Language News and Research

RSS

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.

Plans to tackle growing waistlines and the obesity epidemic from the Institute of Medicine

According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), obesity in America is a crisis that threatens national security and it demands urgent action.

9 May 2012

Psychopaths’ brains differ from healthy non-offenders: Study confirms

Approximately half of male prisoners in England and Wales will meet diagnostic criteria for ASPD. The majority of such men are not true psychopaths (ASPD-P). They are characterized by emotional instability, impulsivity and high levels of mood and anxiety disorders. They typically use aggression in a reactive way in response to a perceived threat or sense of frustration.

8 May 2012

Researchers find talking about ourselves triggers sensation of pleasure

According to researchers, talking about ourselves - whether in a personal conversation or through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter - can trigger the same sensation of pleasure in the brain as food, money or sex.

8 May 2012

MD Anderson dermatologists applaud upcoming FDA changes to sunscreen labels

Sunscreen labels can be confusing and at times misleading. That's why dermatologists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center applaud the upcoming U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) label changes that help consumers understand exactly what they're buying.

8 May 2012

Rare form of dementia eats away at personality and language

Michael French suffered from a rare form of dementia. It made him do unwise things like throwing away tax documents, getting a ticket for trying to pass an ambulance and buying stock in companies that were obviously in trouble. He seemed withdrawn and no longer spoke to his wife over dinner. He also lost his job at the consulting firm. This happened in 2006. His wife found he had changed suddenly from the smart, good-natured, hardworking man and was considering divorce when his ailment came into the picture.

8 May 2012

FRAX version 3.6 now available for 45 countries, in 19 languages

The WHO Fracture Risk Assessment Tool - FRAX- has now been released as version 3.6 with new country models for Chile, Greece, Indonesia, Ireland and Lithuania. Downloadable charts for the newly added countries are also available.

8 May 2012

Early well-child check-ups can help identify children at risk of emotional, behavioral problems

A new study suggests clinicians might be able to identify children at risk of later emotional or behavioral problems by paying attention to a few key signs during early well-child check-ups. Researchers found that boys with early sleep problems and girls with language and speech delays tended to have more emotional problems in adolescence.

5 May 2012

Group says it has Kansas clinic abortion records; Iowa preps for abortion battle in budget

An anti-abortion group says it has patient records of dozens of women and girls who sought treatment at a Kansas abortion clinic last month. In the meantime, Iowa lawmakers prepare to tackle the state's health spending, including whether victims of rape or incest may get abortions through its Medicaid program.

5 May 2012

Infants show less accurate emotion recognition for other-race faces than own-race faces

Results of a new study reported recently by psychology researcher Lisa Scott and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst confirm that although infants are born with equal abilities to tell apart people within multiple races, by age 9 months they are better at recognizing faces and emotional expressions of people within groups they interact with most.

3 May 2012

JS Genetics announces availability of XCAT-KS buccal swab test

JS Genetics announces the availability of XCAT-KS, its proprietary buccal swab test for the diagnosis of Klinefelter syndrome (KS) and other male sex chromosome aneuploidies.

3 May 2012

Math models can be useful tools for study of cancer progression

Using mathematical models, researchers in the Integrated Mathematical Oncology (IMO) program at Moffitt Cancer Center are focusing their research on the interaction between the tumor and its microenvironment and the "selective forces" in that microenvironment that play a role in the growth and evolution of cancer.

3 May 2012

New link between motor action and emotion

The way we use our hands may determine how emotions are organized in our brains, according to a recent study published in PLoS ONE by psychologists Geoffrey Brookshire and Daniel Casasanto of The New School for Social Research in New York.

3 May 2012

Different genes involved in autism tend to be involved in specific processes in the brain

Autism has a strong genetic basis, but so far efforts to identify the responsible genes have had mixed results. The reason for this is that autism is influenced by many different genes, and different genes are involved in different individuals, making it hard to find the common genetic ground between patients.

2 May 2012

Single mothers with depression more likely to add cereal to bottles

Efforts to prevent obesity among low-income infants should focus not only on what babies are being fed but also the reasons behind unhealthy feeding practices, according to a study to be presented Saturday, April 28, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Boston.

30 Apr 2012

Research roundup: Practice guidelines may not stop defensive medicine; English language ability tied to hospital readmission rates

The Value of Clinical Practice Guidelines As Malpractice "Safe Harbors" -- Overspending on health care has frequently been attributed to doctors practicing defensive medicine -- ordering extra tests, for example -- so that they avoid malpractice lawsuits. The authors of this brief write that while some have said clinical guidelines "should give caregivers a liability 'safe harbor,' shielding them from any malpractice claim for failing to provide services not included in the guideline."

27 Apr 2012

Experimental drug for autism works effectively in laboratory mice: Study

A new experimental drug has shown promise in autism symptoms in mice. Researchers from the National Institutes of Mental Health and Pfizer reported Wednesday that an experimental compound, called GRN-529, increased social interactions and lessened repetitive self-grooming behavior in a strain of mice bred to display autism-like behaviors.

26 Apr 2012

Researchers identify new components of genetic pathway that controls neural stem cells

Can one feel too attached? Does one need to let go to mature? Neural stem cells have this problem, too. As immature cells, neural stem cells must stick together in a protected environment called a niche in order to divide so they can make all of the cells that populate the nervous system. But when it's time to mature, or differentiate, the neural stem cells must stop dividing, detach from their neighbors and migrate to where they are needed to form the circuits necessary for humans to think, feel and interact with the world.

26 Apr 2012

Study shows how PCBs could add to autism risk

New research from UC Davis and Washington State University shows that PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, launch a cellular chain of events that leads to an overabundance of dendrites - the filament-like projections that conduct electrochemical signals between neurons - and disrupts normal patterns of neuronal connections in the brain.

26 Apr 2012

Clinical trial to evaluate IGF-1 in children with SHANK3 deficiency

In an important test of one of the first drugs to target core symptoms of autism, researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine are undertaking a pilot clinical trial to evaluate insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) in children who have SHANK3 deficiency (also known as 22q13 Deletion Syndrome or Phelan-McDermid Syndrome), a known cause of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

25 Apr 2012

Ethiopian immigrant women in Israel more likely to develop obesity

A new study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has found that Ethiopian women who immigrated to Israel gained significant amounts of weight, and some became obese, after integrating local foods into their diet and eating fewer traditional dishes.

24 Apr 2012