The medicalization of sunlight in the early twentieth century

High-Throughput CAMP Assay (HiTCA): A Novel Tool for Evaluating the Vitamin D-Dependent Antimicrobial Response

Vitamin D is known to modulate human immune responses, and vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased susceptibility to infection. However, what constitutes sufficient levels or whether vitamin D is useful as an adjuvant therapeutic is debated, much in part because of inadequate elucidation of mechanisms underlying vitamin D's immune modulatory function. Cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide (CAMP) has potent broad-spectrum activity, and the CAMP gene is regulated in human innate immune cells by active 1,25(OH)2D3, a product of hydroxylation of inactive 25(OH)D3 by CYP27B1-hydroxylase. We developed a CRISPR/Cas9-edited human monocyte-macrophage cell line containing the mCherry fluorescent reporter gene at the 3' end of the endogenous CAMP gene. The High Throughput CAMP Assay (HiTCA) developed here is a novel tool for evaluating CAMP expression in a stable cell line that is scalable for a high-throughput workflow. Application of HiTCA to serum samples from a small number of human donors (n = 10) showed individual differences in CAMP induction that were not fully accounted for by the serum vitamin D metabolite status of the host. As such, HiTCA may be a useful tool that can advance our understanding of the human vitamin D-dependent antimicrobial response, which is being increasingly appreciated for its complexity.

'This weather always gets me down': A psychosocial perspective on mental illness

Since antiquity, attempts to conceptualise the aetiology of mental illness have included social constructionist, biomedical, and psychosocial theories. The change of these concepts over the centuries is reflected in therapeutic approaches as well as the location, layout and interior design of psychiatric institutions. This article focuses on the genealogy of one of these concepts - the proposed link between meteorological parameters, specifically air and sun, and mental illness. Based on detailed archival materials, including administrative records, medical notes and correspondence as well as oral histories, relating to the Devon County Mental Hospital near Exeter (UK), it traces this link over time within and beyond the medical community to the extent that it served as pretext for underlying social causes of the illness. In doing so, this article makes an empirical contribution to geographical perspectives on the construction of psychiatric institutions throughout history while also advancing such work in theoretical terms by drawing attention to the shifts in medical and lay conceptualisations of mental illness.

The role of vitamin D in prevention and treatment of infection

Vitamin D is well known for its classic role in the maintenance of bone mineral density. However, vitamin D also has an important "non-classic" influence on the body's immune system by modulating the innate and adaptive immune system, influencing the production of important endogenous antimicrobial peptides such as cathelicidin, and regulating the inflammatory cascade. Multiple epidemiological studies in adults and children have demonstrated that vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased risk and greater severity of infection, particularly of the respiratory tract. Although the exact mechanisms by which vitamin D may improve immune responses to infection continue to be evaluated, vitamin D supplementation trials of prevention and adjunct therapy for infection are underway. Given its influence on the immune system and inflammatory cascade, vitamin D may have an important future role in the prevention and treatment of infection.