Medical Physiology Spring 2012
Respiratory, Renal & Neural Medical Systems Physiology
(plus some useful & necessary cardiovascular physiology)

Tu/Th 11:10-12:30 Harder 103 (unless Dana 316 TBA)
version 1.1 , Feb. 01, 2012

Always a PRELIMINARY outline
Your assignment- how Respiration 1 class will be conducted [ link ]
Neuro readings will be updated later in the course

Abbreviations HO= in paper/electronic handout / HU = web-HUMAN simulation / FigAnal-TBA = Guyton Figure Analysis- Figures TBA
G= Guyton 13th W=West 9th, cancelled->M&G^ = old M&G readings listed, replacement for M&G readings TBA / POD=on 'pain of death'

About Medical Physiology 2012 [now updated for Spring 2012 ]

         The material below is laregly the sort of thing that becomes obsolete & obvious after progressing several weeks into the course but I nevertheless think it worth conveying here in writing.

         I would characterize the course as advanced in level, demanding of steady student participation, as likely to depart from 'plan' as we follow our interests and allow them to grow organically and as (of course, I'm biased!) potentially very rewarding.

1) The level of the course is graduate level. This is evident immediately from the 2 texts, each of which is a graduate/medical school-level physiology text. Indeed, as will become obvious to you simply from thumbing though them, each is set up in part with aids to facilitate student study for their second year USMLE "basic science" "medical boards".

The texts are [These ARE fully updated for Spring 2012!! ]

Respiratory Physiology- The Essentials- 9th edition. John B. West. Lippincott Williams and Wilkens, 2011. (W)

Textbook of Medical Physiology- 13th edition. John E. Hall & Arthur C. Guyton and . Elsevier Saunders Inc., 2011. (G)

Note well: The text below has been dropped.
Manter and Gatz's Essentials of Clinical Neuroanatomy and Physiology- 10th Edition. Sid Gilman and Sarah Winans Newman. F.A. Davis Publishing, 2003. (MG)

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As we work through the first 4 classes you will realize that in certain instances one does not underline these readings with colored marker; rather it pays to dip the entire chapter into colored dye. [-;

2) Active student participation is the basic method of "lecture" in this course. With myself as leader each "lecture" class consists of perhaps a very brief mini-lecture by myself followed by "volunteer" student analyses/presentations of selected focal sub-topics and interwoven class discussion based on those presentations. The items to be prepared by student 'volunteers' for presentation vary with the system under study as follows:

Respiratory Physiology – classes are /often largely structured around student presentations of an analysis of their "answers" to the USMLE style questions at the end of each chapter. Note that you should be prepared to to support your reasoning for selecting the correct answer and your reasoning for rejecting each of the wrong answers.

Renal and Fluid Balance Systems Physiology – classes are largely structured around student "volunteer" analysis and explanation of key Hall & Guyton chapter data figures.

Neuroanatomy and Neurophysiology – classes are largely based upon student volunteer presentation of the mock clinical case(s) associated with that (/those) chapter's topic.

3) Lab While there is no scheduled lab we may periodically use the web-HUMAN simulation as an in-class tool, usually via group work.

4) Who is in this course? Who should take this course? In any average year you will find your classmates to come from a variety of physiology backgrounds (Comparative Vertebrate Physiology- 'required'* [11 of us this year], Neuroscience 101, Human Anatomy and Physiology, Exercise Science) and to have a variety of majors (Biology- Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, Biology- Integrative Biology, Neuroscience, Exercise Science, Chemistry-Biochemistry Concentration) and future interests (graduate school, field work, medicine, health professions, etc.).
* Those granted exceptions to the 244 requirement have agreed, as necessary, to make up any 'gap'.

5) The course WILL depart from what is on the schedule as it bends organically to our interests and capabilities. It is my job to keep you updated on changes in schedule and to insure that student "volunteers" for the next class have their assigned topic in time to prepare.

I understand well the sorts of time/workload pressures that hard science students at Skidmore are under and that schedule changes make planning time-management more difficult. Nevertheless, the WILL be schedule adjustments (I will try to minimize them) to keep the course dynamically flexible.

6) Exams / Grades -
What - there are 2 (or 3++), as listed above (plus a final review paper). All exams are 100% problem analysis-based and none are of the spit-back-the-facts type. They are be based on predistributed data sets from actual or mock clinical cases. They stress physiological thinking, which is ultimately what I am after teaching in this course.

How/when - The general format is that you are handed an exam somewhat before the end of a course section (e.g. respiration, see Feb. 28th above) which essentialy is a data pack(s) of a clinical case(s). You agree to consult only certain sources (e.g. West & Guyton). You have approximately 1-1.5 weeks to prepare your analysis(/es) after which, with no notes or sources in front of you, you type/write down your analysis in class on the prescribed day and location (e.g. Harder 103, Dana 316) to be specified (e.g. respiration, see Mar. 08th above). You will enjoy the exams.

++Exam 3- there IS a registrar scheduled Exam 3 but few (or none) usually take it as it is optional. The choice to take the 3rd exam is usually the student's - you might feel you are on the border between two grades, say B+ and A-, and feel it would help clarify your position
In unusual cases I reserve the right to ask you to take the 3rd exam at my option.

Since there is usually no third exam, grades are an average, 1/3 each, of the 2 exams and your final paper.
If you request a third (i.e. neuro) exam , the grade is made up of four parts, the 3 exams and the paper.

7) The final paper and its associated symposium are on the course schedule (see April 19 and May 9) and will be discussed more fully as the course progresses. This paper is to be a brief review paper of current physiological research on a topic of our mutual agreement.

8) The fine print on attendance. Finally, as in Comparative Physiology, I make the formal statement for legal reasons that 100% attendance is required (no unexcused absences) and that any failure to meet this requirement, at my discretion, could result in failure for the course. Of course exceptions (plase warn me and your presentation partners ahead of time!) are made for graduate school and job interviews etc..

9) Student effort- This can be, and in the past has often been( along with its predecessor- Mammalian) a great learning experience. Much depends, as it always does, on the professor. But in this course, because it is often so student-driven, much also depends on each of you committing yourselves to the course.

Keep an eye out for the "volunteer" list (who takes the lead in presenting a figure, question or case).

The latest version of the volunteer list (not yet updated!), is sometimes handed out in class in paper)

10) Office Hours