Soybeans are greatly used in many foods, such as tofu, soy milk and yogurt, and it plays an important role as a functional food in the health and prevention of various diseases. Soybeans contain rich isoflavones including genistein, daidzein and glycitein, and both genistein and daidzein occur at higher concentrations. Isoflavones are structurally and functionally similar to 17ssestradiol. Isoflavones are found to bind to estrogen receptors and the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) family and aryl hydrocarbon receptors. Moreover, isoflavones affect activity of tyrosine kinases, histones, transcription factors, adenosine mono phosphate pathways, RNA expression and other intracellular regulators. Thus, isoflavones play a multifunctional role in cell regulation. This book focuses on recent advances in the food sources, biological activity and health benefits of genistein and daizen.

Carotenoids are natural pigments synthesized in plants, algae and photosynthetic bacteria by the polymerization of five-carbon isoprene units to provide a long and nearly symmetric conjugated chain of double bonds responsible for atypical chemical properties. Carotenoids can play an important role in the prevention and control of human health and disease conditions such as osteoporosis, cancer, cardiovascular problems, atherosclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, muscular dystrophy, cataracts and certain neurological disorders. This book presents and discusses current research in the study of carotenoids.

Adenocarcinoma is the predominant malignancy found in the colon and rectum. Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in the developed world with a high incidence of mortality and morbidity. The average five-year survival rate remains poor at 55%, although the development of new drugs has improved the survival rate of colorectal cancer patients. The prognosis of colorectal cancer remains poor in spite of the development of novel therapeutic strategies. Human colorectal cancer represents a heterogeneous group of diseases, and its molecular classification is increasingly important. Characterization of novel biomarker targets may lead to prolong the survival rate of colorectal cancer. Biomarkers may have a potential role in screening, diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring disease. Mutations in the KRAS gene in ~40% of tumors have been reported to be induced by genetic and epigenetic alterations. This book, comprised of four chapters, introduces recent topics regarding colorectal cancer, and provides recent highlighted information concerning prevention, diagnosis and treatment. This book will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate students, biomedical researchers, and medical doctors focused on the fields of molecular and cellular biology, medical sciences, and clinical challenges.

Bone is a dynamic tissue that undergoes continual adaptations during a vertebrates lifespan to attain and preserve skeletal size, shape, and structural integrity, and plays a pivotal role in regulating mineral homeostasis in a living body. Bone homeostasis, which maintains bone mass, is artfully regulated through osteoclasts, osteoblasts and osteocytes in bone tissues. This mechanism is regulated through many hormones, cytokines and immune systems in the bone marrow microenvironment. Aging leads to a reduction in bone mass, which is reduced by a suppression of osteoblastic bone formation and an enhancement in osteoclastic bone resorption. A decrease in bone mass leads to osteoporosis and bone fracture. Osteoporosis is widely recognized as a major public health problem. Moreover, bone loss is shown to stimulate in various pathophysiological states, including inflammation, obesity, diabetes, and cancer cell bone metastasis. Disease associated with bone loss is strongly related to osteoclastic bone resorption. This book focuses recent research topics implicated in osteoclastogenesis and clinical challenges to prevent and treat bone loss.

This book introduces recent topics regarding carcinogenesis, including manifold findings of cell proliferation biology, abnormal cell division, pathophysiology, diagnosis, prevention and treatment implicated in the fields of cancer. Carcinogenesis is a multistep process initiated by external stimuli that lead to genetic changes in normal cells or stem cells, resulting in proliferation, apoptosis, dysplasia and neoplasia. The expression, post-translational processing, and targeting of the gene products are frequently altered in transformed and malignant cells. Currently, prognosis of advanced cancer remains poor in spite of the development of novel therapeutic strategies. Improved knowledge of the oncogenic processes and signaling pathways that regulate tumor cell proliferation, differentiation, angiogenesis, invasion and metastatis has led to the identification of several potential therapeutic targets, which have driven the development of molecularly targeted therapies. The target is drugable, as an enzyme (kinase) or cell surface molecule (membrane-bound receptors) that can be easily screened for small-molecule inhibitors or targeted by a specific antibody. New perspectives in cancer treatment have appeared with the advent of microRNAs, a novel class of noncoding small RNAs. Moreover, identification of the genes that are differentially expressed between sensitive and resistant cancer cells for chemotherapy and radiation is important in the ability to predict the clinical effectiveness of therapy and develop new therapeutic tools. This book provides recently discovered information concerning cancer biology as well as translational treatment for cancer patients.

