The Human Condition(HC) provides an integrated presentation of the factors that make us uniquely human. The course addresses the development, physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacology, biochemistry, and structure of the central and peripheral nervous system from the cellular to the organismic level.
The course is a journey through the structure and function of the neuroaxis. We address our ability to transduce information, conduct it along peripheral nerves and send it through the spinal cord, to the brain. In the opposite direction, motor function and coordination are tracked from the cortex to the muscle, paying attention to modifying factors that can affect it along the way.
We explore the pathogenesis and therapeutic approaches to sensory dysfunction (including pain and the special senses) and motor dysfunction (including disorders of tone and strength).
The neuropsychiatric section is an important component of the course, preceded by an overview of the limbic system. The approach to psychiatric function and illness begins with basic principles of psychiatry and human cognitive development and transitions into specific psychiatric disorders presented from a clinical diagnostic and interventional perspective, with attention to what is known about the underlying pathophysiology of these disorders. Psychiatry is the final clinical experience provided in ICE to the students in this course, the Human Condition.
Structure labs are dedicated to both gross and microscopic neuroanatomy, the special senses, and head and neck anatomy, with an added focus on neuro-imaging. All are aligned with several sessions for learning the complete neurologic examination.