Undergraduate Course: Somatosensory Mechanisms (PYBM10031)
Course Outline
| School | School of Biomedical Sciences |
College | College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 10 |
| Home subject area | Physiology (Biomedical Sciences) |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | Pain normally serves as a warning signal of impending danger which elicits behavioural responses that function to protect the body from injury. These 'pain behaviours' are therefore essential for survival. If, however injury does take place, there is significant plasticity within the somatosensory system in order to adapt behavioural responses to promote repair and recovery. This injury induced plasticity is adaptive but if these changes persist following healing or occur in response to disease or nervous system injury these changes can be maladaptive and result in chronic pain which is difficult to treat. This course will introduce the transduction apparatus and neural pathways that mediate somatosensation; explore the plasticity that can occur within somatosensory pathways that leads to debilitating chronic pain conditions and how these manifest in the clinic; discuss the challenges in translating basic pain research into effective treatments in the clinic and outline how this system develops and the consequences for somatosensation in the newborn.
An oral presentation and an essay will form the course assessment.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
Increased understanding of biological processes.
Detailed learning outcomes will be provided later. |
Assessment Information
| 100% In-Course Assessment |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Not entered |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Not entered |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | PHYSSomato |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Mike Ludwig
Tel: (0131 6)50 3275
Email: Mike.Ludwig@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Patricia Law
Tel: (0131 6)50 3161
Email: Anne.Law@ed.ac.uk |
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