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UV-Radiation: From Physics to Impacts

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation has affected life at least since the first life forms moved out of the seas and crawled onto the land. Therefore, one might assume that evolution has adapted to natural UV radiation. However, evolution is mostly concerned with the propagation of the genetic code, not with...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Moshammer, Hanns, Simic, Stana, Haluza, Daniela
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5334754/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28218687
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14020200
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author Moshammer, Hanns
Simic, Stana
Haluza, Daniela
author_facet Moshammer, Hanns
Simic, Stana
Haluza, Daniela
author_sort Moshammer, Hanns
collection PubMed
description Ultraviolet (UV) radiation has affected life at least since the first life forms moved out of the seas and crawled onto the land. Therefore, one might assume that evolution has adapted to natural UV radiation. However, evolution is mostly concerned with the propagation of the genetic code, not with a long, happy, and fulfilling life. Because rickets is bad for a woman giving birth, the beneficial effects of UV-radiation outweigh the adverse effects like aged skin and skin tumors of various grades of malignancy that usually only afflict us at older age. Anthropogenic damage to the stratospheric ozone layer and frighteningly high rates of melanoma skin cancer in the light-skinned descendants of British settlers in Australia piqued interest in the health impacts of UV radiation. A changing cultural perception of the beauty of tanned versus light skin and commercial interests in selling UV-emitting devices such as tanning booths caught public health experts off-guard. Counseling and health communication are extremely difficult when dealing with a “natural” risk factor, especially when this risk factor cannot (and should not) be completely avoided. How much is too much for whom or for which skin type? How even measure “much”? Is it the (cumulative) dose or the dose rate that matters most? Or should we even construct a more complex metric such as the cumulative dose above a certain dose rate threshold? We find there are still many open questions, and we are glad that this special issue offered us the opportunity to present many interesting aspects of this important topic.
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spelling pubmed-53347542017-03-16 UV-Radiation: From Physics to Impacts Moshammer, Hanns Simic, Stana Haluza, Daniela Int J Environ Res Public Health Editorial Ultraviolet (UV) radiation has affected life at least since the first life forms moved out of the seas and crawled onto the land. Therefore, one might assume that evolution has adapted to natural UV radiation. However, evolution is mostly concerned with the propagation of the genetic code, not with a long, happy, and fulfilling life. Because rickets is bad for a woman giving birth, the beneficial effects of UV-radiation outweigh the adverse effects like aged skin and skin tumors of various grades of malignancy that usually only afflict us at older age. Anthropogenic damage to the stratospheric ozone layer and frighteningly high rates of melanoma skin cancer in the light-skinned descendants of British settlers in Australia piqued interest in the health impacts of UV radiation. A changing cultural perception of the beauty of tanned versus light skin and commercial interests in selling UV-emitting devices such as tanning booths caught public health experts off-guard. Counseling and health communication are extremely difficult when dealing with a “natural” risk factor, especially when this risk factor cannot (and should not) be completely avoided. How much is too much for whom or for which skin type? How even measure “much”? Is it the (cumulative) dose or the dose rate that matters most? Or should we even construct a more complex metric such as the cumulative dose above a certain dose rate threshold? We find there are still many open questions, and we are glad that this special issue offered us the opportunity to present many interesting aspects of this important topic. MDPI 2017-02-17 2017-02 /pmc/articles/PMC5334754/ /pubmed/28218687 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14020200 Text en © 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Editorial
Moshammer, Hanns
Simic, Stana
Haluza, Daniela
UV-Radiation: From Physics to Impacts
title UV-Radiation: From Physics to Impacts
title_full UV-Radiation: From Physics to Impacts
title_fullStr UV-Radiation: From Physics to Impacts
title_full_unstemmed UV-Radiation: From Physics to Impacts
title_short UV-Radiation: From Physics to Impacts
title_sort uv-radiation: from physics to impacts
topic Editorial
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5334754/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28218687
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14020200
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