One of the ironies of life in the UAE, one of the hottest places on Earth, is that its citizens have a high incidence of vitamin D deficiency - a condition that can usually be rectified by controlled exposure to the sun.
Vitamin D is known to be important for bone health and helps to ward off respiratory illnesses. Now, a study in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science shows that the vitamin can help treat tuberculosis, and perhaps even prevent it from developing. This is welcome - if familiar - news considering TB kills almost 1.5 million people a year.
In medical trials, vitamin D tablets were administered to patients in conjunction with antibiotics, and scientists have described the results as encouraging.
The science builds on traditional wisdom. Before antibiotics were discovered, the recommended treatment for TB was heliotherapy, or "forced sunbathing", to kill bacteria in the body. It was widely used in Britain and elsewhere from the late 1800s - but the idea that sunshine is good for you goes back as far as Hippocrates, the father of medicine who died in 370BC. Sometimes, the old ideas really are the best.