's response to the tragedy is often a topic of conversation during interviews.

"The event elevated the university to a different status," Lemole said. "When I am recruiting faculty or even residents, the added high-profile exposure does help."

Keeping tabs on Giffords

Both Rhee and Lemole have spent time with Giffords in recent months and have praised her hard work and recovery.

Although Lemole is not involved in her rehabilitation, he has kept tabs on the Tucson congresswoman through her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly.

Lemole last fall attended a private dinner with Giffords, Kelly and family members before they both appeared on the air in a prime-time television news interview.

He acknowledges that his interaction with Giffords and family members has been unusual compared with most of his patients. He usually keeps a professional distance, preferring to keep emotions aside when making clinical decisions that will affect the outcome for an individual.

"When you interact with a patient, in many ways you have to keep them at a distance. You don't want to think about the fact you are operating on a human being," Lemole said.

But he said he has allowed those professional constraints to relax a little bit as his relationship with his highest-profile patient has developed.

Lemole added that Giffords is an ideal patient because of the sweat and effort she has put into her rehabilitation.

"She has made a phenomenal recovery, she really has," Lemole said. "She has a lot of courage to go out in public with her husband and display for the world to see the disabilities she is struggling with, her attempts to overcome them and her successes."

He would not offer an opinion on whether he thinks her health and recovery have progressed enough to allow her to run for re-election. If he said she could run again and she decided not to, he said, the public perception would be that she has somehow fallen short of expectations.

After such a life-altering experience, Lemole said, he does not know if Giffords even wants to run.

"What she will do is what she will do," Lemole said. "She has to take that at her own pace."

The International Diabetes Epidemic: What does it mean for clinicians?

2012-01-04T16:03:00.003-07:00

Enjoy this terrific clip from Medscape featuring SALSA's long-time friend, Anne Peters. You can see the video companion for this here.

Medscape Medical News from the:

International Diabetes Federation (IDF) World Diabetes Congress 2011

Hi. I'm Dr. Anne Peters, and today I'm reporting from Dubai at the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) meetings. What I want to talk about is the US perspective on the international crisis of diabetes. Now, I know it's easy to sit back and think about all the things that we don't have in the United States when it comes to treating diabetes, and frankly there are many devices and things I'd love to provide to all my patients, but when you get outside of the United States and see what's happening around the world, one is both startled at how much other places lack as well as encouraged by all the things people are doing to try to tackle this epidemic.

This year more than any other year, I've traveled around the world. Most recently I was in Ethiopia, and in Ethiopia they have so little that it makes my clinic in East Los Angeles -- which is in a very poor part of town -- look like a magical oasis in the land of diabetes care. In Ethiopia, they don't really have insulin. So if you need insulin and have type 1 diabetes, you die. They don't really have much in the way of medications except for sulfonylurea agents, and maybe metformin. They don't have finger-stick glucose monitoring for most patients, and they don't have hemoglobin A1c measures. And yet they have people who are working together to bring technologies to Ethiopia and to then start addressing the problem throughout the population.

I think the world has increasingly become aware of these noncommunicable diseases that are wreaking havoc as our societies get older and change their lifestyles, and as rates of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes increase. I think everybody should come to a meeting like this, because here you are going to be able to speak to heads of diabetes associations from around the world, and exchanging ideas is frankly a lot of fun.

Now, what I find interesting in places where they have very little is that they're also eager for knowledge. Interestingly, at this meeting, I'm talking about continuous glucose monitoring, which is a tool that is expensive and even in the United States is often underutilized. But people like to learn about the potential of what we might be able to do for patients, even if they still at this point lack simple things like the tools with which to do self-monitoring of blood glucose levels.

A meeting like IDF is about connection. It is about learning from others around the world, what is important, and how to address these problems together. Everybody in the United States shouldn't take it for granted that we have access to insulin, test strips, and hemoglobin A1c testing. I think it's helpful to know what others lack and then try to help solve the problems both at home and around the world.

This has been Dr. Anne Peters for Medscape.

I present to you: The Future

2011-12-30T08:13:00.001-07:00

Some talk about "the big picture", but I am not sure we've seen anything as potentially comprehensive as this. While we can nit-pick at some of the predictions, I can tell you that this offers what we at SALSA like to call "the gift of perspective". I think it's also perfect for looking back and forward as we approach the New Year, 2012. Enjoy. Cheers, -DGA

Bioengineered Microvascular "Stamp" (postage prepaid)

2011-12-29T07:49:00.000-07:00

Let's stamp out vascular disease together in 2012?! Cheers, -DGA

This courtesy of Today's Suncoast News from a team at the University of Illinois.

_____________

A bio-engineered bandage that might one day allow doctors to bypass blocked arteries or help surgical incisions or wounds heal quicker with less scarring is under development at the University of Illinois.

Being created by a team jointly led by chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Hyunjoon Kong, and electrical and computer engineering professor Rashid Bashir, the bandage, dubbed a "microvascular stamp," spurs the development of blood vessels, a process known as "vascularization," in defined patterns.

The stamp carries out its work by delivering protein molecules called growth factors to areas on tissue that need blood vessels. "Any kind of tissue you want to rebuild, including bone, muscle or skin, is highly vascularized," said Kong.

The Illinois research is not the first time scientists and engineers have sought to spur the growth of blood vessels by adding growth factors to a material that is then applied to a wound.

