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Obama Addresses Ghana's Parliament, Reiterates U.S. Global Health Initiative
During his visit to Ghana over the weekend, President Obama praised the country for its achievements while calling on African leaders to take responsibility for the future of the continent, CNN reports. "Despite the progress that has been made - and there has been considerable progress in parts of Africa - we also know that much of that promise has yet to be fulfilled," Obama said during a speech before the Ghanaian parliament (7/11).

Test For Strep Bacteria In Pregnant Women Misses More Cases Than Expected, Study Shows
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).
News of the day
AICR Statement: Hot Dogs And Cancer Risk
The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) and our landmark 2007 AICR/WCRF expert report, Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective, have been drawn into a controversy over the link between processed meat and cancer risk.
Endocrinology

Brazil's Scientific Research On The Rise, Thomson Reuters Study Finds

Thomson Reuters today announced the results of a study documenting Brazil"s steady rise during the last two decades in both the volume and impact of its scientific work. According to Science Watch, these findings underscore Brazil"s standing among the emergent "BRIC" nations. BRIC -- an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India and China -- are the countries possessing the res and economic potential to capture a significant share of the world"s future economic growth. To assess Brazil"s research, Science Watch turned to publication and citation statistics compiled in the Thomson Reuters National Science Indicators database. The country"s scientific output has increased dramatically. The number of published research papers with at least one Brazil-based author increased from just more than 3,000 in 1989 to more than 19,000 in 2007. To examine output across various scientific fields, Science Watch compared Brazil"s share of Thomson Reuters-indexed papers during two time periods, 1994-1998 and 2004-2008. Agricultural Sciences led the pack with an increase of 3.2 percentage points between the 1994-1998 period and the 2004-2008 period. Plant & animal sciences ranked second with a 3 percent increase and pharmacology & toxicology rounded out the top three with a 1.78 percent increase. Science Watch also assessed the overall impact of Brazil"s science by charting its combined citations-per-paper in all fields compared to the world average. "Since 1985, Brazil has realized the highest overall impact average for any of the BRIC nations compared to the world average," said Christopher King, editor of Science Watch. "Although still registering below the overall world average for scientific impact, Brazil has been steadily rising towards parity since the late 1980s. It has moved from a score that was at 44 percent of the world average during the 1985-1989 time period to 63 percent of the world mark during 2004-2008. In recent years, however, Brazil"s trajectory has been relatively flat, while both India and China are sharply rising in terms of impact." About Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters is the world"s leading of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, scientific, healthcare and media markets, powered by the world"s most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 50,000 people in 93 countries. Thomson Reuters


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