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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.

Anesthesia can increase behavioral changes, risk of developing Alzheimer's disease

The use of repetitive anesthesia with isoflurane (one of the most common anesthetics by inhalation) increases the risk of developing changes similar to those observed in AD brains in mice with mutations of the amyloid precursor protein (APP). This is the main conclusion of Spanish researchers coordinated by Doctors Maria -ngeles Mena and Justo Garc-a de Y-benes, from CIBERNED (Centro de Investigaci-n Biom-dica en Red de Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas).

25 Mar 2010

Obama to sign executive order on abortion funding in private ceremony

The President will sign an executive order Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. in a much smaller ceremony than the one for the health care reform bill Tuesday.

25 Mar 2010

Gesture may be a tool for diagnosing language delays in children with brain lesions

About 1 in 4,000 infants has a brain injury known as pre- or perinatal brain lesions, mainly as a result of stroke, with risk factors involving both mothers and babies. Children with early brain lesions that affect one side of the brain often take longer to reach early language milestones; these delays normalize for many but persist for some.

25 Mar 2010

New, portable EEG-based device for people with motoric disabilities

Imec, Holst Centre and the lab of Neuro- and Psychophysiology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven today present the Mind Speller, a portable, easy-to-wear, intelligent textual and verbal communications prototype device enabling people with motoric disabilities (suffering from for example brain paralysis or speech or language disorders) to communicate.

24 Mar 2010

Healthcare reform bill likely to impact physician owned hospitals

According to Molly Sandvig, Executive Director of Physician Hospitals of America (PHA), the legislation virtually destroys over 60 hospitals that are currently under development, and leaves little room for the future growth of the industry.

24 Mar 2010

Protein deficiency in Down syndrome patients could contribute to cognitive impairment and congenital heart defects

Conventional wisdom among scientists for years has suggested that because individuals with Down syndrome have an extra chromosome, the disorder most likely results from the presence of too many genes or proteins contained in that additional structure.

24 Mar 2010

Labeling calories on menus mandatory – unhealthy eating discouraged further

With the newly passed healthcare bill calorie counts at fast food and chain restaurants become mandatory. More than 200,000 fast food and other chain restaurants will have to include calorie counts on menus, menu boards, buffets, vending machines, alcoholic drink menus and even drive-throughs.

23 Mar 2010

athenahealth introduces new patient communication service

athenahealth, Inc., a leading provider of Internet-based business services to physician practices, today announced the launch of athenaCommunicator, a new patient communication service that is fully integrated with athenahealth’s established web-based physician practice management and electronic health record services.

23 Mar 2010

Health bill's passage rested on White House executive order on abortion

"Abortion was one of the most contentious issues in this debate from the very beginning, more than a year ago. A longstanding law — the Hyde Amendment — bars federal funds from being used to pay for elective abortions. It's an agreement between anti-abortion and pro-abortion rights lawmakers that is so delicate it could balance on a pin."

23 Mar 2010

Removal of “no known cure” in house bill reduces SOMB’s power to prioritize public safety

House Bill 10-1364 is scheduled to be heard at the House Judiciary Committee at the Colorado capitol building the afternoon of Thursday, March 25. The bill deals in part with whether to keep the words "no known cure" in an existing statute governing Colorado's Sex Offender Management Board (SOMB). The SOMB oversees the state's treatment program for sex offenders.

22 Mar 2010

Executive order on abortion funding to assuage anti-choice members: Center for Reproductive Rights concerned

News reports today confirm that an executive order on abortion funding is being developed in an attempt to assuage anti-choice members of the House of Representatives and to secure their votes in the down-to-the-wire battle over passage of healthcare reform. The text of the proposed executive order has not been publicly disclosed. Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights has this response:

22 Mar 2010

Pro-abortion health care package: ACLJ preparing legal challenges

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), focusing on constitutional law, said today House passage of the pro-abortion health care package is “extremely disappointing” and President Obama’s Executive Order fails “to provide permanent protections for the life of the unborn.” The ACLJ says it is preparing legal challenges to the flawed health care package.