Kong, Bashir and their colleagues, however, are taking a different approach. They have embedded the cells that produce and secrete the growth factors, not the factors themselves, in their stamp.

Measuring roughly one centimeter across, the stamp is created from a hydrogel made from polyethylene glycol and methacrylic alginate. Polyethylene glycol is a polymer the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved for use in laxatives and other pharmaceutical products. Methacrylic alginate is an edible material similar to gelatin.

The microvascular stamp has channels of varying sizes that allow the large growth factor molecules to be delivered in designed patterns.

As they will report in the January 2012 issue of the journal Applied Materials, the Illinois researchers tested the stamp by applying it to a chicken embryo for a week. After the stamp was removed, they found a network of new blood vessels in the pattern designed into the stamp.

"The ability to pattern functional blood vessels at this scale in living tissue has not been demonstrated before," Bashir said. In addition to growing blood vessels around blockages and spurring better wound healing, the researchers say, the stamp may be able to "normalize" the blood vessels serving cancerous tumors. Scientists believe tumors often metastasize, or spread, in response to a lack of oxygen delivered by blood vessels "abnormalized" by the cancer.

Are you smarter than a bacterium?

2011-12-27T20:51:00.001-07:00

Thanks to our SALSAmigo Warren Joseph for this wonderful find on the world wide interwebs.

This is a great talk from the Google campus lecture series. Worth a watch. Cheers, -DGA

Message from the World Union of Wound Healing Societies

2011-12-27T05:40:00.001-07:00

Folks:

This message was just sent to me by Professors Harii and Karikawa, President and Scientific Sessions Chairs of the WUWHS (respectively). I was asked to share this with you regarding Next Year's symposium in Yokohama, Japan. Enjoy. Cheers, -DGA

RE: WUWHS2012, September 2nd-6th, 2012, Yokohama, Japan

NOTICE: Abstract (Free paper) submission postponed until January 17, 2012, at noon. (JST: GMT+9)

We would very much appreciate your kind cooperation to encourage your colleagues, co-workers and health professionals at your institution to submit abstracts for free papers and register to the congress.

This is the announcement for the free paper submission and please note that your own assignment and abstract submission will be informed early next year.

Thank you very much for your continuous kind support and cooperation as Captains and Planners of the Streams, in
regard to the WUWHS2012. We are pleased to inform you that the planning
and organization for this meeting is proceeding smoothly and we are in
a good position with an excellent scientific program that includes
many symposia, panel sessions and special lectures involving many
distinguished international lecturers.

However, due to circumstances beyond the control of the congress
organizers, specifically the disasters of the earthquake and tsunami
and associated nuclear plant accident, along with the rise of the yen,
we are afraid that many overseas members may still be hesitating before
deciding to attend the WUWHS Congress, Sept. 2-6, 2012, in Yokohama.

Therefore we have extended the deadline for submission of Abstracts
from December, 20, 2011 to January, 17, 2012, and we strongly urge you
to encourage your colleagues to submit their papers and come to
Yokohama. http://www.wuwhs2012.com/

Recovery following the disasters is proceeding very well and
I am sure that all attending the meeting in the beautiful bayside city
of Yokohama will not only find a scientific meeting of great
importance but also have an enjoyable time with unsurpassed Japanese
hospitality.

We look forwards to seeing you in Yokohama.

Kiyonori Harii, MD., Congress President
Shigehiko Kawakami, MD., Chair, Scientific program Committee

Passwords: The bane of our digital existence. Is help on the horizon? Read on.

2011-12-24T07:34:00.001-07:00

We at SALSA have long bemoaned (and celebrated) the password. It is the bane of our existence, but it has (let's be frank) worked over the past 30 years (as it has yet to find a worthy replacement). In today's NYT, Somini Sengupta explores what's next. Please, Somini, help us. Cheers, -DGA

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

One touch-recognition password involves turning an image of a combination lock 90 degrees.

By SOMINI SENGUPTA

Published: December 23, 2011

REPRINTS
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Passwords are a pain to remember. What if a quick wiggle of five fingers on a screen could log you in instead? Or speaking a simple phrase?

Multimedia

Biometric Passwords

Bits Blog: Finding the Unique in You to Build a Better Password(December 23, 2011)

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Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

In another alternative to the password, one would sign one's name on a small screen.

Enlarge This Image

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Nasir Memon of N.Y.U.'s Polytechnic Institute has been working on touch recognition in iPads.

Neither idea is far-fetched. Computer scientists in Brooklyn are training their iPads to recognize their owners by the touch of their fingers as they make a caressing gesture. Banks are already using software that recognizes your voice, supplementing the standard PIN.

And after years of predicting its demise, security researchers are renewing their efforts to supplement and perhaps one day obliterate the old-fashioned password.

"If you ask me what is the biggest nuisance today, I would say it's the 40 different passwords I have to create and change," said Nasir Memon, a computer science professor at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University in Brooklyn who is leading the iPad project.

Many people would agree. The password has become a monkey on our digital backs — an essential key to our many devices and accounts, but increasingly a source of exasperation and insecurity.

