NPR & Blog readings

Take a look at some of the interesting articles I've read today.  I've highlighted some of the keypoints from each article so you can pick and choose which NPR blog articles best suits your interests (while still trying to preserve some of the mystery of the articles for you to read).

 Happy reading everyone :)

 Free Food or Drugs?

• "Why Didn't Your Doctor Prescribe A Generic? Look In The Mirror."
• Eight in 10 prescriptions are filled with generics rather than brand-name drugs
• The researchers found that doctors' willingness to prescribe a brand was associated with their acceptance of free food from drugmakers. JAMA Internal Medicine 

Pain & Opioids

• "Painkiller Paradox: Feds Struggle To Control Drugs That Help And Harm"
• Michael Israel painkillers for bad cramps in his gut as part of his struggle with  Crohn's disease
• "Michael came over to my bedroom one night and said, 'Pops, I have a problem with the pills,' " says Israel.
• Overdoses have been rising rapidly, now killing more than 15,000 Americans every year. 

33 Shades of a Vanilla Milkshake

•  "Robogut' Makes Synthetic Poop To Treat Stubborn Infections"
• Doctors in Ontario, Canada, developed the synthetic stool — which they call RePOOPulate — to treat people sick with infections from Clostridium difficile, a bacterium  
• Microbiologist Emma Allen-Vercoe, who invented the Robogut, grew the bacteria from her stool and then sequenced the bugs' DNA to figure which species were present.
• an opaque mixture of bacteria, which Allen-Vercoe describes as a "vanilla milkshake." Really.

72 year old marathoner with myeloma

• " Targeted Cancer Drugs Keep Myeloma Patients Up And Running"
• ... a revolution in treating this once-fearsome blood cell cancer, which strikes around 20,000 Americans every year
• In the decade since his diagnosis, Wright has averaged seven marathons a year. He's training for his 71st, which will take place in March on Cape Cod.

Your International Ibuprofen- Diclofenac NSAID

• "World's Most Popular Painkiller Raises Heart Attack Risk"
• The painkiller diclofenac isn't very popular in the U.S., but it's by far the most widely used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, or NSAID, in the world.
• Diclofenac far outsells ibuprofen, naproxen, and other NSAIDs in 15 countries around the world.

 Stroke Therapy: time & choice

• "Widely Used Stroke Treatment Doesn't Help Patients"
• The beautiful idea is the notion that clearing the blocked artery of a stroke patient with a device snaked right up to the blockage would salvage threatened brain cells and prevent a lot of disability.
• Three studies have now found no difference in outcome between patients who got the endovascular treatment along with an intravenous dose of a clot-busting drug called tPA, or Alteplase, and other patients who got only tPA

  11 Month Knee Problems

• " After The Knee Is Fixed, How Long Before The Player Returns?"
• It takes 11 months, on average, for an NFL player to return to play after anterior cruciate ligament surgery
• Cadaver tissue, which is used when a person has no more ligaments to spare, attaches more slowly, which is one reason that orthopedists are experimenting with using pig ligaments instead. 

 

Three years from today

Three years from today may mark the day when Thang Q. Tran can reapply for his pharmacy license in the state of California.


Tran is accused of not keep up-to-date inventory, housed expired medications and "dispensed numerous prescriptions for controlled substances without determining whether any prescription was written for a legitimate medical purpose" at Pacifica Pharmacy at 18682 Beach Blvd.


Read more about this current Orange County Register article here:

Pharmacist who filled narcotics orders will halt fight

California Board of Pharmacy Legal Filings PDF

Abstract

Keeping it simple in life.

Compounding Day

NCPA Compunding Day

Snow days

It snows. Put on your heavy parka. It stops. Sun. Class. It snows again.

Heavenly via iPhone

ED2 North Campus with Bridge to ED2 South

ED1 and Snow

Yes, Snow.

Dr. Lisa Tseng's Over-Prescription Cloud Hangs Over Surf City's Now-Closed Pacifica Pharmacy

OC Weekly Article This Week

Snow day becomes baking day

Happy Sunday everyone!

Denver residents are the biggest snow storm of the season.   As for me personally, any day that is snowing becomes a storm day seeing as I truly miss the sunny California weather.

There are many classmates that are capitalizing on the snow and hitting the slopes. As for me, I'll take this as an occassion for warm hot chocolate (or coffee?), a fleece blanket and some in-between baking.

