Staying #Up2Date 🚨

1: Less Fuss, Same Finish - Hydrocolloid Dressings vs Daily Petroleum for Post-Surgical Scars

An RCT of 146 patients compared hydrocolloid dressings to daily petroleum ointment after surgery. At 7 days post-op, patients thought their scars looked better with hydrocolloids. Long-term, both patients and surgeons were satisfied with either treatment, but hydrocolloids could be ideal for anyone who’d rather skip daily wound care and get the same aesthetic results.  

2: Baby Teeth Tell the Story of Early Lead Exposure and Long-Term Effects

A cohort study of 718 adults (and their baby teeth) linked childhood lead exposure to higher rates of mental health disorders later in life. Prenatal exposure, especially in the third trimester, nearly doubled the odds of adult depression (OR, 1.90; 95% CI, 1.20-2.99). meaning early lead exposure can have lasting effects. 

3: Grocery Vouchers Help Fill Plates, Not Fix Glucose

An RCT tested monthly grocery vouchers for adults with T2D experiencing food insecurity. The $65 vouchers didn’t affect HbA1c, but they did boost intake of fruits (42.6% vs 22.7%) and vegetables (44.7% vs 21.5%) 2 or more times per day. Perhaps a bigger discount would be able to reduce blood sugar?

RSV Protection - Join Our Free Webinar

Become an RSV Protection Pro - Live Webinar on October 30 @ 6PM EST.

RSV is the leading cause of infant hospitalization in Canada. While that's a tough statistic, the good news is the solution is in our hands. Too many healthy infants are still unprotected, and we're here to help you close that critical gap. Register for the free webinar offered by MDBriefCase and learn to:

• Pinpoint and eliminate those all-too-common missed opportunities for immunization.

• Adopt a confident, presumptive communication style that makes saying "yes" to protection simple for caregivers.

• Implement quick, effective clinic strategies to ensure timely protection for every eligible infant.

Claim your spot here. 

A Shot Of Hope 💉

COVID-19 vaccines could offer a double bonus for some cancer patients

What happened: A recently published Nature study found that people with advanced lung or skin cancer on immunotherapy lived longer if they also received a Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 shot within 100 days of starting treatment. In some cases, vaccinated patients were nearly twice as likely to survive compared with those who weren’t vaccinated.

Why it matters: The molecule behind mRNA vaccines appears to boost the immune system’s response to cancer treatments. Think of it like an ambulance siren, alerting immune cells throughout the body. Normally, a healthy immune system can spot and destroy cancer cells before they grow into tumours, but some cancers are skilled at hiding. By activating the immune system, mRNA vaccines may help expose these hidden tumours to immune attack.

This insight builds on researchers’ ongoing efforts to harness the Nobel Prize-winning mRNA technology behind COVID-19 vaccines to create personalized cancer vaccines. These vaccines train immune cells to recognize a patient’s specific tumours. Interestingly, the team found that even a single, non-targeted mRNA vaccine could produce a similar immune boost, raising the question: could existing COVID-19 shots already have an anti-cancer effect?

To explore this, researchers reviewed records from nearly 1,000 patients on checkpoint inhibitors, a class of cancer-fighting drugs. They compared outcomes for patients who received the COVID-19 vaccine with those who didn’t. Among lung cancer patients, those vaccinated were roughly twice as likely to be alive 3 years after starting treatment. Melanoma patients also showed longer median survival, though the precise figures weren’t yet released.

But: The discovery faces hurdles. US Health Secretary and vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently cut $500 million in funding for mRNA technology. Still, scientists are pressing ahead with rigorous studies to determine whether mRNA vaccines can safely and effectively enhance checkpoint inhibitor therapy.

Bottom line: 5 years after saving millions of lives, mRNA vaccines may be entering a 2nd act, one that could give even more people a chance to fight cancer and live longer, fuller lives.

Hot Off The Press

1: 🍗 Nearly 1 in 5 UTIs may start on the plate, not in the bladder, according to a new research study. Genomic tracing linked 18% of infections to E. coli strains found in contaminated meat, mostly chicken and turkey. Rates were 60% more common in lower-income neighbourhoods, reframing UTIs as not just “personal,” but food safety and social issues.

