News & Updates

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health concluded that programs to boost the academic achievement of children from low income neighborhoods would be more successful if they simultaneously provided adult literacy education to parents.

Newborn infants are capable of a simple form of learning while they're asleep, according to a study by researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health. The finding may one day lead to a test that can identify infants at risk for developmental disorders that do not become apparent until later in childhood.

Teens who were in high-quality child care settings as young children scored slightly higher on measures of academic and cognitive achievement and were slightly less likely to report acting-out behaviors than peers who were in lower-quality child care arrangements during their early years, according to the latest analysis of a long-running study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Contrary to what researchers had previously believed, most young women and girls who experience a menopause-like condition called primary ovarian insufficiency still have immature eggs in their ovaries, according to a study by scientists at the National Institutes of Health.

A gene that causes a fatal childhood brain disorder can also cause adults to develop peripheral neuropathy, a condition resulting in weakness and decreased sensation in the hands and limbs, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions. The study is the first to show that different mutations in the same gene cause the two seemingly unrelated disorders.

Alan E. Guttmacher, M.D., is the new acting director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), one of the 27 institutes and centers that comprise 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.

The NICHD, the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (OBSSR), and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the U.S. Department of Education are hosting a three-day conference about the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), from May 8-10, 2007.

What is the best way to teach kids about science? A new report seeks to help children learn science more effectively by improving the way science is taught in the classroom.

Children who are poor readers appear to have a disruption in the part of their brain involved in reading phonetically, according to a sophisticated brain imaging study funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

Children in America are less likely to die during infancy than they were in previous years, less likely to smoke in 8th or 10th grade, and less likely to give birth during adolescence, according to the 6th annual report, America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2002.

The National Reading Panel (NRP) today announced the launch of its redesigned Web site at http:// www.nationalreadingpanel.org .

In the largest, most comprehensive evidenced-based review ever conducted of research on how children learn reading, a Congressionally mandated independent panel has concluded that the most effective way to teach children to read is through instruction that includes a combination of methods.

Children born to mothers with untreated hypothyroidism during pregnancy score lower on IQ tests than children of healthy mothers, according to a study conducted by Dr. James Haddow and partially funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and reported in the August 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

A Yale research team funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) has used sophisticated brain imaging technology to show that there is decreased functioning while performing reading tasks in certain brain regions of individuals with the most common form of dyslexia.