Clumps Of Hair Research Articles

The effects of diets varying in fibre sources on nutrient utilization, stool quality and hairball management in cats.

Pet food companies use fibrous ingredients in cat foods to aid weight and hairball management. Miscanthus grass could be an alternative novel fibre source for cat foods. The objectives of this work were to determine the effects of Miscanthus grass as a fibre source on nutrient utilization, stool quality and hairball management in cats. Dry extruded cat foods (average chemical composition; digestibility trial: 94.54% dry matter—DM, 34.47% crude protein—CP, 11.67% crude fat, 7.06% ash and 13.04% total dietary fibre—TDF; and hairball trial: 94.88% DM, 34.60% CP, 11.30% crude fat, 7.02% ash and 9.77% TDF) were fed to 12 cats for a 9‐day (digestibility trial) or 16‐day (hairball trial) adaptation period followed by a 5‐day total faecal collection period. Digestibility trial was performed as a replicated Latin square design, and the hairball trial was performed as a switchback design. In general, the cats fed the beet pulp diet (BPD) had higher DM, organic matter, gross energy and TDF digestibility than cats fed Miscanthus grass (MGD) or cellulose (CED) diet (p < .05). However, CP digestibility was lower for cats fed BPD (82.1 vs. 84.7 and 85.1%, respectively, for BPD, MGD and CED). These differences could be due to the differences in dietary fibre content and(or) composition. Faecal scores were lower for cats fed BPD (2.84) compared with MGD (3.32) and CED (3.21; p < .05). No effects due to fibre were reported on the faecal hairball variables, with the exception of less total hair weight and hair clumps per gram of dry faeces for cats fed Miscanthus grass (MGH) compared with control diet (COH; p < .05). In conclusion, Miscanthus grass could be used as an alternative ingredient to cellulose in cat diets.

Boundary handling and porous flow for fluid–hair interactions

We present a two-way coupling technique for simulating the complex interaction between hair and fluids. In our approach, the motion of hair and fluids is simulated by evaluating the hydrodynamic forces based on boundary handling techniques used in SPH (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics) fluids. Water absorption inside the hair volume is simulated with a diffusion process by treating the hair volume as porous media with anisotropic permeability. The saturation of each hair strand is then used in boundary density estimation as well as fluid–boundary force computation to greatly stabilize the simulation. We also utilize the saturation of hair to derive the adhesive force between wet hair strands. This enables us to simulate the formation of hair clumps dynamically without the need to employ post clumping processes. As a result, the proposed method realistically reproduces subtle fluid–hair interactions and can be easily applied to any SPH fluid as well as hair solvers.

A 3-Year-Old Girl with Thin Hair

CME EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: 1.Identify the clinical features of loose anagen syndrome.2.Distinguish between loose anagen syndrome and other types of alopecia in a young child.3.Understand the natural history of loose anagen syndrome. A healthy 3-year-old white girl presented to the pediatric dermatology clinic for evaluation of thin hair. She was born with little hair and slowly grew thin blond hair. Her hair has always remained short, and she has only had one haircut. The patient's mother never noted any scalp abnormalities such as scale or dermatitis. The child does not seem to play with her hair. Her mother notes times when clumps of hair pull out without discomfort. A laboratory work-up prior to presentation revealed normal thyroid studies and an incidental iron deficiency anemia for which she was on oral iron replacement. There was no family history of alopecia, thin hair, or autoimmune disorders.

Crush the Snakes and Shoot the Buffalo

78 | ecotone Crush the Snakes and Shoot the Buffalo Mark Dewey nonfiction | 79 My father likes to tell the story of visiting the long-abandoned homestead near Rainy Butte, North Dakota, with his sister. They wanted to keep some of the land their family had farmed for generations, so before the estate sale they drove west from Minnesota with a shovel and a couple of five-gallon buckets, which they filled with enough soil to grow a few chives. After what my father calls their act of preservation, they stood in the field and looked at the sky and listened to the wind in the grass. The Great Plains, which used to teem with buffalo, are empty now, my father says, of everything but grass and wind. He and his sister meant to go into the house and search for remnants of their mother, but when they stepped onto the porch, where no one had stood in years, snakes shot out from under it in all directions, hundreds of snakes, I imagine, though he doesn’t mention a number. Instead of going in, they waited until the snakes were out of sight and then ran back to their car. We’re afraid of snakes in part because they take us by surprise, like broken vows, so before opening the door of the house I just bought, where nobody has lived for twenty years, I kick the sill and rattle the panes of glass and wait a minute to let anything that might surprise me hurry into hiding. Better not to know so soon. A few dead wasps in cobwebs near the ceiling drift backward when I open the door, and clumps of hair on the floor roll over in the draft. The air smells like dirt. There’s no sound except the constant stream of language in my head. I listen to that for a while, as I might listen to water rolling over rocks in an actual stream. Better not to know so soon because I’m standing in a house that friends advised me not to buy, and I want to like it for a while before I realize they were right. Dozens of apartment complexes stand beside the Beltway, with swimming pools and exercise facilities and man-made ponds full of cattails, and some of them offer discounts with the first and last months’ rent free. Discounts and convenience were exactly what I needed, my friends advised, until the shock wore off—my marriage had exploded—but I’ve avoided those places, perhaps because while living in them as a child I came to believe that you could never know when everything would fall apart. “The shit has hit the fan again,” my father would explain, and while I wondered if there was a way to turn the fan off, we’d pack and move to another of those places. Instead of renting a convenient apartment , I bought an abandoned log cabin on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains, sixty miles from Washington , where I work and where my children live with their mother. I wanted to be part of a historic context, not one of convenience, and I had reason to believe the cabin had been built by a Confederate soldier named Robert Eaton, based on the plat map I was given after purchasing the property, which was in ruins: the sill log was rotten, the mortar was crumbling, and the window sashes had buckled long ago. But I wanted to believe it could be restored to its 80 | ecotone original condition, like the cabin down the road, and that I could be the agent of its restoration. The fact that the man who owned the cabin down the road also owned a herd of buffalo should have told me that his powers were of a different order from mine, but I couldn’t hear that kind of thinking then. Instead the presence of his buffalo, a species that left Virginia long before the Civil War, encouraged me to think that anything was possible. The logs in my cabin are American chestnut, a natural resource that shaped American construction for two hundred years. “If...

