Most people are aware of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, but did you know there is a type 3 diabetes as well! It is a more obscure term. Although it is not an accepted medical diagnosis, type 3 diabetes has been discussed in the literature as a possible relationship between insulin resistance in the brain and Alzheimer's disease. This link has been described to help explain how metabolic disorders impact brain health, causing cognitive decline and dementia.

What is Type 3 Diabetes?

Type 3 diabetes is more of a misnomer because it should not be confused with type 3c diabetes, which relates to pancreatic dysfunction. The term "type 3 diabetes," on the other hand, has been loosely used by some scientists to analogously propose that Alzheimer's disease is strongly implicated with insulin resistance in the brain.

This concept was conceptualized by Dr. Suzanne de la Monte and Dr. Jack Wands of Brown University in the year 2008. This hypothesis postulated that Alzheimer's disease may be called type 3 diabetes for it bears many similarities with glucose metabolism disorder type 2 diabetes. Their concept arises from the basic principle that insulin is fundamental to blood sugar regulation, but it is also the case with the brain. When brain cells become insulin-resistant, they lose access to glucose, impairing their function.

Research published in the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology supports this hypothesis by indicating that insulin resistance can be a significant contributor to the occurrence of dementia, also referred to as Alzheimer's. The symptoms of memory loss and diminished reasoning are associated with impaired glucose metabolism in the body, especially in the cerebral tissue.

Symptoms of Type 3 Diabetes

Although type 3 diabetes is not a "medical term," its symptoms correlate well with Alzheimer's diseases that are known to reduce the ability to think in an efficient manner and bring down brain health. These signs are:

- Loss of memory, especially short-term.

- Poor judgment and judgment ability

- Failure in recognizing people or places familiar once.

- Failure in the process of reading, writing or processing numbers

- Anxiety, agitation, or mood changes.

- Disorganized thoughts or confusion

- Lack of impulse control

As the disease advances, patients may be afflicted with severe complications including an inability to swallow or control their bodily functions. In the final stages, most patients die from fatal complications such as aspiration pneumonia.

Causes of Type 3 Diabetes

This may not be well understood with regards to type 3 diabetes, or the exact link between insulin resistance and Alzheimer's disease. Some identified contributing factors include the following:

1. Insulin Resistance

Insulin acts as an important regulatory mechanism of brain functions such as memory and cognition. The reduction in insulin signaling may impair metabolism of brain cells, thus bringing about neurodegeneration.

2. Type 2 Diabetes

These diseases show a strong relationship and those individuals diagnosed with type 2 diabetes have double chances of getting Alzheimer's. In the two, the main causes can be chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and a defect in glucose metabolism.

3. Environmental and Lifestyle Factors

Insulin resistance associated with obesity, stress, and an unhealthy diet is considered a cause that may increase the chances of Alzheimer's disease.

Researches in Frontiers in Neuroscience and The Lancet Neurology have also highlighted that drugs used for antidiabetic medication may be crucial for the prevention or at least slowing down the course of Alzheimer's.

Treatments for Type 3 Diabetes

In 2022, in a study in Pharmaceuticals, researchers studied biomarker uptake in brain regions implicated in the faulty uptake and metabolism of blood sugar in Alzheimer’s patients.

Emerging Therapies

Research into such treatments as intranasal insulin has also been promising. Intranasal delivery of insulin directly to the brain has been reported to enhance glucose uptake by brain cells, improve memory, and boost cognitive performance. While such clinical trials have been shown to be successful, additional research is needed for safety and efficacy.

Medications

For patients being aggressive or agitated, antipsychotic drugs may be prescribed; however, therapies such as cognitive rehabilitation as well as cognitive stimulation therapy serve to preserve memory and executive function.

Lifestyle Interventions

Diet, exercise, and stress management are critical in preventing and managing insulin resistance. A review in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease also highlighted the benefits of Kirtan Kriya meditation, which can regulate genes involved in insulin and glucose metabolism, improve sleep, and reduce inflammation.

Can Type 3 Diabetes Be Prevented?

Although type 3 diabetes is not officially recognized, its connection to Alzheimer’s disease underscores the importance of proactive measures for brain health. Some prevention strategies include:

1. Healthy Diet

Consuming a balanced diet rich in antioxidants, whole grains, and healthy fats may support brain health.

2. Regular Exercise

Physical activity improves insulin sensitivity, reduces inflammation, and enhances overall metabolic health.

3. Stress Reduction

Mindfulness practices, including meditation, have been shown to lower stress levels, which can reduce the risk of cognitive decline.

The term type 3 diabetes brings out the complex relationship between metabolic disorders and brain health. Even though it is not a recognized medical condition, the concept emphasizes the crucial role of insulin in brain function and its possible contribution to Alzheimer's disease. Continued research will hopefully provide hope for therapies such as intranasal insulin and lifestyle modifications.

Liver cancer rarely announces itself. It creeps in without warning, and by the time symptoms surface, the disease has often progressed to a stage where treatment options shrink, and outcomes worsen. That's why doctors have long called it a "silent killer."

