The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted by SandyGeorgia 16:56, 12 June 2011 [1].


Rhabdomyolysis (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

Nominator(s): JFW | T@lk 20:01, 22 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I am nominating this for featured article because I believe that in its current form it represents a reasonable overview of this interesting medical condition. It may arise in numerous different situations, from drug abuse to being trapped under a collapsed building. It also has interesting historical and aspects. It has been a personal project of mine since 2007, and although it has been a Good Article since 2008 I have recently identified some additional sources that have been very helpful in improving it further. The article has recently undergone Peer Review (link), where some very helpful comments were received and addressed. JFW | T@lk 20:01, 22 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

" when you learned that (1) every source uses a different organizational system (many of them radically different and mutually incompatible; others only somewhat different), and (2) no source contains the complete list, you argued for presenting a noticeably incomplete list "

— WhatamIdoing
You think that I didn't know that different sources have different lists? You are mistaken.
I am surprised that you regard the Oxford Textbook of Medicine's table as "noticeably incomplete". On the contrary, I regard the Oxford Textbook's table as fairly comprehensive. There are two main differences between the Oxford Textbook's table and the current table in the article:-
1. The causes are grouped under different names. In particular, the "Genetic" causes are listed in detail in the article. In my opinion, this gives undue weight to these causes. These causes are referenced to Elsayed, which specifically emphasizes paediatrics.
2. Specific causes are added from their own sources without regard for their own weight, such as Haff disease.
Looking at the list of genetic causes, Elsayed is referenced and the article's table includes causes such as carnitine palmitoyltranferase II deficiency and cytochrome c oxidase deficiency. However there is no mention of beta-sarcoglycan or cytochrome b oxidase deficiency. Why is this? WhatamIdoing, perhaps you should be arguing that the current table is "noticeably incomplete".
Ironically, Elsayed separates its long list of genetic causes from its main diagram of causes.

" you argued for presenting a noticeably incomplete list, so that the organizational scheme could be easily copied from the one source whose list was being copied "

— WhatamIdoing
That's not true. I argued for presenting a different table (that you describe as "noticeably incomplete") so that appropriate weight is given to the causes in the table.

" You presented no possibility of an approach that would allow all of the multiply sourced material to be presented. "

— WhatamIdoing
That's true. I am happy to discuss another approach to allow material from different sources to be presented. Indeed Elsayed has used such an approach; it has one main diagram with the full list of major causes, and a separate list of the genetic causes.

" You also presented no arguments about how to choose which of the multiple high-quality sources should be used and which of the sources' material should be omitted. "

— WhatamIdoing
That is not true. I clearly stated that the source used needs to be reliable and authoritative (on a par with the Oxford Textbook), and suited to a general encyclopedia.

" deliberate incompleteness, in the name of not making editors use their brains to figure out how to summarize and describe material taken from from multiple high-quality secondary sources (something editors are supposed to do), doesn't seem like appropriate to me "

— WhatamIdoing
I agree. I am not advocating "deliberate incompleteness, in the name of not making editors use their brains to figure out how to summarize and describe material taken from from multiple high-quality secondary sources". Axl ¤ [Talk] 08:38, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I now have access to Warren. The new table entitled "Common and important causes" follows the groups (types) used in Warren. This is an improvement over the previous table. Separation of genetic causes is also a good idea; this is done by both Warren and Elsayed. However there remains selective addition of some causes and omission of others. This would certainly be appropriate in, say, a medical journal article, but I don't think that it is the right approach in Wikipedia. Axl ¤ [Talk] 16:45, 8 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]
How do you propose I should select causes for inclusion? I have endeavoured to include causes that are consistently mentioned by most sources, and have omitted the ones that are only mentioned by a few (e.g. tularaemia). JFW | T@lk 23:40, 9 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Comment—Overall a good article and it appears comprehensive. The wording is fairly technical in places, and so it's a bit of a challenge for a lay-person like me to read. (But no more than I would expect for a medical article, and most of it made sense.) Here are a few concerns:

