Foot complications are a well known factor which contribute to the morbidity of diabetes and increases the chance of amputation. A total of 126 consecutive diabetic patients were evaluated by diabetic foot screening. Forty-one patients showed an impaired protective sense when tested with Semmes-Weinstein monofilament 5.07 (10 g), and 92% of them showed peripheral polyneuropathy in nerve conduction study (NCS). The mean vibration score of the Rydel-Seiffer graduated tuning fork in patients with peripheral polyneuropathy in nerve conduction (NCV) study was 5.38+/-2.0, which was significantly different from that of patients without polyneuropathy in NCS. Among the deformities identified on examination, callus, corn, and hallux valgus were the greatest. While checking the ankle/ brachial index (ABI), we also evaluated the integrity of vasculature in the lower extremities. After extensive evaluation, we classified the patients into eight groups (category 0,1,2,3,4A,4B,5,6). The result of this study suggested that the Semmes-Weinstein monofilament test, Rydel-Seiffer graduated tuning fork test, and checking the ankle/brachial index were simple techniques for evaluating pathologic change in the diabetic foot by office screening, and that this screening based on treatment-oriented classification helps to reduce pedal complications in a diabetic population
Diabetic Angiopathies/diagnosis ; Diabetic Angiopathies/complications ; Diabetic Foot/physiopathology ; Diabetic Foot/diagnosis* ; Diabetic Foot/classification ; Diabetic Neuropathies/diagnosis ; Diabetic Neuropathies/complications ; Female ; Foot/physiopathology ; Human ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Middle Age ; Podiatry/methods ; Sensory Thresholds

In diabetes mellitus, thickening of basement membrane in capillaries and small vessels is a well-known finding and important in the progression of diabetic microangiopathy. We evaluated whether the plasma levels of type IV collagen and fibronectin, which are important factors of basement membrane, are related with the presence of diabetic microangiopathy. Plasma type IV collagen and fibronectin levels were measured in 40 healthy controls (Mean +/- SD, age; 50.3 +/- 5.5 yr) and 94 diabetic patients (age; 52.4 +/- 13.5 yr) with and without microvascular complications. The mean plasma levels of type IV collagen (5.3 +/- 2.9 ng/ml) and fibronectin (474.4 +/- 119.4 ug/ml) in diabetic patients were significantly higher (p < 0.01) than in healthy controls (3.7 +/- 1.3 ng/ml and 319 +/- 50.9 ug/ml). The mean plasma level of type IV collagen in diabetic patients with complications (6.6 +/- 3.7 ng/ml) was significantly higher (p < 0.01) than in those without complications (4.3 +/- 1.7 ng/ml) and became higher in more complicated patients. Furthermore, the severity of retinopathy and several indicators of nephropathy such as serum BUN, creatinine and proteinuria were closely associated with plasma type IV collagen level and a significant correlation was found between plasma type IV collagen and creatinine clearance (r = -0.31, p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in plasma fibronectin concentrations, however, between the diabetic patients with complications and those without complications.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Adult ; Aged ; Biological Markers/blood ; Blood Proteins/urine ; Blood Urea Nitrogen ; Collagen/*blood ; Creatinine/blood ; Diabetic Angiopathies/*blood/diagnosis ; Diabetic Nephropathies/blood/diagnosis ; Diabetic Retinopathy/blood/diagnosis ; Female ; Fibronectins/*blood ; Human ; Male ; Middle Age

Diabetes Mellitus ; drug therapy ; Diabetic Angiopathies ; drug therapy ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Phytotherapy

BACKGROUND: With respect to the risk of developing diabetic vascular complications, the central purpose of most screening and detection program, is to identify people with diabetes at early stage so they might have advantages of early treatment to prevent complication of the disease. Oral glucose tolerence test(OGTT) is widely used for diagnosis of diabetes and impaired glucose tolerence, bit the performance of a complete OGTT is not only time consuming and expensive but physically demanding on the individual being tested. Determination of HbA1 and more recently of glycosylated total serum proteins(fructosamine) has been proposed as an alternative method of screening and diagnosis. The aim of our cross-sectional study is to compare the values of fructosamine and HbA1, for the ourpose of diabetes diagnosis with the OGTT as reference method. METHODS: In the study, from January 1996 to August 1996, we included 55 consecutive subjects in Kyeungssang Hospital. Blood samples for HbA1 and fructosamone determination were drawn at the same time as a fasting plasma glucose sample, and then all subjects underwent a standard 2-hour OGTT according to the World Health Organization recom-mandations, The subjects were classified according to the American Diabetes Association classification. RESULTS: In our study, we observed fasting plasma glucose of 145.32+/-75.00mg/deciliter, two-hour plasma glucose of 245.83+/-155.22mg/deciliter, HbA1 of 7.06+/-2.77%, and fructosamine of 308.77+/-128.23 micromol/liter. The correlation coefficient between FPG and HbA1 was 0.9098(p<.05), between FPG and fructosamine 0.7953(p Blood Glucose ; Classification ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Diabetic Angiopathies ; Diagnosis* ; Diagnostic Tests, Routine ; Fasting ; Fructosamine* ; Glucose ; Glucose Tolerance Test ; Hemoglobin A, Glycosylated* ; Mass Screening ; ROC Curve ; World Health Organization

