User:Nayjha Harris/sandbox

 Evaluating Articles and Sources 

1. I think that everything in the article is relevant to the article topic. There were some things that distracted me. The main part that distracted me was the Mediterranean diet. It did fit the topic, but it caught me off guard, and I felt the need to reread the topic.

2. I think that the article is very neutral. None of the claims seemed heavily biased to me.

3. The link for the word maturity actually worked, but I don't feel as though it supports the claims in the article. I really don't think that the article talked enough about maturity for it to be cited.

4. Each fact isn't isn't referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference. Many of the references are academic journals, reliable news websites, and reliable journals. The sources aren't neutral for the most part.

5. Some of the information is out of date. I can't think of anything that I feel is missing or could be added. In my opinion, the article already provides a variety of subtopics.

6. I couldn't find any conversations on the talk page. I only saw where people stated that they had made changes to improve the article.

7. This article is rated as a level 3 vital article in Science. This article is apart of some Wikiprojects. It is apart of Ageing and Culture, Biology, Health and Fitness, Medicine, and World's Oldest People.

 Article Proposal 

Gerontology I would like to contribute to the social theories of aging portion of this article. In that section, I would like to add to the age stratification theory. I feel like the section could go into more depth about the two arguments that the theory makes. Ageing In this article, I would like to contribute to the subtopic successful ageing. I think that there needs to be more about the three components of successful ageing. The article lists the components, but it doesn't tell us about them. I also feel like there could be a lot more added to this subtopic.

The subject I prefer the most would probably be the successful ageing portion of the ageing article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nayjha Harris (talk • contribs) 17:38, 31 January 2018 (UTC)

From Dr. Cohen: — Preceding unsigned comment added by Thegerontologist (talk • contribs) 20:56, 5 February 2018 (UTC) I can see how you could easily add something to age stratification but that is a complex theory. Successful aging would be new area for this article but successful aging already has a page: [ |Successful Aging ] Would you add to that page? That might be fine but look it over and see what you would want to add.

 My Contribution 

I am contributing to the Gerontolology article. The portion of the article that I'm contributing to is "Biological Theories of Aging." The article states that there are many biological theories, but it doesn't say what any of them are. I plan on going into more depth by naming some of the biological theories and explaining what they are, and just talking about biological theories in general and where they come from.

https://libez.lib.georgiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.libez.lib.georgiasouthern.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edselp&AN=S0011502915001467

https://libez.lib.georgiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.libez.lib.georgiasouthern.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=120836664

https://libez.lib.georgiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.libez.lib.georgiasouthern.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edselp&AN=S1568163716300848

 Outline 

The article that I am contributing to is Gerontology. This article now includes the history, aging demographics, biogerontology, social gerontology, and environmental gerontology. I am contributing to the biogerontology portion of this article. I am adding to the section "biological theories of aging." I am adding more theories and adding to the theories that are already there.

 Article Edits 

Biological theories of aging
There are numerous theories of aging, and no one theory has been accepted. There is a wide spectrum of the types of theories for the causes of aging with programmed theories on one extreme and error theories on the other. Regardless of the theory, a commonality is that as humans age, functions of the body decline.

Wear and tear
Wear and tear theories of aging suggest that as an individual ages, body parts such as cells and organs wear out from continued use. Wearing of the body can be attributable to internal or external causes that eventually lead to an accumulation of insults which surpasses the capacity for repair. Due to these internal and external insults, cells lose their ability to regenerate, which ultimately leads to mechanical and chemical exhaustion. Some insults include chemicals in the air, food, or smoke. Other insults may be things such as viruses, trauma, free radicals, cross-linking, and high body temperature.

Genetic
Genetic theories of aging propose that aging is programmed within each individual's genes. According to this theory, genes dictate cellular longevity. Programmed cell death, or apoptosis, is determined by a "biological clock" via genetic information in the nucleus of the cell. Genes responsible for apoptosis provide an explanation for cell death, but are less applicable to death of an entire organism. An increase in cellular apoptosis may correlate to aging, but is not a 'cause of death'. Environmental factors and genetic mutations can influence gene expression and accelerate aging. More recently epigenetics have been explored as a contributing factor. The epigenetic clock, which objectively measures the biological age of cells and tissues, may become useful for testing different biological aging theories.

General imbalance
General imbalance theories of aging suggest that body systems, such as the endocrine, nervous, and immune systems, gradually decline and ultimately fail to function. The rate of failure varies system by system.

Accumulation
Accumulation theories of aging suggest that aging is bodily decline that results from an accumulation of elements. Elements can be foreign and introduced to the body from the environment. Other elements can be the natural result of cell metabolism. An example of an accumulation theory is the Free Radical Theory of Aging. According to this theory, byproducts of regular cell metabolism called free radicals interact with cellular components such as the cell membrane and DNA and cause irreversible damage.

The free radical theory of aging
The idea that free radicals are toxic agents was first proposed by Rebeca Gerschman and colleagues. In 1956, Denham Harman proposed the free-radical theory of aging and even demonstrated that free radical reactions contribute to the degradation of biological systems. Oxidative damage of many types accumulate with age, such as oxidative stress that oxygen-free radicals, because the free radical theory of aging argues that aging results from the damage generated by reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS are small, highly reactive, oxygen-containing molecules that can damage a complex of cellular components such as fat, proteins, or from DNA, they are naturally generated in small amounts during the body's metabolic reactions. These conditions become more common as we age, including diseases related to aging, such as dementia, cancer and heart disease.

The DNA damage theory of aging
DNA damage has been one of the many causes in diseases related to aging. The stability of the genome is defined by the cells machinery of repair, damage tolerance, and checkpoint pathways that counteracts DNA damage. One hypothesis proposed by Gioacchino Failla in 1958 is that damage accumulation to the DNA causes aging. The hypothesis was developed soon by physicist Leó Szilárd. This theory has changed over the years as new research has discovered new types of DNA damage and mutations, and several theories of aging argue that DNA damage with or without mutations causes aging.

The cross-linking theory of aging

The cross-linking theory proposes that the binding of glucose to proteins is the cause of aging. This disables their biological functions. The hardening of the connective tissue, kidney diseases, and enlargement of the heart are connected to the cross-linking of proteins. Replication errors can be caused by the bounding of sugar to DNA, and this leads to deformed cells and increases the risk of cancer in the body.

Stochastic theories of aging (STA)

Stochastic theories of aging is the suggestion that aging is caused by small changes in the body over time and the body's failure to restore the system and mend the damages to the body. The cells and tissues are eventually injured due to the damage gathered over time. This causes the diminishes in an organ's function related to age. The notion of accumulated damage was first introduced by Weisman as the "wear and tear" theory.

Mitochondrial theory of aging

The mitochondrial theory of aging suggest that free radicals are the cause of the process of aging. These reactive molecules contain extreme chemicals, and they are normally found in cells. They destruct the elements of the cell, and this causes the disabled physiological purpose of cells and impacts the process of aging.

Immunological theory of aging

The immunological theory of aging suggests that the immune system weakens as you age. This makes the organism unable to fight infections and less able to destroy old and neoplastic cells. This leads to aging and will eventually lead to death. This theory of aging was developed by Ray Walford, an American gerontologist. According to Walford, incorrect immunological procedures are the cause of the process of aging.

Peer Review Feedback

My article did not receive a peer review, but when I was looking over my drafts I noticed some grammatical errors. Some of my phrases also could have been worded differently. I took what I had learned from reviewing my article and changed a lot in my article. I added more to the parts that I was contributing to, and I fixed any grammatical errors that I saw.