Scientists Grow Hair Using Stem Cells
For the first time, a team of U.S. scientists has developed a technique to convert human stem cells into a type of cell that is capable of initiating hair growth. When these cells were transplanted into mice lacking hair, they successfully induced human hair growth, suggesting that with further development, this method could lead to a cell-based treatment for people suffering hair loss.
Depending on concentration and bioavailability, niacinamide has been shown to have antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, photo-protective, sebum reducing, and lightening effects when applied topically.
Niacinamide is the amide form of niacin.
The OH (oxygen and hydrogen, or hydroxyl) molecules have been replaced by an amine group – the nitrogen and two hydrogen molecules.
There are other topical forms of niacin, where the hydroxyl group has been replaced by a fatty acid – but their use is patented (NIA24 products).
Niacin isn’t often used topically because it causes prostaglandin release, which results in skin flushing and itching. Niacinamide and other forms of niacin don’t have this undesirable side-effect.
Niacinamide is quite stable, but in the right conditions can hydrolyze (breakdown in water) to niacin.
This is a concern for manufacturers who need to ensure long-term stability of their products, but should not be of particular worry for people using a product containing niacinamide and then another containing an acid (or vice-versa).
The reason being is that this hydrolysis takes a considerable amount of time. At a pH of 2 and 90°C it takes over 75 hours to convert half of the niacinamide in to niacin. Heat greatly speeds up chemical interactions, and at normal temperatures this translates in to weeks, if not months.
While it’s certainly true and possible that a small amount of niacin will form, for most people it won’t be enough to cause skin flushing.
If you do notice skin flushing (and tingling), then space the two products further apart. But don’t worry too much, the bulk of the product is still in niacinamide form and niacin is involved in the same pathway that niacinamide is.
Addendum: There’s another paper that focuses on the interaction of ascorbic acid and niacinamide which is often brought out in this discussion.
The important part though is often missing – the interaction is minimal, reversible, and irrelevant at physiological pH.
Again, this is more of a concern for cosmetic manufacturers and not consumers mixing products.
Cool Fact: Topical niacin and the lack of flushing response could be used to help diagnose schizophrenia
“Magical” Ancient Egyptian Makeup May Have Been Medicine for Eye Disease
“The present data thus establish that the eyes of Egyptians bearing the black makeup were presumably prone to immediately resist a sudden bacterial contamination with extreme efficiency through the spontaneous action of their own immune cells. Indeed, it is well recognized today that in most tropical marshy areas, such as was the Nile area during floods, several bacterial infections are transmitted to humans following any accidental projection of contaminated water drops into one’s eye"
Young Blood Rejuvenates Old Tissues in Mice. Now, They Are Seeing If It Works on Humans
She emphasizes that no one has convincingly shown that young blood lengthens lives, and there is no promise that it will. Still, she says that young blood, or factors from it, may hold promise for helping elderly people to heal after surgery, or treating diseases of ageing.
“It’s very provocative,” says Mark Mattson, chief of the Laboratory of Neurosciences at the US National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, Maryland, who has not been involved in the parabiosis work. “It makes you think. Maybe I should bank some blood of my daughter’s son, so if I start to have any cognitive problems, I’ll have some help,” he says, only half-joking.
Telomere Extension Turns Back Aging Clock in Cultured Human Cells
“Previous attempts to deliver mRNA-encoding TERT caused an immune response against telomerase, which could be deleterious. In contrast, our technique is nonimmunogenic. Existing transient methods of extending telomeres act slowly, whereas our method acts over just a few days to reverse telomere shortening that occurs over more than a decade of normal aging. This suggests that a treatment using our method could be brief and infrequent.”
Scientists Discover Way to Unboil Eggs, by Untangling Proteins
“It’s not so much that we’re interested in processing the eggs; that’s just demonstrating how powerful this process is,” Weiss said. “The real problem is there are lots of cases of gummy proteins that you spend way too much time scraping off your test tubes, and you want some means of recovering that material.”
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