March 15 Pharmacy Week in Review: Fasting Diet May Reduce Inflammation, Menstruation Provides a Vital Sign for Girls

This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings, and more. Our Week in Review is a can't miss for the busy pharmacy professional.

Nicole Grassano, Host: Hello and welcome to the Pharmacy Times News Network. I’m Nicole Grassano your host for our Pharmacy Week in Review.

Facebook is taking steps in the next few weeks to help combat the growing antivaccine movement, Pharmacy Times reported. Measures include lowering the ranking of groups and pages that disseminate misinformation about vaccinations in the news feed and search sections of the page.

Facebook will not include those groups and pages in recommendations or predictions when individuals type into search. Ads that include vaccine misinformation will be rejected, and those that continue to violate Facebook’s policy may have their accounts disabled. Also, Facebook-owned Explore and Instagram will not show or recommend content that contains vaccine misinformation.

Nurse practitioners should be taking menses into consideration when assessing female adolescent and teenage patients, Contemporary Clinic reported. In fact, assessing a patient’s menstrual cycle can be an important vital sign, much like blood pressure and weight.

At the 40th National Conference of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, in New Orleans, experts presenting a session on menstrual management also said that amenorrhea and heavy menstrual bleeding can both indicate a variety of medical issues in the pediatric patient population. Neither condition is considered the norm, they said.

Investigators from the University of Southern California have found evidence that a low-calorie fasting-mimicking diet has the potential to reduce inflammation and increase intestinal stem cells, Specialty Pharmacy Times reported. The study, published in Cell Reports, examined the health benefits of periodic cycles of a fasting diet for people with inflammation.

There was also evidence that the diet reversed inflammatory bowel disease pathology in mice. The study found that 2 cycles of a 4-day fasting-mimicking diet followed by a normal diet appeared to be enough to alleviate some, and reverse other, IBD-associated pathologies or symptoms.

Pharmacists may get more questions about Zyrtec, if their patients have seen a new commercial for the OTC allergy relief product. In the spot, called “Turn Heads,” a woman weeding in a community garden accidentally beheads an innocent squirrel statue because she loses control of her gardening tool while sneezing. According to the commercial, Zyrtec starts working hard the first day you take it and continues to work even harder the next day.

For more great coverage and practical information for today’s pharmacist, visit our website and sign up for our Daily eNews. And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Thanks for watching our Pharmacy Week in Review. I’m Nicole Grassano at the Pharmacy Times News Network.