FDA clarifies Plan B

The FDA has changed the required label on boxes of Plan B (levonorgestrel) to make it clear that it works before fertilization, i.e., it doesn’t cause an abortion, and is therefor safe for those who believe life begins at conception.

The package insert also says the pill “will not work if you’re already pregnant, and will not affect an existing pregnancy.”

Another good reason to get the shingles vaccine

Stroke. Rather, the huge increase in stroke risk if you get shingles. We’re talking a crazy 80 percent higher risk than non-shingled people.

Why is there such a high risk? No one knows. Ha! Kidding! University of Colorado neurologists think they figured it out.

It seems when shingles strikes, the varicella zoster virus activates exosomes, which the body needs for clotting. Problem: Shingles doesn’t make you bleed, so those exosomes just end up clogging up the works, clumping with platelets, and forming clots that eventually can cause a stroke.

Good thing there’s a vaccine, huh?

Make and fulfill a New Year’s resolution right now

In one fell swoop you can impress your patients and your boss, boost your résumé, and improve yourself and your practice. Register to earn a certificate with GPhA!

GPhA’s got awesome certificate programs in 2023, and you can register now. BAM — one resolution checked off! (GPhA members get a price break, but non-members are welcome too!)

The certificate programs:

APhA’s Delivering Medication Therapy Management (MTM) Services Certificate Training Program

• Live via Zoom
• 21.0 contact hours of CPE, including the 8-hour live class.
• Sunday, March 19, 2023 and Sunday, September 17, 2023

APhA’s Pharmacy-Based Immunization Delivery Certificate Training Program

• Live in person at GPhA’s North American headquarters in Sandy Springs
• 23.0 contact hours of CPE, including the 8-hour live class
• Sunday, February 12, 2023, Sunday, May 21, 2023, Sunday, August 20, 2023, and Sunday, December 3, 2023

NASPA’s Pharmacy-based Point-of-Care Test & Treat Certificate Program

• Live in person at GPhA’s North American headquarters in Sandy Springs
• 20.0 contact hours of CPE, including the 4-hour live class
• Sunday, April 23, 2023 and Sunday, October 8, 2023

GPhA’s Immunization Delivery Training for Pharmacy Technicians

• Live in person at GPhA’s North American headquarters in Sandy Springs
• 6.0 hours of CE, including the 3-hour live class
• Sunday, January 22, 2023 and Saturday, April 15, 2023

Get the details on all of them — and sign up! — at GPhA.org/certificates (or just click here).

And their cases grew three sizes that day

China’s Christmas miracle continues, with the country experiencing zero Covid-19 deaths despite having more than a million cases in one province alone.

To make matters difficult for people who care about things like, you know, health, the government stopped counting asymptomatic positive tests, and (as we reported the other day) only counts people without any underlying conditions as Covid deaths.

Limits to molnupiravir

Taking molnupiravir if you have Covid can help … to a point. A big British study found that it can speed recovery in vaccinated patients, but it doesn’t cut the risk of hospitalization or death. So at least you might spend less time in hospital — an average of about 9 days compared to more than 2 weeks for people who didn’t get it. Assuming you’re vaccinated.

Tiny patch for glucose monitoring

The latest up-and-coming, anti-finger-prick technology is being tested up in Canada, where biomed engineers are “perfecting a wearable patch that uses hundreds of tiny microneedles to sense glucose levels.”

“But wait,” you say, “Glucose-monitoring patches already exist.” Ah, but this is different. It’s much less expensive, can be put on by patients themselves, is tiny and unobtrusive, and will (they hope) be available over the counter. And they’re working to add a tiny Bluetooth radio to allow monitoring from a smartphone.

Oh, and it’s done with a hydrogel, which is apparently an impressive thing for engineers.

Is melatonin safe and effective for kids?

The short answer: Yes, but be careful to keep doses low and try not to rely on it long term.

The longer answer: Probably, but there’s not a lot of long-term data for kids. “[S]ome kids may experience daytime sleepiness or even develop nighttime bed-wetting,” and there’s speculation that it might affect the onset of puberty.

For the short term there’s less to worry about, but it’s best used to get kids back onto a normal sleep schedule, rather than as a solution to sleeplessness. (Consulting a pediatrician isn’t a bad idea.)

Bigfoot causes cancer

This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise: Anti-vaxxers and people who believe in a flat Earth, QAnon, child-eating celebrities, accurate information on Facebook, or lizard people are also more likely to believe that “everything causes cancer” rather than, you know, actual risk factors.