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Module - Advanced Pathophysiology and Disease in Practice

The module runs as a series of 5 online session / activities. There are no synchronous / face to face activities which enables students to fit their studies around their own schedule during the course of each session.

You will undertake a literature review during this module.
This can be an extremely rewarding experience as you get to select an area of study (a particular condition in this case) that you want to focus on, reading in depth around the topic and developing your understanding of it.

Apply - April


Advanced Pathophysiology and Disease in Practice cover image

Course Overview

The course starts with some introductory activities that take you through good literature searching skills and how to structure a literature review. You’ll pick a condition, perform a literature search, read in depth on the topic and then write a review of the current understanding of that (the focus being on the cellular events that represent the primary pathophysiological events of the condition) There are no face to face / synchronous activities or teaching sessions, but you will have plenty of opportunity for contact with the module leader, who will support / guide you through the process.

On this course you will...

  • You will explore how most of the conditions / diseases that we are familiar with have at their point of onset one or two of a limited number of possible malfunctions (alterations in homeostatic balance at cellular level) the downstream effects of which manifest themselves in tissue / organ and systemic malfunctions which we recognise by their associated signs and symptoms.
  • Rather than cover the major conditions in a system by system approach the aim of the module is to equip you with a toolbox of transferable understanding which will allow you to better understand conditions and diseases that you are unfamiliar with and the rationale for intervention / treatment.
  • You will do lots of reading, and lots of learning. The module leader is there to support you in the choice of topic, and will help planning what to include (and, importantly, what not to include) in the review. You will therefore need to be well organised and highly motivated to learn.
Apply - April

Course Structure

What you will learn

That depends on the condition chosen. The best options are those that will give you understanding of processes that can be transferred to other conditions. For example, most conditions have a immunological element to them, so picking a condition such as asthma, COPD or RA (there are hundreds to choose from that are suitable) will give you a detailed understanding of immune events that will help understand other conditions (and the rationale for their treatment / management). Although you won’t cover normal physiology in your review (your focus will all be on the abnormal events) you will learn a lot about the system in which your condition is “situated”, along with various aspects of other systems that might be impacted. This is what makes a literature review in this area such a good learning opportunity.

Modules

The topics covered in this module include:
- The cell cycle and malignant disease
- Aspects of immune functioning, including autoimmunity.
- The functioning and manipulation of events at the synapse
- Stress and the HPA axis
- A brief dip into respiratory (COPD) and cardiac (heart failure) functioning.

Attend an Open Day at Cumbria

An Open Day is your opportunity to explore one of 5 campuses, meet your lecturers, and find out how the University of Cumbria could become your new home.

Take the next step towards achieving your dreams.
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