Hair Shaft Abnormalities as a Dermoscopic Feature of Mycosis Fungoides: Pilot Results.

Introduction: Diagnosis of persistent erythematous, scaly patches, or plaques can be complex since psoriasis (Ps), eczematous dermatitis (ED), and mycosis fungoides (MF) can be considered. Dermoscopy, which is a noninvasive diagnostic tool, is commonly used to examine blood vessels, scales, and background color; however, research on hair shaft evaluation in inflammatory dermatoses remains scarce. The aim of the study was dermoscopic evaluation of hair shafts in skin lesions localized on the non-scalp skin areas in patients diagnosed with MF, Ps, and ED.

No evidence for association between human body odor quality and immune system functioning.

Previous studies have shown that women perceive male faces with a more reactive immune system as more attractive, but whether body odor might likewise provide cues to immune function has not been investigated yet. These two studies tested a possible relationship between body odor quality and immunoreactivity (Study 1) and immune system function (Study 2). In Study 1, we collected body odor samples from 21 men just before and two weeks after vaccination against hepatitis A/B and meningococcus.

Masculinity and immune system efficacy in men.

Masculinity-related morphological traits are supposed to be honest indicators of a man's biological quality. While some studies showed that sexually dimorphic traits are related to various aspects of biological condition such as general health, immunity or fertility, still little is known about the relationship between masculine traits and the effectiveness of innate and adaptive immunity in humans. The aim of this study was to see if masculine traits, which are dependent on androgen levels in foetal and pubertal stages of development, are related to the immune quality in healthy men.

Human body symmetry and immune efficacy in healthy adults.

Objectives: More symmetric organisms are perceived as more attractive. Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) i.e.

Genetic polymorphisms may influence the vertical growth rate of melanoma.

Identification of new predictive markers in melanoma is of great clinical importance. This study was aimed to analyze association between selected common variants in the cancer susceptibility genes and melanoma progression at the time of diagnosis. The study included 243 consecutive patients with melanoma.

No evidence for the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis in male humans.

The observations that testosterone might be immunosuppressive, form the basis for the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis (ICHH). According to ICHH only high-quality individuals can maintain high levels of testosterone and afford the physiological cost of hormone-derived immunosuppression. The animal and human studies that attempted to support the ICHH by precisely defined impairment of immunity associated with high testosterone levels are inconclusive.

Body height and immune efficacy: testing body stature as a signal of biological quality.

According to the good genes hypothesis and energy allocation theory, human adult body height may reflect biological quality. An important aspect of this quality is immune system functioning (ISF). The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between ISF and body height in healthy people.

Sex differences in the risk factors for Staphylococcus aureus throat carriage.

Background: Male gender and adiposity are considered to be risk factors for Staphylococcus aureus carriage. We tested whether colonization is related to free testosterone (fT) level and adiposity, measured with body mass index (BMI) and body fat percentage (BFP), in healthy adults.

Methods: Blood sample and throat swabs were taken twice (at 4-week intervals) from healthy men and women aged 18-36 years.

Leukocyte changes across menstruation, ovulation, and mid-luteal phase and association with sex hormone variation.

Objectives: Total leukocyte count (white blood cells-WBC) and the count of each subpopulation vary across the menstrual cycle, but results of studies examining the time and direction of these changes are inconsistent and methodologically flawed. Besides, no previous study focused on leukocyte count on the day of ovulation.

Methods: Blood samples were obtained from 37 healthy and regularly cycling women aged 19.

The progesterone level, leukocyte count and disgust sensitivity across the menstrual cycle.

According to the compensatory prophylaxis hypothesis, women in the luteal phase, characterized by a high progesterone level, which suppresses various mechanisms of immune response, should exhibit higher disgust sensitivity, compared to the follicular phase. In this study we test the hypothesis on the compensatory role of disgust sensitivity at the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, when immune functions are expected to change due to a rise in progesterone level. Disgust sensitivity, progesterone level (P) and white blood cell count (WBC), a general marker of immunocompetence, were measured in 30 healthy women of reproductive age.

Recreational drug use and fluctuating asymmetry: testing the handicap principle.

Zahavi's handicap principle suggests that only organisms with good genetic quality can afford to engage in costly behaviors. Recreational drug use can be harmful to one's health and therefore might be viewed as a costly signal of one's genetic quality. One of the measurements of genetic quality is bodily symmetry assessed by fluctuating asymmetry.

Human body morphology, prevalence of nasopharyngeal potential bacterial pathogens, and immunocompetence handicap principal.

Objective: Body height, body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) are the main traits characterizing human body morphology. Studies show that these traits are related to attractiveness and, therefore, according to an evolutionary point of view, are supposed to be honest signals of biological quality. If the immunocompetence handicap principal (IHP) is true, people with more attractive values of these traits should be more immunologically competent.