News

NICHD Director Alan E. Guttmacher announced that, after an extensive national search, Alison Cernich, Ph.D., has been selected as Director of the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research.

More than 50 million Americans, about 1 in 5 people, are living with a disability. People with disabilities tend to be less physically active than people without disabilities and have higher rates of corresponding health problems such as obesity, heart disease, hypertension and stroke.

Learning is easier when it only requires nerve cells to rearrange existing patterns of activity than when the nerve cells have to generate new patterns, a study of monkeys has found. The scientists explored the brain’s capacity to learn through recordings of electrical activity of brain cell networks. The study was partly funded by the National Institutes of Health.

A new therapy promises to shorten the recovery time for young people who have suffered a brain injury. It’s called “gist training,” and it involves getting the essence from complex information instead of memorizing facts.

The National Institutes of Health has selected eight projects to receive support to answer some of the most fundamental problems on traumatic brain injury, including understanding long-term effects of repeated head injuries and improving diagnosis of concussions.

A compact, self-contained sensor recorded and transmitted brain activity data wirelessly for more than a year in early stage animal tests, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

In an ongoing clinical trial, a paralyzed woman was able to reach for and sip from a drink on her own – for the first time in nearly 15 years – by using her thoughts to direct a robotic arm. The trial, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, is evaluating the safety and feasibility of an investigational device called the BrainGate neural interface system. This is a type of brain-computer interface (BCI) intended to put robotics and other assistive technology under the brain's control.

Thirteen scientists have been appointed to a blue ribbon panel that will review medical rehabilitation research at the National Institutes of Health.

The National Institutes of Health has provided approximately $30 million over a five year period to fund a network of centers to advance medical rehabilitation research. The centers provide researchers with access to new technologies and resources.

The National Children's Study has initiated recruitment at 30 study locations around the United States. The Study is the largest long-term study of children's health ever conducted in the United States, and will follow 100,000 children from before birth to age 21 to learn how the environment influences children's health, development, and quality of life. Study researchers seek to enroll women who are pregnant or may become pregnant in the next few years.

People with a particular kind of knee alignment have a greater chance of developing osteoarthritis than do those with other types of leg alignment, reported researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Women and young girls who experience delays in diagnosing a premature, menopause-like condition face increased risk of low bone density, according to new research by scientists at the National Institutes of Health. A delay in diagnosing the condition, called primary ovarian insufficiency, may make women more susceptible to osteoporosis and fractures later in life, the researchers concluded.

The pineal gland -- integral to setting the body's sleep and wake cycles -- may be involved in a broad range of bodily functions, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

Using a novel genetic technology that covers up genetic errors, researchers funded in part by the National Institutes of Health have developed a successful treatment for dogs with the canine version of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a paralyzing, and ultimately fatal, muscle disease.