[Not Available].

Jim Fixx was one of millions ofAmericans who started running in the 1 960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Unlike other runners, however, Fixx wrote a best-selling book about running and, ironically, died of a heart attack at the age of 52 years while running. Fixx and the authors of other running books believed heart disease resulted from overcivilization and recommended running as a cure. Running was not merely a physical exercise, according to those authors, but also a way of life. Moreover, those running authors, who were often doctors themselves, advised their readers to listen to their bodies, instead of their doctors. Fixx's adherence to that philosophy offers an explanationfor his seemingly irrational behavior--running through chest pain and discomfort.

Famous Persons↗

PubMed2002

Lawrence of Arabia, Sir Hugh Cairns, and the origin of motorcycle helmets.

When Colonel T.E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") was fatally injured in a motorcycle accident in May 1935, one of the several doctors attending him was a young neurosurgeon, Hugh Cairns. He was moved by the tragedy in a way that was to have far-reaching consequences. At the beginning of the Second World War, he highlighted the unnecessary loss of life among army motorcycle dispatch riders as a result of head injuries. His research concluded that the adoption of crash helmets as standard by both military and civilian motorcyclists would result in considerable saving of life. It was 32 years later, however, that motorcycle crash helmets were made compulsory in the United Kingdom. As a consequence of treating T.E. Lawrence and through his research at Oxford, Sir Hugh Cairns' work largely pioneered legislation for protective headgear by motorcyclists and subsequently in the workplace and for many sports worldwide. Over subsequent decades, this has saved countless lives.

Famous Persons↗