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The failure to eradicate cancer may be as fundamental as a misidentification of the target. Current therapies succeed at eliminating bulky disease but often miss a tumor reservoir that is [...]

The article presents the discussion on false statements regarding public health, scientific facts, biomedical research, and medical treatments. Topics include value of certain public health measures, such as mask wearing or social distancing changing as new information; and unstudied treatment of different diseases or age groups and the use of alternative dosing or routes of administration.

Although the medical profession strives for safe prescribing, most medications are unique challenges even when prescribed by an experienced provider. In this article we discuss the pitfalls associated with drug interactions between commonly used antibiotics and anticoagulants, the complexities associated with the administration of novel reversible anticoagulants, the often‐overlooked severe adverse drug reactions from commonly used classes of medications such as corticosteroids, the nuances of managing an acetaminophen overdose, and uncommon yet serious adverse events associated with the use of contraceptive hormone drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In recent years, health care has been increasingly delivered by interprofessional teams in the inpatient, outpatient, and transition‐of‐care arenas. For many reasons, effective communication between patient‐centered care teams and patients is critically important in order to optimize care, ensure patient safety, and prevent medical and medication misadventures. In rapid‐paced, high‐stress medical environments, it is especially important to carefully evaluate the causes of all misadventures in a manner that avoids assigning blame and identifies the root causes and, through team activity, leads to development of remedies that reduce the likelihood of future misadventures. Using a series of illustrative cases, this paper seeks to bring attention to these issues and provide insights regarding some tools developed to assist in improving patient safety and effective team communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biologicals are a rapidly expanding class of medications used in the treatment of many different conditions. This article reviews the common characteristics of this class and the requirements for safe and effective use in patients. Several vignettes are included to illustrate common challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immunosuppressive agents such as cyclosporine, tacrolimus, sirolimus, and corticosteroids are substrates for the transmembrane multidrug resistance pump P-glycoprotein (P-gp). Experience in oncologyhas suggested that chronic exposure to P-gp substrates induces upregulation of P-gp activity, which could result in resistance to immunosuppressive drugs. The authors investigated P-gp function in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from the peripheral blood of solid organ transplant recipients (SOTX). Subjects included 14 stable SOTX (10 liver, 4 lung) and 16 healthy controls. Four-color flow cytometry was used to simultaneously measure intracellular concentration of the fluorescent P-gp substrate Rhodamine 123 (Rh123) and surface expression of CD45RO (nominal memory/effector), CD45RA (naive), and either CD4 or CD8. P-glycoprotein function was measured by a dye efflux assay in which activity was inferred from a decrease in Rh123 fluorescence. CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from patients and control subjects eliminated Rh123, and this activity was inhibited by verapamil, a known P-gp substrate. CD8+ T cells had greater P-gp activity than CD4+ cells, and naive and transitional T cells displayed greater activity than memory T cells. Activity was bimodal in CD8+ CD45RO+ T cells, with a subset of these cells expressing the greatest P-gp activity. Patient CD8+ naive and transitional T cells had upregulated P-gp activity compared to control subjects. We conclude that (1) P-gp activityis significantly upregulated in specific T-cell subsets (CD8+/CD45RA+) in the peripheral blood of SOTX, and (2) the bimodal nature of P-gp response in CD8+ T cells complicates analysis of the effect of chronic administration of P-gp substrates to SOTX. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) discuses monoclonal antibody therapeutic for anti–severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Topics include the academic medical community has been justified by the spike of new SARS-CoV-2 infections.

The article discusses the proposal to develop a set of clinical pharmacology standards that represent the entrustable professional activities medical students has to when entering the first year of residency training. Topics discussed include the advocacy of contemporary clinical pharmacology to promote educational interventions, the strengths of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology, and the need for future clinicians to have clear understanding of clinical pharmacology.