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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.

Friends and family can protect against Alzheimer's disease

Having close friends and staying in contact with family members offers a protective effect against the damaging effects of Alzheimer's disease according to research by physicians at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. The study, which is currently posted online in The Lancet Neurology, will be published in the May print edition of the journal.

26 Apr 2006

Plain language labels now required for eight top allergens

If you or someone in your family suffers from a food allergy, you know how difficult it can be to decipher the food label if the product contains an offending substance.

20 Apr 2006

Map of the human brain sheds new light on dyslexia

Mapping the human brain at The University of Auckland has revealed that abnormal brain activity appears to be the reason why some dyslexia sufferers find it difficult to learn to read.

20 Apr 2006

Researchers identify new disorder called cortical dysplasia-focal epilepsy syndrome

Researchers from the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and the Clinic for Special Children (CSC) in Strasburg, PA, have described a new childhood-onset disorder characterized by severe epilepsy and autistic traits, and identified its genetic basis.

11 Apr 2006

A history of stroke is related to a progressive decline in memory

A history of stroke may be associated with progressive memory difficulties in patients without dementia or cognitive impairment, according to a study in the April issue of Archives of Neurology.

11 Apr 2006

Mild cognitive impairment risk increases as age goes up and years of education go down

Mayo Clinic researchers have found that mild cognitive impairment, a disorder considered a strong early predictor of Alzheimer's disease, is prevalent among the elderly and increases with age and fewer years of education.

11 Apr 2006

Researchers move closer to pinpointing age of brain activity changes related to language

The number of sites in children's brains involved in language recognition decreases as the children age, according to a University of Cincinnati (UC) study.

6 Apr 2006

International team tackle protein folding

A team of researchers from EPFL, (Ecole Polytechnique Fidirale de Lausanne), the University of Lausanne, Northwestern University and Tel Aviv Universitybring biology and statistical physics together to answer the question of how molecular chaperones fold, unfold and pull proteins around in the cell.

4 Apr 2006

Black and Hispanic parents of children with special heath care needs dissatisfied with health care for special needs children

Black and Hispanic parents of children with special heath care needs are twice as likely as white parents to be dissatisfied with their child's care, according to a study appearing in the April issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

3 Apr 2006

Patient oriented breast cancer dictionary of terms for doctors

A new 'breast cancer dictionary' is being created to help bridge the gap between patient terminology and complicated medical language, announced The French League Against Cancer at the European Breast Cancer Conference.

27 Mar 2006

Early risk, attention and brain activation in adolescents born preterm

In one of the first studies to use brain imaging with adolescents born prematurely, New Jersey researchers report that the effects of premature birth and environmental risks on the brain during the first three years of childhood continue through adolescence.

23 Mar 2006

International Standards for Tuberculosis Care published

Led by the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and the World Health Organization (WHO), a consortium of international health agencies today published on the World Wide Web the first International Standards for Tuberculosis Care (ISTC).

23 Mar 2006

First evidence that dendritic cells show unprecedented sensitivity to thimerosal

A team of cell biologists, toxicologists and molecular bioscientists at UC Davis has published a study connecting thimerosal with disruptions in antigen-presenting cells known as dendritic cells obtained from mice.

22 Mar 2006

Children's earliest words stem from what interests them

A child's first word is always a time for celebration. Whether it's "ma," "da," or "cookie," the fact that your child has begun to communicate verbally represents a significant step in his or her development - and your role as a parent.

22 Mar 2006

The birth of words: Ten-month-olds learn words through perceptual salience

Infants are listening and learning their first words as young as 10 months, but they are only learning the words for objects that are of interest to them, not for objects of interest to the speaker, according to researchers at Temple University, University of Delaware and University of Evansville.

22 Mar 2006

The role of evolutionary genomics in the development of autism

Scientists at the London School of Economics, UK and Simon Fraser University, Canada have described the first hypothesis grounded in evolutionary genomics explaining the development of autism.

21 Mar 2006

Drug trial nightmare - two still critically ill

In the drug trial nightmare which has left six men very ill in a London Hospital two remain in intensive care and are not expected to make any early improvement, according to their doctor Ganesh Suntharalingham, Northwick Park Hospital's Clinical Director of Intensive Care.

17 Mar 2006

Link between learning results and working memory

This three-year project has concentrated on basic research into the essence of memory and learning, and its results can be applied to such things as predicting learning difficulties or successes and understanding their related factors, which within working memory hinder or promote learning at an individual level.

13 Mar 2006

Tinnitus and its effect on working memory and attention

Individuals with chronic, moderate tinnitus do more poorly on demanding working memory and attention tests than those without tinnitus, according to research conducted at the University of Western Sydney.

13 Mar 2006

Frontal cortex essential for understanding other people's actions

It has been known for over 100 years that if a person suffers a stroke in the left frontal cortex, he or she often suffers difficulties in speaking and with understanding language.

9 Mar 2006