In India, the threat is growing. Rising rates of hepatitis infection, fatty liver disease, and lifestyle-driven risk factors are pushing the numbers up.

Data from the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) shows more than 40,000 new liver cancer cases reported in India, a figure that underscores a mounting public health challenge. The disease also carries a high mortality rate, largely because most cases surface only once treatment options have narrowed.

This fits into a much larger global picture: WHO's newly released Global Status Report on Cancer 2026 warns that annual cancer cases worldwide could climb from 20.6 million today to nearly 35 million by 2050 without urgent intervention, with infections like hepatitis B and C among the preventable risk factors driving a significant share of the burden.

Why Does Liver Cancer Stay Hidden?

The liver is a workhorse organ, filtering toxins, storing nutrients, and keeping the body running, and it can keep functioning almost normally even after cancer takes hold. That resilience is precisely what makes early detection so difficult. When symptoms do appear, they're vague enough to be mistaken for something else entirely:

• Unexplained weight loss
• Persistent fatigue and weakness
• Upper abdominal pain
• Loss of appetite
• Yellowing of the skin and eyes
• Abdominal swelling

Because these signs surface late, patients often delay seeking care, which is exactly why regular health checkups matter most for high-risk groups, including people with chronic liver disease, hepatitis infection, or fatty liver.

What's Driving the Risk?

Liver cancer doesn't appear overnight; it's the result of years of accumulated damage. Key contributors include:

• Chronic Hepatitis B and C infections, among the leading causes worldwide
• Liver cirrhosis, where scar tissue replaces healthy liver tissue
• Fatty liver disease, increasingly common in India amid rising obesity and diabetes
• Excessive alcohol consumption, which steadily damages liver cells
• Family history of liver disease or cancer
• Exposure to toxins through contaminated food
• Smoking, which raises overall cancer risk

India's shifting disease landscape, sedentary routines, poor dietary habits, and metabolic disorders like obesity and diabetes, means liver cancer is no longer just an infectious-disease concern. It's increasingly a lifestyle disease too.

Can It Be Prevented?

The good news: much of this risk is manageable.

• Get vaccinated against Hepatitis B to block the long-term viral infection that often leads to cirrhosis
• Maintain a healthy weight through diet and regular activity, as obesity is closely tied to fatty liver disease
• Manage diabetes and metabolic health, since insulin resistance accelerates liver damage
• Limit or avoid alcohol, a leading cause of cirrhosis
• Avoid tobacco, which compounds cancer risk
• Stay on top of routine screening if you're at risk; this is one of the most critical preventive steps and includes:
  • Liver function tests (LFTs) to catch early signs of inflammation or damage
  • Ultrasound scans every 6 months for those with cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis B or C, or advanced fatty liver disease
  • Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) blood tests, used alongside imaging to flag early tumour changes
  • Advanced imaging (CT or MRI) for more detailed evaluation in high-risk cases

Paired with lifestyle changes and timely medical care, these steps can meaningfully lower the risk of developing liver cancer and support long-term liver health.

Know When to Seek Medical Help

Because liver cancer tends to progress silently, early detection is everything when it comes to improving outcomes. Doctors typically rely on a combination of diagnostic tools, ultrasound scans, AFP blood tests, CT or MRI imaging, and in some cases a liver biopsy, to catch the disease at a more treatable stage.

When caught early, treatment can significantly improve survival odds. The right approach depends on the stage of disease, liver function, and the patient's overall health:

• Liver resection, surgically removing only the cancerous portion of the liver, when the disease is localized
• Liver transplant, replacing the entire diseased liver with a healthy donor liver, in select cases
• Ablation, using radiofrequency or microwave energy to destroy cancer cells with heat
• Targeted therapy, drugs designed to attack specific cancer cells while sparing healthy ones
• Immunotherapy, strengthening the body's own immune system to identify and fight cancer cells

Liver cancer is serious and life-threatening, but early diagnosis through screening, paired with timely medical intervention, can meaningfully improve treatment success and survival rates.

(By Dr. Kundan, Consultant - Surgical Oncology, Manipal Hospital, Ghaziabad_

Women have a higher overall risk and prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease and certain other forms of dementia, partly because they tend to live longer than men and because of changes in estrogen levels after menopause.

A new study by researchers from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the University of Exeter suggests that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may be associated with a lower risk of dementia in some women.

“Dementia affects millions of people worldwide, with women making up almost two-thirds of Alzheimer’s disease cases, the main form of dementia. As populations age, understanding how sex-specific factors influence dementia risk is increasingly important,” said Prof Anne-Marie Minihane from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, who led the study.

HRT Linked To Lower Alzheimer’s Risk

The study, published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, analyzed health data from more than 180,000 postmenopausal women in the UK.

The findings showed:

• 16% lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease among women who had used HRT compared with those who had never used it.
• 10% lower risk of dementia overall was associated with HRT use.
• 26% lower risk of any dementia among women who had undergone surgical menopause and used HRT.
• 16% lower risk of any dementia among women with lower lifetime estrogen exposure due to later menstruation or earlier menopause.

Which Groups Benefited More From HRT?

