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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.

Studies look at Hispanics' access to U.S. health care system

Three studies published online on Wednesday in the American Journal of Public Health look at how poverty, language and health insurance coverage affect access to care among foreign-born U.S. residents, particularly Hispanics, HealthDay/U.S. News & World Report reports.

22 Sep 2008

U.S. conference on AIDS to focus on HIV/AIDS prevention among minorities

The 2008 U.S. Conference on AIDS, sponsored by the National Minority AIDS Council, began on Thursday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and through Sunday will focus on ways to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in minority communities, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports (Lewis et al., South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 9/18).

22 Sep 2008

Webcam technology helps Arizona hospitals better communicate with non-English-speaking patients

A webcam language interpretation service is helping three Arizona hospitals better serve Spanish-speaking patients in their emergency departments, the East Valley & Scottsdale Tribune reports. The Iasis Healthcare hospitals had relied on telephone interpretation services before implementing the new webcam system.

16 Sep 2008

Parents of dying newborns need clearer explanation of options

Parent-doctor discussions about whether to maintain or withdraw life support from terminally ill or severely premature newborns are so plagued by miscommunication and misunderstanding that they might as well be in different languages, according to a small but potentially instructive new study from Johns Hopkins Children's Center reported in the September issue of Pediatrics.

15 Sep 2008

Grand Rapids Press examines Alzheimer's disease care among Hispanics

The Grand Rapids Press on Tuesday examined the "cultural tightrope" faced by some Hispanics who seek long-term care for a family member with Alzheimer's disease.

11 Sep 2008

Stuttering more common in bilingual children

Researchers in Britain say children who are bilingual before the age of 5 are far more likely to stutter and also find it harder to lose their impediment.

9 Sep 2008

Vietnamese-Americans have high risk for mental health problems, study finds

Vietnamese-Americans ages 56 and older are twice as likely as whites to report needing mental health care and also less likely to discuss such issues with a professional, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, the Los Angeles Times reports.

7 Sep 2008

CMS adds children's health care information to Hospital Compare web site

CMS on Wednesday announced that it has updated its Hospital Compare Web site to include information on 30-day mortality rates for the pneumonia and inpatient asthma treatment for children, CQ HealthBeat reports.

5 Sep 2008

FDA forces manufacturers of TNF-blockers to highlight risk of fungal infections

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced that the manufacturers of Humira, Cimzia, Enbrel, and Remicade must strengthen the existing warnings, in the Warnings and Precaution sections of the drugs' prescribing information and Medication Guides, on the risk of developing opportunistic fungal infections. Some patients with invasive fungal infections have died.

5 Sep 2008

Mike Huckabee says GOP should focus more on health care in Presidential election

Former Republican presidential candidate and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Tuesday during a forum about obesity expressed disappointment that the party has not focused more on health care in the presidential election, The Hill reports.

4 Sep 2008

Washington Post examines HIV/AIDS outreach efforts aimed at African immigrants

The Washington Post on Tuesday examined HIV/AIDS outreach efforts aimed at African immigrants in the U.S. According to the Post, some health researchers say that the "message" that HIV/AIDS also affects Africans in the U.S. is "growing in importance as they become increasingly concerned that the AIDS epidemic ravaging sub-Saharan Africa is following migrants from that continent to America."

2 Sep 2008

New guidelines on heart failure

Heart failure is a leading cause of death and hospitalisation and represents a major burden on health services. It is estimated that over 15 million people in Europe suffer from heart failure and the syndrome accounts for over 2% of national expenditure on health. The new guidelines on heart failure from the European Society of Cardiology are eagerly awaited.

2 Sep 2008

Playing and watching sports improves language skills

Being an athlete or merely a fan improves language skills when it comes to discussing their sport because parts of the brain usually involved in playing sports are instead used to understand sport language, new research at the University of Chicago shows.

1 Sep 2008

Democratic National Committee approves platform with health care language; Obama campaigns in Iowa

The Democratic National Committee on Monday during the Democratic National Convention voted to adopt a non-binding party platform that includes language about health care, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports. According to the AP/Newsday, the platform in large part follows recommendations from presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) but moves "beyond his proposals in calling for guaranteed health care for all" (Woodward, AP/Long Island Newsday, 8/26).

26 Aug 2008

HHS releases proposed rule on conscientious objections that would protect providers who refuse to perform abortions

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt on Thursday announced plans to implement a regulation intended to protect health care providers and other workers from disciplinary measures if they refuse to provide abortions or refer patients to other providers for abortions because of personal, religious or moral reasons, the Washington Post reports.

26 Aug 2008

Middle ear infections in childhood linked to obesity later in life

Researchers are reporting new evidence of a possible link between a history of moderate to severe middle ear infections in childhood and a tendency to be overweight later in life. Their study suggests that prompt diagnosis and treatment of middle ear infections - one of the most common childhood conditions requiring medical attention - may help fight obesity in some people.

20 Aug 2008

Bacterial pneumonia caused most deaths in 1918 influenza pandemic

The majority of deaths during the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 were not caused by the influenza virus acting alone, report researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. Instead, most victims succumbed to bacterial pneumonia following influenza virus infection.

19 Aug 2008