Bacteria found in breast milk sold on Internet

CHICAGO — Human breast milk is sold for babies on several online sites for a few dollars an ounce, but a new study says buyer beware: Testing showed it can contain potentially dangerous bacteria including salmonella.

The warning comes from researchers who bought and tested 101 breast milk samples sold by women on one popular site, which over the weekend said it was making changes to its policies. Three-fourths of the samples contained high amounts of bacteria that could potentially sicken babies, the researchers found.

The results are "pretty scary," said Dr. Kenneth Boyer, pediatrics chief at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the study. "Just imagine if the donor happens to be a drug user. You don't know."

The research published in medical literature cites several cases of infants getting sick from strangers' milk.

Breast milk is also provided through milk banks, whose clients include hospitals. They also charge fees but screen donors and pasteurize donated milk to kill any germs.

With Internet sites, "you have very few ways to know for sure what you are getting is really breast milk and that it's safe to feed your baby," said Sarah Keim, the lead author and a researcher at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. "Because the consequences can be serious, it is not a good idea to obtain breast milk in this way."

The advice echoes a 2010 recommendation from the federal Food and Drug Administration.

"When human milk is obtained directly from individuals or through the Internet, the donor is unlikely to have been adequately screened for infectious disease or contamination risk," the FDA says. "In addition, it is not likely that the human milk has been collected, processed, tested or stored in a way that reduces possible safety risks to the baby."

The researchers believe theirs is the first study to test the safety of Internet-sold milk, although several others have documented bacteria in mothers' own milk or in milk bank donations. Some bacteria may not be harmful, but salmonella is among germs that could pose a threat to infants, Boyer said.

Sources for bacteria found in the study aren't known but could include donors' skin, breast pumps used to extract milk, or contamination from improper shipping methods, Keim said.

The study was published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

The researchers attempted to buy milk from women on two websites but only tested milk obtained from women on one site, onlythebreast. An unidentified administrator for that site issued a statement saying the Incline Village, Nev.-based company is planning to stop informal milk sharing and will seek to improve donor screening and pursue "professional milk processing." The website appeared to be down Monday morning.

There are many milk-sharing sites online, including several that provide milk for free. Sellers or donors tend to be new mothers who produce more milk than their own babies can consume. Users include mothers who have difficulty breast-feeding and don't want to use formula and people with adopted infants.

Breanna Clemons of Dickinson, N.D., is a donor who found a local woman who needed breast milk through one of the online sites where milk is offered free.

"A lot of people are like, 'Ewww, it's weird,' but they haven't been in a situation where they didn't want their child to have formula," or couldn't produce enough milk, Clemons said. She said she shared her medical history with the recipient.

Clemons is breast-feeding her 7-month-old and stores excess milk in her freezer. Every few weeks, she meets up with the recipient and gives her about 20 6-ounce bags. Clemons said the woman has a healthy 9-month-old who "loves my milk."

Keim said it's unclear if milk from sites offering free donated milk would have the same risks because donors might be different from those seeking money for their milk. And in a comparison, the researchers found more bacteria in breast milk purchased online than in 20 unpasteurized samples donated to a milk bank.

Bekki Hill is a co-founder of Modern Milksharing, an online support group that offers advice on milk donation. She said there's a difference between milk sellers and donors; milk donors "don't stand to gain anything from donating so they have no reason to lie about their health."

Hill, of Red Hook, N.Y., used a donor's milk for her first two children and plans to do so for her third, due in February, because she doesn't produce enough of her own.

"Breast milk is obviously the preferred food" for babies, she said.

___

Online:

Pediatrics: http://www.aap.org

___

Follow AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner .

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SAP co-CEO: Cloud computing growth continues

FRANKFURT, Germany — The co-CEO of business software maker SAP AG says the company's strong growth in cloud computing remains on track — despite headwinds from a stronger euro.

Bill McDermott told the Associated Press on Monday that SAP "is the fastest growing cloud story in the enterprise software world."

Revenue from cloud computing — where companies use software based at servers instead of at their own offices — more than tripled in the third quarter, to 191 million euros ($261 million) from 63 million euros a year earlier.

Net profit rose 23 percent. Revenue from the company's older, on-site software business slipped 5 percent — but grew 2 percent when excluding the impact of exchange rate shifts.

