Elective Courses

Basic principles of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance: General review of the basic knowledge of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. Technical description of an NMR spectrometer with reference to the instrument supplied by the Department of Pharmacy. Sample preparation methods. Main solvents for the solubilization of the sample. Use of the Depth Gauge and Spinner. Definition of Locking and Shimming procedures. Main functions of the software dedicated to the NMR spectrometer. Notions on command strings. Instrument preparation before the experiment, data collection, FID processing and Fourier Transform. Safety regulations.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Laboratory: Proton spectroscopy (1H-NMR): Sample preparation, manual adjustment of spin, shim and lock. Execution of proton spectra of known substances. FID, Fourier transform and graphic management of the spectrum. Phasing, ppm cut-off determination and spectrum integration. Selective spin decoupling. Chirality in 1H-NMR spectroscopy. Calculation of coupling constants in cis-trans alkenes. Identification of the main functional groups through the study of the spectra produced during the laboratory practice.

Carbon-13 NMR spectrometry (13C-NMR): Sample preparation, manual adjustment of spin, shim and lock. Execution of proton spectra of known substances. FID, Fourier transform and graphic management of the spectrum. Phasing, ppm cut-off determination. Coupling 1H-13C. Decoupled spectra. DEPT sequence. Chemical displacement. Identification of the main functional groups through the study of the spectra produced during the laboratory practice. Other important nuclei (31P, 15N-NMR).

Two-dimensional NMR spectrometry: 1H-1H COSY and TOCSY correlation, NOESY correlation 1H-1H, 1H-13C HETCOR and HMQC correlation, 13C-13C INADEQUATE correlation.

SEMESTER: Second

ECTS: 3

REFERENT: 
michele.ciulla@unich.it

APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY TO COSMETOLOGY

Microbiological Quality control

Raw materials: pollution levels and controls.

Packaging and microbial tests

Water control, water activity:  microbial tests.

Final product:  microbial tests.

Challenge test

Analytical microbiological tests

Colony forming Units count, filtration systems, Most probable Number (MPN) test

Qualitative methods for the detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Candida albicans

Microbiology lab Practice

Microbiological control of a cosmetic product

APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY TO WATER ANALYSIS

Waterborne diseases transmission

Interaction between eukaryotic and prokaryotic marine organisms.

Physiological response of marine bacteria to stress condition.

Microbiological control of water quality.

Legislation.

Identification of marine bacteria by cultural and molecular methods.

Microbiology lab Practice

Microbiological analysis of seawater  sample by cultural methods

APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY TO FOOD INDUSTRY

Parameters affecting the microbial growth in foods (pH, aw, temperature, humidity, nutrients, atmosphere modifications).

Methods of food storage (temperature, radiations, chemicals).

Food infection/intoxication

Microbiology of fermented food: from milk to yogurt

Functional food: Probiotics, prebiotics, symbiontics.

Microbiology lab Practice

Isolation and characterization of  Streptococcus thermophilus and  Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus from a  yogurt sample

Wild officinal flora

The chemodiversity and the relationship with endogenous and exogenous factors. Secondary plant metabolites and applications.

Pharmacognosy and histological characters for medicinal plants identification: stem, leaves, roots and their modifications, hairs, types of stomata and stomatal index.

The osmotic potential and photosynthesis in laboratory experiments.

Experimental approach to wild plant identification with dichotomous analytical keys. Techniques for collection, drying and mounting to organize an herbarium of medicinal plants.

The production chain of medicinal plants based products

Collection, selection, drying, extraction, concentration, formulation and packaging.

Experimental observation of medicinal plants in the Botanical Gardens "Giardino dei Semplici"

Excursions for medicinal plants observations in wild.

Guided excursions and visits to processing factory of medicinal plants.

Secondary plant metabolism

General introduction on the secondary metabolites: extraction techniques and analysis.

The phenolic compounds: ecological role and use in medical and food industries. Extraction methods and techniques of qualitative and quantitative determination.

