Columns

Let's Talk! – Bryan Jirsa

An athlete at heart, Bryan Jirsa played recreational sports throughout elementary and middle school and went on to compete on his high school football, wrestling and baseball teams. At the same time, he lived with constant, often unexplained illness. Sinus infections, ear infections and sore throats were a regular part of life — so common that his family largely accepted them as normal. As an infant, Bryan required tube feeding until the age of 3 and received immune globulin (IG) infusions for a suspected immune problem, though no clear diagnosis followed… full article (pdf)

Product Guide

Choosing Vitamins and Supplements

Does shopping for vitamins and supplements make you scratch your head? Me too! Trying to make sense of what to take, how to take it and which brand to buy makes it feel like it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Th¬e United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates there are more than 100,000 different kinds of supplements to choose from — no wonder consumers are confused!… full article (pdf)

Ask the Experts

Reader: Can switching from SCIG Vials to Prefilled Syringes Affect Blood Work?

Abbie: I reached out to Terry O. Harville, MD, PhD, medical director of the Special Immunology Laboratory at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and Leslie Vaughan, RPh, CSP, IgCN, chief operations officer for Nufactor, a specialty infusion company, and they said switching from SCIG vials to prefilled syringes should not cause changes in blood levels. The medication itself is the same product; the only difference is the delivery method. There is no evidence that absorption, dosing or effectiveness changes simply because the product is administered from a prefi¬lled syringe rather than a vial… full article (pdf)