Latest news with #UniversityofSurrey
BBC News
5 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Surrey, Kent and London university research to help psychosis carers
Researchers at universities in Surrey, Kent and London are to collaborate on a major study to help the carers of people with University of Surrey in Guildford, University of Kent in Canterbury and City St George's at the University of London in Tooting will work together to create a unique set of project will begin in September and has been awarded funding of £520,000 by the National Institute for Health and Care NHS defines psychosis as when a person loses touch with reality and begins suffering hallucinations and delusions. What is psychosis?Mum's "heart breaking" experience of postpartum psychosis"I worked on an album from a psychiatric ward"The research teams will also work with local authorities and other Cassie Hazell, a lecturer at the University of Surrey, said: "This project offers an opportunity to create the support that carers of people with psychosis want and need."We are excited to work with local authorities, charities and carers to ensure this work is implemented and makes a real difference."Dr Jacqueline Sin, professor of mental health nursing at City St George's, said: "It really gives us the opportunity to engage with a wide range of carers and involve them in co-producing truly meaningful and useful support resources for themselves."
Fast Company
25-05-2025
- Science
- Fast Company
Researchers take a step toward carbon-capturing batteries
What if there were a battery that could release energy while trapping carbon dioxide? This isn't science fiction; it's the promise of lithium-carbon dioxide (Li-CO₂) batteries, which are currently a hot research topic. Li-CO₂ batteries could be a two-in-one solution to the current problems of storing renewable energy and taking carbon emissions out of the air. They absorb carbon dioxide and convert it into a white powder called lithium carbonate while discharging energy. These batteries could have profound implications for cutting emissions from vehicles and industry—and might even enable long-duration missions on Mars, where the atmosphere is 95% CO₂. To make these batteries commercially viable, researchers have mainly been wrestling with problems related to recharging them. Now, our team at the University of Surrey has come up with a promising way forward. So how close are these 'CO₂-breathing' batteries to becoming a practical reality? Like many great scientific breakthroughs, Li-CO₂ batteries were a happy accident. Slightly over a decade ago, a U.S.-French team of researchers were trying to address problems with lithium air batteries, another frontier energy-storage technology. Whereas today's lithium-ion batteries generate power by moving and storing lithium ions within electrodes, lithium air batteries work by creating a chemical reaction between lithium and oxygen. The problem has been the 'air' part, since even the tiny (0.04%) volume of CO₂ that's found in air is enough to disrupt this careful chemistry, producing unwanted lithium carbonate (Li₂CO₃). As many battery scientists will tell you, the presence of Li₂CO₃ can also be a real pain in regular lithium-ion batteries, causing unhelpful side reactions and electrical resistance. Nonetheless the scientists noticed something interesting about this CO₂ contamination: It improved the battery's amount of charge. From this point on, work began on intentionally adding CO₂ gas to batteries to take advantage of this, and the lithium-CO₂ battery was born. How it works Their great potential relates to the chemical reaction at the positive side of the battery, where small holes are cut in the casing to allow CO₂ gas in. There it dissolves in the liquid electrolyte (which allows the charge to move between the two electrodes) and reacts with lithium that has already been dissolved there. During this reaction, it's believed that four electrons are exchanged between lithium ions and carbon dioxide. This electron transfer determines the theoretical charge that can be stored in the battery. In a normal lithium-ion battery, the positive electrode exchanges just one electron per reaction. (In lithium air batteries, it's two to four electrons.) The greater exchange of electrons in the lithium-carbon dioxide battery, combined with the high voltage of the reaction, explains their potential to greatly outperform today's lithium-ion batteries. However, the technology has a few issues. The batteries don't last very long. Commercial lithium-ion packs routinely survive 1,000 to 10,000 charging cycles; most LiCO₂ prototypes fade after fewer than 100. They're also difficult to recharge. This requires breaking down the lithium carbonate to release lithium and CO₂, which can be energy intensive. This energy requirement is a little like a hill that must be cycled up before the reaction can coast, and is known as overpotential. You can reduce this requirement by printing the right catalyst material on the porous positive electrode. Yet these catalysts are typically expensive and rare noble metals, such as ruthenium and platinum, making for a significant barrier to commercial viability. Our team has found an alternative catalyst, caesium phosphomolybdate, which is far cheaper and easy to manufacture at room temperature. This material made the batteries stable for 107 cycles, while also storing 2.5 times as much charge as a lithium