The (virtual) reality of flu

A nifty study out of UGA (and the Oak Ridge Associated Universities) found that a dose of virtual reality — showing people how the flu can spread — can encourage them to vaccinate.

Compared to video or the e-pamphlet, the VR condition created a stronger perception of presence – that is, a feeling of “being there” in the story, which, in turn, increased participants’ concern about transmitting flu to others. This increased concern was associated with greater confidence that one’s flu vaccination would protect others, more positive beliefs about flu vaccine and increased intention to get a flu vaccination.

Artist’s conception

What do obesity and gum disease have in common?

More than you think — specifically (at least according to researchers at Case Western Reserve University) the issue is inflammation.

While higher BMI is often associated with a greater risk of gum disease, it’s not cause-and-effect. Rather, it seems that what causes one might cause the other.

They concluded that changes in body chemistry affect metabolism, which, in turn causes inflammation—something present in both maladies. “Periodontal disease occurs in patients more susceptible to inflammation—who are also more susceptible to obesity.”

Practical Skills Refresher Course — now with labs!

Will you be taking your Georgia licensing exam later this year? Do you know someone who will? (Maybe a graduate? Maybe a pharmacist moving to Georgia?) Then brush up on the practical skills you need to have.

GPhA’s crazy-popular program — the “Practical Skills Refresher Course” — is coming in 2020 on four days in four locations. It’s a concentrated, four-hour refresher on terminology, measurements, and the procedures you’ll put into practice. You can just imagine how useful this will be.

NEW: Labs! For 2020 we’ve added “Practical Skills for the Lab” — lab time with an instructor to watch you and provide feedback, in a simulated testing environment. If you’re a student pharmacist or a transfer to Georgia, you want this course. You NEED this course. Click here for more info and to register NOW!

Pot v. headache

Washington State University researchers asked people to report if they used inhaled cannabis (i.e., if they smoked pot) to deal with a headache. What they found — and obviously take this with a grain of salt, because it was self-reported:

• 1,959 people’s data were used after being collected over 16 months.
• Those subjects used cannabis to treat ‘regular’ headaches 12,293 times.
• They used it to treat migraines 7,441 times.
• Users reported a 47.3% reduction in headache severity, and a 49.6% reduction in migraine severity.

Said the researchers, “This at least gives medical cannabis patients and their doctors a little more information about what they might expect from using cannabis to manage these conditions.”

Aspirin v. cancer

Although aspirin may have lost some of its luster as a heart-disease preventer, yet another study shows that seniors who take it regularly — three or more times a week — “were 15 percent less likely to die from their disease than those who didn’t use it at all.”

Caveat: This only applies to prostate, lung, colorectal, or ovarian cancers. But still.

Anthrax v. bladder cancer

Bladder cells come with a great protein receptor that can be used to treat cancers there. The trouble is, in cancerous cells those receptors don’t always work.

So Purdue University researchers combined the typical bladder-cancer-fighter with anthrax, because the toxin doesn’t need those (missing) receptors. It can get into the cancer cells on its own.

With this combination, the authors “efficiently targeted and eliminated human, mouse, and canine bladder tumor cells.” Importantly, the beneficial effects occurred within minutes, rather than hours.

FDA worries about metformin

We’re still in the middle of the carcinogens-in-Zantac scare, and now the FDA is looking at the supply lines for generic metformin, concerned that the same carcinogen might be affecting those meds as well. We’ll keep you updated.

The Medium Read: Generic-drug safety

“Why your generic drugs may not be safe and the FDA may be too lax”

Are generics safe? If drug manufacturers followed the FDA’s strict regulations, the answer would be a resounding yes. Unfortunately for those who turn to generics to save money, the FDA relies heavily on the honor system with foreign manufacturers, and U.S. consumers get burned.