Diabetes mellitus is an increasingly prevalent chronic metabolic disease characterized by prolonged hyperglycemia that leads to long-term health consequences. It is estimated that impaired healing of diabetic wounds affects approximately 25% of all patients with diabetes mellitus, often resulting in lower limb amputation, with subsequent high economic and psychosocial costs. The hyperglycemic environment promotes the formation of biofilms and makes diabetic wounds difficult to treat. In this review, we present updates regarding recent advances in our understanding of the pathophysiology of diabetic wounds focusing on impaired angiogenesis, neuropathy, sub-optimal chronic inflammatory response, barrier disruption, and subsequent polymicrobial infection, followed by current and future treatment strategies designed to tackle the various pathologies associated with diabetic wounds. Given the alarming increase in the prevalence of diabetes, and subsequently diabetic wounds, it is imperative that future treatment strategies target multiple causes of impaired healing in diabetic wounds.

Research from JAMA Dermatology — Association of Psoriasis With Coronary Artery, Cerebrovascular, and Peripheral Vascular Diseases and Mortality

Melanoma is among the top 10 new cancer diagnoses for both American men and women. Nationally, melanoma incidence has increased 2.4% annually in the last decade.¹ Research and public education efforts have focused on melanoma prevention in white populations because of their higher risk of developing melanoma. Improved secondary prevention measures with earlier detection of thin (early-stage) melanoma likely account for the improved survival among whites from 68% in the early 1970s to 92% in recent years.¹ Such advances, however, have not occurred in other racial and ethnic groups in the United States. Emerging data call attention to disparity in melanoma diagnosis and survival in minorities such as Hispanics and blacks. Multiple reports found that US blacks have more advanced melanoma in association with worse survival rates^2-7; however, melanoma disparity among Hispanics is less recognized. The dearth of studies on melanoma among Hispanics partly reflects the small number of cases in many areas of the United States, as well as limitations of ethnicity information in cancer registries.^8,9 In fact, the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program and most other cancer registries did not begin classifying data for “Hispanic” until the late 1990s.¹ As a result, few studies included data regarding Hispanics.¹⁰