Nilschlammbälle mit Haaren

Among the items found in private houses at Amarna and in or near tombs clay balls containing human hair seem to serve a magical, mysterious purpose. Some of them bear impressions of finger rings with hieroglyphic signs and symbols, others are covered with white powder of plaster. In 1925 Winifred Blackman established a connection between these ancient clay balls and a modern custom performed at young children. Following her intentions it could be shown that the ritual of the first haircut has survived in today's Egypt. Like other life-passage rites during early childhood it can be found in many periods and many other cultures. The paper elucidates the deep, complex meaning and symbolic value of that ritual which is composed of two actions: 1. the haircut that separate the child from his former identity; 2. the hair-offering that bind the child to a god, who shall safeguard him against children's diseases, misfortunes and evil influences. Because hairs can also be used for malevolent magic they have to be put away at a safe, secret and sacral place. To make the hair clumps more safe they were put into clay and sealed with protective, apotropaical signs or white colour.

Dispersal of non-native plants by introduced bison in an island ecosystem

An understanding of the mechanisms of seed dispersal is critical to effectively managing populations of non-native plants. We investigated whether introduced bison on Santa Catalina Island, California, have the potential to spread non-native plants through the shedding of clumps of seed-laden hair and/or ingesting and later excreting seeds. We collected clumps of hair shaved from bison during a roundup and dislodged by wallowing activity. Greenhouse and field trials were used to test for seed viability and persistence of hair clumps in wallows. In addition to trials with bison hair, we collected samples of bison dung and tested for seed germination in a greenhouse. The majority of seeds extracted from bison hair clumps were of non-native forbs. There was a significant positive relationship between the size of hair clumps and the number of seeds extracted from the clumps, suggesting that managing the introduced bison population at a lower level will help minimize the spread of non-native plants by the species. Seeds of non-native plants were capable of germinating under conditions similar to those on Santa Catalina Island. Clumps of bison hair persisted in wallows, but did not remain intact and lost nearly 40% of their original mass. The number of germinable seeds contained in bison dung was low: 18 seeds germinated from 6 of 18 dung samples. Introduced bison appear to facilitate the dispersal of non-native plants over native plants on Santa Catalina Island. Our study suggests that a comprehensive strategy to control non-native plants must involve the management of the animal agents of plant dispersal.

Elastocapillary coalescence in wet hair

We investigated why wet hair clumps into bundles by dunking a model brush of parallel elastic lamellae into a perfectly wetting liquid. As the brush is withdrawn, pairs of bundles aggregate successively, forming complex hierarchical patterns that depend on a balance between capillary forces and the elasticity of the lamellae. This capillary-driven self-assembly of flexible structures, which occurs in the tarsi of insects and in biomimetic adhesives but which can also damage micro-electromechanical structures or carbon nanotube 'carpets', represents a new type of coalescence process.

Hypnosis as a Vehicle for Choice and Self-Agency in the Treatment of Children with Trichotillomania

Three pediatric cases of Trichotillomania were treated with direct hypnotic suggestion with exclusive emphasis on sensitizing and alerting the patients to impending scalp hair pulling behaviors. These children had presented with total lack of awareness of their scalp hair pulling behaviors until they had actually twisted and pulled off clumps of hair. It was also suggested, under hypnosis, that upon learning to recognize impending scalp hair pulling behaviors, the patients would become free to choose to willfully pull their hair or to resist the impulse and not pull. At no point was the explicit suggestion given that they stop pulling their hair. A preliminary condition was agreed to by the parents that redefined the patients' hair as their own property and affirmed their sole responsibility for its care and maintenance. An element of secondary gain was identified in each of these cases. Scalp hair pulling was hypothesized to provide these particular patients with a vehicle with which to oppose their overbearing and over-involved parents. The technique of direct suggestion under hypnosis, aimed at alerting the patients to impending scalp hair pulling behaviors was combined with forming contracts with the parents to relinquish their authority over matters regarding the patients' hair. This combination provided an effective treatment that extinguished the scalp hair pulling in 7 visits or less. These cases received follow-up at intervals up to 6 months and no evidence of relapse was found.

