AIMS AND CONTENT

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The teaching aims to make the student acquire adequate knowledge about the organization of the human Nervous System, paying special attention to all the structures involved in understanding and generating language.

TEACHING METHODS

The teaching activity is organized in lectures for a total amount of time of 10 hours. During these lectures all the issues the student has to know for the final exam will be explained and discussed with the help of visual aids.

Pursuant to L.170/10 “New Regulations on Specific Learning Disorders in Schools”, support services are in place for students with Specific Learning Disorders (SAD), disabilities or other educational needs, through the “Support Services Sector for disabilities and for students with SAD”. These students are encouraged to contact the lecturer and the School's disability contact person, Prof. Nicola Girtler (nicolagirtler@unige.it), at the beginning of the course to agree on possible teaching modalities that, while respecting the objectives of the course, take into account individual learning patterns.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Introduction to the study of neuroanatomy.
General organization of the nervous system.
Meningeal coverings and the ventricular system.
The spinal cord: external and internal organization. The spinal nerves.
The brain stem: external and internal organization. Main nuclei of the brain stem. The tectum. The reticular formation. The cranial nerves.
The cerebellum: external and internal organization. Nuclei and cerebellar cortex.
The diencephalon: thalamus, hypothalamus, basic facts on epithalamus and subthalamus.
The telencephalon: external configuration. The cerebral cortex. The basal nuclei. Organization of the telencephalic white matter. Overview of the limbic system. The ippocampus. Cerebral specializations. Brodmann areas. Cerebral asymmetries.
Afferent systems. Overview of the different receptor types. Exteroceptive and proprioceptive sensory receptors. Ascending sensory pathways. The olfactory receptors and and the olfaction pathway. The gustatory receptors and the taste pathway. The eye and the visual system. The ear and the auditory and vestibular systems.
The motor systems. The corticospinal pathway and basic facts on non corticospinal motor sytems. The autonomic system.
Blood supply of the brain.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

One of the following Anatomy texts of your choice:
Tortora, Nielsen - Principi di Anatomia Umana – Editrice Ambrosiana
Martini, Timmons, Tallitsch – Anatomia Umana - EdiSes
Saladin - Anatomia Umana - Piccin

To further investigate the Neuroanatomy part:
FitzGerald Neuroanatomia - Mtui, Gruener, Dockery - Edra

The slides used during the lectures are downloadable in PDF format from AulaWEB.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral exam

ASSESSMENT METHODS

During the exam, the knowledge and understanding of the structures of  the human nervous system and how they work together, as well as the communication skills used by the student, will be assessed.