Risk factors for frontal fibrosing alopecia: A case-control study in a multiracial population.

BACKGROUND: Frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA) is a chronic cicatricial alopecia with unknown etiology and a worldwide rising incidence. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the association of FFA with demographic and exposure factors in a Brazilian multiracial population. METHODS: A multicenter case-control study was conducted in 11 referral centers throughout Brazil. The study was a case-control study that prospectively recruited 902 participants (451 patients with FFA and 451 sex-matched control individuals). Study participants completed a thorough questionnaire comprising variables grouped as baseline demographics, environmental exposure, diet, hormonal factors, allergies, and hair and skin care. RESULTS: When adjusted by sex, age, menopause, and skin color, FFA was associated with hair straightening with formalin (odds ratio [OR], 3.18), use of ordinary (nondermatologic) facial soap (OR, 2.09) and facial moisturizer (OR, 1.99), thyroid disorders (OR, 1.69), and rosacea (OR, 2.08). Smokers (OR, 0.33) and users of antiresidue/clarifying shampoo (OR, 0.35) presented a negative association with FFA. There was no association with the use of sunscreen. LIMITATIONS: Recall bias. CONCLUSIONS: The association with moisturizers, ordinary facial soap, and hair straightening with formalin and the negative association with antiresidue/clarifying shampoo reinforce the possibility of an exogenous particle triggering FFA.

A novel automated approach to rapid and precise in vivo measurement of hair morphometrics using a smartphone.

BACKGROUND: Although many hair disorders can be readily diagnosed based on their clinical appearance, their progression and response to treatment are often difficult to monitor, particularly in quantitative terms. We introduce an innovative technique utilizing a smartphone and computerized image analysis to expeditiously and automatically measure and compute hair density and diameter in patients in real time. METHODS: A smartphone equipped with a dermatoscope lens wirelessly transmits trichoscopy images to a computer for image processing. A black-and-white binary mask image representing hair and skin is produced, and the hairs are thinned into single-pixel-thick fiber skeletons. Further analysis based on these fibers allows morphometric characteristics such as hair shaft number and diameters to be computed rapidly. The hair-bearing scalps of fifty participants were imaged to assess the precision of our automated smartphone-based device in comparison with a specialized trichometry device for hair shaft density and diameter measurement. The precision and operation time of our technique relative to manual trichometry, which is commonly used by hair disorder specialists, is determined. RESULTS: An equivalence test, based on two 1-sided t tests, demonstrates statistical equivalence in hair density and diameter values between this automated technique and manual trichometry within a 20% margin. On average, this technique actively required 24 seconds of the clinician's time whereas manual trichometry necessitated 9.2 minutes. CONCLUSION: Automated smartphone-based trichometry is a rapid, precise, and clinically feasible technique which can significantly facilitate the assessment and monitoring of hair loss. Its use could be easily integrated into clinical practice to improve standard trichoscopy.

Growth factor concentrations in platelet-rich plasma for androgenetic alopecia: An intra-subject, randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled, pilot study.

BACKGROUND: Platelet-rich plasma (PRP), processed from autologous peripheral blood, is used to treat androgenetic alopecia (AGA). OBJECTIVE: To determine the efficacy of PRP for hair growth promotion in AGA patients in a randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled, pilot clinical trial (NCT02074943). METHODS: The efficacy of an 8 week, five session, PRP treatment course was determined by measuring hair density and hair caliber changes in 10 AGA affected patients. For each PRP sample, the concentrations of selected growth factors were determined using a multiplex assay system. The clinical results were then correlated with the growth factor concentrations in PRP. RESULTS: At 16 weeks, 8 weeks after the last PRP injection, treated areas exhibited increased mean hair density (+12.76%) over baseline compared to placebo (+0.99%). Mean hair caliber decreased in both treated and placebo regions (-16.22% and -19.46%, respectively). Serial analysis of PRP significant variability in concentrations between patients. Overall, there was a positive correlation between GDNF concentration and hair density (P = .004). Trends, though not statistically significant, were also observed for FGF2 and VEGF. LIMITATIONS: Small sample size and lack of comparative cohorts receiving protocol variations limit confidence in the study data. CONCLUSIONS: This small pilot clinical trial suggests PRP treatment may be beneficial for AGA. However, the variable hair growth responses between patients indicate there is a significant opportunity to improve PRP therapy protocols for hair growth promotion. The variability in growth factor concentration in PRP suggests standardization of growth factors postprocessing might improve hair growth responses.

