New effects of caffeine on corticotropin-releasing hormone -induced stress along the intrafollicular classical hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and the neurogenic non-HPA axis in ex vivo human male androgenetic scalp hair follicles

Human hair is highly responsive to stress, and human scalp hair follicles (HFs) contain a peripheral neuroendocrine equivalent of the systemic hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) stress axis. Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is supposed to be aggravated by stress. We used corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), which triggers the HPA axis, to induce a stress response in human ex vivo male AGA HFs. Caffeine is known to reverse testosterone-mediated hair growth inhibition in the same hair organ culture model. To investigate whether caffeine would antagonize CRH-mediated stress in these HFs. HFs from balding vertex area scalp biopsies of men affected by AGA were incubated with CRH (10.sup.-7 mol L.sup.-1) with or without caffeine (0*001% or 0*005%). Compared to controls, CRH significantly enhanced the expression of catagen-inducing transforming growth factor-[beta]2 (TGF-[beta]2) (P < 0*001), CRH receptors 1 and 2 (CRH-R1/2) (P < 0*01), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) (P < 0*001) and melanocortin receptor 2 (MC-R2) (P < 0*001), and additional stress-associated parameters, substance P and p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75.sup.NTR). CRH inhibited matrix keratinocyte proliferation and expression of anagen-promoting insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and the pro-proliferative nerve growth factor receptor NGF-tyrosine kinase receptor A (TrkA). Caffeine significantly counteracted all described stress effects and additionally enhanced inositol trisphosphate receptor (IP.sub.3-R), for the first time detected in human HFs. These findings provide the first evidence in ex vivo human AGA HFs that the stress mediator CRH induces not only a complex intrafollicular HPA response, but also a non-HPA-related stress response. Moreover, we show that these effects can be effectively antagonized by caffeine. Thus, these data strongly support the hypothesis that stress can impair human hair physiology and induce hair loss, and that caffeine may effectively counteract stress-induced hair damage and possibly prevent stress-induced hair loss.Academi

Inline drift detection using monitoring systems and machine learning in selective laser melting

Direct metal laser sintering, an additive manufacturing technique, has a huge growing demand in industries like aerospace, biomedical, and tooling sector due to its capability to manufacture complex parts with ease. Despite many technological advancements, the reliability and repeatability of the process are still an issue. Therefore, there is a demand for inline automatic fault detection and postprocessing tools to analyze the acquired in situ monitoring data aiming to provide better-quality assurance to the user. Herein, the treatment of the data obtained using the EOSTATE optical tomography monitoring system is focused. A balanced dataset is obtained with the help of computer tomography of the certified part (Stainless Steel CX cylindrical samples), through which a feature matrix is prepared, and the layers of the part are classified either having "Drift" or "No-drift." The model is trained with the feature matrix and tested on benchmark parts (Maraging Steel) and on an industrial part (knuckle, automotive part) manufactured in AlSi10Mg. The proposed semisupervised approach shows promising results for presented case studies. Thus, the semisupervised machine learning approach, if adopted, could prove to be a cost effective and fast approach to postprocess the in situ monitoring data with much ease

Multi-biomarker responses in green mussels exposed to PFCs: Effects at molecular, cellular, and physiological levels

10.1007/s11356-013-2216-6Environmental Science and Pollution Research2142785-2794ESPL