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Survey: US economists upbeat on economic growth

Despite uncertainty in Washington and rising oil prices and interest rates, companies are upbeat on the prospects for economic growth in the next year, according to a quarterly survey of business economists.

But economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics weren't as optimistic about hiring, according to the survey released Monday. Only 27 percent reported rising employment at their firms from July through September, down from 29 percent in the second quarter. And 37 percent expected their companies to expand payrolls in the next six months, down from 39 percent in the second quarter.

The slower hiring occurred even as sales and profit margins grew during the third quarter, according to the survey.

Still, optimism about future economic growth remained strong last quarter. Almost 70 percent of the economists in the survey predicted gross domestic product growth of 2-to-3 percent, with another 19 percent expecting growth of 1-to-2 percent. The figures are nearly identical to those from the second-quarter survey, released in July.

The U.S. economy grew at a 2.5 percent annual rate from April through June, an improvement from the first three months of the year. But many economists worry that the growth rate may be slowing.

The NABE surveyed 60 of its member economists between Sept. 16 and Oct. 1, with most of the survey finished prior to the partial government shutdown that began Oct. 1. The economists work for companies from a variety of industries, including manufacturing, transportation and utilities, finance, retail and other services.

Among the findings:

— Sales growth accelerated in the third quarter. Forty-two percent of the economists reported rising sales at their companies, up from 35 percent in July. Only 12 percent reported falling sales, down from 15 percent in July.

— Profit margins also rebounded. One-third of the economists said margins were up at their firms, up from 21 percent in July and the highest percentage in more than a year. Those reporting falling profit margins fell to 19 percent, down from 25 percent in the second quarter.

— Only 16 percent of economists said their firms were raising wages and salaries, down from 19 percent in July and 31 percent in April.

— Most economists, 81 percent, said the Affordable Care Act had no impact on employment during the past three months. But a "sizeable minority," 18 percent, reported a negative impact. And 22 percent expected a negative impact on employment in the next year, compared with only 2 percent expecting a positive impact. The responses also suggested a small shift toward more part-time and fewer full-time employees, according to the survey.

— Most economists, 80 percent, reported no impact on their businesses in the third quarter from rising long-term interest rates, according to the survey.

But a quarter of the economists expect rising interest rates and increasing oil prices to drag on sales during the next 12 months.

Twenty-five percent expect a negative impact from rising rates, but 62 percent expect no impact.

Also, 25 percent of panelists expect rising oil prices to hurt sales in the next year more than in the past three months, but a majority, 64 percent, expects no impact.

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Markets flat-footed at start of busy week

LONDON — Financial markets were flat-footed Monday at the start of a busy week that will see a number of key economic releases published and the U.S. corporate earnings reporting season pick up steam.

Oil was the standout mover as the benchmark rate briefly fell below $100 a barrel for the first time since early July.

Most attention in recent weeks has centered on the prolonged stalemate in Washington to raise the country's debt ceiling and reopen the government. Now that a deal has been agreed, albeit a short-term one, investors can focus on other matters, such as the underlying health of the global economy and when the Federal Reserve will start reducing its monetary stimulus.

During the partial U.S. government shutdown of recent weeks, much of the U.S. economic data was postponed. With the government now functioning fully, many of those data reports will be released over the coming days, including September's nonfarm payrolls figures. That's due on Tuesday and could provide investors a steer as to when the Fed will start reducing its $85 billion-worth of monthly asset purchases.

In addition, investors will be monitoring the next round of earnings, particularly out of the U.S. — around 30 percent of the S&P 500 is due to unveil reports this week. Monday's batch were fairly mixed — while McDonald's confirmed that it faces greater competition, shifting eating habits and tough economic conditions around the world, toy maker Hasbro saw its share price spike sharply after reporting better-than-expected results.

"Investors are again focusing on fundamental matters, particularly in the form of earnings," said Dan Greenhaus, chief strategist at BTIG in New York. "A number of issues remain equity supportive, indicating higher prices ahead. These include ongoing earnings growth, seasonality and a Federal Reserve that very well may stay accommodative until January if not March."

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 0.3 percent at 6,646 while Germany's DAX was flat at 8,864. The CAC-40 in France was 0.3 percent lower at 4,275.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.1 percent at 15,386 while the broader S&P 500 index was flat at 1,744. Last week, relief over the U.S. debt ceiling helped the S&P hit an all-time high.

