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Throughout time, whenever people start talking about baldness, they almost always focus on the threat to self-esteem. Most cultures have decided that men who lose their hair early are somehow worthy of mockery. Inevitably, this has put pressure on men to avoid or hide the problem. In reality, the poor quality of many wigs and toupées signalled the wearer’s embarrassment and aggravated the social difficulties. In turn, this opened up a market to the unscrupulous to sell magic remedies. We still celebrate this time in our history by retaining the idea of “snake oil” and “elixirs” from the Traveling Medicine Shows. But the results in a recent study published in Cancer Epidemiology may be a sign that men who lose their hair early are the lucky ones. Instead of despair as their hair recedes, they should be celebrating the news their risk of prostate cancer is halving.

The study involved some two thousand men in their forties, half of whom had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. In reviewing their medical histories, the researchers noted that men whose hair began thinning in their twenties were the least likely to develop a growth in the prostate (whether cancerous or benign). In publishing these results, a clear distinction must be made between the natural thinning and loss of hair that affects all men as they age, and male pattern baldness which characteristically affects younger men. The reduction in the risk of cancer benefits those who lose their hair prematurely. The researchers speculate this is a consequence of the changing level of testosterone in those who go bald. The higher the level of hormone, the more the body produces dihydrotestosterone (DHT). With more DHT in the bloodstream, the hair follicles shrink. This thins the hair and slows the rate at which hair is replaced as it is shed. But, higher levels of testosterone seem to lower the risk of a growth.

There are two points of interest in this story. The first is the presence of contrary research evidence showing a higher risk of cancer among the prematurely bald. Unfortunately, male pattern baldness and prostate cancer have the same triggering cause and both develop as men age. There needs to be further research to distinguish the cause and effect of both conditions. Put simply, asking men to remember when they began losing their hair is not very reliable scientific evidence. Secondly, propecia, the drug now shown as effective in treating male pattern baldness because it prevents the conversion of testosterone to DHT, was originally developed as a treatment for benign growths in the prostate. It is somewhat ironic to see modern research treading the same path that led to the FDA expanding the use of propecia from prostate growths to a treatment for male pattern baldness. So where does this leave us? As it stands, this latest research is on its own and contradicted by earlier work. It has a doubtful scientific method and a relatively small number of participants. Before we can celebrate early balding, we need a better designed research program with a significantly larger number of men involved. Only if these new findings are confirmed can men with male pattern baldness feel better about their hair loss. Until then, all they have to rely on is the ever reliable propecia – so long as you start early enough, it slows hair loss and can prompt some regrowth.

One of the best ways to see Canada is to take the train from Toronto to Vancouver. Although rail travel has declined in recent years due to airplanes and motor vehicles, the ‘Iron Ribbon’ allows you to watch in comfort as some of the world’s most spectacular views go by.

Until the middle of the 19th century, most of Canada was wild and unexplored. Its sheer size, poor roads and extreme winters made extended travel nearly impossible and, according to historian Pierre Berton, three-quarters of the population lived in comparative isolation on farms.

Even so, when the Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald proposed a coast to coast railway in 1871, he met with mockery and opposition. One Canadian politician thought his idea was “one of the most foolish things that could be imagined”; while another exclaimed his next project would be ‘a railway to the moon’.

The fact that the United States had completed such a feat 3 years earlier broke little ice. Canada not only had less money to spare and only 10% of America’s population, but the railway would be much longer, having to cover the second largest area in the world.

Investors were just as reluctant to invest any of the 0 million estimated by Scottish railway engineer Sandford Fleming. Finally, work began in 1875 but ten years later it seemed the doubters may have been right about the project. The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) had amassed debts of 0,000 in debt which it was unable to pay. On July 10, this money had to be paid before 3pm or the railway would be brought to a shuddering halt. At 2pm that day, the Canadian government finally came up with the money, allowing work to continue.

Thousands of Chinese labourers toiled for ten hours at a time in all conditions, including winter temperatures of -47⁰C and huge drifts of snow.

In Ontario, 30cm of solid rock forced workers to drag soil for miles to counteract the problem. Tunnels and bridges had to be built, especially through the Rocky Mountains.
But at last, the final spike was driven at Eagle Pass in British Columbia. The railroad now stretched from Canada’s Atlantic coast in the East to the Pacific coast in the West, ending at Craigellachie, named for a place of Scottish resistance centuries before. From now on, commerce and industry would move forward, towns were built and food could be more rapidly transported. As a result, the Iron Ribbon is credited with having “released society from the bondage of dirt and mud” and “from the bondage of winter”.

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