- Common Cold

Bringing sniffles and sneezes and perhaps a sore throat and annoying cough, the common cold catches all of us from time to time.

With kids getting as many as eight colds per year or more, this contagious viral infection of the upper respiratory tract is the most common infectious disease in the United States and the No. 1 reason kids visit the doctor and stay home from school.

- Treat the cause, not the symptoms

 I was most concerned to come across the following statement, in a long-overdue article on unsafe working hours for doctors, in a recent issue of the Journal: "We need controlled trials to determine optimal work schedules and to test countermeasures to fatigue (eg, benzodiazepines to assist daytime sleep and bright light and caffeine for stimulation)."

- Where there’s smoke, there’s Mucomyst?

To the Editor: Acetylcysteine (Mucomyst [Bristol-Myers Squibb, Melbourne]) is a mucolytic agent commonly used as adjuvant therapy for patients with abnormal, viscid or inspissated mucous secretions in such conditions as chronic bronchopulmonary disease. It is administered as fine nebulae, and its adverse effects in this form are minimal. Patients may observe an initial slight odour, or stickiness on the face after nebulisation.

- Handbook of parenteral drug Administration

The handbook should be used as a guide for hospital staff in the administration of parentral medication .