Alopecia Areata is Associated with Increased Expression of Heart Disease Biomarker Cardiac Troponin I.

The development of androgenetic alopecia is associated with a risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, but the association of alopecia areata with cardiovascular diseases in humans is largely unexplored. We measured the plasma level of two common cardiovascular disease markers, cardiac troponin I and C-reactive protein, in alopecia areata and androgenetic alopecia affected subjects. Also, we investigated the possible presence of pro-apoptotic factors in the plasma of hair loss subjects. The mean plasma cardiac troponin I level was highest in alopecia areata subjects, moderately higher in androgenetic alopecia subjects, and lowest in subjects without hair loss (p <0.05). Alopecia areata subjects not receiving treatments had highest levels of cTnI (p <0.05). Alopecia areata plasma samples with high cardiac troponin I levels also induced significantly higher rates of cardiomyocyte apoptosis in cell culture assays. The results suggest the potential for increased heart remodelling. Close monitoring of cardiovascular health in alopecia areata subjects, as well as subsets of androgenetic alopecia patients, may be appropriate.

Biology of the hair follicle and mechanisms of nonscarring and scarring alopecia.

There are many hair disorders, all of which involve alterations in normal hair biology. Essentially, hair disorders involve changes to hair fiber caliber, density per unit area, and/or the duration of anagen and telogen in the hair growth cycle. Hair disorders may be triggered by inflammation, genetics, the environment, or hormones; the relative contributions of these factors vary for different hair disorder diagnoses. Suitable treatments may either address the underlying causal factors or directly act on hair follicle biology. The objectives are to normalize the hair growth cycle, modulate the size of hair follicles, and potentially regenerate hair follicles to stabilize hair density. The purpose of this manuscript is to review the basic biology of the hair follicle, as well as causal mechanisms for the disordered hair follicle using some selected examples of hair disorders.

Affective and restorative valences for three environmental categories.

The present study evaluated images of environments in three categories with different affective and restorative valences through two computerized assessments. A non-verbal computerized response scale and the Mexican Scale of Environmental Restoration Perception were employed. 104 students assessed the affective qualities of 117 images (47 natural, 37 urban with nature, and 33 built-up without nature) according to pleasure and activation dimensions. Then 96 students assessed 54 images with high and low valence for their restorative quality. Natural images were found to generate positive affective reactions of liking and activation and high restorative quality. Affective responses to urban with nature environments tended to be positive with moderate restorative quality. Built-up without nature environments were perceived as less pleasant and had low restorative quality. However, among built-up without nature environments, some settings with striking architectural qualities evoked positive affective valences.

Minimally invasive procedures for the management of female pattern hair loss.

BACKGROUND: Female Pattern Hair Loss (FPHL) is one of the most common types of hair loss in women. It is characterized by progressive follicular miniaturization leading to diffuse hair thinning over the midfrontal scalp with a negative impact on quality of life. Pharmacological treatments are commonly used, and hair follicle transplantation is an option for those cases with adequate donor area. Minimally invasive procedures, such as microneedling, mesotherapy, microinfusion of drugs into the scalp with tattoo machines (MMP®), and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) have been reported as adjuvant treatments. AIMS: This study aims to summarize and discuss the efficacy of minimally invasive procedures described for the management of FPHL. METHODS: Published articles indexed on the Pubmed database and Scopus that described minimally invasive procedures for the management of FPHL in humans were considered. Citations were reviewed and added for completeness. The search was for articles in English only. After excluding duplicate titles, 23 relevant articles were considered. CONCLUSION: Minimally invasive procedures are promising options and may play a role in FPHL treatment. They can be used as adjunctive therapy for FPHL, in case of poor response to clinical therapy, or when patients prefer other care than the standard. We reinforce that these methods should be performed by an experienced medical professional following strict aseptic techniques. However, microneedling, mesotherapy, MMP, and PRP lack standardization and are supported by a low level of evidence yet. For the future, larger randomized clinical trials are essential to determine the efficacy and optimal protocols for these treatments.

