What is a Caucasian 'fine' hair? Comparing instrumental measurements, self-perceptions and assessments from hair experts.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the various factors contributing to what Caucasian women describe as 'fine hair'. METHODS: Three complementary approaches were used, namely self-evaluation by the volunteer, assessment by a sensorial expert and instrumental measurements, in order to determine some of the possible parameters taken into account by Caucasian women when they describe the notion of fine hair. One hundred fifty one women of Caucasian origin participated in the study. They varied in age, and varied in that some considered themselves as having fine hair, and others not. The instrumental measurements carried out included hair diameter measurements, hair density measurements, hair breakage force, hair flexibility and scalp sebum levels. RESULTS: From six parameters defined initially, four parameters were found to be in common with the three approaches: hair abundance (density), hair thickness, hair resistance and the volume of the hair on the head. The commonly used term 'body' was only common to self and expert evaluation, whereas the influence of curliness was only common to expert evaluation and instrumental measurements. CONCLUSIONS: This study has shown close agreement between sensorial and instrumental findings, and also illustrates how the women participating can subtly and adequately describe their own hair. It is important to note that the words 'fine hair' describes a lot more than just physically thin hair fibres. Ageing is an additional factor that clearly impacts certain parameters associated with 'fine hair' among the volunteers.

IFNgamma and antibody responses among French nurses during a tuberculosis contact tracing investigation.

STUDY: A comparative study which compared PPD skin testing inserted according to the French Society of Pneumology's recommendations and interferon gamma release assay (IGRA) (QuantiFERON((R)) TB Gold In-tube, QF-TB-IT, Cellestis, Carnegie, Australia) was performed during a tuberculosis contact investigation in our hospital. PATIENTS: Nineteen French health-care workers (HCWs) volunteered to participate. All of the HCW enrolled were BCG vaccinated and had a normal chest X-ray at entry. RESULTS: Among the HCW, 68.4% were TST positive. By comparison, only 31.6% had a positive QF-TB-IT result. We took advantage of the negative tube and the corresponding plasma for antibody detection by ELISA. None were ELISA positive. Fourteen HCWs were followed up. None of the HCWs accepted a course of antiTB chemoprophylaxis. Despite the difficulty in establishing a trend in kinetics, we saw the complexity of interpretation of a dynamic T-cell response after contact with an index case. CONCLUSION: This initial and first French picture provides us with the observation that only 44% of TST-positive HCW were IGRA positive, and the IGRA test allowed the detection of LTBI in two TST negative HCWs.

Anti-PGL-Tb1 responses as an indicator of the immune restoration syndrome in HIV-TB patients.

A prospective and multi-centre study has allowed us to analyse antibody responses and Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolate genotypes on 24 consecutive HIV-TB co-infected patients treated with Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) who either went on to develop a TB Immune Restoration Syndrome (TB-IRS), or not. Circulating free and immune-complexed antibodies against ManLAM, ESAT-6/CFP10 and PGL-Tb1 in HIV-TB co-infected patients were measured by ELISA at the initiation of anti-TB treatment, at the date of HAART initiation and thereafter. Presence of circulating B cells was also monitored by in vitro antibody production (IVAP) against ESAT-6/CFP10 and PGL-Tb1. Finally, 16 out of 24M. tuberculosis clinical isolates from patients with TB-IRS were genotyped using spoligotyping and MIRUs-VNTR typing. Eleven patients (45.8%) experienced TB-IRS (TB-IRS+). Significantly, lower anti-PGL-Tb1 antibody levels were identified in TB-IRS+ compared to TB-IRS-negative patients prior to TB-IRS development. These very low levels were neither related to CD4 counts nor with complexed antibodies. No difference in antibody levels was observed with the other tested antigens. In addition, no specific strain genotype was associated with TB-IRS. The presence of specific anti-PGL-Tb1 antibodies only in TB-IRS-negative patients represents for the first time an indicator of a potential protective response or a diagnostic biomarker for the detection of non-progression to TB-IRS in HIV-TB co-infected patients starting HAART.