Language News and Research

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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.

Drug adverts aimed at cancer patients difficult to read

Oncology drug advertisements that ran in patient-focused cancer magazines presented the drugs' benefits differently -- earlier in the advertisement text and in larger type size -- than their side effects or risks, according to an analysis by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

6 Jun 2006

Smoking cessation messages miss Asian Americans

Cigarettes are a particular problem among Asian-American immigrants, where smoking has been estimated to be more than 10 percent above the national average.

6 Jun 2006

Moderate alcohol intake helps women think

Research involving more than 7,000 older women found that those who drink a moderate amount of alcohol have slightly higher levels of mental function than non-drinkers, particularly in verbal abilities.

1 Jun 2006

New MIT designed device allows visually challenged to access Internet

An MIT poet has developed a small, relatively inexpensive "seeing machine" that can allow people who are blind, or visually challenged like her, to access the Internet, view the face of a friend, "previsit" unfamiliar buildings and more.

1 Jun 2006

New study shows how kids' media use helps parents cope

Electronic media is a central focus of many very young children's lives, used by parents to help manage busy schedules, keep the peace, and facilitate family routines such as eating, relaxing, and falling asleep.

24 May 2006

Patients more satisfied if they have more contact with pharmacist

Getting hospital-based pharmacists out from "behind the counter" to work directly with inpatients and health care teams reduces medication errors and problems, according to a University of Iowa and Department of Veterans Affairs review of previously published studies.

23 May 2006

New on the web: Independent, updated health information for the general public

The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care challenges the language barriers in health and launches Europe's first bilingual evidence-based health information website.

22 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

Comprehensive analysis of the human and mouse transcriptomes

An international consortium of scientists, including a team from The University of Queensland's Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), is a step closer to the next generation of treatments to combat disease, after publishing a comprehensive analysis of the human and mouse transcriptomes.

3 May 2006

Good and bad sides of the Internet as it relates to children

Between 75 and 90 percent of teenagers in the United States use the Internet to email, instant message (IM), visit chat rooms and explore other sites on the World Wide Web.

3 May 2006

Visual word forming area (VWFA) of the cortex demonstrated to have an effect on word recognition

Humans have an uncanny ability to skim through text, instantly recognizing words by their shape--even though writing developed only about 6000 years ago--long after humans evolved. Thus, neuroscientists have hotly debated whether an area of the cortex called the Visual Word Form Area (VWFA) is truly a specific and necessary area for recognizing words.

28 Apr 2006

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