GENERAL AND CLINICAL PATHOLOGY (ATT)
GENERAL PATHOLOGY (4 credits) |
Learning outcomes of the course unit
At the end of the course, the student should have attained in depth knowledge of the etio-pathogenetic factors that underlie the alterations of structures, functions and mechanisms of control and response to tissue damage at different levels of integration (molecules, cells, tissues, organism).
Course contents summary
Introductory concepts. Health and homeostasis. Deviations from homeostasis. The etiology of tissue injury at molecular level. Extrinsic causes of disease: Physical causes; Chemical causes; Biological causes. Intrinsic causes of disease: Single-gene disorders with classic and non classic inheritance; Multifactorial diseases; Cytogenetic disorders
Pathophysiology of tissue injury and repair. The response to tissue injury. Hemostasis: Phases and mechanisms; Hemorrhagic diseases due do defects in primary or secondary hemostasis; Consumption coagulopathies. Thrombosis, embolism, infarction. Acute and chronic inflammation; Events, mechanisms, types and evolution of the inflammatory process; Chemical mediators of inflammation; Types of inflammatory lesions; Systemic effects of inflammation. Tissue repair and regeneration: Stem cells and tissue regeneration; Tissue repair and its alterations; Wound healing; Fibrosis. Atherosclerosis.
The immune response. The Major Hystocompatibility Complex; Innate immunity: Phagocitosis; Complement activation. Specific Immunity: Cell-mediated Immunity; Humoral Immunity.
Cellular pathology. Reversibile and irreversibile cell injury. Adaptive mechanisms to cell injury: hypertrophy, hyperplasia, atrophy, metaplasia, dysplasia. The ischemic-hypoxic stress: Mechanisms; Metabolic consequences; Reperfusion injury; Cell death: necrosis and apoptosis
Recommended readings
Kumar, Abbas, Fausto. Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease. 7th Edition, Elsevier, 2005