Pathophysiology and Pharmacotherapy I

Code:

MI074236

Acronym:

FPFTE1

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Health Sciences

Instance: 2019/2020 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Pharmacology Laboratory
Course/CS Responsible:	MSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MICF	153	Official Curriculum	4	-	6	52	162

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

Pathophysiology and Pharmacotherapy I is a curricular unit (CU) integrated into a sequence of CUs that include Pharmacology I and II and Pathophysiology and Pharmacotherapy II. Taken together, these CUs have the overall goal of helping the student to:
1. Understand the way drugs act in man;
2. Understand the factors that determine the permanence of the drugs in the body and know the methods that allow to calculate the doses and adjust the dosage regimens to ensure the maintenance of the adequate concentrations to obtain the desired therapeutic effects;
3. Understand the occurrence of adverse reactions and explain those arising from predictable pharmacodynamic responses;
4. Understand interindividual variability in response to drugs in functions of genetic and non-genetic factors.
5. To know the pharmacological targets most exploited for therapeutic purposes, the most representative drugs of each group and the contexts in which they are used clinically.
6. Understand the general aspects of the pathologies that are the main indications of each group of drugs.

Lectures will be used for generic presentations of each of the themes, aiming to give the students an overview of each chapter that prepares them for autonomous learning and for a continuous education throughout their professional life.

In each chapter, key points will be selected to help the student:

1. To understand the pharmacodynamic fundamentals resulting from the performance in each target;
2. To know the main pharmacological effects resulting from this action, regardless of whether they are exploited for therapeutic purposes or can be classified as adverse reactions to the present therapeutic indications;
3. Know the historical context of your discovery
4. Understand the disease and the therapeutic objectives of the various pharmacological interventions.
5. To know the reference drugs of each class and the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic limitations that conditioned and/or condition the appearance of new drugs in the group;
6. To know the present therapeutic indications and future perspectives of new drugs or new indications.

In this context, the curricular unit of Pathophysiology and Pharmacotherapy I has as specific objectives:
1. To help the student to obtain a pharmacological and pharmacotherapeutic knowledge consistent and critical, suitable for graduation in Pharmaceutical Sciences in immunopharmacology;
2. To know the main groups of drugs used in the areas addressed, their mechanisms of action and adverse reactions as well as particularities about their clinical use.

Learning outcomes and competences

As learning outcomes, it is expected that, upon completion of this curricular unit, students will:
a) Demonstrate detailed knowledge of the pharmacological targets and reference drugs;
b) Be able to critically evaluate historical information and the state of the art in each of the pharmacological areas addressed;
c) Know the conditioning factors present in the access and use of reference drugs.
d) Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of recent research progress in each area and are able to gather relevant information and transmit it in written and oral form;
e) Develop inter-group and intra-group work dynamics and demonstrate the ability and resourcefulness to communicate and discuss pharmacological knowledge through different forms of communication and to different audiences.

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

Students should be knowledgeable about human physiology as well as the general mechanisms of drug action and their general cycle in the body.

Program

THEORETICAL CLASSES (Lectures)

IMMUNOPHARMACOLOGY

Cellular and molecular context of pharmacological intervention in immunopharmacology.
 
General aspects of host defense mechanisms.
 
The inflammatory response and its phases.
 
Inflammatory mediators: Autacoids derived from lipids, histamine, and peptides.
 
Eicosanoids and drugs that interfere with the modulatory effects of eicosanoid inflammation. Other non-modulating effects of eicosanoid inflammation. Clinical use of drugs that interfere with the effects/synthesis of lipid-derived autacoids.
 
Other lipid messengers: PAF and endocannabinoids.
 
Bradykinin, interleukins, and cytokines; main drugs that interfere with these messengers and particularities of their clinical use.
 
Other autacoids: histamine, bradykinin. Possibilities of pharmacological intervention.
 
The complement and coagulation cascades in the context of the defense response. Forms of pharmacological intervention.
 
