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.

Limited efficiency with the English language increases the risk of adverse medication reactions

Limited efficiency with the English language is a barrier to medical comprehension and increases the risk of adverse medication reactions, according to a recent study led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.

2 Aug 2005

Primordial soup where life began on earth was hot and not cold

A new theory that explains why the language of our genes is more complex than it needs to be also suggests that the primordial soup where life began on earth was hot and not cold, as many scientists believe.

2 Aug 2005

Communication from physicians and health care teams needs to improve to meet patient's needs

Researchers report in the current issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings that more than one-half of their study patients were unable to list their medications, diagnoses, treatment plan (names and purposes of medications) and common side effects of prescribed medications.

2 Aug 2005

First trial of pramipexole for the treatment of fibromyalgia

The mechanism of fibromyalgia, a chronic illness characterized by muscle pain, fatigue, and sleep disturbances, is unknown and medications used to treat it (such as antidepressants, antiepileptics, muscle relaxants, antiinflammatories, sedative hypnotics, pain relievers and nutriceuticals) have had limited success.

28 Jul 2005

Doctors in the U.S. hope brain-dead woman will give birth

According to her family, a brain-dead, pregnant, American woman on life life-support, has reached the stage of pregnancy where her baby could survive outside the womb.

23 Jul 2005

High rates of cervical cancer are indicators of larger problems in access to health care

The report also finds that cervical cancer mortality, which is higher in certain geographic areas and populations, is a marker for other health disparities.

21 Jul 2005

New research leads to better infant hearing aids

The University of Western Sydney's MARCS Auditory Laboratories is leading the way with groundbreaking research, exploring the auditory abilities of infants, so hearing aids can correctly amplify the frequencies that babies need to develop communication and language skills.

21 Jul 2005

1 in 166 children under age 10 are affected by autism

New statistics surrounding autism make it the number one growing developmental disability in the country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates as many as one in 166 children under age 10 are affected by the disorder. Nearly two million people in the U.S. are living with autism.

19 Jul 2005

Cultural and language barriers may be hindering the treatment of South Asians with diabetes

South Asians are four times more likely than the rest of the UK population to have the condition. A follow up study has now begun into finding our how communication barriers could be overcome in medical consultation.

17 Jul 2005

Asian American and Pacific Island women less likely to receive breast-conserving surgery

Asian American and Pacific Island women, particularly those born abroad, are less likely to receive breast-conserving surgery for early-stage breast cancer than non-Hispanic white women, according to a study published in the online Journal of General Internal Medicine.

17 Jul 2005

FDA panel says asthma drugs should stay on market but must carry warnings

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel has declared that three asthma drugs are safe enough to stay on the market, after concerns that in rare cases they raise the risk of severe asthma.

14 Jul 2005

Most perinatal strokes lead to neurologic disorders

Four of five newborn infants who experience a stroke around the time of birth will develop neurologic disorders such as cerebral palsy, epilepsy, or language delay, according to a study published online July 11, 2005, in the Annals of Neurology.

12 Jul 2005

If you want that child to do well at school take the TV out of their bedroom

In what will appear to be blatantly obvious to many grandparents and many of the babyboom generation, when children have TV sets in their bedroom they don't do so well at school tests.

6 Jul 2005

Patients in the UK at risk because of the poor English of overseas doctors

At present almost a third of doctors in the the UK are from overseas, and British doctors are warning that patients' lives are possibly being put at risk because thousands working in the UK as doctors may not have adequate English language skills.

6 Jul 2005

Television in the bedroom bad for kids, computer good

A study of elementary school students found that children who had television sets in their bedrooms scored significantly lower on school achievement tests than children without TVs in their bedrooms.

5 Jul 2005

University of Michigan receives $10m grant for Alzheimer's research

Alzheimer’s disease research at the University of Michigan is getting a $10 million boost: a major grant that will fund a broad array of efforts aimed at finding and fighting the causes of the disease and other memory conditions.

1 Jul 2005

Sleep helps memory

A good night's sleep triggers changes in the brain that help to improve memory, according to a new study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC).

28 Jun 2005

Compelling evidence that language comprehension is a continuous process

The theory that the mind works like a computer, in a series of distinct stages, was an important steppingstone in cognitive science, but it has outlived its usefulness, concludes a new Cornell University study. Instead, the mind should be thought of more as working the way biological organisms do: as a dynamic continuum, cascading through shades of grey.

27 Jun 2005

Foxp2 gene plays an essential role in the development of social communication

The association between Foxp2 and language was first identified in a family in which half the members had severe speech and grammar impairments. Studies showed that all the affected family members had a mutation in the Foxp2 gene.

21 Jun 2005

Breakthrough in understanding of children's brain development to help parents set kids on path to emotional, intellectual health

A major new research initiative at York University will build on new knowledge of the brain’s development, and help set children --including those with developmental disorders -- on the path towards emotional and intellectual health.

21 Jun 2005