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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.

Kennedy plan skips contentious issues, still angers GOP

The first detailed health reform proposal "got off to a rocky start Tuesday," as "even moderate Republicans" attacked a draft bill by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Democrats from his Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the Los Angeles Times reports.

10 Jun 2009

Shame and blame stops women leaving violent men

Researchers in New Zealand say shame and self-blame often stop women leaving violent relationships and campaigns advocating choice and empowerment aimed at prompting abused women to leave their abusers may in some cases have the opposite effect.

9 Jun 2009

GOP balking at public plan in health care reform

Inclusion of a government-run public insurance plan to compete with private insurers could endanger bipartisan support of a health care reform bill as Republicans stand firm against it, The Associated Press reports.

5 Jun 2009

Needle biopsies safe in 'eloquent' areas of brain

After a review of 284 cases, specialists at the Brain Tumor Center at the University of Cincinnati (UC) Neuroscience Institute have concluded that performing a stereotactic needle biopsy in an area of the brain associated with language or other important functions carries no greater risk than a similar biopsy in a less critical area of the brain.

3 Jun 2009

EU authorizes $11 million in humanitarian aid for Zimbabwe; Prime Minister to meet with members of Congress next week

The E.U. on Tuesday authorized $11 million in humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe, VOA News reports (VOA News, 6/2). The E.U.'s actions come one day after U.N. agencies expressed the need for $718 million in foreign donations to help meet the urgent needs of the people of Zimbabwe (Kaiser Daily Global Health Report, 6/2).

3 Jun 2009

Research sheds new light on how the brain processes what the eye sees

Researchers at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience (CMBN) at Rutgers University in Newark have identified the need to develop a new framework for understanding "perceptual stability" and how we see the world with their discovery that visual input obtained during eye movements is being processed by the brain but blocked from awareness.

2 Jun 2009

A pandemic of human fear and anxiety

Is a flu pandemic looming and if so should we worry? It is now 41 years since we experienced the last pandemic of flu and many think that we are overdue for the next one. But have we over-reacted to the present outbreak of swine flu?

1 Jun 2009

Language use decreases in young children and caregivers when TV is on

In a new study, young children and their adult caregivers uttered fewer vocalizations, used fewer words and engaged in fewer conversations when in the presence of audible television.

1 Jun 2009

Neuroscientists reach consensus on how the brain processes speech and language

Neuroscientists feel they are much closer to an accepted unified theory about how the brain processes speech and language, according to a scientist at Georgetown University Medical Center who first laid the concepts a decade ago and who has now published a review article confirming the theory.

26 May 2009

Discovery of neurons that 'mirror' the attention of others

Whether a monkey is looking to the left or merely watching another monkey looking that way, the same neurons in his brain are firing, according to researchers at the Duke University Medical Center.

18 May 2009

Tobacco control must be elevated as a public health priority

An Essay published this week in the open access journal PLoS Medicine calls for the President Obama to "make a strong public commitment" to tobacco control by mobilizing US Government departments and agencies to achieve a coherent policy after eight years of neglect.

15 May 2009

Obama administration 'wants to go slow' on HIV/AIDS efforts, editorial says

"The road to ending AIDS comes with warning sign: Caution -- Politics Ahead. Just ask President Obama, who's getting a crash-course introduction," a San Francisco Chronicle editorial says.

13 May 2009

Obama ensures Hispanic community they will be included in H1N1 flu outbreak efforts

In a town hall-style meeting at the White House on Friday, President Obama ensured Hispanic community leaders and advocates that the U.S. will not alienate the group as a result of the recent H1N1 flu outbreak believed to have started in Mexico, the AP/Las Vegas Sun reports. Obama also assured the group that they will receive treatment related to the virus regardless of legal status.

12 May 2009

Scientific publishing giant guilty of some shonky behaviour

It has been revealed that the academic publisher Elsevier has admitted its Australian office produced six fake medical journals between 2000 and 2005.

11 May 2009

President Obama discusses health reform prospects with House Democrats

President Obama on Tuesday met with Democrats from the House Energy and Commerce Committee to discuss a climate change bill and health care, the Washington Times reports.

6 May 2009

Listening to music can change the way you judge facial emotions

It is often said that music is the language of emotions. Simply, we are moved by music. But can these musically induced emotions arising through the auditory sense influence our interpretation of emotions arising through other senses (eg visual)?

6 May 2009

Toddlers with autism more likely to have an enlarged amygdala

Toddlers with autism appear more likely to have an enlarged amygdala, a brain area associated with numerous functions, including the processing of faces and emotion, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

4 May 2009

Iron deficiency in womb may delay auditory nervous system in preemies

Iron plays a large role in brain development in the womb, and new University of Rochester Medical Center research shows an iron deficiency may delay the development of auditory nervous system in preemies. This delay could affect babies ability to process sound which is critical for later language development in early childhood.

4 May 2009

Younger children exposed to content intended for adults in TV and movies may become sexually active earlier in life

Early onset of sexual activity among teens may relate to the amount of adult content children were exposed to during their childhood, according to a new study released by Children's Hospital Boston.

4 May 2009

Congress approves $3.5 trillion budget resolution that includes reconciliation language

Congress on Wednesday -- President Obama's 100th day in office -- passed a $3.5 trillion fiscal year 2010 budget resolution (S Con Res 13) that includes budget reconciliation as an option for passing health reform legislation, the Wall Street Journal reports.

30 Apr 2009