When chronic pain forces a top student to withdraw from college, biology instructor Dr. Sharpe learns that medications (in this case, Vioxx) may be removed from the market for many reasons, including safety concerns. As the case unfolds, students learn how the FDA balances drug safety against medical needs. As written, the case is appropriate for a non-majors biology course. It could also be adapted for use in a more advanced course in cell biology, pharmacology, or biochemistry, or modified to explore statistical analysis, specific analytical methods used for risk/benefit analysis, or bioethical issues.

This case study introduces students to treatment alternatives for depression using a jigsaw method in which groups of students are divided up so that each member of the "home group" becomes the "resident expert" in one of five possible treatment options. Designed for a course in abnormal psychology, this case could be adapted for courses in physiological psychology, pharmacy, and neurobiology.

This clinical case study was developed to engage students by making connections between core concepts in chemistry and physiological processes in the body. The case pertains to medication-induced methemoglobinemia, its etiology, diagnosis, and treatments. Concepts taught by the case include the use of conversion factors, pH, buffering, Le Chatelier's principle, blood chemistry, and respiratory and metabolic acidosis and alkalosis. The case is suitable for use in a General, Organic, and Biological (GOB) Chemistry course or other introductory general chemistry course as well as undergraduate physiology courses. The case also could be adapted for use in undergraduate pharmacology and medicinal chemistry courses.

In this case, designed for beginning pharmacy students, an elderly woman apparently "in excellent health" suddenly becomes ill and health care practitioners must determine the cause. The case is written in a four-part progressive disclosure format with an acute care clinical context. Ideally, the case should be used early in a pharmacy curriculum in a course such as pharmacy orientation, introduction to pharmaceutical care, or a pharmacy practice laboratory.

This case study highlights the epidemiological and socioeconomic factors associated with a disease which plagues thousands of people in Central and South America. The case follows the story of Adrian, a banana plantation worker in southwestern Costa Rica who develops a mysterious illness. Students learn about infectious diseases, pathogens, and vectors endemic to the region, and are asked to diagnose Adrian's illness and consider his dilemma with respect to treatment options. The case is appropriate for courses with a component on health care, pharmacology, microbiology, medical anthropology, ethnobotany, or epidemiology. Instructors can choose to focus more on the biological components of the case or more on the socioeconomic and ethical aspects, depending on course goals and subject area.

The parents of a six-week-old baby girl know there is something seriously wrong with their child, but it takes a number of frustrating visits to the pediatrician before they finally get a correct diagnosis. Once they do, the parents must decide whether they want to seek a surgical solution or rely on a course of medical treatment for their daughter. Best suited for classes in pharmacology, nursing, or medicine, this case could also be used in a basic biology or anatomy course.

In this case, a college student gives her cat Tylenol not knowing its potential harmful effects. The cat survives, but the incident motivates her to research the reaction mechanism underlying the liver toxicity of acetaminophen. The case outlines possible reaction schemes that would explain why acetaminophen-containing products can be toxic to the liver. Students are required to write a detailed mechanism for each. The case also presents evidence from the literature that supports one of the reaction schemes and eliminates the others. Students must identify the correct reaction scheme and mechanism based on this evidence. The case can be used in undergraduate organic chemistry, biochemistry, medicinal chemistry, and pharmacology courses.

This three-part progressive disclosure case is designed to introduce pharmacy students to the pharmacist's role in long-term care (LTC) facility consulting pharmacy practice and acquaint them with the essential, basic resources for conducting a drug regimen review.

A fight in a college town bar between the football player of one team and a drunken fan of a rival team results in a serious spinal cord injury. Students working in groups read the case and research the questions associated with it, which they then discuss in class. The case was designed to help pharmacy students understand the architecture of the central nervous system, its major motor/sensory tracts, the signs/symptoms of motor and sensory tract lesions, and the treatment of spinal cord injuries. It could be used in any course in which students have a basic knowledge of integrative physiology and have been exposed to the immune system, nervous system, and cardiovascular system, such as an undergraduate neuroscience course.

