Human-Sciences - Course - Mental disabilities from a medical perspective

This course discuss the possible causes of mental retardation (MR) and introduce participants to the different biological, physiological, and environmental factors that may contribute in causing mental disability. It offers the learning opportunities to discuss genetic metabolic factors like phenylketonuria, galactosemia, diabetes, hydrocephalus, and Rhesus factor. This course aims also to maternal factors resulting in mental disability of new-borns such as exposure to German measles infection, irradiation, old maternity, maternal malnutrition, and maternal diseases will be discussed. The course gives, in a simplified models, a proper medical background on some maternal and foetal accidents like bleeding and hypoxia that may result in different types of disabilities.