January 20, 2015 Lecture

Welcome to Systems Physiology (Spring, 2015): Transcription

M: Raise your hand if you hear me
Welcome to systems physiology. If you are a new student at Rutgers or if you are a returning Rutgers
student, or whomever you are. My name is Gary Merill. Ill be your instructor for the next 6-7 weeks. After
that, Dr. Golfetti will take over. Thats the important information. Uh-if time permitted if your schedule and
mine, I would like to see every one of you every two days all semester long So come see me as often as
you can and as often as you need help. Your sakai site wont be published till sometime later today or
tomorrow morning. The only things I will be putting on sakai will be important announcements and in
resources, after each lecture, I will post the important slides that you will be needing. I wont post anything
else. I wont post anything before lecture. The reason for that? Look around the room right now. Other than
the day of final exam in May, I suspect that this is the most populated I will see. But I wish you can prove
me wrong. I would like to see this room filled, at this area, every Tuesday and Thursday all semester long.
You will see why in a minute why. Why I feel that way.
Thanks very much. Umpersonally, I dont think there is anything that replaces this type of interaction in
teaching. And there are ten people for ten thousand who feel that way. So I strongly encourage you to
attend every lecture. Be here on time and sit right up front if youd like. You will also see why <clatter> you
are welcome to record my lectures but you will need to ask Dr. Golfetti for permission for hers. If you have
any recorders you would like to bring right now, unless there are 150 of you, jump and put your recorder
down. Otherwise I will consider we are ready to move along.
The syllabus is under resources and you should look there regularly. Im going to teach physiology to you
for the next several weeks the way I believe physiology should be taught and according to this
physiologist Every time I show a slide like this filled with text, Im going to stop talking and let you look at
it. Then I might make a comment or two about it.
Youre going to have to be patient with this. Im learning this system. And its not the same system that was
here in the spring last year. Im a PC major not a Mac major.
Um for exam number one, everything that I say today that I show you on the slides is subject to be on
Exam number one. So from the get-go, youre responsible for what everything you hear me say for the next
seven-eight lectures for exam one. Youre going to be able to learn a new language in this course. Um, if
you dont know anything about the history of physiology. Its the only biomedical life science recognized by
the Nobel Committee, the Nobel Peace Prize, and the Noble Prize in Physiology of Medicine. And, um,
fields as diverse as biochemistry, biophysics, and neuroscienceowe their existence to classic physiology.
Physiology gave birth to all of them. And, this is an analytical, experimental, and quantitative hard science.
You will learn that in the next few weeks.
and incidentally, while youre looking at that. Regardless of what you heard about me, what you think about
me, Im not that hard to get to know. I encourage you to get to know me. I would like to get to know you.
And you will see that my lifestyle is that Ill take 15 or 20 minutes to discuss the concepts with you then Ill
stop and Ill want to know if I am making with you. Then I will give you a chance to make any questions or
comments. And if you dont ask me any questions or comments, then Ill ask you a question and Ill ask you

