On diabetic foot, wound healing, amputation prevention, and the merger of consumer tech with medical devices
A Nutrient-Driven Balancing Act: How Serine Tunes Stem Cell Fate in Skin Repair Novak et al., 2025, Cell Metabolism ⚖️ Serine, Stress, and Skin: A New Paradigm What if a single non-essential amino acid could pivot stem cells from regenerating hair to healing wounds? A striking new study from Elaine Fuchs’ group at Rockefeller University... Continue Reading →
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 8, 2025 New Study Projects 360 Million Cases of Peripheral Artery Disease by 2050, Driven by Metabolic Risk and Aging Proactive Prevention Could Avert One in Three Cases Chongqing, Los Angeles — A landmark global study published today in Research (DOI: 10.34133/research.0702) projects a 220% increase in peripheral artery disease (PAD) cases worldwide by 2050,... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/9zb2AZRCZUg We’re excited to share the launch of the ALPS 3-Minute Diabetic Foot Exam — a concise, evidence-based tool that equips healthcare professionals to identify patients at risk of diabetic foot complications in under three minutes. Why it matters:People with type 2 diabetes face increased risk of lower extremity amputation due to nerve damage and reduced blood... Continue Reading →
🚦Reclassifying Risk in the Diabetic Foot: Pulse Volume Recordings May Show Promise—And Ordinal Power In the ever-complex world of diabetic foot syndrome (DFS), detecting peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is as much about nuance as it is about numbers. A newly published study by Nützel et al. in Biomedicines brings us one step closer to clinical clarity by... Continue Reading →
When it comes to neuropathic (and likely neuroischemic) diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs), pressure and perfusion are often at odds. In an elegant study, Zhang and colleagues from Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have quantified how the skin’s microcirculation responds to physiologic, gait-like pressure—and when that response begins to fail . 🚶♂️Walking the Line: Pressure... Continue Reading →
What if we could coax a mouse—or even a human—to regrow part of an ear? A study published this week in Science by Lin, Jia, Shi, He, Wang, and colleagues suggests that such a possibility may be closer than we think. In a landmark comparative genomics and transcriptomics study, the team identifies a dormant genetic switch that,... Continue Reading →
GLP‑1 Receptor Agonists and Limb Outcomes: What a 645,000‑Patient Study Tells Us A nationwide retrospective cohort analysis published this week in Diabetes Care explores whether glucagon‑like peptide‑1 receptor agonists (GLP‑1 RAs) confer advantages over sodium–glucose cotransporter‑2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) for lower‑extremity events in type 2 diabetes. Led by Dr Tze‑Woei Tan, the investigation examined 645,121 individuals newly started on either drug class between... Continue Reading →
Almelo, Netherlands – June 2025 — In a powerful and thought-provoking keynote at Congres Diabetische Voet 2025, Prof. David G. Armstrong—Founding President of the American Limb Preservation Society (ALPS) and Distinguished Professor of Surgery and Neurological Surgery at USC—delivered the lecture named in honor of the symposium’s founder, Prof. Sjef van Baal. Armstrong’s plenary, titled “Limb Preservation: Looking... Continue Reading →
Our colleagues from Lund, Sweden, have just added a valuable new data point to a growing conversation about the role—and risks—of imaging in Charcot foot care. Their retrospective cohort study, published in the Journal of Foot and Ankle Research, analyzed 143 Charcot events in 122 individuals, comparing those who were monitored using follow-up MRI with those... Continue Reading →
We’ve long known that custom-made footwear plays a central role in preventing diabetic foot ulcers. But ensuring people actually wear this footwear—particularly at home—remains a challenge. A new study by Van Netten, Vossen, Driebergen, Wolthuis, Merkx, and Bus offers important insight into this issue by exploring a multi-modal behavioral intervention to improve adherence. In this... Continue Reading →
