Lifestyle factors including less cutaneous sun exposure contribute to starkly lower vitamin D levels in U.K. South Asians compared with the white population.

Background: Long-standing concerns over the vitamin D status of South Asian adults in the U.K. require studies using statistically valid sample sizes to measure annual variation and contributory lifestyle factors.

Efficacy of a dose range of simulated sunlight exposures in raising vitamin D status in South Asian adults: implications for targeted guidance on sun exposure.

Background: Vitamin D is essential for bone health, and cutaneous synthesis is an important source. South Asians cannot attain adequate amounts of vitamin D by following general recommendations on summer sunlight exposure at northerly latitudes, and increased exposure may be appropriate for improving their vitamin D status.

Objective: We examined the efficacy of a dose range of simulated summer sunlight exposures in raising vitamin D status in UK adults of South Asian ethnicity.

Recommended summer sunlight exposure amounts fail to produce sufficient vitamin D status in UK adults of South Asian origin.

Background: The cutaneous synthesis of vitamin D is dependent on UVB from sunlight, but melanin reduces the penetration of UVB and thus contributes to vitamin D insufficiency in individuals with darker skin. The national guidance provided on amounts of sunlight exposure in the United Kingdom is for the light-skinned population, and in the absence of dedicated information, darker-skinned people may attempt to follow this guidance.

Objectives: We determined the relative effect of a simulation of UK recommendations of summer sunlight exposure on the vitamin D status of individuals of South Asian ethnicity compared with that of whites.

The role of sunlight exposure in determining the vitamin D status of the U.K. white adult population.

Background: Vitamin D is necessary for bone health and is potentially protective against a range of malignancies. Opinions are divided on whether the proposed optimal circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] level (≥ 32 ng mL⁻¹) is an appropriate and feasible target at population level.

Objectives: We examined whether personal sunlight exposure levels can provide vitamin D sufficient (≥ 20 ng mL⁻¹) and optimal status in the U.

The impact of photosensitivity disorders on aspects of lifestyle.

Background: Photosensitivity disorders involve an abnormal skin reaction to sunlight exposure and affect a substantial percentage of the population. No previous studies have directly compared lifestyle attributes between photosensitive and healthy individuals.

Objectives: To assess the impact of photosensitivity on time spent outdoors in the U.

Recommended summer sunlight exposure levels can produce sufficient (> or =20 ng ml(-1)) but not the proposed optimal (> or =32 ng ml(-1)) 25(OH)D levels at UK latitudes.

Recommendations on limitation of summer sunlight exposure to prevent skin cancer may conflict with requirements to protect bone health through adequate vitamin D levels, the principal source being UVB in summer sunlight. We determined whether sufficient (> or =20 ng ml(-1)) and proposed optimal (> or =32 ng ml(-1)) 25(OH)D levels are attained by following UK guidance advising casual short exposures to UVB in summer sunlight, and performed the study under known conditions to enhance the specificity of future recommendations. During wintertime, when ambient UVB is negligible, 120 white Caucasians, aged 20-60 years, from Greater Manchester, UK (53.

Long saphenous vein stripping and quality of life--a randomised trial.

Objectives: To assess the quality of life of patients undergoing sapheno-femoral junction (SFJ) ligation and long saphenous vein stripping (LSV), using two different techniques.

Design: Prospective, randomised trial.

Materials And Methods: Eighty patients were recruited and randomised to either Perforate Invagination (PIN) stripping (43) or Conventional stripping (37).

A prospective randomised trial of PIN versus conventional stripping in varicose vein surgery.

A prospective, randomised trial was carried out to examine the efficacy of perforate invagination (PIN, Credenhill Ltd, Derbyshire, UK) stripping of the long saphenous vein (LSV) in comparison to conventional stripping (Astratech AB, Sweden) in the surgical management of primary varicose veins. Eighty patients with primary varicosities secondary to sapheno-femoral junction (SFJ) incompetence and LSV reflux were recruited. Patients were randomised to PIN or conventional stripping with all other operative techniques remaining constant.

Vascular surgical society of great britain and ireland: contribution of malnutrition to postoperative morbidity in vascular surgical patients.

BACKGROUND: In an elderly population of surgical patients, poor mobility, poor diet and chronic disease contribute to a significant risk of malnutrition. Malnutrition is associated with muscle weakness, fatigue, poor wound healing and immunological dysfunction. The aim of the study was to establish the prevalence of malnutrition in vascular surgical patients and to compare postoperative infection rates in well nourished and malnourished patients.