UNICENTRO 2012/2

TEXTO:

Scientists identify cause of baldness

American scientists say
that they’ve discovered why
some men go bald. They blame
faulty cells which seem to
[5] produce hair that is so thin that
it is invisible to the naked eye.
They expect to find a cure for
baldness.
For some men, bald is beautiful. The iconic look
[10] may work for a few — especially celebrities — like the
rugged Die Hard star Bruce Willis and Star Trek’s Patrick
Stewart. For many, though, hair loss is no laughing
matter. But now researchers in America say they’ve
uncovered a cure.

[15] An academic medical centre has found that hair
follicles actually shrink, but don’t disappear. Dr George
Cotsarelis, dermatology professor at Pennsylvania
University, found the discovery exciting. “What we found
surprised us. The stem cells were present but they were
[20] not doing their job.”
The discovery of invisible hair sounds too good to
be true. But what does it mean? “It really gives us hope
that because the stem cells are present it lowers the
bar for developing treatments that could activate the stem
[25] cells and get them to form a new hair follicle,” said Dr
Cotsarelis.
Treating these faulty stem cells means that, rather
than just maintaining hair, we could soon regenerate hair.
LOBEL, Mark , BBC News. Disponível em: <www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/ l e a r n i n g e n g l i s h / l a n g u a g e / w o r d s i n t h e n e w s / 2 0 1 0 / 1 2 / 110107_witn_baldness_page.shtml>. Acesso em: 12 out. 2011.