User talk:Thomash1/sandbox

'''Thomas Hoang - Wikipedia Module Assignment 2: Gut flora '''

In recent years, it has become widely accepted that microbes not only live as peaceful symbionts in our gut, but that their dynamic interplay with the host has major implications in human health. Although the Gut flora Wikipedia article provides information on the composition, metabolism and ecology of gut flora, it glosses over how these processes influence microbiota-related disease. In doing so, the article fails to capture the exploding field of host-gut microbiota interactions.

A search for “gut flora” on pubmed.gov revealed over 1150 independent peer-reviewed articles in 2017 alone, including those from high impact journals discussing how gut microbiota can influence obesity, asthma, and Parkinson's disease. These articles spanned areas from microbial physiology, to metabolomics and innate immunity. In fact, gut flora has become such a major research area in the last decade that a 2006 article, cited over 1300 times, dubbed it the “forgotten organ.” This immense popularity indicates the topic's notability and significant coverage, emphasizing the need for a thorough Wikipedia article that adequately reflects the current body of research.

Unfortunately, the “role in disease” section does not accomplish this task. The section provides only brief descriptions of the link between gut flora and certain diseases, disregarding fundamental microbial physiology. To improve the article, I will use the findings of recent studies showing how bacterial physiology and metabolic processes illustrate the underlying mechanism for diseases such as obesity and asthma. For instance, the article mentions how bacteria produce short chain fatty acids, but overlooks how these metabolites may contribute to obesity. Another example would be that the article describes how gut flora varies in composition, but does not indicate how different taxonomic proportions and post-natal colonization can influence asthma. Furthermore, I intend to include how gut microbes are newly-linked to other unmentioned diseases such as Parkinson’s, and offer hypothesized mechanisms.

Elaborating the “role in disease” section would strengthen the article by allowing it to more accurately represent the dynamic gut flora field. For a subject of such high notability, maintaining a contemporary and well-written Wikipedia page allows the public to appreciate new findings in this exciting research sphere.

Peer Review – "Gut Flora"
MICB 301 – Peer Review

Peer reviewed by: dbb5012

Structure

All discussions revolve around the main idea and is presented in a concise, structured and organized manner. That said, discussion surrounding disease prevalence should be placed at the very end due to its lesser importance. Details that support the main idea should also be ordered by relevance.

Content

The article explores the role of gut microbiota in autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. While the discussion surrounding disease prevalence (P2) is relevant to the main idea, it focuses more on the hypotheses and less on how the absence or presence of a gut microbe may predispose a host to disease. Paragraph 4, in this case, is a better discussion because it resonates with the main idea and provides a specific, concrete example (i.e. byruvate, diabetes). Supportive arguments like sentences 2 and 4 of paragraph 2 could be separated from the discussion surrounding disease prevalence and expanded in greater detail in another paragraph. The role of microbes in type 1 diabetes and allergies should also be explained.

Sources

The author cites from reliable sources such as journals and is successful at summarizing relevant findings of these papers, although he misses out on some minor details. For instance, the author failed to report that reductions in genera Veillonella and Rothia also led to increased risk of asthma ([4]). It is important to include these two genera in addition to any other relevant information as the existing article is merely “grass root” and requires further contributions.

Writing

The author of the edited text does a good job at expanding on the original author’s claims in a concise manner albeit with a couple errors. For example, the 4th sentence of paragraph can be rewritten as “… involved in select immune signalling pathways that prevent the triggering of asthma” because not all immune signalling pathways prevent asthma. The author should also correct trivial writing mistakes like the run-on in the first sentence.

Dbb5012 (talk) 03:06, 7 November 2017 (UTC)