WAY WAY OFF TOPIC
Because you once mentioned, on the Bre-X thread, that you have more hair under your armpits than someone had hair on his head, I think perhaps you might be interested in the following tid-bit about hair-loss:-
MITE IMPLICATED IN ALL BALDNESS CASES
February 2, 1998
WASHINGTON (UPI) - In a second recent report announcing a factor contributing to baldness, a dermatologist reports that a common mite is implicated in all cases of human hair loss.
Dr. William Regelson, an expert with the Medical College of Virginia, told an annual meeting of dermatologists in Miami that while the mite has been known since the 1840s to cause mange in animals, until now no one had noticed that the minute organism is invariably present in the hair follicles of human beings who are losing their hair.
Called Demodex follicularum, as many as a dozen of the mites burrow head-down in every hair follicle of the person affected. There they live on sebum, the oily material the scalp secretes.
The first uninvited guests arrive during a person's adolescence, Regelson told United Press International, and by late middle age all people harbor them. The difference between people who eventually lose their hair and those who do not, however, likely depends on whether the scalp produces an inflammatory reaction in an attempt to reject the mite, he speculates.
Whether or not that reaction occurs, in turn, may depend on a gene that codes for it, he says. The gene in question, Regelson says, is very possibly the "hairless gene" announced Thursday by doctors at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York as the first human gene linked to baldness.
The mite was discovered in human hair by a researcher at Nioxin, a major hair-care and cosmetics developer based in Lithium Springs, Ga. This was accomplished thanks to a newly available hand-held microscope that can magnify live scalp up 1,000 times.
Scientists at the company are now working on a technique to control the mites by developing a chemical that would interrupt their capacity to digest the oils in sebum.
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SCIENTISTS FIND BALDNESS GENE
January 30, 1998
BOSTON (UPI) - Researchers report finding the first human gene associated with hair loss, a discovery that may provide important clues on how hair grows and eventually may lead to cure for baldness.
Columbia University researchers who identified the "hairless" gene said that while it is linked to a rare and severe form of inherited baldness, it may be the trigger that turns on the entire human hair cycle.
"This is the first gene found to control the hair cycle. This means we might be able to have gene therapy for hair, so we can get to the root of the problem, offering a cure rather than just treatments," said Angela Christiano, assistant professor of dermatology at Columbia- Presbyterian Hospital in New York.
Christiano and her colleagues at Columbia University's College of Physicians & Surgeons will report their findings in the Jan. 30 issue of Science magazine.
Christiano said it now may be possible to design ways to grow hair, remove hair and dye hair genetically to treat or cure various forms of baldness. She envisions such treatments being applied topically, reducing possible side effects.
U.S. consumers spend about $7 billion annually on treatments and procedures for hair loss, according to Columbia University estimates.
The researchers used genetic information from four families in Pakistan affected with the rare form of baldness known as alopecia universalis. They compared that information with a gene from a well- known hairless mouse.
As a result, the scientists were able to identify the first healthy trigger gene for hair growth and the mutation that causes alopecia universalis. The gene is located on chromosome 8.
Those affected with alopecia universalis have no hair anywhere, including no eyelashes or eyebrows.
There are several forms of alopecia that disrupt human hair growth. The most common is androgenetic alopecia, or male pattern baldness, which affects about 80 percent of the population, the researchers said.
Another common form, alopecia areata, is related to autoimmune disfunction or stress. It affects 2.5 million people in the United States.
So far, the molecular basis of alopecia has remained a mystery.
"With the hairless gene, the real basis of hair loss can begin to be understood," Christiano said.
Current hair-loss treatments focus on regulating hormones involved in baldness. Treatments for male pattern baldness have tried to regulate hormones on the hair follicle to stimulate hair regrowth, but they have significant side effects, Christiano said.
"Hair follicles, like all cells, have cycles. This finding is the first indication that we may be able to regulate that cycle, triggering growth of new hair," she said. It may thus be possible to treat hair loss with topical gene therapy rubbed onto follicles.
Dr. George Cotsarelis, director of the University of Pennsylvania's Hair and Scalp Clinic in Philadelphia, cautions that such gene therapies aren't immediately around the corner for the common forms of baldness.
"This gene is a very important step in understanding the basic biology of the hair follicle," Cotsarelis said. "But the hair cycle is so complicated and so many genes are involved that you wouldn't know what genes to introduce at this point as therapies."
Copyright 1998 by United Press International. All rights reserved.
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