Hilary Swank is not your average Hollywood celebrity. She is private, talented and driven to do good things. One of her current projects will benefit the charity Pantene Beautiful Lengths Campaign. This charity collects hair from woman and then creates wigs for patients who have lost their hair to cancer therapy.

Swank, who is currently sporting long locks, will have to grow enough hair to produce an 8 inch pony tail. As per the Pantene requirements, she will not be able to use permanent dyes on her hair and cannot have more than 5% gray in her hair. The actress reports that she is looking forward to donating her hair to a good cause and sporting a new look.

At the University of Bath, researchers believe they have found a new method of delivering chemotherapy to cancer patients without patients having to endure the traditional chemotherapy side effects of  hair loss and nausea. In development stages now, the method involves using tiny fibers and beads soaked in a chemotherapy drug, which are then implanted into the cancerous area of the patient’s body. As any chemotherapy patient knows, chemotherapy drugs are currently administered by an IV drip of toxic chemicals directly into the veins.

The benefit of this new targeted method of chemotherapy delivery will mean lower doses of chemotherapy drugs will be needed, and chemotherapy drugs will not circulate throughout the entire body, damaging healthy cells in order to destroy cancerous cells.

Known as Fibrasorb, the method was developed over the past few years, and has successfully gone through preliminary laboratory trials. The first clinical trials on volunteer patients with ovarian cancer in Avon, Somerset and Wiltshire could begin in the next few years and, if successful, the therapy would then be introduced into wider use.

Diane Lane, award-winning actress, announced she is growing her hair as long as possible until this summer, when she will have it all cut off as part of Pantene Beautiful Lengths, a charitable campaign encouraging women and men to grow, cut and donate hair for wigs to be given to chemotherapy patients suffering hair loss due to treatment. The campaign is hoping to inspire women and men to make a gift of their healthy hair, cutting it to create wigs for women in need. In addition, Pantene will launch the program with a $1 million donation to the Women's Cancer Research Fund cancer research.

"One in three women will get cancer in her lifetime, and 58 percent of women say that they fear hair loss more than any other side effect of cancer," said Amanda Hill, brand manager, Pantene. "At Pantene we are passionate about women's hair and women's health, and we are introducing Pantene Beautiful Lengths as a personal, profound way Americans can support women in their life-changing struggle." If you are interested in participating in Pantene's Beautiful Lengths campaign, Pantene has posted tips on how to grow beautiful hair and ways to donate hair for women undergoing cancer treatment and hair loss.

UPDATE: Diane Lane has cut hair on live television.

Beckman Research Institute's Department of Surgical Research Dr. Shiuan Chen has concluded the white button mushrooms offer both breast cancer and prostate cancer protection, and may be a significant nutritional resource as a cancer prevention food. Compounds found in white button mushrooms are capable of suppressing aromatase, the enzyme responsible for the synthesis of estrogen. For estrogen positive breast cancers, the suppression of estrogen is important, as estrogen fuels the spread of estrogen-positive breast cancer. Dr. Chen suggests postmenopausal women may benefit from a daily diet of white button mushrooms for cancer prevention.

In addition, Dr. Chen found that the phytochemicals in white button mushrooms suppressed steroid 5alpha-reductase, the enzyme that converts testosterone into dihydrotestosterone, DHT, which, if allowed to rise, can lead to the development of prostate cancer and an enlarged prostate. In cell culture experiments mushroom extracts suppressed the growth of both hormone dependent and hormone independent prostate cancer cell lines, and can decrease the size of a tumor. The research indicates that men may benefit from a daily diet that includes mushrooms as a means of prostate cancer prevention. As an interesting side note, the mushroom extracts tested seem to have the ability to slow hair loss, because over production of DHT can lead to hair loss. For more information, download Mushroom Council Nutrition Research Update 2005, available as a PDF document, found in the drop down menu.

Chemotherapy means hair loss, nausea and vomiting for many cancer patients. The debilitating side effects of chemotherapy occur because chemotherapy drugs attack all fast-reproducing cells, not just cancer cells. As a result, the damage done from chemotherapy treatment to normal cells leads to hair loss, nausea and vomiting.

Ark Therapeutics, a london-based drug researcher of gene-based medicine, has developed a new drug, Scavidin, that when added to current chemotherapy treatments, will eliminate the devastating and disabling side effects of hair loss, nausea and vomiting. Ark Therapeutics claims Scavidin is so revolutionary in its ability to deliver chemotherapy drugs to the tumor, that only one-tenth of chemotherapy doses in standard use today will need to be administered in the future, when used in combination with Scavidin. Ark Therapeutics is seeking approval for clinical trials of Scavidin in combination with chemotherapy treatment. If the new drug proves it can do all the researchers claim, it will be one of the most significant breakthroughs in gene-based medicine for cancer patients who must undergo chemotherapy.