Contents

## **Preface XI**

Chapter 1 **MicroRNAs are Novel Biomarkers for Detection of Colorectal Cancer 1**  Muhammad Imran Aslam, Maleene Patel, Baljit Singh, John Stuart Jameson and James Howard Pringle Chapter 2 **Epigenetics in Cancer: The Myelodysplastic Syndrome as a Model to Study Epigenetic Alterations as Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarkers 19**  Teresa de Souza Fernandez, André Mencalha and Cecília de Souza Fernandez Chapter 3 **Biomarkers in Gastrointestinal Cancer: Focus on Colon, Pancreatic and Gastric Cancer 49**  Vanessa Deschoolmeester, Filip Lardon, Patrick Pauwels and Marc Peeters Chapter 4 **Inorganic Signatures of Physiology: The X-Ray Fluorescence Microscopy Revolution 77**  Lydia Finney Chapter 5 **Urinary Water-Soluble Vitamins as Nutritional Biomarker to Estimate Their Intakes 87**  Tsutomu Fukuwatari and Katsumi Shibata Chapter 6 **Potential Muscle Biomarkers of Chronic Myalgia in Humans – A Systematic Review of Microdialysis Studies 103**  Björn Gerdle and Britt Larsson Chapter 7 **Genotoxicity Biomarkers: Application in Histopathology Laboratories 133**  Carina Ladeira, Susana Viegas, Elisabete Carolino, Manuel Carmo Gomes and Miguel Brito


Preface

personalized health management.

influences on 60-70% decisions in healthcare.

the publishing group for their tireless support.

The impact of biomarkers in present day health care system, health management and healthy life is enormous. Clinicians need them for diagnosis, prognosis, effect of therapeutic intervention, and most importantly, for early detection of a disease. Pharmaceutical industries need them for new drug discovery and drug efficiency test. Regulatory authorities need them for testing toxicity and environmental impact. Epidemiologists need them for population screening and risk factor determination. In post genomic era biomarkers would have a huge impact in personalized medicine and

This scope of this book is not limited to just a few of the most important aspects of biomarkers but covers wide variety of subjects, from biomarkers cancer to neurodegenerative diseases. Chapters cover variety of aspects, from modern cell based technologies to molecular imaging; from drug discovery to critical care prognosis. A great amount of information is also devoted to bioinformatics and statistics. There is an enormous potential for commercial value of biomarkers. The global diagnostic market accounts for only 1-2% of government healthcare expense, however, it

My sincere thanks go to all the contributors of this book who took the extra effort beyond their busy schedules. Last, but not least I would like to express my gratitude to

Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute, West Virginia University,

**Tapan Kumar Khan, PhD**

USA