The research arm of the Defense Department is looking for ways to use cues like a person's typing quirks to continuously verify identity — in case, say, a soldier's laptop ends up in enemy hands on the battlefield. In a more ordinary example, Google recently began nudging users to consider a two-step log-in system, combining a password with a code sent to their phones. Google's latest Androidsoftware can unlock a phone when it recognizes the owner's face or — not so safe — when it is tricked by someone holding up a photograph of the owner's face.

Still, despite these recent advances, it may be premature to announce the end of passwords, as Bill Gates famously did in 2004, when he said "the password is dead."

"The spectacularly incorrect assumption 'passwords are dead' has been harmful, discouraging research on how to improve the lot of close to two billion people who use them," Cormac Herley, a researcher at Microsoft, the company that Mr. Gates founded,wrote in a recent paper. Mr. Herley suggested instead that developers try "to better support the use of passwords" — for example, by helping people protect their wireless connections from eavesdroppers. "Passwords," Mr. Herley continued, "have proved themselves a worthy opponent: all those who have attempted to replace them have failed."

The touch-screen approach of Professor Memon in Brooklyn works because, as it happens, each person makes the same gesture uniquely. Their fingers are different, they move at different speeds, they have what he calls a different "flair." He wants logging in to be easy; besides, he said, some people find biometric measures like an iris scan to be "creepy."

In his research, the most popular gestures turned out to be the ones that feel most intuitive. One was to turn the image of a combination lock 90 degrees in one direction. Another was to sign one's name on the screen. In principle, the gesture can be used to unlock a device, or an app on the device that safely holds a variety of passwords.

Despite their resilience, passwords are weak, notably because their users have limited memories and a weakness for blurting out secrets. Most people need dozens of them, and they tend to pick ones that are so complex they need to be written down, or so simple they can be easily guessed. Recently, criminals have become adept at stealing passwords by sneaking malicious software onto computers or tricking users into typing them into an illegitimate site.

Companies like Facebook and Twitter have sought to address the frustration with passwords by allowing their usernames and passwords to open the door to millions of Web sites, a convenience that brings obvious risks. A thief with access to a master username and password can have access to a host of accounts.

Rachna Dhamija, a California computer scientist turned entrepreneur, sought to combat those weaknesses by breaking up the password. The user first logs in to the service that Ms. Dhamija built, UsableLogin, and signs in with her own partial password. Behind the scenes, the service verifies that the user is on an authorized device, and pulls the third piece from the cloud, generating a unique password for any Web site that the user wants to log in to — Facebook, for instance. In other words, one piece of the password rests with the user, another is stored in her device, and a third piece is kept online.

"You take a secret and you spread it across," said Ms. Dhamija, whose service was recently acquired by Webroot Software, based in Broomfield, Colo. "You're spreading the risk. The password is not stored in its whole form anywhere."

But even if a user has been authorized at the start of a session, what if someone else gains access to her computer an hour later? Darpa, the Defense Department's technology research arm, has invited security researchers to develop ways to verify a user every instant, based on the way the individual uses the machine — "for example, how the user handles the mouse and how the user crafts written language in an e-mail or document," it explains on its Web site.

Each of these techniques is driven by the notion that a password alone is an insufficient means to verify online identity. Think of them as a fortification: a password-plus.

Many companies use a smart card or a security "dongle" — a small piece of hardware that plugs into the computer and functions as a key — as that second step of verification to allow access to internal networks. Today, biometrics — an individual's unique physical traits — are emerging as an alternative.

At least a half-dozen banks in the United States ask their customers to verify who they are by reciting a two-second phrase to a computer over the phone, in addition to punching in their PINs. It could be as simple as "at my bank," and a million customers could recite the very same phrase and still sound unique, according to Nuance Communications, a company based in Burlington, Mass., that makes the technology.

As mobile phones become bodily appendages for people worldwide, they too are emerging as instruments to verify identity. Google introduced its two-step process earlier this year. It sends a six-digit code to an application on a Google user's cellphone to be entered, along with a password, when signing onto a Google account on a computer or tablet. The code can also be sent as a text message for those who don't have smartphones, or it can be conveyed through a phone call.

The extra step is not mandatory, and the company will not say how widely it has been adopted. But as vulnerable as passwords are to theft and compromise, Google says, it is increasingly important for a user's identity to be verified through another channel — a cellphone, in this case.

"I think we'll start to see people using their mobile devices as their pervasive identifiers," said Brendon Wilson, a security researcher at Symantec. "The password will no longer be the final arbiter that you are you. You will see layers on top."

Chef brings attention to diabetes awareness in documentary - CBS Atlanta 46

2011-12-23T19:56:00.000-07:00

Chef brings attention to diabetes awareness in documentary - CBS Atlanta 46

Is this Sensory Substitution Evolved? Meet the SurroGait System

2011-12-23T14:10:00.000-07:00

We at SALSA congratulate the folks at Orpyx for their great work in sensory substitution. Have a look at this pressure-sensitive insole / early warning system. Imagine this and some of the other technologies recently on this blog. Now imagine the future with a lot fewer ulcers and amputations. Happy Holidays. Cheers, -DGA

Activin: The Active (or missing) ingredient in Skin Cancer and Wound Healing?

2011-12-22T20:11:00.001-07:00

Enjoy this summary of a publication from the most recent issue of Nature Communication by Antsiferova and colleagues.

The protein that makes wounds heal quicker is called Activin. However, if an excess of it is present, it promotes the formation and growth of dangerous skin tumours. This has just been shown by ETH Zurich researchers led by Sabine Werner.

