The worst is yet to come

Like a celebrity before plastic surgery, the flu season may not look so bad right now, but it’s gonna get ugly: So says the CDC.

While deaths are still low, hospital visits are at the same level they were during the 2017-18 flu season, which was the worst in a decade. Keep giving those flu shots!

Diabetes-treatment opportunities

This coming Tuesday, GPhA’s new course will show you how to grow your practice while you help your patients.

“Healthy Patients = Healthy Business” is a new three-part course that will teach you how to help your patients with diabetes … and how that can be great for your practice, too.

It covers the latest info about medication, exercise, and diet — and how to promote your diabetes-control services to your community.

Taught by national diabetes expert and Georgia pharmacy owner Jonathan Marquess, “Healthy Patients = Healthy Business” will give you a deep dive into your role in keeping diabetes in check.

The first session is this Tuesday, January 14. Sign up today!

Antipsychotics and dementia can be dangerous

Patients with Alzheimer’s who take antipsychotic meds have a higher chance — we’re talking 29 percent higher — of sustaining head injuries. (And if you want to dive deeper, quetiapine was a lot worse than risperidone.)

Cancer death is dropping

And that includes the largest single-year drop ever — 2.2 percent from 2016 to 2017, according to the American Cancer Society.

Why? A lot can be attributed to better treatments for lung cancer, but that was just last year. Over the past 26 years, cancer death rates have been declining for breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancers — the ACA says “The drop translates to approximately 2.9 million fewer cancer deaths than would have occurred had mortality rates remained at their peak.” Cool beans!

“BPA-free” may not be so great

BPA (Bisphenol A) is something you don’t want in your plastic if you — or, more notably, your kid — is going to eat or drink from it. Some manufacturers are going “BPA-free” by using bisphenol S (BPS) instead.

But now a study out of Canada’s University of Guelph finds that not only can BPS also hinder heart function, it can do it even faster. So maybe your best bet is to stick with glass.

Each chemical on its own was found to depress heart function by dampening heart contractions causing slower blood flow. However, BPS had a quicker impact – within five minutes of exposure.

From compression to packing to education

There are new clinical guidelines available for the treatment of nosebleeds from the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

Topping the list: “At the time of initial contact, the clinician should distinguish the nosebleed patient who requires prompt management from the patient who does not.”

A drink with jam and bread

That’s tea, of course, and a new study says that “Drinking tea at least three times a week is linked with a longer and healthier life.” It was a seven-year study, in fact, of more than 100,000 people.

Compared with never or non-habitual tea drinkers, habitual tea consumers had a 20% lower risk of incident heart disease and stroke, 22% lower risk of fatal heart disease and stroke, and 15% decreased risk of all-cause death.

Earlier vaccines

Vaccines can’t be given until a person is at least six months old — some have to wait a year. Why’s that? Blame Mom: Her antibodies can prevent the vaccine from properly triggering a kid’s immune system.

Forget that, said Penn State researchers. They modified the RNA of a flu vaccine and gave it to baby mice. Bingo! Even with Mom’s antibodies at work, the babies still got protection.

The process can work for other diseases, but the question is whether it will work for humans. Stay tuned.

…and you’re so cold

Looking at records of human body temperature going back to 1862, researchers have found that people are getting colder:

The researchers observed that the body temperature of men born in the 2000s is on average 1.06 F lower than that of men born in the early 1800s. Similarly, they observed that the body temperature of women born in the 2000s is on average 0.58 F lower than that of women born in the 1890s. These calculations correspond to a decrease in body temperature of 0.05 F every decade.

But … why? Their theory: Less inflammation means a lower metabolic rate. “Inflammation produces all sorts of proteins and cytokines that rev up your metabolism and raise your temperature.”

Today’s average body temperature is 97.9°F (or 36.6°C, if you’re still using that quaint metric system).