Earlier, Asian markets were fairly buoyant after Friday's solid session in the U.S., where stocks were boosted by unexpectedly strong profits from General Electric Co., Morgan Stanley and other companies. Google surged nearly 14 percent, topping $1,000 a share for the first time.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 0.9 percent to 14,693.57 while China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index added 1.6 percent to 2,229.24. Hong Kong, Seoul and Sydney also rose.

In the currency markets, trading was lackluster. The euro was down 0.1 percent at $1.3675 — on Friday, it rose above $1.37 for the first time since February, largely because of the dollar's weakness in the wake of the debt ceiling crisis.

In the oil markets, a barrel of benchmark New York crude was down 64 cents at $100.48 a barrel. Earlier it had fallen below $100 for the first time since early July to $99.64 a barrel.

"The ample and rising supply of oil, combined with weaker demand growth prospects, point towards lower prices in the months ahead," said Fawad Razaqzada, a technical analyst at GFT Global Markets.

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US existing-home sales drop 1.9 pct. in September

WASHINGTON — Americans bought fewer existing homes in September than the previous month, held back by higher mortgage rates and rising prices.

The National Association of Realtors said Monday that sales of re-sold homes fell 1.9 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.29 million. That's down from a pace of 5.39 million in August, which was revised lower.

The sales pace in August equaled July's pace. Both were the highest in four years and are consistent with a healthy market.

Mortgage rates rose sharply over the summer from their historic lows, threatening to slow a housing recovery that began last year and has helped drive modest economic growth.

But many economists expect home sales will remain healthy, especially now that rates have stabilized and remain near historically low levels. Final sales in September reflected contracts signed in July and August, when rates were about a percentage point higher than in May.

The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 4.28 percent last week, down from a two-year high of 4.58 percent in August. That's also far below the 30-year average of 7 percent, according to Bankrate.com.

Sales of existing homes have risen at a healthy 10.7 percent in the past 12 months. Still, that's the slowest year-over-year increase in five months.

And the median home price has risen 11.7 percent in the past year, the Realtors said. That's also the slowest annual gain in the past five months.

Price increases may be slowing because more homes are finally coming on the market. The supply of available homes rose 1.8 percent from a year ago to 2.21 million, the first year-over-year increase in 2 ½ years.

The limited number of homes for sale is a key reason prices have risen so fast in the last year.

The economy is growing modestly and employers are adding jobs at a slow but steady pace. That's helped a growing number of Americans buy homes.

Still, many first-time buyers have been unable to enter the market. They made up just 28 percent of purchases in September, down from 32 percent a year ago. In healthier housing markets, they typically make up at least 40 percent of buyers.

First-time buyers are having trouble qualifying for loans because many banks have adopted tougher lending restrictions and higher down payment requirements since the housing bubble burst. .

In their place, investors and Americans willing to pay cash are playing an outsize role in sales. Cash purchases made up 33 percent of September's sales, up from 28 percent a year ago.

Borrowing rates began to rise in May after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested that the Fed could start to slow its monthly bond purchases by the end of the year. The purchases are intended to keep interest rates low and stimulate the economy.

But the Fed decided against slowing its purchases at its September meeting, citing weak economic data and looming budget battles in Washington. The budget fights led to a partial government shutdown Oct. 1. The nation's borrowing limit was increased but only at the last minute. Economists have cut their forecasts for growth in the October-December quarter by about a half-percentage point because of the shutdown and debt limit fight.

As a result, many economists think the Fed won't slow its bond purchases until January or even later. That's likely to keep mortgage rates low well into the new year.

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AP CEO: Press freedom v. security a 'false choice'

DENVER — Governments that try to force citizens to decide between a free press and national security create a "false choice" that weakens democracy, and journalists must fight increasing government overreach that has had a chilling effect on efforts to hold leaders accountable, the president and CEO of The Associated Press said Saturday.

Gary Pruitt told the 69th General Assembly of the Inter American Press Association that the U.S. Justice Department's secret seizure of records of thousands of telephone calls to and from AP reporters in 2012 is one of the most blatant violations of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution the 167-year-old news cooperative has ever encountered.

The Justice Department action involving the AP resonated far beyond the U.S., including Latin America, where journalists for decades have fought to exercise press freedoms under authoritarian regimes, Pruitt said.

"The actions by the Department of Justice could not have been more tailor-made to comfort authoritarian regimes who want to suppress the news media. 'The United States does it too,' they can say," Pruitt said.