Rudolf Virchow was a good observer. In 1863 he wrote that chronic damage to skin and previous injuries promote the formation of malignant tumours. He backed up this statement with numerous personal observations. This year a research team led by Professor of Cell Biology Sabine Werner has confirmed what Virchow suspected, and has done so at the molecular level, which was not possible for him at that time.

In a paper just published in Nature Communications the researchers demonstrate for the first time the existence of a molecular driver which, on the one hand, plays an important role in wound healing, but on the other hand, also promotes skin cancer. Citing the researcher Harold Dvorak, who postulated it in 1986, the ETH Zurich professor says "Tumours are wounds that do not heal. A cancer uses the same mechanisms that a wound also needs in order to heal, but becomes dependent on them and never switches them off." She says this is recognisable by the pattern of gene activity in tumours.

Activin as a "suspect"

Based on her previous results on wound healing, Sabine Werner suspected that the growth and differentiation factor Activin might also play an important role in the formation of tumours. A high concentration of this protein is needed to speed up wound healing. If it is inactive or less abundant, wounds heal much slower and, in fact, with a better cosmetic appearance, because in its absence there is much less formation of the unwanted and non-functional connective tissue that is a characteristic feature of scars.

In the new paper, she and her post-doctoral co-worker Maria Antsiferova now show that Activin actually promotes the formation of skin tumours. In their model using transgenic mice overexpressing Activin in keratinocytes, the major cell type of the epidermis, the researchers were able to illustrate that increased amounts of Activin promote the formation of tumours. When they subjected transgenic and non-transgenic control animals to a particular procedure that induces the formation of skin tumours, the transgenic animals developed many more tumours in a shorter time. The incidence also increased: compared to their "normal" littermates, a larger percentage of the transgenic animals developed tumours.

Activin reprograms immune cells

However, Activin is not directly responsible for the malignant transformation of keratinocytes. The protein uses a roundabout route by reprogramming various immune cells. For example, it suppresses the division of the so-called gamma-delta-T-cells of the epidermis, which are able to recognise tumour cells and to kill them. As a result, these cells are depleted from the epidermis and the tumour is no longer attacked. Activin also induces what are known as regulatory T-cells, which inhibit the immune system's attack on the tumour. The principal experimenter Maria Antsiferova says "In our paper we can show which cells are affected by Activin." On the other hand, the researchers do not yet know, which Activin-regulated genes in the targeted immune cells are responsible for the observed effects. "That will be the next aspect we will study."

To understand the importance of Activin in the development of skin cancer, the ETH Zurich researchers studied not only the mouse model. From the Dermatology Clinics of the Universities of Lausanne and Zurich, with which Sabine Werner collaborates closely, she received expert support in determining the malignancy of the tumours found in the mice, and also human skin cancer tissues to determine the level of Activin in the latter. They obtained the same result as in the mouse model: Activin was also present at an elevated concentration in the human skin cancer samples, especially in malignant squamous cell carcinomas.

Sabine Werner now plans to investigate whether an excessive level of Activin is also present in the precursor stages of skin tumours that occur frequently in skin exposed to sunlight. The ETH Zurich researchers also want to find out whether the same immune cells that are involved in the Activin-induced formation of tumours in mice are also important for the development of skin cancer in humans and if this correlates with Activin expression levels.

Activin inhibition feasible

Obviously, the researchers are also looking for a strategy to inhibit activin action. Although that could impair wound healing, Werner thinks the risk is justifiable. The ETH Zurich professor says "Many cancer therapies suppress the immune system and wound healing, so from that point of view it would nevertheless be a feasible method." Therefore, the next step would be to use antagonists that specifically inhibit Activin, which are already being produced by pharmaceutical companies for other purposes.

However, Activin is not the villain in every case. Not every skin tumour overexpresses this factor. Werner says "Each tumour must be considered specifically, to see how much of Activin it expresses, which leads us to personalised medicine: every patient must be treated individually."

Literature reference: Antsiferova M, Huber M, Meyer M, Piwko-Czuchra A, Ramadan T, MacLeod AS, Havran WL, Dummer R, Hohl D & Werner S: Activin enhances skin tumourigenesis and malignant progression by inducing a pro-tumourigenic immune cell response. Nature Communications, Volume: 2, Article number: 576, doi:10.1038/ncomms1585

Kudos for Caring

2011-12-22T13:14:00.001-07:00

Our thanks to Donn Badman and his wonderful family for the lovely note about SALSA this morning in the Arizona Daily Star. This one little missive seems to be getting more positive attention than many national stories we've had on the front page!

Happy Holidays to all.

___________________

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Letters to the editor

Posted: Thursday, December 22, 2011 12:00 am | Comments

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Editor's note: We've been asking readers during this holiday season to tell us what they're thankful for.

Educator, Tucson

Doctors, staff, daughter aided wife through rehabilitation

I want to thank Dr. Armstrong and the staff of the Southern Arizona Limb Salvage Alliance (SALSA) at University of Arizona Medical Center for their resolve to help my wife through her surgery and rehabilitation during the last year.

They have worked effortlessly to help their patients have resourceful lives and to teach new doctors about podiatry issues concerning diabetic patients.

