Wikipedia:Scientific peer review/Sudden oak death
I'd like to make sure the information I have included in both current and accurate. Also that referencing has been used appropriatly, and I think some sections could use some references. If there is anything else you think should be included, let me know as well. (a Mentally Efficient Loonies And Nice Insane Elephants creation 21:16, 11 February 2007 (UTC))
- This article seems to be fairly comprehensive, but right off the bat I would suggest that the article be reorganized based on the suggested sections at the Medicine Manual of Style with a few modifications. I find that this is the flow of information that enables me to best understand a disease, and that these section delineations would probably greatly improve the readability of this article. I would propose the content be organized into the following section types (they don't necessarily need to be named as below):
- Classification - What kind of disease (i.e oomycete) and which plants are affected by the disease (the "hosts").
- Signs and symptoms or Characteristics- What does this disease do to the plant (the "symptoms").
- Causes - It is really important in this article to separate the "cause" from the "disease" (i.e. poliovirus causes polio; Phytophthora ramorum causes Sudden Oak Death) this distinction needs to be made more clearly.
- Pathophysiology or Mechanism - How does the organism cause the disease? Does it destroy some integral tree part or does it inhibit some integral tree function? How does the agent get into the plant's cells? ect.. Much more information should be added about this.
- Prognosis (social impact may also be discussed) -What happens to the tree, what about other trees.
- Diagnosis, Treatment, Management, Prevention - essentially the "Control mechanisms" section.
- Epidemiology- "It was first discovered in California in 1995 when large numbers of Tan oaks (Lithocarpus densiflorus) died mysteriously,..." should lead this section off, the "Presence" section, "Transmission" section and the "two mating types" section should also go here.
- History- the "Possible origins" section could go here.
- See also
- Notes and references- All external links should be removed from the body of the article, make them into "notes" like: <ref>See here for sanitation suggestions: http://nature.berkeley.edu/comtf/html/sanitation___reducing_spread.html </ref>
- External links- this should be the very last section.
- A few other suggestions:
- Avoid using the word "it", substitute "the disease", "sudden oak death" or "P. ramorum", etc..
- The references should include a PMID number (where available) and formatting should be updated using {{cite}} templates. I will volunteer to do this, if you like.
I hope that this helps, let me know if you have any questions.--DO11.10 23:11, 16 April 2007 (UTC)