Month: January 2023

Posted on

In the News – US Panel Advises Against Routine Prostate Exams

Snippet from the non-hair-loss article:

Healthy men should no longer receive a P.S.A. blood test to screen for prostate cancer because the test does not save lives over all and often leads to more tests and treatments that needlessly cause pain, impotence and incontinence in many, a key government health panel has decided.

The draft recommendation, by the United States Preventive Services Task Force and due for official release next week, is based on the results of five well-controlled clinical trials and could substantially change the care given to men 50 and older. There are 44 million such men in the United States, and 33 million of them have already had a P.S.A. test — sometimes without their knowledge — during routine physicals.

Read the rest — U.S. Panel Says No to Prostate Screening for Healthy Men

I know this isn’t hair loss related, but it’s important medical news that the male visitors of this site should read.

For many years, we have known that most men with prostate cancer will never actually die from the disease. The decisions to treat it and how to treat it are very controversial. I was never satisfied that there is any good treatment — or rather, any one treatment — that is better than an another. Treating prostate cancer through radiation or surgery has significant side effects, and the risk of sexual function loss is a real one for those men who decide on surgery.

There are many types of prostate cancer from an aggressive point of view. The opinion expressed in this advisory just takes the view that “what you do not know will not hurt you”. I am not sure that I believe this, but then again, I don’t believe in many of the treatments being offered either. I’ve always wondered what I would do if I had an elevated PSA test, but thankfully I’ve not had to make that decision.


2011-10-10 17:51:48In the News – US Panel Advises Against Routine Prostate Exams

Posted on

In the News – Upcoming Hair Loss Treatments

Snippet from the article:

New hair loss treatments on the not-too-distant horizon may be game-changers.

“The development of new treatments, including drugs and cell-based approaches for hair loss, is at an all-time high,” says Kenneth J. Washenik, MD, PhD. He’s a clinical assistant professor at NYU Langone Medical Center and the medical director at Bosley Medical. “We have never had this many provocative treatments in the pipeline.”

Washenik spoke about advances in treating hair loss during March’s annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology in Denver.

Read the rest — New Hair-Loss Treatments in the Pipeline

Topics included cell-based hair follicle regeneration, Latisse, combination therapy, FDA-approved medications, at-home treatments, and hair transplants.

Posted on

In the News – Unihair (Aderans) Hopes Hair Cloning Will Increase Sales

Snippet from the article:

Unihair of Japan, the world’s biggest wigmaker, is hoping for a big increase in sales through what might be regarded as the ultimate cutting-edge technology – a method to “grow” luxuriant displays of new hair on a person’s scalp.

The method uses cell-generation processes derived from pharmaceuticals research. “We see a tremendous number of possibilities [from the new process],” said Tadao Otsuki, Unihair’s chief executive. “It adds up to a fundamental shift in how the world can combat problems of baldness.”

With the help of the new techniques, based on ideas developed in the US and which are now undergoing clinical trials, Unihair is hoping to increase its annual sales roughly three-fold, from Y57.3bn ($706m) in the year to February 2010, to about Y150bn in 2017.

Read the full story from the Financial Times — Unihair gets a grip on baldness

There is a big difference between what we hope to achieve with using ACell in hair transplantation to multiply hairs in an ‘auto-cloning’ manner and what Unihair (formerly Aderans prior to September of this year) is trying to do with cloning hair outside of the head in a lab.

It’s in the best interest of patients that these technologies work, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Posted on

In the News – UK Sexual Advice Group Studies Erectile Concerns

Snippet from the non-hair-loss article:

More than two-thirds of men who contacted an email advice service run by a leading sexual advice charity had erection problems, which were frequently linked to loss of sex drive, according to research in the October issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice.

The study by UK researchers also found that a large number of men from the Middle East and Indian subcontinent sought email advice on problems with premature ejaculation and masturbation. Previous research has suggested that these issues are often related to arranged marriages.

Read the rest — Email Sexual Advice Study Highlights Problems Raised by Different Ages and Cultures

This isn’t about hair loss, but it’s interesting nonetheless. The frequency of libido or erectile dysfunction (ED) problems reported are far more common than previously thought. Granted the results are just from email surveys, but the report just scratches the surface of a common problem.

The real question is — how much of this reflects the physiology of these men? I suspect that the ED problems reflect not just the physiologic changes of aging, but of the social fabric that men fall into. Such things like alcohol consumption, depression, marriages that lost their vitality, etc… are amongst the problems that cause the libido and ED problems.

One particularly interesting bullet point from the article says that most of the masturbation related worries come from India, and I’d estimate 95%+ of the “masturbation causes hair loss” emails I get come from the same area (even though I’ve written over a dozen times that it is just a myth).


2011-10-09 10:58:31In the News – UK Sexual Advice Group Studies Erectile Concerns

Posted on

In the News – Tracking Down the Hair Loss Genes

Two articles just published in Nature Genetics may explain why some men lose their hair, while others do not. One of the articles shows the complexity of the gene, where the baldness gene not only has more than one site, but it also is on more than one chromosome. There is a link between balding, heart disease, and other metabolic abnormalities as well.

