Five hacks for a good work-life balance

In today's often intense work culture, it can be difficult to strike and successfully maintain a good balance between work and our personal lives. This, in many cases, can cause burnout. Here, we provide for some tips on how to keep this balance and avoid self-sabotage.

Reportedly, people in the United States work more than any other population, and data provided by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development indicate that the average U.S. employee put in a total of 1,783 working hours during 2016.

Some surveys suggest that U.S. workers stay connected with job-related issues in their spare time, including at weekends and when on vacation. Overwork can lead to what is often referred to as "burnout," which is a state of feeling mentally and physically exhausted, devoid of motivation, and without much to offer.

So, what are some things that you can do to avoid your work and personal lives blending into each other? How can you maintain a sense of balance that allows you to harvest your full potential in both areas of your life? We offer you a few tips that might help you to regain - or maintain - equilibrium.

Essentially, if you want to strike that often elusive work-life balance, it is important to fully separate the two and ensure that you do not allow them to mix with each other. Setting boundaries is crucial, but what is perhaps most difficult is to set mental boundaries between your work and private life to avoid cross-spillage.

1. Dismiss the smartphone

In order to avoid getting tangled up in work during your free time, it might be a good idea to make it clear that you will not respond to work e-mails or take work-related calls outside of business hours.

If you are self-employed or work from home, try to schedule a cluster of hours each day and declare those as your "office hours."

Research has shown, time and again, that the state of being permanently connected - always inspecting your electronic devices to check your e-mails, calls, and messages - is linked to significantly higher stress levels.

So, make sure to put your phone away after work. It may be better still if you leave it in a completely different room, a study suggests.

Prof. Adrian Ward, from the University of Texas in Austin, explains that our phones can act as "brain drains," and that constantly worrying about our phone notifications uses up important - and limited - mental resources.

2. Don't let job worries hijack private time

This is a tricky one, since it can be hard to dismiss work-related issues that have been on your mind for the entire day, and there is no magic switch to allow you to achieve that instantly. However, several recent studies have shown that stress weighs down relationships.

So, if you want to maintain good-quality relationships with your family, partner, or friends, try your best to keep work-related stress away from the dinner table, and do not let it monopolize conversations and "family time."

Medical News Today have recently reported on research suggesting that practicing meditation and yoga can improve the individual sense of well-being. Another study also explains how these mind-body practices can reduce stress at a physiological level.

Meditating your way out of a work "mindset" at the end of a long day might allow you to set aside any work-related worries and instead focus on spending quality time with your loved ones, or even just with yourself.

3. Consider having a 'work uniform'

If you don't already have a job that requires you to wear some kind of uniform, such as protective equipment, on a regular basis, then perhaps you should consider coming up with your own dress code for work.

One study suggests that there is such a thing as "enclothed cognition," meaning that what you wear can influence how you think about yourself and others. Different clothes have different meanings for different people, so this is an individual mental experience.

Thus, picking a particular set of clothes to serve as your "work uniform" might boost your confidence and allow you to perform better while in a work environment.

At the same time, having different kinds of clothes and accessories for work and for activities outside of work could help you to draw a mental line between one context and another.

4. 'Bookend' your commute with a good read

Existing research shows that reading can improve your life in more ways than one, and one of these ways is by significantly reducing stress levels.

In a study covered by MNT, Dr. David Lewis - who conducted the research at the University of Sussex in Brighton, United Kingdom - noted that books "cause you to enter what is essentially an altered state of consciousness."

So why not bookend your commute to work - or your self-set business hours, if you work on a freelance basis, for instance - with a good story, or some inspiring poetry?

Reading might help to dissipate potential anticipatory stress before work and ease the way into a more relaxed headspace after.

5. Delegate chores to indulge in 'you time'

New research suggests that delegating, or "outsourcing," responsibilities such as house chores can greatly improve life satisfaction. If you leave work to return to a sink chock-full with dirty dishes, that will not do much to alleviate stress and will instead contribute to your physical state of exhaustion.

Instead, try to delegate chores where possible, or consider hiring someone to help you. That way, you can free up time to do what really counts: engaging in activities that improve your mental and physical well-being, such as hobbies.

One U.K.-based campaign suggests that leisure activities not only decrease stress levels but can also have a beneficial effect on your work by improving your creativity and making you more mentally "flexible."