Earlier this week, I made ready made cookies from a Hershey's package.  Didn't really care for them, but they were a hit amongst some of my classmates during our Instructional Methods class presentations. 

So today, I tried to venture into baking from scratch... After making it,  I realized why I do like the costco cookie dough readymade packs.  I didn't have any butter so I had to make do with what ingredients I did have.  So thank goodness for google and searching "No butter chocolate chip cookies"

Here are the links to the recipes I used:
1) No Butter Recipe
2) Robbi's M&M Cookies Recipe

Honestly, here's why I still love ready make dough.. 1)  The first chocolate chip recipe was so gooey, that I feel like I lost 10% of it transferring it from the mixer to the baking sheet on my hands and spoons.  I'm not sure if using the gluten free flour had anything to do with this??
2) The second M& M cookie recipe was more liquidy.  I substituted apple sauce for shortening and still continued to use gluten free flour.  It was so liquidy to the point that I changed my mind to make cupcakes, but realized I was out of PAM non-stick cooking spray too. HA!  End result: Let's dry making a M&M cookie bread. 

I'll update later with pictures. 

Until next time, stay warm everyone!

Risky Studying?

A 1:30 am MST post is fitting for this post.    Granted, I haven't taken Adderall but am naturally fueled by a sustaining mid-day nap.


One of our recent class lectures focused on ADHD and stimulant treatment.  During lecture, our professor highlighted some recent media publications discussing stimulants and abuse, including the one lined below:

 NY Times Risky Rise of the Good-Grade Pill


“Straight A’s and high SAT scores look great on paper, but they aren’t reflective measures of a student’s health and well-being. We need to better understand the pressures and temptations, and ultimately we need to embrace new definitions of student success. For many families and communities, that’s simply not happening.


Pharmacy students studying away➡➡➡inevitably leading to baking study breaks. Thanks Trader Joes

What's you opinion?

A recent advocacy group post highlights outrage at a pharmacy's use of promoting Oxymorhone as a generic.  Do you agree with the pictures comments?   Or do you think that generic availability can benefit patients, like the elderly,  who may not be able to afford their medications?

Before you scroll down, I've included an clip of Micromedex's information on what Oxymorphone HCl is used for. 

Excerpt from Micromedex electronic database resource

Screen shot of an online post

Dying teen not afraid to tell you about it

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/cameron-496668-says-want.html

Colorado Pharmacists Society Journal Club

So today's journal club was well attended by our P2 class.  Today's journal club was presented by our former NCPA president, Clarissa Manzi, who did a great job of reviewing the details and preparing our class for the upcoming exam portion.

In one of our courses, we are responsible for critically analyzing evidence-based medicine, known as EBM. Half of our class has the exam which consists of EBM analysis and Drug Information research today while the other half has it tomorrow.



The topic was interesting and the procedure discussed was something I've never heard about before. One of the treatment groups received feces through a tube that was inserted into the mouth and directly into the stomach.

Take a look at some of the pictures below which include the class audience, the journal title page, Norm our current president, and Caleb who graduated from CU as well and is currently completing his fellowship.

Smaller Classroom Setting

Norm Fenn, our current CPS executive chair

Caleb Oh, PharmD & Current Fellow: always offering tips for Journal Club

Instagrammed

New England Journal of Medicine is considered a reputable source for research publications.  Take a moment to look up the article if you are interested in learning more.

Grammies and Novocaine?

Wonder if Frank Ocean likes/loves Novocaine, or in his case "Novacane"?



Wonder where I can pick up some business casual yellow pants? Ala Frank ocean style

Yellow Lines

Never forgotten

Our recently monthly seminar at school focused on peer support services for pharmacists, pharmacy students and other professionals. Many of my classmates and I heard the story of current pharmacist on probation during the first week of our schools orientation.

But somehow hearing it today there were parts that made it more home felt. I wasn't sad that she had her license suspended or her judgment deferred, I had empathy.

There was a brief moment towards the end of the seminar when a peer advisor was speaking about the incidence of prescription drug abuse. Then sitting amongst my classmates I had a flashback and I fought hard to not blink my eye. The tears eventually slowly trickled onto my cheek. It became real.


I quickly went to wipe my lower lash lie with a seemingly cool natural swipe. It was all too real that I immediately took my phone and texted Jhonny to tell him what I just relived and remembered.

I put away this brief experience to continue about my day with classes and preparing for our exam today. This was yesterday.

Tonight I went to check the online newspaper from back home to read more about other national news and I found this on the main-page.

#neverforgotten