Oral minoxidil is an antihypertensive vasodilator known to stimulate hair growth. The use of low-dose oral minoxidil for the treatment of male androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is receiving increasing attention. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of oral minoxidil for the treatment of male AGA.

This was an open-label, prospective, single-arm study. TAK-242 Thirty men aged 24-59years with AGA types III vertex to V were treated with oral minoxidil 5mg once daily for 24weeks. Efficacy was evaluated by hair counts, hair diameter measurements, photographic assessment, and self-administered questionnaire. The safety of the treatment was closely monitored by means of physical examinations and laboratory investigations.

There was a significant increase in total hair counts from baseline at weeks 12 (mean change + 26, range 182.5-208.5hairs/cm

) and 24 (mean change + 35.1, range 182.5-217.6hairs/cm

) (both p = 0.007). Photographic assessment of the vertex area by an expert panel revealed 100% improvement (score > + 1), with 43% of patients showing excellent improvement (score + 3, 71-100% increase). The frontal area also showed a significant response but less than that of the vertex area. Common side effects were hypertrichosis (93% of patients) and pedal edema (10%). No serious cardiovascular adverse events and abnormal laboratory findings were observed.

Oral minoxidil 5mg once daily effectively increased hair growth in our male patients with AGA and had a good safety profile in healthy subjects. However, oral minoxidil should be used carefully with men who have severe hypertension and increased risk for cardiovascular events.

Oral minoxidil 5 mg once daily effectively increased hair growth in our male patients with AGA and had a good safety profile in healthy subjects. However, oral minoxidil should be used carefully with men who have severe hypertension and increased risk for cardiovascular events.Magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) is applied in mitral valve regurgitation (MR) to quantify regurgitation volume/fraction and cardiac volumes, but individual scallop pathology is evaluated by echocardiography. To evaluate CMR for determination of individual scallop pathology, interrater variability on evaluation of scallop pathology from echocardiography and a standard clinical CMR protocol including a transversal stack was compared. 318 mitral scallops from 53 patients with primary MR were evaluated by two cardiologists evaluating echocardiography scans and two other cardiologists evaluating CMR scans (blinded). Inter-rater variability was determined with percentage agreement and Cohen’s kappa. In evaluable scallops, interrater agreement on the diagnosis of a prolapsing and/or flail scallop was 77-87% and kappa values of 0.27-0.67, irrespective of physician or modality. Important differences between modalities were primarily related to CMR-evaluators judging the A3 and the P3 to be normal when echocardiography demonstrated prolapsing or even flail scallops; poor imaging of calcification; and flailed scallops occasionally being undetected with CMR since the flow-voids may mask the scallop. Inter-rater agreement for scallop pathology in primary MR is comparable for echocardiography and standard magnetic resonance imaging scans, but CMR has important pitfalls relating to evaluation of A3 and P3 scallops, and suffers from poor visualization of calcification and lower spatial resolution than echo. CMR with standard planes cannot replace CMR with longitudinal planes or echo for the evaluation of specific scallop pathology in severe primary MR.Recently, multiple spillover events between domesticated poultry and wild birds have been reported for several avian viruses. This phenomenon highlights the importance of the livestock-wildlife interface in the possible emergence of novel viruses. The aim of the current study was to investigate the potential spillover and epidemiological links of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) between wild birds and domestic poultry. To this end, twenty-eight cloacal swabs were collected from four species of free-living Egyptian wild birds (i.e. mallard duck, bean goose, white-fronted goose and black-billed magpie). Genetic and phylogenetic analysis of three positive isolates revealed that the IBDV/USC-1/2019 strain clustered with previously reported very virulent IBDV (vvIBDV) Egyptian isolates. Interestingly, two other wild bird-origin isolates (i.e. IBDV/USC-2/2019 and IBDV/USC-3/2019) grouped with a vaccine strain that is being used in commercial poultry. In conclusion, our results revealed the molecular detection of vaccine and vvIBDV-like strains in Egyptian wild birds and highlighted the potential role of wild birds in IBDV epidemiology in disease-endemic regions.

Climate change is one of the greatest threats to global health in the twenty-first century and has recently been declared a health emergency. The lack of effective dissemination of emerging evidence on climate change health risks, effects, and innovative interventions to health professionals presents one of the greatest challenges to climate action today.

To identify and address the knowledge gaps at the intersection of health and climate change, the Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research (CCGHR) established a Working Group on Climate Change and Health (WGCCH). WGCCH is evolving organically into a community of practice (CoP) that aims to elevate knowledge brokering on climate change and health and expand to global multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary realms.

To date, the WGCCH established a regular webinar series to share expert knowledge from around the world on intersections between climate change and health, developed short summaries on climate change impacts on broad health challenges, supported young professional training, and enhanced climate health research capacity and skills through collegial network development and other collaborative projects that emerged from CoP activities.

This paper proposes that WGCCH may serve as an example of an effective strategy to address the lack of opportunities for collaborative engagement and mutual learning between health researchers and practitioners, other disciplines, and the general public. Our experiences and lessons learned provide opportunities to learn from the growing pains and successes of an emerging climate change and health-focused CoP.

This paper proposes that WGCCH may serve as an example of an effective strategy to address the lack of opportunities for collaborative engagement and mutual learning between health researchers and practitioners, other disciplines, and the general public. Our experiences and lessons learned provide opportunities to learn from the growing pains and successes of an emerging climate change and health-focused CoP.