Vitamin D

In Vitamin D: Physiology, Molecular Biology, and Clinical Applications, Second Edition, Volume 1, leading researchers provide a comprehensive, highly readable overview of the biological functions and clinical applications of vitamin D and its metabolites. Presented in a newly affordable softcover format this volume contains Parts IV through VII of the previously published hardcover text. Topics range from the most recent recommendations for vitamin D intake to new approaches for the treatment and prevention of vitamin D deficiency and the development of active vitamin D drugs to treat psoriasis and cancer. The book demonstrates the significant role that vitamin D has in maintaining good bone health and the prevention of osteoporosis, an important health problem for adults over the age of fifty. In addition, it authoritatively reviews the relationship between sunlight exposure, vitamin D, and increased risk of colon and breast cancer; how vitamin D is made in the skin; and the sequence of events that leads to its activation by the kidney. Also examined are the biological functions of 1,25-dihydrovitamin D3 on the intestine and bone, as well as other tissues, such as skin, the immune system, prostate, and breast, and vitamin D's molecular mechanism of action on the cell membrane and nucleus. Vitamin D: Physiology, Molecular Biology, and Clinical Applications, Second Edition, Volume 1 is designed and organized not only to be an up-to-date review on the subject, but also to provide medical students, graduate students, health care professionals and even the lay public with a reference source for the most up-to-date information about the vitamin D deficiency pandemic and its clinical implications for health and disease.

• Vitamin D and Health: Evolution, Biologic Functions, and Recommended Dietary Intakes for Vitamin D.- Photobiology of Vitamin D.- The Functional Metabolism and Molecular Biology of Vitamin D Action.- Metabolism and Catabolism of Vitamin D, Its Metabolites and Clinically Relevant Analogs.- The Molecular Biology of the Vitamin D Receptor.- VDR and RXR Subcellular Trafficking.- Mechanism of Action of 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3   on Intestinal Calcium Absorption and Renal Calcium Transport.- Biological and Molecular Effects of Vitamin D on Bone.- Biological and Molecular Effects of Vitamin D on the Kidney.- Vitamin D and the Parathyroids.- Diversity of Vitamin D Target Genes.- Extrarenal Synthesis of 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D and Its Health Implications.- Vitamin D and the Innate Immunity.- Vitamin D and Colon Cancer.- Mechanisms of Resistance to Vitamin D Action in Human Cancer Cells.- Vitamin D and the Brain: A Neuropsychiatric Perspective.- Vitamin D Modulation of Adipocyte Function.- Determinants of Vitamin D Intake.- 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Assays and Their Clinical Utility.- Health Disparities and Vitamin D.- Vitamin D Deficiency in Canada.- Vitamin D Deficiency and Its Health Consequences in Northern Europe.- Vitamin D Deficiency and Consequences for the Health of People in Mediterranean Countries.- Vitamin D Deficiency in the Middle East and Its Health Consequences.- Vitamin D Deficiency in the Middle East and Its Health Consequences for Adults.- Vitamin D Deficiency and Its Health Consequences in Africa.- Vitamin D Deficiency and Its Health Consequences in India.- Vitamin D Deficiency, Rickets, and Fluorosis in India.- Vitamin D in Asia.- Vitamin D Deficiency and Its Health Consequences in New Zealand.- Toxicity of Vitamin D.