Healthy people: a 2020 vision for the social determinants approach.

For the past three decades, the Healthy People initiative has represented an ambitious yet achievable health promotion and disease prevention agenda for the nation. The recently released fourth version-Healthy People 2020-builds on the foundations of prior iterations while newly embracing and elevating a comprehensive "social determinants" perspective. By clearly articulating a new overarching goal to "create social and physical environments that promote good health for all" and a new topic area dedicated to defining the social determinants of health approach, it breaks new ground.

A 2020 vision for educating the next generation of public health leaders.

To meet the dynamic and evolving challenges of public health in the 21st century, our society should foster the next generation of public health leaders. We offer a vision for doing so, by introducing prevention literacy and education from the earliest possible starting point and then broadening these concepts throughout the educational ladder. Making this societal commitment now to nurture such future leaders should make the country healthier by 2020 and beyond.

Simultaneous gastric and small intestinal trichobezoars--a hairy problem.

A trichobezoar represents a mass of accumulated hair within the gastrointestinal tract. Isolated gastric trichobezoars, those with extension into the duodenum, and small intestinal trichobezoars have all been described. However, the presence of discrete gastric and intestinal trichobezoars has been rarely presented in the literature.

HealthSouth's most wanted. Founder and former chairman and CEO Richard Scrushy is indicted for 85 counts of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering.

Wake-up call for the industry or an isolated case of corporate chicanery? Healthcare experts are divided on the import of Richard Scrushy's indictment on 85 counts last week in connection with the financial scandal at HealthSouth Corp. The indictment alleges the company founder relied on electronic and telephone surveillance, threats and intimidation to control his accomplices.