Learning objectives
The course will provide the knowledge necessary to understand the disease processes from a molecular and cellular point of view. The knowledge gained will enable the students to correlate molecular alterations with microscopic and macroscopic alterations observable in cells, tissues and organs, in order to fully understand the pathogenesis of the diseases. It will be also made some mention of the diagnostic at the molecular level. Bibliography may be used to acquire independent judgment, communication skills and learning ability, which can be demonstrated in the examination.
Prerequisites
To understand the contents of the course adequate knowledge of Histology, Anatomy, Biochemistry, Physiology are required.
Course unit content
During the course the arguments will cover the following content:
- Genetic Diseases
- Aging and cell death
- Pathophysiology of blood
- Genetic disorders of erythrocytes
- Neurodegenerative diseases
- Molecular diagnostics of genetic diseases
- The cancers
Full programme
GENETIC DISEASES
Transmission of pathological characters; Molecular basis and examples of diseases from individual gene; Multifactorial syndromes; Numerical and structural alteration of the chromosomes
AGING AND CELL DEATH
Premature aging syndromes; Progeria, Werner syndrome; Telomerase, senescence and cancer
PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF BLOOD
Hematopoiesis; Techniques Evaluation of hematopoietic function; Myeloid and lymphoid neoplasms, anemias, classification, examples and laboratory diagnostics
PATHOLOGY GENETICS OF ERYTHROCYTES
Sickle-cell anemia, Thalassemia, erythrocyte; Alterations of the cytoskeleton
NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES
Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, Duchenne-Becker; Prion diseases; triplet repeat syndromes: fragile X syndrome, Huntington's chorea.
MOLECULAR DIAGNOSTICS OF GENETIC DISEASES
Diagnosis, pre-and postnatal
THE CANCER
Nomenclature. Elements of classification. Characteristics of cancer cells. Benign and malignant tumors. Genes and cancer. Mechanisms of neoplastic transformation. The tumor growth and tumor progression. The causes of cancer. Tumor markers. Molecular diagnostics of cancer. Use of monoclonal antibodies in oncology
Bibliography
- Kumar, Abbas, Fausto, Aster- Robbins e Cotran – Le basi patologiche delle malattie, 8 ed. Elsevier-Masson
References will be provided during specific lessons
Teaching methods
The course will be conducted through interactive lectures in front of the students, with the aid of illustrative material collected in PowerPoint files that, at the end of the course, will be made available to students.
During the lectures the main concepts of each topic will be exposed, encouraging students to ask questions on the basis of references that will be provided.
Assessment methods and criteria
Tests in progress will not be carried out.
The final assessment will be carried out through an oral examination.
Each student will be asked by different teachers two questions on topics listed in the extended program (one form per teacher).
The inability to answer a question (or at least ascertained inability to provide a correct definition of the pathological phenomenon subject of the application) will result in not passing the exam.
At the end of the response each teacher will formulate a judgment given in brackets:
A. Excellent knowledge and understanding of the topic. High capacity for applying knowledge in bio-medical problems. Vote of thirty: 30.
B. Good knowledge and understanding of the topic. Good ability to apply knowledge in bio-medical problems. Vote of thirty: 27-29.
C. Good knowledge and understanding of the topic. Demonstrated ability to apply the knowledge in bio-medical problems. Vote of thirty: 24-26.
D. Knowledge and understanding of the fully sufficient. Fair ability to apply the knowledge in bio-medical problems. Vote of thirty: 21-23.
E. Knowledge and understanding of the subject just enough with obvious gaps. Poor ability to apply knowledge in bio-medical problems. Vote of thirty: 18-20.
Praise be proposed for the demonstration of independence of judgment, high communication skills and ability to learn independently.
The final vote will be decided by mutual agreement between the two teachers, with the possibility to deviate by a maximum of two points of the average of the individual assessments.
Other information
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