Talk:Causes and origins of Tourette syndrome

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GA Review[edit]

I have reviewed the 29 October, 2006 nomination for Good Article and have the following feedback before I would recommend this for a good article:

  • The pathophysiology paragraph has a duplicated first sentence. One of them has a citation, the other doesn't.
  • The entire pathophysiology section needs to be rewritten in much simpler language to be more understandable. It reads like a highly technical medical journal.
    • Pathophysiology of the brain is a complex subject: I've wikilinked the terms, but I can't dumb it down; anyone reading about pathophysiology is likely to have an advanced level of involvement with the topic anyway. Sandy (Talk) 03:47, 20 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
  • When I read the section on genetics, I immediately wondered whether there were any studies about identical twins, especially when the article referred to incomplete penetrance. I see that the "non-genetic influences" section has references to twin studies. Perhaps the article could be improved by including some of the twin studies data from those references in the genetics section.
  • Please review the guidelines at WP:LEAD. The introductory section should provide an overview and summary of the article. It shouldn't introduce information that isn't mentioned in more detail elsewhere in the article.
  • Try to cut back on some of the jargon and fancy language that the average reader won't understand. Examples:
    • Causes and origins of Tourette syndrome have not been fully elucidated
      • This language is not above the level of an average encyclopedia reader. Sandy (Talk) 03:35, 20 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
      • I think it is. I have no idea what 'elucidated' means (I know I can look it up, but that's not the point!) I might be a major in computer science and not medicin, but it shouldn't require a university degree in medicin or cross indexing in a dictionary to read wikipedia. Either the subject is specific and need an internal wiki link, or some other less technical words should be used. 129.142.143.67 19:08, 30 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • Autoimmune processes may affect tic onset and exacerbation in some cases: the unproven and contentious hypothesis that Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections, P.A.N.D.A.S., plays a role in the onset of tic disorders and OCD is a current focus of research
      • This language is not above the level of an average encyclopedia reader: I can't see anything in it that would be changed, and it is language that is repeated to laypersons familiar with TS all the time. Sandy (Talk) 03:35, 20 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
      • That sentence is at level of almost comical propertions. I can actually guess what the words means, but it sounds like something out of a cartoon. Please use the the acronyms, a keep the explainations in linked articles. This whole article is just arrogant in its language. 129.142.143.67 19:11, 30 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • reinforce the idea that at least some forms of OCD are etiologically related to TS, and may, therefore, be a variant expression of the same etiologic factors that are important for the expression of tics
      • This is a direct quote, info well known to people familiar with TS, and can't be changed since it's a direct quote: it is paraphrased and explained in the sentence that precedes the quote. Sandy (Talk) 03:37, 20 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    • The high co-occurrence of ADHD observed in tertiary, referred populations may be an artifact of clinical ascertainment bias
    • Further study is needed to elucidate the genetic relationship between ADHD and Tourette's

I'll keep an eye on the article and put a hold on the nomination to give some time to work out the revisions. Good luck and feel free to ask for clarifications. Neil916 (Talk) 07:47, 18 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the input, Neil916, but there's no need to give it time. As I've explained elsewhere, I did not nominate the article for GA, someone put all the TS daughter articles up for review just as I was traveling and did not have time to finish them, I am the only author, and I don't have time for this polishing/finishing right now. My preference would be to remove them all from GA, and strike all GA templates from the page: I'm not a fan of the entire GA process anyway, and would not have submitted these articles:-) When I have time to polish and finish the article, I will ask for review from the medical project and other copyeditors I know, and not from GA. I'm sorry you had to go to the trouble; thanks again for the input. I will finish these articles when I have time. Sandy (Talk) 14:12, 18 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Flawed and inconsistent[edit]

There are several related problems with this article. Most of the references to the genetics refer to CLINICAL studies, and should NOT be used as a basis for discussing cause. The reported incidence of Tourette's is widely variable - indicating a problem with diagnostics and making it futile to discuss "the" pathological mechanism(s) involved. The genetic "basis" for it is becoming LESS clear. No doubt there is a genetic basis; the question is what fraction of the human population is at risk. And we just don't know. We DO know certain genetic signatures are more correlated with the syndrome than others, and that's about it. The number of cases are growing and simple genetic diseases do not do that (on time scales of decades or less). If some children "grow out" of it (what percentage??!) and some do not, if age of onset is highly variable and may be "triggered", then its very unlikely we are looking at the same mechanism. It seems to me that Tourette's is a constellation of symptoms which, so far, it has been useful to treat symptomatically, but which are unlikely to have a single pathological basis. It is safe to say that some families are at higher risk than others, but that is about it, imho. Also, please remove the obfuscatory word "overwhelming" and replace it with referenced statistics 60%?, 80%?, 99%?? what proportion of the cases are (supposedly) "genetic"? (and please use a biochemical/molecular/genetic research paper/review (from THIS century), NOT a clinical review to substantiate your numbers).72.172.11.112 (talk) 20:36, 23 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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