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Seventy-nine patients with Down's syndrome and their patterns of early infantile reflexes are the subject of this interesting monograph. This abridged version of Dr. Cowie's PhD thesis is the first of a series from the Institute for Research Into Mental Retardation, and this study correlates the neurological and psychometric scores in each patient. There are a number of excellent features. A population-based sample from a defined geographical area was used, the neurological examinations were standardized and performed by a single investigator, and milestones were judged by EDC rather than date of birth. It contains some surprises—the positive family histories were only in patients with the trisomy form of Down's syndrome, and one half (two out of four) were on the paternal side of the family. Also, the ages of the translocation mothers were not in the 21-year-old group, but were 28, 37, and 38 years of age.
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