Treatment of alopecia areata affecting both eyebrows: case study

Safa(alopecia areata) means loss of hairs where ordinarily hair would be found. Safa(AA) is a type of non scaringalopecia that affects males and females equally and occurs in both children and adults. About 2% of the patients are affected and come to outpatient department for care. It is characterized by reversible hair loss most commonly involving the scalp although other parts of head, including eyelashes and beard may also be affected. A patient 16 years old was given Unani medicine for 45 days as local application on lateral aspects of eyebrows twice daily for thirty days and once for later 15 days.New hairs were seen on affected areas after one month, after 45 days normal hairs were seen on affected sites.It can be concluded that Unani medicine is effective in treating alopecia.

Correlation between saturated fatty acid intake and superoxide dismutase activities with telomere length in Minangkabau ethnic men

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCD) are the leading cause of death globally today. In West Sumatra there has been an increase in NCD which exceeds the national average percentage. Telomere shortening is associated with occurrence of NCD. Shortening of telomeres is influenced by diet. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Saturated Fatty Acid (SAFA) intake and Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) activity with the telomere length of Minangkabau ethnic men.Methods: This study was a cross sectional study. The sample of this study were 69 civil servants of Minangkabau male at district office in the Padang City, aged 40-50 years and according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data on SAFA intake was obtained using Semi Quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire (SQFFQ), SOD activity was measured using the Calorimetric method and telomere length was measured using Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) by O’Challaghan and Fennech method. Data analysis was performed using Pearson correlation test with significance level p <0.05.Results: The results showed an average SAFA intake 10.47+3.46% calories, SOD activity 5.93+0.81units/ml and telomere length 468.94+199.25bp. Correlation test between telomere length with SAFA intake showed (p=0.338), and the correlation test between SOD activity and telomere length showed (p=0.01).Conclusions: From this study it was concluded that there was no correlation between SAFA intake and telomere length and there was a significant positive correlation between SOD activity and the telomere length of Minangkabau ethnic men.

Fatty acids intake among diverse ethnic groups in Indonesia.

The use of dietary pattern specifically fatty acids intake should prove to be an informative and powerful means to augment our understanding of the role of diet in chronic disease particularly CHD. Cross sectional study was implemented to describe the nutrients intake specifically fatty acids intake of 4 (four) ethnic groups in Indonesia, such as Minangkabau, Sundanese, Javanese and Buginese. The percentage of saturated fatty acid (SAFA) to total energy intakes were around 20%. The percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) to the total energy were about 4.4% to 4.6% among the Sundanese and the Javanese.While among the other two ethnic groups, the percentage of PUFA to total energy were less, 2.6 % among the Minangkabau and 2.8% among the Buginese ethnic. The percentage of mono unsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) to total energy intake were higher among the two ethnic groups, Sundanese and Javanese (6.1% vs. 5.5%). While the percentages of MUFA between the other two ethnic groups Minangkabau and Buginese ethnic were lower (2.6% vs. 2.8%). Based on the ratio of PUFA: MUFA: SAFA, we could consider that Minangkabau and Buginese ethnic groups both had poor quality of dietary fat pattern. Having the poor quality of dietary fat pattern and higher fat intake, we might take into consideration that the Minangkabau ethnic groups, had higher risk toward dyslipidemia compared to the other three ethnic groups.