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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.

New discovery could change future diagnosis and therapy of depression

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have discovered that a change in the location of a protein in the brain could serve as a biomarker for depression, allowing a simple, rapid, laboratory test to identify patients with depression and to determine whether a particular antidepressant therapy will provide a successful response.

12 Mar 2008

New genetic finding on Rett syndrome

The first comprehensive analysis of the clinical effects of genetic mutations involved in Rett syndrome will enable affected families to receive a more accurate indication of their child's prognosis.

12 Mar 2008

Researchers develop system that understand spoken language

A research team drawn from the Department of Systems and Automation Engineering of the Polytechnic University School and from the Faculty of Informatics at the Donostia-San Sebastian campus of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and led by lecturer Miren Karmele Lopez de Ipina, is developing systems that process and understand spoken language and automatically obtain information particularly from Basque radio and television.

11 Mar 2008

Integrin beta3 protein yields clues to autism

Many children with autism have elevated blood levels of serotonin - a chemical with strong links to mood and anxiety.

6 Mar 2008

Happiness in life and your genes

Happiness in life is as much down to having the right genetic mix as it is to personal circumstances according to a recent study.

6 Mar 2008

New system improves hearing in patients with cochlear implants

The doctoral thesis of Isaac Manuel Álvarez Ruiz has been developed in the Departments of Department of Signal Theory, Telematics, and Communication, and Department of Surgery and its Specialties of the University of Granada, and directed by Professors Ángel de la Torre Vega and Manuel Sainz Quevedo.

6 Mar 2008

Achievement gaps within racial groups identified for first time

A University of Michigan study finds that when it comes to achievement gaps within racial groups, catching up over time is common.

6 Mar 2008

Happiness is in the genes

Scientists from Scotland and Australia say being happy in life could be all about having the right genetic mix.

5 Mar 2008

Brain differences between women and men

What was once speculation is now being confirmed by scientists: the brains of women and men are different in more ways than one.

1 Mar 2008

Profound financial life changes plague families of children with autism

The information that a child has been diagnosed with autism often throws parents into an emotional tailspin.

1 Mar 2008

Springer launches 18,000 searchable online protocols in life sciences and biomedicine

Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) has announced the release of Springer Protocols, a protocol database of more than 18,000 searchable online protocols in life sciences and biomedicine.

28 Feb 2008

Youngest patient worldwide to have auditory implant in the brain stem

A team of ear, nose and throat specialists and neurosurgeons at the University Hospital of Navarra, led by doctors Manuel Manrique Rodríguez, specialist in ear, nose and throat surgery and Bartolomé Bejarano Herruzo, specialist in paediatric neurosurgery, have successfully operated on a 13 month-old girl from Murcia, who had been born deaf due to the lack of auditory nerves.

27 Feb 2008

Antioxidants shown not to help children with Down's syndrome develop

Giving children with Down's syndrome antioxidants and nutrients does not help their condition improve at all, according to a study published today on bmj.com.

21 Feb 2008

Lead exposure may lead to adult-onset obesity in men

Scientists know exposure to low levels of lead can result in learning disabilities, hearing loss, language impairments and vision loss, but a newly discovered side effect may be adult-onset obesity in men, according to a University of Houston professor.

21 Feb 2008

March of Dimes implores legislators to vote in favor of hearing screen

The March of Dimes is making a House call -- House of Representatives that is. On February 21, 2008, the March of Dimes and volunteers from around the state will meet with legislators to discuss several issues, the most important of which is passage of House Bill 1177.

21 Feb 2008

Study identifies patterns of brain activation linked to the formation of long-term memories

Researchers at New York University and Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science have identified patterns of brain activation linked to the formation of long-term memories.

20 Feb 2008

Listening to music in the early stages after a stroke can improve patients' recovery

Researchers from Finland found that if stroke patients listened to music for a couple of hours a day, their verbal memory and focused attention recovered better and they had a more positive mood than patients who did not listen to anything or who listened to audio books.

20 Feb 2008

An assessment system demonstrates the learning capacity of children with Down's syndrome

Researchers from the Department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatment at the University of Granada have adapted a set of assessment criteria created by lecturers from the USA to the Spanish language.

20 Feb 2008

Intervention program boosts education of kids at high risk of failure

An eight-week-long intervention program aimed at parents from low socioeconomic backgrounds reaped significant educational benefits in their preschool-aged children, a University of Oregon research fellow reported today at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

17 Feb 2008