Principles of Disease PATH*3610 Quiz

Course Instructor-in-Charge

• Dr. Robert A. Foster
• BVSc. (Qld), PhD. (JCUNQ), MANZCVS, Diplomate ACVP, Professor

Course Title and Code

• Principles of Disease
• PATH*3610

Course Year

• 2025

Course Description

• Designed for students with interests in nutrition and biology.
• Covers basic disease concepts in cells, tissues, organs, and body fluids.
• Focuses on disease processes from physical, toxic, microbiological, and other causes.

Course Objectives

• Integrate anatomy, physiology, and disease mechanisms.
• Explain disease effects on the body and rationale for treatment.
• Objectively and scientifically interpret medical articles.
• Understand the significance of common pathological processes.
• Emphasize the induction of disease and the body's response.
• Define medical terms related to general pathology.
• Outline general mechanisms of cell and tissue injury/death.
• Describe the general response and outcome of injury to tissues.
• Explain the mechanisms of infectious diseases and microbial effects on the body.
• Outline methods for preventing infectious diseases.
• Detail the development, effects, and treatments of neoplasia.
• Describe responses to injury in various organs (skin, stomach, intestines, bone marrow, blood, lungs, liver, kidneys, heart, vessels, brain, spinal cord, bones, and joints).
• Explain clinical signs and reasons behind them when organs fail.
• Describe and provide examples of treatments for diseases.

General Considerations

• Course is about disease ('dis-' from, 'ease'- formation of disease).
• Course integrates anatomy, physiology, and disease mechanisms to understand common diseases and therapies.
• Course focuses on failure of the body's homeostatic mechanisms.
• Signs are observable symptoms of diseases.
• Symptoms are subjective experiences of disease.
• Challenges include the large volume of medical terminology
• Define key terms like Incidence, Prevalence, Asymptomatic infections, Infection fatality rate, Case fatality rate (IFR and CFR), and Association.
• Articulates Koch postulates as the basis for determining disease causation.

Cellular Injury, Death, and Adaptation

• Homeostasis is cell's ability to cope with physiological demands.
• Injury occurs when demands exceed the cell's adaptation ability.
• Three responses: adaptation, reversible injury, and irreversible injury and cell death.
• Potential causes of cell injury include oxygen deprivation, physical agents, chemical agents, infectious agents, immunological reactions, genetic derangements, nutritional imbalances, and aging.
• Defects in membrane permeability, mitochondrial damage, reactive oxygen/nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) formation are common injury pathways.
• Discuss cell death mechanisms (apoptosis, necrosis).
• Describe different methods of cell death on a microscopic level (coagulative, liquefactive, caseous, gangrenous necrosis.
• Metaplasia is one cell type changing to another.

Problem Solving and Diagnosis

• Processes of pathogenesis involve three steps: cause, mechanisms, and clinical outcomes.

Circulatory Disturbances

• Vascular systems transport cells, nutrients, and wastes, maintaining fluid and electrolyte balance.
• Starling forces and regulation of capillary/interstitial fluid balance are explained.
• Edema, as a specific circulatory disturbance, is caused by differences in hydrostatic pressure and oncotic pressure.
• Haemorrhage is the loss of blood from a vessel or blood clot (from blood flow disruption into interstitial fluid).
• Thrombosis is the formation of blood clot within blood vessels.

Immunology

• Immune systems maintain health by preventing foreign material entry and removing altered/damaged cells.
• Immunology distinguishes between antigens and immunogens
• Innate and adaptive immunity mechanisms are elaborated.
• Discussion of specific cells, cytokines, and the role of antibodies.
• Discusses non-specific and specific immune responses; cell-mediated; and antibody-mediated immunity.

Inflammation, Healing, and Repair

• Injury initiating and inflammation process (acute and chronic).
• Repair processes (regeneration and fibrosis).
• Explain possible underlying mechanisms of these processes.
• Discuss the cardinal signs of inflammation: redness, swelling, heat, pain, and loss of function.