BHS031-3 Toxicology

1. The first core learning outcome requires that on completion of the unit you should be able to demonstrate the following knowledge and understanding: Understand the mechanisms of toxins with relevance to the pre-clinical/clinical evaluation of new pharmaceuticals and discuss potential causes of individuals’ adverse drug reactions.

 

2. he second core learning outcome requires you to demonstrate the following skills and
abilities:

 

Evaluate the strategies for, and the validity of, testing of pharmaceuticals for toxic effects both generic and specific for individuals.

Assignment 1: A comprehensive piece of coursework (~3000 words) to assess a drug/toxin of clinical relevance of your choice and review its site(s) of toxic actions and consequent toxic effects, together with detection and therapy options.

 

The word limit of the report is 3000 excluding references.

 

Guidance on the content of this literature review is given below and will be further discussed in a tutorial in week 8.

In order to pass Assessment 1 you will need to :

 

1. Critically assess, with appropriate detailed analysis of the available data-sets, the toxicity of the drug/toxin you chose

 

2. Demonstrate an ability to present clear analysis and interpretation of toxicology data to support your assessment of the toxicological profile of the specified drug/toxin.

Outline of Literature Review Structure

 

The report must contain at the top of the first page: your student number, the unit code and assignment number, and the word count (excluding references). The main body of the review should contain the following:

 

• Introduction: A short introduction to the topic – including explicit statements of your methodology for searching the published literature, and the aims and objectives; ~500-600 words

 

• Results and Discussion: Present calculated graph analysis of the available dataset (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) from the toxicity of the drug/toxin you chose; discuss you findings explain what they mean, compare and comprehensive review its site(s) of action and consequent toxic effects, together with detection and therapy options. ~ 2000 words.

 

• Include at least ten peer-reviewed original research articles, at least half of these should be recent (published after 2010). Review articles and book chapters may be used as a basis to guide you to appropriate primary research and as sources that summarise key findings. References should be used within the text using Harvard Referencing style ()

 

• A conclusion that summarises your own critical view of the main findings; ~ 200-300.

 

• A reference list that contains the full information for each of the citations within your text. The reference list must only contain sources that have been cited appropriately in the main text using correct format, e.g. (Lanigan, 2011). 

 

• Illustrations must be given a figure number and a short descriptive title. Each figure must be cited in the main text. For example,

 

 

Fig. 1 Schematic showing Exposure site of toxicant; Figure copied and pasted from: Klaassen, CD. (2007, pg. 29). Casarett and Doull's
Toxicology: The basic science of poisons. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies.

1. The word limit is not a target for the required number of words. A shorter, well written review with a reasonable coverage of the subject is likely to attract a higher grade than a longer report containing an unnecessarily large number of words. Where the submitted report exceeds the limit by more than 10 %, University regulations allow the additional material to be unmarked and for the work to be marked down.

 

2. You must not copy any text from any sources, even if you cite the source – you must write about what you have read in your own words. - this is very important. Students are reminded of their responsibilities concerning academic integrity and that plagiarism (the use of others’ words, published or unpublished, and failing to acknowledge the influence of another’s work or attribute quotes to the author) is a serious academic offence. This is an individual assessment, so collusion is also an academic offence.

 

3. General writing support is available centrally through Study Hub. Support for literature searching and use of LRC resources is supported on an individual basis by the academic liaison librarian Janine Bhandol

4. Students are strongly advised to use professional reference management software to store reference details and format corresponding in-text citations and the reference list. The academic liaison librarian can provide support for RefWorks software that is freely available to students in the School of Life Sciences.

This assessment will give you opportunity to understand in more details the fundamental principles of toxicology testing and the site of action with consequent toxic effect. You will also learn about sources of toxicological data and how they can be critically reviewed and interpreted for decision making.

 

The assessment will provide you with the opportunity to demonstrate an independent research and critical thinking on how to present data via written report and become familiar with word processing and referencing. 

Your assignment will be marked according to the threshold expectations and the criteria on the following page.

 

You can use them to evaluate your own work and consider your grade before you submit.