Biochemistry for Clinical Medicine

Developments in biochemistry have contributed immensely to the rate at which medical knowledge has expended in recent years. Following the GMC recommendations regarding undergraduate medical education, Biochemistry for Clinical Medicine integrates, in a single volume, all aspects of biochemistry required by a medical student, with a special focus on information specific to medicine as opposed to laboratory-based biochemistry. The first section of the book provides an understanding of basic cell biology and the critical concepts of membrane transport, cellular energetics, information storage, transmission and expression, as well as describing the essential chemistry and metabolism of cellular biomolecules and the clinical conditions that arise from disturbances in their metabolism. The second section adopts a systems-based approach to present clinical biochemistry in an easily readable and concise manner, using tables and clear diagrams to summarise important facts, as well as providing information on the biochemical basis of good nutrition.

1. Cells and organelles; 2. Carbohydrates; 3. Carbohydrate metabolism and related disorders; 4. Cellular energetics and energy production; 5. Lipids; 6. Lipid metabolism and related disorders; 7. Proteins (+ proteins as functional units); 8. Metabolism of nitrogen containing compounds; 9. Information storage and transmission; 10. Information expression and proteins as functional units; 11. Communication between cells and tissues in the body; 12. Sodium, water and potassium; 13. Hydrogen ion homeostasis; 14. The cardiovascular system; 15. Haemoglobin, porphyrias and iron; 16. The liver; 17. Gastrointestinal system; 18. The kidney; 19. Calcium, phosphate, magnesium and bone; 20. The hypothalamic and pituitary glands; 21. The thyroid gland; 22. The adrenal glands; 23. The gonads; 24. Metabolic aspect of malignancy; 25. Nutrition and nutritional disorders.