ion. And we significantly reduced the energy cost involved in breaking down lithium carbonate, for an overpotential of 0.67 volts, which is only about double what would be necessary in a commercial product. Our research team is now working to further reduce the cost of this technology by developing a catalyst that replaces caesium, since it's the phosphomolybdate that is key. This could make the system more economically viable and scalable for widespread deployment. We also plan to study how the battery charges and discharges in real time. This will provide a clearer understanding of the internal mechanisms at work, helping to optimize performance and durability. A major focus of upcoming tests will be to evaluate how the battery performs under different CO₂ pressures. So far, the system has only been tested under idealized conditions (1 bar). If it can work at 0.1 bar of pressure, it will be feasible for car exhausts and gas boiler flues, meaning you could capture CO₂ while you drive or heat your home. Demonstrating that this works will be an important confirmation of commercial viability, albeit we would expect the battery's charge capacity to reduce at this pressure. By our rough calculations, 1kg of catalyst could absorb around 18.5kg of CO₂. Since a car driving 100 miles emits around 18kg to 20kg of CO₂, that means such a battery could potentially offset a day's drive. If the batteries work at 0.006 bar, the pressure on the Martian atmosphere, they could power anything from an exploration rover to a colony. At 0.0004 bar, Earth's ambient air pressure, they could capture CO₂ from our atmosphere and store power anywhere. In all cases, the key question will be how it affects the battery's charge capacity. Meanwhile, to improve the battery's number of recharge cycles, we need to address the fact that the electrolyte dries out. We're currently investigating solutions, which probably involve developing casings that only CO₂ can move into. As for reducing the energy required for the catalyst to work, it's likely to require optimizing the battery's geometry to maximize the reaction rate—and to introduce a flow of CO₂, comparable to how fuel cells work (typically by feeding in hydrogen and oxygen).
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Why eating fewer carbs burns just as much fat as fasting
Intermittent fasting is now one of the most-followed dietary patterns in the developed world. According to a 2022 survey, about 10 per cent of American adults practise intermittent fasting, and while the same stats for Britain don't exist, we all know someone who now skips breakfast to maintain their eight hour 'eating window' each day. It's a fact that pleases nutritionists, doctors and diabetes experts alike. Keeping our eating to a tight timeframe 'can help your body shift from burning food as fuel to burning fat, helping with weight management or weight loss, regulating your blood sugar levels and giving you more energy throughout the day,' says nutritionist Rhian Stephenson, founder of the supplement brand Artah. But there is an obvious downside to time-restricted eating. The hours spent waiting for the eating window to open are often spent feeling ravenous, miserable and totally drained, and the early dinners that are necessary on this diet – as eating typically stops at 8pm sharp – can become anti-social. What if there was a way to get all of the health benefits of intermittent fasting, and at the same time enjoy both a filling breakfast and a late evening meal? New research suggests that this could be possible after all – if you're willing to cut carbohydrates out of some of your meals. A study from the University of Surrey, published in April, suggests that 'by restricting carbohydrate intake, without restricting calorie consumption, people can potentially reap all the same benefits that are associated with short-term fasting,' says Dr Adam Collins, an associate professor of nutrition who led the research. A recent study led by Dr Collins found that by reducing the amount of pasta, potatoes of bread you eat and following a low-carb diet, it can bring all the benefits that we've come to associate with fasting. Most importantly, a switch to burning fat rather than food for fuel, which can lower blood sugar and inflammation and potentially make us less prone to heart disease and diabetes in the long run 'Cutting down on carbs for a few days each week could therefore be a more sustainable but equally effective way for people to manage and improve their metabolic health,' he adds. 'That could take the form of having a 'carb window' instead of a food window, or something similar to the 5:2 diet, which is where people eat normally five days a week, and on the remaining two they eat one meal or five to six hundred calories.' Dr Collins' study followed the same group of 32 people, all of whom were overweight according to their BMI, across three different days (with five 'washout' days in between). On day one, the participants ate enough calories to meet their daily needs, ranging from 1,800 to 3,000 based on their weight and gender. On day two, they ate a low-carb, low-calorie diet: women in the study were restricted to around 550 calories, while men ate around 650 calories, and both groups ate 50g of carbohydrates (roughly the amount of carbs in a small portion of cooked pasta). On the third day, the group could eat as many calories as they needed, but had to keep their carbohydrate consumption to 50g a day. 