A free and independent press "differentiates democracy from dictatorship; separates a free society from tyranny," he said.

"Governments who try to set up a situation where citizens think they must choose between a free press and security are making a mistake that will ultimately weaken them, not strengthen them. It's not a real choice. It is a false choice."

Pruitt said he was encouraged by proposed Justice Department guidelines, introduced after the records seizure, that would give news media advance notice of subpoenas so the press can challenge those actions in court; protect not just phone records but reporters' email, text messages and other forms of electronic communication; and guarantee that journalists won't be prosecuted for doing their jobs.

"But you can bet that we will be watching closely to make sure they are implemented and enforced," Pruitt said.

In 2012, the Justice Department secretly obtained records of work, cell and home numbers of AP journalists, as well as AP bureau numbers in New York, Washington, D.C., Hartford, Conn., and the AP number in the U.S. House of Representatives press gallery. It did so after an Associated Press story revealed the foiling of a plot in Yemen to bomb a U.S.-bound airliner at a time the Barack Obama administration was insisting publicly that it had no information about terrorist organizations plotting attacks on the United States in that period.

The Justice Department was trying to identify who leaked information for the AP story — but it didn't tell the AP about its phone records seizure until a year after the story ran.

The seizure was "hardly a surgical strike on a few carefully chosen targets. It was overbroad, sloppy and a fishing expedition into a wide spectrum of AP news journalism and journalists — most of whom had nothing to do with the issues in question here," Pruitt said.

It also differed from the National Security Agency's broad monitoring of global communications because it was specifically directed at locating the source of AP's reporting.

Just as alarming, the seizure has intimidated both official and nonofficial sources from speaking to the AP and numerous other news organizations, even about stories not related to national security, Pruitt said.

"Now, the government may love this. I think they do. But beware a government that loves secrecy too much," he said.

And the challenge isn't going away, Pruitt said.

"The attack on journalism — here in the United States and throughout the rest of the world — is not going to cease any time soon. In fact, I think it will become even more difficult to counter as technology gives governments very powerful tools to monitor the actions and communications of citizens and journalists," he said.

The Miami-based Inter American Press Association has about 1,400 member news organizations and promotes press freedoms throughout the Americas.

___

English URL: www.ap.org/content/press-release/2013/the-free-press-vs-national-security-a-false-choice

Spanish URL: www.ap.org/content/press-release/2013/libertad-de-prensa-vs-seguridad-nacional-un-falso-dilema

Portuguese URL: www.ap.org/content/press-release/2013/imprensa-livre-vs-seguranca-nacional-a-falsa-escolha

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Massport to hit up pols

Massachusetts Port Authority officials — already facing a ticking clock to grab vital federal funding — are prepping to start a Beacon Hill blitz this week to pitch a $300 million plan to dredge Boston Harbor, hoping to convince lawmakers to bankroll nearly a quarter of it.

The four-year project to deepen the Hub's vital maritime channels could double the amount of cargo containers that pass through Boston Harbor — a 
$42.5 million business for Massport last year — and will help it vie for the bigger cargo ships primed to hit East Coast ports starting in 2015, officials say.

But they admit they're already playing catch-up to other ports' dredging projects, making lobbying efforts — both federally and at the state level — crucial to keeping them competitive.

"We want to make sure we're putting our best foot forward and make the case for federal funding, and make the case for state funding. But it's kind of a chicken-and-egg process," Massport CEO Thomas Glynn said, noting the board has yet to vote on the project but could within four months. "We have to tell the board, then we have to go to the State House, so we kind of go back and forth."

Their first targets are East Boston lawmakers, whose sometimes prickly history with the agency mean Massport pitches always require a grain of salt, said Eastie state Rep. Carlo Basile.

"I just don't take their word for it. I do my own due diligence," said Basile, who plans to meet with Massport officials Tuesday. He admitted he's aware of little to no complaints from past dredging projects rolled out in 2001, 2005 and 2008, but warned, "that's not to say it can't happen this time."

"It's a much bigger project," Basile said. "I'm still waiting to hear a lot of details."

Massport spokesman Matthew Brelis, said, "We talk with legislators all the time on a host of things," but noted for the dredging project officials are starting with lawmakers from "impacted communities" before moving on to others.

Massport officials are counting on as much as 
$170 million in federal money for the project, with $65 million each coming from the agency and the state.