Bicalutamide and the new perspectives for female pattern hair loss treatment: What dermatologists should know.

Female pattern hair loss (FPHL) is the most common form of alopecia in women. FPHL may compromise body image and strongly affect self-esteem, negatively impacting quality of life. Currently, the only Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drug for its treatment is topical minoxidil, with a variable response rate. Recently, a few studies in FPHL have pointed out bicalutamide as an emergent selective androgen receptor antagonist with a favorable safety and tolerability profile. This review aimed to summarize and discuss the key information on this new therapy for FPHL. Bicalutamide has no diuretic effect. It does not cross the blood-brain barrier, and it has little effect on serum luteinizing hormone. Additionally, bicalutamide was found to be effective on women presenting with other features of hyperandrogenism such as seborrhea, acne, and hirsutism with mild and well-tolerated adverse effects. Despite the high prevalence and psychosocial impairment, FPHL treatment remains challenging. Therefore, although future prospective, comparative, randomized clinical trials are essential to establish the ideal dose and efficacy of the drug, oral bicalutamide appears to be a promising option to expand the arsenal of FPHL treatment.

Anagen Effluvium after Therapeutic Scalp Surgery: Unreported Phenomenon.

INTRODUCTION: Many procedures are performed on the scalp, such as excision of pilar and sebaceous cysts, melanocytic nevi, and reduction surgery for scarring alopecia, among others. In hair transplants, telogen effluvium is often reported 3 months after surgery; however, hair loss usually happens much earlier, around second week after the procedure, not compatible with the time required for hair to enter telogen and exogenous phases in normal conditions. CASE REPORTS: We report 3 cases of anagen hair loss 4 weeks after surgeries, with perilesional trichoscopy suggesting anagen effluvium, with typical signs such as black dots and exclamation hairs. DISCUSSION: There are only a few reports about hair loss around operated areas. The cause of this postoperative anagen effluvium is probably a transient ischemia. CONCLUSION: The practical importance of this phenomenon is to properly orient patients because most of the hair will be lost, since 85% of them are anagens, and also will have spontaneous recovery in the next 3 months.

Personality Traits Induce Different Brain Patterns When Processing Social and Valence Information.

This paper shows the brain correlates of Cloninger's personality model during the presentation of social scenarios under positive or negative valence situations. Social scenarios were constructed when participants played the Dictator game with two confederates that had two opposites roles as the cooperator (Coop) and non-cooperator (NoCoop). Later the same day during a fMRI scanning session, participants read negative (Neg) and positive (Pos) situations that happened to confederates in the past. Participants were asked to think "how do you think those people felt during that situation?" A dissimilarity matrix between stimuli were obtained from fMRI results. Results shown that Harm Avoidance trait people make use of right middle frontal gyrus and left superior frontal gyrus to discriminate between Coop and NoCoop. Cooperation as a trait makes use of the right superior temporal gyrus and the right precuneus to discriminate between Coop and NoCoop in positive social scenarios. Finally, Self-directedness trait people make use of the right inferior parietal lobe to discriminate between Coop and NoCoop in negative social scenarios and the right precuneus to discriminate between Coop and Strangers. An intuitive link between discrimination findings and behavioral patterns of those personality traits is proposed.

Consensus on the treatment of alopecia areata - Brazilian Society of Dermatology.

