58364 - Environmental Physiology

Learning outcomes

 After completing this course, students have the knowledge about the human homeostatic mechanisms in response to environmental stimuli. In particular, the student: - knows how to analyze human physiological responses to chemical and physical environmental stimuli  - is able to understand physical and chemical parameters that constitute the procedures and constraints of human physiological responses.

Course contents

General concepts. Internal environment (extracellular and intracellular). Physiologic answers to physical and chemical parameters. Homeostasis and regulatory mechanisms: tolerance and resistance. Adaptation and acclimatization.

Outside environment: atmosphere, water and earth. Generic answers to the environment. Influence of light waves. Circadian rhythms. Reproductive cycle adaptations consequent to environmental parameters. Answers to physical environment. High altitude: immediate and delayed effects due to hypoxia. Acclimatization to immersion. Effects of high pressure. Effects of extreme temperatures. Answers to chemical environment. Pollutant gases: sulphur and nitric oxide, respiratory dusts, lead, mercury, cadmium. Environmental toxicology: general concepts. Endocrine disrupting chemicals: PCBs and Phytoestrogens. Toxic effects of free radicals in respiration.

"Stem cell physiology" 

Stem Cells characteristics:
- Self - maintenance
- Totipotency
- Multipotency
- Commissioning
- Clonogenicity 
Stem Cells classification:
- Embryonic
- Fetal 
- Adult: circulating, in tissues, mesenchymal, normal and tumoral
Physiology of Stem Cells
Identification of Stem Cells:
Antigenic markers
Biological - Functional Markers.

Mechanisms of Differentiation, Transdifferenziazione and Plasticity
Brief on the Pathophysiologyc Role of Stem Cells in Organ Damages and malignancies



Possible Clinical Use of Stem Cells in Regenerative Medicine

Experimental models in the study of stem cells:

■ normal and tumoral mammospheres 
■ tumoral colonspheres

Readings/Bibliography

G.E. Folk Jr., M.L. Riedesel, D.L. Thrift

Principles of integrative environmental physiology.

Austin & Winfield Publishers

Stem Cells: Scientific progress and future research directions  

Report created by the National Institutte of Health (NIH), USA.

Online version:

http://stemcells.nih.gov/staticresources/info/scireport/PDFs/fullrptstem.pdf

 

 

Teaching methods

The course consists of 4 frontal CFU, corresponding to 32 hours of lectures and seminars on topic "Physiology of stemness"

Assessment methods

End of course exam aims to assess the achievement of the following  learning objectives:
- Knowing the regulators of human physiologic omeostasis
- Know the main chemical factors that perturb physiologic homeostasis
- Knowing the physical factors that perturb physiologic homeostasis
The final score for the course "Environmental Physiology" is defined by an oral test on the average of scores obtained in at least three specific questions on topics related to the main objectives of the course.

Teaching tools

Computer with projector.

Transilluminator.

Material: material presented during lectures will be made available to the student in electronic format via the Internet.
To get educational materials: http://campus.unibo.it/
Username and password are reserved for students enrolled at University of Bologna

Links to further information

http://stemcells.nih.gov/staticresources/info/scireport/PDFs/fullrptstem.pdf

Office hours

See the website of Tiziana Guarnieri