By: Kevin Lin, PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 — The FDA recently completed an observational cohort study that compared Pradaxa® (dabigatran) to warfarin for rates of ischemic stroke, intracranial hemorrhage, major gastrointestinal bleed, myocardial infarction, and death. The study enrolled more than 134,000 patients, with 64% over the age of 65 and found a lower risk…

By: Stephanie Chiu and Elissa Tam, PharmD Candidates c/o 2015 — According to the Dartmouth Atlas project, health care spending in the United States has risen dramatically and yet health outcomes are not improving; meanwhile, many other countries that spend far less per person than the United States have better health outcomes.1 Studies have since…

By: Diana Gritsenko, PharmD Candidate 2015 – Multiple complications can arise during pregnancy. While venous thromboembolism (VTE) has a prevalence rate of just 0.06% it is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality. It is recommended that at-risk pregnant women receive anticoagulation therapy for a minimum of 3 months and VTE prophylaxis for the…

By: Katharine Cimmino, Editor-in-Chief – Many articles and quick one-line stories have been cropping up on the internet boasting the benefits of drinking wine regularly.  While headlines such as, “Drinking a Glass of Red Wine is the same as Getting an Hour of Exercise, Says New Study,” may make readers ecstatic that their drinking habits…

By: Melissa Roy, Co-Copy Editor [Graphics Focused] – DIA stands for Drug Information Association. It is an organization that strives to provide both educational and professional development opportunities for individuals working in pharmaceutical and medical product development-related fields, as well as a global, unbiased forum for the exchange of information across multiple disciplines of programming…

By Davidta Brown, Senior Staff Editor – The idea of granting pharmacists the right to prescribe, as well as to counsel and dispense, has long been a source of controversy among healthcare professionals. A study out of the University of Alberta in Canada, published online in mid-April, provided some much needed concrete data for an…

By: Jenny Park PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 – Testosterone is a hormone essential to male development. However, treatment of testosterone deficiency is FDA approved only when accompanied with another medical condition such as failure of testicles to produce testosterone due to chemotherapy or even genetic conditions.1 In 2011, 5.3 million prescriptions for testosterone were written…

By: Sabrina Ahmed, PharmD Candidate c/o 2017 – Over the decades, one of the biggest mysteries encountered by researchers has been why so many CD4 T-cells die when one is infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).1 CD4 T-cells are an integral part of the immune system as they locate pathogens and signal other immune cells…

By: Erica Dimitropoulos Co-Copy Editor [Content- Focused]  – On February 14, 2014, elosulfase alfa (Vimizim™) became an FDA-approved enzyme replacement therapy for Morquio A Syndrome, a type of mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS IVA).1 Elosulfase alfa was granted priority review and was also the first drug to receive the Rare Pediatric Disease Priority Review Voucher that motivates the development…

By: Hayeon Na, Co-Copy Editor [Content-Focused] – On October 8th of 2013, Bayer’s new drug riociguat (Adempas®) was approved for the treatment of patients whose pulmonary hypertension (PH) belongs in WHO groups 1 and 4.1 Riociguat (Adempas®) is a soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) stimulator, and currently the only one of its kind on the market.…

By: Ada Seldin, Staff Editor – Since the first release of the Surgeon General’s Report on smoking 50 years ago, it has become clear that smoking results in premature death and a myriad of diseases, affecting almost every organ system. Public health initiatives to increase awareness, prevent initiation, and promote smoking cessation have been marginally…

By: Jenny Park, PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 – Methadone maintenance therapy is prescribed for opioid dependency. Many HIV patients who were former injection drug abusers rely on methadone maintenance. Although there is limited data, research suggests lamivudine, ritonavir, and zidovudine to be the most common concomitant drugs in methadone associated torsades and prolonged QT interval.1…

