Childhood-Onset Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP): A Case Series and Review of Literature.

Background: Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) encompasses several rare genetic disorders characterized by progressive lower extremity spasticity and weakness caused by corticospinal tract degeneration. Published literature on genetically confirmed pediatric HSP cases is limited.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of childhood-onset HSP cases followed in the neuromuscular clinics at Children's and Emory Healthcare in Atlanta.

The Effects of Radiation and Sex Differences on Adaptive Functioning in Adult Survivors of Pediatric Posterior Fossa Brain Tumors.

Objective: Radiation therapy (RT) improves rates of survival of patients with childhood brain tumors but increases deficits in cognition and independent living skills. Previous literature has studied difficulties in basic cognitive processes, but few explore impairment in higher-order skills such as adaptive functioning. Some studies identify females as at risk for cognitive deficits due to RT, but few investigate sex differences in adaptive functioning.

Organizational Strategies Partially Account for Race-related Differences in List Recall Performance.

Objective: Organizational strategies have been shown to improve one's ability to recall items from a list. Specifically, use of semantic clustering, the tendency to group items by category when recalling them, predicts better free recall of word lists after short and long delays. The present study utilized a healthy adult sample to examine use of efficient memory strategies as a predictor of differences in neurocognitive findings between African American and white participants.