PURPOSE: To validate the Cardiff Wound Impact Schedule (CWIS) to assess the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of Sri Lankan patients with diabetic leg and foot ulcers. METHODS: English version of CWIS was examined for cultural compatibility, translated into Sinhala and pretested. The Sinhala versionwas administered in parallel with the validated Sinhala version of SF-36 by an interviewer to all patients (n = 140) at baseline to determine the construct validity. Reliability of CWIS was measured by internal consistency and test-retest stability. The instrument was readministered in 2 weeks on 33 patients with nonhealing ulcers to determine the test-retest stability and in 3 months on 50 patients with healed ulcers to determine the ability of CWIS to discriminate HRQoL between patients with healed versus nonhealed ulcers. Acceptability of CWIS was assessed by the response rate, completion rate and the average time taken to complete a single interview. RESULTS: The construct validity demonstrated moderately significant correlations between related subscales of CWIS and SF-36 (Spearman's r = .32–.51, p = .021 to p < .001) for the whole study sample. Internal consistencies (Cronbach α = .68–.86) and test-retest stability (.56–.70) were acceptable. The tool was sensitive in discriminating the impact of the wound on HRQoL in healed versus nonhealed status (p ≤ .001). The tool showed good acceptability. CONCLUSIONS: The Sinhala version of CWIS is valid, reliable and acceptable for assessing the impact of wound on HRQoL. This instrument is sensitive in detecting the differences of the impact of healed and nonhealed ulcers on QoL in patients with diabetic leg and foot ulcer.
Adult ; Aged ; Cross-Cultural Comparison ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Diabetic Angiopathies/*diagnosis/ethnology ; Diabetic Foot/diagnosis/ethnology ; Female ; Humans ; Leg Ulcer/*diagnosis/ethnology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Quality of Life ; Reproducibility of Results ; Severity of Illness Index ; Sri Lanka/ethnology ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to understand the situation of diabetes patients receiving examinations for diabetes complications and to explore the factors influencing their intention to receive examinations for diabetes complications. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed that included 251 diabetes patients who visited outpatient clinics in Southern Taiwan. A survey using a self-administered questionnaire was conducted from October 2015 to January 2016. The questionnaire included items on demographic characteristics, perceived susceptibility to diabetes complications, perceived seriousness of diabetes complications, perceived benefits of taking action to receive diabetes complication examinations, perceived barriers to taking action to receive diabetes complication examinations, and the intention to receive diabetes complication examinations. The data were analyzed using regression analysis. RESULTS: The percentage of participants who received fundus, foot, and kidney examinations was 67.7%, 61.4%, and 73.3%, respectively. Every point increase on the perceived barriers to taking action to receive diabetes complication examinations scale increased the intention to receive a foot examination in the following year by 0.91 times (p = .002), and every point increase on the perceived susceptibility to diabetes complications scale increased the intention to receive a kidney examination in the following year by 1.19 times (p = .045). CONCLUSIONS: Nurses should shoulder the responsibility to increase patients' intention to receive examination of diabetes complications. The results of this study can be used to promote nurses' care efficacy in preventing diabetes complications. They can also provide medical institutions with information to establish prevention and control policies for diabetes complications.
Ambulatory Care/utilization ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Diabetic Angiopathies/nursing/*prevention & control/psychology ; Diabetic Nephropathies/nursing/*prevention & control/psychology ; Disease Susceptibility/psychology ; Early Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Intention ; Kidney Function Tests ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nurse-Patient Relations ; Ophthalmoscopy ; Patient Acceptance of Health Care/*psychology ; Perception ; Physical Examination/nursing/*psychology/utilization ; Taiwan

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of compound Danshen Dripping Pill (DSP) on carotid arterial intima-media thickness (IMT) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

METHODSOne hundred and thirty T2DM patients were assigned to four groups, 32 in the Group A, the control group treated with blood glucose (BG) and blood pressure (BP) controlling; 32 in the Group B, with BG, BP and blood lipid (BL) controlling, 32 in Group C with BG, BP, BL controlling and vitamin E administration, and 34 in Group D with BG, BP, BL controlling and DSP administration. Patients in Group D were subdivided by Chinese medicine syndrome differentiation into four types, 8 of Yin-deficiency with flourishing heat type (YDFH), 5 of both qi-yin deficient type (BQYD), 8 of both yin-yang deficient type (BYYD) and 13 of blood-stasis and qi-stagnant type (BSQS). Fasting blood glucose (FBG), BP and BL in patients were observed periodically, and IMT in them were measured by ultrasonography before treatment, as well as at the end of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th year of treatment to dynamically observe the changes of IMT and condition of plaque formation, and analyze the relation between them with FBG, BP and BL.

RESULTSThe 5-year follow-up was performed in 105 patients. In the observation period, level of total cholesterol (TC) showed a decreasing trend and level of high density cholesterol (HDL-C) showed an increasing trend in all the 4 groups, the improvements in Group C and D were slightly better than those in Group B, while significantly superior to those in Group A; the changes of FBG and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbAlc) were insignificant in the 4 groups. IMT and numbers of atheroma plaque increased gradually in all groups in the observation period, however, the changes in Group D were lesser than those in other groups, showing significant difference (P < 0.01). It was showed that the increasing of cervical carotid IMT in T2DM patients was correlated with levels of HbAlc, HDL-C, LDL-C, triglyceride and TC, especially in Group D.

CONCLUSIONDSP might delay the occurrence and development of diabetic macro-vascular disease.

Carotid Arteries ; pathology ; Carotid Intima-Media Thickness ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Diabetic Angiopathies ; pathology ; prevention & control ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Phytotherapy ; Salvia miltiorrhiza ; chemistry ; Tunica Intima ; pathology ; Tunica Media ; pathology