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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.

FDA advisory panel suggests warning for bisphosphonates but does not specify wording

Two independent advisory panels to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday recommended increasing the cautionary language on the product labels of bone-building drugs taken by more than five million women in the United States. They did not however mention the exact words of the safety warnings and did not recommend limiting use of the drugs to a proposed five years. About 11 percent of women 55 and older take the drugs to prevent bone fractures.

12 Sep 2011

Roche initiates Phase 1 clinical trial of investigational drug for Down syndrome

Roche today announced the initiation of its first Phase 1 clinical trial to investigate the safety and tolerability of a molecule designed to address the cognitive and behavioral deficits associated with Down syndrome.

12 Sep 2011

Preventive benefits, exchanges and coverage options: A catch-all of health law implementation news

Media outlets report on a range of health law issues, including the latest estimates from the Department of Health and Human Services regarding the number of Medicare beneficiaries getting free preventive care, what difficulties may be ahead for health exchanges and the adminstration's new "Enroll America" campaign.

9 Sep 2011

New application translates foreign-language food menus for English speakers

Researchers have created an application that enables cell phones and other portable devices to translate foreign-language food menus for English speakers and could be used for people who must follow restricted diets for medical reasons.

9 Sep 2011

Simple universal test to detect Alzheimer’s early

A ten-minute memory test that gives early warning of Alzheimer’s in people as young as 50 is being piloted in GP surgeries. Using a touch-screen computer or an iPad, it can distinguish between normal forgetfulness and the more dangerous memory lapses that signal dementia in its earliest stages. If trials are successful, it could be in widespread use in under a year. The developer, Cambridge Cognition, said the mobile electronic test will allow GPs to access patients presenting memory problems more quickly, simply and accurately than with tradition paper-based tests.

8 Sep 2011

Infants at higher risk of ASD have poorer movement skills

Poorer movement skills detected as early as 7 months old are observed in children at a higher risk of developing Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) than children in the general population.

7 Sep 2011

Chemotherapy linked to speech difficulties among cancer patients

Patients who have received high doses of chemotherapy may find it harder to express themselves verbally, according to new research from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Speech difficulties among cancer patients who received chemotherapy treatment were two times higher than among those who did not.

7 Sep 2011

Drugs produced in offshore manufacturing plants more likely to have quality problems

Drugs produced in offshore manufacturing plants -- even those run by U.S. manufacturers -- pose a greater quality risk than those prepared in the mainland United States, a new study suggests.

7 Sep 2011

Autism diagnosis by brain scan a possibility

A team of Stanford scientists have found that the brains of autistic children have a distinctive topography and could be captured using new imaging techniques. This could someday create a template for the autistic brain that could be used to diagnose kids at a very early age they claim.

5 Sep 2011

Teenagers use medicines frequently without receiving targeted information about risks and benefits

A large proportion of teenagers regularly and frequently take some form of medication without receiving targeted information about the risks and benefits, according to a review of current research, to be presented at the annual congress of the International Pharmaceutical Federation.

5 Sep 2011

Child's homework motivation would improve if parents have more positive attitude

Parents who want to improve their child's motivation to complete homework this school year need to change their own attitude and behavior, according to a new study by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers.

3 Sep 2011

Study sheds new light on the ways in which languages ensure efficient communication of information

A recent study of the speech information rate of seven languages concludes that there is considerable variation in the speed at which languages are spoken, but much less variation in how efficiently languages communicate the same information.

3 Sep 2011

Novel analysis of MRI scans reveals distinct features of autistic brain

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital have used a novel method for analyzing brain-scan data to distinguish children with autism from typically developing children.

3 Sep 2011

Investments in EHRs could reap major benefits in better patient care, health outcomes

Research published today in the New England Journal of Medicine gives cause for optimism that federal investments in electronic health records (EHRs) could reap major benefits in better patient care and health outcomes.

2 Sep 2011

Princeton researchers match images of brain activity with complex thought

In an effort to understand what happens in the brain when a person reads or considers such abstract ideas as love or justice, Princeton researchers have for the first time matched images of brain activity with categories of words related to the concepts a person is thinking about. The results could lead to a better understanding of how people consider meaning and context when reading or thinking.

2 Sep 2011

New study pinpoints areas of the brain used exclusively for language

New research from MIT suggests that there are parts of our brain dedicated to language and only language, a finding that marks a major advance in the search for brain regions specialized for sophisticated mental functions.

31 Aug 2011

CMS: Insurers need to create plans for dual eligibles

Medicare Advantage insurers that cover some of the most expensive patients must develop individualized plans to coordinate care for each one, according to a final CMS rule issued Friday. The agency also formalized language in the Affordable Care Act requiring these so-called Special Needs Plans, which handle the costly population covered by both Medicare and Medicaid, to implement quality improvement programs and be certified in 2012 by the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

29 Aug 2011

Study investigates brain mechanisms that contribute to infants' prowess at learning languages

Babies and children are whizzes at learning a second language, but that ability begins to fade as early as their first birthdays.

29 Aug 2011

Research roundup: The costs of obesity; Patients' post-hospital medicine; Women and heart failure

Association of ICU or Hospital Admission With Unintentional Discontinuation of Medications for Chronic Diseases -- Researchers examined records of older people admitted to a hospital in Ontario, Canada from 1997-2009 who were already taking medicines for chronic health problems. They measured "failure to renew the prescription within 90 days after hospital discharge," and found that patients "prescribed medications for chronic diseases were at risk for potentially unintentional discontinuation after hospital admission.

26 Aug 2011

ESC introduces update to HeartScore application

The number of heart attack and stroke incidents in Europe is likely to reduce with the imminent launch of an update to the HeartScore® application. HeartScore® was first developed by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in 2004, and it helps clinicians rapidly estimate the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in individual patients using age, gender, basic health indicators, and lifestyle factors.

26 Aug 2011

Language News and Research

Further Reading

FDA advisory panel suggests warning for bisphosphonates but does not specify wording

Roche initiates Phase 1 clinical trial of investigational drug for Down syndrome

Preventive benefits, exchanges and coverage options: A catch-all of health law implementation news

New application translates foreign-language food menus for English speakers

Simple universal test to detect Alzheimer’s early

Infants at higher risk of ASD have poorer movement skills

Chemotherapy linked to speech difficulties among cancer patients

Drugs produced in offshore manufacturing plants more likely to have quality problems

Autism diagnosis by brain scan a possibility

Teenagers use medicines frequently without receiving targeted information about risks and benefits

Child's homework motivation would improve if parents have more positive attitude

Study sheds new light on the ways in which languages ensure efficient communication of information

Novel analysis of MRI scans reveals distinct features of autistic brain

Investments in EHRs could reap major benefits in better patient care, health outcomes

Princeton researchers match images of brain activity with complex thought

New study pinpoints areas of the brain used exclusively for language

CMS: Insurers need to create plans for dual eligibles

Study investigates brain mechanisms that contribute to infants' prowess at learning languages

Research roundup: The costs of obesity; Patients' post-hospital medicine; Women and heart failure

ESC introduces update to HeartScore application

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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