Childhood Development News and Research

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Maternal depression treated by SRIs can change the timing of language development in babies

Maternal depression and a common class of antidepressants can alter a crucial period of language development in babies, according to a new study by researchers at the University of British Columbia, Harvard University and the Child & Family Research Institute (CFRI) at BC Children's Hospital.

9 Oct 2012

Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Autism Speaks create new sleep guide

The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center has created a resource with Autism Speaks to help improve sleep for children and teens affected by autism spectrum disorders. This new toolkit, titled "Sleep Strategies for Children with Autism: A Parent's Guide," offers strategies to help families whose children with autism have difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep through the night.

28 Feb 2012

Impact of maternal mental health and antidepressant exposure on mechanics of early language acquisition

While babies are born ready to learn any of the world's languages, the crucial developmental period when they attune to their native languages can change due to environmental influences such as maternal depression or a bilingual upbringing, according to new University of British Columbia research.

18 Feb 2012

Mass spectroscopy identifies total of 1,210 UCB proteins

Blood tests have been a mainstay of diagnostic medicine since the late 19th century, offering a wealth of information concerning health and disease. Nevertheless, blood derived from the human umbilical cord has yet to be fully mined for its vital health information, according to Rolf Halden, a researcher at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute.

15 Feb 2012

State roundup: Mental health problems complicate immigrant detention hearings; Penn. hospital replacing nursing assistants with all RNs

Immigrant advocates say there are hundreds of mentally ill immigration defendants such as [Ever Martinez Rivas], left to fend for themselves without any meaningful protections in court. As with Martinez, their cases are delayed repeatedly while immigration judges struggle to deal with them fairly. A recently certified federal class action suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Los Angeles-based pro bono law firm Public Counsel and other advocacy groups, seeks to address the issue by compelling the government to provide competency hearings, lawyers and bond hearings for defendants such as Martinez.

7 Feb 2012

Link between maternal nurturing and size of hippocampus in healthy children

School-age children whose mothers nurtured them early in life have brains with a larger hippocampus, a key structure important to learning, memory and response to stress. The new research, by child psychiatrists and neuroscientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, is the first to show that changes in this critical region of children's brain anatomy are linked to a mother's nurturing.

31 Jan 2012

University of Illinois, Abbott establish nutrition and cognition research center

20 Dec 2011

First nutrition and cognition research center

Abbott and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign announced today they have established the first-ever multi-disciplinary nutrition and cognition research center, which will be located on the Urbana campus. The Center for Nutrition, Learning, and Memory will lead directed and-solicited research on the impact of nutrition on learning and memory in the human brain.

19 Dec 2011

EPA rule to help protect kids' brain from autism

SafeMinds sees a brighter future after the implementation of long-overdue EPA regulation of hazardous air pollution from coal-fired power plants. Less mercury means its potent neurotoxic effects are less likely to harm childhood development.

16 Dec 2011

State roundup: Wis. physician shortage predicted; CVS blacklisting some Fla. docs; 'Ambitious' Baltimore HIV initiative

The state needs to train or recruit an additional 100 physicians a year through 2030 to meet the projected demand for health care, according to a new Wisconsin Hospital Association report. ... The group says the state must act immediately ... Primary care physicians - doctors who specialize in family and internal medicine and pediatrics - will account for 80 percent of the projected shortage.

1 Dec 2011

Critical migrating neurons in the human brain decline during infancy

José Manuel García Verdugo, full professor of Cell Biology at University of Valencia, together with a University of California research team, has participated in the discovery of new pathways of neurons migrating from lateral ventricles to the prefrontal cortex. The work done in chidren at early ages reveals a new cell pathway which may increase the amount of neurons in regions important for cognitive tasks, emotional processes and spatial perception.

22 Oct 2011

Ikamva Labantu to launch health and education development centers in South Africa

At the Clinton Global Initiative 2011, Ikamva Labantu, one of South Africa's longest-standing social development organizations, announced that it will be launching a Health and Wellness Center and an Early Childhood Development Training & Resource Center in the Khayelitsha township outside Cape Town by the end of 2011.

1 Oct 2011

Common symptoms of pediatric feeding disorder

Catering to a child who is a picky eater is like being a short-order cook: chaotic. Dinnertime becomes a war zone, leading to hopeless battles fought over vegetables and macaroni and cheese.

20 Sep 2011

U.K. Coalition against NTDs officially launched in London

This "End the Neglect" blog post reports that the U.K. Coalition against Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) was officially launched on Tuesday at the All Parliamentary Group on Malaria and NTDs meeting in London.

15 Sep 2011

Conference to discuss new discoveries in cognitive neuroscience research

New discoveries in the field of cognitive neuroscience hold great promise for improving current teaching methods. Yet there is a significant gap between such scientific discoveries and the application of this knowledge in the classroom.

28 Jul 2011

HPNC offers early childhood development program for kids upto age 5

The Hyde Park Neighborhood Club provides an example of how engaged individuals can sustain communities through long lasting stability.

2 May 2011

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota reports $9 billion revenue for 2010

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and its family of companies (Blue Cross) today announced audited financial results for 2010. The nonprofit health company reported full-year 2010 revenues of $9 billion and an operating margin of 1.4%, which resulted in a net operating income of $127 million. This marks the second consecutive year of positive operating results, following three consecutive years of operating losses from 2006 to 2008.

1 Apr 2011

New information on how best to teach children with hearing loss

Two to three in every 1,000 children are born with a hearing loss that is likely to impact development. Research of the auditory system at its early developmental stages, and efforts to identify hearing loss and initiate appropriate rehabilitation strategies, can be crucial to the healthy development of a child.

18 Mar 2011

Lineagen introduces FirstStep integrated genetic testing for early diagnostic evaluation of ASD, DD

Lineagen announces the launch of its FirstStep integrated genetic testing and counseling service to assist pediatricians and family physicians with the earlier, more accurate diagnostic evaluation of autism spectrum disorders and developmental delay.

11 Jan 2011

Report examines African government funding for child development

Tanzania, Mozambique and Niger spend the most on child wellbeing in Africa - with Sudan, Angola and Burundi at the bottom of the table," according to an African Child Policy Forum report, which was launched in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Tuesday at the opening of the Fourth International Policy Conference on the African Child, Deutsche Presse-Agentur/M&C reports (12/7).

9 Dec 2010