The National Institutes of Health has announced grant awards of $100 million over five years for the Autism Centers of Excellence (ACE) research program, which will feature projects investigating sex differences in autism spectrum disorders, or ASD, and investigating ASD and limited speech.
News
NICHD issues News Releases and Media Advisories to the news media. Spotlight and Research Feature articles explain NICHD research findings and public health issues to the general public. An Item of Interest is a short announcement of relevant information, such as a notable staff change.
Stresses of Poverty may Impair Learning Ability in Young Children
The stresses of poverty—such as crowded conditions, financial worry, and lack of adequate child care—lead to impaired learning ability in children from impoverished backgrounds, according to a theory by a researcher funded by the National Institutes of Health. The theory is based on several years of studies matching stress hormone levels to behavioral and school readiness test results in young children from impoverished backgrounds.
NICHD Launches New Director's Podcast Series
This month, the institute launched NICHD Research Perspectives, a new podcast series. Each month, NICHD Director Alan E. Guttmacher will talk with NICHD scientists and program staff about findings from their areas of expertise. The series provides a means for researchers to go beyond the descriptions in news releases, to discuss the implications of the research, what the findings may mean for patients and members of the public, as well as what direction future studies might take.
NIH Brain Imaging Study Finds Evidence of Basis for Caregiving Impulse
Distinct patterns of activity--which may indicate a predisposition to care for infants--appear in the brains of adults who view an image of an infant face--even when the child is not theirs, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and in Germany, Italy, and Japan.
Release of the 2011 Division of Intramural Research (DIR) Annual Report
The newly released 2011 DIR Annual Report reviews the latest basic, clinical, and translational research being pursued by the staff scientists within DIR at the NICHD. Contributing to this effort are 79 tenured and tenure-track investigators and approximately 1,200 administrative and research staff. In 2011, DIR project areas ranged from vaccine development to genomics, from reproduction to regenerative medicine, and from the neurosciences and early human development to biophysics and imaging.
Variation in Brain Development Seen in Infants with Autism
Patterns of brain development in the first two years of life are distinct in children who are later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), according to researchers in a network funded by the National Institutes of Health. The study results show differences in brain structure at 6 months of age, the earliest such structural changes have been recorded in ASDs.
NIH Announces Funding for New Learning Disabilities Research Centers
Funding for four centers to conduct research on the causes and treatment of learning disabilities in children and adolescents has been provided by the National Institutes of Health.
NIH Study Shows HIV-Exposed Children at High Risk of Language Delay
Children exposed to HIV before birth are at risk for language impairments, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.
NICHD Highlights Neuroscience Research
On November 14, 2011, NICHD Director Alan Guttmacher, M.D., joined several other NIH Institute Directors in discussing NIH neuroscience research during the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Washington, D.C. Dr. Guttmacher highlighted some of the exciting neuroscience findings that NICHD researchers presented at the meeting.
Collaborating to Improve the Health of Native Babies
Since the Back to Sleep campaign began in 1994, the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) rate in the United States has decreased by more than 50 percent. This decrease occurred not only in the overall U.S. SIDS rate, but also in the SIDS rates for different racial/ethnic groups. The decrease is more than just a number—it represents thousands of infant lives.
NIH-Funded Study Finds Dyslexia Not Tied to IQ
Regardless of high or low overall scores on an IQ test, children with dyslexia show similar patterns of brain activity, according to researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health. The results call into question the discrepancy model--the practice of classifying a child as dyslexic on the basis of a lag between reading ability and overall IQ scores.
Math Disability Linked to Problem Relating Quantities to Numerals
Children who start elementary school with difficulty associating small exact quantities of items with the printed numerals that represent those quantities are more likely to develop a math-related learning disability than are their peers, according to a study supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Safe Sleep for All Babies
Midway through SIDS Awareness Month and in the midst of its annual conference, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released updated recommendations for promoting infant safe sleep.
Down Syndrome Consortium Formed
The National Institutes of Health has joined with organizations interested in Down syndrome to form a consortium that will foster the exchange of information on biomedical and biobehavioral research on the chromosomal condition.
Gene Replacement Treats Copper Deficiency Disorder in Mice
Gene therapy plus an injection of copper dramatically improved survival in mice with a condition that mimics the often fatal childhood disorder Menkes disease, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health.
Preschoolers' Understanding of Quantity Linked to Math Ability
Preschoolers with a strong ability to estimate quantities are more likely to score higher on tests of basic number skills than are their peers with less ability to estimate quantities, according to a study supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Constantine A. Stratakis Named New NICHD Intramural Director
Constantine A. Stratakis, M.D., D.Sc, has been named Scientific Director of the Division of Intramural Research (DIR) at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Immediately preceding his appointment, Dr. Stratakis served as the Acting Scientific Director of the DIR since June of 2009.
Brain Electrical Activity Spurs Insulation of Brain's Wiring
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have discovered in mice a molecular trigger that initiates myelination, the process by which brain cell networks are reinforced with an insulating material called myelin that speeds their ability to transmit messages.
New Online Education Activity for Pharmacists
Pharmacists play a unique role in providing personalized health care. In many communities, they do much more than just fill prescriptions—they also provide health care and health advice to parents, children, and families on topics ranging from prenatal vitamins to maintaining a healthy weight to infant care. Sometimes, people see and interact with the pharmacist more than they do with any other health care provider.
NIH Researchers Trace Early Journey of Modulating Cells in Brain
Key cells in the brain region known as the hippocampus are formed in the base of the brain late in fetal life and undertake a long journey before reaching their final destination in the center of the brain shortly after birth, according to researchers at the National Institutes of Health.