The spectrum of language regression in childhood is incompletely understood. To describe the features of this disorder more fully, we reviewed the records of 196 consecutive children (143 males and 53 females) with language regression or perceived plateau evaluated between 1988 and 1994 by a child neurologist. Mean age at regression was 21.2 months and the mean interval to referral was 34.8 months. A trigger for the regression was identified in 74 of the children (38%) and was associated with a more rapid regression. Mean age at followup was 64 months (SD 55). Seventy per cent of the children became nonverbal, and 75% were cognitively impaired. Language regression was associated with a more global autistic regression in 93% of children. There was a history of seizures in 15% of the children. Some recovery occurred in 61% but only one child recovered fully. Improvement was more likely in the 49% who were entirely developmentally normal before the regression. We conclude that language regression in childhood is a serious disorder with significant long-term morbidity.

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DILANTIN EFFECT ON AXON 297 of retrolental fibroplasia.In this connection, it is of interest that two water-miscible preparations of vito A (the alcohol and acetate) have proven, in our laboratory, to be less stable than solutions of the same two isomers in cottonseed oil. Both the oil and water-miscible preparations were secured from the same laboratory at the same time and stored together, unopened, at ooe. After 18 months, vitamin A bioassays demonstrated that the vito A potency of the oil solutions was unimpaired, whereas the water solutions had lost so much vito A activity that even when fed at a level of 3.0 units per day (estimated from original potency) , the depleted animals with few 4. Kinsey, V. E., and Zacharias, L., I.A.M.A., 1949, v139, 572. exceptions either died or lost weight during the 4-week assay period. These data suggest that vitamin A is protected from oxidation to a lesser degree in an aqueous medium than in a cottonseed oil medium, and for this reason may render acorrespondingly larger amount of vito E in the digestive tract unavailable for metabolic processes in the body.These observations are presented with the thought that studies to prevent the occurrence of retrolental fibroplasia in premature infants might be facilitated by further experimentation with vitamin E-deficient rats to develop a standardized technic for the production of a similar abnormality in young rats.The effectiveness of dilantin (sodium diphenyl hydantoinate) and mesantoin (sodium phenyl ethyl methyl hydantoinate) in raising cortical thresholds to electric convulsive shocks (1) and their successful applications in the therapy of convulsive disorders are yet unexplained in terms of mechanism. The present experiments employing the isolated giant axon of squid are an attempt to study the actions of these compounds under simplified conditions and to approach an understanding of their mode of action.Procedure. The giant axon of squid (Loligo pealii) was dissected in connection with its ganglion. The nerve was kept for 0 hour in a solution of artificial sea water to attain ionic equilibrium (2), then it was exposed to various solutions and the electrical signs were