to answer his question. I want to engage you and I dont mean that such engagement is limited to the
course of tenth-row people. I learned that I need to be
I have a little bit of history of systems physiology since I created rosters a number of years ago. This is the
way Ive been teaching the course today. Much of what I am going to show you in the next few slides is how
to do well in this course, how to do interviews on hold. Ive been holding many interviews with the top
performing students in the course. I ask them, how did you do well. I take notes and I will give you those
notes.
That doesnt say professional. It looks like it. What does it say? Say it louder
Kid: Professorial
Thats a word I learned myself a few years ago. And there would be a hatful of professors involved in this
course, teaching it with me over the years. Both of them had resigned or retired. There are a couple left
today. But we each have our own idea on how physiology should be taught. Theres an interesting rivalry
between in a 25 years period. You will Dr. Golfetti and my philosophy in the course. Anything that Ive said
in the last couple minutes on the slides, he said, you are allowed to comment or question on it. Anything?
Alright
Textbooks. When we asked you asked you as a group if youd want a textbook. The vast majority said yes.
These are some of the textbooks Ive used over the years. The one that I recommend to you strongly is this
one. And there is a reason for why, why I choose that. But you cant go wrong with reading any of these if
you are preparing for a future in medicine. Physiology is the basis of medicine, historically. Its also the urn
more so than any other life science. You need to know physiology. And Dr. Golfetti will also give you
another fairly enlightened list of books that she likes. But my strong recommendation is that you get more
open. Thats the cover of the 2000 second updated edition of the book. You can get it online or at
bookstores. There are so many virtues of this book. Look at number three. The vast majority of images,
figures, tables, and illustrations that I will present to you in the next seven-eight weeks will come from that
book. I recommend that you buy it now and that you not sell it at the end of this semester if you are
planning on going on education in the field or discipline that will require more physiology: medical school,
PA school, physical therapy, occupational therapy, nursing, anything and everything that will have more
physiology in the future. I would take this book to med school with you. I will not buy what they recommend.
I keep this book and use it there and here. Then I will keep it as a reference for now. These authors had the
benefit, before they wrote the book, of looking at what everyone else has written before them. Boron and
Boulpaep are, Boron is a M.D. Ph.D in respiratory physiologist in classic respiratory physiology and
Boulpaep is a cardiovascular Ph. D. They are both research-active careers. Both psych teachers. They
know their fields and they assemble <mumbling> if you are interested in any that I think personally about
this lines, like how systems physiology relates to themyou might want to take a look at what book, neither
of which are required and see as a reference, not today but after several lectures and if you are ready to
commit to make your life, you might want to take a look. Questions or comments?
Other than medical physiology by Boron and Boulpaep, I gave you a slide that had at least three other
textbooks. Can you name any other authors?

Berne and Levy. Anybody else? John B. West. John B. West is also a M.D., Ph. D, and TSC. Do you what
that is. Its a doctor of science. You had to be on the team with Sir. Edmund Hilary. Hilary reached the
summit of Mount Everest. John West is an expert respiratory physiologist who spent his career studying
hypoxia, lack of oxygen on the body. And anything he writes is worth listening to. Anyone else? Guyton and
Hall.
Ive heard all of these answers from the front row or two. Thats significant. Or informant. John Hall and I
were graduate students together. And Edward Guyton and John Hall were/are cardiovascular physiologists
who are internationally respected. Anyway, the reasons for why I chose these groups of textbooks is that I
know them, I know their backgrounds, and I know their qualifications. And I cannot say that enough in
almost anything else. Any questions or comments.
Alright, whats my first name? Spell it
I want to ask you audience now. Have you seen that before?
This is one of the best students who have taken systems before in the last four years. You should know
that its going well.
Dr. Charles B. H, a former colleague in physiology here, will be holding review sessions on Wednesday
10:20 to 12 noon in ARC 336 beginning a week from tomorrow. He taught systems physiology for ten or
twelve years before he retired. David where are you? Come up. This is David Lee, right? David didnt know
I was going to do this so I apologize for embarrassing you. David is also a tutor. Each semester, we identify
one or two students who have done very well in the course and then we ask them if they would be
interested in tutoring in systems. David and I are just meeting. He will be-we will be posting his tutoring
sessions, dates and times in a few days. So pay attention to your announcements on Sakai. And get to
know him as well. Good seeing you.
When I was hired by Rutgers University in the mid-1970s, I created System Physiology lectures and lab, I
was standing alone. My intent for both courses was to prepare students for high rated graduate schools for
physiology. That was my first priority. My second priority was to help students who were pre-med. Those
priorities have not changed. Even though, many of you are in majors that I sometimes wonder why youre in
this coursewhy your curriculum requires or strongly recommend that you take this course. In any event,
my attitudes about these exams, grading exams, and so forth reflected my attitudes for what you are going
to face in graduate schools exams. So I take it my responsibility to teach you the foundation of organ
system and classic membrane physiology, just a few things that will help you beyond this class. There will
be three exams, two midterms, nothing you cant handle, midterms will have 40-45 questions. The final will
have 70-75 and it will be comprehensive. All the questions will be multiple choice. Unfortunately, there will
be no other way to grade such a large group. And each question will have 4-5 choices. After each exam, I
will put a distribution of grades to help you see where you stand among your classmates. That is all I will
do. And I will discuss the exams and give you back the scantron. And if you want to discuss or review the
exam, you will have to see me by appointment. Dr. Golfetti, her exam number two, which will be partly by
her might not have this policy for her saying discussing is fine. You should adopt this philosophy in this
course that the exam grade that you get and your final course grade are earned. I have this policy that we
dont change grades, we dont have extra credit or make-up work, and you all understand why. If this was
an intermediary class, our policies and rules would be totally different. But for a 400 class, nothing can

