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February

The month of February, I utilized my days studying for our last two Med Pharm modules prior to the Shelf Exam. Its unbelievable that we have made it this close to the end of the academic year already. 

The last two modules were neurology and psychopharmacology. Neurology studies the various disorders of the brain that are usually caused by a deficiency or lack of function in neurotransmitters such as Parkinson’s disease, seizures, etc. Psychology studies how the mind works; our lectures focused on how neurotransmitters were defected in psych conditions like schizophrenia, major depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, etc.  From a pharmacological standpoint, targeting the majority of the disorders require agonizing or antagonizing a particular receptor at the synapse. The vast selectivity of the drugs are due to the different types of receptors within different neurons that only respond to particular neurotransmitters.

I had the pleasure to discuss the manifestation of obsessive compulsive disorders (OCD) in pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS) during a class presentation. Obsessions are characterized by the repeated, unwanted thoughts that drive them to do compulsively repeat a certain task. This anxiety disorder starts from what is an otherwise normal behavior that begins to become time consuming and interfere significantly with daily living. In PANS, this behavior tends to develop dramatically after exposure to a Group A streptococcal (GAS) bacteria or virus. In patients with a phenotype for a particular polymorphism, the antibodies are able to cross the blood brain barrier and target the NMDA receptors within the basal ganglia as antigens to cause neuroinflammation and the start of the OCD symptoms. 

Patients with anxiety disorders such as OCD are treated with antidepressant drugs like selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitors or others drug classes that alter the amount of monoamines at the synapse to alleviate symptoms. 

Total hours: 24

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