Message from Big Walnut

The California Walnut Commission would like you to know that a study it funded found that eating walnuts is good for students under stress: “[D]aily consumption of walnuts […] had a protective effect against the negative impacts of academic stress on mental health.”

Our favorite line: “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”

Don’t let them get an unwanted gift

If someone’s at risk for an STD, so are their partners. That’s why there’s expedited partner therapy — paying the protection forward.

And that’s why “Expedited protection for the holidays” is part of GPhA’s December CE webinar series on “Unwanted Gifts.”

Grab an hour of live CPE this coming Tuesday, December 20 — in the evening, too, so you can relax with a cuppa whatever you like. It’s from 7:30–8:30pm from your favorite Internet connection, and only $20 for GPhA members.

Pharmacists and technicians can both learn about EPT for treatment and prevention of gonorrhea and chlamydia infections — and they should!

Click here for info and to register!

AbbVie has left the building

And the “building” is two big industry lobbying groups. The company announced that it’s leaving both the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. And while it’s at it, it’s also quitting the Business Roundtable of big-company CEOs.

Why? The company won’t say, but why don’t we speculate? It comes right after PhRMA lost big when the Inflation Reduction Act was passed. (Soon Medicare will be able to negotiate prices for a handful of drugs, which could force pharma CEOs to wait another few months before buying their next yacht.)

Said a PhRMA spokesman, “This does not change our focus on fighting for the solutions patients and our health care system need.”

Please note: An earlier version of this story omitted the word “for” in the PhRMA spokesman’s quote. We regret the error.

 

‘Freedom’ without responsibility

A new survey found that more than a third of parents oppose being required to have their children vaccinated for measles, mumps, and rubella, even if it means putting other kids at risk. They want to take advantage of public schools, but don’t want to share in the responsibility for public health.

Meanwhile, at least 26 unvaccinated children are in the hospital in Ohio with measles.

The serotonin hypothesis strikes back

The entire psychiatric community (since the 1960s): Depression is usually caused by disruptions in the brain’s serotonin system.

A paper published this past July: There’s actually no solid evidence that’s true.

Psychiatrists: Wait, what? Truth is lies! Red is blue! Wet is dry! Panic in the streets!

British researchers (with help from some shifty Danes): Yo, chill. Our new study “provides direct evidence of disrupted serotonin release in the brains of individuals with depression.”

“This study used a new and more direct method to measure serotonin in the living human brain, and the results suggest reduced serotonin (release) functioning in depression.

Psychiatrists: We knew that.

Diabetes guidelines updated

The American Diabetes Association has updated its Standards of Care in Diabetes guidelines for 2023, with — among a bunch of changes — a greater emphasis on weight loss and healthy eating.

The new guidelines call for broader use of digital health, telehealth, and telemedicine; A1C screening at point of care; regular monitoring of glucose levels (and statin treatment if called for); and a lot more.

Click here to read the official Summary of Revisions from the ADA or click here to read News Medical’s summary.

Those are some big numbers

A new report from the Commonwealth Fund looked at the effect of the US’s Covid-19 vaccination program from December 2020 through November 2022. What it found:

• The program prevented more than 18.5 million additional hospitalizations;
• It prevented more than 3.2 million additional deaths;
• ” Without vaccination, there would have been nearly 120 million more COVID-19 infections”;
• It saved the country $1.15 trillion in medical costs (an unfathomable amount; more than a thousand billion dollars).

Broader overdose stopper

Naloxone, as you know, can reverse an opioid overdose. And now University of Maryland biochemists say they’ve got a similar chemical that can work against other deadly drugs, including methamphetamine and PCP.

The compound, called Pillar[6]MaxQ (or P6AS to its friends) “successfully sequestered fentanyl and methamphetamine […] and mitigated their potentially deadly biological effects.” It also works against PCP, ecstasy, and mephedrone.

P6AS works as a molecular container, which means that it binds and sequesters other compounds in its central cavity. “When we put molecules into our containers, we can turn off their biological properties and thereby reverse any effects that they might have.”

Georgia bans TikTok

…from government computers. (Except universities.)

Governor Kemp joined 13 other governors in banning the use of TikTok and WeChat ‘from all computer devices controlled by their state governments.’

TikTok (and WeChat) are owned by the Chinese company Tencent, and the concern is that the information it collects — names, interests, dance moves — could be used by the Chinese Communist Party.

To be clear, the concern isn’t that the TikTok software can infiltrate phones, just that the company collects users’ data (the same way it’s done by Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Windows, iOS, Kroger, PetSmart … you get the picture), and Tencent is controlled by the CCP.

An exception was made for universities, and law enforcement is also expected to get an exemption, apparently because they have nothing to hide.

Captain Obvious does double duty

“Fathers Who Drink Heavily Report Less Positive Involvement with Their Children”

= and =

“Medical terminology can be confusing for patients” — which also finds that “specialty names and seniority titles^* are also sources of misunderstanding.”

^* As someone who has been scolded for referring to an *associate* professor as an *assistant* professor, I sympathize.