Vaccines prevent this: Infant girl with whooping cough (Mayo Clinic video)

While the pertussis infection can be mild in adults (often it is quite severe though), if a baby who hasn't received a full course of vaccinations is infected, whooping cough can be extremely serious. Mayo Clinic News reporter has more on how to recognize and treat this potentially deadly disease:



Infant girl with whooping cough -- Mother holding infant girl in Intensive Care Unit. The baby has pertussis (whooping cough) and is coughing severely. Warning: the video is hard to watch.



Everyone should receive the indicated vaccines to prevent potentially deadly diseases such as pertussis.

How to prevent dog bites?

Not surprisingly, dog-bite injuries in children (head and neck) peak in warmer weather. The family pet is to blame in 27% of cases, and pit bulls are most commonly involved: http://is.gd/oZCr

Here is a brief 3-minute summary from CNN with some practical tips how to prevent dog bites:

COX-2 inhibitor can prevent "religious headache" during fast

Every year, millions of observant Jews fast on their holiest day, Yom Kippur, and millions of Muslims fast for the month of Ramadan. And every year, as many as 40% of those who fast develop serious headaches.

Yom Kippur headache is a well documented phenomenon but the causes are unclear, but doctors have suspected withdrawal from caffeine, nicotine, oversleeping, and dehydration.

About 36% of subjects who took COX-2 inhibitor etoricoxib (related to Vioxx) developed headaches, compared to about 68% who took placebo. Those who took etoricoxib also had less severe headaches, and they had an easier time fasting.

References:
Could Vioxx cousin prevent religious fast headache? WebMD.

Image source: Etoricoxib, Wikipedia, public domain.

Celiprolol as treatment of choice to prevent complications in vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome

Vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is a rare hereditary connective tissue disorder caused by mutations in the collagen type III gene ( COL3A1 ), which leads to a loss of tissue integrity in many organ systems.

Patients with vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome have weakened blood vessels and an increased risk of arterial dissection or rupture that can lead to early death.

The researchers assessed the ability of celiprolol, a β1-adrenoceptor antagonist with a β2-adrenoceptor agonist action, to prevent arterial dissections and ruptures in vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

Patients with clinical vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome were randomly assigned to 5 years of treatment with celiprolol or to no treatment.

33 patients were positive for mutation of collagen 3A1 (COL3A1). Celiprolol was uptitrated every 6 months by steps of 100 mg to a maximum of 400 mg twice daily. The primary endpoints were arterial events (rupture or dissection, fatal or not).

Mean duration of follow-up was 47 months, with the trial stopped early for treatment benefit.

The primary endpoints were reached by 20% in the celiprolol group and by 50% controls (hazard ratio [HR] 0·36).

Celiprolol might be the treatment of choice for physicians aiming to prevent major complications in patients with vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

References:

Effect of celiprolol on prevention of cardiovascular events in vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome: a prospective randomised, open, blinded-endpoints trial. The Lancet, Volume 376, Issue 9751, Pages 1476 - 1484, 30 October 2010.

Celiprolol therapy for vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. The Lancet, Volume 376, Issue 9751, Pages 1443 - 1444, 30 October 2010.