Life outside of work, says Prof. Robert Lechler - who is the president of the U.K. Academy of Medical Sciences - "is not an added extra - it is integral to who we are and the skills we must develop to be successful."

All jobs are different, so not all of the tips given above may fit your current situation. The key is to do what's best for you and your well-being.

Do you have a personalized strategy for maintaining work-life balance? If so, what does it entail? We look forward to reading your opinions.

Prenatal acetaminophen may affect masculinity

When we have a headache or a cold, many of us pop a Tylenol without a second thought. But acetaminophen - the active analgesic ingredient in the drug - is also commonly used to ease pain during pregnancy. A new study suggests that this could be a major problem.

The new research suggests that taking the common analgesic acetaminophen during pregnancy is not a good idea, especially for mothers expecting male babies.

The study, published in the journal Reproduction, examines the effects of acetaminophen in mouse fetuses and finds adverse effects on the masculinization of the mouse brain, extending all the way into adulthood.

Previous research has already indicated that acetaminophen can suppress the development of testosterone in male fetuses, potentially leading to developmental changes in the reproductive system and the brain.

Testosterone is a male sex hormone that drives the growth and development of the male body, as well as the "male programming" of the brain. In men, testosterone controls sex drive, bone and muscle mass, fat distribution, and the production of sperm and red blood cells.

In the previous studies in rodents, inhibited levels of testosterone in the fetuses were shown to raise the risk of testicular malformation in newborns.

But there are other health risks posed by inhibited levels of testosterone, and many of them manifest in the behavior of adult males, suggests the new research.

The first author of the study is Prof. Anders Hay-Schmidt, who, at the time of the study, was part of the Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

Acetaminophen inhibits bmasculinization

Prof. Hay-Schmidt and colleagues gave mice a dose of acetaminophen almost equivalent to that which pregnant women are usually recommended.

The researchers evaluated the male rodents' behavior, looking at their aggressiveness toward other males and their ability to mark their territory, as well as their ability to mate.

As adults, the mice whose mothers had received acetaminophen performed significantly worse across all of the three criteria.

Prenatal exposure to acetaminophen resulted in alterations in the adults' urinary marking behavior. The rodents were also less aggressive toward males invading their territory. The mice also had "reduced intromissions and ejaculations" during mating.

The behavioral changes noticed by the researchers were also backed up by investigations into the mice's brains. The researchers found that the number of neurons had significantly decreased in the brain region that controls sex drive.

Specifically, in the acetaminophen-exposed male mice, the brain area called the "sexually dimorphic nucleus" in the anterior hypothalamus had "half as many neurons as the control mice."

The corresponding author of the study, Dr. David Møbjerg Kristensen - of the Department of Biomedical Sciences and the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences - comments on the findings.

He says, "We have demonstrated that a reduced level of testosterone means that male characteristics do not develop as they should. This also affects sex drive."

"In a trial, mice exposed to paracetamol at the fetal stage were simply unable to copulate in the same way as our control animals. Male programming had not been properly established during their fetal development, and this could be seen long afterwards in their adult life. It is very worrying."

Dr. David Møbjerg Kristensen

He recommends taking the painkiller with caution and also reminds future mothers to consult their physician if they are unsure about the medication they wish to take.

"I personally think that people should think carefully before taking medicine. These days it has become so common to take paracetamol that we forget it is a medicine, and all medicine has side effects. If you are ill, you should naturally take the medicine you need. After all, having a sick mother is more harmful for the fetus," says Dr. Kristensen.

What happens to the brain as we age?

Brain aging is inevitable to some extent, but not uniform; it affects everyone, or every brain, differently. Slowing down brain aging or stopping it altogether would be the ultimate elixir to achieve eternal youth. Is brain aging a slippery slope that we need to accept? Or are there steps we can take to reduce the rate of decline?

At around 3 pounds in weight, the human brain is a staggering feat of engineering with around 100 billion neurons interconnected via trillions of synapses.

Throughout our lifetime our brain changes more than any other part of our body. From the moment the brain begins to develop in the third week of gestation to old age, its complex structures and functions are changing, networks and pathways connecting and severing.

During the first few years of life, a child's brain forms more than 1 million new neural connections every second. The size of the brain increases fourfold in the preschool period and by age 6 reaches around 90 percent of adult volume.