2: 💊 Canada has approved Kisunla, a new Alzheimer’s drug that slows memory decline. Developed by Eli Lilly, it’s the 1st in Canada to target the underlying disease process rather than just the symptoms. But it comes with a hefty price tag. Health Canada’s approval follows similar moves in the US, and experts say accessibility and cost-effectiveness will determine whether it truly changes care.

3: 🕰️ If you’re like most Canadians, you’ll be setting your clock back this Sunday — and pretending it doesn’t mess with your sleep. That extra hour may feel like a gift, but even small clock shifts can throw your body off. While spring’s “lost hour” raises risks for heart attacks, strokes, and crashes, fall’s “gain” can still disrupt sleep and mood. Experts recommend keeping your routine steady. (Your circadian rhythm will thank you.)

4: ✈️ Air travel is getting faster… and creepier? Biometric security company, Clear has rolled out facial-recognition eGates at 5 major US airports, letting paying members skip TSA ID checks. But soon all Canadians will be getting their mugs scanned, says Homeland Security — part of their expanding biometrics program.

$100 Coffee Gift Card Giveaway ☕

Shout-out to Dr. Mark Smith, from Nova Scotia, for taking home week 1’s Littmann prize! 

This week’s prize: a $100 49th Parallel Coffee gift card.

Next week we’re giving away our grand prize: a $250 GC from our friends at Luuna Scrubs - an awesome, fashion forward brand founded by Canadian nurses.

Our grand prize winner will also have the option to be featured as our first ever clinician of the month in November’s Postcall, going out to our audience of 12,000+ colleagues and future clinician friends in Canada.

Here’s how to play:

• You’re already entered just by being a subscriber.

• Want better odds? Page a friend (or three)! Refer verified clinician colleagues and get 5 extra entries per referral.

• Share our Instagram giveaway post and tag @readpostcall.ca for 2 extra entries.

• Share Postcall with your clinician colleagues using your personal referral link below for bonus entries toward this week’s prize draw:

• Unique referral code https://postcall.ca/subscribe?ref=PLACEHOLDER

Notable Numbers 🔢

20%: how much semaglutide lowered the risk of heart attack or stroke, even in patients who lost little or no weight. Researchers say the benefits likely extend beyond weight loss, suggesting mechanisms beyond shrinking waistlines.

$50: that’s the most you could get if you file a claim in the Keurig K-Cup class-action settlement in Canada. The lawsuit says Keurig misled customers about how recyclable their pods really are.

1 day: how close a man came to breaking the xenotransplant record after living nearly 9 months with a gene-edited pig kidney. He’s back on dialysis now, and researchers are back editing the organ (which already carried 69 gene changes) now one step closer to viable animal-to-human transplants.

18%: how much mortality fell when hospitals taught staff to think like pilots. A Belgian ICU brought in a Boeing 747 captain to teach the same teamwork model (called Crew Resource Management) to prevent communication breakdowns and catch errors mid-crisis.

Postcall Picks ✅

👂 Listen: to how ultra-processed food really affects your body. This episode of The Dose breaks it down and shares simple, realistic swaps for when you’re too tired to cook from scratch.

📖 Read: what foods to to avoid before you board your next flight. Think beans, salty snacks, fizzy drinks, and anything that won’t travel well at 30,000 ft.

💰 Save: on the 2022 Kindle Scribe, which is 45% off right now. It’s basically a Kindle and notebook in one and perfect for jotting down thoughts between reads or pretending your to-do list is actually a novel in progress.

📺 Watch (and laugh): residency applicants in family medicine, peds, anesthesia, and pathology face the same interview, each in their own hilariously relatable way.

Relax

First clue: Rub the wrong way?

Need a rematch? We’ve got you covered. Check out our Crossword Archive to find every puzzle we’ve ever made, all in one place.

Think you crushed it? Challenge your physician friends to beat your time.

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