Study offers hope of remedy for baldness-(5yrs out im sure)

reuters ^ | 5/16/07 | By Will Dunham

[Flavius]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mice with deep skin wounds can grow new hair, scientists said on Wednesday in a finding that offers hope for a baldness remedy for humans. ADVERTISEMENT

The mice regenerated hair at the site of the wound via molecular processes similar to those used in embryonic development, according to the research, published in the journal Nature.

...

[Flavius]

Dr. George Cotsarelis, a dermatology professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia who led the study, said the findings dispel the dogma that hair loss is permanent in people and other mammals, and that once they are lost new hair follicles cannot grow.

[bleach]

The makers of Rogaine and Avacor will try to stifle this cure. Create a cartel called “Big Hair” with Propecia and The Hairclub for Men. I can see the congressional hearings, Steve Chabot could chair. Darn if only James Trafficant were still in office.

[feedback doctor]

Dr. George Cotsarelis

For a second I thought it said George Costanza. But he's a marine biologist isn't he.

[prisoner6]

Fred....oh FRED????

prisoner6

[CarrotAndStick]

Evolutionary theories of male pattern baldness

Muscarella, F., & Cunningham, M.R. (1996). “The evolutionary significance and social perception of male pattern baldness and facial hair”. Ethology and Sociobiology 17: 99-117.

There is no consensus regarding the details of the evolution of male pattern baldness(MPB). Most theories regard it as resulting from sexual selection. A number of other primate species also experience hair loss following puberty, and some primate species clearly use an enlarged forehead, created both anatomically and through strategies such as frontal balding, to convey increased status and maturity. The assertion that MPB is intended to convey a social message is supported by the fact that the distribution of androgen receptors in the scalp differs between men and women, and older women or women with high androgen levels often exhibit diffuse thinning of hair as opposed to male pattern baldness.

One theory, advanced by Muscarella and Cunningham, suggests baldness evolved in males through sexual selection as an enhanced signal of aging and social maturity, whereby aggression and risk-taking decrease and nurturing behaviours increase. This may have conveyed a male with enhanced social status but reduced physical threat, which could enhance ability to secure reproductive partners and raise offspring to adulthood.

In a study by Muscarella and Cunnhingham, males and females viewed 6 male models with different levels of facial hair (beard and moustache or clean) and cranial hair (full head of hair, receding and bald). Participants rated each combination on 32 adjectives related to social perceptions. Males with facial hair and those with bald or receding hair were rated as being older than those who were clean-shaven or had a full head of hair. Beards and a full head of hair were seen as being more aggressive and less socially mature, and baldness was associated with more social maturity.