The frontal lobes - the area of the brain responsible for executive functions, such as planning, working memory, and impulse control - are among the last areas of the brain to mature, and they may not be fully developed until 35 years of age.

Normal brain aging

As we age, all our body systems gradually decline - including the brain. "Slips of the mind" are associated with getting older. People often experienced those same slight memory lapses in their 20s and yet did not give it a second thought.

Older individuals often become anxious about memory slips due to the link between impaired memory and Alzheimer's disease. However, Alzheimer's and other dementias are not a part of the normal aging process.

Common memory changes that are associated with normal aging include:

• Difficulty learning something new:Committing new information to memory can take longer.
• Multitasking: Slowed processing can make processing and planning parallel tasks more difficult.
• Recalling names and numbers: Strategic memory that helps memory of names and numbers begins to decline at age 20.
• Remembering appointments: Without cues to recall the information, appointments can be put safely in storage and then not accessed unless the memory is jogged.

While some studies show that one third of older people struggle with declarative memory (memories of facts or events that have been stored and can be retrieved), other studies indicate that one fifth of 70-year-olds perform cognitive tests just as well as their 20-year-old counterparts.

Scientists are currently piecing together sections of the giant puzzle of brain research to determine how the brain subtly alters over time to cause these changes.

General changes that are thought to occur during brain aging include:

• Brain mass: Shrinkage in the frontal lobe and hippocampus - areas involved in higher cognitive function and encoding new memories - starting around the age of 60 or 70 years.
• Cortical density: Thinning of the outer-ridged surface of the brain due to declining synaptic connections. Fewer connections may contribute to slower cognitive processing.
• White matter: White matter consists of myelinated nerve fibers that are bundled into tracts and carry nerve signals between brains cells. Myelin is thought to shrink with age, and as a result, slow processing and reduce cognitive function.
• Neurotransmitter systems: Researchers suggest that the brain generates less chemical messengers with aging, and it is this decrease in dopamine, acetylcholine, serotonin, and norepinephrine activity that may play a role in declining cognition and memory and increased depression.

In understanding the neural basis of cognitive decline, researchers can uncover which therapies or strategies may help slow or prevent brain deterioration.

Recent discoveries in brain aging

Several brain studies are ongoing to solve the brain-aging conundrum, and discoveries are being frequently made.

Stem cells

Recently, researchers from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York revealed in a mouse study that stem cells in the brain's hypothalamus likely control how fast aging occurs in the body.

"Our research shows that the number of hypothalamic neural stem cells naturally declines over the life of the animal, and this decline accelerates aging," says Dr. Dongsheng Cai, Ph.D., professor of molecular pharmacology at Einstein. "But we also found that the effects of this loss are not irreversible. By replenishing these stem cells or the molecules they produce, it's possible to slow and even reverse various aspects of aging throughout the body."

Injecting hypothalamic stem cells into the brains of normal old mice and middle-aged mice, whose stem cells had been destroyed, slowed or reversed measures of aging. The researchers say this is a first step toward slowing the aging process and potentially treated age-related diseases.

SuperAgers

"SuperAgers" are a rare group of individuals over the age of 80 years who have memories as sharp as healthy people decades younger.

Research by Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, IL, compared SuperAgers with a control group of same-age individuals. They found that the brains of SuperAgers shrink at a slower rate than their age-matched peers, which results in a greater resistance to the typical memory loss observed with age, thus revealing that age-related cognitive decline is not inevitable.

"We found that SuperAgers are resistant to the normal rate of decline that we see in average elderly, and they're managing to strike a balance between life span and health span, really living well and enjoying their later years of life," says Emily Rogalski, associate professor at the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center (CNADC) at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

By studying how SuperAgers are unique, the researchers hope to unearth biological factors that might contribute to maintaining memory ability in advanced age.

Therapies to help slow brain aging

Factors have been discovered that speed up brain aging. For example, obesity in midlife may accelerate brain aging by around 10 years, and both sugar and diet varieties of soda are correlated with fast-tracking brain age, having smaller overall brain volume, poorer episodic memory, and a shrunken hippocampus.

