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Language skills are essential to a child’s ability to communicate and develop. These skills enable children to engage with other people and learn from their surroundings and in the classroom.

Culture should be considered when making radical dietary changes

Consider culture when making radical dietary changes to aid food supply amid climate change, argues Mercy Lung'aho.

29 Jun 2021

BUSM receives $2.7 million grant to reduce disparities in cardio-oncology

With a growing need to better understand the many links between heart disease and cancer, the two leading causes of death worldwide, the American Heart Association, the world's leading voluntary organization dedicated to a world of longer, healthier lives, announced grants focused on this area of scientific research.

29 Jun 2021

Without enough boots on the ground, California’s vaccination efforts falter

Gov. Gavin Newsom routinely boasts that California has "one of the highest vaccination rates in the United States of America."

29 Jun 2021

The WHO didn’t reverse its position on kids and Covid vaccines

A social media post circulating on Facebook and Instagram claims that the World Health Organization recently flipped its policy recommendation about children receiving a Covid-19 vaccine.

25 Jun 2021

Study investigates difficulty swallowing in critically ill COVID-19 patients

Researchers from Clinica Luganese Moncucco and Bellinzona Regional Hospital in Switzerland investigated the prevalence of swelling disorders in severely ill COVID-19 patients and reported their results in a paper posted to the medRxiv* preprint server.

25 Jun 2021

Early production of beat gestures by infants predicts oral narrative abilities

A study published on 21 May in Child Development shows that the early production of beat gestures with the hands (i.e., gestures normally associated with emphasis that do not represent the semantic content of speech) by infants between 14 and 58 months of age in natural interactions with their carers predicts that in their later development, nearing the age of five, these children obtain better results insofar as their oral narrative skills.

24 Jun 2021

UCLA scientists discover how immune cells can be trained to fight potential threats

The body's immune cells naturally fight off viral and bacterial microbes and other invaders, but they can also be reprogrammed or "trained" to respond even more aggressively and potently to such threats, report UCLA scientists who have discovered the fundamental rule underlying this process in a particular class of cells.

24 Jun 2021

Scientists predict driver mutations of future SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern

A team of scientists from the USA has recently predicted the driver mutations that may appear in future variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The prediction is based on currently available genetic surveillance data on amino acid mutations present in SARS-CoV-2 variants. A detailed description of the study is currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server.

24 Jun 2021

Bilingual children reliably acquire English skills by age 5, shows study

In the United States, more than 12 million children hear a minority language at home from birth. More than two-thirds hear English as well, and they reach school age with varying levels of proficiency in two languages.

23 Jun 2021

New tool exposes deeply entrenched inequities in COVID-19 outcomes

The Urban Health Collaborative, housed in Drexel University's Dornsife School of Public Health, recently published its "COVID-19 Health Inequities in Cities" dashboard - which exposes deeply entrenched inequities in cities across the United States through the lens of comprehensive data on COVID-19 outcomes.

22 Jun 2021

"EU Atlas: Dementia & Migration" addresses country-specific experiences

For individuals with a migrant background affected by dementia, access to medical information and care services can be hampered due to language barriers and cultural differences from the native population: This is because culturally sensitive medical and nursing care as well as multilingual information materials are not yet standard - neither in Germany nor in many other parts of Europe.

22 Jun 2021

New technique can measure metabolic process at the single-cell level

Understanding cellular metabolism - how a cell uses energy- could be key to treating a wide array of diseases, including vascular diseases and cancer.

18 Jun 2021

Medieval plague victims were buried with considerable care and attention, shows study

In the mid-14th century Europe was devastated by a major pandemic - the Black Death - which killed between 40 and 60 per cent of the population. Later waves of plague then continued to strike regularly over several centuries.

18 Jun 2021

Research proposes new theory of human cognitive evolution

The period preceding the emergence of behaviorally modern humans was characterized by dramatic climatic and environmental variability - it is these pressures, occurring over hundreds of thousands of years that shaped human evolution.

16 Jun 2021

New web tool offers many capabilities vital to bacteria mutation research

In 1943, two scientists named Max Delbrück and Salvador Luria conducted an experiment to show that bacteria can mutate randomly, independent of external stimulus, such as an antibiotic that threatens a bacterial cells' survival.

15 Jun 2021

WHO: Effective action needed to protect the health of children from toxic e-waste

Effective and binding action is urgently required to protect the millions of children, adolescents and expectant mothers worldwide whose health is jeopardized by the informal processing of discarded electrical or electronic devices according to a new ground-breaking report from the World Health Organization: Children and Digital Dumpsites.

15 Jun 2021

Does the number of siblings you have affect your health?

News-Medical spoke to Professor Peter M Nilsson about cardiovascular disease risk and whether this is affected by the number of siblings you have.

15 Jun 2021

NCCN experts provide new guidance on COVID-19 vaccines for cancer patients

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) today announced the publication of new guidance on COVID-19 vaccines for people with cancer, intended to clear up confusion for patients and caregivers. The new four-page patient guide is based on the latest expert review of evolving evidence.

11 Jun 2021

Experts call for new standards to prevent noise-induced hearing loss in younger generations

As more and more people are taking advantage of music on the go, personal audio systems are pumping up the volume to the detriment of the listener's hearing. Children, teenagers, and young adults are listening to many hours of music daily at volumes exceeding the globally recommended public health limit of 70 decibels of average leisure noise exposure for a day for a year.

11 Jun 2021

Study highlights the dynamic role of social media in epidemics

Researchers from York University and the University of British Columbia have found social media use to be one of the factors related to the spread of COVID-19 within dozens of countries during the early stages of the pandemic.

10 Jun 2021