Corso di laurea magistrale in Scienze degli Alimenti e della Nutrizione Umana

Basic knowledge of biochemistry.
Basic knowledge of cell biology.
Basic knowledge in: cell and molecular biology, anatomy, physiology

The course contributes to the achievement of the educational objectives of the bio-alimentary and human nutrition areas of the Food Sciences and Human Nutrition Master Degree Course by providing in-depth and cutting-edge knowledge on the biochemical mechanisms related to glycolipid metabolism, applied medical genetics, nutrigenomics and diseases associated with supply.

Biochemical Aspects: The objective is to provide a detailed knowledge of glycolipid metabolism and a good knowledge of the use and meaning of the main clinical tests performed in the main metabolic dysfunctions. It also provides the basis for learning to recognize and evaluate functional foods and food supplements, including the biochemical metabolism of these products and their effectiveness on human health.

In the Genetic Aspects Module, students will learn the principles of medical genetics applied in the nutritional field, centered on Nutrigenomics and its derivations, and the study of some hereditary dysmetabolisms. The skills acquired in the genetic field must also lay the foundations for understanding the relationship between diet and complex diseases.

The section Pathological Aspects is aimed to provide students with the basis to understand the underlying causes and the mechanisms of disease, with particular reference to nutritional diseases. In particular, the section will deal with cell pathology, nutritional diseases, food allergy, food-related autoimmune diseases, tumor-diet interaction.

Knowledge and understanding ability

After following this course the student will acquire the knowledge about:

• biochemical mechanisms of functional foods and their effectiveness on human health
• medical genetics applied to the nutritional field, centered on Nutrigenomics, hereditary dysmetabolisms, relationship between diet and complex diseases
• mechanisms underlying food-related diseases

 

Ability to apply knowledge and understanding

At the end of this course the student will be able to apply:

• functional food on metabolic disorders
• propose adequate and modern analytical solutions to molecular genetics problems linked to the problem of nutrition
• immunometric analyses useful to diagnose food-related allergies and autoimmune diseases

Making Judgements

At the end of this course the student will be able to:

• evaluate the efficacy of functional foods
• independently investigate the health effects of any new functional foods on the market
• evaluate and interpret laboratory experimental data

Learning ability

At the end of this course the student will be able to:

• evaluate data on foods obtained from clinical trials
• transfer the theoretical knowledge acquired in planning and carrying out an experiment
• critically expose the data obtained from scientific publications
• communicate in Italian and in a foreign language (English) both in written and oral form

 

Overview in lipid metabolism and in atherogenesis . The Inflammatory process. Homeostasis and inflammation in the intestine. Prebiotics and probiotics. Classification of functional foods. Classification of alimentary integrators. The most important “protective factors” in diet. Phytosterols. Classification of Novel foods. Laboratory exercise groups. Physiological roles, digestion and intestinal absorption of complex lipids. Apoproteins and ApoB mRNA editing. Niemann-Pick C1-Like 1 and ezetimibe. ABCG5/G8 transporters and sitosterolemy. LXR/RXR and transcriptional control of cholesterol homeostasis. Microsomal Triglyceride transfer Protein and abetaliproteinemia. Sar1 small GTPase and Anderson disease. Chylomicron assembly, secretion and catabolism. Lipoproteinlipase (LPL), GPI-anchored HDL-binding protein 1 and Cholesteryl Ester Transfer Protein (CETP/ApoD). VLDL, IDL, and LDL assembly, secretion and catabolism. INSIG, SCAP, SREBP2 and transcriptional control of cholesterol homeostasis. ApoB100, LDL receptor, ARH endocytic adaptor and familial hypercholesterolemia. Type C and D Niemann-Pick disease. HDL assembly and catabolism. Biochemistry and molecular biology of obesity. Trafficking of lipoprotein receptors in human vascular endothelial cells.

The course aims at providing the principles of medical genetics applied to nutrition and nutrigenomics for the understanding of the hereditary dismetabolisms and of the relationships between diet and complex diseases.

The following subjects will be presented:

• Genetic/genomic variability of human populations
• Genetic approaches to the study of complex diseases
• Hereditary dismetabolisms
• Nutrigenetics:

-          Genetic variants and obesity

-          Genetic polymorphisms, nutrition and inflammatory response

-          Genetic variants, functional parameters and hypertension

-          Genetic variants, nutrition and cardiovascular diseases

-          Genetic variants, nutrition and cancer

-          Tast receptors genes and polymorphisms

• Nutrigenomics:

-          Human quantitative trait loci (QTLs)

-          Metabolomics

-          Environment and diet

-          Nutrition and transcriptomics

-          Nutrition and epigenetics

• Nutrition, DNA damages, ageing and diseases
• Gene-gene and gene-environment interaction

PATHOLOGY:

Cellular pathology. Reversible cell damage and adaptations: hypertrophy/atrophy, regenerative capacity and influence of nutrition. Irreversible cell damage: necrosis and apoptosis. Degenerative processes and storage diseases. Aging and cellular senescence, effect of nutrition. Nutritional deficiencies. Bases of the innate immune response: acute and chronic inflammation. Bases of the adapted immune response: antigen recognition and lymphocyte activation, role of cytokines, immunological tolerance. Nutrition, inflammation and immunity. Role of diet-derived AGEs in chronic inflammatory diseases. Hypersensitivity reactions: food allergies and intolerances. Autoimmune disorders: celiac disease.

