ADHD: Why didn’t someone think of this before?

Using stimulants to treat ADHD (often some form of methylphenidate) is de rigueur, but that begs the question: Has anyone considered using the world’s favorite stimulant: caffeine?

Spanish neuroscientists wondered the same thing, so they, you know, looked. Their review of the research found that — at least in animal model — caffeine consumption did in fact result in “increased attention span, improved concentration, learning benefits, and improvements in some types of memory.”

And that, they say is, good reason to study whether caffeine is a reasonable alternative to Ritalin.

“Our results reinforce the hypothesis that the cognitive effects of caffeine found in animal models can be translated and applied in the treatment of ADHD in people, especially at young ages such as adolescence.”

We still need you to be 1 of the 100

Be one of the 100 people the Georgia Pharmacy Foundation needs to donate $100 in support of the foundation’s great work.

The $100 From 100 Campaign is raising money through this coming Monday, April 4, to fund scholarships for some of Georgia’s deserving student pharmacists.

You should be one of those 100 people.

Help tomorrow’s pharmacists. Invest in the future. Give to the $100 From 100 Campaign!

Covid: Infection plus vaccination

Infection, vaccine, booster — what’s the best way to be protected against Omicron?

Reality: You can go crazy juggling the combinations — “min-maxing” is what gamers call it — to get the absolute best outcome.

But if finding that perfect combo is your thing, here you go: Temple University medical researchers report that people who have been infected with one of the old Covid variants (Alpha, Beta, etc.) seem to only need a single mRNA shot to get their antibodies up to speed. A second dose showed “little or no increase” in antibodies.

In fact, they say, infection+one vaccine seems to produce a longer-lasting antibody response than two mRNA doses, and possibly even two + a booster.

(The usual caveat: Antibodies are just the easiest-to-measure immune response. Those T-cells are still there preventing the worst outcomes.)

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Anthem gets slapped

Georgia hit Anthem with what Georgia Health News called a “whopping fine” — $5 million — for listing providers as in-network when they were not. That hurt patients and, more importantly, it meant that providers weren’t being paid promptly.

The state said it found about 78,000 (!) separate violations; Anthem claimed the state was “focused on a provider database system implemented nearly seven years ago that is no longer in use.”

Keeping drugs close to home

Getting most of our generic drugs and API from China isn’t a bad thing. After all, it’s hard to imagine an unfriendly China or a worldwide pandemic ever happening.

Just in case, though, well, that’s why Congress passed a bill (that President Biden is expected to sign) called the America COMPETES* Act. It would (among other things) “try to crack down on China’s control of certain vital supplies like pharmaceuticals” by bringing in the Department of Justice, FTC and other federal agencies …

… to investigate allegations of market manipulation and other potential violations of US laws by Chinese companies, such as controlling the supply of goods in critical industries of the US.

* America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology, and Economic Strength. Ugh.

We’ll believe it when the pharmacist has it

The next candidate for a universal flu vaccine comes from … Singapore and Australia. Researchers there say they’ve cracked the problem of vaccines based on the M2e peptide (which is common to all flu strains) by creating “a novel vaccine platform.” And — thanks for asking — why yes, it might also be used against Covid-19.

We eagerly await their next announcement.

Automatic bandage

You usually don’t need to put antibiotics on a small wound (and there’s an argument that doing so contributes to antibiotic resistance). But if it does need some bacitracin — well, you don’t want to wait until it looks like something that would be featured on “A Very Special Dr. Pimple Popper.”

Swiss researchers are close to a solution: They’ve created a bandage made of heat-sensitive fibers that release antimicrobial drugs when it warms up due to infection. And yes, of course nano-technology is involved.

When inflammation kicks in and the skin heats up above its normal temperature of 32 to 34 degrees*, the polymer changes from its solid to a softer state. In laboratory experiments, the team observed the disinfectant being released from the polymer at 37 degrees — but not at 32 degrees.

And the fibers can be tweaked, so the technology has potential for other kinds of “controlled drug release by an external stimulus.”

* That’s 89.6 to 93.2 in much-more-useful Fahrenheit degrees.

Avocados for life

Wow, all that 1990s avocado toast may pay off: Apparently “Eating two servings of avocados a week [is] linked to lower risk of cardiovascular disease,” according to a study published by the American Heart Association.

Other studies about avocados have been inconclusive, but, say these Harvard researchers:

[T]he current study’s findings provide novel, necessary, and robust evidence that higher intake of avocados is associated with a lower risk of CVD [cardiovascular disease] and CHD [coronary heart disease] in healthy US adults.

And no — it wasn’t funded by Big Avocado. It’s legit.

Use your voice

Many of today’s smartphones support voice calls — not just texting or shooting TikTok videos. But if you’ve been concerned about putting that phone next to your ear, though, fear no more.

British researchers studied more than 380,000 women over an average of 14 years, and they’ve concluded that, “There was also no difference in the risk of developing glioma, acoustic neuroma, meningioma, pituitary tumours, or eye tumours” for anyone who spoke on a mobile phone daily for at least 20 minutes per week over 10 years.

Of course, for serious chatterboxes … “it remains unclear whether the risks associated with mobile phone use are different in those who use mobile phones considerably more than was typical of women in this cohort.”