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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.

Children with lower language skills find it difficult to understand what strangers are saying

New research by New York University Steinhardt Associate Professor Susannah Levi finds that children with poorer language skills are at a disadvantage when given tasks or being spoken to by strangers because they cannot, as easily as their peers, understand speech from people they do not know.

27 Apr 2019

Genetic mutations in brain development lead to discovery of rare genetic diseases

Mutations in a gene involved in brain development have led to the discovery of two new neurodevelopmental diseases by an international team led by researchers at McGill University and CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center.

26 Apr 2019

Device converts brain signals into speech, offering hope for patients

In a remarkable application of modern technology, scientists have created a device that can decode signals from the brain’s speech centers to produce speech through a synthesizer.

25 Apr 2019

Researchers seek sage advice of elders on aging issues

Rachel O'Conor booted up her slides and began posing questions to six older adults sitting around a table: How should primary care physicians support patients and caregivers after a diagnosis of dementia? And what stands in the way of getting adequate support?

25 Apr 2019

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What the Health?’ The abortion wars rage on

A federal district judge in Oregon blocked new rules for the federal family planning program issued by the Trump administration and due to take effect May 3. It's one of several cases out to thwart the changes that would effectively evict Planned Parenthood from the Title X program.

25 Apr 2019

New fluorescence-based method accurately determines strength of Lewis acids

York University chemists have invented a new fluorescence-based method for accurately determining the strength of a range of Lewis acids, which could one day be used to help purify pharmaceutical drugs, improve industrial processes and explore next-generation technologies, according to a new chemistry study.

25 Apr 2019

Diagnostic stewardship strategy reduces inappropriate testing

Programming a hospital's electronic health record system to provide information on appropriate use of a costly gastrointestinal panel and to block unnecessary orders reduced inappropriate testing by 46 percent and saved up to $168,000 over 15 months, according to a study published today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

24 Apr 2019

New study finds that previously described differences among endoscopists are not true

Previous research has suggested that specific factors about the doctor performing colonoscopy - for example, a gastroenterologist versus a surgeon, female versus male - were associated with different rates of detection of precancerous polyps.

19 Apr 2019

Strategies to achieve greater vaccination coverage throughout Europe

In the spirit of WHO, which regards this problem as one of the ten major healthcare problems in the world - the aim of all participants is to engage with parents, political decision-makers, the media and healthcare professionals, in particular, to raise awareness and hence achieve greater vaccination coverage in general.

17 Apr 2019

Researchers identify cause of inherited metabolic disorder

A new study from BC Children's Hospital, the University of British Columbia (UBC) and an international team of researchers published in the New England Journal of Medicine is the first to identify a rarely-seen type of DNA mutation as the cause of an inherited metabolic disorder.

16 Apr 2019

Research shows how prenatal anesthesia in rats affects neuronal migration

While there has long been discussion whether exposure to anesthesia affects brain development, new Rush University Medical Center research published in the journal Cerebral Cortex describes how prenatal anesthesia in rats seems to disrupt the "precisely choreographed" and timed migration of neurons to the area of the developing brain where thinking, memory and language occur.

12 Apr 2019

Making smarter decisions about where to recover after hospitalization

Every year, nearly 2 million people on Medicare — most of them older adults — go to a skilled nursing facility to recover after a hospitalization. But choosing the facility can be daunting, according to an emerging body of research.

11 Apr 2019

Biochemical switches could be triggered to treat pathology of IBM, ALS and FTD

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have found that the enzymes ULK1 and ULK2 play a key role in breaking down cell structures called stress granules, whose persistence leads to toxic buildup of proteins that kill muscle and brain cells.

11 Apr 2019

Study: Surgical site infection risk after C-section higher among Medicaid-insured women

The risk of surgical site infection following cesarean delivery is higher among Medicaid-insured women when compared to women who were privately insured, according to a study published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the journal for the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

10 Apr 2019