Congrats (again) to Nikki Bryant

Nikki Bryant, owner of Adams Family Pharmacy, was named one of Georgia Trend’s “40 Under 40” for her work providing medical services to Webster County as the only healthcare provider there. (Back in August she was featured in Mercer News for that very work!) Great going, Nikki!

Another vaping death

A second Georgian has died from the Mysterious Vaping Illness. State health officials know the person vaped nicotine, but they’re unsure about THC use. Nationwide, the death total is at least 18, with more than 1,000 hospitalizations (including 14 to 20 in Georgia).

Still near the bottom

Once again, Georgia ranks third worst — behind only Texas and Oklahoma — for health insurance coverage. (Florida and Alaska round out the bottom five; Massachusetts, Vermont, Hawai’i, Rhode Island, and Minnesota are the best for coverage.)

This is why we have the foundation

Remember after Hurricane Michael, when the Georgia Pharmacy Foundation ran a fundraising effort for pharmacists in South Georgia? The area is still trying to recover, and federal disaster funds haven’t been distributed yet. We hope the money the foundation raised made a difference to both the pharmacists who received it and the communities they serve.

GPhA’s Rhonda Bonner distributes a Hurricane Michael relief check to Scott Herzog earlier this year

Bonus: The article features an interview with Bainbridge mayor, pharmacist, and GPhA member Edward Reynolds.

The Georgia Pharmacy Foundation is trying to raise $10,000 more by the end of this year — money that will be used to support mental health, education, and opioid-awareness programs. Please help by making a tax-deductible donation to the foundation at GPhA.org/foundation today!

Is that really Lyme disease?

British infectious-disease doctors say that most of the patients who say they have Lyme disease “in fact have a syndrome that is more in keeping with chronic fatigue syndrome.”

A different way of looking at blood sugar

What if, instead of spot checks, we took advantage of new technologies and focused on “time in range”?

And speaking of diabetes….

A smart strategy for treating patients might be targeting the workplaces of people most at risk: those who sit a lot, or who tend to work irregular hours, have a lot of stress, and don’t get enough sleep. “Getting these workers to ramp up physical activity could be the first step to preventing the disease,” say the Swedish researchers who came to that conclusion.

ICYMI: J&J verdict

Johnson & Johnson was hit with a $6 billion-with-a-B verdict for (the jury decided) not warning patients about the risk of gynecomastia from Risperdal. Yes, of course the company is appealing.

The long read: Channeling the inner amphibian

“Humans Have a ‘Salamander-Like’ Ability to Regenerate Damaged Body Parts, Study Finds”

The scientists who identified this previously unknown human capacity are hopeful their findings could lead to powerful new therapies to treat common joint disorders and injuries, including osteoarthritis. More radically, this healing mechanism “might be exploited to enhance joint repair and establish a basis for human limb regeneration,” the authors wrote in the paper.