INTERNAL MEDICINE
Academic year and teacher
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2022/2023
- Teacher
- ANGELINA PASSARO
- Credits
- 6
- Didactic period
- Secondo Semestre
- SSD
- MED/09
Training objectives
- The student will acquire knowledge on the pathophysiological, etiological and pathogenetic processes of human diseases, with particular attention to the clinical pictures of internistic, metabolic and nutritional interest, in which an intervention with biotechnologic approach is possible. Moreover, the student will become acquainted with biological rhythms and clinical chronobiology.
The student will acquire cognitive tools to: select and interpret informations; design and apply, in agreement with the medical doctor graduate, diagnostic and therapeutic strategies based on biotechnologies, in the area of internistic expertise.
The student will also acquire skills in programming and scientific development in the field of interest of internal medicine, such as to allow him to operate in the design and management of experimental activities in the biomedical field. Prerequisites
- Good knowledge of human anatomy, and cellular and molecular biology. General knowledge of physiology, pathology, and general pharmacology.
Course programme
- The main internistic syndromic pictures, as well as the main metabolic and nutritional diseases, will also be presented and discussed with reference also to gender-specific differences. The mail clinical experimental methodologies for the research, as well as the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic methodologies will be examinated. The new scientific acquisitions, as well as the possible applications in therapy and on the subject of clinical chronobiology will also be presented. Principles of biotechnological research applied to internal medicine.
1) Precision medicine as a tool for personalizing treatment processes
a) Phenotyping patients
b) Use of genetics and genetic scores
2) Cardiovascular diseases as the main cause of mortality
a) Epidemiology
b) Main clinical pictures
c) Primary and secondary prevention
d) Traditional and emerging risk factors
e) Principles of “Reverse epidemiology”
f) Atherosclerosis
g) Application of high biotechnological processes in diagnostic and therapeutic processes
3) Diseases of glucidic, lipidic and proteic metabolism
a) Brief notes on clinical, epidemiological and etiopathogenetic aspects
(i) Genetic predisposition
(ii) Environmental impact
(iii) Genes ¿ environment interaction
b) Application of highly biotechnological processes in diagnostic and therapeutic processes
4) Arterial hypertension
a) Brief notes on clinical, epidemiological and etiopathogenetic aspects
b) Primary and secondary prevention
c) Specificity by gender
5) Malnutrition, excess and lack
a) Epidemiology
b) Overweight/obesity versus thinness
6) When inflammation becomes a pathological process
7) Chronobiology and biolgical rhythms
a) Organization of circadian rhythms
(i) Main biological clock
(ii) Peripheral (secondary) biological clocks
(iii) Synchronizers (light/dark, activity/rest, eating)
(iv) Desynchronizations (jet lag, shift work, daylight saving time) and consequences on health (sleep, metabolic diseases, cardiovascular diseases, neoplasms)
b) Temporal aspects of diseases: chronopathology (cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, psychiatric diseases, and others)
c) Basic principles of chronotherapy and possible applications in several diseases (cardiovascular, rheumatologic, oncologic)
d) Biotechnologies and chronotherapy
8) Degenerative diseases
a) Molecular and cellular mechanisms
9) Overlap between degeneration and inflammation
10) Comorbility and polipharmacotherapy
11) Comparison between active treatment and palliation Didactic methods
- The teachers, from time to time, will be able to use different teaching strategies in order to optimize learning processes
1) Frontal lessons aimed at providing basic knowledge
2) Tutorial approach and demonstrations
3) Discussion in the classroom and study of specific cases
4) Cooperative learning and brainstorming Learning assessment procedures
- Written multiple choice test: 30 closed-ended questions, with 4 possible answers each (1 correct only), to which 1 point must be attributed for each correct answe, and 0 points for each wrong or undeclared answer. Positive evaluation; score equal to or higher than 18/30 points. In case of correct answers 30/30, ‘cum laude’ score is awarded. Time allowed: 30 minutes (1 question/1 minute)
Reference texts
- Part of the teaching material (slides, scientific papers) will be provided by the teachers (deposited in the personal mini-site available to students). All the principal internal medicine textbooks are valid for detailed more-in-depth studies.
