This volume describes the state-of-knowledge in the study of the relationships between
mechanical loading states in tissues and common pathophysiologies related to increase in mass
of adipose tissues and or hyperglycemia which eventually lead to obesity diabetes insulin
resistance hyperlipidemia metabolic inflammations certain types of cancer and other related
diseases. There appears to be an interaction between the loading states in tissues and cells
and these chronic conditions as well as with factors such as age gender and genetics of the
individual. Bioengineering has made key contributions to this research field in providing
technologies for cell biomechanics experimentation microscopy and image processing tissue
engineering and multi-scale multi-physics computational modeling. Topics at the frontier of
this field of study include: the continuous monitoring of cell growth proliferation and
differentiation in response to mechanical factors such as stiffness of the extracellular matrix
(ECM) and mechanical loads transferred through the ECM mechanically-activated signaling
pathways and molecular mechanisms effects of different loading regimes and mechanical
environments on differentiation fates of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into myogenic and
osteogenic versus adipogenic lineages the interactions between nutrition and
mechanotransduction cell morphology focal adhesion patterns and cytoskeletal remodeling
changes in adipogenesis activation of receptors related to diabetes by mechanical forces
brown and white adipose plasticity and its regulation by mechanical factors.
