News by Subject Medicine & Health

They can hear well up to about forty years old, but then suddenly deafness strikes people with DFNA9. The cells of the inner ear can no longer reverse the damage caused by a genetic defect in their DNA. Researchers at Radboud university medical center have now developed a "genetic patch" for this type of hereditary deafness, with which they can eliminate the problems in the hearing cells. Further research in animals and humans is needed.

In the process of developing language, the melody patterns that emerge in infants' vocalisations are a very important first step. A new study has shown that the complexity of these patterns rapidly increases in the first months.

According to a research conducted by JCDR, at least 9 out of 10 adults suffer from low health literacy in India. Health literacy is a vital aspect of any nation's growth - be it developed, underdeveloped or a developing nation. A team of researchers lead by Ruban Nersisson, at the School of Electrical Engineering,

Over 70 million deaf people use sign languages as their preferred communication form. Although they access similar brain structures as spoken languages, it hasn't been identified the brain regions that process both forms of language equally. MPI CBS has now discovered that Broca's area in the left hemisphere, central for spoken languages, is also crucial for sign languages. This is where the grammar and meaning are processed, regardless of whether it is spoken or signed language.

This study examined how lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic changed the spoken communication environments of children with cochlear implants by comparing the sounds they were exposed to before and during the resulting closures of schools and nonessential businesses.

In experiments in newborn mice, scientists at Johns Hopkins report that sounds appear to change "wiring" patterns in areas of the brain that process sound earlier than scientists assumed and even before the ear canal opens.

Astrocytes -- star-shaped cells in the brain that are actively involved in brain function -- may play an important role in stuttering, a study led by a University of California, Riverside, expert on stuttering has found. The study also suggests that treatment with the medication risperidone leads to increased activity of the striatum in persons who stutter.