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Diseases Science Fair Project

Diabetes Duration and Nerve Sensitivity

Hard
Diabetes Duration and Nerve Sensitivity | Science Fair Projects | STEM Projects
After 20 years of diabetes, can you still tell rough sandpaper from smooth by touch alone? Recruit five groups of 20 participants: people without diabetes and people who have had diabetes for 5, 10, 15, and 20 years. Place three squares of sandpaper with different roughness levels inside a sealed black box. Ask each person to reach in and pull out the roughest piece. Count how many people in each group choose correctly. The results show whether longer diabetes duration lines up with greater loss of touch sensitivity, a condition called diabetic neuropathy (nerve damage from diabetes).

Hypothesis

The hypothesis is that persons suffering from diabetes for a longer period of time will have higher chances of being affected by diabetic neuropathy.

Method & Materials

You will test the sensitivity of participants with and without diabetes by having them pick the roughest sandpaper from a black box.
You will need sandpaper, scissors, a black box, masking tape, and 40 participants (20 without diabetes and 20 with diabetes for 5, 10, 15, and 20 years).

Results

The results showed that participants who had suffered from diabetes for the greatest length of time were less likely to be able to correctly pick the sandpaper with the roughest surface. This proves that our hypothesis is true.

Why do this project?

This science project is interesting because it shows how diabetes can affect the sensitivity of your nerves.

Also Consider

To improve the reliability and accuracy of our results, a larger sample of participants should be used. This science project may also be repeated, this time, by comparing the sensitivity of male and female participants.

Full project details

Additional information and source material for this project are available below.

Related video

These videos explain the science behind this project and demonstrate key concepts used in the experiment.
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