Altered development of a part of the auditory cortex in preterm infants is associated with poorer language skills in early childhood, finds a brain imaging study of very early-born babies in a neonatal intensive care unit. The research, published in eNeuro, suggests that developmental disturbances to this brain region may underlie speech and language difficulties observed in this population.
The neural machinery that supports hearing is typically functional by 15 weeks before birth, making babies sensitive to speech and language while they are still in the womb.
Researchers used a magnetic resonance imaging technique to track changes in Heschl's gyrus, a part of the brain that contains both the primary auditory cortex (pAC) and nonprimary auditory cortex (nAC), in 90 infants born prior to 30 weeks gestation.
They show that the pAC matures earlier but more slowly than the nAC, which changes rapidly in the last 10 weeks of the typical gestation period. Developmental differences in the nAC of preterm infants were associated with reduced expressive language ability, such as gesturing and vocabulary, in a follow-up assessment at two years of age.
http://www.eneuro.org/content/early/2018/01/15/ENEURO.0380-17.2017
How preterm birth may impact language development
- 1,250 views
- Added
Edited
Latest News
Mechanism of sugar signalin…
By newseditor
Posted 19 May
How does the brain turn wav…
By newseditor
Posted 19 May
A trial HIV vaccine trigger…
By newseditor
Posted 19 May
AI to predict DNA methylati…
By newseditor
Posted 19 May
Hyperactive platelets from…
By newseditor
Posted 19 May
Other Top Stories
Understanding workings of Parkinson's linked proteins
Read more
Human brains transmit information via multiple parallel pathways
Read more
New coding mechanism that transfers information from perception to…
Read more
Soft robotic apparel to avert freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease
Read more
A NICER approach to genome editing
Read more
Protocols
Breast cancer-on-chip for p…
By newseditor
Posted 16 May
Methods for making and obse…
By newseditor
Posted 15 May
Mime-seq 2.0: a method to s…
By newseditor
Posted 13 May
Improved detection of DNA r…
By newseditor
Posted 09 May
Single-cell adhesive profil…
By newseditor
Posted 07 May
Publications
Molecular mechanism of treh…
By newseditor
Posted 19 May
Hue selectivity from recurr…
By newseditor
Posted 19 May
Vaccine induction of hetero…
By newseditor
Posted 19 May
Brain border-associated mac…
By newseditor
Posted 19 May
Inhibition of fatty acid up…
By newseditor
Posted 19 May
Presentations
Hydrogels in Drug Delivery
By newseditor
Posted 12 Apr
Lipids
By newseditor
Posted 31 Dec
Cell biology of carbohydrat…
By newseditor
Posted 29 Nov
RNA interference (RNAi)
By newseditor
Posted 23 Oct
RNA structure and functions
By newseditor
Posted 19 Oct
Posters
A chemical biology/modular…
By newseditor
Posted 22 Aug
Single-molecule covalent ma…
By newseditor
Posted 04 Jul
ASCO-2020-HEALTH SERVICES R…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-HEAD AND NECK CANCER
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-GENITOURINARY CAN…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar