Streptococcus

• OmniSYS, the pharmacy division of XiFin, Inc., announced its 2023 end-of-year CareALERTS™ data, demonstrating how pharmacists as providers are closing healthcare gaps at the point of care.
• OmniSYS released this data on National Pharmacist Day to celebrate pharmacists and urges all U.S. states to recognize pharmacists as providers of clinical services who can help address physician shortages and improve healthcare access for the nation’s most vulnerable and underserved communities.
• "We deeply appreciate the vital role pharmacists play in enhancing the well-being of Americans, especially seniors facing healthcare challenges.
• “The role of the pharmacy continues to evolve as millions of Americans rely on pharmacists as first-line providers of healthcare,” said XiFin chief pharmacy officer David Pope, PharmD, CDE.

• However, there is also a growing interest in one element of our anatomy that is often overlooked: our fascia.
• Fascia is a thin casing of connective tissue, mainly made of collagen – a rope-like structure that provides strength and protection to many areas of the body.
• It surrounds and holds every organ, blood vessel, bone, nerve fibre and muscle in place.
• It is hard to see fascia in the body, but you can get a sense of what it looks like if you look at a steak.

When fascia gets damaged

• Injury to fascia takes a long time to repair, probably because it possesses similar cells to tendons (fibroblasts), and has a limited blood supply.
• Recently, fascia, particularly the layers close to the surface, have been shown to have the second-highest number of nerves after the skin.
• Up to 30% of people with musculoskeletal pain may have fascial involvement or fascia may be the cause.

Fascia in disease

• Aside from getting damaged, fascia can also provide paths that infections can travel along, within muscles.
• This is a particular problem in the neck, where there are several layers of fascia for infections to travel along.
• Fascia can also be implicated in more serious health conditions, such as necrotising fasciitis.

We can see it better now

• One reason fascia has been overlooked in health and disease is because it was difficult to see using current imaging technology.
• More recently, though, MRI and ultrasound imaging have been shown to be beneficial in visualising fascia, particularly in musculoskeletal conditions such as plantar fasciitis, and pathological changes in the fascia of the shoulder and neck.

Adam Taylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• The trial evaluated the immunogenicity, tolerability and safety of V116 compared to PCV20 (pneumococcal 20-valent conjugate vaccine) in adults who had not previously received a pneumococcal vaccine.
• In adults 18 to 49 years of age (Cohort 2), V116 elicited non-inferior immune responses (immunobridged) compared to adults 50 to 64 years of age, as assessed by serotype-specific OPA GMTs 30 days post-vaccination.
• If approved, V116 would be the first pneumococcal conjugate vaccine specifically designed for adults.
• Participants administered V116 and PCV20 who reported at least 1 adverse event (AE) were 61.7% and 67.2%, respectively.

• The aim is to create new or improved vaccines for some of the deadliest respiratory diseases, including tuberculosis (TB) and influenza.
• Developed in partnership with the University of Copenhagen, it is the first vaccines initiative globally to focus solely on understanding how to generate immunity in the airway itself.
• "The development of the Covid-19 vaccines demonstrated the extraordinary possibilities when interdisciplinary vaccine research and development are prioritised," says Krogsgaard Thomsen.
• "We hope that NIVI's work can help prepare us for the next pandemic or even help consign airborne epidemics to history."