BACKGROUND: Alopecia areata is a highly frequent disease with an impact on quality of life and several treatment options with little clinical confirmatory evidence. OBJECTIVE: To disseminate the recommendations of Brazilian dermatologists with expertise in the treatment of alopecia areata. METHODS: Eight specialists with expertise in alopecia areata from different university centers were appointed by the Brazilian Society of Dermatology to reach a consensus on its treatment. Based on the adapted DELPHI methodology, the relevant elements were considered; then, an analysis of recent literature was carried out and the consensus was written down. Consensus on the management of alopecia areata was defined with the approval of at least 70% of the panel. RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS: Intralesional injectable corticotherapy was considered the first option for localized disease in adults. In extensive cases with signs of activity, systemic corticosteroid therapy should be considered and can be used together with immunosuppressants (corticosteroid-sparing agents). The use of an immunosensitizer (diphencyprone) is an option for stable long-term cases. Evaluation of side effects is as important as the rate of hair regrowth.

Conserved and divergent expression dynamics during early patterning of the telencephalon in mouse and chick embryos.

The mammalian and the avian telencephalon are nearly indistinguishable at early embryonic vesicle stages but differ substantially in form and function at their adult stage. We sequenced and analyzed RNA populations present in mouse and chick during the early stages of embryonic telencephalon to understand conserved and lineage-specific developmental differences. We found approximately 3000 genes that orchestrate telencephalon development. Many chromatin-associated epigenetic and transcription regulators show high expression in both species and some show species-specific expression dynamics. Interestingly, previous studies associated them to autism, intellectual disabilities, and mental retardation supporting a causal link between their impaired functions during telencephalon development and brain dysfunction. Strikingly, the conserved up-regulated genes were differentially enriched in ontologies related to development or functions of the adult brain. Moreover, a differential enrichment of distinct repertoires of transcription factor binding motifs in their upstream promoter regions suggest a species-specific regulation of the various gene groups identified. Overall, our results reveal that the ontogenetic divergences between the mouse and chick telencephalon result from subtle differences in the regulation of common patterning signaling cascades and regulatory networks unique to each species at their very early stages of development.

What's New in Hair Loss.

The treatment of hair loss is a challenge for all dermatologists. New medications are needed due to lack of efficacy of many treatments or their side-effect profile. This article discusses the most recent literature updates on the use of retinoids in frontal fibrosing alopecia, platelet-rich plasma in androgenetic alopecia, and JAK inhibitors in alopecia areata.

Observation of environments with different restorative potential results in differences in eye patron movements and pupillary size.

The Environmental Psychological Restoration (EPR) is the result of the recovery of an antecedent deficit (e.g. stress or attentional fatigue) culminating in a restorative environment exposure. Recent findings suggest that visual contact with nature is important in triggering restorative responses. We measure the behavioral evidence of visual exposure to restorative environments in an eye-tracking study. Eye movement patterns (fixations and pupil dilatation) were evaluated while a sample of participants (n = 27; 15 females and 12 males) viewed photographs with High Restorative Potential (HRP) or Low Restorative Potential (LRP). The eye patterns during the observation of LRP were distinct to those of the HRP environments. Eye movements related to LRP photographs were characterized by a greater number of fixations compared to those related to HRP. Fixation times predicted an inverse relation, with LRP settings having a significantly shorter time per fixation than HRP pictures. Differences on pupil diameter were found. A higher pupil size was found during the view of HRP vs. LRP environments. Our eye tracking study suggest that restorative environment observation is associated with reduced eye movement activity relative to low restorative potential environment perception, which may reflect a lower cognitive effort in processing natural scenes. Likewise, pupillary dilatation variations suggest a possible link between the affective valences of the settings and its restorative quality. Data results are confronted according to attention restoration theory on restorative environments.

Neural correlates of the natural observation of an emotionally loaded video.

Studies based on a paradigm of free or natural viewing have revealed characteristics that allow us to know how the brain processes stimuli within a natural environment. This method has been little used to study brain function. With a connectivity approach, we examine the processing of emotions using an exploratory method to analyze functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. This research describes our approach to modeling stress paradigms suitable for neuroimaging environments. We showed a short film (4.54 minutes) with high negative emotional valence and high arousal content to 24 healthy male subjects (36.42 years old; SD = 12.14) during fMRI. Independent component analysis (ICA) was used to identify networks based on spatial statistical independence. Through this analysis we identified the sensorimotor system and its influence on the dorsal attention and default-mode networks, which in turn have reciprocal activity and modulate networks described as emotional.