Document Detail


Sources and measurement of ultraviolet radiation.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  12231182     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The biological effects of UV radiation vary enormously with wavelength and for this reason the UV spectrum is further subdivided into three regions: UVA, UVB, and UVC. Quantities of UV radiation are expressed using radiometric terminology. A particularly important term in clinical photobiology is the standard erythema dose (SED), which is a measure of the erythemal effectiveness of a UV exposure. UV radiation is produced either by heating a body to an incandescent temperature, as is the case with solar UV, or by passing an electric current through a gas, usually vaporized mercury. The latter process is the mechanism whereby UV radiation is produced artificially. Both the quality (spectrum) and quantity (intensity) of terrestrial UV radiation vary with factors including the elevation of the sun above the horizon and absorption and scattering by molecules in the atmosphere, notably ozone, and by clouds. For many experimental studies in photobiology it is simply not practicable to use natural sunlight and so artificial sources of UV radiation designed to simulate the UV component of sunlight are employed; these are based on either optically filtered xenon arc lamps or fluorescent lamps. The complete way to characterize an UV source is by spectroradiometry, although for most practical purposes a detector optically filtered to respond to a limited portion of the UV spectrum normally suffices.
Authors:
Brian L Diffey
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Review    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Methods (San Diego, Calif.)     Volume:  28     ISSN:  1046-2023     ISO Abbreviation:  Methods     Publication Date:  2002 Sep 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2002-09-16     Completed Date:  2003-03-04     Revised Date:  2005-11-16    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9426302     Medline TA:  Methods     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  4-13     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Regional Medical Physics Department, Newcastle General Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne NE4 6BE, UK. b.l.diffey@ncl.ac.uk
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Calibration
Fluorescence
Radiometry
Sunlight
Ultraviolet Rays*

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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