While mastering this content, students may develop their first skills in clinical interviewing and examining patients, understanding their own and others' reactions to illness, and other aspects of the physician's professional role. This course consists of lectures and laboratory work supplemented by group conferences. It is offered by the Department of Physiology with assistance from the departments of Neurology, Internal Medicine, Cell Biology and Biochemistry. Basic concepts in anatomy and membrane physiology are emphasized early in the course. This is followed by a more comprehensive study of function based on organ systems.
Emphasis is placed on the practical and integrative aspects of human physiology and neurobiology.
The general purpose of the course is to offer students an opportunity not only to acquire knowledge of normal human body function but also to analyze physiologic problems that may be encountered in disease. This course covers endocrinology, reproductive physiology, human development and selected aspects of endocrine pathophysiology in a multidisciplinary approach. The course offers an overview of the structural, functional and biochemical aspects of the cells and organs of internal secretion and of those tissues that are prime targets of hormones secreted by endocrine glands. The course consists of an in-depth consideration of hypothalamic, pituitary, thyroid, endocrine pancreas, parathyroid, adrenal and gonadal function as well as detailed discussion of such hormonally dependent exocrine glands as the seminal vesicles, prostate, endometrium and mammary glands. Special emphasis is placed on spermiation, ovulation, fertilization, implantation and pregnancy.