One of the nation's leading experts on vitamin D proclaims the critically demonstrated benefits of sensible sun exposure on bone, cellular, organ, autoimmune, and mood-related health, and shows readers how to harness the power of the sun for their health.

“...Dr. Holick says, sunshine is good medicine." Jane E. Brody, The New York Times Sunshine is good for you! While too much sun causes wrinkles and raises other health concerns, a lack of sun exposure, our primary source of vitamin D can cause serious health problems, such as osteoporosis, certain cancers, and diabetes. Dr. Holick, the discoverer of the active form of vitamin D, has pulled together an impressive body of evidence in support that no one should be—as he puts it—a “sunphobe,” or, for that matter, a sun worshipper. His conclusion: relatively brief, but unfettered exposure to sunshine and its equivalent can help to ward off a host of debilitating and sometimes deadly diseases, including osteoporosis, cancers of the colon, prostate and breast, hypertension, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and depression.

"Written by four experts actively researching alternatives to conventional thermal methods in food preservation. Presents information on traditional and emerging nonthermal food processing technologies in a convenient, single-source volume--offering an incisive view of the latest experimental results, state-of-the-art applications, and new developments in food preservation technology. Furnishes a thorough review of nonthermal techniques such as high hydrostatic pressure, pulsed electric fields, oscillating magnetic fields, light pulses, ionizing irradiation, the use of chemicals and bacteriocins as preservation aids, and combined methods/hurdle technology."

This book is about the roles and importance of Ultraviolet (UV) light from sun and from man-made UV lamps in our daily life, on health and diseases, also its application in sterilization and treatment. The key words are: reactive oxygen species, DNA damage, UV mutagenicity, skin cancers, polymorphous light eruption, Xeroderma pigmentosum, vitiligo, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndromes, cardiovascular diseases, dermatology, photobiology, photodermatosis, vitamin D synthesis, vitamin D efficiency, water sterilization, blood sterilization, phototherapies, skin tanning and UV dosimeter. The book starts with introduction to UV light and the history of development of UV lamps and its applications. It then moves to describing the interaction of this light with biological components and the production of reactive oxygen species, their roles in cell signaling, cellular defense from foreign invaders, in mutagenesis leading to skin diseases including vitiligo, polymorphous light eruption and various forms of skin cancer. Then it presents the synthesis and importance of UV light and diseases, induced due to the deficiency of vitamin D. Roles of UV light in sterilization, disinfection, phototherapies are depicted in the next part and finally use and abuse of UV light in tanning salon and the availability and importance of use of UV dosimeter are highlighted. The three main focuses of this book are: - Damage to biological systems by UV light leading to certain skin diseases; most importantly skin cancers. - Importance of UV light in the in vivo synthesis of vitamin D when human bodies are exposed to it. - Diseases caused due to the deficiency of vitamin D and the use of UV lamps in phototherapy and sterilization processes. The editor has considerable experience in publishing medical books and has used it critically selecting the matters which will attract the readers from many areas of medical and non-medical fields. It is hoped that the materials presented in this book will give great benefit and will stimulate both novice and expert researchers in the field. The book gives excellent overviews of the current status of research and pointers to the future research achievements. Clinicians, medical general practitioners, technicians and staff working in UV related industries and especially those working in tanning salon should benefit from the information presented in safe handling of this light.

The research described in this report focused on the photolysis of a chemical substance giving a linear relation between the formation level of the photo product and the applied dose. Objectives were to: develop an online fluence meter based on a Uvsensitive chemical for which the formation level of the photo product has a clear relation with the applied UV dose, and to find naturally occurring substances or chemicals to be dosed that would be sensitive towards UVC light (200-285 nm) and would give accurately measurable photo products in the 0-1,000 J/m2 dose range. Based on an initial study, nitrate as a naturally occurring compound and the ferric ion/ ferrous ion (Fe3+/Fe2+) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)/benzoate systems as chemicals to be dosed were selected for further research.

Preservation and Shelf Life Extension focuses on the basic principles of ultraviolet light technology as applied in low-UV transmittance treatments of food fluids and solid foods. It describes the features of UV light absorption in food fluids and available commercial systems, and provides case studies for UV treatment of fresh juices, dairy products, wines, and beer. The book also includes information on various continuous and pulsed UV sources and processing systems, as well as examples of specific treatments for fruits, vegetables, meat and poultry products. - Addresses preservation and shelf-life extension of foods and food plant safety improvement - Explores non-thermal and non-chemical alternatives for preservation and shelf-life extension of fluid foods, drinks and beverages, and for solid foods - Written by an internationally recognized expert in ultraviolet light, high hydrostatic pressure processing, and microwave heating