Minoxidil: a comprehensive review Gupta, A. K.; Talukder, M.; Venkataraman, M. ...
The Journal of dermatological treatment,
05/2022, Volume:
33, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Topical minoxidil (5% foam, 5% solution, and 2% solution) is FDA-approved for androgenetic alopecia (AGA) in men and women.
Mechanism of action: Minoxidil acts through multiple pathways (vasodilator, ...anti-inflammatory agent, inducer of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, an antiandrogen), and may also affect the length of the anagen and telogen phases.
Pharmacokinetics: Approximately 1.4% of topical minoxidil is absorbed through the skin. Minoxidil is a prodrug that is metabolized by follicular sulfotransferase to minoxidil sulfate (active form). Those with higher sulfotransferase activity may respond better than patients with lower sulfotransferase activity.
Clinical efficacy (topical minoxidil): In a five-year study, 2% minoxidil exhibited peak hair growth in males at year one with a decline in subsequent years. Topical minoxidil causes hair regrowth in both frontotemporal and vertex areas. The 5% solution and foam were not significantly different in efficacy from the 2% solution.
Oral and Sublingual minoxidil (not FDA approved; off-label): After 6 months of administration, minoxidil 5 mg/day was significantly more effective than topical 5% and 2% in male AGA. Low-dose 0.5-5 mg/day may also be safe and effective for female pattern hair loss and chronic telogen effluvium. Sublingual minoxidil may be safe and effective in male and female pattern hair loss.
Building on conservation of resources theory and social exchange theory, the author examined the relationship between supervisor support and organizational commitment through work–family conflict, ...work–life balance, and the job satisfaction of employees working in the financial sector in Australia. The study comprised 305 employees recruited through an online survey. Results indicate that supervisor support is negatively related to work–family conflict. In turn, work–life balance and job satisfaction are negatively linked to work–family conflict. The results further show that both work–life balance and job satisfaction are positively related to organizational commitment. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as limitations, are discussed.
Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a common cause of bacterial infection leading to acute watery diarrhea in infants and young children as well as in travellers to ETEC endemic countries. ...Ciprofloxacin is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent nowadays used for the treatment of diarrhea. This study aimed to characterize ciprofloxacin resistant ETEC strains isolated from diarrheal patients in Bangladesh.
A total of 8580 stool specimens from diarrheal patients attending the icddr,b Dhaka hospital was screened for ETEC between 2005 and 2009. PCR and Ganglioside GM1- Enzyme Linked Immuno sorbent Assay (ELISA) was used for detection of Heat labile (LT) and Heat stable (ST) toxins of ETEC. Antimicrobial susceptibilities for commonly used antibiotics and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of nalidixic acid, ciprofloxacin and azithromycin were examined. DNA sequencing of representative ciprofloxacin resistant strains was performed to analyze mutations of the quinolone resistance-determining region of gyrA, gyrB, parC and parE. PCR was used for the detection of qnr, a plasmid mediated ciprofloxacin resistance gene. Clonal variations among ciprofloxacin resistant (CipR) and ciprofloxacin susceptible (CipS) strains were determined by Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).
Among 1067 (12%) ETEC isolates identified, 42% produced LT/ST, 28% ST and 30% LT alone. Forty nine percent (n = 523) of the ETEC strains expressed one or more of the 13 tested colonization factors (CFs) as determined by dot blot immunoassay. Antibiotic resistance of the ETEC strains was observed as follows: ampicillin 66%, azithromycin 27%, ciprofloxacin 27%, ceftriazone 13%, cotrimaxazole 46%, doxycycline 44%, erythromycin 96%, nalidixic acid 83%, norfloxacin 27%, streptomycin 48% and tetracycline 42%. Resistance to ciprofloxacin increased from 13% in 2005 to 34% in 2009. None of the strains was resistant to mecillinam. The MIC of the nalidixic acid and ciprofloxacin of representative CipR strains were 256 μg/ml and 32μg/ml respectively. A single mutation (Ser83-Leu) in gyrA was observed in the nalidixic acid resistant ETEC strains. In contrast, double mutation in gyrA (Ser83-Leu, Asp87-Asn) and a single mutation in parC (Glu84-Ly) were found in ciprofloxacin resistant strains. Mutation of gyrB was not found in either the nalidixic acid or ciprofloxacin resistant strains. None of the ciprofloxacin resistant strains was found to be positive for the qnr gene. Diverse clones were identified from all ciprofloxacin resistant strains by PFGE analysis in both CF positive and CF negative ETEC strains.
Emergence of ciprofloxacin resistant ETEC strains results in a major challenge in current treatment strategies of ETEC diarrhea.