A growing body of evidence suggests that people who experience the least declines in cognition and memory all share certain characteristics:

• partaking in regular physical activity
• pursuing intellectually stimulating activities
• staying socially active
• managing stress
• eating healthily
• sleeping well

Recent research highlights a plethora of ways that we can actively take charge of our health and perhaps decrease the rate at which our brains age.

Exercise

One intervention that crops up time and time again to stave off age-related mental decline is exercise.

A combination of aerobic and resistance exercise of moderate intensity for at least 45 minutes each session and on as many days of the week as possible has been reported to boost brain power in people aged 50 and over significantly.

Likewise, other research by the University of Miami found that individuals over the age of 50 who engaged in little to no exercise experienced a decline in memory and thinking skills comparable to 10 years of aging in 5 years, compared with those who took part in moderate- or high-intensity exercise. Essentially, physical activity slowed brain aging by 10 years.

Dancing has also shown to have an anti-aging effect on the brain of seniors. A study conducted by the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Magdeburg, Germany found that while regular exercise can reverse the signs of brain aging, the most profound effect was seen in people who danced.

Playing an instrument

Baycrest Health Sciences in Toronto, Canada, revealed why playing a musical instrument may help older adults ward off age-related cognitive declines and retain their listening skills.

Researchers found that learning to play a sound on a musical instrument changes brain waves in such a way that improves an individual's listening and hearing skills. The alteration in brain activity indicates that the brain rewires itself to compensate for disease or injuries that might prevent a person's ability to perform tasks.

"It has been hypothesized that the act of playing music requires many brain systems to work together, such as the hearing, motor and perception systems," said Dr. Bernhard Ross, senior scientist at Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute. "This study was the first time we saw direct changes in the brain after one session, demonstrating that the action of creating music leads to a strong change in brain activity."

Diet

A key component of brain health is diet. Recent research has linked omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in the blood with healthy brain aging. Another study has also determined that consuming foods included in the Mediterranean or the MIND diet is associated with a lower risk of memory difficulties in older adults.

Research by the University of Illinois, Champaign, IL, discovered that middle-aged people who have higher levels of lutein - a nutrient that is found in green leafy vegetables, such as kale and spinach, and eggs and avocados - had similar neural responses to younger individuals than of people the same age.

"As people get older, they experience typical decline. However, research has shown that this process can start earlier than expected. You can even start to see some differences in the 30s," informs Anne Walk, a postdoctoral scholar and the first author of the study. "We want to understand how diet impacts cognition throughout the lifespan. If lutein can protect against decline, we should encourage people to consume lutein-rich foods at a point in their lives when it has maximum benefit."

The number of American adults over the age of 65 is set to more than double in 40 years, rising from 40.2 million in 2010 to 88.7 million by the year 2050. Due to this aging population, it will become increasingly important to understand the cognitive changes that go hand in hand with aging.

While many questions remain regarding the aging brain, research is making progress in illuminating what happens to our cognitive functions and memory throughout our lifetime, and it is emphasizing ways we can preserve our mental abilities to improve our quality of life as we advance into older adulthood.

Try alternative therapies

Some people find alternative therapies useful to help them to quit smoking, but there is currently no strong evidence that any of these will improve your chances of becoming smoke-free, and, in some cases, these methods may actually cause the person to smoke more.

Some alternative methods to help you to stop smoking might include:

• filters
• smoking deterrents
• electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes)
• tobacco strips and sticks
• nicotine drinks, lollipops, straws, and lip balms
• hypnosis
• acupuncture
• magnet therapy
• cold laser therapy
• herbs and supplements
• yoga, mindfulness, and meditation

Prepare for quit day

Once you have decided to stop smoking, you are ready to set a quit date. Pick a day that is not too far in the future (so that you do not change your mind), but which gives you enough time to prepare.

There are several ways to stop smoking, but ultimately, you need to decide whether you are going to:

• quit abruptly, or continue smoking right up until your quit date and then stop
• quit gradually, or reduce your cigarette intake slowly until your quit date and then stop

Research that compared abrupt quitting with reducing smoking found that neither produced superior quit rates over the other, so choose the method that best suits you.

