Speech News and Research

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Practice builds brain connections for babies learning language, how to speak

Experience, as the old saying goes, is the best teacher. And experience seems to play an important early role in how infants learn to understand and produce language.

11 Jul 2006

New model illustrates brain mechanisms that lead to autistic behaviors

Approximately 1.5 million children and adults in the U.S. have autism and it is estimated to be the fastest growing developmental disability with a 10 - 17 percent increase each year.

10 Jul 2006

Amazing brain repairs itself!

Doctors in the U.S. have discovered that the brain of a man so severely damaged in a car accident that he was left in a barely conscious state, has healed itself and he is now conscious and communicating with those around him.

4 Jul 2006

Stroke damage may be reversible

Scientists in the U.S. say they have discovered a way to make the brain reverse the damage it suffers after a stroke, and are optimistic that it will lead to treatment which will exploit the body's ability to heal itself.

26 Jun 2006

In vitro fertilisation could be causing genetic errors in embryo

The conditions in which embryos are cultured in the laboratory during in vitro fertilisation could be causing genetic errors that are associated with certain developmental syndromes and other abnormalities in growth and development, such as low birth weight.

19 Jun 2006

Children who stutter face greater challenges managing their behavior and emotions

Children who stutter often face greater challenges managing their behavior and emotions than other children, researchers have found, offering new insight into how to help these children in a more holistic way.

18 Jun 2006

Discovery of gene behind iron accumulation in brain has implications for Parkinson's, Alzheimer's

Oregon Health & Science University researchers have identified the gene behind a group of rare, progressive childhood disorders caused by an abnormal buildup of iron in the brain.

18 Jun 2006

Broca's area and the hierarchical organization of human behavior

Researchers have discovered that Broca's area in the brain - best known as the region that evolved to manage speech production - is a major "executive" center in the brain for organizing hierarchies of behaviors.

14 Jun 2006

Bush's Draconian plan to ban stem cell research flounders as Harvard goes it alone

Scientists at Harvard University in the United States, in direct defiance of President Bush's wish to ban such research, have begun efforts to clone human embryos.

7 Jun 2006

Cause of neurodegeneration in Huntington's disease discovered

The severe neurodegeneration associated with Huntington's disease may result from molecular mutations that block the transport of nutrients within cells.

1 Jun 2006

Top British doctors say NHS complementary therapies jeopardises provision of effective medicine

A group of eminent British doctors are saying that complementary or alternative therapies such as homeopathy should not be offered on the National Health Service (NHS).

24 May 2006

Genetic testing can improve newborn screening tests for hearing defects

Researchers have identified several changes that could be made to existing newborn screening tests for hearing defects that could advance the standard of care in detecting deaf infants, according to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine.

17 May 2006

New approaches to genetic disease, based on cells' own ability to correct themselves

New approaches to genetic disease, based on cells' own ability to correct themselves, will be outlined today at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

8 May 2006

Minority and multiracial children experience many disparities in medical and oral health status

Minority and multiracial children experience many disparities in medical and oral health status, access to care, and use of services, according to a new national study by researchers at the Center for Advancement of Underserved Children at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.

3 May 2006

Oh what a feeling!

Just five months after the pioneering operation Isabelle Dinoire, the world's first partial face transplant says she now has complete feeling in the new tissue on her face.

1 May 2006

Humans perceive more than they think they do

Faces tell the stories in UC Riverside Professor Larry Rosenblum's ecological listening lab, as volunteer test subjects show that they can "read" unheard speech - not just from lips, but from the simple movements of dots placed on lips, teeth and tongue.

18 Apr 2006