Babies, bright lights, blood-thinners and more: Cochrane evidence round-up

It’s probably best to draw a veil over many of the things done in English boarding schools by past generations and some in the name of health. The boys of Dickens’ fictional Dotheboys Hall were given brimstone and treacle from “a common wooden spoon, which might have been originally manufactured for some gigantic top, and which widened every young gentleman’s mouth considerably: they being obliged, under heavy corporal penalties, to take in the whole of the bowl at a gasp.”

Newer nebulisers cut treatment times for people with cystic fibrosis

Key message: Nebulisers don’t all perform the same. Some newer types such as adaptive aerosol delivery and vibrating mesh technology have advantages over conventional systems including significantly shorter treatment time

Nebulisers are devices that allow medicines to be breathed in as a mist. People with cystic fibrosis (CF) are amongst those living with chronic conditions who use them to take medicines which help control their symptoms. Taking medicines this way may take a few minutes or as much as forty minutes each time and nebulised treatment has been found to significantly add to the burden of treatment for people with CF.

Helping the management of bleeding disorders to spread out of the wealthy world

This guest blog has been written by Dr Alfonso Iorio and Nikki Jahnke from the Cochrane Cystic Fibrosis and Genetic Disorders Group.

Today, April 17th 2013, is World Hemophilia Day – an event which aims to increase awareness of hemophilia and other inherited bleeding disorders. This year’s focus is to celebrate 50 years of work to close the gap in care and to achieve treatment for all people (men and women) with hemophilia and other inherited bleeding disorders, regardless of where they might live.

Spotlight on inborn errors of metabolism

28th February is Rare Disease Day. This guest blog has been written by Nikki Jahnke and John Walter for the IEM team at the Cochrane Cystic Fibrosis and Genetic Disorders Group.

Rare Disease Day gives us an opportunity to highlight the area of inborn errors of metabolism, or IEMs for short. These cover a wide range of genetic disorders which are relatively rare but can be an important cause of illness and death in young babies if not diagnosed and treated in the first few weeks of life. A study in Canada by Applegarth estimated a total of 40 cases of any IEM in every 100,000 live births, a more recent Italian study found a similar rate.