The room block is almost gone

Planning to come to the Georgia Pharmacy Convention? Act fast — the low-price GPhA room block at the Omni is almost full. If you want the best hotel rate while you’re on Amelia Island, head to GPhAconvention.com and register now!

How good is your measles vaccine?

That measles vaccine you got back in the Long Long Ago? It might not be working as well as you think. “Up to 10 percent of the 695 confirmed measles cases in the current outbreak occurred in people who received one or two doses of the vaccine,” according to the CDC.

So if you got your vaccination before 1989, you might want to consider getting a … let’s call it a refresher.

Hackers, insulin pumps, and homemade pancreases

Old Medtronic insulin pumps are a hot commodity. Why? They can be hacked to become a DIY artificial pancreas — a homemade system that “automatically calculates insulin doses based on real-time glucose data.” It’s called “looping.”

The Edison [minicomputer] receives data wirelessly from his continuous glucose monitor, runs an algorithm to predict future blood sugar, and tells the insulin pump how much to dispense every five minutes to prevent highs and lows.

Long-term antibiotics might be bad for older women

So finds a study in the European Heart Journal: “Longer duration of exposure to antibiotics in the middle and older adulthood was related to an increased risk of future CVD events among elderly women.”

What’s with all the food poisoning?

Raw turkey. Ground beef. French cheese. And of course, romaine lettuce. It’s like a wave of food poisoning, and the CDC agrees that yes, there are definitely more reports coming in.

Is the culprit more organics foods? Lax oversight? Or simply better reporting of cases?

Lupus treatment for kids

On the off-chance it really is lupus, and the patient is young, the FDA has approved the first treatment: belimumab (its friends call it Benlysta), an IV infusion previously approved only for adults.

Elderberries: More than a Monty Python joke

If your father smelt of elderberries, it might be his way of fighting the flu. Researchers from the University of Sydney in Australia concluded that “elderberry exhibits multiple modes of therapeutic action against influenza infection.”