And I want to thank my daughter, Dawn, who has worked tirelessly helping her mother this year with home care and by first discovering her mother's issue early enough to prevent a major amputation.

Thank you from a grateful husband and father.

Donn L. Badman

Tucson

The Best of Make 2011: 3D Printed Objects

2011-12-20T20:57:00.001-07:00

When we at SALSA look at these items (from Make Magazine's best of 3D-printing list), we marvel at the complexity and look forward to widespread truly functional 3D printed body parts.

Hi makers! This is my unscientific list of favorite printable projects we've blogged over the past year. What cool projects did I miss? Post it in comments.

#10

Printable Modular Origami Ball

#9

3D-printed delta bot

#8

Printable Analog Sine/Cosine Calculating Machine

#7

Beautiful Printed Clock

#6

3D-Printed Relativity

#5

Cute, Green, Printable Mars Rover Model

#4

Print a Fully Functional Pin Tumbler Padlock

#3

PLA Seed Bomb

#2

Printable Animatronic Tail

#1

The Thingiverse Cube Gears Phenomenon

Meet the Masters 2011 Year in Review: Weil, King, Armstrong Guests Tomorrow Night, 9PM EST

2011-12-19T16:11:00.001-07:00

Be sure to join Dr. Bret Ribotsky tomorrow (Tuesday) at 6PM Pacific, 9PM Eastern as he hosts the legendary Lowell Weil, APMA President Mike King and (to a much lesser extent) me.

Go to: .PodiatricSuccess.com and register for free and listen in live. The audience is capped at 1000, so first-come, first-served!

update: the Archived episode is available here.

Wearable Computing: The Next "Disruption"

2011-12-19T09:23:00.001-07:00

Enjoy this great Nick Bilton article from today's New York Times

Adrian Dennis/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesInstead of going through life staring into a mobile device, people one day may be able to wear a computer.

The invention of the smartphone has created a world where millions of people stroll through life constantly staring into a mobile device, like Narcissus at the edge of a pond.Technology often has a way of fixing the problems it creates. Here's one that needs solving.

I know. I'm one of them.

People are not going to put these devices down in the near future. Realistically, we will become only more absorbed by the Screen. Technology will have to solve this problem. It will do so by creating wearable computers.

Wearable computing is a broad term. Technically, a fancy electronic watch is a wearable computer. But the ultimate version of this technology is a screen that would somehow augment our vision with information and media.

Over the last year, Apple and Google have secretly begun working on projects that will become wearable computers. Their main goal: to sell more smartphones. (In Google's case, more smartphones sold means more advertising viewed.)

In Google's secret Google X labs, researchers are working on peripherals that — when attached to your clothing or body — would communicate information back to an Android smartphone.

People familiar with the work in the lab say Google has hired electronic engineers from Nokia Labs, Apple and engineering universities who specialize in tiny wearable computers.

Apple has also experimented with prototype products that could relay information back to the iPhone. These conceptual products could also display information on other Apple devices, like an iPod, which Apple is already encouraging us to wear on our wrists by selling Nanos with watch faces.

A person with knowledge of the company's plans told me that a "very small group of Apple employees" had been conceptualizing and even prototyping some wearable devices.

One idea being discussed is a curved-glass iPod that would wrap around the wrist; people could communicate with the device using Siri, the company's artificial intelligence software.

The brain that brings all these things together is the smartphone, which after all is really the first wearable computer. Researchers note that the smartphone is almost never more than three feet away from its user. It is often just inches from the bed during the night as well, and has replaced the alarm clock for many people.

As a result, the smartphone is going to be the hub for our information sharing and gathering. Think of it as a force field that will engulf us wherever we are, transmitting power and Internet access to sensors and screens that are tacked to our clothing.

"Years ago, researchers envisioned these tiny computers transmitting information to the Internet," said Yael Maguire, a visiting scientist at M.I.T.and Harvard . "It wasn't what we envisioned, but it happened. It's called the smartphone."

Michael Liebhold, a senior researcher specializing in wearable computing at the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, Calif., predicts that the next step in technology is the blurring of the real and virtual worlds.

Over the next 10 years, he says, he envisions that people will be wearing glasses with built-in screens and, eventually, contact lenses — with working displays.

"Kids will play virtual games with their friends, where they meet in a park and run around chasing virtual creatures for points," he said.

Fashion will most likely be one of the first disruptions. Imagine teenagers being able to design their own virtual clothing that others wearing heads-up displays can see.

Parents, teachers and friends could be shown entirely different outfits. For example, I could look like a giant pink cat in a bustier to my friends, but my boss would see me in a fancy Italian suit.

At least, I hope that's what he would see.

The alternative, I'm afraid, might call for a technological solution of its own.

The Internet gets physical

2011-12-17T22:15:00.001-07:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/sunday-review/the-internet-gets-physical.html?_r=2&ref=opinion&pagewanted=all

Cuts in Preventative Diabetic Foot Care will Cost Limbs-- and Dollars

2011-12-17T14:54:00.001-07:00

This editorial from the President Elect of the Maine Podiatric Medical Association, Dr. Adam Darcy

CONTRIBUTORS

Podiatric screening saves MaineCare money

I am deeply troubled by the proposal to eliminate podiatry from MaineCare, as this will not decrease costs to the system but likely increase them, as well as put patients with deep need in jeopardy of limb loss and other complications.

