Entry requirements

120 credits from a medical, nursing, physiotherapist, biomedicine, pharmacy, or biology programme or other courses providing equivalent knowledge

Learning outcomes

After the course, the student should be able to

Knowledge and understanding

• Develop trans-disciplinary and interprofessional cooperation in a global and environmental context for the subject neurology
• Describe differences in global resources, the importance of poverty and its current spread including the effect of this in our local care
• Identify environmental risks that influence the nervous system including specific biological mechanisms of man and in animal models
• Give an account of environmental factors that are essential for neurological health
• Give an account of risks of modern warfare (nuclear and chemical) and of climate changes from a medical perspective
• Give examples of implementation of the aim of the course in the form of local efforts for sustainable development
• Describe principles of medical priority at large accidents that influence the infrastructure

Skills and abilities

• Carry out risk assessments and decision models for environmental impact on organisms
• Calculate risks of environmental factors in a fourfold table
• Describe relevant laboratory methods that are included in the course
• Develop local (including own) medical care and diagnostics so that it includes aspects from global health and environmental impact

Judgement and approach

• Describe influence of ethical and political issues in different social systems
• Identify economic driving forces behind risks and positive development in the modern society from a global perspective

Content

The aim of the course is to give basic information about all factors that give environmental health risks for the nervous system together with possibilities/instruments to handle these risks interdisciplinary and multiprofessionally.

Main fields of study/week (1-5)

1. Public health and epidemiology (Introduction week joint with Global Health in the physician programme)

Principles of causality, complexity, Big data, risk assessment, prevention, preventive principles, public health, global aspects, poverty, access to care, resources, rehabilitation, social progress, effect on care

2. Basic science

One Health anthropo-zoonosis, medical entomology, basic and clinical toxicology, ionising and non ionising radiation, noise, contaminants in water and air, endocrine disruptors, chemical effects in the environment, risks in occupational medicine

3. Environmental factors

Risk factors in the environment: external/internal, local/global. Genetics, epigenetics, environmental medicine, Water circle, physiology, adaptation, metabolic biorhythms, ecology, climate changes, evolutionary biology (CNS), anthropology. Concept: critical window in the ontogenesis.

4. Neurological disease

Fetal development, environmental threat and autism, global stroke risks, influence of air pollutions, brain tumours, endocrine disruptors, obesity, diabetes risk, "wellfare diseases", environmental factors at MS, neurodegenerative diseases, psychiatric problems, HIV patients in Africa, trauma, post-traumatic stress syndrome, tropical diseases versus climate changes, disaster medicine versus climate changes, extreme events.

5. Economical and ethical aspects

Economic driving forces behind social progress. Sustainable development. the millennium goals. Warfare: nuclear weapons, chemical risks, perspectives. Combined approaches: the new diseases, obesity. New threats: drugs in the environment. Decision-making during uncertainty. Critical assessment of alternative medicine. Hypersensitivity.

Instruction

Cathedral lectures, Skype lectures of international speakers, video lectures, seminars, group assignments, laboratory sessions, study visits

Assessment

Formative examinations.

Final written examination (Multiple choice questions (MCQ) + Modified question essay (MEQ), half of each).

To pass the course, 67% on final written examination is required.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. Special reason can e.g. be a notice of special educational support from the coordinator of the university.