Hair Cosmetics for the Hair Loss Patient

Medical professionals that treat patients with alopecia usually lack knowledge about hair cosmetics. Trichologists focus on hair cycling and growth problems and not on the hair shaft integrity. This may lead to abandon of the use of the prescribed treatment, such as topical minoxidil or to inadequate traumatic grooming habits that may jeopardize hair follicle health. Shampoos, hair dyes, and hair-straightening products may alter hair fiber structure, remove lipids, and elude protein. Hair procedures such as hair dying and straightening have side effects and health concerns, especially for pregnant women or sensitive hair and scalp patients. Hair breakage, follicle traction, frizz, contact dermatitis, and mutagenicity are possible side effects of hair cosmetics misuse. The proper use of hair care products may help to increase patients' adherence to alopecia treatments and avoid health problems related to inadequate application of hair cosmetics and procedures.

Evaluation of trichoscopic features in female pattern hair loss

Female pattern hair loss (FPHL) is explained by decrease in hair fiber production and their eventual miniaturization. It is considered a counterpart of male androgenetic alopecia but the role of androgens in its pathogenesis is yet to be proven. To evaluate the trichoscopic features in females with patterned hair loss. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied and 37 cases were enrolled in our study. Detailed history and clinical examination were done to establish the diagnosis. Trichoscopic examination was done after taking consent in diagnosed cases. On trichoscopy, hair diameter variability, peri pilar sign, white dots, scalp pigmentation and focal atrichia was observed in 62.2%, 62.2%, 40.5%, 45.9% and 40.5% respectively. Most common trichoscopy finding observed was peri pilar sign and hair diameter variability in 23/37 females. Definitive diagnosis of FPHL is difficult to be established solely on the basis of clinical examination. Thus, trichoscopy serves as a non-invasive tool to ascertain the diagnosis in these patients.

Comparative Study of Mechanical and Microstructural Properties of Interlocking Concrete Blocks Reinforced with Chicken Feather Fiber and blend of Chicken Feather Fiber/Synthetic Hair Fibers

Concrete reinforcement with fibers is undergoing findings in order to manufacture concrete with low cost but improve mechanical and microstructural properties. Chicken feather fiber(CFF) possesses characteristics, which can improve the mechanical and microstructural properties of the concrete. Concrete is a brittle material with no tension. In this study, samples A (control sample), B1 and C1 constitute of 0%, 1% and 3% by weight of CFF while B and C constitute of 0.5% and 1.5% equal proportion of CFF and Synthetic hair fiber(SHF) respectively. Concrete with CFF and CFF/SHF composites were tested to determine water absorption (WA), thickness swelling (TS), compressive strength (CS) and splitting tensile strength (STS) between 7 to 28 days of curing. Results of WA of concrete increased after 28 days to 10.01%, 12.52% and 23.11% for samples A, B1, C1 and 11.83% and 17.67% for samples B and C respectively. Similarly, TS increased after 28 days to 0.13%, 0.22% and 0.32% for samples A, B1and C1 and for samples B and C it remains stable at 0.25%., respectively. CS of samples A and B1 increased with curing days to values of 20.66 MPa and 9.36 MPa, respectively. However, for samples C1, B and C it decreased to 3.74 MPa, 9.98 MPa and 4.29 MPa. STS of A, B1 and C1 increased with curing days with values of 13.94 MPa, 8.91 MPa and 2.26 MPa respectively while samples B and C decreased with curing days with values of 5.43 MPa and 2.39 MPa respectively, after 7 days. Results of SEM deduced that CFF improves the ductility of ICBs but increased in the proportion resulted in reduction of the STS of the concrete. Similarly, SHF offers higher CS but also serves the purpose of reduction in micro cracking and increasing structural stability.

High-throughput phenotyping methods for quantifying hair fiber morphology

Quantifying the continuous variation in human scalp hair morphology is of interest to anthropologists, geneticists, dermatologists and forensic scientists, but existing methods for studying hair form are time-consuming and not widely used. Here, we present a high-throughput sample preparation protocol for the imaging of both longitudinal (curvature) and cross-sectional scalp hair morphology. Additionally, we describe and validate a new Python package designed to process longitudinal and cross-sectional hair images, segment them, and provide measurements of interest. Lastly, we apply our methods to an admixed African-European sample (n = 140), demonstrating the benefit of quantifying hair morphology over classification, and providing evidence that the relationship between cross-sectional morphology and curvature may be an artefact of population stratification rather than a causal link.

