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Home care agencies often wrongly deny Medicare help to the chronically ill

Colin Campbell needs help dressing, bathing and moving between his bed and his wheelchair. He has a feeding tube because his partially paralyzed tongue makes swallowing "almost impossible," he said.

18 Jan 2018

Methods from optogenetics, machine learning should help improve treatment options for stroke patients

Methods from optogenetics and machine learning should help improve treatment options for stroke patients. Researchers from Heidelberg University have developed a computer vision technique to analyze the changes in motor skills that result from targeted stimulation of healthy areas of the brain.

17 Jan 2018

Machine learning algorithm uses brain scans to predict language ability in deaf children

In a new international collaborative study between The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, researchers created a machine learning algorithm that uses brain scans to predict language ability in deaf children after they receive a cochlear implant.

15 Jan 2018

Preterm babies likely to experience delays in auditory brain development, study reveals

Preterm babies born early in the third trimester of pregnancy are likely to experience delays in the development of the auditory cortex, a brain region essential to hearing and understanding sound, a new study reveals.

15 Jan 2018

Trump’s work-for-Medicaid rule puts work on states’ shoulders

The Trump administration's watershed decision Thursday to allow states to test a work requirement for adult Medicaid enrollees sparked widespread criticism from doctors, advocates for the poor, and minority and disability rights groups.

12 Jan 2018

Variations in singular genes could have large impact on hereditary facial features

Do you have your grandmother's eyes? Or your father's nose? A new study by the Universities of Oxford and Surrey has uncovered variations in singular genes that have a large impact on human facial features, paving the way to understanding what determines the facial characteristics passed on from generation to generation.

9 Jan 2018

Review calls for improvement in post-hospital recovery care for sepsis survivors

Despite improvement in the rates of people dying of sepsis in the hospital, the condition is still a leading cause of hospital readmissions and costs, as well as long-term disabilities and impairments, prompting University of Pittsburgh and University of Michigan medical scientists to develop thorough recommendations for post-hospital recovery care and future clinical trials.

2 Jan 2018

Trump administration relaxes financial penalties against nursing homes

The Trump administration — reversing guidelines put in place under President Barack Obama — is scaling back the use of fines against nursing homes that harm residents or place them in grave risk of injury.

2 Jan 2018

Constriction of blood vessels during mental stress more likely to affect women

In women with heart disease, constriction of peripheral vessels during mental stress affects the heart circulation more than men's, potentially raising women's risk of heart-related events and death, according to new research in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, an American Heart Association journal.

21 Dec 2017

Study of songbirds provides key insights into how the brain learns motor skills

The explanation for how people learn complex behaviors, such as speech, might be found in a new study of songbirds by scientists at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

20 Dec 2017

Study finds new way to explain hearing loss caused by cancer drug

Scientists have found a new way to explain the hearing loss caused by cisplatin, a powerful drug used to treat many forms of cancer. Using a highly sensitive technique to measure and map cisplatin in mouse and human inner ear tissues, researchers found that forms of cisplatin build up in the inner ear.

20 Dec 2017

Study investigates how brain lesions can contribute to criminal behavior

New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicates that lesions to brain areas in individuals exhibiting criminal behavior all fall within a particular brain network involved in moral decision-making.

18 Dec 2017

Long-term U-M study yields framework that could be useful for studying bipolar disorder

Nearly 6 million Americans have bipolar disorder, and most have probably wondered why. After more than a decade of studying over 1,100 of them in-depth, a University of Michigan team has an answer – or rather, seven answers.

15 Dec 2017

Exascale supercomputers may discover new, cheaper drugs in future

Can you imagine a future where an exascale computer discovers new drugs faster, cheaper and with lower failure rates than today?

14 Dec 2017

Researchers use cryptographic techniques to decode activity of motor neurons

Cracking the German Enigma code is considered to be one of the decisive factors that hastened Allied victory in World War II. Starting with clues derived from espionage, computer scientists were able to work out the rules that turned a string of gibberish characters into plain German, providing life-saving and war-shortening intelligence.

13 Dec 2017

Scientists gain crucial insights into cause of stuttering

One percent of adults and five percent of children are unable to achieve what most of us take for granted--speaking fluently. Instead, they struggle with words, often repeating the beginning of a word, for example "G-g-g-g-g-ood morning" or get stuck with single sounds, such as "Ja" for "January" although they know exactly what they want to say.

12 Dec 2017

Brain responses of children with inherited dyslexia risk predict their future reading speed

A study conducted at the Department of Psychology at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland and Jyväskylä Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research has found that the brain responses of infants with an inherited risk for dyslexia, a specific reading disability, predict their future reading speed in secondary school.

11 Dec 2017

Taurine could boost effectiveness of existing multiple sclerosis therapies

New research suggests that administering taurine, a molecule naturally produced by human cells, could boost the effectiveness of current multiple sclerosis (MS) therapies.

8 Dec 2017

Racial differences in parents’ reports of child’s autism symptoms may contribute to delayed diagnosis

Racial differences in parents' reports of concerns about their child's development to healthcare providers may contribute to delayed diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in black children, according to a study led by Georgia State University.

7 Dec 2017

Children, adults depend more on right ear for better listening

Listening is a complicated task. It requires sensitive hearing and the ability to process information into cohesive meaning. Add everyday background noise and constant interruptions by other people, and the ability to comprehend what is heard becomes that much more difficult.

6 Dec 2017