Introduction to Pathophysiology Overview – Learning Objectives

By the end of this section you will be able to:

• Define the terminology used in pathophysiology:
  • Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Pathophysiology, Pathogenesis, Pathogen
  • Lesion, Disease, Disorder, Syndrome, Homeostasis
  • Acute, Subacute, Insidious Onset, Chronic, Remission, Relapse, Subclinical, Prodromal
  • Infectious, Contagious, Incubation stage, Latency stage
  • Local, Systemic, Complication, Sequelae, Convalescence
  • Diagnosis, Prognosis, Morbidity, Mortality, Etiology, Notifiable Disease
  • Predisposing factors, clinical manifestations, signs, and symptoms

• List common types of etiologies of diseases, disorders, and cellular damage:
  • Infectious agents (viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and helminths)
  • Nutritional deficiencies
  • Fluid/electrolyte imbalances
  • Exposure to toxins, radiation, alcohol, drugs, teratogens
  • Inherited DNA mutations (e.g. cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, Marfan syndrome)
  • Spontaneous DNA mutations (e.g. most cancers)
  • Idiopathic
  • Iatrogenic
  • Congenital multifactorial defects (e.g. congenital heart defects, hypospadias, clubfoot (inward turn of foot), Down syndrome, cleft lip and cleft palate, limb defects, and at times mental dysfunction).
  • Trauma, Ischemia, Hypoxia, Chemicals,  Electrical/Temperature Burn, Free Radicals, Reperfusion,
  • Immune dysfunction (Allergies, Auto-immune diseases, Inflammatory diseases)
  • Metabolic diseases (e.g. enzyme mutation/deficiency)
  • Neoplastic diseases (e.g. benign tumor or malignant tumor)
  • Endogenous/Exogenous intracellular accumulation due to:
    • abnormal metabolism (abnormal enzyme function) – occurs in fatty alcoholic liver disease, damaged/dysfunctional hepatocytes produce & accumulate too much lipid.
    • abnormal protein preparation (e.g. abnormal protein folding or transport) – occurs in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Huntington’s disease (HD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and prion diseases (Creutzfeldt-Jacob)
    • abnormal lysosome function – occurs in Lysosomal Storage Diseases (e.g. Gaucher Disease)
    • inability to degrade phagocytosed particles (e.g. coal dust, in pneumoconiosis)

• Describe stages of drug discovery, placebo, double blind study, true positive, false positive, true negative, false negative, sensitive test, specific test, valid, reliable

• List types of Diagnostic Tests:  Genetic test, Urinalysis, Blood test, Pulmonary function test, Echocardiogram, Electrocardiogram, Electroencephalogram, Electromyogram, Imaging (X-ray, ultrasound, CT scan, MRI), Endoscopy, Histology

• Describe different types of Necrosis:
  • Liquefaction, Coagulative, Fat, Caseous
  • Describe the difference between necrosis and apoptosis

• Dystrophic and Metastatic Calcification, Infarction, Gangrene

• List factors that may at times pre-dispose to certain ailments:
  •  Age, Biological Sex, Genetics, Congenital defects, Diet, Lifestyle (e.g. smoking, sedentary behaviour, sleep habits, hobbies, travel), Occupation, Location.

• Define Epidemiology, Endemic, Epidemic, Pandemic, Prevalence, Incidence

• • Define biopsy

• Describe common cellular adaptations and understand why each occurs.
  • Atrophy (and 7 common causes),
  • Physiologic Hypertrophy, Pathologic Hypertrophy, Metaplasia, Hyperplasia, Dysplasia, Anaplasia, Neoplasia, Benign Tumour, Malignant Tumor, Carcinoma in situ, Carcinoma, Metastasis, Oncovirus.