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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.

GUMC neuroscientists: Speech perception must have evolved from animals

Neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) have defined, for the first time, three different processing stages that a human brain needs to identify sounds such as speech - and discovered that they are the same as ones identified in non-human primates.

23 Jun 2011

Defining the meaning of human rights and health

A blog post on the Global Health Council's "Blog 4 Global Health" discusses the meaning of language linking health and human rights.

23 Jun 2011

Autistic toddlers’ brain research may help early diagnosis: Study

Researchers have noted that the brain activities of toddlers with autism appears to be out of sync at a very early stage -- a finding that sheds light on the biology of the condition and might help in earlier diagnosis. The study was published in the journal Neuron.

23 Jun 2011

Weak neural synchronization could serve as powerful, new biological marker of autism

In a novel imaging study of sleeping toddlers, scientists at the University of California, San Diego Autism Center of Excellence report that a diminished ability of a young brain's hemispheres to "sync" with one another could be a powerful, new biological marker of autism, one that might enable an autism diagnosis at a very young age.

23 Jun 2011

Penn State College of Medicine researchers create brief exam that identifies cognitive changes in ALS patients

Patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) could lose brain function earlier than is noticeably detectable, affecting their ability to make decisions about their care. Physicians need a method to assess these sensitive changes in brain function, without the need for extensive neuropsychological tests.

23 Jun 2011

State roundup: Okla. caps 'non-economic damages' in lawsuits

With Republicans in control of the Oklahoma governorship and the Legislature for the first time ever, they swiftly passed a series of changes to the civil justice system. Lawmakers put a cap of $350,000 on the amount of money that plaintiffs can recoup for so-called "non-economic damages," such as the pain and suffering caused by medical malpractice, faulty products or other forms of professional negligence.

23 Jun 2011

Springer launches SpringerReference.com: New scientific developments in advance of print edition

Springer Science+Business Media has launched SpringerReference.com, a new platform for researchers and academic and corporate libraries. It offers living editions of Springer’s eReferences well in advance of their print editions across every subject. Through the platform, scientists can submit updates to articles whenever they want or deem necessary to keep up with the demand for the most recent scientific developments. SpringerReference.com thus offers a way to quickly publish major reference works which need to be constantly updated with the most up-to-date research findings.

22 Jun 2011

Quality home learning experiences may help prepare children for kindergarten

Previous research says on average, children living in poverty are less well prepared to start school than children from middle-income homes. Now, new research says home learning experiences may help low-income children's school readiness.

21 Jun 2011

Mother and baby cytomegalovirus screening important to prevent consequences

According to health experts, pregnant women and newborns should be screened for a virus that causes brain damage and deafness. The study that appeared in the latest issue of The Medical Journal of Australia yesterday says hundreds of cases of cytomegalovirus (CMV) are likely being missed each year in Australia because of a lack of screening, denying babies treatment for the condition.

19 Jun 2011

Low levels of education, poverty and other social factors contribute to many U.S. deaths

How researchers classify and quantify causes of death across a population has evolved in recent decades. In addition to long-recognized physiological causes such as heart attack and cancer, the role of behavioral factors-including smoking, dietary patterns and inactivity-began to be quantified in the 1990s. More recent research has begun to look at the contribution of social factors to U.S. mortality.

18 Jun 2011

Research roundup: Kids on Medicaid have trouble seeing a specialist; safety in outpatient facilities; community health center patients linking to electronic health care

In this study, researchers posing as parents sought specialty care for children in Cook County, Ill., to examine access opportunities for families on Medicaid. They found a major disparity between children with public insurance versus private insurance -- 66 percent of the callers saying the children were insured by Medicaid were denied an appointment, compared to 11 percent with a private plan.

18 Jun 2011

Pawlenty aims verbal barb at Romney

On Thursday, GOP presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty called rival Mitt Romney a "co-conspirator" in the federal health overhaul. He also repeated his call for repealing the measure, and maintained that, when he was governor, he handled health reform "the right way."

17 Jun 2011

First Edition: June 17, 2011

Today's headlines include reports about how health entitlement programs are faring in the ongoing deficit-reduction negotiations.

17 Jun 2011

Spanish version of MyPlate nutritional products now available at Learning ZoneXpress

A Spanish-language version of the popular MyPlate poster and handouts tablet is now available from Learning ZoneXpress.

17 Jun 2011

Children born pre-term have persistent drive to succeed

In the longest running U.S. study of premature infants who are now 23 years old, University of Rhode Island Professor of Nursing Mary C. Sullivan has found that premature infants are less healthy, have more social and school struggles and face a greater risk of heart-health problems in adulthood.

16 Jun 2011

Infosys introduces Health Benefit Exchange

Infosys today announced the availability of Infosys Health Benefit Exchange, a cost effective solution designed to help states set up the insurance exchanges mandated in the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

15 Jun 2011

Statistics of breast cancer risk

Sometimes it can be difficult to understand people talking about cancer, especially doctors, scientists, and reporters. Part of the reason is because they use so many numbers and statistics without explaining exactly what they mean. A famous philosopher once said that "Mathematics is the language of science." But most of us don't speak that language very well. Here are some ways to think about the numbers that professionals may use when talking about cancer.

15 Jun 2011

Children with good understanding of cardinal principle do better in maths

Preschool children seem to grasp the true concept of counting only if they are taught to understand the number value of groups of objects greater than three, research at the University of Chicago shows.

15 Jun 2011

Exposure to cigarettes fosters tween smoking: New study

Exposure to secondhand smoke can create symptoms of nicotine dependence in non-smoking preteens, according to a new study from Concordia University and the University of Montreal.

14 Jun 2011

The perils of aid group over exaggeration

"The problem is that U.N. agencies, USAID, its European counterparts, and NGOs almost all think that to get attention for a given crisis, they must use apocalyptic language and err on the side of overestimating the death, damage, and displacement that has been caused," author David Rieff writes in a Foreign Policy opinion piece.

13 Jun 2011