Congrats to Daniel Chastain!

The UGA clinical assistant professor — and South University grad — was named Residency Preceptor of the Year by the first-year pharmacy residents at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.

Eating and insulin

For overweight adults who might be insulin-resistant, it seems that simply reducing calories isn’t as good as alternate-day fasting. After a year, alternate-day fasters lost slightly more weight, but their insulin resistance dropped considerably more.

And…

Kids with type 1 diabetes should have regular mealtimes (and eat lots of fruits and veggies), and they should avoid snacking. That’s can go a long way to meeting their glycemic targets.

Coming up fast: Two hot certificate programs

On Sunday, August 4 we’ve got the perfect program for the starting school year (and the looming monster flu season): “APhA’s Pharmacy-Based Immunization Delivery: A Certificate Program for Pharmacists” in the GPhA classroom in Sandy Springs.

Get your immunization certificate from APhA so you’re ready to serve your patients better (not to mention add a good line to your résumé). It’s only $349 for GPhA members ($519 for non-members).

Click here for more info on getting your immunization certificate.

Then on Saturday, August 10 we have the big all-day MTM program: “APhA’s Delivering Medication Therapy Management Services: A Certificate Training Program for Pharmacists.”

For $349 (GPhA members; $499 for non-members) you’ll learn all about providing and billing for MTM services — all the hows and whys. It’s also at the GPhA headquarters
classroom in Sandy Springs.

Click here for more info on getting your MTM certificate.

Granny got her gin

What, you think of college students when you think of binge drinking? Think again — and keep an eye on grandma. It seems that more than 10 percent of people over 65 admit to binge drinking.

And before you accuse us of being sexist for saying “keep an eye on grandma,” that’s what the lead researcher of the study suggested: “It is possible,” he said, “that the increase in binge drinking is partly driven by increases by older women.” (Bingeing by older men has remained stable; but “older women are catching up.”)

The fungal canary in the human coal mine

If you’re not keeping an eye on Candida auris — the hard-to-kill fungal infection that has been appearing more often, especially in hospitals — you should start.

Because of climate change, fungi are learning to adapt to the warmth that used to kill them. That means that human body temperature, which used to be deadly, won’t be for much longer. “C. auris,” researchers say, “has adapted to the point that it can now thrive inside humans.”

“A” is for “fighting melanoma”

Getting enough vitamin A — but not too much — seems to be a good way to reduce your chance of getting cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (aka the second most common type of skin cancer). So found researchers at Brown University — they looked at two studies involving 121,700 women and 51,529 men.

The researchers found that people in the category with the highest average daily total vitamin A intake were 17% less likely to get skin cancer than those in the category with the lowest total vitamin A intake.

Ketamine is not an opioid

Just in case you weren’t clear.

Rite Aid expands into virtual care

It’s real care, it’s just done virtually. The company is starting to roll out its RediClinic Express kiosks in Pennsylvania, with plans to expand.

They will initially offer care for such illnesses as strep, flu, urinary complaints, preventive and wellness visits and travel health consultations for patients 18 months old and older.

But… according to JD Power, “Only 1 in 10 patients use telehealth.” The big reason? Lack of awareness.

APhA seeking nominations

Interested in being a volunteer leader at the American Pharmacists Association? Good timing. APhA is accepting applications for several positions; the deadline is October 1, 2019.

Offices you can run for:

• APhA president
• Member of the APhA board
• Member-at-large or new practitioner officer of the APhA-APPM* executive committee
• Coordinator of various APhA-APPM special interest groups
• President of APhA-APRS**
• APhA-APRS postgraduate officer, and chair-elect for each of the academy’s sections

Click here to visit Pharmacist.com for the details and to apply.

* APhA Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Management
** APhA Academy of Pharmaceutical Research and Science