Study on properties of yak cashmere fiber

PurposeAs one natural fiber, yak cashmere has been used more and more widely on textile processing due to its excellent warmth retention property. Yarn spinning is the first and the most important step of textile processing. Yarn spinning is closely related to the fiber properties. That is, for giving the optimization spinning process of one new fiber, the properties of the new fiber should be studied firstly. Meanwhile, during the studying of the properties of the new fiber, comparative analysis method was usually used. That is, the property of the new fiber was common comparatively analyzed with other fibers. During the comparative analysis, the spinning process can be optimized. Therefore, in the paper, the properties of the yak cashmere were studied in detail and comparatively analyzed.Design/methodology/approachThe brown yak cashmere, cyan yak cashmere, white cashmere fiber, purple cashmere fiber, cyan cashmere fiber, camel hair fiber and mohair fiber, were chosen as the samples. The fiber length, fineness, strength, curls, moisture regain, mass specific resistance, surface morphology, infrared spectrum, melting behavior, thermal weight loss, friction, x-ray, were tested and comparatively analyzed.FindingsIt is shown that the compositions of yak cashmere and cashmere are similar, and makes the physical properties of yak cashmere and cashmere fiber similar. Comparing with the mohair, camel hair and cashmere fiber, the average length of yak cashmere is smaller and the dispersion of length distribution is larger, and the dispersion of yak cashmere strength is larger, which makes the yarn spinning of yak cashmere difficult, especially the high count pure yarn. However, comparing with the mohair, camel hair and cashmere fiber, the friction coefficient and friction effect of yak cashmere is larger, and yak cashmere fiber has relatively less curls and larger crimp rate and crimp recovery rate, and can improve the fiber spinnability.Originality/valueIn the paper, taking the brown yak cashmere, cyan yak cashmere, white cashmere fiber, purple cashmere fiber, cyan cashmere fiber, camel hair fiber, mohair fibers as the samples, the properties of the yak cashmere were studied in detail. The fiber length, fineness, strength, curls, moisture regain, mass specific resistance, surface morphology, infrared spectrum, melting behavior, thermal weight loss, friction, x-ray, were tested and comparatively analyzed. The studies can establish foundation for the optimization of the yak cashmere spinning process, and also can provide information for the end uses of the fiber.

Why Pashmina Goat Produces Long Hair-fiber and Barbari doesn’t: A Differential Gene Expression Study

The Pashmina and Barbari are two famous goat breeds found in the wide areas of the Indo-Pak region. Pashmina is famous for its long hair-fiber (Cashmere) production while Barbari is not-selected for this trait. So, the mRNA expression profiling in the skin samples of both breeds would be an attractive and judicious approach for detecting putative genes involved in this valued trait. Here, we performed differential gene expression analysis on publicly available RNA-Seq data from both breeds. Out of 44,617,994 filtered reads of Pashmina and 55,995,999 of Barbari which are 76.48% and 73.69% mapped to the ARS1 reference transcriptome assembly respectively. A pairwise comparison of both breeds resulted in 47,159 normalized expressed transcripts while 8,414 transcripts are differentially expressed above the significant threshold. Among these, 4,788 are upregulated in Pashmina while 3,626 transcripts are upregulated in Barbari. Fifty-nine transcripts harbor 57 genes including 32 LOC genes and 24 are annotated genes which were selected on the basis of TMM counts > 500. Genes with ectopic expressions other than uncharacterized and LOC symbol genes are Keratins (KRT) and Keratin Associated Proteins (KRTAPs), CystatinA&6, TCHH, SPRR4, PPIA, SLC25A4, S100A11, DMKN, LOR, ANXA2, PRR9 and SFN. All of these genes are likely to be involved in keratinocyte differentiation, sulfur matrix proteins, dermal papilla cells, hair follicles proliferation, hair curvature, wool fiber diameter, hair transition, hair shaft differentiation and its keratinization. These differentially expressed reported genes are critically valuable for enhancing the quality and quantity of the pashmina fiber and overall breed improvement. This study will also provide important information on hair follicle differentiation for further enrichment analyses and introducing this valued trait to other goat breeds as well.