Here are some tips recommended by the American Cancer Society to help you to prepare for your quit date:

• Tell friends, family, and co-workers about your quit date.
• Throw away all cigarettes and ashtrays.
• Decide whether you are going to go "cold turkey" or use nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) or other medicines.
• If you plan to attend a stop-smoking group, sign up now.
• Stock up on oral substitutes, such as hard candy, sugarless gum, carrot sticks, coffee stirrers, straws, and toothpicks.
• Set up a support system, such as a family member that has successfully quit and is happy to help you.
• Ask friends and family who smoke to not smoke around you.
• If you have tried to quit before, think about what worked and what did not.

Daily activities - such as getting up in the morning, finishing a meal, and taking a coffee break - can often trigger your urge to smoke a cigarette. But breaking the association between the trigger and smoking is a good way to help you to fight the urge to smoke.

On your quit day:

• Do not smoke at all.
• Stay busy.
• Begin use of your NRT if you have chosen to use one.
• Attend a stop-smoking group or follow a self-help plan.
• Drink more water and juice.
• Drink less or no alcohol.
• Avoid individuals who are smoking.
• Avoid situations wherein you have a strong urge to smoke.

You will almost certainly feel the urge to smoke many times during your quit day, but it will pass. The following actions may help you to battle the urge to smoke:

• Delay until the craving passes. The urge to smoke often comes and goes within 3 to 5 minutes.
• Deep breathe. Breathe in slowly through your nose for a count of three and exhale through your mouth for a count of three. Visualize your lungs filling with fresh air.
• Drink water sip by sip to beat the craving.
• Do something else to distract yourself. Perhaps go for a walk.

Remembering the four Ds can often help you to move beyond your urge to light up.

Five ways to quit smoking

Deciding that you are now ready to quit smoking is only half the battle. Knowing where to start on your path to becoming smoke-free can help you to take the leap. We have put together some effective ways for you to stop smoking today.

Tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke are responsible for more than 480,000 deathseach year in the United States, according to the American Lung Association.

Most people are aware of the numerous health risks that arise from cigarette smoking and yet, "tobacco use continues to be the leading cause of preventable death and disease" in the U.S.

Quitting smoking is not a single event that happens on one day; it is a journey. By quitting, you will improve your health and the quality and duration of your life, as well as the lives of those around you.

To quit smoking, you not only need to alter your behavior and cope with the withdrawal symptoms experienced from cutting out nicotine, but you also need to find other ways to manage your moods.

With the right game plan, you can break free from nicotine addiction and kick the habit for good. Here are five ways to tackle smoking cessation.

Scientists may have found a way to stop cancer from metastasizing

Metastasis is the main cause of death in cancer, and current treatments against it are ineffective. But new research may have found a way to slow down, and perhaps even halt, the spread of cancer cells.

Metastasis is the process by which cancer spreads throughout the body. During this process, cancer cells may either invade nearby healthy tissue, penetrate the walls of lymph nodes, or enter the surrounding blood vessels.

But new research may have found a way to control metastasis by inhibiting the migration of cancer cells. Stopping the cells from migrating is key in stopping metastasis.

What enables cancer cells to migrate is a set of protrusions that help them to move. The team of researchers - led by Mostafa El-Sayed, Julius Brown Chair and Regents Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Tech's School in Atlanta, GA - managed to successfully cut off these protrusions using a special technique.

The findings were published in the journal PNAS.

Breaking cancer cells' 'legs'

The long, thin protrusions that help cancer cells to move are called filopodia. They are an extension of a set of "broad, sheet-like" fibers called lamellipodia, which can be found around the edges of the cell.

The suffix "-podia" (or "-podium," singular) comes from the Greek language and means "something footlike."

Essentially, lamellipodia and filopodia are tiny "legs" that help healthy cells to move within the tissue. But in cancerous cells, lamellipodia and filopodia are produced in excess.

The researchers used so-called nanorods, made of gold nanoparticles, to obstruct these tiny legs.

With the help of nanotechnology, scientists are able to reduce the size of certain materials to a nanoscale - with "nano" meaning the billionth part of a meter - at which point these materials start to show new chemical and physical properties.

Prof. El-Sayed and colleagues introduced the nanorods locally. The nanorods were covered with a coating of molecules, called RGD peptides, that made them attach to a specific kind of protein called integrin.

"The targeted nanorods tied up the integrin and blocked its functions, so it could not keep guiding the cytoskeleton to overproduce lamellipodia and filopodia," explains co-author Yan Tang, a postdoctoral assistant in computational biology.

