ABC News (April 14)

‘Ums’ and ‘Ahs’ Help Toddlers Learn Language

“Look at the, uh, zebras, honey,” a mom might say to her two-year-old during a visit to the zoo. While the stumble or hesitation may seem like the most unimportant part of the conversation, it can play a major role in the toddler’s language development; so says a new study from theUniversity of Rochester published in the journal Developmental Science. Researchers found that young children used those “ums” and “uhs,” technically known as speech disfluencies, to acquire new words.  (Also reported in: NPR, Discovery Channel, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, New Scientist, The Independent, LiveScience.com, MSNBC, Parents, Fox News, U.S. News & World Report, Daily Mail,Telegraph.co.uk, Yahoo! News, MSN, Vancouver Sun, Ottawa Citizen,Georgia Public Broadcasting, New Zealand Herald, Express.co.uk and others)

U.S. News & World Report (April 5)

Implantable Device May Lower Tough-to-Treat Hypertension

“People with resistant hypertension–high blood pressure that doesn’t respond to multi-drug therapy and lifestyle changes–are a growing group, and they’re in desperate need of additional treatments,” study lead author John D. Bisognano, professor of medicine in the cardiology division of the University of Rochester, said in a meeting news release.  (Also reported in: Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Yahoo! News, MSN, MSNBC, Newsday, News-Medical.net, Fox News)

U.S. News & World Report  (April 2)

Low Vitamin D Levels Linked to More Aggressive Breast Cancers 

In the study, to be presented Friday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Breast Surgeons, a team from the University of Rochester Medical Center tracked 155 women who had surgery for breast cancer between January 2009 and September 2010.  (Also reported by Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Yahoo! News, Newsday)

MSNBC (April 19)

Antidepressants Could Help Heal Brain Injuries

Injured mice given the antidepressant imipramine (known commercially as Tofranil) had 70 percent more brain cells after four weeks than mice not treated with antidepressants, said study researcher Jason Huang, an associate professor of neurosurgery at the University of Rochester Medical Center and chief of neurosurgery at Highland Hospital in New York.  (Also reported in: ScienceDaily.com, LiveScience.com)