Language News and Research

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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.

Cognitive tests can detect early Alzheimer's in people without symptoms, study suggests

Long before symptoms of Alzheimer's disease become apparent to patients and their families, biological changes are occurring within the brain. Amyloid plaques, which are clusters of protein fragments, along with tangles of protein known as tau, form in the brain and grow in number, eventually getting in the way of the brain's ability to function.

31 May 2017

Neurons can learn series of reactions at precisely timed intervals, study shows

Individual neurons can learn not only single responses to a particular signal, but also a series of reactions at precisely timed intervals. This is what emerges from a study at Lund University in Sweden.

30 May 2017

Clinical study tests 100-year-old drug in children with autism spectrum disorder

In a small, randomized Phase I/II clinical trial (SAT1), researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine say a 100-year-old drug called suramin, originally developed to treat African sleeping sickness, was safely administered to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), who subsequently displayed measurable, but transient, improvement in core symptoms of autism.

26 May 2017

Toddler's gender influences the brain responses and behavior of fathers

A toddler's gender influences the brain responses as well as the behavior of fathers -- from how attentive they are to their child, to the types of language that they use and the play that they engage in, a new study by Emory University finds.

25 May 2017

Penn psychologist shows how empathy can elicit both negative and positive health effects

When a close friend shares bad news, our instinct is to help. But putting ourselves in a friend's shoes, imagining how we would feel if we were the one suffering, may have detrimental effects on our own health, according to a new study led by the University of Pennsylvania's Anneke E. K. Buffone.

24 May 2017

NUS scientists develop novel handheld device for treatment of 'glue ear' in children

A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore has developed a novel handheld device, known as CLiKX, for the treatment of a condition called Otitis Media with Effusion, or 'glue ear', which is the leading cause of hearing loss and visits to the doctors among children worldwide.

24 May 2017

Study findings reveal racial and ethnic disparities in access to neurologic health care

Black and Hispanic people are less likely to see a neurologist in the office or as an outpatient than white people in the United States, according to a study published in the May 17, 2017, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

18 May 2017

High temperatures raise risk of serious surgical site infections

Surgical site infections, a common healthcare-associated infection, are seasonal - increasing in the summer and decreasing in the winter-according to new research published online today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

16 May 2017

Diabetes medication could potentially help treat symptoms of Fragile X syndrome

Metformin, the most widely used drug to treat type 2 diabetes, could potentially be used to treat symptoms of Fragile X syndrome, an inherited form of intellectual disability and a cause of some forms of autism.

15 May 2017

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals launches first of its kind laryngeal dystonia clinic in Yorkshire

PATIENTS living with a poorly understood chronic voice disorder which causes involuntary muscle spasms, impairing speech and swallowing, can now receive treatment nearer to home thanks to the launch of a specialist multidisciplinary clinic at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

12 May 2017

New screening model effectively identifies Latino infants at risk for autism

Georgetown University Medical Center autism specialists working with Latino families in Washington, DC, have developed an effective screening program that identifies Latino infants who may be at risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), allowing the opportunity for early intervention.

11 May 2017

Evolution of overall brain size accounts for most of the differences, study reveals

Which came first, overall bigger brains or larger brain regions that control specialized behaviors? Neuroscientists have debated this question for decades, but a new Cornell University study settles the score.

11 May 2017

Left- or right-handedness influences speed of understanding sign language, study finds

The speed at which sign language users understand what others are 'saying' to them depends on whether the conversation partners are left- or right-handed, a new study has found.

9 May 2017

Dad's interaction with children in early life could have positive impact on cognitive development

Fathers who interact more with their children in their first few months of life could have a positive impact on their baby's cognitive development.

9 May 2017

Study findings suggest how progranulin deficiency causes frontotemporal dementia

In a recent study in Human Molecular Genetics, researchers from VIB and KU Leuven led by prof. Philip Van Damme, reveal a novel function for progranulin in lysosomes: it acts as chaperone of the lysosomal protease cathepsin D. The results were obtained in collaboration with Prof. Paul Saftig from the University of Kiel.

8 May 2017

Use of handheld devices by infants can delay speech development

Recent research presented at the 2017 Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting indicates that the development of expressive speech is more likely to be delayed in young children who use handheld devices, such as smart phones and tablets.

5 May 2017

Novel signal-processing tool enables unbiased, data-driven analysis of ultrasonic vocalizations

Vocalization plays a significant role in social communication across species such as speech by humans and song by birds. Male mice produce ultrasonic vocalizations in the presence of females and both sexes sing during friendly social encounters.

5 May 2017

Easing cellular traffic jams in Huntington’s disease may save brain cells

Working with mouse, fly and human cells and tissue, Johns Hopkins researchers report new evidence that disruptions in the movement of cellular materials in and out of a cell's control center - the nucleus- appear to be a direct cause of brain cell death in Huntington's disease, an inherited adult neurodegenerative disorder.

5 May 2017

UAB spinoff develops drug-resistant immunotherapy to combat solid tumors

The University of Alabama at Birmingham and two partner institutions have received a European patent for their novel approach to fighting cancer, an approach that is led by the UAB spinoff biopharmaceutical company Incysus Ltd.

5 May 2017

Research examines impact of language barriers on patient outcomes in home health care

In the United States, one in every five households speaks a language other than English at home. Research has shown, as English language proficiency decreases, positive healthcare outcomes also decrease.

4 May 2017

Language News and Research

Further Reading

Cognitive tests can detect early Alzheimer's in people without symptoms, study suggests

Neurons can learn series of reactions at precisely timed intervals, study shows

Clinical study tests 100-year-old drug in children with autism spectrum disorder

Toddler's gender influences the brain responses and behavior of fathers

Penn psychologist shows how empathy can elicit both negative and positive health effects

NUS scientists develop novel handheld device for treatment of 'glue ear' in children

Study findings reveal racial and ethnic disparities in access to neurologic health care

High temperatures raise risk of serious surgical site infections

Diabetes medication could potentially help treat symptoms of Fragile X syndrome

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals launches first of its kind laryngeal dystonia clinic in Yorkshire

New screening model effectively identifies Latino infants at risk for autism

Evolution of overall brain size accounts for most of the differences, study reveals

Left- or right-handedness influences speed of understanding sign language, study finds

Dad's interaction with children in early life could have positive impact on cognitive development

Study findings suggest how progranulin deficiency causes frontotemporal dementia

Use of handheld devices by infants can delay speech development

Novel signal-processing tool enables unbiased, data-driven analysis of ultrasonic vocalizations

Easing cellular traffic jams in Huntington’s disease may save brain cells

UAB spinoff develops drug-resistant immunotherapy to combat solid tumors

Research examines impact of language barriers on patient outcomes in home health care

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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