A cytoskeleton is the support structure of a cell, responsible for giving it a shape. It also has additional functions, with one of them being to form the filopodia protrusions.

Method could kill cancer cells

The experiments revealed that simply binding the nanorods to the integrin delayed the migration of the cancer cells.

Importantly, this method avoided healthy cells, which could make this therapy drastically less damaging for patients who undergo toxic chemotherapy treatment.

"There are certain, specific integrins that are overproduced in cancerous cells," explains Moustafa Ali, one of the study's first authors. "And you don't find them so much in healthy cells."

In the second stage of the experiment, Prof. El-Sayed and team heated the gold nanoparticles with a laser of near-infrared light. This effectively stopped the migration of the malignant cells.

"The light was not absorbed by the cells, but the gold nanorods absorbed it, and as a result, they heated up and partially melted cancer cells they are connected with, mangling lamellipodia and filopodia."

Prof. El-Sayed and his colleagues have previously conducted similar experiments in mice, in which they applied the same method. The former research found no toxicity from the gold for up to 15 months after the treatment.

The researchers hope to soon be able to treat "head, neck, breast, and skin cancers with direct, local nanorod injections combined with the low-power near-infrared laser."

The laser could reach the gold nanorods at 4 to 5 centimeters deep inside the tissue, and deeper tumors could be treated with deeper nanorods injections, the authors say.

Poliovirus kills off cancer cells, stops tumor regrowth

Researchers from Duke University in Durham, NC, may have discovered a new way of killing off cancer cells.

The team was jointly led by Dr. Matthias Gromeier, a professor in the Department of Neurosurgery, and Prof. Smita Nair, who is an immunologist in the Department of Surgery.

The new research - which is published in the journal Science Translational Medicine - shows how a modified poliovirus enables the body to use its own resources to fight off cancer. The modified virus bears the name of recombinant oncolytic poliovirus (PVS-RIPO).

PVS-RIPO has been in clinical trials since 2011 and preliminary results have offered hope to patients with one of the most aggressive forms of brain tumor: recurrent glioblastoma. So, the researchers set out to investigate more deeply how exactly PVS-RIPO works.

Explaining the rationale behind their research endeavor, Dr. Gromeier says, "Knowing the steps that occur to generate an immune response will enable us to rationally decide whether and what other therapies make sense in combination with poliovirus to improve patient survival."

Poliovirus attacks tumors, inhibits regrowth

The researchers examined the behavior of the poliovirus in two human cell lines: melanoma and triple-negative breast cancer. They observed that the poliovirus attaches itself to cancerous cells. These cells have an excess of the CD155 protein, which acts as a receptor for the poliovirus.

Then, the poliovirus starts to attack the malignant cells, triggering the release of antigens from the tumor. Antigens are toxic substances that the body does not recognize, therefore setting off an immune attack against them.

So, when the tumor cells release antigens, this alerts the body's immune system to start attacking. At the same time, the poliovirus infects the dendritic cells and macrophages.

Baldness: How close are we to a cure?

Baldness is an accepted part of the aging process for some, and a source of distress for others. Hair loss affects millions of men and women, yet despite decades of research, a cure is still not available. Just how close are we to finding a magic bullet for baldness? Medical News Today take a look at the evidence.

Androgenetic alopecia - which is more commonly known as male pattern baldness and female pattern baldness - is the most common type of hair loss, affecting around 30 million women and 50 million men across the United States.

In men, hair loss begins above both temples and recedes over time to form an "M" shape. Hair also tends to thin at the crown and may progress to partial or complete baldness. In women, the hairline does not recede and rarely results in total baldness, but the hair does usually become thinner all over the head.

Male pattern baldness is hereditary and may be linked to male sex hormones. Male hair loss can start as early as during adolescence. It affects two thirds of men by age 35, and around 85 percent of men by the age of 50.

The causes of female pattern baldness are unclear. However, hair loss happens most frequently in women after menopause, which indicates that the condition may be associated with decreasing female hormones.

With androgenetic alopecia affecting so many people, a permanent cure would not only lessen anxiety for a significant percentage of the population, but it would also prove financially advantageous to the pharmaceutical company responsible for the discovery.

