U.S. Pharmacist - October 2015

Issue: October 2015 • Archive

In This Edition		Featured Article		Featured CE
• Editor's Notebook • Counseling Pearls • It's the Law • Clinical Corner • TrendWatch • Educational Spotlight • Quick Poll – Rx Drug Prices		New Drug Review 2015 This article reviews four new drugs approved by the FDA in the past year.		Regulatory and Safety Issues in Compounding Recently enacted/proposed rules aim to prevent events such as the 2012 distribution of contaminated injectables by a compounding pharmacy.

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Editor's Notebook

An Rx for Satisfaction & Success

Pharmacies continue to earn the highest survey scores for patient satisfaction.

Counseling Pearls

Male Eating Disorders: An Update on an Underrecognized Population

Diagnosis of an eating disorder is less likely to be made in males compared with females. The disease often presents differently in men than in women, and the incidence in males is likely higher than has been reported.

Preventive HIV Vaccines: Progress and Challenges

Despite progress in vaccine development, there is still no effective vaccine for preventing HIV. Because HIV is highly diverse, the virus integrates into the host genome and finds ways to evade the immune system.

It's the Law

State May Regulate Dispensing of Emergency Contraception

This ruling is the latest in a series of judgments on whether religious believers can opt out of providing services.

Clinical Corner

Advances in the Pharmacotherapy of Hereditary Angioedema

Hereditary angioedema is a rare genetic disease that causes repeated swellings, which can be life-threatening. New therapies prevent and reduce the duration and severity of the swelling episodes.

Medication Therapy Management Challenges in Patients With Diabetes: A Systematic Review

Providing MTM for patients with diabetes, while highly rewarding, presents many challenges. To achieve outcome goals, MTM should incorporate a number of counseling topics, as well as various components of behavior change.

TrendWatch

Inclusion of Women in Clinical Trials of New Drugs and Devices

Women have been disproportionately excluded from these trials, yet gender differences are observed in response to many drugs.

Educational Spotlight

Therapeutic Management of Infertility: A Pharmacist's Perspective

Various treatment options are available to improve the chances of conceiving.

Managing Hyperlipidemia in Adults With Chronic Kidney Disease

Patients should be closely monitored and treated in order to reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events.

Emerging Viral Respiratory Infections

Emerging respiratory viruses continue to threaten global public health security.

Newswire

Increased Risk of Kidney Stone Recurrence With Supplemental Calcium
Cleveland, OH—
Although eating foods high in calcium is protective against kidney stones, calcium supplements may increase the risk of stone recurrence, according to a recent study. Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine reviewed 24-hour urine collections and CT scans from patients with a history of kidney stones. Of the 6,050 patients, 1,486 were taking supplemental calcium. Patients who took calcium supplements had lower total calcium and oxalate concentrations in the urine; however, they also had a faster rate of kidney stone growth, suggesting that the mechanism of calcium supplementation in stone formation is complex. It was concluded that supplemental calcium, unlike dietary calcium, may worsen stone disease in patients known to form kidney stones.

Brief Counseling May Curb Risky Drug Use
Los Angeles, CA—
A brief intervention in the primary care setting could reduce risky drug use (casual, frequent, or binge use of illicit drugs or misuse of prescription drugs without signs of addiction). Participants in Project QUIT, a randomized, controlled trial conducted in medical clinics, reduced their risky drug use by one-third when primary care physicians and health coaches provided brief interventions during routine visits and follow-up phone calls. After 3 months, intervention patients (n = 171) used their favored drug a mean of 3.5 fewer days in the past month, compared with controls (n = 163). Since risky drug use can develop into drug addiction, this method could help fill an important gap in care for patients who use drugs.

Metabolic Syndrome Related to Vitamin E Deficiency
Columbus, OH—
People with metabolic syndrome—one in three Americans—absorb dietary vitamin E less effectively than healthy people, a study conducted at Ohio State University has determined. In the study, which included 10 healthy subjects and 10 with metabolic syndrome, the bioavailability of vitamin E was nearly three times higher when a glass of cow's milk (with or without fat) was consumed at the same time as the natural form of vitamin E found in foods. It was also found, however, that subjects with metabolic syndrome absorbed less vitamin E than healthy subjects did. This is of concern because it demonstrates that people with metabolic syndrome probably receive less benefit from vitamin E's antioxidant properties, according to the researchers.