Background: Oral finasteride and topical minoxidil formulations are the only FDA-approved drug therapies for androgenetic alopecia (AGA). Research into dutasteride, topical finasteride, and nontopical minoxidil (low-dose oral and sublingual) formulations in the treatment of AGA has spiked within recent years. Early findings show that these alternative drug therapies may have similar to improved efficacy and safety profiles relative to the conventional treatment options.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Pattern hair loss, the most common form of hair loss, affects millions in the United States. Americans are increasingly seeking health information from social media. It would appear that healthcare professionals contribute relatively minimally to pattern hair loss content, thereby posing serious concerns for credibility and quality of information available to the general public.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGestures are an important social communication skill that infants and toddlers use to convey their thoughts, ideas, and intentions. Research suggests that early gesture use has important downstream impacts on developmental processes, such as language learning. However, autistic children are more likely to have challenges in their gestural development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZORYVE (roflumilast) cream is a topical phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE-4) inhibitor that has been recently approved for the treatment of plaque psoriasis. It is also indicated for use in intertriginous areas. Roflumilast, the active ingredient, inhibits PDE-4, leading to the suppression of pro-inflammatory immune responses in psoriatic lesions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVTAMA (Tapinarof) 1% cream is a newly approved topical agent for treating plaque psoriasis. The active ingredient, tapinarof, binds to and activates aryl hydrocarbon receptors that positively regulate immune response and skin homeostasis. Tapinarof has presented promising results in two identical phase 3 randomized, double-blind, vehicle-controlled trials, where the primary efficacy end points were observed in 35.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExploring new avenues for clinical management of chronic wounds holds the key to eliminating socioeconomic burdens and health-related concerns associated with this silent killer. Engineered biomaterials offer great promise for repair and regeneration of chronic wounds because of their ability to deliver therapeutics, protect the wound environment, and support the skin matrices to facilitate tissue growth. This mini review presents recent advances in biomaterial functionalities for enhancing wound healing and demonstrates a move from sub-optimal methods to multi-functionalized treatment approaches.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe early emergence of social communication challenges and their impact on language in infants later diagnosed with autism has sparked many early intervention programs that target social communication skills. While research has consistently shown lower scores on social communication assessments in the first year of life, there is limited research at 12-months exploring associations between different dimensions of social communication and later language. Understanding associations between early social communication skills and language would enhance our ability to choose high priority intervention goals that will impact downstream language skills.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiabetes mellitus is a chronic disease characterized by increased blood glucose levels, leading to damage of the nerves blood vessels, subsequently manifesting as organ failures, wounds, or ulcerations. Wounds in patients with diabetes are further complicated because of reduced cytokine responses, infection, poor vascularization, and delayed healing processes. Surface-functionalized and bioengineered nanoparticles (NPs) have recently gained attention as emerging treatment modalities for wound healing in diabetes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThree-dimensional (3D) bioprinting is an emerging tissue engineering approach that aims to develop cell or biomolecule-laden, complex polymeric scaffolds with high precision, using hydrogel-based "bioinks". Hydrogels are water-swollen, highly crosslinked polymer networks that are soft, quasi-solid, and can support and protect biological materials. However, traditional hydrogels have weak mechanical properties and cannot retain complex structures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe biological purpose of DNA is to store, replicate, and convey genetic information in cells. Progress in molecular genetics have led to its widespread applications in gene editing, gene therapy, and forensic science. However, in addition to its role as a genetic material, DNA has also emerged as a nongenetic, generic material for diverse biomedical applications.
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