This case study focuses on a young mother whose child attends a day care center where there has been an outbreak of bacterial meningitis. The case explores the need for health care workers to provide relevant medical information and advice to patients, parents, and the community as well as the efficacy of vaccines. The case is designed for students interested in pursuing a career in the health sciences. It may be used in a course in microbiology, immunology, internal medicine, preventive medicine, pediatrics, or primary health care. It might also be useful for nursing and pharmacy students.

In this case study, students learn about the complexities and issues associated with clinical trials. After reading a newspaper story about a fraudulently conducted clinical trial involving a treatment for skin cancer, students simulate their own small-scale "clinical trial" in class. The simulation involves a secret breaching of a blind test and manipulation of data to favor a positive effect for a particular proprietary drug. As part of the simulation, students examine "before" and "after" photographs of skin lesions from "patients." Developed for first- or second-year college students, the case focuses on the scientific method, with special attention to the issues of objectivity and ethics in scientific research. The case study can be adapted to emphasize other topics, such as the pathophysiology and treatment of cancer. It can also be tailored to specific student populations, such as health professional students , by including in the case more information on the drug approval process (pre-clinical and clinical trials), T-cell lymphoma, and the effects of the immunosuppresive drug, BCX-34.

This dilemma cased is based on the actual development, FDA approval, and market withdrawal of dexfenfluramine, a drug used in the late 1990s in combination with phentermine for weight loss. The case is set up as a mock trial, with students taking the role of jury, defense (representing the drug company), and the prosecution (representing the central character Sally, who has developed cardiac valvular disease). Developed for a senior-level, small animal science class, the case would be applicable to any science major, and particularly those students who may go on to graduate school or work in research in any of the biomedical fields.

Whether marijuana should be legalized for medicinal purposes has been contested for decades. The claims, counter-claims, issues, and judgments in this high profile controversy make it an excellent candidate for "intimate debate." While similar to traditional debating formats and ground-rules, the method of intimate debate has important differences. There is no audience, each student argues each side of the issue seated across from their opponents in pairs, and the session concludes with opposing teams reaching consensus. The case is suitable for any course where medical issues and social issues of science are discussed and in any classroom setting, from high school to professional school programs such as nursing and pharmacy.

This case teaches about the causes and effects of Type 2 diabetes by working through the various options available to a young Native American woman suffering from the disease. The case can be used in a variety of settings, including nutrition classrooms, herbal drug courses, physiology courses, medical schools, nursing schools, pharmacy schools, diabetes workshops, and even weight loss clinics.

This case study on the immune system, cell cycle regulation, and cancer biology explores the role that serendipity plays in new discoveries in science, how scientific research is funded, and the personal and professional implications of unexpectedly finding one's self on the "cutting-edge." The case was developed to help undergraduates, particularly non-science majors, understand how politics and culture play a vital role in the scientific process, and that scientific research is provisional and a product of social and cultural interaction. In addition to these issues, the case explores key concepts and content in biology and biochemistry, including the control of cell division, apoptosis, immunity development, microbial biology, genetic engineering, and breast feeding in humans.

This case study investigates the applications of genetics to medicine by exploring one of the first examples of a pharmacogenetic test to enter mainstream clinical practice. Pharmacogenetics examines how genetic variations in an individual correlate with responses to a specific medication in order to develop tailored medical treatments. Through a scenario based on clinical observations, students learn about acute lymphocytic leukemia as well as the wide range of individual responses to the drug used to treat it. Then, students interpret data similar to those initially published in scientific journals in order to construct an understanding of how genetic variation can be used to "tailor" medical care. Lastly, students are asked to apply their understanding of what they have learned in the case by making the appropriate medical recommendation based on a particular individual's genotype.

"Ed Cramer" is a 47-year-old mechanical engineer who is being treated for venous thromboembolism. He was 45 when he first developed a blood clot in the lower part of his left leg and had to be hospitalized for five days. A year later, he developed a second blood clot, which almost killed him. This case study explores the physiology and treatment of venous thromboembolism, a condition which kills 60,000 people each year in the United States. The case was developed for use in graduate-level courses in medicine and pharmacy.