For diabetic patients alone, the risk is tremendous. It is well documented that if every American at risk for developing a diabetic foot ulcer visited a podiatrist once before complications set in, the U.S. health care system could save $3.5 billion annually. This estimation is a projection based on findings from the Thomson Reuters study published in the March-April issue of the Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association.

As president-elect of the Maine Podiatric Medical Association and a practicing podiatrist, I am proud of the positive contribution podiatrists make to our health care delivery and financing systems. As a state leader who develops policies that affect the delivery of care, I thought it was imperative that readers have this information.

The study focused on identifying individuals with diabetes who developed a foot ulcer, and of those who developed a foot ulcer, examining whether they received any care from a podiatrist in the year prior to development of the ulcer. The study, sponsored by APMA and independently conducted by Thomson Reuters Healthcare, utilized Thomson Reuters Market Scan Data Base to examine claims from 316,527 patients with commercial insurance (64 years old and younger) and 157,529 patients with Medicare and an employer-sponsored secondary insurance.

The study's findings are astounding. After comparing health and risk factors for those who had seen a podiatrist to those who had not, the commercial insurance group saved $19,686 per patient over a three-year period. The Medicare group saved $4,271 per patient over the same three years. Conservatively projected, these per-patient numbers support an estimated $10.5 billion in savings over three years ($3.5 billion a year).

Moreover, among patients with commercial insurance, each $1 invested in care by a podiatrist results in $27 to $51 of savings for the health care delivery system. Among Medicare-eligible patients, each $1 invested in care by a podiatrist results in $9 to $13 of savings. These savings are a result of effective evaluation, prevention and treatment of foot complications related to diabetes by podiatrists.

The Thomson Reuters Study is not alone in demonstrating the value of care by podiatrists for patients with diabetes. In fact, an unrelated, independent study conducted by Duke University researchers found that Medicare-eligible patients with diabetes were less likely to experience lower-extremity amputations if a podiatrist was a member of the patient care team.

Podiatrists receive the education, training and experience necessary to provide quality foot and ankle care to patients, and at the same time present cost-containment solutions to our health care delivery and financing systems. Access to podiatrists is an important component of ensuring quality of care and at the same time providing cost savings. The growing epidemics of diabetes and obesity and their concurrent complications, along with the aging of the population, are among the many reasons podiatrists are necessary and important members of the physician community providing health care.

Inspiration, Innovation, Persistence and Feet

2011-12-16T10:53:00.001-07:00

In the SALSA tradition of innovation coming from every corner and age group around the globe, have a look at this terrific idea from rural Western Washington State.

A dream come true, Richland woman gets patent for foot dryer

By John Trumbo Tri-City Herald

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Tri-City Herald photo/Kai-Huei Yau

Guadalupe Olvera of Richland recently got a patent for a foot dryer she invented thanks to help from associate professor Gene Holand, who runs the Center for Innovation and Design at Columbia Basin College in Pasco.

RICHLAND — A 64-year-old Richland woman whose idea for a foot-and-toes dryer has received a U.S. patent with hopes the device will help those with diabetes.

Guadalupe Olvera said that a yearslong effort to obtain the patent was possible because of help and encouragement from teachers at Pasco's Columbia Basin College, close friends and her faith in God.

Olvera said the idea came to her in 2003.

"I got out of the shower and saw the floor vent. I thought I could put my toes right there. It felt so nice, and warm," Olvera said.

That is when it occurred to her: "Oh, my God. The Lord Jesus just gave me an idea."

That idea would take shape as a square box, about 5 inches tall and slightly larger than a floor scale. Inside it would be a heater with a blower motor to circulate warm air through dozens of small holes to foot pads. The pads are perforated and molded to fit the user's foot size and shape of the toes.

The simple, yet effective design has toe separators that spread the toes slightly for air circulation.

Olvera believed she had a winner of an idea and wanted to apply for a patent, but she was reluctant to tell anyone. She kept the inspired idea secret for five years.

"I couldn't trust nobody," said Olvera, a grandmother with seven children.

In 2008, Olvera cautiously mentioned her foot dryer idea to a friend who advised her to speak with Gene Holand, associate professor at Columbia Basin College's Center for Innovation and Design.

"When she came to us, my father-in-law was diabetic and drying his feet was a real challenge," said Holand, who put his marketing innovations class on the project.

It wasn't long before Olvera was working with Bruce Davis, a small business developer, and Troy Butler, a designer.

Olvera had already confided with another small business innovator and inventor, Richard Bogert of Bogert Companies in Pasco, who counseled and encouraged her.

"It was like it was meant to be. I couldn't believe it," she said.

Before the year was out, Olvera, with her daughter Juanita Grimaldo, hired patent attorney Bob Shaver of Boise to pursue a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademarks Office in Washington, D.C.

The idea for a foot dryer was not an easy sell to the patent examiner, Shaver said.

"We had several rejections, but we finally convinced him," he said.

Throughout the 30-month process, which cost Olvera several thousand dollars in legal expenses, she insisted her idea was worth the effort.

"She is more inspired by the need she sees than anything else," Shaver said. "It is inspirational to watch her and I wish her the best of luck."

Bogert, who spent decades building his own home-based business into a successful manufacturing enterprise with two dozen employees, said Olvera's commitment to the project is admirable.

