Clinical Nutrition course

COURSE CURRICULUM

The Clinical Nutrition course consists of:

Lesson 1 – The Kidney

• Acute renal failure
• Chronic renal failure
• Diabetic nephropathy
• Nephrotic syndrome
• Renal replacement therapy
• Transplantation

Lesson 2 – Nutritional and Metabolic Support in Hematologic Malignancies and Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

• The rationale for nutritional intervention in hematologic malignancies
• Nutritional and metabolic support following HSCT
• Perspectives on the future

Lesson 3 – The Lung

• Prevalence and consequences of weight loss and muscle wasting
• Causes of weight loss and muscle wasting
• The outcome of nutritional intervention
• Acute lung injury

Lesson 4 – Nutrition and Immune and Inflammatory Systems

• The response of the immune system to activation
• The effects of proinflammatory cytokines
• Control systems for cytokines
• Damaging and life-threatening effects of cytokines
• Influence of malnutrition on key aspects of the cytokine response
• Antioxidant defenses and their impact on immune and inflammatory systems in patients
• Immunomodulatory effects of lipids
• Route and content of nutritional provision and immune function and patient outcome

Lesson 5 – The Heart and Blood Vessels

• Atherosclerosis
• Dietary lipids and coronary heart disease
• Plasma lipoproteins
• Lipoprotein metabolism
• Other dietary factors and coronary heart disease
• Diet and hypertension
• Diet and stroke
• Diet and peripheral vascular disease
• Diet and chronic heart failure
• Micronutrients and cardiovascular disease

Lesson 6 – Nutritional Aspects of Disease Affecting the Skeleton

• Overview of mineral ion homeostasis and bone metabolism
• Age-appropriate biochemical reference ranges
• Pharmaceutical agents commonly used in bone disease
• Diagnostic imaging assessment of the skeleton
• Rickets/osteomalacia (vitamin D deficiency)
• Mineral ion homeostasis in preterm infants
• Corticosteroid-induced bone disease
• Post-transplant bone disease
• Osteoporosis associated with chronic disease
• Anorexia nervosa
• Senile osteoporosis

Lesson 7 – Nutrition in Surgery and Trauma

• The stress response to trauma and its effects on metabolism
• Nutritional support in perioperative care
• Feeding the severely traumatized patient

Lesson 8 – Infectious Diseases

• Human immunodeficiency virus infection
• Tuberculosis
• Malaria
• Gastrointestinal infections

Lesson 9 – Nutritional Support in Patients with Cancer

Section 1: Wasting syndrome in cancer

• Definition and prevalence
• Pathophysiology of cancer cachexia

Section ll: Nutritional support in cancer

• Effect of nutritional support on nutritional status
• Effects of nutritional support on clinical outcome
• Oral nutritional supplementation
• Effects of nutritional support on tumor growth

Lesson 10 – Paediatric Nutrition

• Growth
• The impact of development on nutrition
• Infant feeding
• Preschool children
• Schoolchildren and adolescents
• Undernutrition in children
• Nutrition as treatment
• Overweight in children: fatness and ‘obesity’

Lesson 11 – Cystic Fibrosis

• Definition and pathology
• Clinical features of cystic fibrosis
• Malnutrition in cystic fibrosis
• Other nutritional considerations in cystic fibrosis
• Nutritional management
• Vitamin supplementation in cystic fibrosis
• Mineral status in cystic fibrosis

Lesson 12 – Water and Electrolytes

• Water, electrolytes, and body composition
• Body water distribution
• Body electrolyte content: distribution and exchangeable fractions
• Intracellular water and the body cell mass concept
• Regulation of body water compartments
• Metabolic links: glucose, water, and sodium
• Body water compartments in chronic starvation
• Impact of acute pathological conditions on the ICW
• Body water in acute illness
• Water and electrolyte metabolism during refeeding
• Implications of water and sodium metabolism in nutrition therapy for specific clinical conditions

Lesson 13 – Illustrative Cases

• Children
• Anorexia of psychological origin and refeeding syndrome
• Malnutrition in the older person
• Bowel disease
• Catabolic illness
• Dysphagia
• Obesity

COURSE MATERIALS

The Clinical Nutrition course materials, assignments, and final exams are all online.