'Both low-carb days led to improvements in the participants' metabolic health markers, including a shift into a fat-burning state, and how well they could process a high-fat meal after we observed them,' Dr Collins says. 'Essentially, all the benefits you usually get from fasting were still observed when people just ate fewer carbs.' The Surrey University team were 'tease out the effects of carb restriction from those of calorie restriction,' explains Dr Collins. Crucially, the study didn't look at weight loss – 'you can't measure that after just one day,' he points out. But in the real world, 'when people eat fewer carbohydrates, they take on fewer calories,' leading to a loss in weight, primarily in the form of fat. This is important to understanding metabolic health as a whole, not only for those who want to lose weight. 'Restricting your carb intake for a few days each week means that you avoid over-fuelling your body and will only ever be burning food as fuel. Being able to switch into fat-burning mode is crucial to avoiding health complications as you age, like diabetes, heart disease and weight gain,' Dr Collins says. Though you'll only get visibly slimmer if you eat fewer calories than you burn, fasting and carb-restricted eating in any amount 'could both potentially burn some of the fat that develops inside of your organs when you consistently eat more carbohydrates than you burn,' a huge health boost as this kind of fat has been linked to increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and Type 2 diabetes. As Naveed Sattar, a professor of metabolic medicine from the University of Glasgow points out, 'this study is small, and you'd need a big, long-term study to see exactly what the effects of this type of eating would be'. But 'it's very exciting, and potentially could do a lot to inform the dietary advice we give to people at risk of diabetes and heart disease in future'. This study only involved people who are over a healthy weight range for their height, 'but we'd expect to see similar impacts in people who are a healthy weight too,' says Dr Collins, 'though the less metabolically healthy someone is, the more exaggerated the effect will be'. This is good news if you're attempting to turn your health around quickly. For all the benefits that come with intermittent fasting there are also drawbacks, and more serious ones than raging hunger. 'When people practise intermittent fasting consistently for weeks or months, they often put themselves at risk of nutrient deficiencies,' says Stephenson. 'The fewer calories you eat every day, the harder it is for you to get all of the nutrients you need – and keeping a small eating window doesn't mean that you will eat healthily.' There are also groups of people who don't get on well with fasting for reasons other than hunger. 'I don't recommend fasting to perimenopausal or menopausal women, because fasting can disrupt your hormones and put more strain on your body at a time when it is already under a lot of stress,' she says. A carb-cycling diet could give these women 'some of the same benefits of fasting without the drawbacks,' Stephenson adds. And while fasting can be good for all of us, not everyone wants – or needs – to lose weight. 'Weight loss is a product of eating fewer calories than you expend, so if you eat enough or more than enough calories while limiting your carb consumption, you won't lose weight,' Stephenson explains. This could make a few low-carb days 'a particularly good option for people who have lost weight and are looking for a way to maintain it,' says Dr Collins. 'That's very difficult to do, and currently we don't have much to offer people in that position.' That said, restricting carbohydrates could come with its own risks. 'There's some evidence to suggest that low-carbohydrate diets can be bad for your heart, where you replace the carbs primarily with fat,' says Prof Sattar. 'There could be other dangers that we wouldn't be able to identify outside of a large-scale randomised clinical trial.' For this reason, Stephenson suggests cutting your daily carbohydrate intake to no less than 100g, unless you're working with a nutritionist or doctor. 'It's also worth considering counting 'net carbs' rather than total carbs, by subtracting the grams of fibre in your food from the total carb count on the packet,' she adds. This is because your body doesn't use all of the carbohydrates you consume. Net carbs represent the amount of carb that can impact your blood sugar. Eating a low-carb diet for one or two days each week can be a lot easier than you might think. Here are two plans put together by Rhian Stephenson, so that you can eat well while you give it a go. 50g of carbohydrates, 1,800 calories 'This is similar to what participants ate in terms of carbohydrates in the study, and is concentrated within one meal to mimic a 'window' style of eating,' says Stephenson. 'It might also lead to weight loss if you follow this plan regularly, depending on your current weight and how much you exercise.' 2g net carbs 3 eggs 100g of spinach cooked with olive oil Half an avocado 2g net carbs Large mixed salad (leafy greens) Lean protein of choice (chicken, salmon or tofu) 2tbsp walnuts 2tbsp seeds Olive oil and vinegar dressing 48g net carbs 150g chicken breast cooked with olive oil, lemon, salt, pepper and herbs 200g lentils cooked with half an onion and olive oil 150g cherry tomatoes 1 kiwi Under 100g of carbohydrates, 1800 calories 'This is a more realistic version of a low-carb day that would better support your health if followed regularly, as it involves more carbohydrate intake that is spread throughout the day,' says Stephenson. 