One minute is all it takes, say developers of a new gadget designed to detect diabetes. This sounds too cool to be true, but here's how the Scout DS works: put your arm on the device (see pic), which is a desktop-friendly size, and let it "read" your skin for pre-diabetes and Type 2 diabetes-related biomarkers. These "biomarkers" are concentrations of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) that show up on the skin of diabetics when examined under a beam of light. The light beam contains multiple light wavelengths, which cause the AGEs to glow with a fluorescent light. An additional test would be administered to confirm a positive result.

The Scout DS is manufactured by VeraLight Inc., a New Mexico-based company. According to VeraLight, an early study (published in Diabetes Care) showed the system outperforms the usual diabetes diagnostic standbys: the fasting plasma glucose test and the A1C test. If successful, the Scout could be a boon to doctors and patients alike because it gets results fast, is non-invasive (no blood sample required), convenient (no fasting, no waiting), while the device itself is designed to be portable (it weighs about ten pounds), therefore maximizing the potential situations in which it could be used. Think: mobile clinics of the future visiting under-served parts of rural and urban America.

The Scout has been in the works for a while, but it is being officially unveiled tomorrow at the American Diabetes Association annual meeting, which is currently underway in Chicago. Think of this as a sneak preview: the Scout remains in development for now. While VeraLight would like to have it out on the market by sometime next year, that all hinges on it getting government approval when the testing process is complete.

The best part of blogging for The Diabetes Blog is the steep learning curve you embark upon as you research media outlets with an eye on diabetes. I've grown up as a sister and daughter of two brothers and a mom and dad with type 1 diabetes, but the challenges type 2 diabetics face are entirely foreign.

Alarmingly, recent surveys reveal about 60% of type 2 diabetics are not reaching glycemic goals. A new book, Know Your Numbers, Outlive Your Diabetes: Five Essential Health Factors You Can Master to Enjoy a Long and Healthy Life, offers type 2 diabetics tools to better manage their health. Authors Richard A. Jackson, MD, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School and Amy L. Tenderich, MA, diabetes blogger, journalist and author, hope the book can guide the type 2 diabetic -- who often realizes little face-to-face time with their physician -- get a handle on these five test results for better diabetes control.

The book moves beyond the vague notion many type 2 diabetics have that "they need to eat better and exercise more." Rather, the book teaches the importance and optimal ranges of five tests ... A1C, blood pressure, lipids, microalbumin and eye examinations.

Richard Kahn, Chief Scientific & Medical Officer for the American Diabetes Association, is blogging the American Diabetes Association's 66th Annual Scientific Sessions. From June 9 - 13, the annual convention brings together leading scientists and health professionals to present the latest study findings and to discuss the current and future progress in the field of diabetes prevention and care.

So far, some of Kahn's posts have covered such topics as: insulin and longevity; endocannabinoids, oral insulin, the new A1C test, who is responsible for optimal diabetes care; the worm study; and you are what your mother ate during her pregnancy. The posting is written in a light and easy manner, not requiring the average person to being a textbook of medical definitions to make sense out of what is being said. I assume Kahn will continue blogging through June 13. You can read Richard's D.C. Diary here.