Medical Neuroscience
Course Information
MEDICAL NEUROSCIENCE - 2006
Instructor: Robert Sweazey
Course Number: Anatomy D-508
Credit Hours: 5
CONTENTS
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Medical Neuroscience is a multidisciplinary
course that covers the structure and function of the nervous system, with
the greatest emphasis on the central nervous system. The course is primarily
a regional and systems neuroanatomy course, but additional clinically relevant
information will be presented as necessary. Material related to the
embryology and histology of neural systems has been covered in your earlier
courses and neurophysiology and neuroimmunology are covered in other first
year courses. Therefore, we will simply review these subjects in
or out of class. Much of the material related to neuropathology and
neuropharmacology will be covered in classes you will take during your
second year, but an effort will be made to introduce you to these subjects.
It is not suggested that the materials presented in this
course represents all that there is to know about neuroanatomy or neuroscience.
Instead, the goal of this course is to provide a foundation in neuroscience
upon which students can build throughout the remainder of their medical
training and professional career. Because of the large number and
broad spectrum of neurological diseases and disorders, it is necessary
that the acquisition of basic neuroanatomical knowledge not be limited
to those students interested in careers in neurology, but that it be provided
to clinicians in all areas of medical practice.
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ORGANIZATION OF
THE COURSE
Generally, the Medical Neuroscience course will
be taught on Monday , Wednesday and Thursday 10:00-12:00 and Friday 10:00-11:00. Due to scheduling conflicts with guest clinical
speakers, some exceptions to this schedule may occur. Exceptions
to this schedule are noted in the course syllabus by ****. The course
is organized into lecture and laboratory/discussion components.
Lectures
The material presented during lecture and in your lecture
notes constitutes your most essential sources of information for this class.
All lecture presentations will be available to you on the classroom computer.
Accompanying each lecture will be a lecture handout that will direct you in
your studies. Lecture handouts are preceded by a list of objectives. These
objectives are guides to the most important material in the class, but you
will be responsible for all material presented in lecture and the reading
assignments from your textbook, Haines, Fundamental Neuroscience 2nd
edition. Although the handouts are comprehensive,
they may not cover all of the material that will be discussed in class.
You will be responsible for any additional information presented in class.
Laboratories
The laboratory sessions are an important part of the
Medical Neuroscience course. These sessions will reinforce and expand on
the topics presented in lecture and will provide hands on opportunity to
visualize the topography and internal organization of the brain in three
dimensions.
Laboratory Manual and Atlas - Each
student will receive a laboratory manual that will guide you in your study
of human neuroanatomy. Individual chapters of the lab manual are
organized according to regions or functional systems. The laboratory
manual, and your laboratory atlas, Haines, Neuroanatomy: An Atlas of Structures,
Sections, and Systems (6th ed.) should be brought to every lab session. I
strongly recommend that you read the pertinent sections of your lab manual and
atlas before coming to lab since this will greatly reduce the amount of time
required to finish the laboratory exercise.
You may find it useful to bring along your textbook as well because it contains useful photomicrographs and drawings of the brain.
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CAI
Your laboratory atlas includes a CD that contains the
atlas images as well as labeled MRIs and CTs that can be used as a study tool.
In addition your instructor has a few additional programs available for
personal use. Neuroanatomy an Electronic Atlas is designed to be a learn and
review tool. It contains sections through the human brain with identified
structures. It includes a testing function to measure
your retention of structures. The images are of moderate quality, but some
students have found the program helpful. Microvascular Atlas of the Head
and Neck reviews the vasculature of the brain in great detail. This
atlas was designed for use by surgeons. Therefore, it contains more detail
than you need to know for this class. However, used in conjunction with your
laboratory manual and lecture notes this program may be helpful for learning
the major arteries and veins of the brain.
Internet -- the internet contains a large amount of neuroanatomical material
placed on the web by different universities and laboratories. Some of the sites
are excellent. Many of the
sites contain self-guided tutorials, self-administered quizzes, brain images (MRI,
CAT and PET) and a few contain three dimensional images of varied quality.
Although the use of the web is not a requirement of the laboratory portion of
the class, I strongly encourage you to take advantage of this resource. I would
welcome any comments about sites that you find particular helpful. A
list of links students have found helpful in the past can be found on the Medical Neuroscience
homepage at http://users.ipfw.edu/sweazey/default2.html
Discussion/Clinical Correlation
Sessions with Area Clinicians.
Clinical correlation sessions with area physicians have
been scheduled during the course. These sessions will expose you to neurological
dysfunction from a clinician's point of view. Although
I do not normally take attendance in class, I will expect all students
to attend these sessions. Your interaction with these local
physicians will be part of your discussion grade and communication competency
evaluation.
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TEXTBOOKS AND READING ASSIGNMENTS
The following are required textbooks for this course:
-
Haines, Duane E., Fundamental Neuroscience, 2nd
edition, Churchill Livingstone, 2002.
-
Haines, Duane E., Neuroanatomy: An Atlas of Structures,
Sections, and Systems, Sixth edition, Williams and Wilkens, 2003 (laboratory
atlas).
Reading assignments from the required textbook are listed
at the beginning of each lecture handout and in your syllabus. These readings
are designed to reinforce, clarify and expand upon the material presented
in lecture. I strongly recommend that you keep up with your reading assignments.
Special attention should be paid to the clinically relevant material
in your textbook. Occasionally, additional readings are assigned and
attached to the back of your lecture handout. These additional readings
will be noted at the beginning of each lecture handout.
There are other neuroscience and neurology textbooks
available in the Fort Wayne Center library and my office that may be of
help to some of you.
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EVALUATION
EXAMS - There will be 7 examinations given in
this course: 4 lecture exams of approximately 2 hours in duration, 2
laboratory exams, and a final Neuroscience Shelf Exam.
Case Study Presentation - As part of your discussion
grade, and communication and problem solving competencies, you will present
a neurological case study to the class for their diagnosis. You will be responsible for finding the case study (in a journal, on
the Internet or perhaps by talking to a physician you know) and then presenting
it to the class for a class problem solving exercise of approximately 15 minutes. Try to keep the case simple so that your fellow
medical students have a chance at a correct diagnosis. Please approve
your topic with the instructor so we do not duplicate cases.
PAPER - As part of your grade and communication
competency, you will be responsible for preparing a short paper that expands on
some aspect of your case study. For example, if your case study concerns
epilepsy you may wish to examine a new antileptic drug. The paper should not
exceed 3 double-spaced pages including a properly prepared
bibliography. The bibliography style can follow any
journal style you choose, but the references must be complete.
Your paper should be comprehensible by a layperson of average intelligence
(imagine you are writing an article for a newsmagazine or a newspaper).
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Dr. Robert Sweazey
313 CM
481-6739
sweazey@ipfw.edu
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Course
Objectives