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C HILDREN LIVING IN POVERT Y with parents who do not provide a nurturing home life are at increased risk of unhealthy brain development that can lead to "depression, learning diffi culties, and limitations in the ability to cope with stress," according to a study in the November 2013 issue of JAMA Pediatrics. Initially studying preschool depression, principal investigator Jody L. Luby, MD, a Washington University psychiatrist at St. Louis Children's Hospital, refocused her study to include poverty as a variable after observing that income level was a significant factor in many children's brain development. Researchers used MRI to determine that poor children with less supportive parents had lower volumes of gray and white matter in the brain, as well as a smaller amygdala and hippocampus. However, the amount of parental support had a more signifi cant effect than parental income on brain development. Children in poverty who had nurturing parents were not as likely to have the same anatomical changes in the brain as poor children with unsupportive parents. ■ — By Caitlin Foster AN EXPERIMENTAL DRUG DEVELOPED to treat stroke patients may also help patients with Lou Gehrig's disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Neuroscientists at Keck School of Medicine of USC, led by Berislav V. Zlokovic, MD, PhD, investigator and Director of the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute at the University of Southern California, published their fi ndings in the March 3 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Previous research about ALS found that early motor neuron dysfunction is related to the disease's breaking down of the blood- spinal cord barrier. An activated protein C analog developed by Dr. Zlokovic's biotechnology company ZZ Biotech seemed to preserve the structure of the blood-spinal cord barrier in mice, delaying the impairment and degeneration of motor neurons. ■ — By Caitlin Foster B E ING BILING UAL , REGARDLE SS of sex, occupation or education level, may delay the onset of multiple types of dementia, according to a study published in November 2013 in the American Academy of Neurolog y's journal, Neurolog y. Researchers found that bilingual patients developed dementia four and a half years later than patients who spoke only one language. Suvarna Alladi, DM, and colleagues surveyed records of 648 patients with dementia; 391 of the patients were bilingual. The study also shows the delay is consistent across different subtypes of dementia. There was a signifi cant difference in the onset age of symptoms for patients with Alzheimer disease, frontotemporal dementia and vascular dementia. Even illiterate bilingual patients displayed symp- toms of dementia later than monolingual patients. These fi ndings led researchers to conclude that education alone cannot explain the advantage that knowing a second language offers in delaying the development of dementia. ■ — By Caitlin Foster Bilingualism an Advantage in Delaying Dementia Stroke Drug May Slow ALS-related Degeneration Parental Nurturing, Income Linked to Pediatric Brain Development + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THAT'SNEWS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THAT'SNEWS