All pregnant women, regardless of their age, should be offered screening for Down Syndrome, according to a new Practice Bulletin issued by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG; Washington) on Tuesday. Previously, women were automatically offered genetic counseling and diagnostic testing for Down syndrome by amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling only if they were 35 years and older.

The new ACOG guidelines recommend that all pregnant women consider less invasive screening options for assessing their risk for Down syndrome. ACOG recommends that screening occur before the 20th week of pregnancy.

Very briefly …

Milestone Scientific (Livingston, New Jersey), which focuses on advanced injection technologies used by medical and dental professionals worldwide, said that it has engaged Elite Financial Communications Group (Lake Mary, Florida), a financial communications firm, to manage its investor and media relations programs.

NASDAQ news …

• Cyberonics (Houston) recently reported receiving a letter from the NASDAQ granting it an extension through Jan. 29, 2007, to file its Annual Report for the fiscal year ended April 28, 2006, and its Quarterly Reports for the periods ended July 28, 2006, and Oct. 27, 2006. The company has been responding investigations relating to its stock option grants. It said its Audit Committee has conducted an independent review of stock options granted by the company since 1993, and its independent accountants are preparing reports to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. On Dec. 19, Cyberonics informed the NASDAQ Panel that it did not expect to be able to meet the Dec. 31, 2006, deadline for filing its delinquent SEC reports and requested an extension through Jan. 27, 2007 to bring current its delinquent reports. In a Dec. 28, 2006 letter, the NASDAQ Panel extended through Jan. 29, 2007 the Company's deadline for filing its delinquent reports.
• Abiomed (Danvers, Massachusetts) reported that Michael Minogue, chairman, president/CEO, rang the closing bell of the NASDAQ Stock Market at on Dec. 28. Highlights from Abiomed's 2006 calendar year included: entering pilot studies in the U.S. for the Impella 2.5 and 5.0 technologies; receiving approval for the world's only fully implantable artificial heart, the AbioCor, under a Humanitarian Device Exemption; receiving 510(k) clearance of a new Intra-Aortic Balloon (IAB); FDA approval of a new Integrated Off-Pump Cannula system; and submission for FDA PMA supplement of iPulse combination console platform to support the new IAB, the BVS 5000, the AB5000 and new product introductions in the future. Abiomed makes products that assist or replace the pumping function of the failing heart.

Colonoscopy success: a.m. vs. pm. differential

According to a new study in The American Journal of Gastroenterology, the official publication of the American College of Gastroenterology (Bethesda, Maryland), the time of day that a colonoscopy is performed may also affect its outcome. The study reviewed 1,084 patients who received colonoscopies between 8 a.m. and 11:59 a.m., and 999 colonoscopies performed after 12 noon. A significantly higher number of patients had inadequate bowel preparation in the afternoon compared to the morning and, were unable to complete their colonoscopies.

The study did not offer an explanation for the difference in results. It said, however, that the patients unable to complete their afternoon colonoscopies were most often females.

"Every effort possible should be made to not only improve colonoscopy completion rates but also to improve the adequacy of bowel preparation," said Dr. Madhusudhan Sanaka, the main author of the study. "We speculate that our study findings may have significant implications in healthcare cost savings by improving colonoscopy completion rates and also in improving quality of life for the patients."

The authors recommend that colonoscopies be scheduled for the morning, especially in those sub-groups that consistently experience difficult colonoscopies.