A federal recommendation that all pregnant women undergo testing for Group B strep bacteria has helped increase the number of screenings but also has produced a high level of false negatives, according to a study published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, the AP/Newark Star-Ledger reports. Group B strep is a common bacteria in the intestines or lower genital tract. Although it poses no harm to most adults, during delivery it can be spread to infants, who can develop blood infections, pneumonia, meningitis, mental retardation, hearing and vision loss, or death. Problems occur in fewer than one in 3,000 births, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2002 issued a recommendation that all pregnant women be tested because of the potential for serious complications. The study is the first research to examine the screening program. The researchers examined data on Group B strep cases in 10 states, finding that 250 infants out of nearly 7,700 were born with the infection. They compared the results with a similar study that was conducted before the CDC recommendations were in place, finding that the screening rate rose from 48% to 85% of pregnant women. The study also found that infant infections from Group B strep declined by 27%.Researchers predicted there would be between 44 and 86 false negatives in full-term infants, based on data from previous studies. However, their results showed about 60% of infected infants -- 116 cases -- were born to women who had tested negative for Group B strep. Researchers noted that the timing of a Group B test might play a role because the infection can come quickly, and tests could have been performed before the bacteria appeared. CDC recommends that pregnant women be screened between 35 and 37 weeks" gestation. CDC researcher Stephanie Schrag, who co-authored the study, said, "Maybe it was a true negative test, and the mother later became colonized" with the bacteria before delivery (Stobbe, AP/Newark Star-Ledger, 6/17).
WHO leaders and international health ministers met Thursday for a two-day meeting in Cancun, Mexico, to share the lessons learned from the spread of H1N1 (swine flu) (Xinhua, 7/3) and strategies for "battling the pandemic," the AP/Washington Post reports (Rodriguez, 7/2). "We need to plan for the most extreme scenarios as well as for the likely scenarios," said Thomas Frieden, director of CDC. "Influenza is perhaps the most unpredictable of infectious
diseases." The Houston Chronicle writes: "Hundreds of specialists from 40 countries meeting at a posh beach side resort in this tourist mecca were plotting strategies for what many dread could become an outbreak rivaling a 1918 flu pandemic that killed tens of millions of people" (Althaus, 7/3). Health officials chose to hold their meeting in Cancun "to highlight the country"s success in controlling its epidemic with a five-day national shutdown of schools and businesses in May,"
even as the country starts "to see an increase in swine flu cases in isolated areas," leading many to fear "the country may see a resurgence, especially when its winter flu season begins in November," the AP/Washington Post reports (Rodriguez, 7/2). 
At 81, Alberta Sabin"s mind is not as sharp as it used to be, and she knows it. She frequently misplaces common items, forgets names and appointments, some of the most frustrating aspects of memory loss, she says. "I had been looking for my cell phone for three days and would you believe I found it laying on the counter in plain sight?," Sabin says. "There it was and I thought why didn"t I see it before?" It is that frustration that motivated
Sabin to participate in U-M sponsored research designed to better diagnose and treat dementia before it escalates. Sabin is one of millions of Americans who experience memory loss and may eventually be diagnosed with dementia. "This is an explosive disease," says Sid Gilman, M.D., director of the Alzheimer"s Disease Research Center at University of Michigan Health System, who conducts research with Sabin and others in her community. "It"s a horrible disease that robs people of their humanity. 
Children given an oral syrup containing the naturally occurring sweetener xylitol may be less likely to develop decay in their baby teeth, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Early childhood caries (cavities), also called baby bottle tooth decay or nursing caries, continue to increase in prevalence, according to background information in the article. "Poor children experience
rates twice as high as those of their more affluent peers, and their disease is more likely to be untreated," the authors write. "Poor oral health affects diet and nutrition and significantly diminishes quality of life. However, tooth decay is a disease that is largely preventable." Xylitol, approved in the United States for use in food since 1963, has been shown to effectively prevent tooth decay by acting as an antibacterial agent against organisms that cause cavities. 
TAU research finds cell phone towers can help predict the next big flood Though New Orleans residents were told to evacuate days before the arrival of Hurricane Katrina, no one could have predicted the real extent of the devastation. Now researchers from Tel Aviv University say they have found a novel and reliable way to help predict the intensity of the next big flood, using common cell phone towers across the United States. Their model, which analyzes cell phone signals,
adds a critical component to weather forecasting never before available. "By monitoring the specific and fluctuating atmospheric moisture around cell phone towers throughout America, we can cheaply, effectively and reliably provide a more accurate "critical moisture distribution" level for fine-tuning model predictions of big floods," says Prof. Pinhas Alpert, a geophysicist and head of Tel Aviv University"s Porter School for Environmental Education. Prof. Alpert and his co-researchers
Prof. Hagit Messer Yaron and doctoral fellow Noam David reported on their research in the April 2009 Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.