CZ:(U00984) Appetite and Obesity, University of Edinburgh 2009
Instructors: Prof Gareth Leng, Dr Celine Caquineau
About the ‘Appetite and Obesity’ course
‘Appetite and Obesity’ is an elective course from the Honours Medical biology programme in the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, UK. The overall theme of the course is the study of the body homeostasis and the epidemiology of obesity with a focus on understanding current trends in obesity research.
Project description
The project is to write an article on a chosen topic related to obesity research working in groups of max 4. At the end of the course, articles will be released on Citizendium, until then articles will be locked from editing by other citizens.
Project schedule and deadlines
29.09.09: Tutorial 1.
13.10.09: References list updated. Your article should present a bibliography with an extract of the abstract for each references illustrating why the paper has been chosen. For an example of how your references list should look like:
27.10.09: Rough draft due. Your article should have an introduction and at least a detailed plan with sections subheadings.
3.11.09: Peer reviews due.
17.11.09: Final draft due. Your main article should be finalised, picture and diagram includede, Bibliography, related articles and External links pages updated. For an example of how your article and subpages should look like:
- Biology [r]: The science of life — of complex, self-organizing, information-processing systems living in the past, present or future. [e]
24.11.09: Tutorial 2: Feedback session, Peer reviews due.
Week 11: Articles released on Citizendium.
Articles topics
Please select the topic you want to work on by signing your name (using 4 tildes) on the article's talkpage.
Genetics of obesity [r]: The evidence for a genetic component to obesity in humans. [e]
Health consequences of obesity [r]: Long-term effects of obesity on health. [e]
- Task: Cover the evidence that obesity is a risk factor for major diseases
- Exercise and body weight [r]: Correlation between physical activity and the body mass index. [e]
- Task: Cover the evidence that exercise is linked to a long-term reduction in body weight and the mechanisms by which that may occur.
- Drug treatments for obesity [r]: Treatments of obesity that are based on drugs. [e]
- Task: Cover the mechanisms of actions of existing drug treatments.
- Task: Cover the regulation of energy expenditure. See also metabolism.
- Gut-brain signalling [r]: The interaction between the gastrointestinal tract and the brain. [e]
- Task: Cover the neural and endocrine pathways by which information reaches the brain from the GI tract.
- Food reward [r]: The brain mechanisms involved in reinforcing feeding behaviour. [e]
- Task: Cover the evidence of how the motivation to eat is regulated, especially by the dopamine 'reward' systems of the midbrain.
- Bariatric surgery [r]: The surgical removal of body fat. [e]
- Task: Discuss the mechanisms by which surgical intervention is thought to result in weight loss; especially discuss the relative effectivenesss of surgery and diets.