This book introduces the advanced topics regarding renal failure including manifold findings of physiologic, pathophysiologic and clinical aspects in the kidney. The kidney plays a crucial physiologic role in the regulation of urinary formation, fluid balance, nutrition metabolism, blood pressure and other aspects in the living body. Renal failure is a condition of a decline or loss of kidney function due to deficiency of functioning nephrons. Acute renal failure is a syndrome, which is characterized by acute decline or loss of kidney function due to temporary disfunctioning or blocking of nephrons. Acute renal failure is a reversible condition and is a secondary manifestation, a complication of another underlying critical illness. Chronic renal failure is a condition of slow, gradual decline of kidney function due to irreversible destruction of nephrons. This book provides recent information concerning acute and chronic renal failure in clinical aspects, and is constituted in five chapters.

The calcium metabolism in the living body is skilfully regulated through calcium-regulating hormones, including the parathyroid hormone, active vitamin D3 metabolite and calcitonin. The blood calcium concentration is ten thousand-fold compared with the levels in cells. Cells use extracellular calcium to regulate cell function efficiently. Intracellular calcium homeostasis is exactly regulated through the mechanism related to various calcium transport systems in cells. Signal transduction plays a pivotal role in cellular regulation. Calcium signalling is probably the most ubiquitous cellular signal that mediates the action of many hormones, cytokines, and neurotransmitters. Calcium regulates the activity of numerous calcium-dependent proteins including protein kinases, protein phosphatases, protease and other calcium-regulating factors involved in calcium signalling. Calcium signalling plays a pivotal role in the regulation of manifold cellular functions including cell proliferation, apoptosis and gene expression. This book focuses on recent topics in calcium signalling and its related diseases.

Zinc is one of the most abundant transition metals in the human body, and it has various benefits as an essential trace element in the regulation of the living body. Nutritional deficiency of zinc is known to induce many chronic diseases such as immune system disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, obesity, atherosclerosis, cancers, bone growth retardation, osteoporosis and others. This book introduces the recent topics concerning the characteristics, uses and benefits of zinc. This book will be helpful in research development and also in the understanding of the various physiological-pathophysiological roles of zinc.

Adiponectin has recently emerged as an anti-inflammatory, anti-atherogenic, and insulin-sensitizing factor providing possible link between white adipose tissue and cardiovascular disease. Adiponectin also plays an important pathophisiological role in the metabolic syndrome. Recent topics concerning production, regulation and roles in disease of adiponectin are the focus of in this book.

Signal transduction plays a pivotal role in cellular regulation. The second messenger is generated in cells once the first messenger binds to the receptors of plasma membranes. The second messenger, which was found firstly, is cyclic adenosine monophosphate. After that, intracellular calcium ion (Ca2+) has been demonstrated to play a role as a second messenger for hormonal stimulation in cells. The pivotal role of Ca2+ in cellular regulation was established with the finding of calmodulin and protein kinase C that modulate the effect of Ca2+ in the regulation of cellular functions. Calcium signalling is probably the most ubiquitous cellular signal that mediates the action of many hormones, cytokines, and neurotransmitters. This book provides an in depth examination of calcium signalling.

Cyclic AMP was a major molecule of interest, which played an important role as second messenger, contributing to signal transduction in the regulation of cellular function by peptide hormones. Afterwards, calmodulin and protein kinase C were discovered as modulator proteins of intracellular calcium signaling in hormonal action. After that, manifold proteins and their related molecules were demonstrated to participate in novel signaling pathways related to various cytokines in different types of cells. The author of this book discovered a novel protein known as regucalcin, which suppresses manifold signaling pathways related to transcription activity. After subsequent studies, regucalcin has been established to play a pivotal role in maintaining cell homeostasis and protecting it from disorders in various types of cells and tissues. This book will provide information regarding regucalcin that plays a pivotal role in cell homeostasis and disorder. This book is composed of eighteen chapters. These chapters include the following content: the discovery of regucalcin (Chapter One); chemical property and structure of regucalcin (Chapter Two); the regucalcin gene and its translational regulation (Chapter Three); the role of regucalcin in intracellular calcium homeostasis (Chapter Four); the role of regucalcin in cell nuclear function (Chapter Five); the role of regucalcin in protein synthesis and proteolysis (Chapter Six); the suppressive role of regucalcin in cell proliferation (Chapter Seven); how regucalcin protects apoptotic cell death (Chapter Eight); the protective role of regucalcin in oxidative stress (Chapter Nine); the involvement of regucalcin in liver metabolic disorder (Chapter Ten); the role of regucalcin in kidney cell homeostasis: involvement in renal failure (Chapter Eleven); the role of regucalcin in heart calcium signaling: insight into cardiac disorder (Chapter Twelve); the role of regucalcin in brain calcium homeostasis: disorder with aging (Chapter Thirteen); the role of regucalcin in bone homeostasis and osteoporosis (Chapter Fourteen); the role of regucalcin in lipid metabolism and diabetes (Chapter Fifteen); the role of regucalcin as a suppressor protein in carcinogenesis (Chapter Sixteen); the clinical aspects of regucalcin as a biomarker for disease (Chapter Seventeen); and conclusive remarks (Chapter Eighteen). This book will provide information regarding regucalcin and its pivotal role in cell homeostasis and disorder.

