Talk:Polygenic score

Inaccuracy in last section

Polygenic scores are occasionally used before birth (specifically, before implantation). However, the most common application is in adult humans. More importantly, polygenic scores are never used to see if a foetus in the womb is likely to have some defect. Instead, they are used to determine if embryos outside of the womb, before implantation, are likely to have a disease.

I would make this change directly but I wanted to make sure there are no objections before I do so. Chamaemelum (talk) 07:33, 19 July 2023 (UTC)

Thank you for the suggested change. I hope that your corrected version will be understood... Macdonald-ross (talk) 07:58, 19 July 2023 (UTC)

Page additions/revisions

I would like to incorporate content from here into this page. However, it would be great if other editors reviewed or gave feedback on the draft before I implement the changes. Please let me know if there are any issues (simplicity, more things needing to be covered, etc.), if there are any possible improvements, or if you think I should make the changes now. Chamaemelum (talk) 16:59, 26 July 2023 (UTC)

Response

The general answer is that our remit (what we were created for) is to address an issue with En wiki. First, its vocabulary and sentence structure were far beyond many people, especially children and foreign-language users. The solution was to create a wiki which would use a simplified form of English. A simpler form of English was invented by C.K. Ogden in about 1920.

So far, so good. Simple Wikipedia was set up to use Simple English. In practice we face a problem. Both the social sciences and the hard sciences grew like crazy, and now are huge and important bodies of knowledge. But this growth has been mostly ignored in school syllabi, and schoolchildren and foreign language users are our main audience. We were created to serve them.

In dealing with science we always have to simplify what we write. Since I have written most of the genetics pages, obviously I'm not against adding genetics topics! But my hesitation is that I would like to see you simplify your language so that our audience has some chance of understanding it. Appreciate, please, that I am not against any person or any sensible topic. I am only against language which (in my experience) is going to be beyond most of our readers.

If, having read and thought about this, you want to go ahead, then you are free to do so. You don't need my permission. I only ask that look through some of our material on Simple English and do what you can to absorb some of its precepts. Macdonald-ross (talk) 08:18, 27 July 2023 (UTC)

Thanks! I understand what you're saying and the reasonings behind this Wikipedia. I know you write on science topics and strive for clear and simple wording. I appreciate the tips. I will read more pages about how to write well in the simple style. :)

(I posted the "Page additions/revisions" section because I'm not yet confident in my ability to assess if the writing is simple enough.) Chamaemelum (talk) 16:07, 27 July 2023 (UTC)

Polygenic score

[Moved from simple talk]

I would like material from User:Chamaemelum/Polygenic score to be added to, or to replace, the current version of the page (Polygenic score). I would like help understanding if there are any improvements that can be made, or if the language is not simple enough. Feel free to give recommendations, edits, and what changes you think should be made for it to be added to the actual article (or if it's ready now). Chamaemelum (talk) 23:19, 23 July 2023 (UTC)

I am confused here. I swear I rewrote the entire intro to an article on this subject a week or so ago.. The intro was heavily on the complex side and seemed to fail to explain the basic idea of the topic or how it was used. It started with the Polygenic score is a score that .. repeating but not explaining. I completely rewrote the entire intro as someone else was working on the rest, but there is not hint of my complete rewrite in the history.

Looking at the log, it seems that it was deleted as an en:copy paste but the intro was nowhere near that .. heck the version here was actually a better version than theirs as theirs was tagged as being too hard to be understood by their standards while ours would have fallen at the high end of readability which I would see as understandable given the level of the subject matter. Its hard to be entirely simple on highly technical topics such as genetics. The fact that our article here now ignores the agricultural, horticultural and zoological uses for the score and the intro sentence is just.... that... makes me wonder why the article was down graded so badly. Pure Evil (talk) 02:19, 24 July 2023 (UTC)

I'm hoping that we can fix up the draft article in my talk page space, and then add or replace the current article once it's ready. Do you have any feedback on the article at User:Chamaemelum/Polygenic score? Chamaemelum (talk) 06:30, 25 July 2023 (UTC)

Firstly, you need to say what the topic is about. There is nothing in the lead that says what subject actually is. What is a polygenic score? you say somethings that is is used for but nothing about what it actually is or that it is part of research in genetics. Personal information should be avoided. Do not use "us", "we" or "you". Does the number actually predict how much education a person will get? Is it only limited to humans? Is it not used for all areas of genetics?

"In genetics, a polygenic score is .... It is used to ... Polygenic score are created by.. The term was first used by ... in ... when they ... " Cover the basics right from the beginning. Pure Evil (talk) 19:01, 25 July 2023 (UTC)

Thanks for the feedback!

Saying what a polygenic score is can be tricky. It is a set of weights assigned to genetic variants that's associated with a phenotype. Saying it is a number would make sense if the article discussed an individual's polygenic score as opposed to polygenic scores as a concept. However, defining it as a single number might be confusing (how can a single number predict if multiple different people get Alzheimer's or not?). I added a definition that applies to both the number and the general more widely used concept of a polygenic score as a predictor.

I've made/verified some edits:

• Defined what a polygenic score is: "A polygenic score is the effect of many genetic variants on a trait." Y
• Deleted all instances of "us," verified that the article doesn't use we or you. Y
• Verified that the article says polygenic scores do predict how much education a person will get: "Polygenic scores... predict... the amount of education someone gets." Y
• The mention of polygenic score use in plants and animals was in the body, so I've added this information to the lede so it's known that they aren't exclusively used in humans. Y
• Polygenic scores would not be used in, say, the study of histone structure. However, I'm not sure what benefit comes from including the information that polygenic scores are not used in all areas of genetics, because this applies to nearly all concepts within genetics.
• Created the requested format "In genetics, a polygenic score is .... It is used to ..." Y
• Confirmed the lede covers how polygenic scores are created (sentences 4-9). Y
• Didn't add who created the polygenic score, as it isn't discussed in sources and it was likely created incrementally by many people over time (likely in the context of estimated breeding values at first).

Let me know if there are any further improvements that can be made, or if you think the content should be added to the article. Chamaemelum (talk) 20:50, 25 July 2023 (UTC)

[End of move from simple talk] Chamaemelum (talk) 04:58, 2 August 2023 (UTC)