In Case You Missed It: Preventing pertussis, sequencing DNA and more

Hope that your weekend is off to a good start! Thanks for joining us for your weekly roundup of news you may have missed from last week.

Preventing pertussis

Did you know that so far this year, nearly 2,000 cases of pertussis – whooping cough – have been reported in Texas? Whooping cough is at epidemic levels in the Lone Star State. Dr. Carol Baker, professor of pediatrics, molecular virology and microbiology, wrote an opinion piece for Chron.com this week encouraging the prevention of whooping cough through vaccination.

Read more about preventing pertussis.

Sequencing DNA at birth?

Would you want to know what’s in your genes? Would you want to know what’s in your child’s genes? How would that affect you in the short-term or in the future?

A new project, BabySeq, is striving to find out the answer. Find out more about BabySeq.

Read what Dr. Richard Gibbs, the Wofford Cain Professor of Molecular & Human Genetics and director of the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center, has to say on whether you should have your whole genome sequenced.

Learn about the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center’s recent completion of the largest cloud-based analysis of genome sequence data to date.

Understanding the link between aggression and dementia

Why is it that aggressiveness in people who have dementia is relatively common? Dr. Mark Kunik, professor of psychiatry research at Baylor College of Medicine, provides answers. Read this Q&A to find out how prevalent aggressive behavior is among dementia patients and some of the causes.

Not sure if memory problems are a sign of normal aging or dementia? See our infographic to help understand the differences.

-By Jordan Magaziner