units

PSC2332

Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Monash University

Undergraduate - Unit

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2014 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

LevelUndergraduate
FacultyFaculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
OfferedParkville Second semester 2014 (Day)
Coordinator(s)Dr Sab Ventura

Synopsis

This unit builds on the previous physiology and pharmacology units and aims to describe the pathophysiology of the important disorders listed below. This unit will provide a solid grounding of knowledge as to how biological systems are affected by these diseases and how drugs can be used to modify these changes and rebalance a person's physiology. Logical approaches to designing experiments using different biological research methods to identify new therapeutic targets for these disorders will also be explored.

This will involve the study of:

  • hypertension
  • benign prostatic hyperplasia
  • diabetes
  • erectile dysfunction
  • asthma
  • heart disease

Outcomes

At the end of this unit students will be able to:

  1. Describe the pathophysiology of the six diseases states under study;
  2. Describe the physiological mechanisms which have been affected by these disorders;
  3. Explain how affected physiological mechanisms can be manipulated by currently used drugs;
  4. Design an experiment using various biological research methods to identify targets which may be therapeutically useful in the treatment of the disorders to be studied;
  5. Analyse data obtained from research to see whether a new drug is considerably more effective than an established one;
  6. Explain the different pharmacological targets which can be exploited to rebalance a patient's physiology in the treatment of disease;
  7. Demonstrate the development of written and oral communication skills appropriate for 3rd year students - explain the pathophysiology for one disease state and one associated drug treatment, relating the drug target to the disease state.

Assessment

Each tutorial/workshop/practical associated with each disease state 5% of the final assessment; 2 hour final exam 70%; Each disease state will comprise 20 min of the final exam

Chief examiner(s)

Workload requirements

Contact hours for on-campus students:

  • Twenty four x 1-hour lectures
  • Six x 3-hour tutorials, workshops or practicals

Prerequisites

Additional information on this unit is available from the faculty at: