Neuroscience '07 at RWJMS Course Director, Nancy L. Hayes, Ph.D. (e-mail: neuro@umdnj.edu) Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Textbooks and Other General Information Last updated December 11, 2006

The Neuroscience course begins at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, January 2, 2007. On that day there will be both an introductory lecture AND the first brain dissection laboratory. Be sure to bring your Atlas (see below) and labcoat to class. Labcoats and gloves must be worn at all times when handling human brain specimens or working in the brain dissection lab.

The Neuroscience course focuses on understanding the structure and function of the human brain. In addition, there is substantial emphasis on clinical problem solving. For details see Course Goals and Objectives. You may find the pace of the course challenging. Each lecture hour opens a new topic, and students must pursue the material assigned in their text books, problem sets, etc. in order to cover all of the necessary information. Examination questions will come from lectures, assigned reading, clinical problem sets, and laboratory dissection. Learning Objectives are defined for each lecture to help you prioritize what you need to know. Neuroscience is a rapidly developing field, and the teaching staff will happily discuss with interested students additional topics they may learn about through reading, news reports, popular culture, etc. Students are encouraged to browse journals, and the link to a "Neuroscience article of the week" will be posted on the course website.

REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS:

These can be obtained from any on-line bookstore or from the Rutgers Bookstore. Note that the main textbooks are changed from last year. Reading assignments for the course will be posted on the course website and on WebCT. Students are strongly encouraged to bring their textbooks to lecture. Many (often all) of the illustrations used in lectures will come from the textbooks, and information in assigned reading will not be duplicated in handouts. STUDENTS ARE STRONGLY URGED TO DO THE ASSIGNED READING.

Purves, et al.: Neuroscience (3rd Edition). Sinauer. Each copy of this textbook includes a very useful CD: Sylvius for Neuroscience: A Visual Glossary of Human Neuroanatomy. This interactive program allows students to self-test as well as study and is designed to coordinate with the Purves text. Pointers to this resource may be included in reading assignments, but students are encouraged to browse the disk throughout the course.

Blumenfeld: Neuroanatomy Through Clinical Cases. Sinauer. This text book uses more than 100 actual clinical cases and their associated images to immerse students in the clinical perspective of neuroanatomy and exercise the logical reasoning necessary in solving clinical problems. It highlights the need to integrate information by demonstrating how a single lesion may affect multiple neural structures, pathways, and functions. Each chapter provides background material, a review of relevant neuroanatomy, and a brief discussion of related clinical disorders before focusing on the clinical cases. Each begins with a narrative describing the development of the patient's symptoms, then presents the results of the neurological exam before challenging the student with questions which help in deducing the location of the lesion. Discussion and answers are provided, and the actual outcome is revealed. Specific reading assignments will be made, but students are encouraged to explore the book on their own, letting a starting point from a lecture lead them deeper into new clinical questions. Blumenfeld is the source of the Clinical Case Conferences.

Haines: Neuroanatomy: An Atlas of Structures, Sections, and Systems (now in 6th edition, but previous editions are spiral bound) Lippincott, William and Wilkins
OR
Woolsey, Hanaway, Gado The Brain Atlas: A Visual Guide to the Human Central Nervous System (Second Edition) John Wiley and Sons. The Lab Manual is keyed to this text.
Other photographic brain atlases, such as DeArmond, are also acceptable. Some students like Netter's Atlas of Human Neuroscience. Be sure whichever atlas you choose includes perfusion fields of the various blood vessels on brain sections. Continue to use the atlas throughout the course (not just in the lab) to review structures as they are discussed in lecture.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS

Sidman and Sidman:Neuroanatomy: A Programmed Text/ Volume 1. Little, Brown and Company. A self-paced, programmed text that is most useful if done either before the course begins or during the first few weeks of the course. The best way to "do the book" it is in 30-60 minute blocks every day. It's a painless way to acquire a great deal of knowledge (vocabulary, concepts and structures) that will serve you well even beyond the Neuroscience course. Plan to finish 1/2 of the book by the middle of January at the latest, after which it probably is not as good a use of your time. In the past, about 30% of the students have used this method to get a headstart and report that it has helped with their confidence and performance.

GENERAL INFORMATION

During the course, the latest information will be posted on the course website. Most information and materials will also be posted on WebCT where PowerPoint presentations will be available in color. In addition, most of the information will also be given to you as hard copies, so that you don't need to print everything on the website. The course website is updated at approximately weekly intervals. Thus, information relevant to this year's course will be appearing there from now through the end of the course. You will also find some sample exams from previous years.

Grading policies may be found here. Note: Attendance at the 3 Clinical Case Conferences is mandatory.

The following rules apply to the brain dissection laboratory and materials during and outside of class hours:

• Labcoats and gloves must be worn at all times when working with or around human brain specimens.
• All used gloves, wooden probes, used paper towels, tissue "bits," etc. must be disposed of in the Biohazard bins. DO NOT LEAVE THE LABORATORY WEARING GLOVES! DO NOT DISPOSE OF SCALPELS IN THE WASTE BIN. Rinse and return them to the tray.
• Do NOT touch any other group's brain bucket without that group's explicit permission when they are present.
• Properly store your specimen in the appropriate cabinet.
• Do not remove any materials from the laboratory.
• When you have finished working, thoroughly wipe down the table and any other surfaces you have used with the green disinfectant.
• When you have finished working, rinse your tray and instruments in water and stack them neatly by the sink.
• If you want to work in the evening or over the weekend, you must plan ahead and check out dissection equipment from the stockroom during its normal working hours: M-F 8:30-9 a.m.; 12:30-1 p.m. You must return the borrowed equipment to the stockroom no later than 9 AM the next school day.
• Failure to respect these rules may be considered grounds for a Professionalism Report to be entered into a student's file.