Creating a community of immunity; watching athletic performance; astromedicine expiration dates – Morning Medical Update

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Preparing to prevent illness

It’s not too early to begin planning for the fall vaccinations for flu, respiratory syncytial virus and COVID-19. Tochi Iroku-Malize, MD, MPH, MBA, is board chair of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Here’s a video with her thoughts on vaccine availability, how to talk to patients about them, and combating medical misinformation.

Eyes on athletes

The eyes of the world will turn to Paris this week to watch the best athletes in the world compete for gold, silver and bronze. To improve performance, researchers developed wearable sensors to monitor movements and speed of competitive badminton players. The new sensors could collect data for other sports and eventually be used for human health monitoring and pathological diagnosis, according to this news release.

Pills in space

Science fiction and science fact point to long-term space voyages to other planets and beyond. What medicines would astronauts take with them? And how long would those medications last? A new study examined the drug formulary of the International Space Station to calculate the usable life of the capsules aboard the capsule. More than half of the medicines stocked in space would expire before astronauts could return to Earth during a six-year round trip to Mars, according to an accompanying news release.