22 Mar 2010

Latino Coalition opposes health care bill

Hispanic groups wrote a second letter to congressional leaders to raise their concerns about provisions in the current health care bill that negatively targets minority communities. They believe that the current legislation will have a disproportionately negative impact on low-income minority groups and will lead to Medicare cuts for Hispanic seniors, increase in taxes for Hispanic small businesses and reduced wages for Hispanic workers. Congress has failed to listen to their concerns.

20 Mar 2010

Divisions within pro-life groups on overhaul ease opposition

A previously steadfast coalition opposed to abortion - which feared that the health overhaul could divert federal money to support the procedure - is beginning to crack, The Christian Science Monitor reports. "Increasingly, abortion foes - including high-profile Catholic organizations and members of Congress - are saying that while the language aimed at preventing use of federal funds for abortion is not perfect, the bill is still worth passing as a first step."

19 Mar 2010

First Edition: March 19, 2010

The headlines reflect yesterday's flurry of activity as House Democratic Leaders unveiled their $940 billion health-care compromise bill and steamed toward a Sunday vote. All the while, Republican leaders plotted was to stall this progress and nullify the measure.

19 Mar 2010

Asian-language speakers actively use "quitlines", University of California study finds

Telephone counseling programs for smoking cessation, popularly known as "quitlines," are an increasingly common way for smokers to quit. Every state in the U.S. now has one. However, most of them provide counseling services in English and Spanish only. The only quitline so far to offer counseling in multiple Asian languages is the California Smokers' Helpline. Since 1993, the Helpline has been counseling smokers in Chinese (both Mandarin and Cantonese dialects), Korean and Vietnamese, in addition to English and Spanish.

19 Mar 2010

Catholic nuns, some Catholic lawmakers, announce support for health care overhaul

The Los Angeles Times: "Their numbers and influence may be declining, but American nuns demonstrated Wednesday what generations of schoolchildren already knew: They are a force to be reckoned with. By sending a letter to Congress in support of the Senate healthcare bill, a wide coalition of nuns took sides against not only the Republican minority but against their own church hierarchy, as represented by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which opposes the bill.

19 Mar 2010

Congress should cast final votes to get comprehensive health care reform enacted into law, ACP

The American College of Physicians, representing 129,000 internal medicine physician and medical student members, said today that Congress should cast the final votes needed to get comprehensive health care reform enacted into law. Without reform, ACP said, tens of millions of Americans stand to lose access to affordable health care and out-of-control spending will trigger an unprecedented fiscal and budgetary crisis.

19 Mar 2010

House Democrats continue push for weekend House vote on health reform measure

House Democratic leaders continued efforts to pick-up support for health reform in the House while also tinkering around the edges of the overhaul legislative package -- all in anticipation of a Sunday vote in the House.

19 Mar 2010

AAO-HNS urges Congress to pass meaningful healthcare reform

The American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, the nation’s largest organization representing ear, nose, and throat surgeons, urges Congress to address several critical issues in the pending healthcare reform legislation before a final vote is held.

19 Mar 2010

Language News and Research

Further Reading

Anesthesia can increase behavioral changes, risk of developing Alzheimer's disease

Obama to sign executive order on abortion funding in private ceremony

Gesture may be a tool for diagnosing language delays in children with brain lesions

New, portable EEG-based device for people with motoric disabilities

Healthcare reform bill likely to impact physician owned hospitals

Protein deficiency in Down syndrome patients could contribute to cognitive impairment and congenital heart defects

Labeling calories on menus mandatory – unhealthy eating discouraged further

athenahealth introduces new patient communication service

Health bill's passage rested on White House executive order on abortion

Removal of “no known cure” in house bill reduces SOMB’s power to prioritize public safety

Executive order on abortion funding to assuage anti-choice members: Center for Reproductive Rights concerned

Pro-abortion health care package: ACLJ preparing legal challenges

Latino Coalition opposes health care bill

Divisions within pro-life groups on overhaul ease opposition

First Edition: March 19, 2010

Asian-language speakers actively use "quitlines", University of California study finds

Catholic nuns, some Catholic lawmakers, announce support for health care overhaul

Congress should cast final votes to get comprehensive health care reform enacted into law, ACP

House Democrats continue push for weekend House vote on health reform measure

AAO-HNS urges Congress to pass meaningful healthcare reform

Sensing a Healthier Future

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

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