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This paper is another installment in the ongoing project on early language learning in a Japanese FLES program, conducted by ELLRT (Early Language Learning Research Team): Richard Donato and G. Richard Tucker with graduate students from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. The Japanese instructor in this FLES program, Yoko Morimoto, has been a teacher-participant providing an insider's perspective. Since 2002, the research team has extended its focus to literacy learning. Chinen, K., Igarashi, K., Donato, R., & Tucker, G. R. (2003), for example, studied literacy recognition, attitudes toward the program and self-assessment of oral proficiency. Takahashi, E., Donato, R., & Tucker, G. R. (unpublished manuscript) examined kanji knowledge development in terms of recognition of meaning and sound extraction. In the present study, the focus moves to literacy production, particularly kanji writing. During the 2003-2004 academic year, we investigated the types of errors that are produced by early language learners in comparison to those produced by Japanese-speaking children. Our qualitative error analysis led us to recognize and try to understand the development of early language learners' personal systems for kanji writing.

During the summer of 2005, a longtime Japanese teacher at a K-8 school in southwestern Pennsylvania unexpectedly resigned. The school, unable to recruit a new teacher for the 2005-2006 school year, chose to suspend the teaching of Japanese and to establish a committee to examine the foreign language program within the overall school curriculum. In this article, the authors present a study that examines the foreign language program at this school. Participants were 20 students from grade 4-8 who had taken Japanese classes from kindergarten through the 2004-2005 academic year. The findings showed that the program had been a somewhat positive language learning experience for these students. They easily recalled specific language learning activities from their previous study, shared their attitudes about these experiences, and claimed they missed learning Japanese. What they best retained from their classroom experience turned out to reflect the routine features of this curriculum--the use of song, target language experience through cultural activities, and unique explanations of Kanji co-created with their teacher and classmates. The findings also suggest that a sustained language learning experience is critical for students' foreign language development. (Contains 4 tables.)

Abstract Background There is growing evidence that adiponectin, a physiologically active polypeptide secreted by adipocytes, controls not only adipose tissue but also bone metabolism. However, a role for adiponectin in bone development remains controversial. Methods We therefore investigated the endocrine effects of adiponectin on bone metabolism using 12-week-old male transgenic (Ad-Tg) mice with significant hyperadiponectinemia overexpressing human full-length adiponectin in the liver. Results In Ad-Tg mice, the serum level of osteocalcin was significantly increased, but the levels of RANKL, osteoprotegerin, and TRAP5b were not. Bone mass was significantly greater in Ad-Tg mice with increased bone formation. In contrast, bone resorption parameters including the number of osteoclasts and eroded surface area did not differ between Ad-Tg and their littermates. Conclusions These findings demonstrate that hyperadiponectinemia enhances bone formation in mice.

Objective--To evaluate the effects of fascial abrasion, fasciotomy, and fascial excision on cutaneous wound healing in cats. Animals--Eight 1- to 3-year-old domestic shorthair cats. Procedures--8 evenly spaced 4-cm² skin wounds were created on each cat's dorsum, and the underlying subcutaneous tissue was removed to expose the epaxial muscle fascia. Wounds were randomized to receive 1 of 4 treatments (2 wounds/treatment/cat): fascial abrasion, fasciotomy, fascial excision, or control treatment (muscle fascia not disturbed). Bandages were changed and digital photographs and acetate tracings of the wounds were obtained for planimetry daily for 1 week, every other day for 2 weeks, and then every third day for 3 weeks (ie, 40-day observation period). Digitized images were evaluated for granulation tissue formation, wound contraction (surface area measurements), and area of epithelialization. Results--The epithelialized area and open and total wound areas did not differ among treatments at any time point. Time to the first appearance of granulation tissue was significantly shorter for all treatment groups, compared with that of the control group. Time to achieve granulation tissue coverage of wound base was significantly shorter following fasciotomy (9.6 days) and fascial excision (9.0 days), compared with that of control treatment (18.5 days) or abrasion (16.7 days). Numbers of wounds that developed exuberant granulation tissue following fascial excision (9/16) and control treatment (3/16) differed significantly. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance--Fasciotomy and fascial excision facilitated early granulation tissue development in cutaneous wounds in cats. In clinical use, these fascial treatments may expedite secondary wound closure or skin grafting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]