Secretary of Transportation Richard Davey, who chairs the Massport board, implored members that "we shouldn't do anything right now that would preclude us from the $170 million," likening the shot at the federal funds to waiting for Halley's Comet.

"You can call it Davey's Comet," he told the board during a Thursday meeting.

When Congress will act to award the money, however, is unclear, especially in the wake of the government shutdown, Glynn said.

"Everything is up for grabs down there until it's final," he said. "(Other ports) are a little bit ahead of us in terms of making their request ... but we have enough time. It's a question of it's a moving target."

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Shutdown coverage benefits cable news networks

NEW YORK — The federal government shutdown damaged the reputations of Washington politicians but proved good business for the cable television news networks — and taught some reporters new benefits of virtually instant communications.

CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC saw their viewership increase during the 16-day partial shutdown, peaking at more than five million Wednesday evening when Congress passed a compromise bill to put the government back online.

"It was a drama," said CNN congressional correspondent Dana Bash, who logged many hours of airtime along with Kelly O'Donnell of NBC News and Mike Emanuel of Fox. "Whenever there's a drama, people are interested."

MSNBC, which has struggled in this post-election year, saw its average prime-time viewership jump 35 percent to 978,000 this month through Wednesday, compared to the first nine months of the year, the Nielsen company said. Fox, which chose not to make any of its reporters available for this story, was up 9 percent to 2.22 million in the same period (although the network also benefited from a prime-time schedule change this month). CNN improved by 11 percent to 721,000.

The news networks brought their traditional hallmarks of crisis coverage to the political machinations, including "countdown clocks" that marked each second closer to a debt limit deadline. The story meant brutal hours: O'Donnell, who filed for MSNBC, CNBC and NBC News, was at work past 3 a.m. Eastern the first night of the shutdown, then back at 6 a.m. for "Morning Joe."

There were many strong points to the coverage, particularly when reporters didn't fall back on cliches like declaring winners and losers for an event that did few people proud, said Jane Hall, a journalism professor at American University.

"It certainly gave voice to the American people disgusted over this and there were a number of good stories about the impact of the shutdown on government workers," Hall said.

Social media was a big help, O'Donnell said. She would hear from people outside the Capitol cocoon through Twitter and email, with many raising questions she used in her reporting. She was asked how the shutdown would affect Social Security or back pay for government workers. NBC used a "dearcongress" hashtag on Twitter to encourage questions.

Sometimes the concerns were very specific, like when shrimp fishermen asked about access to launches on federal land, which she took to an individual congressman in the affected area.

"That was a real-time experience of the shutdown that did not compare to anything in a crisis that we had covered before," O'Donnell said.

In the past, Bash said she'd often need to plead with producers for time off the air to report. In this case, it wasn't really necessary: Her sources would text, tweet or email information while she was on the air. When President Barack Obama spoke to the nation on Thursday, Bash had instant reaction from several Republicans minutes after he left the podium.

When Republicans and Democrats weren't talking to each other, Bash found that they would talk through her.

"I'll report something or I'll tweet something and I'll get a call from a source pushing back or trying to shape it — not because it's a message to the world, but because it's a message to the other side," she said.

Bash would set up live shots in the hallway between Speaker John Boehner's office and the floor of the House of Representatives, a passageway teeming with sources.

Even though TV reporters love few things more than airtime, by the end even that was wearing off.

"There's always a rush in covering a big story," Bash said. "But at a certain point, you want your government to work a little better, regardless of what you do for a living."

___

EDITOR'S NOTE — David Bauder can be reached at dbauder@ap.org or on Twitter@dbauder. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/david-bauder.

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Startup has skin in the game

A Colombian company offering new hope to burn victims and other patients who suffer skin tissue loss is one of the 26 MassChallenge top finalists who'll compete on Oct. 30 for a piece of the start-up accelerator's $1.5 million in cash prizes.

Keraderm was founded in Bogota in 2010 by a group of plastic surgeons, who set out to find an affordable, painless way of treating tissue loss resulting from burns, ulcers, tumors and trauma.

The typical treatment calls for a graft to be taken from a patient's healthy skin and meshed to cover a large wound — a surgical procedure that often results in severe pain, significant scarring and, sometimes, rejection by the patient's body.

