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Abstract

2. Education We participate in “Cell Biology II (Function of Cells)” (lectures, 1st grade), “Neuroscience” (systematic lectures, 2nd and 3rd grades) and “Physiology Lab” (3rd grade) courses for medical students as well as in courses for graduate students. We mainly teach neurophysiology parts in these courses. The goal of our education is for students to understand normal function of nerve cells and the nervous system and, on this ground, to understand pathological states of the nervous system in diseases. For this purpose, we give clinically-oriented lectures and laboratory courses linked with morphology and pharmacology. They cover transport and potential of the cell membrane (Cell Biology), excitation and synaptic transmission, sensory systems, motor systems, autonomic nervous systems, and higher brain function (Neuroscience), i.e. neurophysiology in general from cellular through organismic levels. To support for students to learn for themselves basic matters such as generation and propagation of excitation in nerve cells, we developed a hand-made computer simulation program for a part of the laboratory course.