{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,14]],"date-time":"2025-05-14T04:21:43Z","timestamp":1747196503446,"version":"3.40.5"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,5,8]],"date-time":"2024-05-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1715126400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Globally, the rapid aging of the population is predicted to become even more severe in the second half of the 21st century. Thus, it is expected to establish a growing expectation for innovative, non-invasive health indicators and diagnostic methods to support disease prevention, care, and health promotion efforts. In this study, we aimed to establish a new health index and disease diagnosis method by analyzing the minerals and free amino acid components contained in hair shaft. We first evaluated the range of these components in healthy humans and then conducted a comparative analysis of these components in subjects with diabetes, hypertension, androgenetic alopecia, major depressive disorder, Alzheimer\u2019s disease, and stroke. In the statistical analysis, we first used a student\u2019s <jats:italic>t<\/jats:italic> test to compare the hair components of healthy people and those of patients with various diseases. However, many minerals and free amino acids showed significant differences in all diseases, because the sample size of the healthy group was very large compared to the sample size of the disease group. Therefore, we attempted a comparative analysis based on effect size, which is not affected by differences in sample size. As a result, we were able to narrow down the minerals and free amino acids for all diseases compared to <jats:italic>t<\/jats:italic> test analysis. For diabetes, the <jats:italic>t<\/jats:italic> test narrowed down the minerals to 15, whereas the effect size measurement narrowed it down to 3 (Cr, Mn, and Hg). For free amino acids, the <jats:italic>t<\/jats:italic> test narrowed it down to 15 minerals. By measuring the effect size, we were able to narrow it down to 7 (Gly, His, Lys, Pro, Ser, Thr, and Val). It is also possible to narrow down the minerals and free amino acids in other diseases, and to identify potential health indicators and disease-related components by using effect size.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0301092","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,5,8]],"date-time":"2024-05-08T17:30:44Z","timestamp":1715189444000},"page":"e0301092","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Comparative studies of hair shaft components between healthy and diseased donors"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Atsuko","family":"Ota","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hiroaki","family":"Kitamura","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Keigo","family":"Sugimoto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Miho","family":"Ogawa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Naoshi","family":"Dohmae","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hiroki","family":"Okuno","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kazuya","family":"Takahashi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kazutaka","family":"Ikeda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tsutomu","family":"Tomita","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Naoki","family":"Matsuoka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kunitaka","family":"Matsuishi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tetsuro","family":"Inokuma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tohru","family":"Nagano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Makoto","family":"Takeo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2230-8052","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Takashi","family":"Tsuji","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,5,8]]},"reference":[{"issue":"7","key":"pone.0301092.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1093\/ageing\/afac147","article-title":"The UN Decade of healthy ageing: strengthening measurement for monitoring health and wellbeing of older people.","volume":"51","author":"J Amuthavalli Thiyagarajan","year":"2022","journal-title":"Age Ageing."},{"issue":"11","key":"pone.0301092.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"926","DOI":"10.1080\/13504851.2020.1786001","article-title":"Benefits of knowing own health status: effects of health check-ups on health behaviours and labour participation.","volume":"28","author":"C Kang","year":"2021","journal-title":"Appl Econ Lett."},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0301092.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cell.2018.03.012","article-title":"There Will Be Blood Tests.","volume":"173","author":"SE Dodgson","year":"2018","journal-title":"Cell"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0301092.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"481","DOI":"10.2215\/CJN.03520807","article-title":"Urinary Biomarkers for Acute Kidney Injury: Perspectives on Translation","volume":"3","author":"SG Coca","year":"2008","journal-title":"Clin J Am Soc Nephrol"},{"issue":"6378","key":"pone.0301092.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"866","DOI":"10.1126\/science.aas9102","article-title":"Cancer detection: Seeking signals in blood","volume":"359","author":"M Kalinich","year":"2018","journal-title":"Science"},{"issue":"1\u20133","key":"pone.0301092.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9","DOI":"10.1016\/0379-0738(93)90255-9","article-title":"Anatomy and physiology of hair.","volume":"63","author":"MR Harkey","year":"1993","journal-title":"Forensic Sci Int."},{"issue":"7130","key":"pone.0301092.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"834","DOI":"10.1038\/nature05659","article-title":"Scratching the surface of skin development","volume":"445","author":"E. 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