Olvera said that seeing her father-in-law suffer with diabetes and having been around other diabetics convinced her the need for a toes dryer was real.

"They have trouble keeping their feet dry and they get sores between their toes, and can lose them. I know this would be beneficial for them. A lot of people around the world are going to need this," she said.

Olvera has lived in the Tri-Cities for 60 years. Born in Texas, she moved as a child with her parents to Eastern Washington to seek work in agricultural fields.

Bogert said that for Olvera, winning a U.S. patent means her idea is licensable now, but if she intends to produce the foot dryers, the real work still is ahead.

"Many people dream their whole lives of (getting their idea patented), and never do it. This is no little achievement," Bogert said.

Getting the patent certificate Nov. 29 was a dream come true for Olvera and her daughter, Grimaldo. Together, they spent many nights on their home computer researching U.S. patents to see how Olvera's idea would qualify for a patent.

"I wanted to give up," Grimaldo said.

Olvera also wearied. "But after a few days, she'd be back at it," Grimaldo noted.

Throughout the 2 1/2 years, Olvera managed to keep the secret from people she hadn't involved, even family members and her siblings who were outside the home.

"A lot of people will be surprised when they hear this. I have tried so hard to come so far," Olvera said.

Olvera now wants to see her idea built and sold.

"When people with diabetes are using it as a health-benefit device, then I will know I have been successful," she said.

Slip sliding away

2011-12-16T06:48:00.001-07:00

Thanks to our long-time SALSAmigo, John Sorensen for picking up this fascinating article on how we negotiate slippery surfaces. Think about this the next time you're sliding on the sidewalk.

Cheers, DGA

http://m.jeb.biologists.org/content/214/8/1369.abstract

Electronic Skin: Discounts for the holidays

2011-12-15T19:00:00.000-07:00

http://m.engadget.com/default/article.do?artUrl=http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/15/cheap-electronic-skin-edges-us-closer-to-cyberpunk-future/&category=classic&postPage=1

UK Diabetes SHOCK: 24000 unnecessary deaths each year

2011-12-14T14:08:00.001-07:00

This from today's Yorkshire Post.

About 15% of all deaths each year in the UK are directly attributable to diabetes. Many of these can be prevented.

_________

24,000 die every year due to lack of diabetes support

Published on Wednesday 14 December 2011 06:00

SHOCK figures today reveal up to 24,000 people with diabetes die unnecessarily every year.

Ministers have branded the death toll "unacceptable" and have ordered the NHS to make immediate improvements to provide the "right care at the right time". Experts say most deaths can be avoided if diabetes is better managed.

A report published today by the National Diabetes Audit for England finds women aged 15-34 with diabetes are nine times more likely to die young than those without the condition.

It calculates two young people in the age group could be suffering an avoidable death every week but three quarters of unnecessary fatalities are among diabetics aged over 65.

An estimated 70,000-75,000 people with diabetes die in England every year – accounting for about 15 per cent of all deaths.

Most deaths are related to the condition – diabetes can cause serious heart and kidney problems, as well as amputation of limbs and loss of eyesight.

But today's report said that people are dying too early due to poor management of their condition – among them failures to receive basic diabetic health checks on the NHS, having unhealthy lifestyles and not taking medication properly.

It argues that educating people in managing their condition reduces the risk they will suffer dangerously high or low blood sugar, which increases the risk of complications but can also lead directly to death.

The report finds that there is a strong link between deprivation and increased death rates, with those aged under 65 from poorer areas twice as likely to die than those from more affluent areas. Barbara Young, chief executive of Diabetes UK, said: "These figures are incredibly alarming as there is no reason why people with diabetes cannot live long and healthy lives if they receive the right care and support to help them manage their condition.

"Self-management is very important, but it is also vital that people with diabetes receive the care they need to help them manage their condition in the first place.

"We know that half of people with Type 2 and more than two thirds of people with Type 1 diabetes are not receiving the care they need to stay healthy, so it is imperative we take action now to stop even more lives being needlessly cut short."

Audit lead clinician Bob Young said: "For the first time ever we have a reliable measure of the huge impact of diabetes on early death.

"Many of these early deaths could be prevented. The rate of new diabetes is increasing every year. So, if there are no changes, the impact of diabetes on national mortality will increase.

"Doctors, nurses and the NHS working in partnership with people who suffer from diabetes should be able to improve these grim statistics."

Care services minister Paul Burstow said: "The audit has revealed a shocking variation in care with devastating consequences for the lives of those with diabetes.

"This snapshot of NHS diabetes care reveals an unacceptable death toll, a death toll that can be cut by delivering the right care at the right time.

"Armed with the results of this audit, I expect the NHS to learn from the best.

"It's not rocket science – integrated health care can help people manage their diabetes, stay well and out of hospital."

Diabetes UK has compiled a list of 15 essential health checks and services and there are nine checks recommended on the NHS.

The nine include blood sugar control, cholesterol, blood pressure, body mass index and eye and foot examinations to check for complications.

But the audit found that only around half of people with Type 2 diabetes and less than a third with Type 1 diabetes, which usually develops in childhood, receive all nine checks.

Some 290,000 people in the UK have Type 1 diabetes and another 2.6 million are diagnosed with Type 2 but a further 850,000 are believed to be undiagnosed.

