Talk:Alpha-thalassemia/Archive 1

Malaria resistance

Alpha-thalassemia has been identified in the Tharu of Nepal and India, the only people who were able to live in the most malarial parts of the Terai in Nepal and adjacent India. This article only says that one form of A-T is found in Asia while another form is found in Africa, suggesting that it might be integral to "sickle cell". I hope someone qualified in the medical field can be persuaded to add material on this. LADave (talk) 19:48, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

Piel & Weatherall NEJM review

doi:10.1056/NEJMra1404415 JFW | T@lk 15:38, 13 November 2014 (UTC)

Four chains, or four genes?

In the introduction, I find "due to impaired production of 1,2,3, or 4 alpha globin chains" confusing. Each of the four genes makes many protein chains during the life of the cell. I'm changing it to "due to impaired production of protein chains from each of 1,2,3, or 4 alpha globin genes". Feel free to revert or further revise if that is not right. Eaberry (talk) 22:49, 19 October 2015 (UTC)

references

added a ref[1] might add more--Ozzie10aaaa (talk) 21:07, 9 September 2016 (UTC)

Queen's University Student Editing Initiative

Hello, we are a group of current first-year medical students attending Queen’s University in Kingston. We are interested in editing this page and adding more information with regards to the introduction, signs & symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment. We look forward to working with the existing Wikipedia medical editing community to improve this article and share evidence. We welcome feedback and suggestions as we learn to edit. Thank you.

Nivyp (talk) 20:16, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

thank you for posting--Ozzie10aaaa (talk) 22:19, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Proposed Changes: Addition of 'Laboratory Diagnosis' subheading underneath the heading "Diagnosis", after the subheading 'Types'

Initial laboratory testing should include a complete blood count and red blood cell indices. As well, a peripheral blood smear should be carefully reviewed.

Hemoglobin analysis is important for the diagnosis of alpha-thalassemia. Several different methods are used to separate the different species of hemoglobin molecules (ie. hemoglobin electrophoresis, capillary electrophoresis, high performance liquid chromatography).

Molecular analysis of DNA sequences (DNA analysis) can be used for the confirmation of alpha-thalassemia diagnosis, particularly for the detection of alpha-thalassemia carriers (deletions or mutations in only one or two alpha globin genes).

comment added by Nwedel (talk • contribs) 15:41, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

Hi Nivyp, these edits look good to me and the sources meet our guidelines for relable sources in medicine. Feel free to add these edits to the article. Let me know if you need help formatting the citations. SpicyMilkBoy (talk) 16:22, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

Whoops, I pinged the wrong person. Trying again: Nwedel SpicyMilkBoy (talk) 16:23, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

Proposed changes to the "Treatment" section:

Splenectomy is a possible treatment option to increase total hemoglobin levels in cases of worsening anemia due to an overactive or enlarged spleen, or when transfusion therapy is not possible.[1] However, splenectomy is avoided when other options are available due to an increased risk of serious infections and thrombosis.[1]

[1] Taher, Ali; Musallam, Khaled; Cappellini, Maria Domenica, eds. (2017). "Guidelines for the Management of Non-Transfusion Dependent Thalassaemias (2nd edition - 2017)". Thalassemia International Federation. pp. 24–32. Retrieved 2019-11-05. Sdemay (talk • contribs) 16:31, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

Can you please include the page #s and the editor information for this text book? JenOttawa (talk) 19:00, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

Proposed changes to the "Introduction" section:

Replace: “Alpha-thalassemia is due to impaired production of alpha chains from 1, 2, 3, or all 4 of the alpha globin genes, leading to a relative excess of beta globin chains.”