By: James Schurr, PharmD Candidate c/o 2014 and Jennifer Miao, PharmD Candidate c/o 2014 With very special thanks to Jessica Melore and Jennifer McDermott, PharmD, BCPS of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital – Jessica Melore was 16 years old, a senior in high school, and co-captain of the tennis team when her life took a drastic turn. While…

By: Amrita Singh, PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 – Last November, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association released new lipid guidelines, which will transform the way we manage our patients with hyperlipidemia. Earlier, lipid management was based on the ATP-III guidelines, which emphasized the use of several lipid-lowering medications to reach target…

By: Katharine Cimmino, Editor-in-Chief and Melissa Roy, Co-Copy Editor [Graphics-Focused] – Dr. Mangione has been a prominent member here at St. John’s University both as a student and as a leader. Before becoming our dedicated Provost, Dr. Mangione was the Dean of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences since 1999. He joined the St.…

By: Katharine Cimmino, Editor-in-Chief – Marijuana, also known as “grass,” “pot,” “joint,” “weed,” “reefer,” “hashish,” and “Mary Jane,” is a very popular illicit drug.1 According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, “In 2012, 5.4 million persons aged 12 or older used marijuana on a daily or almost daily basis in the past 12…

The mission of the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP) is to be the collective voice of student pharmacists, to provide opportunities for professional growth, to improve patient care, and to envision and advance the future of pharmacy. Our main purpose as a student chapter is to provide means for student pharmacists to…

By: Rebecca Gilene, PharmD Candidate c/o 2014, St. Louis College of Pharmacy – The FDA approved macitentan (Opsumit®) on October 18, 2013 for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension.1 Pulmonary arterial hypertension, often referred to as PAH, is a disease characterized by high blood pressure in the arteries between the heart and lungs. An increase…

By: Sherine Jaison, PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 –  The leukemia chemotherapy drug ponatinib (Iclusig) has just been taken off the market. The drug was under investigation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) following several reports of serious and life threatening blood clots and narrowing of the blood vessels.1 Ponatinib is a BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase…

By: Beatrice Popovitz, Staff Editor and Ada Seldin, Staff Editor –       In August 2013, St. John’s University welcomed Rev. Joseph L. Levesque, C.M., former president of Niagara University, into the community as interim president. Fr. Levesque has an elaborate background in Vincentian leadership and higher education, having taught in various religious institutions such…

By: Arya Mathew, PharmD Candidate c/o 2014 –  About twelve percent of the U.S. population suffers from migraines, affecting adult women three times more than adult men.  Migraines are returning attacks of moderate to severe, throbbing or pulsing pain, usually on one side of the head.  Along with the severe pain, migraine sufferers also experience…

By: Aleena Cherian, Co-Copy Editor, Graphics Focused – Selecting APPE Rotations You’ve made it past the progression interviews at the end of 2nd year, the White Coat Ceremony, and the mind-boggling compounding and kinetics equations. You’re almost done with those labs and late night D&D study sessions. Now, halfway through the first semester of your…

By: Sang Hyo Kim, Staff Editor – On March 29th 2013, the U.S Food and Drug Administration approved canagliflozin (Invokana®), a new form of a diabetic drug for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.1 Canagliflozin is in a new class of medications called sodium glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors and is the only oral, once-daily…

By: Aleena Cherian, Co-Copy Editor [Graphics-Focused] – Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a chronic neurological behavior characterized by persistent patterns of inattention and/or hyperactive behavior, resulting in a wide range of emotional, functional, and neurocognitive impairments.1,2 First line therapy for ADHD consists of stimulant medications together with non-pharmacologic interventions, and has been shown to improve…

By: Beatrisa Popovitz, Staff Editor –  You may have heard the countless horror stories passed on by upperclassman of how D&Ds seep into the crevices of our brains and take over our psyches to inevitably make us breathe, sleep, and speak pharmacy.  Stressing out over exams and investing what may seem like all of your…

