Informative, Compare and Contrast, and Persuasive Essay Composing of Fifth and Seventh Graders: Not All Essay Writing Is the Same.

Typically developing writers in fifth (n = 110, M = 10 years 8 months) or seventh (n = 97, M = 12 years 7 months) grade wrote informative, compare and contrast, and persuasive essays for which the content was held constant-two mountains with a history of volcanic eruption. Relevant background knowledge was provided by reading text and showing colorful illustrations to the students before writing each genre. Results showed considerable variability between genre pairs within and across individual writers in content quality, organization quality, and length. Results, which support multiple expository genres, are consistent with prior research showing multiple genres (narrative vs. expository or even within narrative). Results are discussed in reference to the importance of assessing multiple genres in inferring composing expertise as emphasized by Olinghouse and colleagues.

Thinking aloud during idea generating and planning before written translation: Developmental changes from ages 10 to 12 in expressing and defending opinions.

This interdisciplinary research, drawing on cognitive psychology and linguistics, extended to middle childhood past research during early childhood or adulthood on thinking aloud prior to written composing. In year 5 of a longitudinal study of typical writing, when cohort 1 was in grade 5 (n = 110 ten year-olds) and cohort 2 in grade 7 (n = 97 twelve year-olds), a cross-sectional study was conducted. Children were first asked to think aloud while they generated ideas and second while they planned their essays to express and defend their opinions on a controversial topic in the region of the United States where they lived. Third, they wrote their essays. Their think-aloud protocols were audio-recorded and later transcribed into writing for analysis. The authors developed and applied rating scales for quality of idea generating and planning in the written transcriptions and quality of opinion expression, opinion defense, organization, and content in the essays children wrote after thinking aloud; total number of words in essays was also counted. Seventh graders scored significantly higher than fifth graders on quality of idea generation but not planning, and higher on all variables rated for quality in the written essays including length. Quality of expressing opinions and defending opinions were uncorrelated in grade 5, but moderately correlated in grade 7. Whether idea generating or planning quality explained unique variance in essays varied with coded written essay variables and grade. Educational applications of results for assessment, assessment-instruction links, instruction in social studies, and theory of mind in persuasive essay writing are discussed.

Trends in mortality from appendicitis and from gallstone disease in English populations, 1979-2006: study of multiple-cause coding of deaths.

OBJECTIVE: To report on trends in mortality from appendicitis and from gallstone disease. DESIGN AND SETTING: Analysis of data from death certificates including all certified causes of death, termed 'mentions', not just the underlying cause, using data from Oxford ('mentions' available from 1979 to 2006) and all England ('mentions' available from 1995 to 2006). OUTCOME MEASURES: Mortality rates across all years studied, and in periods defined by changes to national rules in selecting the underlying cause of death. RESULTS: In the Oxford region, mortality rates for appendicitis based on underlying cause fluctuated between periods defined by coding rule changes. Those based on mentions were more stable: they were 3.3 per million population in 1979-83 and 3.5 in 2001-6. Nationally, mentions-based rates fell from 3.4 per million in 1995-2000 to 3.1 in 2001-2006, a small but statistically significant decline. For gallstone disease in Oxford, rates fell in the early years but then levelled off. Mortality rates for gallstones in England actually rose slightly between 1995-2000 (15.0 deaths per million) and 2001-6 (15.6 per million). The majority of deaths from appendicitis and gallstone disease were in the elderly. CONCLUSIONS: Appendicitis and gallstones are considered to be avoidable causes of death. Mortality rates for each cause have not shown any substantial falls in the recent periods covered by this study. It is possible that deaths were not, in fact, avoidable, but audits into the circumstances of deaths from these diseases may be warranted. Mortality data based on underlying cause alone substantially underestimate deaths from these two conditions.

Neuroanatomical abnormalities in adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

OBJECTIVE: Several neuroanatomic abnormalities have been reported in patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, findings are not always consistent, perhaps because of heterogeneous subject samples. Studying youths with documented familial ADHD provides an opportunity to examine a more homogeneous population. METHOD: Twenty-four youths with a confirmed history of familial ADHD and 10 control youths underwent high-resolution structural magnetic resonance imaging examinations. Archived magnetic resonance imaging scan data from 12 control youths were included in the analysis to increase statistical power. Individually drawn region-of-interest methods were used to examine the frontal lobe gyri and caudate. RESULTS: Cerebral total tissue was similar between groups. The volumes of the right caudate and right inferior frontal lobe were larger in the ADHD youths compared with the control youths. Data from a subgroup of the ADHD youths suggest that increasing left caudate volume is associated with decreasing functional activation of this region. CONCLUSIONS: Because previous studies have focused primarily on younger subjects or used an extended age range, the present results may reflect neurodevelopmental changes specific to late adolescence in familial ADHD.