Hey, rural Georgia — Nikki’s there for you!

Big shout-out to GPhA member Nikki Adams, who was instrumental in getting mobile vaccination units to Preston — and they’re coming to other sites, too. Irony: She hasn’t been able to get the vaccines at her own pharmacy.

Magnesium vs migraines

Migraines remain somewhat mysterious, but here’s an interesting clue: Could it be lack of magnesium? We wouldn’t ask if someone hadn’t suggested that, and the someones are George Mason University nutritionists who looked at health info of more than 3,600 people over four years.

“These results suggest inadequate consumption of magnesium intake is associated with migraine in US adults ages 20 to 50,” the study investigators concluded.

And you know what’s next: “As such, further research is warranted.”

Wellstar pushes back on vaccine hesitancy

Wellstar is fighting vaccine hesitancy, hooking up with the Morehouse School of Medicine and its National COVID-19 Resiliency Network to get the word out, especially to Black and Hispanic communities.

Part of the effort: A video made with Delta Sigma Theta (the historically Black sorority) called “Stick it to COVID”:

Covid quickies

Oxford University is preparing to test a nasal-spray version of the vaccine it helped develop with AstraZeneca. (It’s about to start a phase 1 trial, so it’ll be a while.)

Get ready for the spring break surge — cases should start increasing around the country in the next week, with deaths going up a couple of weeks later.

Pfizer is the latest company to start testing its vaccine on younger kids.

AstraZeneca, whose vaccine rollout will be the subject of marketing classes for years to come, has an update: With a proper examination of the data, its vaccine is 76 percent effective against really bad Covid-19, and 100 percent effective against deadly Covid-19.

Old drugs a new treatment for sepsis

Sepsis is nasty, and even with today’s antibiotics still kills 20 to 30 percent of people who contract it. Now UC San Diego pharmacy researchers think they’ve made a breakthrough.

It’s all about the platelets: “To their surprise, it wasn’t white blood cell counts (immune cells) that correlated with patient outcomes — it was the platelet count.”

So the UC folks figured to use drugs that protect those platelets, rather than Yet Another Antibiotic. They turned to ticagrelor (Brilinta) and oseltamivir (Tamiflu).

Mice with staph sepsis and treated with either ticagrelor or oseltamivir maintained more platelets and had less bacteria in their blood. Ultimately, approximately 60 percent of treated mice survived 10 days following infection, compared to 20 percent of untreated mice.

Sure, more research is needed, but these are existing drugs and could be used off-label — a better option than the alternative.

Kids, ask your parents about phenpromethamine

In the Long Long Ago (like, the 1940s) there was an inhaler called Vonedrine. — an experimental stimulant. It’s since been taken off the market “and has never been approved for oral use.” Why mention this now? Because Vonedrine — aka phenpromethamine — is showing up in weight-loss supplements.

In addition to phenpromethamine, the study identified eight other prohibited stimulants in sports and weight loss supplements, which were often found mixed together in various combinations to create “cocktails” of stimulant drugs that have never been studied in people.

And of course manufacturers don’t always mention this on the label. (Pro tip: Look for supplements “labeled as pre-workout or muscle-building supplements.”)

The FDA is aware of the issue but hasn’t acted yet.

The stress-allergy connection

Japanese researchers have figured out that an increase in stress hormones somehow leads to an “increase in and degranulation of allergy-causing mast cells.”

It seems that corticotropin puts those mast cells into overdrive. And when they injected their test mice with antalarmin (which inhibits corticotropin), the allergic reaction subsided.

So next time you start to sneeze … try to relax.

Podcast of the week

Check out the latest episode of “Science Vs” which goes into the surprising* science and production of snake anti-venom — with a peek at the future. (Hint: If you feel like it’s 1890 tech… you’re right.)

* To me, anyway

Feel like rolling the dice?

Pandemic, schmandemic — cruise lines are learning to avoid U.S. law and start taking Americans in their floating Petri dishes again.