By Omar Khalid Pharm.D. Candidate c/o 2014 – The outpour of a multitude of new oral anticoagulants in recent years has health care professionals questioning whether they should switch the patients over, and what new agents should be used. With the recent addition of dabigatran (Pradaxa®) in October 2010, rivaroxaban (Xarelto®) in November 2011, and…

By: Efime Popovitz, BS/MD Candidate, Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education – When Sarah Murnaghan received the long awaited adult lung after years of battling cystic fibrosis, she not only narrowly escaped her death sentence, but also brought to light a plight that thousands of individuals face each day- a struggle for the opportunity to…

By: Nathan Trustman, PharmD Candidate c/o 2013, AMSCOP at LIU – Obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or greater. It is thought to be the result of an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure, possibly due to a number of genetic and environmental factors.1 It is estimated…

By: Tasnima Nabi, Content-focused Co-Copy Editor – The College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences has officially launched a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree program and accepted applications for Fall 2013. Public Health has become an increasingly important area of study over the years as our country experiences rising numbers of chronic disease, health care…

By: Steve Soman – The St. John’s University Honors Program features small classes, faculty mentoring, and an impressive number of academic and cultural opportunities for students to excel. These opportunities range from performances at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet, and the New York Philharmonic to museum visits and Manhattan walking tours. For students…

By: Erica Dimitropoulos, Senior Staff Editor – Rheumatoid arthritis is a painful and often debilitating autoimmune disease characterized by symmetric polyarthritis, most commonly of the proximal interphalangeal and metacarpophalangeal joints, elbows, knees, ankles, and spine.1 Its clinical manifestations vary, from a slowly progressing onset of fatigue and musculoskeletal discomfort to a sudden and worsening destruction…

By Taryn Mondiello and Frances Trosa, Pharm. D. Candidates c/o 2015 – On Saturday, April 13th, there was a Red Storm on campus. This Red Storm, however, was probably not the one you are thinking about. While the people were in fact wearing red, they were actually participants of the APhA-ASP’s event “Run for the…

By: Tasnima Nabi, Staff Editor – Merck & Co. will pay $688 million to settle two lawsuits filed in December 2008 over their patent-protected statin, Vytorin®.  The suits state that Merck and Schering-Plough delayed releasing the results of their ENHANCE study to avoid a decrease in revenue.1 Vytorin® is a combination drug of simvastatin and…

By:  Lila Ahmed, PharmD Candidate c/o 2013 – In the past, numerous research efforts have attempted to prove the benefits and risks of calcium and multivitamin supplements with little success. Most of the studies performed were inconclusive and did not provide us with significant data; while some studies have found that calcium is beneficial for…

By:  Jena Marion, PharmD Candidate c/o 2013 – It was a few weeks into the spring semester of my freshman year at St. John’s University when I earned my wings.  I was on a plane trip, flying cross-country to San Diego with friends that I had only known for a few months, on my way…

By: Alexandra Alleva, PharmD candidate c/o 2013 – As of December 28th, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer’s brand name oral anticoagulant, Eliquis® (apixaban), attained FDA approval.1  This occurred one month after its approval in  Europe and Canada, following longer than expected waits in the US due to further investigation requests by the FDA.2 The much-anticipated anticoagulant is…

By: Mahdieh Danesh Yazdi, Associate Student Editor – Many of us have prepared for influenza season by receiving the flu vaccine.  (If you have not, please speak to your doctor or pharmacist soon!  Remember: even if you do not need it for your protection, get it for your patients’ well-being).  However, for the youngest members…

By: Elsa Thomas, PharmD Candidate c/o 2013 – Atropine is an anticholinergic used to treat various conditions, such as bradycardia, neuromuscular blockade, mydriasis, nerve agent poisoning, and salivary hypersecretion.1,2  Pharmacologically, it inhibits smooth muscle and glands innervated by postganglionic cholinergic nerves.1,2  It also has functions in the central nervous system (CNS); it could stimulate or…

