Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University
Annexes of annual faculty report 2004/2005
44
Department of Medical Biochemistry
Course Specifications
Course title: Medical Biochemistry and Clinical Chemistry-II
Second year of M.B.& B.Ch. program
Allocated marks: 150 marks
Course duration: 24 weeks of teaching' with a final end of year examination
Total teaching hours: 168 hrs.
Course director: Prof. Dr. Emad Zaki Abbas
Head of Medical Biochemistry Department
Teaching staff: 32 professors, 11 assistant professors, 8 lecturers
and 12 assistant lecturers and demonstrators.
I- Aim of the Course:
• To enable the student to be oriented with the biochemical importance of
macro- and micronutrients as well as the structure and functions of enzymes.
• To enable the student to illustrate and/or describe the metabolic pathways of
macronutrients and nucleotides.
• To enable the students to point-out hereditary and acquired metabolic
disturbances and their biochemical laboratory and clinical outcomes.
• To enable the student to point out the bioenergetics of the concerned
metabolic pathways under different physiological circumstances and their
integrator regulations with other working metabolic pathways.
• To enable the student to describe major body fluids composition and their
clinical impact.
• To enable the student to interpret medical laboratory reports.
II- INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University
Annexes of annual faculty report 2004/2005
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II- A) KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING:
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
1. Define the metabolic pathways of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, nucleotides
and their micro-molecules and determine the site of each.
2. Illustrate the steps and regulatory mechanisms of these pathways.
3. Point out the related metabolic disorders and their clinical prints on biochemical
and molecular basis.
4. Describe micronutrients, their biochemical, clinical and laboratory importance
and deficiency manifestations of each.
5. Describe the components of some body fluids; viz. blood, urine, milk, Semen,
CSF and sweat.
II- B) PROFESSIONAL SKILLS:
II- B1. Practical skills:
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
5. Identify the physical and chemical characters of normal urine under different
physiological conditions.
6. Perform chemical tests to detect abnormal constituents of urine.
7. Estimate serum levels of glucose, total proteins, albumin, cholesterol,
creatinine and uric acid by colorimetric methods.
8. Assess glucose tolerance by glucose tolerance test.
II- B2. Intellectual skills:
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
1. Interpret symptoms, signs and biochemical laboratory findings of some
metabolic disorders.
2. Interpret urine report outcome.
3. Point out the clinical significance of determination of plasma levels of glucose,
total proteins, albumin, cholesterol, creatinine and uric acid and some
enzymes.
Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University
Annexes of annual faculty report 2004/2005
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4. Diagnose the type of abnormality of pathological glucose tolerance curve.
5. Point-out the etiology of metabolic disturbance in a given case study report.
II- C) GENERAL SKILLS:
1- The student is able to work effectively in a group in lab or during
preparation of seminars.
2-The student respects the role of staff and co-staff members
regardless of degree or occupation.
III. COURSE CONTENTS:
Subject
Lectures Practical/
Total
% Total
hrs
small
groups
Enzymes
7
2
9
5.5
Bioenergetics, TCA cycle
5
1
6
4.5
Carbohydrate Metabolism
14
3
17
15
Lipid Metabolism
16
6
22
19
Insulin, Diabetes Mellitus
4
1
5
5
General Protein Metabolism
5
2
7
6
Amino acid Metabolism
10
6
16
11
Heme Metabolism
4
1
5
5
Purine & Pyrimidine
4
2
6
5
Metabolic Integration
4
2
6
6
Large Intestine &
2
1
3
2
Vitamins
10
2
12
6
Minerals
6
1
7
4
Body Fluids
4
5
9
5
Metabolism
Detoxification
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Cell Organells
1
1
2
1
Total
96
36
132
100
III-A) TOPICS:
19. Enzymes: definition, chemical nature, mechanism of action, factors affecting
the rate of enzyme action, enzyme activators and inhibitors, and enzyme
classification.
20. Bioenergetics and tricarboxylic acid cycle: steps, regulation, and importance.
21. Metabolism of carbohydrates: Dietary carbohydrates, digestion and absorption,
pathways of glucose oxidation, glycogen metabolism, gluconeogenesis, special
metabolism of fructose, galactose and aminosugars, pathological aspects of
carbohydrate metabolism and their clinical implications with special emphasis
on diabetes mellitus and biochemistry of insulin and other disorders of
carbohydrate metabolism and their clinical importance.
22. Metabolism of lipids: Dietary lipids, digestion and absorption, metabolism of
triacylglycerol, fatty acid metabolism, metabolism of: eicosanoids, conjugated
lipids, cholesterol, ketone bodies, classification and disorders of plasma
lipoproteins. Pathological aspects of lipid metabolism and their clinical
implications.
23. Metabolism of proteins: Dietary proteins, digestion and absorption, general
aspect of protein metabolism, metabolism of ammonia, metabolism of individual
amino acids with related errors of metabolism, pathological aspects of protein
and amino acid metabolism and their clinical implications.
24. Metabolism of Heme: Synthesis of porphyrins and heme, catabolism ,
hyperbilirubinemia and porphyrias.
25. Metabolism of purines and pyrimidines: Digestion and absorption of nucleic
acids, biosynthesis and catabolism of purines and pyrimidines with the related
errors of metabolism (including gout), and synthetic base analogues and their
clinical use.
Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University
Annexes of annual faculty report 2004/2005
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26. Metabolic integration: Metabolic changes, adaptation and regulation during
starve-feed cycle, aerobic and anaerobic exercises, pregnancy and lactation.
Special metabolism of ethyl alcohol and its pathological sequelae.
27. Biochemical changes in large intestine, and detoxification.
28. Vitamins:
Types,
structure,
functions,
deficiency
manifestations
and
recommended daily allowance.
29. Minerals: Maior elements (Ca-P-Mg-Na-K-Cl-S) and trace elements (Fe, Cu,
Zn, Mn, Co., Cr., I.)
30. Body fluids: Blood, urine, milk, CSF, and sweat.
31. Functions of the major intracellular organelles.
III-B) PRACTICAL CLASSES:
1. Urine report.
2. Colorimetric measurement of plasma glucose, total proteins, albumin,
cholesterol, creatinine and uric acid.
3. Variations in glucose tolerance curve under different clinical conditions.
4. Case report studies applying the out-comes of previous parameters.
IV. TEACHING AND LERNING METHODS:
IV-A) METHODS USED:
3. Lectures (general and small group lectures).
4. Practical classes (small group teaching, practice of laboratory skills, AV aids)
4.1
Urine report.
4.2
Colorimetric methods in clinical chemistry.
4.3
Biochemical laboratory report comments.
IV-B) METHODS FOR DISABLED STUDENTS:
Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University
Annexes of annual faculty report 2004/2005
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No special arrangements are available.
IV-C) TEACHING PLAN:
Lectures:
4 lectures/week; one hour each between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. according to the
current time table in general lecture halls.
Practical classes and tutorials:
The students are divided into 6 groups. Each group has a 3-hour practical class
once per week. Students of each group are divided into 2 subgroups. Both
subgroups rotate between tutorial class (the related subjects of the theoretical
lectures with AV aids) and practical class.
Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University
Annexes of annual faculty report 2004/2005
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Time plan:
Item:
Lectures
Time schedule
Teaching hours
Total hours
4 lectures/week;
4x24 weeks
96
3x12
36
3x12
36
one hour each
between 8,00 am
and 11 a.m
Practical
3 hours every
other week
Tutorial
3 hours every
other week
Total
168
V- TEACHING AND LEARNING F ACILITIES:
Facilities used for teaching this course include:
- Lecture halls: provided by the Faculty.
- Small group classes: in the Department.
- Information technology / AV aids: available in computer- assisted
classes in the Department.
- Laboratory : laboratory facilities to perform the required
experiments are available in the department.
VI. STUDENT ASSESSMENT:
VI-A. ATTENDANCE CRITERIA:
The minimum acceptable practical (and tutorial) attendance is 75%; students who
fail to attend that percentage of activities will lose 5 marks out of the practical
marks. Students need to attend at least 60% in order to attend for the final
practical examination.
Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University
Annexes of annual faculty report 2004/2005
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VI-B) ASSESSMENT TOOLS:
Tool
Purpose
Written examination
Assessment of knowledge and understanding
Oral examination
Assessment of knowledge and understanding
Practical examination
Assessment of practical and intellectual and
general skills (check list)
VI-C) TIME SCHEDULE:
• Formative examinations: one held in January and the other in April for all
students. Those who don't attend the examination(s) for acceptable reason(s);
their marks will be raised as a proportion from the final written examination
score.
• Final examination: at the end of the academic year (May) for all students. The
exam is re-held in September for those who fail to pass the final exam or
postpone it
VI-D) GRADING SYSTEM:
Examination
Marks allocated
Formative examinations:
January
20
April
10
Final examination
Written
75
Oral
20
Practical
25
Total
150
• The minimum passing score is 90 marks provided at least 36 marks are
obtained in the final written examination.
• Passing grades are: EXCELLENT > 85%, VERY GOOD 75-<85%, GOOD 65<75% and FAIR 60-<65%.
Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University
Annexes of annual faculty report 2004/2005
52
FORMATIVE ONLY ASSESSMENTS
Student knows his marks after the Formative exam.
VI-E) EXAMINATION DESCRIPTION:
Examination
Formative
Description
Larks
Written
Exam:
A one--hour written paper
Jan
20
composed of short essay type
questions.
Thirty-minute MCQ
April
FinalL
Written
A 3-hour written paper composed
10
75 marks
of short essay type questions (45
marks) and MCQ (30 marks)
Practical
Detection of abnormal constituents
25 marks
in the provided sample of urine.
Colorimetric measurement of the
previously studied parameters and
a comment on a given laboratory
biochemical report.
Oral
One oral examination station
Total
20 marks
150 marks
VII- LEARNING AND REFERENCE MATERIALS:
VII-A) BASIC MATERIALS:
• Department Book: available for students to purchase from different bookshops
at the faculty.
• Overhead projections and computer presentations used during teaching in
tutorial classes.
• Notes on the laboratory practical work.
Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University
Annexes of annual faculty report 2004/2005
53
VII-B) SUGGESTED MATERIALS:
• Harper's Biochemistry.
• Lippincott's Illustrated Biochemistry.
• The Department's web site. http:// www.biomed.eg.net