GENERAL PATHOLOGY

General Module

Course Sheet

Course code:

DI21B2A

Academic Year of enrolment:

2022

Year of supply:

2023/2024

Type of Course:

Basic

Degree:

Course of 1st Cycle Degree in DIETISTIC

Disciplinary Sector:

General Pathology

Is part of:

GENERAL PATHOLOGY, CLINICAL AND PHARMACOLOGY

Location:

CHIETI

Credits:

Programme Year:

Professor and Collaborators:

D'ORAZI Gabriella

Cycle:

First semester

Obligatory attendance:

Yes

Hours of classroom activity:

Individual study hours:

Prerequisites:

The students should have accomplished the exams of the first year in order to better understand the information given in the Physiopathology Course.
The students must have basic knowledge of biology, biochemistry, anatomy and physiology.

Objectives

The course is inserted within the GENERAL OBJECTIVES of the study program in Dietician aimed at providing knowledge about the most relevant causes of diseases that develop during all the different phases of the life (childhood, adulthood, oldness). The specifics aims of the Course concern the comprehension of the physiopathological mechanisms of the human diseases. The Course will allow the students to acquire the specific skills in terms of scientific and technical terminology devoted to the understanding of the appearance and the development of the diseases. The Course will allow the student to acquire scientific expertise that will aid the future Dietician to work in different sanitary environments, Public, Private, and Industry. The course will help to provide the student with tools that will enable him to improve his skills in relating to other professional figures (doctors, nurses, psychologists) who, in an increasingly multidisciplinary approach, will be called to take care of the patient. Finally, the student will be induced to ameliorate his/her skills for an independent study and will acquire the functional methodological tools for an autonomous update.

Contents

General Pathology is a multidisciplinary science that addresses the causes and the molecular mechanisms that change the health status to the ill status. The Course will describe the principles of General Pathology that include the physical, chemical and biological causes of cellular damage at the basis of the human diseases, the basis of inflammation and immunity, the mechanisms of cell death, the mechanisms of would healing and recovery and the molecular mechanism of tumor transformation. Particular attention will be devoted to the pathologies connected to the incorrect nutrition and how nutrition can cause diseases.

Extended Syllabus

1) Aetiology and cellular pathology: health and disease concepts, aetiology and pathogenesis. Environmental diseases: diseased caused by chemical or physical agents. Microbiologic agents and the patterns of disease caused by them. Molecular mechanisms of pathogenicity: PAMPS, PRR, DAMS.
2) Cellular damage and adaptations, reversible and irreversible cell injury: necrosis and apoptosis.
3) Body defenses against pathogen agents. The first (mechanical/physical barriers), second (innate immunity) and third line (specific immunity, cellular and antibodies) of defence, The immunodeficiency. The autoimmune diseases. The allergies.
4) Inflammatory-reparative response: aetiology and classification of acute inflammation, chemical mediators, vascular changes and exudates formation, cellular events and phagocytosis, systemic consequences and aetiopathogenesis of fever; chronic and granulomatous inflammation; reparative response: tissue repair and wound healing, fibrosis. Inflammatory diseases.
5) The physiopathology of fever and thermoregulation.
6) Tumoral transformation as proliferative disease. Molecular basis of tumoral tramsformation: oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. The causes of cancer including chemicals and biological agents, the phenotype of the transformed cell, the genes causing and restricting cancer growth, tumor classification; carcinogenesis; epidemiology and prevention; the molecular mechanisms of tumor progression and metastatization. The relationship between cancer cells and tumoral microenvironment. Inflammation and cancer. Nutrition and cancer.
7) Causes and mechanisms of malnutrition. Molecular mechanisms of atherosclerosis, formation of atheromatous plaque and related consequences; thrombosis; embolism; infarction; hypoxia and cyanosis; oedema. Physiopathology of the gastro-intestinal tract (gastritis, ulcer, reflux gastric-esiphageal, celiac disease, Crhon disease). Mechanism of diabetes, classification and consequences.

Recommended Bibliography

To the students of this type of Study Program several texbooks are available:
- G. M. Pontieri, Elementi di Patologia Generale per i Corsi di Laurea in Professioni Sanitarie, Ed. Piccin;
- T.D. Spector, J.S. Axford, Introduzione alla Patologia Generale, Ed. Casa Editrice Ambrosiana;
- M. Parola, Patologia Generale ed elementi di Fisiopatologia, Ed. EdiSES;
- SR Lakhani, SADilly, CJ Finlayson, M Gandhi. Le basi della patologia generale.CEA, Casa Editrice Ambrosiana - Zanichelli.

Other important tools for the individual preparation are represented on the advice of the teacher, by the consultation of "Pubmed" and/or of scientific papers, useful for an updated comprehension of the course.
Further specific bibliographic indications can be provided directly by the teacher during the course. Any additional materials will be made available by the teacher to supplement the recommended texts and uploaded on the dedicated website.

Teaching Methods

The Course is structured in 40 hours (4 CFU) learning subdivided into 2-3 hours lessons, according to the academic calendar. The teaching is divided into theorical lectures, supported by the projection of slides prepared by the teacher, whose purpose is to transmit concepts, information and schemes useful for the comprehension of the scientific subjects. During the Course, the teacher will propose some checks of learning to be performed in groups of study to test "in itinere" the students' learning. The frequency of the course is obligatory and the final test will be equal for frequenting and non-frequenting students.

Evaluation methods

Verification of learning:

The student must sign to the exam on Esse3. The evaluation method consists of oral examination and the topics under examination will reflect those discussed during the lessons and present in the program. The exam mode and the evaluation methos will be indicated by the teacher at the beginning of the lessons. The evaluation will be based on the knowledge of the topics covered by the exam questions and the student's logical-argumentative skills. For the purposes of the evaluation, the quality of the oral presentation will also be taken into consideration with particular reference to the competence in the use of the specialized lexicon. The final grade is calculated as the average of the individual modules of the positive results (above 18/30) of the different modules that, together with that of General Pathology, are included in the integrated course.

Contacts/More Information

Student Reception
Please contact the teacher at E-mail:
gdorazi@unich.it

Università degli Studi
"G. d'Annunzio"

Chieti - Pescara

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