Teenage yobs have stunted brain growth in the areas that allow them to identify with their victims, claim researchers.
Brain scans show the emotional centres of the brain are poorly developed in boys convicted of antisocial behaviour ranging from thieving to violence.
Scientists at Cambridge University are uncertain if bad behaviour is actually caused by the difference in brain development compared with 'healthy' boys.
Puzzling: A model tries to use a home blood glucose test kit
Home tests for potentially life-threatening conditions could do more harm than good, it is claimed.
DIY health kits for conditions such as stomach ulcers, prostate problems, bowel cancer or diabetes can be misleading, according to Which?
Some could give false reassurance, while others can create alarm without good reason. The instructions and language used can also be difficult to decipher.
Experts assessed a range of kits available on the high street for their accuracy and ease of use.
Potential customers were also asked whether they understood the tests and the results.
Which? said:‘The results were hit and miss. In particular some consumers said the prostate test results could have led to them not seeking medical help.
‘In most cases doctors would have to carry out their own tests to confirm a diagnosis anyway, so people may be better off going straight to their GP.’
The research found gaps in the information provided. Some tests failed to mention factors that could affect the results and cause unnecessary worry.
For example, the£12.25 Boots blood glucose test, marketed as helping‘in the early detection of diabetes’, doesn’t point out that glucose levels can be raised after a meal.
The Boots bowel test kit, which costs£12.25, gave no guidance on collecting a sample and no dietary advice, such as avoiding red meat for three days before the test.
Experts and consumers alike were left puzzled over instructions such as draw blood from the‘hillside’ of the finger.
Other terms likely to cause confusion included‘separation membranes’,‘desiccant’ and‘in-vitro diagnostic device’.
'Poor advice': A home testing kit for cholesterol
The Selfcheck Health Test, priced at£15.99, tests for an antigen (PSA) linked to prostate problems including prostate cancer. However, the pack information fails to point out that factors such as recent sexual activity, a urine infection, or even vigorous exercise, can raise PSA levels.
Experts thought the Simplicity Stomach Ulcer Screening Test, priced at£12, was misleadingly named.
It tests for a particular bacteria, but only a minority of people with that bacteria are likely to develop a stomach ulcer.
Experts found the company’s website‘unduly alarming’. Which? chief executive, Peter Vicary-Smith, said:‘Self-test health kits could be a useful tool, but the lack of clear information about how to use them could do more harm than good.
‘As your GP may well have to carry out their own tests to confirm a positive diagnosis anyway, you may be better off saving your money and going straight to your GP.’
Which? will be contributing to the European review of self-testing devices.
Together with the Plain English Campaign, it will be passing its findings to the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Products Agency and self-testing kit manufacturers to help improve the quality of information supplied.
A woman told she would never have children was stunned when she went to the doctor suffering from a bad back only to be told she was pregnant - and about to give birth.
Rebecca Raynor, 26, and husband Martin, 36, had given up on having a family after she was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome two years ago.
But just a week after going to the doctors complaining of back ache and mood swings Rebecca gave birth to her daughter Sophie-Mae on March 8.
Toyah Willcox: 'I¿m an insomniac... I get by on about four hours sleep a night'
Actress and singer Toyah Wilcox, 52, talks plastic surgery, hip replacements and going to the gym.
YOU’RE 52 NOW— DO YOU FEEL IT?
I’m in really good shape considering what women have to go through to get to 52. I’m exactly the same weight— just under 8st— as I was in the Eighties, but I look bigger because I’ve shrunk an inch in height to 5ft 1in.
DO YOU REGRET HAVING PLASTIC SURGERY?
Plastic surgery is feminism’s revenge on sexism. I’m not interested in like gravity-defying breasts— for me it’s about looking vital and not artificially young. I had a mini facelift— my jowls and bags removed.
HAD ANY OTHER SURGERY?
I was born with shallow hip sockets and one leg 2in shorter than the other (I was also born with a twisted spine and clawed feet). In the past two years my right hip became a nightmare so I had a replacement. I had to use crutches and learn to walk again, but it transformed my life. I also had a mole lasered.
DO YOU WORK OUT?
I go to the gym three times a week, but don’t kill myself. I have a costume room on the fifth floor of my house, filled with my headdresses, outfits and shoes. I run up there four or five times a day.
EVER DIETED?
