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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.

State news: Rate hikes approved in Mass., Va. families still wait for autism coverage, health IT booming

State regulators have approved premium increases averaging 2.3 percent for health insurance covering hundreds of thousands of residents, the most modest hikes in at least a decade and a sign that years of efforts to control costs may be working. The new rates are in Massachusetts' "small group'' market, which includes tens of thousands of small businesses as well as self-employed and formerly uninsured individuals.

24 Jan 2012

First Edition: January 23, 2012

Today's health policy headlines include reports looking ahead to President Barak Obama's State-of-the-Union address and others examining the health law.

23 Jan 2012

Ambiguity makes language more efficient

Why did language evolve? While the answer might seem obvious - as a way for individuals to exchange information - linguists and other students of communication have debated this question for years. Many prominent linguists, including MIT's Noam Chomsky, have argued that language is, in fact, poorly designed for communication.

20 Jan 2012

Roundup: State lawmakers urge deficit reduction

On Wednesday, the National Conference of State Legislatures, which represents lawmakers from across the country, sent President Barack Obama, Speaker of the House John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid a letter urging them to "examine all possible avenues for deficit reduction, including discretionary spending, entitlement reform and revenue-related options."

20 Jan 2012

Safety nets in Australia’s Medicare questioned while expert claims $3 billion inappropriate use

In a scathing article for the Medical Journal of Australia published on Monday, GP Dr Tony Webber has described the Medicare scheme as a “monster”. He wrote, “I estimate that $2 billion to $3 billion are spent inappropriately each year.” As former chief of the Professional Services Review - set up to police Medicare - he said he gained insight into how dysfunctional the system had become.

16 Jan 2012

S.C. GOP primary puts spotlight on Romney abortion stance

Nine days before the South Carolina primary, Mitt Romney has 'picked up his pro-life rhetoric' as Newt Gingrich goes on the attack.

13 Jan 2012

First Edition: January 13, 2012

"The much celebrated, and much maligned, public option may have died in Congress, but it's alive and well in California. Unique in the nation for having public health insurance plans that are run by counties, California has plans that stretch from San Francisco to the Mexican border and cover 2.5 million residents"

13 Jan 2012

Scientists identify chemical signals that promote aggregation in roundworms

Scientists have long seen evidence of social behavior among many species of animals, both on the earth and in the sea. Dolphins frolic together, lions live in packs, and hornets construct nests that can house a large number of the insects. And, right under our feet, it appears that nematodes-also known as roundworms-are having their own little gatherings in the soil. Until recently, it was unknown how the worms communicate to one another when it's time to come together.

13 Jan 2012

PLoS ONE journal publishes UVM team's study, Positivity of the English Language

"If it bleeds, it leads," goes the cynical saying with television and newspaper editors. In other words, most news is bad news and the worst news gets the big story on the front page. So one might expect the New York Times to contain, on average, more negative and unhappy types of words - like "war," " funeral," "cancer," "murder" - than positive, happy ones - like "love," "peace" and "hero."

13 Jan 2012

Sign language helps deaf people to pick up on body language

Deaf people who use sign language are quicker at recognizing and interpreting body language than hearing non-signers, according to new research from investigators at UC Davis and UC Irvine.

12 Jan 2012

Health Fidelity, Columbia University enter license agreement to commercialize MedLEE NLP

Columbia University and Health Fidelity, Inc. announced today that they have entered into a license agreement for commercialization of Columbia's MedLEE Natural Language Processing technology.

12 Jan 2012

Care for Asian-American heart attack patients gets better

Care for Asian-American heart attack patients improved between 2003 and 2008, according to a study published today in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal.

11 Jan 2012

Scientists help explain how brain locates images that look like faces

Objects that resemble faces are everywhere. Whether it's New Hampshire's erstwhile granite "Old Man of the Mountain," or Jesus' face on a tortilla, our brains are adept at locating images that look like faces. However, the normal human brain is almost never fooled into thinking such objects actually are human faces.

10 Jan 2012

AB receives TÜV approval for Neptune waterproof sound processor in Europe

Advanced Bionics (AB), the global leader in cochlear implant technology, announced today that it received approval in Europe for Neptune, the world's first and only swimmable, waterproof sound processor.

7 Jan 2012

Fifi Delish, 50,000feet introduce ViviLeDish for young children

50,000feet, Inc. and Fifi Delish Holding, LLC announced the launch of ViviLeDish.com, an interactive platform designed to help young children develop healthy attitudes and habits about food, eating and exercise that will last a lifetime.

7 Jan 2012

FDG-PET safe and accurate in detecting dementia, Alzheimer's

In a new review of imaging studies spanning more than ten years, scientists find that a method of positron emission tomography (PET) safely and accurately detects dementia, including the most common and devastating form among the elderly, Alzheimer's disease.

7 Jan 2012

Postpartum Support International unveils new Spanish language educational DVD

Postpartum Support International Unveils New Spanish Language Educational DVD "MADRE SALUDABLE, FAMILIA FELIZ" Offered to Hospitals & Healthcare Agencies Nationwide As Part of Clinical Training & Education Program Helping Alleviate the #1 Complication of Child Birth: Untreated Depression

5 Jan 2012

BMI method can determine expected body weight for adolescents with eating disorders

An exact determination of expected body weight for adolescents based on age, height and gender is critical for diagnosis and management of eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia. However, there are no clear guidelines regarding the appropriate method for calculating this weight in children with such disorders.

5 Jan 2012

JHTR, COMBI introduce 'Tools for Clinical Use'

Starting this month, The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation (JHTR)—in partnership with The Center For Outcome Measurement in Brain Injury (COMBI)—introduces a new feature designed to support effective and informed use of standardized assessments for evaluation of brain injury.

5 Jan 2012

Emerging forms of torture cause serious mental health problems

Use of torture around the world has not diminished but the techniques used have grown more complex and sophisticated, according to new research from Queen Mary, University of London.

4 Jan 2012