'Depending on your weight and how much you move, eating with this plan regularly might also lead to weight loss, but you could reduce some portion sizes or skip the snack to create a calorie deficit if you want to lose weight.' 34g net carbs 45g of jumbo oats 1 tbsp peanut butter 200ml unsweetened soy milk 1 tbsp walnuts 100g raspberries Sprinkle of cinnamon 1 boiled egg 14g net carbs Large green salad with mixed veg, cucumber, tomatoes and red pepper 1 can tuna in olive oil 50g chickpeas Oil and vinegar to dress 12g net carbs Half a head of cauliflower (to make cauliflower rice) One head of pak choi 150g chicken 100g mushrooms 35g sugar snap peas Sauce with tamari, sesame oil, vinegar, garlic and ginger 10g net carb 100g Greek yogurt 80g low-sugar fruit (eg Cantaloupe) 2 tbsp sunflower seeds Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
22-05-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
Why eating less carbs burns just as much fat as fasting
Intermittent fasting is now one of the most-followed dietary patterns in the developed world. According to a 2022 survey, about 10 per cent of American adults practise intermittent fasting, and while the same stats for Britain don't exist, we all know someone who now skips breakfast to maintain their eight hour 'eating window' each day. It's a fact that pleases nutritionists, doctors and diabetes experts alike. Keeping our eating to a tight timeframe 'can help your body shift from burning food as fuel to burning fat, helping with weight management or weight loss, regulating your blood sugar levels and giving you more energy throughout the day,' says nutritionist Rhian Stephenson, founder of the supplement brand Artah. But there is an obvious downside to time-restricted eating. The hours spent waiting for the eating window to open are often spent feeling ravenous, miserable and totally drained, and the early dinners that are necessary on this diet – as eating typically stops at 8pm sharp – can become anti-social. What if there was a way to get all of the health benefits of intermittent fasting, and at the same time enjoy both a filling breakfast and a late evening meal? New research suggests that this could be possible after all – if you're willing to cut carbohydrates out of some of your meals. A study from the University of Surrey, published in April, suggests that 'by restricting carbohydrate intake, without restricting calorie consumption, people can potentially reap all the same benefits that are associated with short-term fasting,' says Dr Adam Collins, an associate professor of nutrition who led the research. A recent study led by Dr Collins found that by reducing the amount of pasta, potatoes of bread you eat and following a low-carb diet, it can bring all the benefits that we've come to associate with fasting. Most importantly, a switch to burning fat rather than food for fuel, which can lower blood sugar and inflammation and potentially make us less prone to heart disease and diabetes in the long run 'Cutting down on carbs for a few days each week could therefore be a more sustainable but equally effective way for people to manage and improve their metabolic health,' he adds. 'That could take the form of having a 'carb window' instead of a food window, or something similar to the 5:2 diet, which is where people eat normally five days a week, and on the remaining two they eat one meal or five to six hundred calories.' How it works Dr Collins' study followed the same group of 32 people, all of whom were overweight according to their BMI, across three different days (with five 'washout' days in between). On day one, the participants ate enough calories to meet their daily needs, ranging from 1,800 to 3,000 based on their weight and gender. On day two, they ate a low-carb, low-calorie diet: women in the study were restricted to around 550 calories, while men ate around 650 calories, and both groups ate 50g of carbohydrates (roughly the amount of carbs in a small portion of cooked pasta). On the third day, the group could eat as many calories as they needed, but had to keep their carbohydrate consumption to 50g a day. 'Both low-carb days led to improvements in the participants' metabolic health markers, including a shift into a fat-burning state, and how well they could process a high-fat meal after we observed them,' Dr Collins says. 'Essentially, all the benefits you usually get from fasting were still observed when people just ate fewer carbs.' The Surrey University team were 'tease out the effects of carb restriction from those of calorie restriction,' explains Dr Collins. Crucially, the study didn't look at weight loss – 'you can't measure that after just one day,' he points out. But in the real world, 'when people eat fewer carbohydrates, they take on fewer calories,' leading to a loss in weight, primarily in the form of fat. This is important to understanding metabolic health as a whole, not only for those who want to lose weight. 