Baby brains are hungry for language. New parents are urged to talk to their babies to help their minds develop properly. Now, a group of UConn researchers have shown that “talking” doesn’t just mean speech—sign language exposure is equally as nourishing. “We find early exposure to language, whether signed or spoken, supports the development of […]
A large group of family medicine researchers, educators and clinicians propose a framework of definitions to clarify the similarities, differences and relationships between common terms used by those involved in population health, community health and public health. They write that shared language must be clear enough to help and not hinder people working together as […]
New research from the University of Georgia finds that older Mexican Americans who live in low English-speaking neighborhoods are at greater risk for poor health and even an early death. Language barriers can be a significant deterrent to health. People who don’t speak English well are less likely to seek health care or receive health […]
Going to the doctor is intimidating for many people, and it can be especially so for people from minority groups. There are many reasons why people from minority groups are particularly uncomfortable in healthcare settings, including fear and past bad experiences. And when people do see their doctors, there are many barriers that can keep […]
Every year, millions of children around the world are admitted to hospital for having anesthesia and surgery. Many of them experience preoperative anxiety which negatively affects both their hospital experience and medical outcome, as well as their future relationships with healthcare services from both a short-term and long-term point of view. Image Credit: Anaesthesia Web […]
Powerful algorithms used by Netflix, Amazon and Facebook can 'predict' the biological language of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, scientists have found. Big data produced during decades of research was fed into a computer language model to see if artificial intelligence can make more advanced discoveries than humans. Academics based at St John's College, […]
It can be hard to resist lapsing into an exaggerated, singsong tone when you talk to a cute baby. And that’s with good reason. Babies will pay more attention to baby talk than regular speech, regardless of which languages they’re used to hearing, according to a study by UCLA’s Language Acquisition Lab and 16 other […]
Acknowledging that chronic underfunding of public health contributed significantly to the nation's fragmented response to the coronavirus pandemic, Democrats included more than $100 billion in the recently enacted relief package to address urgent needs and enhance future efforts. "The pandemic has given us possibly the best chance we've ever had of getting on the right […]
The ability to speak is one of the essential characteristics that distinguishes humans from other animals. Many people would probably intuitively equate speech and language. However, cognitive science research on sign languages since the 1960s paints a different picture: Today it is clear, sign languages are fully autonomous languages and have a complex organization on […]
In 2019, an average of around 2.1 million Austrian inhabitants came from a migration background. Due to the changing demographic due to migration over the last few decades, more and more children are growing up multilingual. Many of them display problems in learning their second language (German) and are often diagnosed as having a suspected […]
