This CU is of the modular type, subsequent of Circulation and Respiration I CU and preceding Think and Doing I CU.

Intended learning outcomes (knowledge, skills and competences to be developed by the students)

The main objectives of this CU are based on:

• Understanding homeostasis and the mechanisms used to maintain and regulate homeostasis;
• Understanding and relating the mechanisms that are involved in circulatory homeostasis such as (neuro) hormones, their receptors and signal transduction (Circulation and Breathing I);
• Learning and acquiring skills on the mechanisms used to maintain homeostasis and physiological entities that are controlled and maintained within narrow ranges and those that control and therefore vary considerably to keep the system within limits;
• Acquire and develop knowledge on the basis of injection skills, how to provide basic life support and how to analyze urine samples;
• Know the ethical aspects in medical decision making, focusing on patient autonomy, real-time wills and decisions about the end of life;
• Realizing the role the physician plays in a more social perspective.

Syllabus

The main program contents taught in this CU will be:

• water homeostasis, electrolytes, oxygen, pH;
• mechanisms of homeostasis control;
• general characteristics of control systems (feedback, response time, rhythmicity);
• composition of intra - and extracellular fluid compartments;
• mechanisms regulating the ingestion and excretion of water and electrolytes;
• importance of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) in maintaining homeostasis;
• renal function and urination;
• water balance, fluid compartments, regulatory mechanisms, renal function, hypothalamic- pituitary-adrenal axes, renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), antidiuretic hormone (ADH), osmolality and osmotic regulation, Starling principles, colloidal osmotic pressure, cell death, multiple organ failure, clearance, biological clock, feedback control systems.