OBJECTIVE To compare the conventional psoralen-ultraviolet A treatment with psoralen-ultraviolet B therapy in the treatment of psoriasis. METHODOLOGY We studied 50 patients of plaque type psoriasis who were selected to receive either conventional psoralen-ultraviolet A or psoralen-ultraviolet B treatment. RESULTS There was no significant difference between the two treatment groups in the nu...

OBJECTIVE To compare the efficacy of oral psoralen-UV-A (PUVA) with that of narrowband-UV-B (NB-UVB) phototherapy in patients with nonsegmental vitiligo. DESIGN Double-blind randomized study. SETTING Phototherapy unit in a university hospital. PATIENTS Fifty-six patients with nonsegmental vitiligo. Interventions Twice-weekly therapy with PUVA or NB-UVB. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The change ...

The effects of moderate salinity on the responses of woody plants to UV-B radiation were investigated using two Populus species (Populus alba and Populus russkii). Under UV-B radiation, moderate salinity reduced the oxidation pressure in both species, as indicated by lower levels of cellular H2O2 and membrane peroxidation, and weakened the inhibition of photochemical efficiency expressed by O-J...

Psoralen plus ultraviolet A (PUVA) is widely used as first-line therapy for treatment of mycosis fungoides. Narrowband ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) has also been shown to be effective for treatment of early mycosis fungoides. The aim of this retrospective study was to analyse the response to treatment and relapse-free interval for PUVA and NB-UVB therapies in mycosis fungoides. Forty patients were tr...

Only small amounts of vitamin D come from dietary sources as it is mainly synthesised in the skin from the ultraviolet B (UVB) fraction of sunlight if the person is sufficiently exposed to direct sunlight. Vitamin D deficiency has been well documented in Oman. The "2004 Oman National Micronutrients Survey" and other recent studies revealed that vitamin D3 stores are low among healthy Omani fema...

OBJECTIVE This study tests the hypothesis that stress reduction methods based on mindfulness meditation can positively influence the rate at which psoriasis clears in patients undergoing phototherapy or photochemotherapy treatment. METHODS Thirty-seven patients with psoriasis about to undergo ultraviolet phototherapy (UVB) or photochemotherapy (PUVA) were randomly assigned to one of two condi...

BACKGROUND Previous success rates of psoralen and ultraviolet A (PUVA) and narrowband UVB (NB-UVB) in the treatment of chronic urticaria are reported in few studies with no previous reports on the comparable efficacy of both modalities in the disease. AIM We aimed to compare the efficacy of PUVA versus NB-UVB in the treatment of chronic urticaria. METHODS Twenty-four patients with chronic u...

BACKGROUND Photo(chemo)therapy is widely used to treat psoriasis, the pathogenesis of which might be caused by an imbalance of Th17 cells/regulatory T cells (Treg). In the present study, we evaluated the effects of photo(chemo)therapy on the Th17/Treg balance and Treg function. METHODS Peripheral blood was obtained from psoriasis patients treated with bath-psoralen ultraviolet A (UVA, n = 50)...

Because the incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) was reported to increase with increasing terrestrial UVR (290-400 nm) doses in the US back in 1975 and a recent publication showed no association exists with UVR exposure at all, we set out to fully elucidate the role of UVR in CMM. To achieve this goal, we analyzed the CMM incidences over latitude and estimated the average personal UV...

Ultrastructural studies were conducted in order to determine morphologic and functional differences in melanocytes and melanosomes in PUVA lentigines and solar lentigines, and light-protected buttock skin. Compared to melanocytes in solar lentigines from 7 subjects and light-protected buttock skin from 5 subjects (none of these subjects had received UV radiation therapy), melanocytes in PUVA le...