Not since my 20s. Diets work initially but then you get so hungry you end up eating more. But my mother has always been overweight and I’m prone to weight gain, too, so I limit myself to 1,500 calories a day. I always have huge pots of vegetable soup on the stove— cabbage or cauliflower or parsnip.
ANY VICES?
Crutches: Toyah's hip replacement transformed her life
I have a glass of champagne once a month, but don’t drink otherwise.
POP ANY PILLS?
Flaxseed oil— it makes your skin look wonderful— and also cod liver oil, Vitamin E and Neurozan, a supplement with lots of nutrients for brain function. I also practise homeopathy and take echinacea and Bach flower remedies to prevent myself getting ill.
EVER BEEN DEPRESSED?
Not clinical depression, but I do get incredibly frustrated, for example when deals fall through or people are nasty about me. When I feel like that I just go to the gym and kick the hell out of it.
WHAT KEEPS YOU AWAKE AT NIGHT?
I’m an insomniac so it takes very little. I get by on about four hours sleep a night, seven if I’m lucky.
BIGGEST PHOBIA?
Spiders. I can’t even go in a room if there’s one in there and I’ve been known to go out into the street and ask strangers to get rid of one.
FEEL-GOOD SECRET?
Work. I was a lazy teenager but once I got into showbusiness, work became part of my happiness. It’s fulfilling and fun, and keeps you moving.
LIKE TO LIVE FOR EVER?
I don’t see the point of being Toyah Willcox for ever— it’s been testing being her for 50 years. I’d like to come back as a man. They get away with more.
toyahwillcox.com
Rebecca Leach had ovary tissue implanted after chemotherapy (posed by model)
A British woman has had frozen ovary tissue inserted back into her by a robot in a pioneering operation - raising hopes for women left infertile.
Emma Leach, 39, was left infertile and went through the menopause after undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer.
She had pieces of her ovaries frozen five years ago following her diagnosis and they have now been put back into her body.
Professor Kutluk Oktay, a New York-based fertility pioneer, agreed to carry out the operation.
Ms Leach, from London, went under the knife in the U.S. after a series of consultations over the internet via Skype.
She had been searching for over a year before coming across obstetrics and gynecology expert Dr Oktay who agreed to carry out the procedure.
The former businesswoman was warned that the chances of success are low.
Pioneering: New York-based obstetrics and gynecology professor Kutluk Oktay carried out the procedure
Her ovary was cut open by the robot and the tissue which had been removed and frozen before her chemotherapy treatment was stitched inside.
More pieces of tissue which were too small to stitch in were then injected into the other ovary by the pioneering equipment.
She was discharged from hospital within hours of the procedure.
Professor Kutluk Oktay, who performed the procedure for the first time, told the Sunday Times: 'The robotic arms mimics the movement of the hand but there is much more precision.
'There is no hand tremor - this allows the surgeon to do fine suturing at microscopic levels without having to put patients through invasive surgery.'
The robot - named Da Vinci - has previously been used for carrying out heart operations and treating cancer.
There was some hormonal function after the operation - although it was short-lived.
It was thought the problems occurred because only a small amount of tissue had been frozen.
The news will give new hope to thousands of women around the world who are left infertile after going through chemotherapy.
At 6.39pm on July 5 last year, our little boy, Ethan Edward Minogue Smith, came into the world weighing 8lb 3oz.
My partner Kris and I were now, officially, Mummy and Daddy, and we were overjoyed.
But typically for me, nothing about the birth went according to plan.
Third time lucky: Patients have to endure two other failed treatments before being allowed Protelos
A drug considered a last resort in the fight against osteoporosis is 17 times more effective than the standard initial treatment, an international study has found.
Protelos is radically different from other therapies because it promotes the growth of fresh bone rather than just preventing deterioration.
But under NHS guidelines it is a 'third-line' treatment, meaning patients with bone thinning or a fracture are not allowed it until two other approaches have been tried.
In most cases, symptoms also have to worsen before they qualify.
The new research compared the effectiveness of Protelos with the 'standard'– but much cheaper– first-line treatment alendronate, from a class of drugs known as bisphosphonates.
Doctors found that samples from women taking Protelos for six months contained almost 14 times more new bone than those on alendronate– around 3 per cent compared with 0.2 per cent.
Following a year of treatment with Protelos, also known as strontium ranelate, the bone growth was 17 times greater.
Samples from 268 post-menopausal women with osteoporosis in several countries were analysed for the study, led by doctors at Hopital Edouard Herriot, Lyon.
Their results were presented at the European Congress on Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis in Valencia, Spain.