change. So particularly, look at this, this is the philosophy that I suggest you adapt for the rest of the
course. Whether you are an athlete or not, you are an academic athlete. If you choose not to prepare for
the exams, those who think you can study 24 hours before the exam, you should prepare to fail the exam.
That is your only idea now. If youre willing to study the slides, review your notes, you will never have to
cram for the exam. And you will do well on the exams. Its not our goal to fail anyone but as history, 20% of
you will fail. You will earn Ds or Fs, including some of you who need this course to graduate in May. But that
doesnt have to be the case. Only you can decide that. Ill see if theres anything I need to emphasize. On
exams, it will do well if you prepare to do your own work on the exams. So there are usually 8-10 Rutgers
student staffss that will help your eyes focus on your Scantron. Have you read the Rutgers Unviersity policy
on academic integrity? Has anyone seen that? It is well-defined. Ill just give you above, a better analogy on
it. It ranges from a select warning of you made a mistake, dont do it again to a permanent expulsion from
the university with a red flag attached to your transcripts that says youre a cheater. You dont want to have
it. Its serious. You dont want to have it. So do your own work.
So when it comes to your textbook. From the syllabus, you will be able to see what the content of the next
lectures will be: the organ system and the anatomy of that system. You dont have time to read the entire
textbook. To avoid wasting time. So heres what I encourage you to do. You all have 15-18 credit hours.
Dont read before class. Come to class, take notes and take notes of the figure that I use in the slide in
class. For example, 15-1 or 25-3. Write the numbers in your notebooks. Then in your spare time, go back to
the textbook and read the chapter, the page, and the column that describes the figure. When youre done
reading, you will understand.
Figures in the lecture, for my lecture, will mainly come from the book. That is why I strongly urge you to get
a copy of it. Not all the figures are from the book. But I would say 75% of the images are from the book
the reason that we have to have that policy is that there are classes before this and after this in this room.
From the time that I finish lecturing, there is only about ten or less than fifteen minutes before the next
lecturer wants to prepare his/her class so it is unfair for me if students stay after. You will need to go out. So
use your time wisely. Come to office hours as needed. This is my personal policy in reference to a letter of
recommendation. If you are one of those people who chooses to ask me for a letter after this semester is
over and we see how well you do here or after the lab. These are the things you have to do. And to me, the
most important thing there is not the A but it is if I can recognize you when you ask. So if you never come to
my office to see me, get to know, or for me to get to know you. How dare you ask me for a letter? I want to
get to know you. And when you request a letter, I want to feel like I am continuing a discussion from
yesterday. I have to prepare a deadline because when after all the final grades are decided and the grades
are recorded, my attention to the spring semester is gone. I apologize in advance, yours is probably as
well. Any questions or comments on anything Ive said or what you might see on the first exam from
students?
The figures that I show you on lecture from boron will be on sakai. So you will have it. There might be an
original sentence from that but you will have the material. However, a picture may be from the class. Any
other question. Then for the next ten-twelve minutes, I encourage you to ask me about me and you to get
to know me. And I will answer any questions you feel like asking me