Talk:Putrefaction

message: Rao, D., Dr. (2013). Putrefaction | Forensic Pathology Online. Retrieved February 22, 2016, from http://www.forensicpathologyonline.com/e-book/post-mortem-changes/putrefaction
•	This site has very good information on the internal and external processes of conditions affecting the rate of putrefaction. Most of these conditions are explained well in the article, but are not properly cited.
Goff, L. M. (2009). Early post-mortem changes and stages of decomposition in exposed cadavers. Experimental & Applied Acarology, 49(1-2), 21-36. Retrieved February 22, 2016, from http://za2uf4ps7f.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info:ofi/enc:UTF-8&rfr_id=info:sid/summon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Early post-mortem changes and stages of decomposition in exposed cadavers&rft.jtitle=Experimental & Applied Acarology&rft.au=M Lee Goff&rft.date=2009-10-01&rft.pub=Springer Science & Business Media&rft.issn=0168-8162&rft.eissn=1572-9702&rft.volume=49&rft.issue=1-2&rft.spage=21&rft_id=info:doi/10.1007/s10493-009-9284-9&rft.externalDocID=1812244061¶mdict=en-US
•	This article doesn’t specifically talk about putrefaction, but it gives a good overview of other stages of decomposition post mortem. This can be used to make sense of other stages of decomposition and how they tie in together.
Peck, D. L., & Bryant, C. D. (2009). Encyclopedia of Death and the Human Experience. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc.
•	This is a fairly clear overview of putrefaction and sums up the main thoughts and concepts of it. This could be used to further breakdown or help out with relaying how putrefaction works, as it is very well described.
Pope, M. A. (2010). Differential decomposition patterns of human remains in variable environments of the Midwest. University of South Florida: Scholarly Commons. Retrieved February 22, 2016, from http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2740&context=etd
•	This article talks about the stages of decomposition in death and will be able to show a timeline an accurate timeline for each and how the process of putrefaction relates to the overall theme of decomposition. The main point of the article explains how the body decomposes in different environments, which can be used to explain the external rate of decomposition. 
Stromberg, J. (2015, March 13). The Science of human decay. Vox
•	This article talks about the largest body farm in in the world. In the Putrefaction article on Wikipedia, body farms are mentioned slightly and I think it would be a good idea to expand the research section and mention all 6, which are located in the US.
Amstutz2 (talk) 04:23, 23 February 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: Bibliography and Explanation for Possible Adjustments

message: I made several changes to the article that I believe offer significant improvements over the prior version.  Particularly to the latter half of the article detailing the decomposition of the human body.  To be more specific:  Several line breaks were put in place, to space out the chart.  I added and adjusted punctuation.  Several sentences were, pardon the pun, fleshed out with articles, and other such things, forming longer sentences where there had previously been simple sentence fragments.  The following sentences after the chart were expanded on to be more readable, and a sentence was added referencing UoT's Body Farm facility, including a link to the relevant wiki page.  
I don't believe my changes are 'up to' wikipedia standards in any way, but I believe them to be a step in the correct direction.  Unfortunately, I do not have much knowledge concerning this topic, or wikipedia editing in general, and don't feel confident enough to continue making adjustments here.  I hope someone with more knowledge that I will come in and add to this article and make it better. :)
ColbyWolf (talk) 09:06, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Minor adjustments

message: This page was recently moved from Putrefaction to Putrifaction (biochemistry). Putrifaction is an incorrect spelling; I moved it back to Putrefaction. — Knowledge Seeker দ 08:25, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Page move

message: "Putrefaction is one of seven stages in the decomposition of the body of a dead animal."
Decomposition is one of the seven stages in the decomposition of the body of a dead animal.
The chart at the right uses "Stages of Death." To most people's minds, by the time decomposition sets in the body has been dead for some time.
Is pallor mortis one of the seven stages of decomposition?
I'm not sure which came first, or whether this series of articles and this post on tumblr, Art and Reference Point are by the same author, but someone needs to define their terms. Is decomposition the overall process, or one of the stages? James Galloway (talk) 17:43, 17 July 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Decomposition 

message: I came to this article looking for information about putrefaction in the context of food spoilage and found that it focuses almost exclusively on the postmortem breakdown of humans and animals. Would it be appropriate to add a section or hatnote regarding the general breakdown of organic matter? –dlthewave ☎ 17:46, 9 June 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Other types of putrefaction 

message: Is it really necessary to show a photograph of the corpse of a murder victim as an example of putrefaction? Couldn't someone leave a steak behind their shed for a week or something instead? --2601:2C6:47F:985A:AD14:64DA:4727:8153 (talk) 02:53, 1 August 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Image 

message: While it is true that this topic is very important process following the death of living things, including animals like humans (and judging from the way the article is right now, that aspect is very interesting or prominent for some people), that is just a small part of what it is. 
Putrefaction (at least the simple definition) is a general biochemical process that is done by various microbes that breaks down protein into ammonium and other byproducts which cause a putrid smell. It can happen wherever there are proteins available to those microbes and it certainly is not just a part of animal death as the opening of the article currently suggests.
I copied the intro here. The bold portions are the only parts where it addresses the general topic while the other parts focus specifically on putrefaction as a step in the decay of animals.
Putrefaction is the fifth stage of death, following pallor mortis, livor mortis, algor mortis, and rigor mortis. This process references the breaking down of a body of an animal post-mortem. In broad terms, it can be viewed as the decomposition of proteins, and the eventual breakdown of the cohesiveness between tissues, and the liquefaction of most organs. This is caused by the decomposition of organic matter by bacterial or fungal digestion, which causes the release of gases that infiltrate the body's tissues, and leads to the deterioration of the tissues and organs. The approximate time it takes putrefaction to occur is dependent on various factors. Internal factors that affect the rate of putrefaction include the age at which death has occurred, the overall structure and condition of the body, the cause of death, and external injuries arising before or after death. External factors include environmental temperature, moisture and air exposure, clothing, burial factors, and light exposure. Body farms are facilities that study the way various factors affect the putrefaction process. 
The first signs of putrefaction are signified by a greenish discoloration on the outside of the skin, on the abdominal wall corresponding to where the large intestine begins, as well as under the surface of the liver.
Certain substances, such as carbolic acid, arsenic, strychnine, and zinc chloride, can be used to delay the process of putrefaction in various ways based on their chemical make up.
As should be obvious the general process is only mentioned tangentially while the first definition and the majority of the content focuses specifically on animal (or even specifically human) decomposition.  
As an example of more balanced coverage of this topic see the Putrefying bacteria page. 
I think that this page should have a similar balanced coverage of the topic by 
# giving generally applicable definitions and adequate coverage of the other aspects of the topic and
# moving the majority of details specific to putrefaction in dead animals and humans to a subsection and/or a separate article.
Of course putrefaction in relation to decomposition of animals including humans should be discussed to some extent, but it should not be the overwhelming focus.
I think that making these changes would make the article more topical relative to its general title, make it more informative and relevant for a broader audience (biochemistry, ecology, physiology etc.), and could also help with people who find the human stuff objectionable by making it easier harder to see on accident while still keeping it available.
Since this is a major change (and potentially involves making a new page) I am just recommend it here so it can eventually be implemented and accepted by the people who are more invested in this page rather than just going rogue and changing everything on my own. Williamspete001 (talk) 23:42, 16 May 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Putrefaction is a much more general topic than this article portrays: refactoring the article.