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Honorary Research Associate

We developed the iOS smartphone app Sun Safe to support healthy sun practices in young teenagers (aged 12-13 years). The production involved co-design with young co-researchers (ie, aged 12-13 years) with a health message of using sun protection when the UV index is ≥3. Important features include real-time and location-specific weather data on the UV index and gamified educational content.

Despite education about the risks of excessive sun exposure, teenagers in Australia are sun-seeking, with sunburn common in summer. Conversely, some regular (time-limited) exposure to sunlight (that avoids sunburn) is necessary for vitamin D and healthy bones and other molecules important for immune and metabolic health. New interventions are thus required to better support teenagers to make healthy and balanced decisions about their sun behaviors.

Transmissible vaccines have the potential to revolutionize how zoonotic pathogens are controlled within wildlife reservoirs. A key challenge that must be overcome is identifying viral vectors that can rapidly spread immunity through a reservoir population.

While UV radiation is a skin carcinogen, this should not obscure the growing evidence that sunlight has significant health benefits, including impacts on cardiovascular and metabolic health.

This study aimed to explore current attitudes towards sun protection, and sun-seeking behaviour among young Australian adolescents. It was done as part of a larger project aiming to develop a digital resource to support young people in making informed sun-health decisions.

Recent preclinical data show that sodium glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are able to reduce weight gain and induce beiging in white adipose tissue (WAT). We have previously shown that in neurogenic hypertensive Schlager (BPH/2J) mice, treatment with the SGLT2 inhibitor, Dapagliflozin, reduced blood pressure and prevented weight gain. Here we show that chemical sympathetic denervation achieved by systemic administration of 6-hydroxy-dopamine (6-OHDA) reduces body weight and the heightened sympathetic nervous system (SNS) innervation in WAT.

Shelley Prue Gorman Hart BSc (Hons) PhD BSc (Hons) MSc PhD Honorary Research Associate Honorary Research Fellow shelley.gorman@thekids.org.au

UVR or sunlight exposure may be an effective means of suppressing the development of obesity and MetS, through mechanisms that are independent of vitamin D

This paper is a comment in response to a review of Vitamin D status and its association with ill health.