Campylobacter jejuni enteritis is the predominant bacterial infection preceding Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), an acute postinfectious immune-mediated polyradiculoneuropathy. The purpose of this ...study was to define the clinical phenotype of GBS and the relation with preceding C jejuni infections in Bangladesh.
We performed a prospective matched case-control hospital surveillance including 100 patients fulfilling the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke criteria for GBS from 2006 to 2007 in the Dhaka area of Bangladesh. Detailed clinical, electrophysiologic, serologic, and microbiologic data were obtained with a follow-up of 6 months.
GBS affected predominantly young adult males living in rural areas. Sixty-nine percent of the patients had clinical evidence of a preceding infection. The most frequent symptom was diarrhea (36%). The majority of patients had a pure motor variant of GBS (92%) with relatively infrequent cranial nerve involvement (30%). Twenty-five percent of patients required respiratory support. Electrophysiologic studies showed that 67% of patients had an axonal variant of GBS. Eleven patients (14%) died, and 23 (29%) remained severely disabled during the follow-up. Positive C jejuni serology was found in an unprecedented high frequency of 57% as compared with 8% in family controls and 3% in control patients with other neurologic diseases (p < 0.001). C jejuni infection was significantly associated with serum antibodies to the gangliosides GM1 and GD1a, axonal neuropathy, and greater disability.
We report an unusually high frequency of the axonal variant of Guillain-Barré syndrome in Bangladesh, associated with preceding Campylobacter jejuni infection, severe residual disability, and high mortality.
•We study social media use, fake news sharing and social media fatigue during COVID-19.•Self-promotion and entertainment increase the sharing of unverified information.•Exploration and religiosity ...correlate negatively with the sharing of unverified information.•Deficient self-regulation increases both fatigue and the sharing of unverified information.
Social media plays a significant role during pandemics such as COVID-19, as it enables people to share news as well as personal experiences and viewpoints with one another in real-time, globally. Building off the affordance lens and cognitive load theory, we investigate how motivational factors and personal attributes influence social media fatigue and the sharing of unverified information during the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, we develop a model which we analyse using the structural equation modelling and neural network techniques with data collected from young adults in Bangladesh (N = 433). The results show that people, who are driven by self-promotion and entertainment, and those suffering from deficient self-regulation, are more likely to share unverified information. Exploration and religiosity correlated negatively with the sharing of unverified information. However, exploration also increased social media fatigue. Our findings indicate that the different use purposes of social media introduce problematic consequences, in particular, increased misinformation sharing.
Drawing on the job‐demands resources model, we investigated the relationship between supervisor support and employee performance and the mediating effects of work‐life balance (WLB), job and life ...satisfaction, and organizational commitment in a sample of 305 financial‐sector employees in Sydney, Australia. Results reveal that supervisor support is positively related to employee performance, WLB, job and life satisfaction, and organizational commitment. In turn, WLB, job and life satisfaction, and organizational commitment are positively linked to employee performance. The findings indicate a significant mediation between supervisor support and employee performance only through WLB and organizational commitment. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relations between supervisor support (SS), work-life balance (WLB), job attitudes and performance of employees in the Australian financial ...sector. More specifically, the study explore the impact of SS, WLB and job attitudes on employees’ job performance (JP).
Design/methodology/approach
Using an online panel, the data comprised 305 employees working in financial organisations to test a model with structural equation modelling. A list of survey items was tested that replicated extensively in work-life research in the past.
Findings
The research contributed to the existing literature by identifying a significant mechanism through which SS was linked to WLB that influenced job satisfaction, life satisfaction and organisational commitment and JP given the paucity of such research in the Australian financial sector.
Originality/value
The study would guide employers, employees and managers involved in the financial sector to implement policies which aim to augment JP and promote balance between work, home and life.
Finasteride for hair loss: a review Gupta, A. K.; Venkataraman, M.; Talukder, M. ...
The Journal of dermatological treatment,
05/2022, Volume:
33, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Finasteride 1 mg/day is indicated for androgen-dependent conditions such as male androgenetic alopecia (AGA).
The literature is comprehensively summarized on the pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, ...mechanism of action, and metabolism of finasteride. Pairwise and network meta-analyses were performed to assess the efficacy of finasteride reported in clinical trials. The adverse events profile is described along with the post-marketing reports.
