Tuesday, Sept 20:  Vitamin D and skin 

Lecture #6 

• Parathyroid hormone and Vitamin D
• Structure and function of skin

Slides

• Lecture 6 slides  

• Vitamin D:  (4th ed): 705-710   (3rd ed): 691-695 
• Skin strucutre: (4th ed): 425-427  (3rd ed): 408-410

Writing assignment #2:  What studies have been done?

Test yourself

• Problem Set #2

Optional reading - recent research

• "The biology of skin color: black and white", Kirschweger, Discover Vol. 22 No. 2 (February 2001).  This discusses the idea that dark skin might have been selected for in sunny regions of the world because exposure to ultraviolet light can decrease folic acid in a pregnant woman's skin, increasing the risk of neural tube defects in her fetus.