Post-emergency, pharmacists still have the power

The power to administer Covid-19 and flu vaccines, that is. The Biden administration officially ended the pandemic emergency, but HHS will keep some of its powers — notably the rules (plural, because there isn’t really one emergency rule) “that let pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and pharmacy interns give Covid-19 vaccines and tests and seasonal flu vaccines will stay in place through December 2024.”

Hormone headlines vs. reality

The estrogen in contraceptives could be cut by — get this — 92% and still be effective. Well, maybe. That’s what the computer model suggests, anyway.

Keep that last part in mind when you see the headlines. This wasn’t tested in the real world, just “an existing mathematical model of the menstrual cycle” plus data from 23 women. It also “assumes that the estrogen coming from birth control stays at a consistent value and doesn’t incorporate how the body absorbs the hormone over time” and relies on the hormones being delivered “during a critical window of the menstrual cycle.”

Interesting? Yes. About to change how birth control is delivered? Nuh-uh.

Do NOT wait to get your APhA vaccination certificate!

May 21 is your last chance for a while to take the Big Kahuna of immunization certificate courses: APhA’s Pharmacy-Based Immunization Delivery Certificate Training Program.

It’s a total of 23 hours of CE, and it’s the nationwide immunization training you want.

The live portion (8 hours) is being held at GPhA’s North American headquarters in Sandy Springs from 8:00am to 5:00pm on Sunday, May 21.

Space is limited and time is running out.

Click here for the details and register today!

(After you take the live portion, the rest is self study — easy peasy. At the end you get the certificate for your wall and that important line on your CV!)

Why sleeping bears lie (safely)

Remain immobile long enough, on a long flight or while bedridden for instant, and you run the risk of dangerous blood clots — venous thromboembolism. Yet bears hibernate all winter without issue*. What’s up with that?

German cardiologists decided to find out, and find out they did. It’s all about a protein called HSP47 that helps make platelets sticky, and that pretty much disappears from the blood of hibernating bears. (And there’s evidence that lower HSP47 levels in humans reduces clotting risk.)

The finding raises hope that researchers can develop drugs that block HSP47, giving doctors a new tool to treat or even prevent clots in immobile patients.

^*  Unless they sense a nearby pic-a-nic basket

A tongue-based med monitor

Rather than relying on standard doses of analgesics, it’s better to monitor absorption and tweak the dose to match the patient. And that’s why Brazilian researchers…

… have developed a simple, cheap and flexible sensor that rapidly analyzes saliva to detect paracetamol [acetaminophen], a widely used analgesic, and monitors its action in real time to permit dosage correction.

Not that it’ll be available any time soon: They’ve made a prototype and now want to find “a future partner company interested in mass-producing and marketing the device.”

Good news for vampires (really)

People with protoporphyria — where, when exposed to sunlight, protoporphyrin in the blood vessels “triggers inflammation, cell damage, and severe pain” — now may have a simple, oral treatment (as opposed to an implant that needs to be replaced).

Called dersimelagon, it increases the skin’s pigmentation, letting vampi— er, protoporphyriacs spend more time in the sun.

The drug did have side effects — most often nausea, freckles and headaches. The nausea and headaches were short-lived and “well-tolerated,” Desnick [one of the researchers] said. (Some people did not like the freckles, though, he noted.)

Larger-scale human trials are underway in northwestern Romania.

^* “They call themselves shadow-jumpers, because they have to run from one shady spot to another to avoid the sun.”

Why UTIs repeat

Why do some people get urinary tract infections over and over? And why does getting one increase the risk of getting a second? Microbiologists at Washington University in St. Louis think they’ve finally cracked the case.

It’s epigenetics, aka ‘Lamarck was right.’

The paper suggests that UTIs can actually change the DNA in the cells lining the urinary tract. Those cells can then change size and start an immune response that actually makes them more susceptible to repeated infections. [Technically it’s changing the way the DNA is being read, not the DNA itself. Sorry, Lamarck.]

The good news: Assuming the WU folks are right, now we know why some folks are reinfected. The bad news: There’s not a lot to be done about it … yet. (Also, the tests were done on mice, not humans.)

The Long Read: Learning from bats

Bats carry human diseases but don’t get sick. They rarely get cancer. They can live to the human equivalent of 200 years. So they’re an obvious animal to learn from.

[T]o researchers and biotech investors, they are a miracle mammal that could help prevent pandemics and reveal blockbuster treatments for deadly human diseases or to slow aging.