Learning objectives
Knowledge and understanding:
• Acquire basic knowledge about risk factors in cardiovascular diseases.
• Acquire knowledge related to new pharmacological treatments and nutraceutical approaches in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
• To know the pharmacological activity of the main drugs/nutraceutical products, the mechanisms of action, in order to highlight the possible interactions and side effects.
• Acquire the ability to use the specific language of the discipline.
Knowledge and understanding skills:
• Apply knowledge of the mechanisms of action of drugs to define the use of drugs and nutraceutical products.
• Ability to evaluate results of pharmacological and epidemiological studies.
Autonomy of judgment:
• Autonomy of evaluation of a cardiovascular prevention treatment strategy.
Communication skills:
• Possess the ability to discuss experimental notions and data effectively by contacting non-specialist interlocutors.
Learning skills:
• Scientific update by consulting databases.
Prerequisites
Course chosen by the student on the basis of in-depth analysis of concepts of pharmacology and toxicology.
Course unit content
The contents of the course are the pathophysiological aspects of cardiovascular diseases with particular attention to new therapeutic strategies and the use of nutraceutical products.
Full programme
- Cardiovascular diseases: risk factors
- The bases of cardiovascular prevention
- Epidemiology
- Analysis of the main scientific studies
- New therapeutic targets in the metabolism of cholesterol and lipoproteins
- New hypolipidemic drugs and pharmacological strategies
- Obesity drugs
- Nutrition and lifestyles in cardiovascular prevention
- Nutraceuticals and supplements
- Nutraceuticals in the treatment of dyslipidemia
- Toxicology of nutraceutical products
- Interactions in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases
Bibliography
Goodman & Gilman’s “The pharmacological basis of therapeutics”
Teaching methods
The lessons will be of oral teaching, interacting with the students to actively involve them in the topics dealt with. The teaching material will be provided with slides that will be given to the students. Some handouts can be delivered to deepen the slides.
The lessons will be organized as follows:
- in person with the possibility of using the lessons also remotely in synchronous mode (via Teams).
To promote active participation in the course, various individual and small group activities will be proposed, through the use of the resources available in Elly, such as discussion forums
Assessment methods and criteria
FINAL EVALUATION
Oral exam.
Evaluation scale: 0-30
Weights and evaluation criteria:
• Acquired knowledge (up to 16/30);
• Ability to apply the acquired knowledge and to make links between the topics covered (up to 9/30);
• Exhibition capacity through the use of the specific language of the discipline (up to 5/30).
The final test will consist of an oral interview conducted remotely (via Teams) if there are no conditions to be present, and will mainly focus on the discussion of the main themes of the program with solicitations to express personal opinions and reflections by creating appropriate links.
Other information
The course aims to be an interactive study with the students based on their strong motivations regarding the contents presented.