The published journal articles themselves are not online yet (not sure if they will be freely available by the publisher), but there are a few summaries in the news that I found, linked below. Read the news items:


2008-10-13 15:20:35In the News – Tracking Down the Hair Loss Genes

Posted on

In the News – Thinking Positive Means Drugs Work Better

Snippet from the article:

When it comes to taking medicine, you may get what you expect.

A new study has found that your expectations can affect how well pain medications work. Being optimistic may boost their effectiveness in blocking pain, while being pessimistic may lower their effectiveness.

Unlike earlier research, the new study used brain imaging techniques to examine brain regions that are known to be associated with pain. Scientists say that until now, little research has been done to clarify the brain mechanisms that control how different expectations affect drugs.

Read the full story — Positive Thinking May Make Drugs Work Better

This is a very interesting article. Pessimism may lower effectiveness, wishful thinking may make the drug work. We’ve talked about this before on the blog, and this is something many of my colleagues have expressed. When physicians prescribe a medication to patients who are obsessed or too worried about side effects, they usually seem to get the side effects. It’s almost a self-fulfilling prophecy.


2011-02-17 15:47:30In the News – Thinking Positive Means Drugs Work Better

Posted on

In the News – The Placebo Effect Works

Snippet from the article:

There’s little doubt that the placebo effect’s real, but it has always been argued that a person feels better because they think the pill is the real deal. But what if it works even when you know it’s a fake?

According to Ted Kaptchuk at Harvard Medical School and his colleagues at least one condition can be calmed by placebo, even when everyone knows it’s just an inert pill. This raises a thorny question: should we start offering sugar pills for ailments without a treatment?

In the latest study, Kaptchuk tested the effect of placebo versus no treatment in 80 people with irritable bowel syndrome. Twice a day, 37 people swallowed an inert pill could not be absorbed by the body. The researchers told participants that it could improve symptoms through the placebo effect.

While 35 per cent of the patients who had not received any treatment reported an improvement, 59 per cent of the placebo group felt better. “The placebo was almost twice as effective as the control,” says Kaptchuk. “That would be a great result if it was seen in a normal clinical trial of a drug.”

Read the full story at Gizmodo — Placebos Can Work Even When You Know They’re Fakes

I am certain that the placebo effect also applies to side effects. If you hear you may get erectile dysfunction from taking a drug, how many people will report the side effect from taking the placebo?

Posted on

In the News – The Harm of Dietary Supplements

I read this article in the New York Times and also found it on the International Herald Tribune site — Potential for harm in dietary supplements

Snippet from the article:

A form of substance abuse rampant in this country is rarely discussed publicly or privately. It involves abusing legally sold dietary supplements — vitamins, minerals, herbals and homeopathic remedies — all of which can be sold over the counter without prior approval for safety and effectiveness.

This is a very important story. We spend billions of dollars trying to achieve a longer and healthier life, and when we do, we get roped in by advertisements and multi-level marketing processes which get us to buy more and more of these products. Some of them are dangerous! Please take a few moments to read this.

Full article: IHT.com


2008-04-15 08:55:15In the News – The Harm of Dietary Supplements

Posted on

In the News – The Fountain of Youth in a Pill?

Snippet from the non-hair article:

UCSF researchers have identified an existing medication that restores key elements of the immune system that, when out of balance, lead to a steady decline in immunity and health as people age.

The team found that extremely low doses of the drug lenalidomide can stimulate the body’s immune-cell protein factories, which decrease production during aging, and rebalance the levels of several key cytokines – immune proteins that either attack viruses and bacteria or cause inflammation that leads to an overall decline in health.

The initial study, which was designed to define the dose range of such a therapy in a group of 13 patients, could lead to a daily pill to boost immunity in the elderly, the researchers said. Data will appear in the January issue of the journal Clinical Immunology.

Read the full story at ScienceDaily — ‘Fountain of Youth’ Pill Could Restore Aging Immune System

This is all great stuff with the research done at UCSF medical school. Worth a read!

Posted on

In the News – Teenager with Alopecia Traveling to Great Wall of China to Raise Awareness

Snippet from the article:

A teenage alopecia sufferer from Northamptonshire will complete a trek of The Great Wall of China to raise awareness about the condition.

Alice Frost, aged 16, of Denton, has been suffering from the condition, which causes severe hair loss, for about three years. She will take on the nine-day expedition with her 18-year-old sister, Sally, in September, and the pair hope to raise £7,200 for the trek and for the Alopecia UK charity.

Alice first lost a large amount of her hair while on a school trip to China and she said the expedition would take her back to a fitting place.

Read the rest — Teenage alopecia sufferer in China trek

The article wasn’t clear on what kind of alopecia she has, but it appears to be totalis or possibly universalis. I congratulate young Ms. Frost on her courage and her desire to raise awareness.