January 3 Week in Review

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

Camille Schrier, a pharmacy student at Virginia Commonwealth University, has been crowned Miss America 2020. The competition was broadcast on December 19^th on NBC, Pharmacy Times reported. Previously crowned Miss Virginia, Schrier graduated from Virginia Tech in 2018 with degrees in biochemistry and systems biology, and, according to the VCU School of Pharmacy blog, Schrier has loved science since middle school. According to VCU, Schrier’s interest in pharmacy is personal. She was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a genetic condition affecting body tissue, joints, and blood vessels, when she was age 11 years. The lack of treatments for her condition stemmed Schrier’s goal of entering the medical field. For her talent presentation in both the Miss Virginia and the Miss America pageants, Schrier conducted a science experiment using potassium iodide to show the rapid decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, resulting in a burst of foam commonly called “elephant toothpaste.”

A study conducted by the Boston University of Public Health is the first study to conclude that PTSD impacts infection risks for men and women differently, Contemporary Clinic reported. Researchers used Danish national records to evaluate the health histories of every Danish-born Danish citizen who received a PTSD diagnosis from 1995 through 2011. Each person was matched with a comparison group of Danes of the same sex and age. Following this, the researchers compared the Danes’ histories of hospital care for 28 different kinds of infections, and they found that people with PTSD were 1.8 times likely to have any infection than those without PTSD. When comparing men and women with PTSD, the study found that having PTSD had more of an effect on a woman’s risk for several kinds of infection than on a man’ risk, for example, urinary tract infections. Meanwhile, having PTSD was linked to a rise in skin infections in men.

A new study provides insight into how HIV may increase the risk of cardiac death in infected individuals, Specialty Pharmacy Times reported. The study’s findings indicated that those with HIV have more QT interval variability, a marker of ventricular repolarization compared with individuals who do not have HIV. For the study, the authors used data collected from the National Institutes of Health Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, an ongoing 30-year study that follows the health of gay and bisexual men from 4 US cities. The results suggest that the extent of abnormal QT variation in men living with HIV was comparable to that of 8 years of aging in those without detectable virus in the blood and close to 20 years in those with detectable virus.

Pharmacists may get more questions about Trelegy, if patients have seen a recent commercial for the prescription medication. In the spot, called “The Power of More: $0,” Trelegy is the only FDA-approved once-daily 3-in-1 treatment for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. According to the commercial, TRELEGY is a prescribed three-in-one medication intended to provide relief for those who suffer from COPD when taken regularly as ordered.

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.