This book, which is entitled "Regucalcin: Metabolic Regulation and Disease", introduces the recent topics regarding the involvement of regucalcin in metabolic regulation and its related diseases. Cell signaling system may be potent interest in the fields of biomedical research. Regucalcin, which was discovered as a calcium-binding protein in 1978, is demonstrated to play a potential role as a suppressor in manifold intracellular signaling process linked to transcription activity. With growing studies, regucalcin has been demonstrated to play a multifunctional role in the regulation of the function of various types of cells and tissues, including the regulation of intracellular calcium homeostasis, various enzymes activity, cell signal transduction, nuclear function and gene expression, cell proliferation, apoptosis, and other cellular events. Regucalcin plays a pivotal role in maintaining cell homeostasis and protecting from disorders with ageing. This book focuses recent highlighted information regarding the role of regucalcin in metabolic regulation and its related diseases with aging. This book is constituted of 6 chapters as described in the following. This book will be of interest to graduate students, researchers, scientists and physicians focused on the fields of molecular and cellular biology, biomedical sciences, and clinical challenges.

Bone is a dynamic tissue that undergoes continual adaptation during vertebrate life to preserve skeletal size, shape, and structural integrity and to regulate mineral homeostasis. Bone mass is skilfully regulated through osteoclasts and osteoblasts. Bone mass is reduced through decreased osteoblastic bone formation and increased osteoclastic bone resorption. This decrease induces osteoporosis. Bone loss is also caused in various pathophysiologic states including inflammatory condition, obesity, diabetes, and cancer cell bone metastasis. In addition, malnutrition or undernutrition is often observed with increasing ages and is strongly implicated in the pathogenesis and consequences of bone fracture in the osteoporotic elderly. Nutritional and functional food factors may play a pivotal role in maintaining bone health, and this will be expected as a new biomedical treatment for osteoporosis.

Carotenoids are the most widespread pigments in nature. One or more carotenoids in combination give rise to colours ranging from yellow to red in birds, fishes, crustaceans, micro-organisms, fruits and plants, including the dark green ones. There are over 600 known carotenoids and they are divided into two classes: xanthophylls, which contain oxygen, and carotenes, which are purely hydrocarbons and contain no oxygen. Carotenoids have many health benefits including antioxidant properties, free-radical scavengers, decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, anti-inflammatory properties, osteoporosis prevention and other diseases. The 15 chapters in this book have been written to outline recent topical research.

Signal transduction plays a pivotal role in cell regulation. Hormones, cytokines and neurotransmitters bind to their specific receptors in the plasma membranes of cells. The receptors of many hormones are coupled to G-protein coupled signalling pathways. Insulin and growth factors are coupled to receptor-linked kinase. The second messenger is generated in cells once the first messenger binds to the receptors of plasma membranes. Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cyclic AMP), inositol 1,3,5-triphosphate (IP3) and calcium ion (Ca2+) have been demonstrated to play a role as a second messenger in cells. The pivotal role of Ca2+ in cellular regulation was established with the finding of calmodulin and protein kinase C that modulates the effect of Ca2+ in the regulation of cellular functions. Many receptor classes and their downstream kinases activate Erk, Akt, Stat, Smad, NF- B and other cascades to regulate gene expression and cellular function. This book provides recent research in the study of the new developments in signalling transduction in cells.

Regucalcin is a protein which is highly differentiated due to increased conservation of the regucalcin genes throughout evolution in vertebrates. Regucalcin plays a multifunctional role in cellular regulation, including an inhibitory role in protein kinases, protein phosphatases, NO synthase, nuclear DNA and RNA synthesis. Regucalcin suppresses an enhancement of cell proliferation and apoptotic cell death that are induced by various signalling factors. Regucalcin plays a pathophysiological role in many metabolic disorders in humans. This book introduces recent topics of regucalcin studies concerning the genomics, cell regulation and diseases associated with this protein.

Ageing induces a decrease in bone mass, and osteoporosis with its accompanying decrease in bone mass is widely recognised as a major public heath problem. Bone loss with increasing age may be due to decreased osteoblastic bone formation and increased osteoclastic bone resorption. Pharmacologic and nutritional factors may prevent bone loss with ageing. Chemical compounds in food and plants, which regulate on bone metabolism, has been to be worthy of notice in the prevention of osteoporsis. Food chemical factors play a role in bone health and may be important in the prevention of bone loss with increasing age.