INDO-UK Diabetes: January 18th - 19th, 2013

Last week, I went to the INDO-UK Diabetes Summit (www.ibhi/event/diabetes_summit/) organized by the Indo-British Health Initiative and the British Deputy High Commission Chennai. India and the UK have vastly different approaches to confronting the issue of widespread diabetes in their respective populations; examining the difference, learning the significance, could make the difference!

Comparing Healthiness of White and Brown Rice

Last week I visited Chennai (formerly Madras). While there, I came across compelling evidence that brown rice is 'healthier' than white rice. Given that diabetes is becoming a larger international issue, it is important that rice eaters be aware of this. The question is: What is the best way to provide this information to remote populations?  or "best way to influence change in eating habits?"

Wounds International

Wounds International conference is being held in February 2011 in Cape Town, South Africa. This conference is focused on promoting wound care on an international level, focusing on improving, informing, and educating. For more information visit http://www.woundsinternational.com/

September 2010 Issue--Diabetes & Foot Care

Check out the latest issue of the International Journal of Lower Extremity Wounds this month's topic is Diabetes and Foot Care paying close attention to emerging trends and epidemiology in India. Statistics surrounding both diabetes and amputations is staggering, as Vijay Shukla and Raj Mani state in their article, "Emerging Trends in Diabetic Foot Ulcer Management in India," there are nearly 50 million diabetics in India alone and "worldwide, more than a million amputations are performed each year as a consequence to diabetes, which means that a lower limb is lost to diabetes somewhere in the world every 30 seconds." Read more of this article and the rest of the issue at http://ijl.sagepub.com/.

Shukla V., Mani R. Emerging Trends in Diabetic Foot Ulcer Management in India. Int J Lower Extrem Wounds. 2010; 9(3):111-112.

Management of the Diabetic Foot

Brief announcement about courses being held on the Management of the Diabetic Foot in Pisa, Italy. For further information please see their website, http://www.diabeticfootcourses.org/.

Longlasting Oil Spill Effects?

We are giving much due consideration to the likely effects of the world running out of oil. What would be the effects on the ways in which we develop essential health care products? Compression garments that are vital to manage venous disease may need totally different manufacturing processes. These thoughts began rolling around in my mind as I sat in a coffee shop in downtown Manhattan yesterday. There is a great deal more to learn from the terrible oil sill along the Gulf of Mexico.

Raj Mani
Editor-in-Chief
IJLEW

Herbs and Wound Care

Why are herbal cures rare in wound healing? There are some reports of products well tried and rested--don't get me wrong. The main complications in most wounds are lack of blood flow, infection, and edema. Edema makes wounds more painful, it comes in the way of blood flow and oxygen supply to the wounds. And of course it makes walking and standing more tedious.

Simple techniques help to maintain edema. Doctors prescribe water tablets too. Much is understood in the physiology, so why don't we have simple herbal solutions? Of course they need to be safe and effective. Uncomplicated experiments can help to establish these goals. We need Herbal Pharmacologists in the wound healing lab. And given the knowledge of local herbs in most countries, interested Pharmacologists could give us cheap and effective solutions to a common, but difficult problem to resolve.

Plants have evolved over many millenia withstanding varied and even harsh environments. In doing so, their genetic programming is likely to have altered its code and ability to survive. We should look to nature while gazing through the window of the lab.

Raj Mani
Editor-in-Chief
IJLEW