Hair Loss Treatment Stuff

A bald swimmer battled for gold in 63 seconds

Duncan Goodhew's time of 63.44 seconds might not have been the fastest time for the 100m breaststroke in 1980, but it was good enough for gold in Moscow.

A fall from a tree at the age of 10 led to hair loss that left him bald and, combined with his dyslexia, meant he had been teased at school.

But he fought against all obstacles with total determination to become an Olympic champion.

He beat Latvian Arsens Miskarovs by 0.38 seconds to achieve his dream.

His mother was in the audience and, despite the noise in the stadium, Goodhew said he "seemed to hear her voice above all others".

It had been a different story four years earlier when he had made the final, along with eventual silver medallist David Wilkie, only to come seventh.

And his appearance in 1980, where he also won a bronze in the 4×100m medley relay, was his last Olympics.

He was awarded an MBE for his services to sport in 1981, the same year he also, somewhat bizarrely, chosen for one of the British two-man bobsleigh teams for the European Championships in Austria.

Goodhew has continued his passion for sporting achievement since he ended his own career, researching and developing a sports strategy for kids and setting up the Youth Sports Trust in 1994.

He is the president of the charity Swimathon and has used his own life's experiences to help him become a renowned motivational speaker.

Legal Matters - Online Pharmacies — Take Heed!

from Drug Benefit Trends

Summit Meeting

In response to these events, interested parties have taken steps to meet these problems head-on. Several online pharmacies and pharmaceutical benefit managers, state and federal regulators, consumer advocates, and medical groups convened the first Internet health care summit on November 9, 1999, in Washington, DC, to discuss the problem of fraudulent pharmacy sites on the Internet. The primary focus of the summit, organized by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), was stopping online pharmacy fraud. As a result of the meeting, a task force on technology will be established to determine the extent of online pharmacy fraud and abuse. The task force will be headed by NABP.

The summit proposed two other initiatives. One initiative would create "Operation Safe Net," which would permit consumers to report fraudulent pharmacy sites that would be investigated and prosecuted, if appropriate, by NABP. The other initiative involves consumer education. Most consumers are unaware that online pharmacies can be "certified" as verified Internet pharmacy practice sites (VIPPS), allowing the online pharmacy to show the VIPPS seal on the web site. The VIPPS seal certifies that the online pharmacy is licensed by the applicable state boards of pharmacy and has met certain criteria related to quality, communication, storage and shipment, and over-the-counter products.

The quick responses to these issues taken by pharmacies and other interested parties are important steps. If fraudulent actions by online pharmacies are not addressed by the industry as quickly as possible, the ultimate outcome may be the passage of confusing and burdensome state or federal laws and regulations that have a chilling effect on pharmacies' participation in the wave of the future — the Internet. Those who have experienced the complexity of health care regulations know that the fewer the laws imposed on a business, the easier it is to operate effectively. Policing these issues in the industry may keep the issues off the radar screen of the legislators and out of the law books.

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Drug Benefit Trends 12(1):21-22, 2000. © 2000 Cliggott Publishing, Division of SCP Communications

Prostate Cancer: Screening and Early Detection

from Cancer Control: Journal of the Moffitt Cancer Center

Michael S. Cookson, MD, Department of Urologic Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN

Abstract and Introduction

AbstractBackground: Despite more than a decade of prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-based screening, the proven impact of screening on mortality due to prostate cancer continues to be controversial.
Methods: A literature review of issues pertaining to the epidemiology, screening, early detection, and mortality as they relate to prostate cancer was conducted. Included in the review are PSA refinements, controversies of screening, and organization guidelines. Finally, recent reports of mortality rates in the post-PSA era are presented for discussion.
Results: Prostate cancer mortality rates have begun to decline for the first time since statistics have been recorded. The recent decline in age-adjusted mortality rates from prostate cancer is significant, and this decline appears to be earlier than would have been predicted. This finding, coupled with the dramatic decline in metastatic disease, implies that PSA-based screening may be responsible for a significant portion of this improvement in mortality.
Conclusions: The cost of prostate cancer screening appears to be acceptable. Randomized studies of PSA-based screening are currently ongoing, although the results may not be available for a decade. Currently, the best evidence is derived from population-based studies that appear to show a benefit to prostate cancer screening. From the Department of Urologic Surgery at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee.

IntroductionProstate cancer screening remains a source of major controversy in the United States.[1] The potential benefits and harms continue to be debated among health professionals despite more than a decade of prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-based screening and early detection. Among the concerns are the possibility that screening and early detection will not impact on the deaths related to prostate cancer, the potential for treatment-related morbidity and mortality, and the cost of screening, diagnosis, and treatment to society. This article discusses these concerns and highlights the latest developments in prostate cancer screening and early detection.