With: "Thalassemias are a group of inherited blood conditions which result in the impaired production of hemoglobin, which is the molecule that carries oxygen in the blood. [1] Normal hemoglobin consists of two alpha chains and two beta chains; in alpha-thalassemia, there is a quantitative decrease in the amount of alpha chains, resulting in fewer normal hemoglobin molecules. [1] Furthermore, alpha-thalassemia also leads to the production of unstable beta globin molecules which result in red blood cell destruction. [1]"

[1] Lanzkowsky's Manual Of Pediatric Hematology And Oncology 6th Edition ( 2016). Brothery (talk • contribs) 16:44, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

Can you please include the page #s and the editor information for this text book? JenOttawa (talk) 19:00, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

Pages for this reference are 186-196. Editors include Lanzkowsky, P., Lipton, J. M., and Fish, J. D. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Brothery (talk • contribs) 04:08, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

Proposed changes to the "Treatment" section:

Replace: “Treatment for alpha-thalassemia may consist of blood transfusions”

With: “Treatment for alpha-thalassemia may include blood transfusions to maintain hemoglobin at a level that reduces symptoms of anemia. The decision to initiate transfusions depends on the clinical severity of the disease.

CJW86 (talk) 16:53, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

Proposed Changes:

We would like to change the signs and symptoms section in terms of its organization. Specifically, we would like to divide them into two sections, "Common" and "Uncommon."

Signs and symptoms of alpha-thalassemia

Common	Uncommon
Anemia: People with alpha-thalassemia can experience both a decrease in the production of red blood cells (RBC) and an increase in the destruction of RBCs which can result in other symptoms such as fatigue and dizziness.	Jaundice
Enlarged spleen	Pronounced forehead, which occurs due to overexpansion of bone marrow of the frontal bone in the skull. The bone marrow expands because more blood cells are being produced in order to compensate for the anemia.
Gallstones	Extramedullary hematopoesis (blood formation outside of the bone marrow)
Delayed growth	Hypertension (in pregnancy)

References

The sentence I will be adding is an explanation for why a pronounced forehead can occur in alpha-thalassemia. I have italicized it above, and included it here: "This occurs due to overexpansion of bone marrow of the frontal bone in the skull. The bone marrow expands because more blood cells are being produced in order to compensate for the anemia." All of the information in the table is from the first source. Nivyp (talk) 23:16, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

Nivyp (talk) 21:05, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

Thanks @Nivyp: do you mind adding in a reference for your last proposed sentence "This occurs due to overexpansion of bone marrow of the frontal bone in the skull. The bone marrow expands because more blood cells are being produced in order to compensate for the anemia." Thanks JenOttawa (talk) 23:06, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

common/uncommon table on signs & symptoms is a very good idea...IMO--Ozzie10aaaa (talk) 00:47, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

I am working with @Nivyp: on the signs and symptoms and am also adding an explanation of anemia in people with alpha-thalassemia. The definition will be in the chart above and include: People with alpha-thalassemia can experience both a decrease in the production of red blood cells (RBC) and an increase in the destruction of RBCs which can result in other symptoms such as fatigue and dizziness. Kaiserbun (talk) 01:08, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

References

comment

• theres an "error" on reference #2--Ozzie10aaaa (talk) 19:45, 25 November 2019 (UTC)

Thanks @Ozzie10aaaa: is this error on the talk page or in the actual Wikipedia article edit? I am going online right now to review edits and clean as needed. Looks great so far! We appreciate all your help reviewing the proposed improvements.JenOttawa (talk) 19:48, 25 November 2019 (UTC)

its on the article(Cite error: The named reference gen was invoked but never defined (see the help page).)--Ozzie10aaaa (talk) 19:53, 25 November 2019 (UTC)

Thanks @Ozzie10aaaa:. I just made an adjustment to way the ref was named. Was this the error you noticed?JenOttawa (talk) 19:55, 25 November 2019 (UTC)

[2]..#2--Ozzie10aaaa (talk) 19:56, 25 November 2019 (UTC)

• took care of it [3]--Ozzie10aaaa (talk) 20:04, 25 November 2019 (UTC)

Thank you @Ozzie10aaaa:! JenOttawa (talk) 22:03, 25 November 2019 (UTC)