Language News and Research

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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.

Home based support for disadvantaged adult mothers

The idea makes sense: Partner indigent mothers with a mentor who offers parenting and health advice and helps find resources in the community.

25 Jul 2007

Low literacy can shorten life

Not being able to read doesn't just make it harder to navigate each day. Low literacy impairs people's ability to obtain critical information about their health and can dramatically shorten their lives.

24 Jul 2007

Real-time, two-way translation systems

Wartime military patrols and civilian encounters can be especially dangerous if neither group understands the other's language.

24 Jul 2007

Does culture influence the brain?

The infamous and ubiquitous middle finger salute forwell, you know. Such gestures that convey meaning without speech are used and recognized by nearly everyone in our society, but to someone from a foreign country, they may be incomprehensible.

18 Jul 2007

Suped-up computed tomography scanners

By borrowing techniques used in telecommunications technology, computed tomography (CT) scanners may eventually see data collection speeds increase by hundreds of times, leading to better images, faster imaging procedures, and potentially lower x-ray exposures.

18 Jul 2007

Rapid-acting insulin analogues in diabetes mellitus type 1

There is currently no evidence available of a superiority of rapid-acting insulin analogues over human insulin in the treatment of adult patients with diabetes mellitus type 1.

18 Jul 2007

Advance in voice biometrics

A new method which will allow more effective voice discrimination has been developed by researchers at the University of Hertfordshire.

18 Jul 2007

How children with brain tumors perform at school

While children who have had brain tumors perform worse in school than healthy kids, grades in foreign language are the most affected and girls have a harder time than boys in getting good grades, according to a study published in the July 17, 2007, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

17 Jul 2007

Children with Tourette's better at mental grammar skills

Children with Tourette's syndrome may have to put up with some unwanted movement and verbal tics, but neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center and the Kennedy Krieger Institute have found that they are much quicker at processing certain mental grammar skills than are children without the disorder.

16 Jul 2007

Resource pack helps disabled children speak out

At present, many disabled children, particularly those children with limited vocal language, are excluded from being involved in decision-making processes in schools. Thanks to the launch of a new resource pack for teachers this Friday [July 13] children with little or no speech could soon be communicating their views.

12 Jul 2007

New gene mutation linked to frontotemporal dementia

Researchers have identified a new gene mutation linked to frontotemporal dementia, according to a study published in the July 10, 2007, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

10 Jul 2007

Warning on Chikungunya virus

Fever, arthritis, and other symptoms occurring in people to who have recently traveled to islands in the Indian Ocean may signal infection with an imported virus called "chikungunya," reports a study in the May/June issue of the journal Medicine, published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

9 Jul 2007

Food allergy wordlist for international travellers

"I'm going on holiday and I'm taking… a wordlist in thirty languages with all the food ingredients that I'm allergic to." This list is now available - with the names of ingredients as they appear on food packaging.

5 Jul 2007

Toddlers learn first words better from people than TV

Toddlers learn their first words better from people than from Teletubbies, according to new research at Wake Forest University.

28 Jun 2007

New hand held computer link to emergency medical data

Ambulance crews are to gain a crucial new tool to help them get speedy access to information on everything from advice on resuscitation drugs doses, to data on toxic chemicals and poisons thanks to a new Ambulance Crew Electronic Pocket Guide for Personal Digital Assistants, designed by the University of Warwick, being launched at the Ambulance Service Association Conference (AMBEX) in Harrogate on 27th -29th June.

28 Jun 2007

Analysis of school-based social skills interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders

A meta-analysis of 55 published research studies reveals programs designed to teach social skills to children with autism are failing to meet their goals.

26 Jun 2007

Neurological reason for doing mindfulness meditation

Talking with a therapist or friend, writing in a journal, help us to feel better! A new brain imaging study by UCLA psychologists reveals why verbalizing our feelings makes our sadness, anger and pain less intense.

23 Jun 2007

Scientists focus on the brain's speech 'receiver'

A particular resonance pattern in the brain's auditory processing region appears to be key to its ability to discriminate speech, researchers have found.

23 Jun 2007

Research links childhood social skills and learning abilities

While federal programs such as No Child Left Behind emphasize the importance of academic skills to school success and achievement, there is growing interest in how social skills develop and how they contribute to learning.

23 Jun 2007

New trade agreement language to allow developing countries more flexibility in circumventing drug patents, other restrictions

Democratic lawmakers and U.S. trade officials are in the final stages of negotiation over language to be added to international free trade agreements that would allow developing countries more flexibility in circumventing drug patents and other restrictions on pharmaceuticals, sources said recently, CongressDaily reports.

22 Jun 2007