The terpenoid metabolites: generalities, ecological role and application in pharmaceutical and food industries. Extraction and analysis. Steam distillation and solvent extraction of essential oils from aromatic plants.

The saponification with plant based ingredients.

Alkaloids: ecological role and main metabolites used in pharmacy.

Transition metals. Coordination Chemistry.  Metals in Biological systems. Metalloenzymes and metalloproteins: hemoglobin.

Therapeutical use of coordination compounds, with special regard to platinum and Ruthenium in antitumoral compounds.

Sampling process, preparation, and error-related processing. Laboratory automation. Definition of normality field and meaning, clinical sensitivity and specificity (false positives, false negatives), criteria for validation of analytical methods, quality control in clinical chemistry and implementation of laboratory methods. Analysis in biological matrix and therapeutic drug monitoring (principles, procedures, and analysis). Examples of analytical applications in clinical field.

The course deals with theoretical and computational methods currently used for the determination of the structure and of the chemical properties of molecules of biological and pharmaceutical interest and for the description of ligand-receptor interactions.

The following issues will be covered:

- Introduction to computer science
- Modern computer architecture
- Computer networks (numerical methods and others)
- Use of the terminal
- Short digression on basic aspects of computer science, digitization and cryptography
- Introduction molecular structure representation
- HF SCF method
- Introduction to the basic sets
- PES and geometry optimization (numerical derivatives)
- MM methods outline of molecular dynamics
- QM / MM outline and conformer search (MonteCarlo and Genetic Algorithms)
- DFT method and notes on Post-Hartree-Fock methods
- IR spectra simulation
- Molecular properties

Skin: anatomy and physiology, outline. Introduction to cosmetic legislation. The main topical formulations. Detergents: classes, active ingredients and mechanisms of action. Functional cosmetics: moisturizing, nourishing, lightening, exfoliating. Skin and sun: phototypes, main active photoprotectors and mechanisms of action. Use of cosmetics in the most common skin conditions

Introduction to drug design

Drug development process

Role of the computational methods

Ligand-based approaches

-        Molecular representation

-        Property and descriptor calculation

-        Similarity and diversity

-        QSAR

-        Pharmacophore model

Structure-based approaches

-        3D structure of macromolecules: the PDB

-        Docking and scoring

-        Molecular Dynamics

Virtual screening

-        Approaches

-        Criteria for the compound selection (drug-likeness, ligand efficiency)

Computer practice exercises on a case study

The course aims to provide the skills on analytical methods (instrumental and not) particularly for use in clinical laboratories and forensic analytical chemistry and integration of knowledge acquired during  study of chemistry. Also taken into consideration are the main problems that affect the outcome of a laboratory examination of forensic and biological samples. The potentialities and weaknesses of the various methods are illustrated by numerous examples of the determination of complex biological matrices

▪ Introduction to information technology, hardware , software , computer networks and protocols , algorithms and programs 

▪ Introduction to chemoinformatics representation and manipulation of molecular structures , molecular descriptors and computational methods

▪ Introduction to bioinformatics

▪ Bibliometric indicators and impact factor

▪ Literature search and biomedic database (Pubmed)

▪ Literature search and chemical database (Scifinder)

▪ Use of papers and abstract for writing a report

▪ Writing a scientific report

▪ Organization of the Scientific Library of Chieti and available facilities

▪ Cochrane Library and NERA

▪ Database and research in Wiley, ACS and OVID platforms

▪ Freeware data base

▪ Book search in the library and on-line

Probability theory elements

Descriptive statistics elements

The Bridge game

The Texas Holde'm game

The gene and its modifications

- Methods of cell culture

- The human karyotype and its modifications 

- Molecular biology techniques:

 DNA amplification (PCR)

 DNA analysis with MLPA, Sequencing

- Studies of gene expression

- RT-PCR, microarray 

- The Human Genome 

- Techniques of Molecular Cytogenetics:

FISH

SKY

array-CGH

- Stem Cells

- Stem cells and cancer

- Animal models and genetic diseases

- Genetic Testing:

Diagnostic Tests

Pre-clinical tests

Predictive Test

Descriptive statistics

Introduction: problems of descriptive and inferential statistics and their applications in the experimental sciences.

