A comprehensive, highly readable overview of the topics discussed at the First International Symposium on "Vitamin D Analogs in Cancer Prevention and Therapy" held in Homburg/Saar, Germany in May 2002. Leading researchers discuss our present knowledge of the vitamin D system in cancer. Topics range from the newest findings in molecular biology, epidemiology, synthesis and metabolism of vitamin D to new concepts for the use of vitamin D analogs in cancer prophylaxis and treatment. The book provides essential up-to-date information for every researcher or clinician interested in the biology of vitamin D or cancer.

The third edition is a comprehensive and updated overview of positive and negative effects of UV-exposure, with a focus on Vitamin D and skin cancer. Researchers, oncologists,and students will be provided with the most significant and timely information related to topics such as the epidemiology of skin cancer, the immune system and skin cancer, ultraviolet damage, DNA repair and Vitamin D in Nonmelanoma skin cancer and malignant melanoma. There have been a number of new, scientific findings in this fast moving field that necessitated a thoroughly updated and revised edition including new Vitamin D metabolites and skin cancer, new findings on the beneficial effects of UV and solar UV and skin cancer, adverse effects of sun protection and sunscreens, sun exposure and mortality, and more. The book will summarize essential, up-to-date information for every clinician or scientist interested in how to balance the positive and negative effects of UV‐exposure to minimize the risks of developing vitamin D deficiency and skin cancer.

Because diseases of the bone are often less acute and less lifethreatening than dis eases of the circulatory system, gastrointestinal tract, kidney, liver, and the nervous system, they have received a disproportionately smaller amount of attention in the medical world. With the average increasing life span of man as a result of improve ments in modern medicine, espe~ially in the pediatric field, the seriousness of many metabolic bone diseases has indeed become more obvious. In addition, other improvements in medicine, such as hemodialysis for the preservation of renal failure patients, have permitted the development of other consequences of diseased kidneys, one of which is the appearance of renal osteodystrophy. Finally, the appearance of several genetic disorders in the area of metabolic bone disease has been underscored by the solution of other pediatric diseas~s of much more serious consequences. These emerging problems all suggest that much remains to be learned concerning the sys temic control of bone, both as a structural organ and as a reservoir for the important elements of calcium and phosphorus so essential for the support of life in complex multicellular organisms of which man is the most important. As will be demonstrated in the historical portion of this manuscript, the existence of the three most important humoral factors regulating bone metabolism and func tion are now known.

Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent today not only among the elderly but pervasively throughout all ages of life.This is due, in part, to systemic diseases that affect vitamin D metabolism, to changes in lifestyle, such as insufficient exposure to sunlight, and to increased use of sunscreen. Apart from the obvious effects of vitamin D deficiency on skeletal metabolism, the problem is assuming even greater significance because observational and interventional studies have linked vitamin D deficiency to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes. This book addresses a variety of important issues that have emerged from this fast-moving area of clinical medicine. The topics include assays of vitamin D and its binding protein, effects on aging and associated complications, primary and secondary states of altered parathyroid hormone secretion, vitamin D in the growing years of children and adolescents, nutritional requirements, and vitamin D as it relates to systemic disorders such as diabetes mellitus. Vitamin D in Clinical Medicine aims to offer new insights, in an evidence-based way, on important issues related to vitamin D. It is written for general practitioners and internists, as well as for endocrinologists, nutritionists, pulmonologists, cardiologists, and oncologists.

The Nutrition and Health series of books has as an overriding mission to provide health professionals with texts that are considered essential because each includes: a synthesis of the state of the science; timely, in-depth reviews by the leading researchers in their respective fields; extensive, up-to-date fully annotated reference lists; a detailed index; relevant tables and figures; identification of paradigm shifts and the consequences; of information between chapters, but targeted, inter-chapter refer virtually no overlap rals, suggestions of areas for future research; and balanced, data-driven answers to patient questions that are based on the totality of evidence rather than the findings of any single study. The series volumes are not the outcome of a symposium. Rather, each editor has the potential to examine a chosen area with a broad perspective, both in subject matter as well as in the choice of chapter authors. The international perspective, especially with regard to public health initiatives, is emphasized where appropriate. The editors, whose training is both research and practice oriented, have the opportunity to develop a primary objective for their book, define the scope and focus, and then invite the leading authori ties from around the world to be part of their initiative. The authors are encouraged to provide an overview of the field, discuss their own research, and relate the research de findings to potential human health consequences.

No detailed description available for "Vitamin D - Biochemical, Chemical and Clinical Aspects Related to Calcium Metabolism".

This volume represents the first attempt to present in one place the clinical syndromes and the pathophysiologic basis for the "resistance states" to each of the classes of steroid hormones. Glucocorticoids, mineralocorticoids, androgens, estrogens, progesterone and vitamin D have widely diverse roles ranging from the control of homeostasis to reproduction and bone formation. They are similar in that they share a chemical structure and that their action is in the cell nucleus where they induce transcription of specific genes leading to synthesis of function-specific proteins. Clinical syndromes of steroid hormone resistance to androgens (complete and partial testicular feminization), aldosterone (pseudo hypoaldosteronism) and vitamin D (vitamin D-dependent rickets type II) have been known for many years. Progesterone and glucocorticoid resistance syndromes have been described only recently. Resistance to estrogens has not been reported in man or in animals. It is hoped that a detailed reexamination of what is known about each of these conditions at the clinical and molecular levels will enhance our understanding of the function of these hormones and their mechanisms of action. New insight and research initiatives should result. G.P. Chrousos D.L. Loriaus M.B. Lipsett vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The contents of this volume are based in part on the proceedings of an International Conference held in Bethesda in the summer of 1984. This conference was sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland.

Principles of Bone Biology provides the most comprehensive, authoritative reference on the study of bone biology and related diseases. It is the essential resource for anyone involved in the study of bone biology. Bone research in recent years has generated enormous attention, mainly because of the broad public health implications of osteoporosis and related bone disorders. - Provides a "one-stop" shop. There is no need to search through many research journals or books to glean the information one wants...it is all in one source written by the experts in the field - The essential resource for anyone involved in the study of bones and bone diseases - Takes the reader from the basic elements of fundamental research to the most sophisticated concepts in therapeutics - Readers can easily search and locate information quickly as it will be online with this new edition

Vitamin D, a steroid hormone, has mainly been known for its effects on bone and osteoporosis. The current therapeutic practices expand into such markets as cancer research, pediatrics, nephrology, dermatology, immunology, and genetics. This second edition includes over 100 chapters covering everything from chemistry and metabolism to mechanisms of action, diagnosis and management, new analogs, and emerging therapies. This complete reference works is a must have resource for anyone working in endocrinology, osteology, bone biology, or cancer research.*Most comprehensive, up-to-date two-volume set on Vitamin D*New chapters on squamous cell cancer, brain cancer, thyroid cancer and many more*Further sections on emerging uses for treatments of auto-immune diseases and diabetes*Over 600 illustrations and figures available on CD