Stages of hair growth, miniaturization

Hair is made up of the hair follicle (a pocket in the skin that anchors each hair) and the shaft (the visible fiber above the scalp). In the hair bulb, located at the base of the follicle, cells divide and grow to produce the hair shaft, which is made from a protein called keratin. Papilla that surround the bulb contain tiny blood vessels that nourish the hair follicles and deliver hormones to regulate the growth and structure of the hair.

Hair follicles, much like all cells, have cycles. A natural part of the cycle involves shedding around 50 to 100 hairs per day.

Each follicle produces hair for 2 to 6 years and then takes a break for several months. While the hair follicle is in its rest phase, the hair falls out. There are around 100,000 follicles on the scalp, but because each follicle rests at a different time and others produce hairs, hair loss is usually unnoticeable. More noticeable hair loss occurs when there is a disruption to the growth and shedding cycle, or if the hair follicle is obliterated and replaced with scar tissue.

Scientists now understand that pattern baldness occurs through a phenomenon known as miniaturization. Some hair follicles appear to be genetically oversensitive to the actions of dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which is a hormone that is converted from testosterone with the help of an enzyme held in the follicle's oil glands.

DHT binds to receptors in the hair follicles and shrinks them, making them progressively smaller. Over time, the follicles produce thinner hairs, and they grow for a shorter time than normal. Eventually, the follicle no longer produces hair, leaving the area bald..

Existing hair loss treatments

Currently, there are few available treatment options to halt or reverse miniaturization. Most hair loss treatments only manage hair loss, rather than being a permanent solution.

The only two drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat hair loss are minoxidil (Rogaine) and finasteride (Propecia).

Minoxidil

Minoxidil's use for pattern baldness was discovered by accident. Minoxidil was widely used to treat high blood pressure, but researchers found that one of drug's side effects was hair growth in unexpected areas.

Minoxidil lotion is applied to the scalp and may work by increasing blood flow, and therefore nourishment, to the hair follicles. The American Hair Loss Association say that most experts agree that Minoxidil is "a relatively marginally effective drug in the fight against hair loss."

The treatment has zero effect on the hormonal process of hair loss, and its benefits are temporary. Hair loss continues if usage is discontinued.

Finasteride

Finasteride's side effects of hair growth were stumbled upon during the development of a drug to treat enlarged prostate glands.

Finasteride inhibits type II 5-alpha-reductase, which is the enzyme responsible for converting testosterone into the more potent androgen DHT. DHT levels are reported to be reduced by 60 percent when the drug is taken, which prevents the susceptible follicles from being affected by the hormone and returning their normal size.

This treatment does not work in women, and its effect only remains for as long as it is taken.

Dutasteride

Dutasteride (Avodart) is used to treat prostatic enlargement. While the FDA has not approved the drug to treat hair loss, physicians sometimes prescribe dutasteride off-label for male pattern baldness.

Dutasteride works similarly to finasteride, but it may be more effective. Like finasteride, dutasteride inhibits the activity of type II 5-alpha reductase. However, dutasteride additionally inhibits type I of the enzyme. Blocking both types of the enzyme lowers DHT even more and reduces the risk of damage to hair follicles.

This drug faces the same limitations as finasteride, meaning that it only works if taken daily and might become less effective over time.

These therapies may slow down or prevent further hair loss, and they could stimulate regrowth from follicles that have been dormant but still viable. However, they can do little for follicles that have already become inactive. Using them at an earlier stage of hair loss will see more favorable results.

Hair transplantation

Hair transplantation involves harvesting follicles from the back of the head that are DHT resistant and transplanting them to bald areas. A surgeon will remove minuscule plugs of skin that contain a few hairs and implant the plugs where the follicles are inactive. Around 15 percent of hairs emerge from the follicle as a single hair, and 15 percent grow in groups of four or five hairs.

At the end of the procedure, the person will still have the same amount of hair - it will just be distributed more evenly around the scalp. Treating hair loss through surgical procedure can be painful and expensive. There is also a risk of scarring and infection.

Low-level laser therapy

Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) is a form of light and heat treatment. LLLT has been shown to stimulate hair growth in both men and women. Researchers hypothesize that the main mechanisms involved in the process is the stimulation of epidermal stem cells in the follicle and shifting the follicle back into the growth phase of the cycle.