Elements of descriptive statistics: discrete variables and continuous variables, population; character; sample; absolute frequency; relative frequency; cumulative frequency; variable; statistics; dot plot; bar graph, pie chart.

Main statistics: mode, median, quartiles, quantiles, arithmetic mean, deviation.

Statistical averages: definition of Cauchy; definition of Chisini; the arithmetic mean; geometric mean; harmonic mean;

weighted arithmetic mean; their properties (proofs and applications).

Variability indexes: the range of the data; deviance; variance and standard deviation; coefficient of variation; their properties (proofs and applications).  .

Form of a distribution: the concept of symmetry; asymmetry; the standardized variable; Pearson index of asymmetry; Fisher asymmetry index; Kurtosis and Pearson kurtosis index.

Analysis of dependence: two-variable data table; conditional distribution and independence; scatterplots; Chi-Square for contengency table; Cramer's V index; linear regression and least squares technique; association; regression coefficient and its interpretation; variance of regression and its decomposition; coefficient of determination; polynomial regression; linearization methods.

Analysis of interdependence: the concept of interdependence; measure of concordance; discordance; the correlation coefficient of Bravais -Pearson and its interpretation.

Elements of partial correlation and multiple regression: plane and hyperplane of regression; partial regression coefficient; coefficient of determination; partial correlation coefficient .

Examples and applications in bio-pharmaceutical sciences

Elements of probability

Combinatorial analysis: the basic principle of counting; permutations (theorem and application); combinations (theorem and application); binomial coefficient, dispositions (theorem and application),

The algebra of Events: standard event, implication between events, equal events; complement of an event; the union event; the intersection event; mutually exclusive events; sample space; conditional events.

The different definitions of probability: classical, frequentist, axiomatic; some simple propositions on the probability of events. Sample spaces having equally likely outcomes; card games; the problem of birthdays.

Introduction to conditional probability: the multiplication rule; independent events; Bayes' Formula (proof and application).

The random variables: random variable (r.v.); distribution function; probability mass function; density function; the Bernoulli r.v.; the Binomial r.v.; the Normal r.v.; the Standard Normal r.v.; the Student's t r.v.; moments of a r.v..

Limit theorems: the Central Limit Theorem; the weak law of large

numbers; the strong law of large numbers.

Elements of hypothesis testing

Hypothesis Testing: basic concept of random samples: research hypothesis; statistical hypothesis, null hypothesis; alternative hypothesis (uni and bi-directional); statistical significance; statistical distribution of the test statistic, critical values​​, rejection regions and acceptance region, error probabilities and the power function; the Z test for a sample mean; the T test for a sample mean; degrees of freedom;  confidence intervals for the mean; sample size determination; p-values.

Examples and applications in bio-pharmaceutical sciences.

