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.

People who have uncontrolled seizures on the left side of their brains are more likely to have learning disabilities

A recent study published in Epilepsia, the official journal of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), indicates that people who have uncontrolled seizures on the left side of their brains are more likely to have learning disabilities, in comparison to people who have seizures on the right side of their brains.

12 Oct 2004

Combination of computer science and biology could aid cancer research

The technique helps to show how cells modify their own genetic makeup and may allow cancer treatments to be tailored more precisely to a patient's disease.

11 Oct 2004

Brain imaging study shows brain differences between autistic boys with language impairment and those with normal language development

The study, published October 11, 2004, in the advance online issue of the Annals of Neurology, found that a language center of the brain -- Broca's area -- is apparently normal in autistic boys who have normal language capabilities.

11 Oct 2004

People prone to anger and aggression may be predisposed to develop an addiction to nicotine

People prone to anger and aggression may be predisposed to develop an addiction to nicotine compared with those who have happy, relaxed personalities, report NIDA-supported researchers.

6 Oct 2004

Background noises don't just cover up conversation, they may actually scramble brain activity

The insight from experiments with rats could influence the design of hearing devices, MP3 music players and virtually any audio transmission technology, say the scientists.

5 Oct 2004

Portion of the brain devoted to vision may play a prominent role in processing the spoken word in blind people

The findings yield important information about the brain's ability to compensate for lost function. The study appears in the October 3, 2004 online issue of Nature Neuroscience1 and in the journal's November issue.

4 Oct 2004

Children's organ retention at the Royal Liverpool Hospital (Alder Hey) is frequently muddled and unclear

The report into children's organ retention at the Royal Liverpool Hospital (Alder Hey) is frequently muddled and unclear, which has made it hard to draw up remedial policy and foster balanced debate about the issues.

4 Oct 2004

Berkeley searches for AIDS cure in a Samoan indigenous tree

The University of California, Berkeley, has signed an agreement with the Samoan government to isolate from an indigenous tree the gene for a promising anti-AIDS drug and to share any royalties from sale of a gene-derived drug with the people of Samoa.

30 Sep 2004

Parents' injury fears stop kids playing sports

More than a quarter of parents of primary school-aged children stop or discourage their children playing sports because of injury fears, new research has found.

29 Sep 2004

Should medical knowledge be extended to enhance the lives of those who are already healthy?

This question and others are addressed in three articles about cosmetic neurology in the September 28 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

28 Sep 2004

New type of regulatory T cell that reduces asthma and airway inflammation

The team's research not only provides a detailed profile of these newfound cells but also sheds light on how such cells are related to other T cells and suggests that there exists a spectrum of regulatory T cells, known as Tregs, to be identified and studied.

26 Sep 2004

Better insight into treating bilingual children who suffer from a stutter

Dr Isabelle Rousseau, clinical trials coordinator at the University's Australian Stuttering Research Centre (ASRC), used her bilingualism in English and French to study and treat Victor, a 7-year-old bilingual boy suffering from a severe stutter.

23 Sep 2004

Tiny babies may face development and behaviour problems

The long term difficulties facing Britain’s “miracle babies” are revealed by a new study following the lives of some of the tiniest infants born in this country.

22 Sep 2004

New culprit behind the brain injury suffered by stroke victims

Researchers have uncovered a new culprit behind the brain injury suffered by stroke victims. Their new study, published in the Sept. 17 issue of Cell, links brain cell damage to a rise in brain acidity following the oxygen depletion, or ischemia, characteristic of stroke.

18 Sep 2004

Nicaraguan deaf children create a new sign language entirely their own

At a school in Managua, Nicaragua, deaf children are speaking a new language entirely their own, which nonetheless has remarkable similarities to the world's other languages. Researchers studying these similarities suggest this week in Science that, in fact, children give language its most fundamental, universal features just by the way they learn it.

18 Sep 2004

New high-tech pacifier helps babies who are born prematurely

The pacifier also may reduce the incidence or severity of certain developmental disabilities that appear in early childhood and beyond as well as possibly boost IQ.

16 Sep 2004

Total abstinence is the only way to protect the unborn baby against Foetal Alcohol Syndrome

Is there a safe level of alcohol consumption during pregnancy? Biochemist Kathy Kitson says the answer is no – total abstinence is the only way to protect the unborn baby against Foetal Alcohol Syndrome.

15 Sep 2004

Time spent in same-sex activities may advantage boys but disadvantage girls

Ten-year-olds' free time activities -- as well as whom they spend their free time with -- are linked to gender development, academic interests, school grades and self esteem at age 12, a Penn State study shows.

15 Sep 2004

Cars that tell people where to go

A three-year Macquarie University research project has studied the differences in how humans and computers talk - by analysing how each give driving directions.

14 Sep 2004

Knowing which treatments work and which don't is an important first step in improving children's health care, but it's not enough

University of South Florida pediatrician Dr. Lisa Simpson says she knew enough to ignore a physician’s recommendation that treating repeated ear infections with ear tubes was important to her son’s eventual speech and language outcomes.