What if we’re completely wrong about SSRIs?

Clinical depression is often caused by a serotonin imbalance, thus the effectiveness of SSRIs to treat it.

Or is it? British researchers, publishing in Nature, say that “Depression is probably not caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain.”

The evidence that SSRIs work (they say) is hit-or-miss, and their review of the studies found that — whether looking at serotonin receptors or transporters — there was little difference among people with depression or without it. (In fact, two studies found that lowering serotonin levels didn’t cause depression among healthy people.)

So what’s going on? They believe it’s simply health professionals repeating a mantra that isn’t supported by strong evidence, but is supported anecdotally enough to keep the practice going. But when it comes down to brass tacks, we just don’t know what’s going on.

It is important that people know that the idea that depression results from a “chemical imbalance” is hypothetical. And we do not understand what temporarily elevating serotonin or other biochemical changes produced by antidepressants do to the brain. We conclude that it is impossible to say that taking SSRI antidepressants is worthwhile, or even completely safe.

You can cross this worry off your list

“Study shows flies, roaches not likely to spread Covid-19” (from Texas A&M).

Polio comes back

What happens if you have a community of anti-vaxxers living in close proximity, and it’s 2022? Why, you get polio: The first case in the U.S. in almost a decade. Remember polio? No, no you don’t — because we eradicated it. With vaccines. So children weren’t killed or crippled.

This case was among Hasidic Jews just north of New York City, and the guy who got it is paralyzed for life. Yeah, this isn’t one of those happy-ending stories — he gets to explain to people that he’s in a wheelchair because he didn’t get a polio vaccine.

Help getting off anticholinergics

Anticholinergics have their uses, obviously, but it’s always good if you can get patients off them and onto something with fewer side effects.

So who among a patient’s healthcare team do you think might have the biggest impact? According to a study out of Purdue and Indiana universities, it’s — wait for it — pharmacists.

“[P]harmacists are well suited for the task. They are knowledgeable about medications, often have a close relationship with the patients and are well trained to communicate with providers.”

They found that, when pharmacists were coordinating the effort to wean patients off anticholinergics, prescriptions dropped 73% and “cumulative use of these drugs by as much as 70 percent.”

Cancer clues in the bloodstream

Cancer isn’t cancer isn’t cancer — they’re all different, even when affecting the same organ. So how do you choose what drug(s) to use? The answer: Trial and error, mostly.

But that’s today. Metastatic cancers shed DNA into the bloodstream — it’s called circulating tumour DNA or ctDNA. And Canadian urologic researchers say they’ve found a way to use a single drop of blood to analyze and sequence that ctDNA, to narrow down details of the cancer and “uncover critical information about a person’s overall disease and how best to manage their cancer.”

“Whereas traditional biopsies only provide a small snapshot of the disease, this new test is able to paint a more complete picture of metastases throughout the body, all from a simple and easy to perform blood test.”

Also cool: The same technique, they say, can be used if treatment stops working, to see what’s changed in the cancer and adapt the treatment.

Is that a banana in your pocket, or are you just increasing your potassium intake?

Sodium is linked to all sorts of heart issues, so it seems smart to see the effect of its arch-enemy — potassium — on a high salt diet. So that’s what Dutch researchers did.

The results have good news and bad news: Yep, “potassium-rich diets were associated with lower blood pressure” … but only in women. It’s a pretty direct correlation, too: “[A]s intake went up, blood pressure went down.”

Two other tidbits: Men can still benefit from higher potassium intake, just not as much as women. And the effect of potassium seemed to be unrelated to sodium consumption, “suggesting that potassium has other ways of protecting the heart on top of increasing sodium excretion.”

Gosh, it’s been months since we’ve seen this headline

“U.S. Drug Prices Sky-High In International Comparison.”

Important caveat: This is referring to brand-name drugs. We’re in the middle of the pack when it comes to generics.

And you can cross this off your worry list, too

Did you wake up at 3:00 am thinking, “Oh, sheesh, what if Lassa fever makes a comeback?” Good news: University of Texas researchers believe they’ve developed a working vaccine against the Lassa virus. It takes a single dose (unlike other vaccine candidates), offers 100% protection against serious disease after three days, and 100% protection from infection after a week.