Assessment - Literature Review

Description of assessment

Students should choose a neuropsychiatric disorder of interest and investigate the ‘state-of-the art' in terms of preclinical diagnostics.

- Identify one or two potential biological/physiological markers of the disorder and the relevant probes or instrumentation used to detect its presence in vivo. Any modality that has been discussed in the lecture program may be discussed (e.g. MRI, fMRI, MRS, DTI or EEG).

- The review should demonstrate understanding of how these techniques are applied to a specific diagnostic problem. It should not be an open-ended background essay on well-established details of the technique or the pathology. Use primary research literature where possible.

- Address each of the four key points below to give structure to your response and allow your examiner to follow the argument more easily.

Assessment:

Criterion 1
- Provided a brief outline of a single neuropsychiatric disorder.
- Explained what benefits a subclinical biomarker would provide in the context of this particular disorder, and what difficulties have been encountered in identifying a suitable candidate

Criterion 2
- Described technique that has allowed better resolution of subclinical phenotypes in this disorder. In the case of MRI, for example, did not simply give a dry technical synopsis of how a scanner works but focused instead on what BOLD signals reveal about brain structure or function and why this was suited to detecting a signal of interest in the disorder.

Criterion 3
- Focused on the exact biomarker that has been associated with the disorder. Refered to the primary research literature that has demonstrated this association, commenting on the design and effectiveness of these studies.
How strong and how replicable are the primary findings? What caveats might apply to the technique in regards to interpretation of these data?

Criterion 4
- Discussed the significance this biomarker has made or could make to clinical practice.
- Is the technique reliable and applicable to all at-risk subjects or does it identify only a subset
of suffers and disease? What other barriers might exist to widespread uptake of this diagnostic technique, and what further research needs improve on this?

- Ability to make precise points of fact and a logical flowing argument.
- Appropriate use of academic references.
- The literature review is within the word limit.

Word count: 2000 words