• BASIC PHARMACOLOGY Information transmission mechanisms at the level of S.N.C. General concepts related to the importance of neurotransmitters and co-transmitters in the control of higher nervous functions
• ANTIPARKINSONIAN DRUGS L-Dopa and L-Dopa decarboxylase inhibitors (eg benserazide, carbidopa). Other dopamine agonists (bromocriptine, pergolide). Amantadine. Selegiline. Central anticholinergics.
• ANTIPSYCHOTICS Phenotiazines, tioxanthines. Butyrophenones. Diphenylbutylpiperidines. Benzamides. Various •ANTIDEPRESSANTS Tricyclics (imipramine, desipramine, amitriptyline, etc.). Precursors of serotonin (eg L-5-hydroxytryptophan) and inhibitors of its re-uptake (eg fluoxetine, sertraline). Mianserine, trazodone, viloxazine. Monoamine oxidase inhibitors
• ANTIMANIACALS Lithium
• SEDATIVES-ANXIOLYTICS Benzodiazepines; Buspirone. Dependence induced by anxiolytics. Alcohol and alcoholism
• HYPNOTICS Intermediate acting barbiturates (eg secobarbital). Benzodiazepine derivatives (eg flurazepam, flunitrazepam). Alcoholic derivatives (eg chloral hydrate). Imidazopirimidines.
• ANTIEPILEPTICS Phenytoin. Carbamazepine. Phenobarbital. Primidone. Vigabatrin, Tiagabine, Gabapentin, Pregabalin. Lamotrigine, Felbamate, Lacosamide, Levetiracetam, Topiramate, Zonisamide. Etosuccimide, trimetadione. Benzodiazepines (eg cIonazepam, cIordiazepoxide, diazepam). Valproic acid.
• PSYCHOSTIMULANTS AND ANORECTICS Cocaine. Amphetamine and amphetamine-like psychostimulants. Anorexigenic agents unrelated to amphetamine (eg Mazindol).
• HALLUCINOGENS Indole alkaloids (eg LSD, bufotenine, psilocybin). Phenylethylamines (eg amphetamines; mescaline). Piperidine derivatives (eg phencyclidine). Tetrahydrocannabinols
• PHARMACOTHERAPY OF DEMENTIA
• SKELETAL MUSCLE RELAXANTS Glyceryl ethers (eg mephenesin), carbamate derivatives (eg methocarbamol); oxazoles (eg chlorzoxazone); baclofen
• GENERAL ANESTHETICS Gaseous anesthetics (eg nitrous oxide or cyclopropane), volatile liquids (eg ethyl ether, halothane, isoflurane, etc.), for intravenous use (barbiturates, etomidate, ketamine, etc.)
• OPIOID DRUGS AND RECEPTORS
• CENTRAL STIMULANTS

Hypothalamic & Pituitary Hormones

Thyroid & Antithyroid Drugs
Adrenocorticosteroids & Adrenocortical Antagonists
The Gonadal Hormones & Inhibitors
Pancreatic Hormones & Antidiabetic Drugs
Agents That Affect Bone Mineral Homeostasis

Agents Used in Dyslipidemia

Drugs Used in Obesity

Pharmacology applied to the development of new drugs (preclinical and clinical experimental pharmacology) and to the use of drugs as tools for biological research.

 In vivo procedures: Use of laboratory animals: laws and principles. Tests in vivo for the determination of pharmacological activity ralated to selected drug classes. Biological variability; elaboration and statistical analysis of experimental data/results.

Applications of Toxicology: Food Toxicology, Analytic/Forensic Toxicology, Clinical Toxicology, Occupational Toxicology, Regulatory Toxicology, Recommended Limits for Occupational Exposure to Chemicals

Data aquisition from scientific literature; structure and analysis of scientific reports; utilization of data banks of the world wide web.

• Institutional context of the Pharmacy: context changes, relationship between Pharmacy and other health care entities and professionals, services to “customers”.
• Fundamentals of Healthcare Management and Financial Management of Pharmacies: organizational, management and operating features; management of pharmaceutical inventory and other resources.
• Marketing for Pharmacy (Pharmaceutical Marketing): Introduction, Marketing Process: analytical-cognitive phase, strategic-decision making phase, marketing/retailing mix, new trends of the marketing for Pharmacy.
• Quality of service and communication: pivotal role of the "customer", quality of services, listening tools for the "customer" service and communication, role and means of communication, communication principles, pharmacy image strategy, service and communication for pharmacy.

Carbohydrate metabolism

Energy balance and thermoregulation

Satellite cells and muscle regeneration

Reproductive physiology

Physiology of bone tissue

Sleep-wake cycle

Learning and memory

Pain

Cell culture

Methods of embedding in optic and electronic microscopy

Staining in optic and electronic microscopy

Observation at optic and electronic microscopes

Fluorescence microscope