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Project Homepage and Resources

• This is a place to practice clicking the "edit" button and practice adding references (via the citation button).

Task:

1. Find a peer-reviewed journal article on PubMed. Practice inserting your citation in the above space using the "cite" tool
   1. ^[1]
2. Choose one "B-level" medical article on Wikipedia from the following list: https://wp1.openzim.org/#/project/Medicine/articles?quality=B-Class&importance=High-Class
3. Practice editing live on Wikipedia by finding a typo in the text or improving the clarity/readability of a sentence by adjusting a few words in a sentence.

Proposed Changes

The sentence that I wish to change is currently published as “A peripheral blood smear showing an abundance of damaged cells known as smudge cells or smear cells can also indicate the presence of the disease (smudge cells are due to cancer cells lacking in vimentin, a cytoskeletal protein)”.

I would like to add further description regarding what cytoskeleton is referring to.

“A peripheral blood smear showing an abundance of damaged cells known as smudge cells or smear cells can also indicate the presence of the disease (smudge cells are due to cancer cells lacking in vimentin, a type structural component in a cell which maintains the cell’s internal shape and mechanical resilience ^[2], a type of cytoskeletal protein)”

Rationale for Proposed Changes

Someone who had little to no science background may not understand the difference between cancer cells and normal cells described if there is no explanation of what ‘cytoskeleton’ is referring to. It could be critical for the person to understand these details of CLL per se if they have or someone close to them has recently been diagnosed. Developing a greater understanding of the difference between healthy cells versus cancer cells can allow the person to take part in medical conversations regarding the pathology of the disease and how it is affecting their body. Although a small change, enhancing a patient’s understanding of their disease allows them to take part in treatment decisions better and overall leads to greater autonomy over their care.

Area of Controversy (if applicable)

Although intermediate filaments, which vimentin is, are the least understood cytoskeletal protein, my addition is supported by additional external resources and stems from well research knowledge on intermediate filaments. I have not identified any reason for which my edit would be controversial.

Patteson, A. E., Carroll, R. J., Iwamoto, D. V., & Janmey, P. A. (2020). The vimentin cytoskeleton: when polymer physics meets cell biology. Physical Biology, 18(1), 011001. https://doi.org/10.1088/1478-3975/abbcc2

Critique of Sources

I found my secondary source through a PubMed search. PubMed is a well-trusted search engine within the medical and general scientific community. None of the authors have affiliations that may pose a risk of bias. The secondary source was published in 2020, meaning the research is still viable today. The study was done with the intention of better understanding the biological role of vimentin, meaning the information included in my proposed change was taken from an objective source.

• This will also be covered on Nov 15th in class. Your group should use the below template to share an outline of your proposed improvements (including your new wording and citations). Article talk pages are not places to share your assignment answers. The Wikipedia community will be more interested in viewing your exact article improvement suggestions including where you plan to improve the article (which section), what wording you suggest, and the exact citation (Note: all citations must meet WP:MEDRS)
• You will not be able to paste citations directly from your sandbox to talk pages (unless you are interested in editing/learning Wiki-code in the "source editing" mode). We suggest re-adding your citations on the talk page manually (using the cite button and populating the citation by pasting in the DOI, website, or PMID). You will have to repeat this process yet again when you edit the actual article live.
• Talk Page Template: Wikipedia:CARL Medical Editing Initiative/Fall 2021/Talk Page Template