Finasteride 1 mg/day significantly increased total hair count compared to placebo after 24 weeks (mean difference = 12.4 hairs/cm
2
, p < .05), and 48 weeks (mean difference = 16.4 hairs/cm
2
, p < .05). The efficacy of the two doses of finasteride (5 mg/day and 1 mg/day) and topical finasteride (1% solution) were not significantly different. The most commonly reported sexual events include erectile dysfunction and decreased libido. Increasing patient complaints and analysis of the FAERS database led to the inclusion of depression in the FDA label in 2011, as men were found to be at a risk of suicide due to the persistent sexual side effects, commonly termed as post-finasteride syndrome. Finasteride is shown to be reasonably tolerated in both men and women; however, patients need to be educated about the possible short- and long-term side-effects.
The main objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of
bla
NDM-1
in Gram-negative bacteria in Bangladesh. In October 2010 at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, ...Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) laboratories, 1,816 consecutive clinical samples were tested for imipenem-resistant Gram-negative organisms. Imipenem-resistant isolates were tested for the
bla
NDM-1
gene. Among 403 isolates, 14 (3.5 %) were positive for
bla
NDM-1
, and the predominant species were
Klebsiella pneumoniae
,
Acinetobacter baumannii
, and
Escherichia coli
. All
bla
NDM-1
-positive isolates were resistant to multiple antibiotics. Among β-lactamase genes,
bla
CTX-M-1-group
was detected in ten isolates (eight
bla
CTX-M-15
),
bla
OXA-1-group
in six,
bla
TEM
in nine,
bla
SHV
in seven, and
bla
VIM
and
bla
CMY
in two isolates each. The 16S rRNA methylase gene,
armA
, was detected in five
K. pneumoniae
isolates and in one
E. coli
isolate.
rmtB
and
rmtC
were detected in a
Citrobacter freundii
and two
K. pneumoniae
isolates, respectively.
qnr
genes were detected in two
K. pneumoniae
isolates (one
qnrB
and one
qnrS
) and in an
E. coli
isolate (
qnrA
). Transferable plasmids (60–100 MDa) carrying
bla
NDM-1
were detected in 7 of the 11 plasmid-containing isolates. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis grouped
K. pneumoniae
isolates into three clusters, while
E. coli
isolates differed significantly from each other. This study reports that approximately 3.5 % of Gram-negative clinical isolates in Bangladesh are NDM-1-producing.
Failure by the developing conceptus to secrete sufficient interferon tau (IFNT), required for maternal recognition of pregnancy (MRP), at the appropriate time is related to early pregnancy loss in ...cattle. We aimed to test the hypothesis that there is a dose- and time-dependent relationship between IFNT and the endometrial expression of key interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) involved in the signalling cascade leading to MRP in cattle. Candidate genes were identified first through a bioinformatic approach, where integrated transcriptomic data from two previous studies were analyzed to identify endometrial genes induced by IFNT. Next, expression of selected candidate genes was investigated in vitro in endometrial explants. Endometrial explants collected from cows (n = 8) in the late luteal phase of the estrous cycle were cultured in medium without (control) or with recombinant ovine IFNT (1, 10, 100 ng/mL) for 6 h. Simultaneously, endometrial explants were cultured in medium containing 100 ng/mL IFNT for different time periods (15 min, 30 min, 1 h, 3 h, 6 h). Gene expression was analyzed by RT-qPCR. We identified 54 endometrial genes responding to IFNT and to some degree to the conceptus, from which five ISGs (CMPK2, BPNT1, IFI35, TNFSF10 and TRIM38) were further selected for the dose- and time-dependent experiments. Classical ISGs (ISG15, OAS1, MX1 and MX2) were up-regulated (P < 0.05) in endometrium by 1 ng/mL IFNT. However, other selected ISGs (CMPK2, BPNT1, IFI35, TNFSF10 and TRIM38) were induced only by higher concentrations (10 and 100 ng/mL) of IFNT (P < 0.05). In terms of duration of exposure, IFNT at 100 ng/mL induced a significant (P < 0.05) increase in ISG15 and CMPK2 expression after 1 h incubation, while all other studied ISGs in the endometrium were upregulated when cultured for 3 or 6 h, but did not affect expression when the duration of culture was for 1 h or less. These results suggest that IFNT acts on the uterus in both a dose- and time-dependent manner in cattle and that timely exposure of the endometrium to sufficient IFNT is essential for appropriate signalling to ensure successful pregnancy establishment.
•We identified 54 genes responding to IFNT in the endometrium around maternal recognition of pregnancy in cattle.•Classical ISGs (ISG15, OAS1, MX1, MX2) were upregulated in the endometrium by 1 ng/mL IFNT.•Other selected ISGs (CMPK2, BPNT1, IFI35, TNFSF10, TRIM38) were only induced at higher concentrations of IFNT (10 and 100 ng/mL).•IFNT at 100 ng/mL induced all studied ISGs in the endometrium when cultured for 3 or 6 h but not for a shorter period.
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