'Restricting your carb intake for a few days each week means that you avoid over-fuelling your body and will only ever be burning food as fuel. Being able to switch into fat-burning mode is crucial to avoiding health complications as you age, like diabetes, heart disease and weight gain,' Dr Collins says. Though you'll only get visibly slimmer if you eat fewer calories than you burn, fasting and carb-restricted eating in any amount 'could both potentially burn some of the fat that develops inside of your organs when you consistently eat more carbohydrates than you burn,' a huge health boost as this kind of fat has been linked to increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and Type 2 diabetes. As Naveed Sattar, a professor of metabolic medicine from the University of Glasgow points out, 'this study is small, and you'd need a big, long-term study to see exactly what the effects of this type of eating would be'. But 'it's very exciting, and potentially could do a lot to inform the dietary advice we give to people at risk of diabetes and heart disease in future'. This study only involved people who are over a healthy weight range for their height, 'but we'd expect to see similar impacts in people who are a healthy weight too,' says Dr Collins, 'though the less metabolically healthy someone is, the more exaggerated the effect will be'. This is good news if you're attempting to turn your health around quickly. Intermittent fasting vs low-carb diets For all the benefits that come with intermittent fasting there are also drawbacks, and more serious ones than raging hunger. 'When people practise intermittent fasting consistently for weeks or months, they often put themselves at risk of nutrient deficiencies,' says Stephenson. 'The fewer calories you eat every day, the harder it is for you to get all of the nutrients you need – and keeping a small eating window doesn't mean that you will eat healthily.' There are also groups of people who don't get on well with fasting for reasons other than hunger. 'I don't recommend fasting to perimenopausal or menopausal women, because fasting can disrupt your hormones and put more strain on your body at a time when it is already under a lot of stress,' she says. A carb-cycling diet could give these women 'some of the same benefits of fasting without the drawbacks,' Stephenson adds. And while fasting can be good for all of us, not everyone wants – or needs – to lose weight. 'Weight loss is a product of eating fewer calories than you expend, so if you eat enough or more than enough calories while limiting your carb consumption, you won't lose weight,' Stephenson explains. This could make a few low-carb days 'a particularly good option for people who have lost weight and are looking for a way to maintain it,' says Dr Collins. 'That's very difficult to do, and currently we don't have much to offer people in that position.' That said, restricting carbohydrates could come with its own risks. 'There's some evidence to suggest that low-carbohydrate diets can be bad for your heart, where you replace the carbs primarily with fat,' says Prof Sattar. 'There could be other dangers that we wouldn't be able to identify outside of a large-scale randomised clinical trial.' For this reason, Stephenson suggests cutting your daily carbohydrate intake to no less than 100g, unless you're working with a nutritionist or doctor. 'It's also worth considering counting 'net carbs' rather than total carbs, by subtracting the grams of fibre in your food from the total carb count on the packet,' she adds. This is because your body doesn't use all of the carbohydrates you consume. Net carbs represent the amount of carb that can impact your blood sugar. One day on a low-carb, fat-burning diet Eating a low-carb diet for one or two days each week can be a lot easier than you might think. Here are two plans put together by Rhian Stephenson, so that you can eat well while you give it a go. Option 1 50g of carbohydrates, 1,800 calories 'This is similar to what participants ate in terms of carbohydrates in the study, and is concentrated within one meal to mimic a 'window' style of eating,' says Stephenson. 'It might also lead to weight loss if you follow this plan regularly, depending on your current weight and how much you exercise.' Breakfast: Spinach and egg scramble 2g net carbs Ingredients 150g chicken breast cooked with olive oil, lemon, salt, pepper and herbs 200g lentils cooked with half an onion and olive oil 150g cherry tomatoes 1 kiwi Option 2 Under 100g of carbohydrates, 1800 calories 'This is a more realistic version of a low-carb day that would better support your health if followed regularly, as it involves more carbohydrate intake that is spread throughout the day,' says Stephenson. 'Depending on your weight and how much you move, eating with this plan regularly might also lead to weight loss, but you could reduce some portion sizes or skip the snack to create a calorie deficit if you want to lose weight.' Breakfast: Overnight oats 34g net carbs Ingredients 45g of jumbo oats 1 tbsp peanut butter 200ml unsweetened soy milk 1 tbsp walnuts 100g raspberries Sprinkle of cinnamon 1 boiled egg Lunch: Tuna and chickpea salad 14g net carbs Ingredients Large green salad with mixed veg, cucumber, tomatoes and red pepper 1 can tuna in olive oil 50g chickpeas Oil and vinegar to dress Dinner: Chicken stir fry 12g net carbs Ingredients Half a head of cauliflower (to make cauliflower rice) One head of pak choi 150g chicken 100g mushrooms 35g sugar snap peas Sauce with tamari, sesame oil, vinegar, garlic and ginger Snack: Yogurt and fruit 10g net carb Ingredients 100g Greek yogurt 80g low-sugar fruit (eg Cantaloupe) 2 tbsp sunflower seeds
