Examples
An example from the field of infectious disease would be the study of a toxin released by a bacterium, and what that toxin does to the body to cause harm, one possible result being sepsis.
Another example is the study of the chemical changes that take place in body tissue due to inflammation. The intersection of two older, related disciplines: (normal) physiology and pathology.
- Physiology is the study of normal, healthy bodily function (as opposed to anatomy, which is the study of normal structure). When something disrupts normal physiological processes, it enters the realm of pathophysiology.
- Pathology, broadly speaking, is the "study of the nature and cause of disease." or the results of disease in the body.
Pathophysiology looks at the specific malfunctioning that comes from or - alternately - causes disease.
One caution in this approach is that "healthy" structure and function is not precisely the same in any two individuals.
Read more about this topic: Pathophysiology
Famous quotes containing the word examples:
“Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends.”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
“There are many examples of women that have excelled in learning, and even in war, but this is no reason we should bring ‘em all up to Latin and Greek or else military discipline, instead of needle-work and housewifry.”
—Bernard Mandeville (1670–1733)
“No rules exist, and examples are simply life-savers answering the appeals of rules making vain attempts to exist.”
—André Breton (1896–1966)