Three papules in a row.

QUESTION: A 14-year-boy is seen in the office with his mother because he noticed 3 new bumps on his abdomen (figure 1). He has no itching and is feeling well. His mother is concerned that he got this from their new cat. The cat is losing clumps of hair and scratching her skin a lot. Figure 1 Three bumps appeared on the abdomen of the 14-year-old patient What is the diagnosis? What are the treatment options? What should be done for the cat? ANSWER: These 3 papules are molluscum contagiosum. The papules show the characteristic features of being shiny and raised with central umbilication. They also look stuck on the surface so that they can be peeled off with a fingernail. These papules measure 4 to 5 mm. The papules of molluscum contagiosum generally range from 1 to 5 mm. Molluscum contagiosum is caused by 3 different DNA poxviruses. The infection is spread through person-to-person contact, autoinoculation, or contact with fomites (objects that can harbor pathogens, such as clothing). Molluscum contagiosum is more common in children but also occurs in young adults. In adults, it may be sexually transmitted and found in the genital area. In children, it usually is not sexually transmitted and is not by itself indicative of sexual abuse. Molluscum contagiosum can regress spontaneously. Most parents of patients with the infection and infected adults want the lesions treated because they fear further spread of lesions to themselves and others. This family wanted the 3 papules to be removed. Severe infections of molluscum contagiosum occur because of immunosuppression in persons infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). They can be widespread over the face or become giant lesions of 5 to 10 mm. In this patient, the lesions were not acquired by sexual contact and were unrelated to his new cat. This boy is otherwise healthy and is not HIV-positive.

Citalopram and Hair Loss.

Sir: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the mainstay of treatment for a wide variety of psychiatric disorders including mood and anxiety disorders. Hair loss with the SSRIs, tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), and other classes of antidepressants has been anecdotally reported.1–6 We report a case of a 50-year-old white woman with bipolar disorder who developed hair loss while taking the SSRI citalopram. Significant hair loss can be a distressing side effect of antidepressants and should be monitored in treatment because it may lead to noncompliance and relapse. Case report. Ms. A, a 50-year-old divorced white woman with a DSM-IV diagnosis of bipolar disorder, is presently in outpatient treatment at a community mental health clinic. Her past psychiatric history was significant for multiple hospitalizations for both manic and depressive episodes. There was no prior history of suicide attempts, nor was there any comorbid alcohol or substance abuse. She had no significant ongoing medical problems. Her last psychiatric hospitalization was in August 1997, for depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. At that time, she had lithium-related side effects and had poor tolerance to divalproex and carbamazepine. Results of her laboratory tests, including a complete blood count, electrolyte concentrations, liver and kidney tests, and thyroid hormone studies, were unremarkable. During her last hospitalization, she was started successfully on lamotrigine therapy and titrated to a dosage of 50 mg twice daily. In addition, she was treated with paroxetine, 20 mg daily, and clonazepam, 0.5 mg in the morning and 1 mg at night. Following discharge from the hospital, her compliance with the medication and outpatient visits was good. Treatment with clonazepam was subsequently successfully discontinued. One year later, owing to worsening depression, the paroxetine dosage was gradually increased to 40 mg daily on an outpatient basis. She then reported nightmares and continuing depressive symptoms. The patient was gradually switched to citalopram, which was started at 20 mg and then titrated to 40 mg with good symptom control. At her next visit a couple of months later, the patient reported losing clumps of hair while shampooing. She became increasingly anxious at this time and was placed on hydroxyzine, 25 mg 3 times daily. A dermatology consultation was obtained to rule out other causes of hair loss, but none were detected. As the hair loss appeared temporally related to the increase in citalopram dosage, the possibility of dosage reduction was considered, but the patient was reluctant because of good symptom control. A multivitamin formulated for adults aged 50 and over (Centrum Silver) was added in a dosage of 1 tablet daily with the provision that the antidepressant be switched if the hair loss persisted at the next visit 4 weeks later. The hair loss stopped with Centrum Silver use, and there have been no complaints about it for the past 5 months as the patient continues to monitor the condition. The patient remains compliant with all medications. There have been no side effects, such as the rash that has been reported with lamotrigine, nor has there been any recurrence of manic symptoms. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of hair loss associated with citalopram therapy. Citalopram selectively inhibits the reuptake of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine), which potentiates serotonergic neurotransmission and is associated with clinical antidepressant effects.7 In some cases, it appears that hair loss accelerates when the dose of the antidepressant is increased.2,6 Hair loss with citalopram therapy may be reversible with adjunctive Centrum Silver. An alternative explanation could be spontaneous resolution of the hair loss independent of the use of Centrum Silver. Significant hair loss is a distressing side effect that should be monitored and treated since it can lead to noncompliance, worsening of symptoms, and relapse.