But Keraderm's team found that by taking a sample of healthy skin less than one centimeter in diameter from behind a patient's ear, within five to seven days they could reproduce the skin cells and plant them on a collagen sheet four times the size of a business card to cover the wound, said Jorge Soto, the company's chief financial officer.

"It starts to heal the injury by accelerating the growth of healthy skin cells," Soto said. "In 20 to 40 days, the wound is completely healed."

The patent-pending procedure, which eliminates the need for an operating room and anesthesia as well as the possibility of rejection, has been successfully done on more than 100 patients so far in 11 different hospitals in Colombia and entails no pain or scarring, he said.

A 10-by-10-centimeter sheet of skin also costs $550, significantly less than a skin graft operation does.

"There are other variations of what we're doing," Soto said, "but we haven't been able to find anyone doing the same thing."

Keraderm hopes to expand the procedure in Latin America before bringing it to the United States, where it would need to be tested in a clinical trial to gain regulatory approval.

That's a process that would take the kind of money the company, which has only eight employees including Soto, does not yet have, he said.

The team bootstrapped the start-up with $50,000 and in 2012 raised an additional $300,000 from angel investors, allowing it to open a lab in Bogota that June, Soto said.

But even if Keraderm doesn't win any money in MassChallenge, he said, the four-month accelerator, for which they were selected out of a field of nearly 1,200 applicants, has been worth it.

"I never even thought I was going to be here," Soto said. "It's going to help me a lot to show we have a product that is working."

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What to do when battery is on its last legs

I have a 2005 Hyundai Tucson with 90,000 miles on it. I've never had a problem since I purchased the vehicle, but I'm worried the battery will fail sometime soon because of its age. I'm planning to change the battery myself but I'm concerned about the computer and electronics due to the temporary loss of power during the replacement process. What should I do before and after changing the battery?

Just drive the car. Replacing the battery, which of course requires disconnecting the vehicle's electrical system from the original battery, will do no harm to the vehicle's electronics. You'll likely have to reset the radio station pre-sets and the engine management system will take a few miles of driving to "re-learn" your driving characteristics, but you probably will not notice anything.

Perhaps the more relevant question at this point is: Should you replace the battery now or wait until it fails? Being a founding member of the "Snug America" club and not wanting to part with any more of my hard-earned dollars than absolutely necessary, I lean toward the latter. Most batteries will develop symptoms of impending failure such as slow engine cranking speeds, giving you a heads-up that it's time for a new one. But batteries can and do fail suddenly and completely without warning.

So when I suspect a battery might be on its last legs, I carry a portable battery booster in the vehicle. Then, if the battery does fail, — at any time and for any reason — I can jump-start the vehicle to complete my trip.

This, by definition, is the Murphy's Law of automobiles — if you have a spare part with you, you'll probably never need to use it!

And finally, to put your mind at ease, have the original battery tested at a local parts store. A load test or electronic test will give you an idea of how much life your battery still has.

I have a '93 Buick Riviera with the 3800 V6 engine and 182,000 miles. When I start the engine it makes a "thudding" noise four to five times. It has done this intermittently for the past three years. One mechanic told me it could be a cracked flywheel. Can you help?

Does this noise primarily occur on a cold start after the car's been sitting for at least several hours? Also, watch the oil pressure warning light carefully as you start the engine — do the "thuds" last precisely until the warning light goes out? If so, the noise may be due to worn main or rod bearings. Once oil pressure is up, the excess clearance is buffered by the oil film and the noise stops.

A cracked flex plate/flywheel or loose torque converter mounting bolts could cause a similar noise, but for three years without some type of failure? Other possibilities include a broken or failed engine/drivetrain mount or an engine startup misfire.

Regardless of the cause, at 20 years old and nearing 200,000 miles, I'm not sure I'd be willing to spend much on repairs. If the vehicle is still nice, keep an eye out for a used or rebuilt engine. Remember the automotive version of Murphy's Law.

We have a 2008 Buick Lucerne. This fall we will be leaving the state for about seven months. Should we disconnect the battery? Will this mess up the computers? Also, should I use a trickle charger or a float charger? What's the difference?

I recommend disconnecting the battery — it is safer and will cause no harm as described above — and connect a float charger or battery maintainer like Battery Tender to keep the battery safely charged while you're away.

A trickle charger continuously charges the battery at a low amperage rate, which can lead to overcharging and battery failure. A battery maintainer charges and holds the battery at its optimum voltage safely for an indefinite period.

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