New hair loss research, pipeline treatments

Existing medicines for treating hair loss have limited effectiveness and require ongoing use for the benefits of the treatment to continue.

Researchers continue to strive for the holy grail of hair loss cures by trying to gain a better understanding of how the hair growth cycle is controlled. Rather than treating the symptoms of hair loss, scientists aim to target the cause, which, in turn, may yield fewer side effects. Recently, there have been numerous discoveries in the hair loss arena that may lead to new promising treatments.

KROX20 protein, SCF gene

Researchers from University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas have identified a protein called KROX20, which switches on cells in the skin and tells them to become hair. Furthermore, these hair precursor cells then go on to produce a protein called stem cell factor (SCF), which plays a critical role in hair pigmentation.

When the SCF gene was deleted in the hair precursor cells in mice, they grew gray hair that turned white with age. Moreover, when the KROX20-producing cells were removed, the hair ceased growing, and the mice became bald.

"With this knowledge, we hope in the future to create a topical compound or to safely deliver the necessary gene to hair follicles to correct these cosmetic problems," said Dr. Lu Le, associate professor of dermatology at UT Southwestern.

Future work by the team will focus on finding out whether KROX20 and the SCF gene stop functioning properly and lead to male pattern baldness.

Genetics underlying male pattern baldness

A study led by the University Edinburgh in the United Kingdom discovered 287 genetic regions involved in male pattern baldness. Many of the genes that the researchers identified were linked with hair structure and development.

"We identified hundreds of new genetic signals," said Saskia Hagenaars, a Ph.D. student from the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology. "It was interesting to find that many of the genetics signals for male pattern baldness came from the X chromosome, which men inherit from their mothers."

Not only could the team's findings help to predict a man's likelihood of experiencing severe hair loss, but they could also provide new targets for drug developments to treat baldness.

Faulty immune cells

University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) researchers reported that defects in a type of immune cell called Tregs - which are usually associated with controlling inflammation - might be responsible for a different kind of hair loss: alopecia areata. They say that Tregs may also play a role in male pattern baldness.

In a mouse model, Michael Rosenblum, Ph.D., an assistant professor of dermatology at UCSF, and colleagues found that Tregs trigger stem cells in the skin, which promote healthy hair. Without partnering up with Tregs, the stem cells are unable to regenerate hair follicles, and this leads to hair loss.

"It's as if the skin stem cells and Tregs have co-evolved, so that the Tregs not only guard the stem cells against inflammation but also take part in their regenerative work," explained Prof. Rosenblum. "Now the stem cells rely on the Tregs completely to know when it's time to start regenerating."

JAK inhibitors

Hair growth can be restored by inhibiting the Janus kinase (JAK) family of enzymes that are located in hair follicles, according to investigators from Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) in New York City, NY.

Tests with mouse and human hair follicles showed that applying JAK inhibitors directly to the skin promoted "rapid and robust hair growth." Two JAK inhibitors that are approved by the FDA include ruxolitinib (for the treatment of blood diseases), and tofacitini (for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis).

In a small clinical trial, Angela M. Christiano, Ph.D. - the Richard and Mildred Rhodebeck Professor of Dermatology and professor of genetics and development at CUMC - reported that treating moderate to severe alopecia areata with ruxolitinib triggered an average hair regrowth of 92 percent.

Prof. Christiano and team plan to expand their studies to include testing JAK inhibitors in other conditions and pattern baldness. "We expect JAK inhibitors to have widespread utility across many forms of hair loss based on their mechanism of action in both the hair follicle and immune cells," she added.

Stem cells

Researchers from the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in San Diego, CA, developed a technique to generate new hair using pluripotent stem cells. This method would provide an unlimited source of cells without being limited to transplanting follicles from one part of the head to another.

Alexey Terskikh, Ph.D., associate professor in the Development, Aging, and Regeneration Program at Sanford-Burnham, and collaborators coaxed human pluripotent stem cells to become dermal papilla cells.

"We developed a protocol to drive human pluripotent stem cells to differentiate into dermal papilla cells and confirmed their ability to induce hair growth when transplanted into mice," said Prof. Terskikh. The next step in their research is "to transplant human dermal papilla cells derived from human pluripotent stem cells back into human subjects."

Although giant strides to cure baldness are being made in laboratories globally, research is ongoing and the wait for a permanent solution continues.