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Get to know the designer drug N‑bomb and its effects
Lynn Hetzler Medical & Allied HealthcareRecreational use of designer psychoactive drugs is rising dramatically. Designer drugs have gained popularity since law enforcement and legislation have made it more difficult for recreational users to secure cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, opioids and cannabis. These restrictions have encouraged suppliers and users to seek alternatives.
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Universal precautions: They truly are worth it
Christina Thielst Medical & Allied HealthcareWhen a Santa Barbara, California, patient tested positive for Hepatitis C last month, local public health officials investigated the cause. Their analysis included a visit to the patient's physician, where they discovered the medical office was performing injections without following standard/universal precautions to protect themselves and their patients from blood-borne viruses.
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Prior authorizations: Pharmacy’s own little horror show
Jason Poquette PharmaceuticalOf all the scary terms in the retail pharmacy world (not to mention among doctors and their staff), surely the words "prior authorization" are the worst. They are the seven syllables of death. They are the Freddy Kruger and Chucky and Cujo of our prescription-filling screen show all rolled up into one. They are the proverbial dead fly in the apothecary's ointment (see Ecclesiastes 10:1). We hate them.
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Clinical trial offers new hope for psoriasis sufferers
Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied HealthcareSignificant progress has been made in understanding the inheritance of psoriasis. A number of genes involved in psoriasis are already known or suspected. In a multifactor disease (involving genes, environment and other factors), variations in one or more genes may produce a greater likelihood of getting the disease. Researchers are continuing to study the genetic aspects of psoriasis, and some studies are looking at the nervous system to determine the genes responsible for the circuitry that causes itching.
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Researchers inching closer to effective Ebola vaccine
Katina Hernandez PharmaceuticalA new Ebola vaccine being developed by drugmaker Profectus now has substantial data supporting its efficacy. A report recently published in the journal Nature by author Dr. Thomas W. Geisbert of the University of Texas Medical Branch highlights the company's clinical trials testing the new vaccine on monkeys.
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Peer-review scandals shake up scholarly journal community
Cait Harrison Association ManagementCall it a new form of academic cheating. Peer reviews for scholarly journals have come under the spotlight lately — and the future isn't looking so bright. U.K.-based publisher BioMed Central recently retracted 43 scientific and medical articles because of peer reviews — mostly out of universities in China — written by people who forged scientists' names.
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Should we get rid of paper package inserts?
Jason Poquette PharmaceuticalBack in December, the FDA issued a proposal that would theoretically eliminate the little folded paper package inserts (PI) attached to prescription bottles by their manufacturer. The proposal, verbosely titled "Electronic Distribution of Prescribing Information for Human Prescription Drugs, Including Biological Products," suggests that manufacturers eliminate these funkily-folded fact sheets and replace them with a URL to the online version.
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Experts: 2015 is the year of the healthcare breach
Scott E. Rupp Healthcare AdministrationBreaches, breaches everywhere. It seems there's no shortage of news about security breaches and their effect on healthcare. In an effort to better paint the picture of breaches in healthcare, Software Advice recently published research focusing on how recent HIPAA breaches, like the cyberattacks at Anthem and Premera Blue Cross, have impacted U.S. patients' trust, treatment and retention.
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Smokers can depend on tobacco dependence treatment
Cynthia Sheppard Solomon PharmaceuticalCigarette smoking continues to lead to premature death with almost a half-million smokers dying each year in the U.S. Tobacco use causes numerous preventable diseases, including cancer as well as cardiovascular and pulmonary illnesses. A recent Mayo Clinic Proceedings research study and editorial on "Helping Smokers Quit in the 'Real World,'" shows that smokers attempting to quit, using specialist clinics plus prescription medications, had more than 2.5 times the chance for successful abstinence versus unassisted quit attempts. And, using brief advice with prescription medications showed more than a 1.5 chance of successful abstinence compared with unassisted quitting.
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New treatments on the horizon for rheumatic diseases
Rosemary Sparacio Medical & Allied HealthcareThe overall prevalence of arthritis and rheumatic diseases in the U.S. alone is a staggering number. It is estimated that more than 52.5 million U.S. adults suffer from some type of arthritis (over 1.3 million from RA, over 5 million from fibromyalgia, and over 27 million from clinical osteoarthritis, among others).
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