MEDSCI 101G : Environmental Threats to Human Health

Medical and Health Sciences

2020 Semester Two (1205) (15 POINTS)

Course Prescription

Our environment sustains our lives but at times threatens our health. These threats may occur naturally, or arise from damage we have inflicted on the environment. This course considers health impacts of climate change, pollution, lifestyle choices, poverty and affluence, workplace hazards, emerging infectious diseases, and dangers affecting cancer risk.

Course Overview

Humans survive precariously in an environment consisting of fluctuating physical conditions, potentially harmful chemicals, and disease-causing microbes. Human activity has perturbed ecological relationships in ways that may have harmful consequences. Human industry has generated many untested and potentially harmful substances, and contemporary life has also resulted in altered patterns of interactions with microbes.
The course will deal with the nature and location of health hazards in our environment, the routes by which people may be exposed to them, the mechanisms by which these agents perturb the functions in the body, and the ways in which the resulting diseases manifest themselves.
Chemical agents in the form of organic (carbon-based) compounds may injure tissues. The effects of air pollution may reflect the action of both of these kinds of substances. There is concern (and debate) over whether organic pollutants can act like hormones and subvert reproductive function.
Biological effects include lifestyle factors (resulting in diseases of poverty or of affluence), or contaminants in food. Microbes constitute a vast, rapidly changing and (to our minds) strangely foreign world of organisms. Many agents can interact in subtle ways to affect the risks of developing cancer, and we consider environmental impact affecting some of the major cancer - including those in New Zealand: skin, lung, colon and liver cancers.


Course Requirements

No pre-requisites or restrictions

Capabilities Developed in this Course

Capability 1: Disciplinary Knowledge and Practice
Capability 2: Critical Thinking
Capability 3: Solution Seeking
Capability 4: Communication and Engagement
Capability 5: Independence and Integrity
Graduate Profile: University

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
  1. Understand how our well-being is dependent on goods and services provided by our environment, how pollutants and pathogenic microbes can make us sick, and how many changes that technological progress has introduced have unforeseen risks (processed foods, additives, decreased physical activity), how some important cancers arise from environmental influences. (Capability 1)
  2. Evaluate the health effects of components in our environment, some of which are uncertain or controversial - including pollutants that act like hormones, altered exposure to microbes, the use of antibiotics and tanning clinics (Capability 2)
  3. Develop a mindset that fosters health: valuing our environment even when we can't place a fiscal value on it; coping with high temperatures (a challenge especially in cities), maintaining a good diet and good microbes in our bodies; minimising risk of certain infections and cancers. (Capability 3)
  4. Explain the basis of certain diseases and how to deal with uncertainty: how smoke causes heart disease; how alcohol damages the liver; how modern lifestyle favours obesity. (Capability 4)
  5. Apply your knowledge to the understanding health issues: this course is designed for non-biologists but will introduce terms and concepts that will enable you to engage with the media in the years ahead: ecosystem services, cytokines, inflammation and the meaning of 'CRP' in a blood test, choosing a healthy diet. (Capability 5)

Assessments

Assessment Type Percentage Classification
Assignments 30% Individual Coursework
Test 20% Individual Test
Final Exam 50% Individual Examination
Assessment Type Learning Outcome Addressed
1 2 3 4 5
Assignments
Test
Final Exam

Learning Resources

Course notes are provided for each lecture, both in printed and electronic (file on Canvas) form. There is no textbook, as individual lectures reflect interests of lecturers. However, for extra information students are encouraged to access the e-library  system of  e-journals and search engines (PubMed) that  provide unlimited information on matters pertaining to health. Readings required for assignments change each year, come from leading journals, but will be understandable for non-biologists and readily accessible online. 

Course Contacts

Dr Graeme Finlay (g.finlay@auckland.ac.nz), course director, and Dr Ho Joon Lee (hj.lee@auckland.ac.nz), course coordinator. All enquiries about assignments should be directed to Dr Lee. 

Workload Expectations

This course is a standard 15 point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15 point course that they are enrolled in.

For this course, you can expect 35 hours of lectures, tutorials as requested, approximately 70 hours of reading and thinking about the content (inculding revision) and 45 hours of work on assignments. The mid-semester test is held during lecture time. 

Digital Resources

Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).

Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.

Academic Integrity

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against online source material using computerised detection mechanisms.

Inclusive Learning

All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.

Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website at http://disability.auckland.ac.nz

Special Circumstances

If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.

If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.

This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.

Student Feedback

At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.

Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.

Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.

Student Charter and Responsibilities

The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter (https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html).

Disclaimer

Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.

In this course you may be asked to submit your coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. The final decision on the completion mode for a test or examination, and remote invigilation arrangements where applicable, will be advised to students at least 10 days prior to the scheduled date of the assessment, or in the case of an examination when the examination timetable is published.

Published on 20/01/2020 10:24 a.m.