Research
In May 2009, researchers in Japan identified a gene, SOX21, that appears to be responsible for hair loss in humans and a researcher in India found the missing link between androgenic hormone and hair loss. Androgenic alopecia is said to be a counterproductive outcome of the anabolic effect of androgens.
In March 2012 a study conducted by Dr. George Cotsarelis, chair and professor of Dermatology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania discovered a casual link between elevated levels of Prostagladin D2 (PDG2) and androgenic alopecia. Abnormally high levels of PDG2 (a nearly three-fold increase) were discovered in tissue samples of balding areas compared to haired areas of the scalp. During the course of the research a PDG2 binding receptor GPR44 was also discovered. Clinical trials to assess compounds aimed at targeting the GPR44 receptor are currently underway.
Read more about this topic: Alopecia
Famous quotes containing the word research:
“One of the most important findings to come out of our research is that being where you want to be is good for you. We found a very strong correlation between preferring the role you are in and well-being. The homemaker who is at home because she likes that “job,” because it meets her own desires and needs, tends to feel good about her life. The woman at work who wants to be there also rates high in well-being.”
—Grace Baruch (20th century)
“If politics is the art of the possible, research is surely the art of the soluble. Both are immensely practical-minded affairs.”
—Peter B. Medawar (1915–1987)
“The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is “What does a woman want?” [Was will das Weib?]”
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)