The extracellular matrix and modulation of its fluidity: drugs and their therapeutic indications.
 
Corticosteroids and corticosteroids.
 
Immunodrugs used in specific contexts:
- rheumatic diseases,
- asthma and other respiratory diseases
- inflammatory bowel diseases
- cardiovascular inflammatory diseases

Mandatory literature

Alfred Gilman; Goodman and Gilmans. the pharmacological basis of therapeutics. ISBN: 0-02-344710-9
Carol Mattson Porth; Pathophysiology. ISBN: 0-397-54723-4
Joseph T. DiPiro; Pharmacotherapy. ISBN: 0-07-136361-0
Serafim Correia Pinto Guimarães; Terapêutica medicamentosa e suas bases farmacológicas. ISBN: 972-0-06029-8

Comments from the literature

Appropriate bibliography will be provided for each chapter through the Moodle platform.

Teaching methods and learning activities

The teaching methodologies adopted in the lectures are based on general expositions by the academic staff, with the presentation of the state of the art for each of the chapters of pharmacology and pharmacotherapy addressed, with the aim of helping students to achieve the learning objectives. 

The laboratory teaching will work as a complement to the topics presented in the lectures with the aim of helping the student to select, in a rigorous and rigorous manner, the diverse sources of reliable information, know the general aspects that influence the use of the main drugs of each group, the therapeutic limitations of each therapeutic group, and develop communication skills that allow them to interact with other health professionals on topics related to the use of medicines.

keywords

Health sciences > Pharmacological sciences
Health sciences > Medical sciences > Medicine > Immunology
Health sciences > Medical sciences > Medicine > Oncology
Health sciences > Pharmacological sciences > Pharmacy
Health sciences > Medical sciences > Medicine > Rheumatology

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	5,00
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	25,00
Teste	70,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	140,00
Frequência das aulas	30,00
Trabalho laboratorial	10,00
Total:	180,00

Eligibility for exams

Student attendance at laboratory classes is compulsory. Students attending less than 3/4 of the classes actually taught (provided that they represent more than 50% of the classes scheduled) will not be admitted for evaluation.
Student attendance at lectures is not compulsory.

Calculation formula of final grade

The evaluation will include all the subjects taught in lectures and in the practical/laboratory classes.
 
 
It consists of the sum of the evaluation to the laboratory component (maximum quotation of 5 values (scale from 0 to 20) with the note of direct participation and that of the theoretical component (maximum quotation of 14 values).
The evaluation of the laboratory component will be based on an evaluation of papers presented in each laboratory class by each group of students and their discussion. The evaluation will be based in (i) the ability to select reliable and science-based information on the topic addressed; (ii) the communication skills revealed during the presentation to peers and (iii) the level of knowledge of the topic and their capacity to translate data from fundamental research to the clinical use.

The evaluation of the theoretical component will be carried out in a distributed way in two evaluation events (frequencies) according to the official evaluation calendar. It will consist of a questionnaire with multiple-choice questions and/or short answer questions. Unless technological or logistical limitations appear, the final exam will be done in a computer, through the platform Moodle.
The classification of the direct participation component will be based on the evaluation of presentations (voluntary) to be made in lecture period or laboratory classes, following a journal club model, on the topics related to the course.

For the approval in the UC is required a minimum of 6.5 values in the theoretical component (quotation from 0 to 14).

This evaluation process can be changed for reasons of force majeure that may affect the normal functioning of the Faculty.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Students with worker-student status may be exempted from the laboratory evaluation component. In this case, they will have to do only a final exam that will include all the subjects taught in the lectures and laboratory classes, and that will have the quotation up to 20 values.
For these students, the final exam will occur simultaneously with the second frequency and according to the official evaluation calendar. 

The same procedure may be applicable to the ERASMUS students who do not wish to participate in the continuous evaluation of the laboratory component. However, they must attend laboratory classes to obtain the possibility to be admitted to the final exam.

The students must communicate to the academic staff of the CU their decision at the beginning of the semester.