World's fastest camera captures movies at the speed of light

2011-12-13T05:47:00.001-07:00

Wow. This is truly a new way to look at the world. Enjoy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/science/speed-of-light-lingers-in-face-of-mit-media-lab-camera.html?_r=2&ref=technology

David G. Armstrong, DPM, MD, PhD
Professor of Surgery and Director
Southern Arizona Limb Salvage Alliance (SALSA)
University of Arizona College of Medicine
+1 520 305 9393 (voice/text)

diabeticfootonline.com
toeandflow.com (Blog)
david.g.armstrong (Facebook)
@dgarmstrong (Twitter)

NPR.org » Libraries Make Room For High-Tech 'Hackerspaces'

2011-12-11T11:52:00.001-07:00

http://m.npr.org/story/143401182?url=/2011/12/10/143401182/libraries-make-room-for-high-tech-hackerspaces

The Diabetic Foot Blog

En Route to National Venous Ulcer Working Group Meeting

Near instant infection detection: The Future is Now

New breakthrough allows glucose to be measured in saliva, avoiding finger sticksh

Foot Recognition Is the New Face Recognition

Aubrey de Grey, SENS, anti-aging drugs, and clinical trials. - Slate Magazine

The Dangers of High Heels - NYTimes.com

A Packed House: College of Science Lecture Series

CDC: Diabetes amputations falling dramatically

Experts stress selectivity in advanced ulcer care

Diabetes experts focus on foot ulcer recurrence

What Dr. Smartphone can do for you

amednews: Federal rule would ease access for face, hand transplants :: Jan. 23, 2012 ... American Medical News

Tactile Imaging Sensor Could Facilitate Early Diagnosis of Tumors

UofA Update: How Autonomous Robots Built to Survey Planets Will Bring Sight to the Blind

Medical technology business Eykona takes 3D to America - Telegraph

The Fast Life of Oscar Pistorius - NYTimes.com

Stretchable Solar Cells to Power Super Skin

Extraterrestrial Microbes: No Spacecraft Assembly Required?

Robots for the Elderly = Fukushima Repair operation? Necessity is the mother of invention

The Greatest Running Shoe Never Sold - Businessweek

Work out, lick wound, rinse, repeat: Exercise increases antimicrobial peptides in saliva

Podimetrics: Idea draws on engineering and business to help diabetics - MIT News Office

Amputated Gecko Tails: Almost Immortal?

Nike's Fuelband: The next "Jawbone"?! (From Gizmodo)

Choosing a shoe: Stiffness matters

New Study: Tuberculosis vs. Toes: Isoniazid for wounds?

Mr. Jobs: does this look good on me? Apple patents clothes that track how you wear them, tell you when it's time to update your wardrobe

Obesity Rates Stall, But No Decline - NYTimes.com

Toe and Flow: Van Nuys center takes new approach to prevent amputations - LA Daily News

See the Lab on a chip: You've heard of microfluidics, now meet photoelectrowetting!

Really cool stuff going on in Lille, France outlined by Technology Review's Physics "arxiv" blog this morning.

First Demonstration of Actuation-At-A-Distance Effect For Labs-On-A-Chip

Amputation rate high among Irish diabetics - Health News, Health - Independent.ie

Mobile Technology Is Transforming The Health Industry, But To What Extent? | TechCrunch

Turn your kitchen window into a monitor!?

Samsung Turns Any Window into an Amazing Computer

From PT Online: Breaking Out Of Our ‘Echo Chamber’ At Conferences. THREE things to look for

Swallowing Parasitic Worms May Heal Your Ails | Intestinal Worms & Hookworms | Wound Healing & Immune System | Worm Therapy | LiveScience

A new hormone revs up the body's fat-burning engine

High-tech beds to help the elderly and infirm - San Jose Mercury News

Diabetes patients head to Toronto or lose a limb

Genome: $1000 sequences you in 24 hours.

The Diabetic Foot: Our Population Has Changed, but our Methods Haven't

Glucometer - Measure, Trend & Care

Portions have grown- So has diabetes- which can lead to amputation

New York anti-obesity ads pair soda, leg amputations

This from Jonathan Allen at Reuters

SALSAisms: Update

SALSA Operating Room Playlist, January 2012 Edition

Toe and Flow: SALSA Cartoons

Surgeons and Hospital that Treated Giffords Build on Success

Surgeons, hospital that treated Giffords build on successes

By Ken Alltucker, The Arizona Republic

The International Diabetes Epidemic: What does it mean for clinicians?

Medscape Medical News from the:

I present to you: The Future

Bioengineered Microvascular "Stamp" (postage prepaid)

Are you smarter than a bacterium?

Message from the World Union of Wound Healing Societies

Passwords: The bane of our digital existence. Is help on the horizon? Read on.

By SOMINI SENGUPTA

Published: December 23, 2011

Multimedia

Biometric Passwords

Related

Bits Blog: Finding the Unique in You to Build a Better Password(December 23, 2011)

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Chef brings attention to diabetes awareness in documentary - CBS Atlanta 46

Is this Sensory Substitution Evolved? Meet the SurroGait System

Activin: The Active (or missing) ingredient in Skin Cancer and Wound Healing?

Kudos for Caring

Letters to the editor

Letters to the editor

The Best of Make 2011: 3D Printed Objects

#10

#9

#8

#7