By: Jessica Lee, PharmD Candidate c/o 2013 – Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks healthy tissue, causing inflammation of the joints and potential harm to other organs.1  It affects 0.5-1% of the adult population and is more prevalent in the seventh decade of life.1  These patients tend to…

By: James W.  Schurr & Stephen Argiro, PharmD Candidates c/o 2014 – Patients frequently utilize non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for a wide variety of conditions, including but not limited to arthritis, headaches, and generalized pain.  Despite an excellent safety profile, NSAIDs are associated with certain toxicities, including renal complications (particularly among at risk populations).1  Acute…

By: Mahdieh Danesh Yazdi – We live in amazing times. Technology does not progress by steps anymore, it grows by leaps. Health-care has reaped the benefits of these advances just like any other industry. It was not a very long time ago that pharmacists would look up patient records in a book full of names…

By: Addolorata Ciccone, Student Copy Editor – As a fifth-year pharmacy student researching and ranking advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) sites, I felt excited at the prospect of taking the knowledge and skills I obtained in the classroom and applying it to real world patients and scenarios.  My years of work in community pharmacies were…

By: Addolorata Ciccone, Co-Copy Editor – Acute Coronary Syndromes Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a myocardial ischemia caused by obstruction of coronary arteries.  ACS is stratified into three types, based on electrocardiogram (EKG) changes and the presence of cardiac biomarkers (e.g. troponin, creatinine phosphokinase, and myoglobin).  To guide treatment plans, it is important to identify…

By Nandini Puranprashad, Pharm D. Candidate c/o 2013 – Felipe Camacho is a 6th year student at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy.  He received his Bachelors of Arts in Music Composition from Rollins College, Winter Park, FL.  After graduation, Mr. Camacho plans to pursue a residency at the Veterans Affairs (V.A.), Lee Memorial…

By: Neal Shah, Co-Editor-in-Chief –  Dialysis is the removal of substances from intravascular circulation by filtration.1  Typically, dialysis is ordered when kidney function declines to 10–15% of normal function.2  The National Kidney Foundation’s Kidney Disease Outcome Quality Initiative (K/DOQI) recommends that planning for dialysis begin when patients reach chronic kidney disease stage 4, which is…

By Mohamed Dungersi, Associate Student Editor – Match the following herbal products with their natural source and reason for use: A. This product is a source of omega-3 fatty acids, primarily docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA).  It is used to lower triglyceride levels, to lower high blood pressure, and for a variety of…

By: Neal Shah, Co Editor-In-Chief – Dyskinesias are abnormal, involuntary movement disorders.  Subsets of dyskinesias include choreas and atheosis.  Chorea is irregular and sporadic contraction of muscles whereas athetosis involves a twisting and writhing of muscles.  These two dyskinesias often occur together and are thus termed choreathetosis.1  Common conditions which feature choreatheosis are Huntington’s, and…

By: Michael Maddalena, Pharm.D. Candidate c/o 2016 –       Michael is the upcoming president of the Phi Delta Chi Professional Pharmaceutical Fraternity Beta Alpha Chapter at St.  John’s University College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions. The term sophomore comes from a compound of the Greek sophos, meaning “wise”, and moros, meaning “foolish”.  Hence, as…

By: Raymond Wu, Pharm.D. Candidate c/o 2013   The 5-hydroxytryptamine type 3 (5HT3) antagonists (e.g. ondansetron [Zofran®]) are commonly used in the prevention and treatment of nausea and vomiting in the inpatient setting.1  Overall, ondansetron is a well-tolerated medication with few side effects.1  Constipation, dizziness, and headache are the most commonly reported side effects associated…

By: Lila Ahmed, Pharm.D. Candidate c/o 2013 – Whether you wish to admit it or not, all of us have watched or at least heard of the Dr. Oz Show.  I am sure that many of us encounter patients in the pharmacy who say, “I saw this on Dr. Oz; where could I find it?”…