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The Key Factor That Determines When Your Child Will Take Their First Steps
Fact checked by Sarah ScottIn a new study from the University of Surrey, researchers looked at genetic information of more than 70,000 infants. They found genetics accounted for nearly 25% of the variation in the walking milestone. This information may help health care providers assess and evaluate reasons for a child's delay in walking.A baby's first wobbly steps are a source of pride for many parents. A child's environment has long been associated with when they will walk. Yet, a groundbreaking study from the University of Surrey discovered that genetics also play a significant role. What does this research mean for parents and their babies? Let's break it down. Study authors, Anna Gui, PhD, a researcher at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, and Angelica Ronald, PhD, professor of psychology and genetics at the University of Surrey, and their research team analyzed the genetic information of more than 70,000 infants. They identified 11 genetic markers that may influence a child's brain development from birth and the timing of independent walking. The study revealed that genetics account for nearly 25% of the variation in this milestone. The study also revealed some good news for late walkers. While some previous studies linked early walking to higher achievement later in life, this study found a correlation between the genes influencing later walking and those associated with higher educational attainment. The research also indicates that late walking may be genetically linked to a decreased chance of developing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Keep in mind, the research did not define what's considered late walking. 'What we think it might mean is that children who are genetically predisposed to be a bit more active and move around more are also going to walk a bit earlier,' explain both Dr. Gui and Dr. Ronald. 'It's important to clarify that the association is significant but modest. Therefore, we don't expect all early walkers to have ADHD, or all people with ADHD to have walked early. But there is a modest overlap in the genetic variation involved, which may help understand child development a bit further." A child's genes may influence when they walk, but so does their environment. Dr. Gui and Dr. Ronald recommend that children need a nutritious, energy-sustaining diet and ample space to practice their walking skills. Michael Glazier, MD, a pediatrician and chief medical officer for Bluebird Kids Health, agrees that a nourishing diet matters, as malnourishment can result in "decreased energy, decreased engagement with the environment, decreased muscle strength, and decreased stamina.' But that's not all parents should focus on. 'Babies who are constantly held or placed in swings or other constrained environments do not get the opportunity to engage in the physical exploration that is not just helpful but necessary for learning to walk,' explains Dr. Glazier. In contrast, he says, infants in safe, open spaces who can explore on their own may develop walking skills earlier. Encourage your child to play and explore to help them develop their motor skills. Dr. Glazier reassures parents that it's OK if their child is upset when a toy is out of reach—they need to learn to problem-solve and strengthen their muscles. Many parents eagerly anticipate their child's first steps, assuming they'll occur by the child's first birthday, but Dr. Glazier says there is a wide range of 'normal' milestones. Studies show the average onset of walking is between 8 and 18 months. Dr. Glazier says that gross motor skills tend to progress from the 'top-down' as babies first gain some control of their head, followed by the shoulders and trunk, knees, and legs. 'It is also important to understand there is a range of normal, and early attainment does not necessarily mean earlier or eventual better mastery,' he states. Still, if you're ever concerned about your child's motor skills' progress, Dr. Glazier strongly suggests contacting your health care provider for an assessment. Here are a few indicators your child may need an assessment, according to Dr. Glazier: Not pulling up to stand by 12 months Not cruising (using objects for support to move around) by 15 months Not walking independently by 18 months Dr. Glazier also notes that an infant who cannot walk independently but can stand on their own and walk by holding on to things is less concerning than one who has not been able to do these things yet. Typical developmental evaluation for motor delays will involve close observation, collecting patient history, and a thorough physical exam, explains Dr. Glazier. He recommends having videos to show the health care provider what your child can and cannot do. Although this new genetic study will not replace the need for individual examinations, Dr. Glazier believes it does promise additional information for health care providers to help them assess and evaluate the reasons for a child's delay in achieving the walking milestone. Dr. Gui and Dr. Ronald hope their research better supports children with learning disabilities and motor disorders, and helps parents to see that achieving milestones is not a race and that every child learns at their own pace. Read the original article on Parents
