Hair Loss Treatment, Causes, Prevention, Diagnosis and Prevention

Hair Loss Overview

The loss of hair (alopecia) is a natural phenomenon in all hair-baring animals that normally occurs during the hair growth cycle. It is estimated that most individuals (assuming they have a full head of hair) lose about 100 scalp hairs over a 24-hour period. Hair loss can become a cosmetic problem when it occurs in the wrong place at the wrong time in the wrong individual. True hair loss should be distinguished from damage to the hair shaft, which may cause breakage close to the scalp. This sort of damage is most often caused by exogenous chemicals used to alter the physical characteristics of the hair shaft (hair dye, etc.), but certain genetic diseases can alter its strength and durability.

• Physicians divide cosmetically significant hair loss into two categories.
1. Scarring alopecia: This sort of irreversible hair loss is characterized by damage to the underlying skin which results in scarring that destroys the hair follicle and its potential for regeneration. A simple visual examination is usually sufficient to diagnose this problem, although occasionally a biopsy may be necessary. Certain skin diseases as well as physical trauma produce this sort of damage. 2. Non-scarring alopecia: This potentially reversible type of hair loss is very common and can be due to many causes, including certain diseases, drugs, aging, diet, as well as a genetic predisposition for hair loss called androgenetic alopecia (common balding).
• There are three cycles of hair growth: growing (80% of follicles), resting, and shedding. In human hair, each follicle cycles at its own individual rate as opposed to most animals, where these cycles change with the season, and all hairs are in the same part of the cycle at the same time. This is why animals grow a thicker coat in the fall and shed most in the spring and why human beings do not shed.
• Unlike most animals, in humans, each hair has its own pattern of growing, resting, and shedding.
• Each person sheds hair and regrows hair every day.
• When this balance is disturbed and more hairs are shed than are regrown, alopecia or hair loss results.

Source:http://www.emedicinehealth.com/hair_loss/article_em.htm

Drug may relieve kids' asthma in the fall

The asthma medication omalizumab can prevent children's asthma from worsening in the fall — a period of the year when symptoms are often exacerbated by respiratory infections, a new study says.

The study involved children and adolescents living in inner-city areas who had persistent asthma. The drug also decreased the number of days children experienced asthma symptoms and reduced the need for additional medications.

Omalizumab is currently used as an asthma medication for adults and adolescents with severe asthma who have failed other treatments. But the new study found the drug benefits children as young as six with both severe and less severe forms of the disease.

1.
1.
2. Depression May Exacerbate Knee Arthritis Pain
3. No Tonic for Tension: Stress Drinking Linked to Early Alcohol Use
4. U.S. Life Expectancy Increased Slightly in 2009
5. Programmed DNA Robot Goes Where Scientists Tell It

The finding "raises the possibility that [omalizumab] could be used for short periods of time just before and during the fall asthma epidemic season," said study researcher Dr. Suzanne Steinbach, an associate professor of pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine. The fall season is when children are exposed to an onslaught of respiratory viruses, including colds, as they go back to school, which can increase asthma attacks. Cool temperatures, in addition to changes in pollen and mold in the air, can also be asthma triggers. The drug would be provided in addition to the standard of care treatment for asthma, Steinbach said.

The researchers plan to conduct a study next year that will specifically examine whether omalizumab, given one month before school starts and for four months during the fall, can decrease asthma exacerbations, said study researcher Dr. William Busse, an allergy and immunology researcher at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Asthma in cities

Participants had allergic asthma, the most common form of asthma – more than half of the 20 million Americans with asthma have this type, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. In these patients, symptoms are triggered by allergens, including dust and pollen. Their airways become inflamed, which can result in coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath, among other symptoms.

Inner-city children are at particularly high risk for asthma because the environment is riddled with triggers, including allergens from dust mites, cockroaches and rodents.

The researchers studied 419 children and adolescents from eight cities around the United States. Participants were aged 6 to 20 and had moderate to severe allergic asthma. The symptoms were persistent, meaning they occurred more than two days a week, and interfered with activity and sleeping. Some of the children in the study had been hospitalized or visited the emergency room for their asthma despite efforts to control the disease. Sixty percent of participants were African American and 27 percent were Hispanic.

Participants were randomly assigned to be injected with omalizumab or a placebo every two to four weeks for 60 weeks.

Those who took the drug saw a 25 percent reduction in the number of days they experienced symptoms compared to those who took the placebo. They also had 30 percent fewer asthma attacks and experienced a 75 percent reduction in hospitalizations, Steinbach said.

While those on the placebo saw their symptoms increase in the fall, those on the drug did not, Steinbach said.

The findings provide insight into what exactly is responsible for the boost in asthma attacks in the fall, Busse said.

"Two weeks after kids go back to school, they're in emergency rooms and hospitalizations for asthma dramatically increase, and it happens every year – it's like clockwork," Busse said.

The findings suggest "allergies and viruses somehow interact to bring about these episodes." To reduce this exacerbations, "we don't prevent colds, but prevent the colds from going on into asthma attacks," Busse said.

The right patients

The findings are "very exciting," said Dr. Wanda Phipatanakul, an allergy and immunology researcher at Children's Hospital Boston who was not involved in the study.

