Swansea University Medical School: Anatomy and Embryology

We've had a bit of a break while we've been writing a book, but consultant opthalmologist Mr Mike Austin asked if he could record a podcast about the anatomy of the eye in preparation for his teaching week. We talk about the importance of the eye clinically, and relate the anatomy of the eye to loss of vision and other pathology..

Sam broke his foot so decided to talk about some important aspects of the anatomy of the lower limb. Sam and Rhi talk about the bones of the foot and ankle, the knee, the sciatic nerve, veins and compartments of the thigh and leg. This episode includes a number of annotated images of plastic models and Sam's leg.

Sam and Rhi finish talking about some key pelvic anatomy by talking about the ducting of the vas deferens into the urethra, what the os is, the relationships of organs within the female pelvis and their ligaments, and the sensory innervation from the external genitalia.

We pick 10 key anatomical things that we think are particularly worth knowing, this time in the pelvis. This is the first part and we talk about levator ani, the sciatic nerve, anastomoses in the female pelvis, the ureters, and the autonomic nervous system in the male pelvis.

Rhi and Sam change format to talk about anatomy and cover 10 key areas of the gastrointestinal system that you should know about if you're a medical student.

We talk about the development of the ear and its different parts.

We spend half an hour talking about how the eye forms from the developing brain and overlying ectoderm.

Rhiannon and Sam draw together the idea of germ layers that we spoke about in the early podcasts with the development of the systems that we've talked about since.

Sam draws a quick diagram of the parts of the brachial plexus that you often see laid out in textbooks.

Rhiannon records her last pocast before moving back to England..

Sam and Rhiannon finally get around to the development of the nervous system, and talk about neurulation, development of the brain, the ventricles, the spinal cord, and the spinal nerves.

Rhiannon and Sam look at the cervical plexus in the neck very briefly, highlighting the roots and some of the key nerves.

Here's our second video podcast. Rhiannon paints the borders of the anterior triangle of the neck and some of the important structures within on Sam's neck.

We're adding to the embryology audio podcast series with some anatomy videos. In our first video podcast Rhiannon runs through the boundaries of the posterior triangle of the neck and highlights some important structures by painting them on Sam's neck.

Rhiannon tells us how ova develop and how great Double Decker chocolate bars are.

We talk about the structures within each of the pharyngeal arches and what they will form into. We also link to cardiovascular embryology and mention Chuck Norris.

>We talk about the process and stages of spermatogenesis from spermatogonia to spermatozoa, and briefly discuss elephants.

To complete our discussion of the developing cardiovascular system we call on Dr Geraint Morris again to help explain what changes normally occur with birth. We also find out about the many problems and complications that he sees when these changes don't occur quite as they should.

We continue to talk about the development of the cardiovascular system by discussing how the heart forms, and how it becomes split into four chambers.

We talk about the initial formation of the cardiovascular system, and discuss the development of some of the major arteries and veins, comparing embryological and foetal structures with those of the adult.

Rhiannon talks about the development of the different parts of the male and female reproductive systems.

Rhiannon goes through the development of the urinary system from mesoderm to nephron, and most of what happens in between.

We run through the normal development of the respiratory system in the embryo and the foetus, and are joined by Consultant Neonatologist Dr Geraint Morris to talk about the breathing difficulties that premature babies commonly experience.

>We continue to talk about the development of the musculskeletal system by discussing limb development.

We start talking about the development of the musculskeletal system by introducing the somites.

We talk about the development of the gut tube, its divisions and blood supply, and mention the formation of the liver, gall bladder and pancreas. Our guest is paediatric consultant Dr Steve Allen, who talks about the clinical implications of these developmental processes and common congenital problems.

We follow the embryo's development for the first 3 weeks, from the zygote stage through to gastrulation.

We talk about the timings of embryonic and foetal periods, and how embryologists and clinicians can use slightly different timings, and we introduce the basic principles of growth and development that we will use in future episodes.

Dr Rhiannon Fish joins Dr Samuel Webster for the embryology podcast series. We introduce Rhiannon, and round 2 of the podcasts.