Oncology. Molecular bases of neoplastic transformation. Food oncogenic risk: natural carcinogens, relationship between carcinogenesis and dietary habits, protective role of antioxidants. Nutrition during the treatment of oncological diseases and in neoplastic cachexia.
Presentation and discussion of scientific articles relating to the program by students.

Biochemical Aspects: To achieve the educational objectives of this course, theoretical lectures (24 hours) and laboratory exercises carried out in small groups (32 hours). Theoretical lectures are supported by ppt presentations with graphic illustrations. The pratical part of the course (lab execises) involves the active participation of students and includes biochemical analyses carried out on food matrices. Lectures and laboratory practical activities are mandatory (60% of the total hours). In any cases, online teaching materials will be granted, including laboratory practical activities. 

Section Patological Aspects:  The teaching is organized in 20 hours of lectures and 4 hours dedicated to the discussion of selected scientific papers. Lectures and laboratory practical activities are mandatory (60% of the total hours). Didactic material (slides, videos, mandatory bibliography) will be available on the Moodle platform. 

Genetics aspects: To achieve the educational objectives of this course, theoretical lectures (24 hours) are used. Theoretical lectures are supported by ppt presentations with graphic illustrations. Lectures are mandatory (60% of the total hours).

 

Biochemical Aspects: The examination of this teaching module consists of an oral test lasting about 30 minutes to ascertain students' knowledge through the formulation of two questions concerning the physiology and pathology of lipid absorption, the distribution of lipids in the body, the systematics and metabolism of functional foods and their practical applications. 

Genetic aspects: The examination ascertains the acquisition of knowledge by taking only an oral test lasting about 30 minutes. The test consists of 2-3 general questions, on the contents carried out in class in order to ascertain that the student has acquired knowledge on the main notions relating to Mendelian and complex pathologies, with particular reference to associations and interactions with nutritional aspects. The exam consists of open questions aimed at verifying the skills acquired in each of the following macro themes: 1) Mendelian diseases and hereditary, dysmetabolisms, 2) Complex diseases and gene-environment interactions, 3) Epigenetics and nutrigenomics. During the interview, the student's synthesis ability and, above all, the ability to develop the topics covered in class will be evaluated taking into account the interdisciplinarity of the aspects inherent in genetics, genomics, epigenomics and interaction with the environment and lifestyle, and especially with the diet.

Pathological Aspects: Learning will be verified by means of an in attendance written test held in specific predefined calls.

The test consists of a series of questions dealing with all the teaching program developed during the course. Questions are mainly open, aimed at evaluating the specific knowledge, but also the skill for synthesis, speach organization and the ability to correlate the various diseases with life style, diet included. Max punctuation is 30/30, every question having the same weight. Particularly relevant executions will be marked cum laude.  

Final grade: the final grade is expressed in thirtieths and represents the arithmetic mean of all the teaching modules

Biochemical Aspects: The educational material presented in class is available on the SNUM E-Learning website. Students will be provided with the slides displayed in each lecture, as well as several of the relevant experimental articles and recent reviews concerning the topics that will be covered.

Section Pathological Aspects: Recommended books:  Kumar Abbas Aster "ROBBINS Basic Pathology" Elsevier (9a edizione, 2013). The teaching material available on the Moodle platform is mandatory .

Genetic Aspects Module: The didactic material presented in class is available on the present website. The basic texts recommended for the course are: 1) Nutritional Genomics, Discovering the Path to Personalized Nutrition, Edited by J. Kaput and R.L. Rodriguez, Wiley, 2006 2) Nutritional Genomics, Impact on Health an Disease, Edited by R. Brigelius-Flohé, HG. Joost, Wiley-VCH, 2007 The teaching material presented in class is available on the website. The basic texts recommended for the course are: 1) Cozzani and Dainese, "Biochemistry of Food and Nutrition", Piccin, 2006 2) Leuzzi, Bellocco and Barreca, "Biochemistry of nutrition", Zanichelli, 2013 3) Biochemistry of Lipids, Lipoproteins and Membranes (New Comprehensive Biochemistry), Edited by Vance & Vance, Elsevier, 2008 4) The HDL Handbook: Biological Functions and Clinical Implications, Published by Komoda, Academic Press, 2013.