" This course teaches the design of contemporary information systems for biological and medical data. Examples are chosen from biology and medicine to illustrate complete life cycle information systems, beginning with data acquisition, following to data storage and finally to retrieval and analysis. Design of appropriate databases, client-server strategies, data interchange protocols, and computational modeling architectures. Students are expected to have some familiarity with scientific application software and a basic understanding of at least one contemporary programming language (e.g. C, C++, Java, Lisp, Perl, Python). A major term project is required of all students. This subject is open to motivated seniors having a strong interest in biomedical engineering and information system design with the ability to carry out a significant independent project. This course was offered as part of the Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA) program as course number SMA 5304."

When sophisticated medical technology became available in the 1970s, it established diagnoses with unprecedented speed and accuracy. But it also affected the practice and teaching of medicine, shifting focus from the bedside to the laboratory and giving rise to a laboratory-oriented rather than a patient-oriented mindset. As a result, physicians’ bedside skills have steadily deteriorated, and using one’s mind and sensory faculties to make diagnoses has become a lost art.

Introduces representations, techniques, and architectures used to build applied systems and to account for intelligence from a computational point of view. Applications of rule chaining, heuristic search, constraint propagation, constrained search, inheritance, and other problem-solving paradigms. Applications of identification trees, neural nets, genetic algorithms, and other learning paradigms. Speculations on the contributions of human vision and language systems to human intelligence.

Neural structures and mechanisms mediating the detection, localization, and recognition of sounds. Discussion of how acoustic signals are coded by auditory neurons, the impact of these codes on behavorial performance, and the circuitry and cellular mechanisms underlying signal transformations. Topics include temporal coding, neural maps and feature detectors, learning and plasticity, and feedback control. General principles are conveyed by theme discussions of auditory masking, sound localization, musical pitch, speech coding, and cochlear implants, and auditory scene analysis.

Subject provides a comprehensive overview of human pathology with emphasis on mechanisms of disease and modern diagnostic technologies. Topics include: general mechanisms of disease (inflammation, infection, immune injury, host response to foreign materials, transplantation, genetic disorders and neoplasia); pathology of lipids, enzymes, and molecular transporters; pathology of major organ systems; and review of diagnostic tools from invasive surgical pathology to non-invasive techniques such as optical spectroscopy, functional imaging, and molecular markers of disease. The objectives of this subject are achieved by a set of integrated lectures and laboratories, as well as a student-driven term project leading to a formal presentation on a medical, socioeconomic, or technological issue in human pathology.

Psychology is designed to meet scope and sequence requirements for the single-semester introduction to psychology course. The book offers a comprehensive treatment of core concepts, grounded in both classic studies and current and emerging research. The text also includes coverage of the DSM-5 in examinations of psychological disorders. Psychology incorporates discussions that reflect the diversity within the discipline, as well as the diversity of cultures and communities across the globe.Senior Contributing AuthorsRose M. Spielman, Formerly of Quinnipiac UniversityContributing AuthorsKathryn Dumper, Bainbridge State CollegeWilliam Jenkins, Mercer UniversityArlene Lacombe, Saint Joseph's UniversityMarilyn Lovett, Livingstone CollegeMarion Perlmutter, University of Michigan

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Explain why classification systems are necessary in the study of psychopathology
Describe the basic features of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5)
Discuss changes in the DSM over time, including criticisms of the current edition
Identify which disorders are generally the most common