Okay, I'd rejig the lead. In a nutshell, the syndrome is the muscle breakdown and the resulting release of all the crap in the bloodstream. Hence sentence #2 (a cause) is inserted between a nutshell description. I'd move it down to be the second last sentence (i.e. just before treatment.) I'd move the sentence on treatment from last setence first para to first sentence second para.
The Signs and symptoms begs for an opening sentence along the lines of "The symptoms vary markedly depending on the severity of the condition." This then segues into the first sentence nicely - as is, section just "jumps into" current-first sentence.
Anything that damages muscle tissue can cause rhabdomyolysis -ooooh (sharp intake of breath) - I love plain English but the first word to me veers a little to far into casual-speak...but I can't think of an alternative that fits better. This is not a deal-breaker but maybe some round-tabling here might come up with a better way of saying it.
(sigh) I think I agree with Axl on the table of causes. I have problems with each on fine-tuning and omissions (eg. Oxford doesn't have prolonged immobility (such as in drug overdose) which would slot in well after overactivity - I am a psychiatrist, so the two conditions I see related to rhabdomyolysis are NMS and drug ODs) but it is more orthodox and in line with lots of other multi-cause layouts I've seen......the other is weird - the physical/non-physical split needs defining, but the source doesn't and it is a rather clumsy (and somewhat arbitrary) split to say the least (why is NMS physical? I always thought it was mediated by the dopamine blocking activity...) - I'd use the oxford table, unless we find another one similar but better, sorry.
The bottom half is good.
I hate see also sections - I'd make an In other animals section and have a few words on Equine exertional rhabdomyolysis there. Are there any other issues specific to other animals worth listing? Outside of medicine, some areas have very lean pickings and one might need to use some primary sources. Casliber (talk · contribs) 04:18, 5 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Overall, I do think the finishing line is in sight, but we do have a big deal-breaker to sort out. Casliber (talk · contribs) 14:22, 3 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Lead is good. After a brief review of the article's lead section, the details of which can be found on the FAC talk page, I am happy to report that the lead is satisfactory. --Cryptic C62 · Talk 01:24, 9 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

TCO comments. I did a quick skim of the article and of the discussion here.

  1. I think the causes table is fine, to be a synthesized version of several sources. Think just copying one list in items and in layout would not be ideal (verges on copying and also is not comprehensive). Prefer that we have thought out the arrangement here, nothing wrong with that (we do it with content all the time). I would feel better if we sourced each cause (allows someone to rapidly see which source predominates and decide which reviews to look at (if one endnote number "dominates"). Also think it may be possible to pretty up that table and just make it look a little crisper (ask RexxS to take a look at it).
  2. The two pictures of proteins look very similar and don't give that much information other than being a complicated bunch of colored tape. I would just do one of them. (Since you are really not getting deep into some structural discussion of how the conformation affects function.)
  3. If you had a picture of a suffering patient that would be good.
  4. I have seen a lot of stuff in the popular press about Crossfit and rhabdo. Should it be mentioned in article? See for instance: [6]
  5. Net/net: looks decent and fascinating topic. Haven't looked at article close enough to support or oppose. TCO (talk) 15:54, 5 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Nominator comment - I am very grateful for all the support votes so far. I don't think there are any concerns outstanding. I have asked Natural Hat Trick offline whether their comment implies Support. I have asked Axl if he will revise his Oppose vote now that I have substantially rejigged the "Causes" section; a copy of Warren has been emailed for review. I have also asked Casliber if the rejigged "Causes" section satisfies his concerns. I will be offline for the next 48 hours or so, because some things are still more important than an FAC. I will make sure to address any further comments on my return. JFW | T@lk 19:30, 7 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

FWIW, I think we're definitely on the right track. I was sitting down comparing Warren to the article and musing on how I felt when other things intervened. I will rejoin the debate anon....and eat plenty of cheesecake (sounds like some nice food is on order over next 48h) Casliber (talk · contribs) 04:21, 8 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Back on wiki and cheesecake duly consumed. JFW | T@lk 23:40, 9 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]


The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.