Download PDF Essential Biochemistry for Medicine by Mitchell Fry

Sinopsis

Food consists of water, macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats and proteins) and micronutrients (vitamins, minerals). The amount of energy contained in food is typically measured in calories; a dietary calorie (C) is actually a thousand calories (kcal) (a calorie is defined as the amount of heat energy that is required to increase the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius). Carbohydrates (a hydrated energy source) and proteins produce about 4 kcal per gram, while fat (an anhydrous energy source) produces about 9 kcal of heat per gram.

Carbohydrates are mostly used for energy; limited amounts can be stored in the liver and muscles in the form of glycogen. They vary widely in their complexity, and in the speed with which they are digested and metabolised. Sugars are a class of carbohydrates. Sugar monosaccharides include glucose, fructose and galactose. Disaccharides, composed of two monosaccharide units, include sucrose (common table sugar, glucose and fructose), lactose (found mostly in milk), glucose and galactose .

Polysaccharides are polymers of monosaccharides. Starch is a polysaccharide composed of amylose, an essentially linear polysaccharide, and amylopectin, a highly branched polysaccharide; both are polymers of D-Glucose. Amylose  consists typically of 200–20 000 glucose units, which form a helix as a result of the bond angles between the units; the linkages between glucose molecules are referred to as 1–4 (between carbon 1 and carbon 4 of adjacent glucose molecules; see Figure 1.1 for numbering of ring structure). Amylopectin differs from amylose in being highly branched. Short side chains of about 30 glucose units are attached with 1–6 linkages approximately every 20–30 glucose units along the chain. 

Content

1. Nutritional requirements
2. Metabolism and energy
3. Regulating body weight
4. Digestion and absorption
5. Synthesis, mobilisation and transport of lipids and lipoproteins
6. Theliver
7. Alcohol metabolism and cirrhosis
8. Protein structures
9. Enzymes and diagnosis
10. The kidney
11. Haemostasis
12. Bone metabolism and calcium homeostasis
13. Intracellular signalling
14. Inflammation
15. The immune response
16. Mitochondrial dysfunction
17. Nerve and muscle systems
18. The cytoskeleton
19. Genes and medicine
20. Antibacterial drug resistance

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