"Anything that can help such a chronic debilitating disease, particularly as we know is a big problem in inner-city children, is exciting," Phipatanakul said.

More research needs to be done to see who benefits the most from this drug, Busse said. Since the drug is expensive, about $1,000 a month, "you really want to use it where you're going to get the best benefit," he said.

One clue was provided by this study. Children who were allergic to cockroach allergen and were exposed to it in their homes were particularly sensitive to this medication, said study researcher Dr. Alkis Togias, of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, M.D.
The study is published in the March 17 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Nurse may have stolen drugs, infected patients

MINNEAPOLIS — A nurse is suspected of inadvertently tainting intravenous painkillers at St. Cloud Hospital while seeking drugs, spreading bacterial infections to 23 patients since October, the hospital said on Wednesday.

The nurse has been suspended and St. Cloud Hospital has launched an investigation with state health officials into the infections possibly caused when drugs were diverted from IV bags for personal use, said the hospital, in the city of the same name 70 miles northwest of Minneapolis.
A criminal investigation is under way and the hospital and state health department are trying to determine if other patients were infected, it said. The 23 known infected patients had hospital stays in one unit from October to early March.
"We take this matter very seriously," St. Cloud Hospital President Craig Broman said in a statement. "Our highest priority is to provide safe, quality patient care."
St. Cloud Hospital said it launched the investigation in February after staff members noticed "increased incidence of organisms that do not normally infect people."
The hospital has not identified the nurse or the drugs alleged to have been diverted from patients. It described the investigation as preliminary.
There was no evidence that blood-borne pathogens such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C or HIV were transmitted to the patients who suffered from bacterial infections, it said.
The hospital tested all patient-controlled IV bags containing painkillers for bacteria as well as multiple supplies and environmental resources in its investigation, it said. The hospital said it also evaluated employees and hospital practices for distributing narcotics.

Health

Health is the general condition of a person in all aspects. It is also a level of functional and/or metabolic efficiency of an organism, often implicitly human. From Google dictionary: "The state of being free from illness or injury"

At the time of the creation of the World Health Organization (WHO), in 1948, health was defined as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity"

Only a handful of publications have focused specifically on the definition of health and its evolution in the first 6 decades. Some of them highlight its lack of operational value and the problem created by use of the word "complete." Others declare the definition, which has not been modified since 1948, "simply a bad one."

In 1986, the WHO, in the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, said that health is "a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living. Health is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities." Classification systems such as the WHO Family of International Classifications (WHO-FIC), which is composed of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) also define health.

Overall health is achieved through a combination of physical, mental, and social well-being, which, together is commonly referred to as the Health Triangle.

Determinants of health

The LaLonde report suggests that there are four general determinants of health including human biology, environment, lifestyle, and healthcare services. Thus, health is maintained and improved not only through the advancement and application of health science, but also through the efforts and intelligent lifestyle choices of the individual and society.

The Alameda County Study examines the relationship between lifestyle and health. It has found that people can improve their health via exercise, enough sleep, maintaining a healthy weight, limiting alcohol use, and avoiding smoking.[6]

A major environmental factor affecting health is water quality, especially for the health of infants and children in developing countries.

Studies shows that developed countries, the lack of neighborhood recreational space that includes the natural environment leads to lower levels of neighborhood satisfaction and higher levels of obesity; therefore, lower overall well being. Therefore, the positive psychological benefits of natural space in urban neighborhoods should be taken into account in public policy and land use.

According to the World Health Organization, the main determinants of health include the social and economic environment, the physical environment and the person's individual characteristics and behaviors.[9] Generally, the context in which an individual lives is of great importance on his life quality and health status. The social and economic environment are key factors in determining the health status of individuals given the fact that higher education levels are linked with a higher standard of life as well as a higher income. Generally, people who finish higher education are more likely to get a better job and therefore are less prone to stress by comparing to individuals with low education levels.[citation needed]

The physical environment is perhaps the most important factor that should be considered when classifying the health status of an individual. This includes factors such as clean water and air, safe houses, communities and roads all contribute to good health.

Genetics are also part of the system based on which the health of the population can be established. Genetics are closely related to the habits and behaviors individuals develop during their life, particularly in terms of lifestyle choices. For instance, people who come from families whose members had a more active lifestyle and followed healthier diets, non-smoking and non-drinking are more likely to follow the same pattern in their life. The example set by the family as well as the relationship with friends and family can have a great impact on one's general health. Nonetheless, genetics may play a role in the manner in which people cope with stress.

Moreover, the World Health Organization lists a wide range of other factors that can influence the well being of a person. According to WHO, the gender, social support networks and health services in terms of both quality and access to them are to be considered as health determinants. Access to health care is one of the large issues of the nowadays society, maybe even greater than the quality of the service. Individuals in developing countries are more prone to suffer from different health conditions because their access to the health care system is restricted mostly from financial reasons.

Although many individuals are often criticized for not taking good care of their health based on the presumption that the mirror's of one's personality is one's health., it is now accepted that there are many factors that have a significant impact on one's health and which cannot be controlled.

Maintaining health

Achieving and maintaining health is an ongoing process. Effective strategies for staying healthy and improving one's health include the following elements:


sourch:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health