The association between HRT use and lower dementia risk was stronger in certain groups. These include:

• Women who underwent surgical menopause: Those who used HRT had a 26% lower risk of dementia compared with non-users.
• Women with lower lifetime estrogen exposure: Those who started menstruating later or experienced menopause earlier had a 16% lower risk of dementia with HRT use.
• APOE4 carriers: The association between HRT use and lower dementia risk was stronger among women carrying the APOE4 gene variant, a known risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease.
• Women who started HRT between ages 46 and 56: This group experienced the greatest reduction in dementia risk.
• Timing may matter: The findings support the “critical window” hypothesis, suggesting HRT may offer greater benefits when started closer to the menopausal transition rather than later in life.

Could HRT Support Personalized Care?

The researchers said the findings add to growing evidence that the effects of hormone therapy on brain health are complex and may vary between women.

“While HRT has long been prescribed primarily to relieve menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes and night sweats, this work suggests it may also play a role in long-term cognitive health for some women,” Prof Minihane said.

The latest findings build on previous research from UEA, which found that HRT use was associated with better memory, cognition and larger brain volumes later in life among women carrying the APOE4 variant.

The team said the findings could help support more personalized approaches to HRT prescribing, taking into account factors such as menopause type, genetic risk, lifetime hormone exposure and age at HRT initiation.

Prof David Llewellyn of the University of Exeter Medical School said the findings help identify which women may be more likely to benefit from HRT and when treatment may have the greatest effect.

The association between stress and psoriasis is one of the better-documented cases of the mind and skin connection within dermatology. Consistent across studies, at least in most case series, there is a sizable proportion of patients who experience an important stressful event within the weeks prior to onset or flare-up.

The mechanism is quite clear cut. While the skin is often seen as being passive, it is far from it. Skin itself is immunologically active, having a stress response system of its own, able to produce corticotropin-releasing hormone and cortisol independently from adrenals.

The Mind-Skin Connection

Under prolonged stress, the shift happens in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, leading to a reconfiguration of the immune response towards inflammatory pathways, specifically IL-17 and IL-23 pathway which was targeted by most biologics developed up to now.

Neuro-endocrine innervations lead to the release of neuropeptides such as substance P, attracting inflammatory cells while lowering the threshold of itching. Chronic stress also impairs barrier recovery process, relevant for a disease where the slightest skin damage leads to a plaque formation.

So whenever a patient claims stress caused her flare-up, she is describing an actual immunological phenomenon.

And the cycle, which is the part that entraps people.

And here lies the complexity, the place where I believe most of the articles end prematurely.

Also read: ‘Sunscreen Is A Health Essential’: UK Skin Cancer Survivor Urges Govt To Scrap Tax

Stress Aggravates Psoriasis

Then the psoriasis becomes the source of stress. Highly visible plaques on hands, scalp or face are hard to hide within a culture where we greet, eat and worship with our hands. Patients start dressing in ways that conceal their plaques. They avoid public showers, salons, wedding events. Itch affects their sleeping habits, causing higher inflammation levels.

Then come the questions patients do not usually disclose unless specifically asked. The shame. Some patients have experienced people wondering whether they could catch the condition. Some of them have been asked to leave the salon where they went. This is not just an annoyance, but also a hurt, directly feeding back into the loop.

The prevalence of depression and anxiety in psoriasis is much higher than among healthy people. Moreover, these problems cannot be explained only by a reaction to one's appearance. The same inflammatory mediators, which cause psoriasis, are now associated with depression. Therefore, psoriasis and depression can be two symptoms of one inflammatory condition.

Also read: Mpox Spreads in Guinea-Bissau, Half Of Suspected Cases Are Children

What Really Helps?

Here I need to be very careful, since the idea that stress provokes psoriasis can be twisted into the belief that the patient has caused his/her own illness. But it is not true and is insulting to people suffering from the condition. It should be said again that psoriasis is a genetically based immune disorder. It is stress that exacerbates the disease.

Within this framework, stress management techniques are useful and there is the trial evidence for their efficiency. In one study, mindfulness-based intervention helped to improve the outcome and even accelerated clearance with phototherapy.

Physical exercise has an independent anti-inflammatory effect and treats metabolic syndrome associated with psoriasis. Sleeping is an obligatory factor because sleep deprivation increases the level of cytokines that we need to suppress. Cognitive behavioral therapy helps people to cope with itching-scratching cycle.

There is no doubt that alcohol and smoking make psoriasis worse, although they are usually used as a coping strategy in response to stress. They serve as an additional burden on health.

All of this is important but not an alternative to treatment. Topicals, phototherapy, systemic medications, and biological agents still remain the core of the treatment regimen. Stress management is only an adjunct, and I always remind my patients about it so that they never feel guilty for taking medicine.

Treat The Whole Person

Now I ask two questions at each review of psoriasis. How much of the body surface area is affected and how much of the person's life does it occupy. The answer to these questions often does not coincide.

I saw patients with rather small involvement of the skin surface, whose psoriasis completely ruined their self-esteem. And I met patients with large involvement who coped with the disease perfectly.

Body surface area does not measure suffering. If we treat only what we can see, we will treat half of the disease.