Jon Campbell, 7:16 p.m. EDT July 30, 2014 A file photo of Gov. Andrew Cuomo meeting with the Democrat and Chronicle Editorial Board on April 10.(Photo: TINA MACINTYRE-YEE, staff photographer) ALBANY Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday directed the state Department of Health to speed up the process for getting medical marijuana to children with epilepsy. In a letter to Acting Health Commissioner Howard Zucker, Cuomo cited the recent deaths of two Buffalo-area girls who suffered from epilepsy. He asked Zucker to explore ways to get the drug to epileptic children sooner than the end of 2015, when the state is required to have its full medical-marijuana program up and running. "Striking the right balance to ensure public safety and public health are protected is crucial," Cuomo wrote to Zucker. "That said, I ask that you review the eighteen month implementation timeline to determine if there is any way to accelerate the process for this specific dire population." Cuomo's directive comes two days after his office and the state's health commissioner met with a dozen advocates for medical marijuana, who pushed the state to implement the program more quickly. Under a new state law passed in June, the Department of Health … Continue reading →

By Randy Dotinga HealthDay Reporter TUESDAY, July 29, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- When most children take on a task, various brain connections fire up. But scans showed less of this neuro-boosting activity in kids with autism, according to a small new study. Moreover, children with more severe symptoms of autism displayed even less of this "brain flexibility," the researchers found. "This reduced flexibility often causes difficulty when children with autism are faced with new situations," said study lead author Lucina Uddin, a neuroscientist and assistant professor of psychology at the University of Miami in Florida. "Knowing how the brain responds differently in these scenarios can help us to make transitions easier for these kids." The finding -- published July 29 in Cerebral Cortex -- won't immediately lead to improvements in prevention, diagnosis or treatment of autism, which is estimated to affect one in 68 children in the United States. Still, it may provide more insight into the mysterious workings of the brain in autism. People with autism have trouble interacting with others because they can't interpret many social signals that humans send to one another. They also engage in repetitive behaviors, such as obsessively focusing on one topic, or repeating … Continue reading →