The troubling rise of longevity fixation syndrome: ‘I was crushed by the pressure I put on myself’

It was a pitta bread that finally broke Jason Wood. It arrived with hummus instead of the vegetable crudites he had preordered in a restaurant that he had painstakingly researched, as he always did, weeks before he and his husband visited. “In that moment, I just snapped,” he recalls. “I hit rock bottom, I got angry … I started crying, I started shaking. I just felt like I couldn’t do it any more, like I had been crushed by all this pressure I put on myself

The sneeze secret: how much should you worry about this explosive reflex?

It is one of the most powerful involuntary actions the human body can perform. But is a big sneeze a sign of illness, pollution or something else entirely?How worried should we be about a sneeze? It depends who you ask. In the Odyssey, Telemachus sneezes after Penelope’s prayer that her husband will soon be home to sort out her house-sitting suitors – which she sees as a good omen for team Odysseus, and very bad news for the suitors. In the Anabasis, Xenophon takes a sneeze from a soldier as godly confirmation that his army can fight their way back to their own territory – great news for them – while St Augustine notes, somewhat disapprovingly, that people of his era tend to go back to bed if they sneeze while putting on their slippers. But is a sneeze an omen of anything apart from pathogens, pollen or – possibly – air pollution?“It’s a physical response to get rid of something that’s irritating your body,” says Sheena Cruickshank, an immunologist and professor at the University of Manchester

People with dementia are still people, with joys and interests of their own | Letters

Well said, Jo Glanville (Reading was the key to breaking through the fog of my parents’ dementia, 1 February). Our mother lived with vascular dementia for many years, but she wasn’t “dead” or “as good as dead”. Far too many people believe this, even people whose loved ones have had dementia, and it’s a dangerous belief that undermines the rights of people who are already extremely vulnerable.Mum was alive and herself right to the end, even when she had become bedbound and crippled, even when somebody who could once have chatted for England barely spoke any more. But in those last few years, when she could no longer read for herself, Dad or I (or my brothers when they visited) read to her every day, and even when she didn’t say much, I could tell by the expression on her face whether she was enjoying it or not

NHS hiring bans in cancer units shortsighted and dangerous, doctors warn

Hospitals have banned units that diagnose and treat cancer from hiring doctors as part of an NHS cost-cutting drive, despite the growing demand for care.Exactly half of the UK’s 60 specialist cancer treatment centres had a freeze on recruiting clinical oncologists imposed on them during 2025, more than double the 13 (23%) seen the year before.Similarly, more than a third (36%) of the 160 radiology departments – which perform and analyse scans – were subjected to a ban last year on hiring clinical radiologists, up from 19% in 2024, according to information supplied by 138 of the UK’s 160 such units.The Royal College of Radiologists, which collected the figures, warned that the dramatic rise in staffing freezes could lead to “dangerous” delays in cancers being spotted and treated.Dr Stephen Harden, the RCR’s president, criticised the bans as “shortsighted”, bad for patients, damaging to NHS personnel’s morale and likely to cost more money in the long term

Menstrual blood test could offer alternative to cervical screening for cancer

A pioneering test of period blood for signs of cervical cancer could be a convenient, non-invasive and accurate way of screening for the disease, researchers have said.A regular sanitary pad topped with a blood sample strip can pick up human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes most cases of cervical cancer, and could be used by women at home, the results of a study indicate.Currently, most women undergo cervical screening under the care of a clinician, who collects a sample via a brush inserted into the vagina. But millions of women invited for screening do not attend.Researchers in China compared the diagnostic accuracy of menstrual blood with samples collected by a clinician for detecting cervical cell abnormalities (CIN2 and CIN3), which can require treatment

Most statin side-effects not caused by the drugs, study finds

Almost all side-effects listed for statins are not caused by the drugs, according to the world’s most comprehensive review of evidence.Other than the well-known risks around muscle pain and diabetes, only four of 66 other statin side-effects listed on labels – liver test changes, minor liver abnormalities, urine changes and tissue swelling – are supported by evidence. And the risks are very small, according to the systematic review and meta-analysis published in the Lancet.Statins have been used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide over the last three decades and are proven to reduce heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular deaths. At the same time, millions have been put off the drugs amid long-running safety concerns, with statin labels listing dozens of possible side-effects

Alton Towers to test excluding people with autism and ADHD from disability fast lane

People with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety and autism will be prevented from using fast-lane disability queueing passes at Alton Towers during a trial over the February half-term holidays.Merlin Entertainments, which runs the theme park in Staffordshire, provides a “ride access pass” to visitors who have difficulty queueing due to a disability or medical condition.The pass allows guests to book a slot on a virtual queueing system for themselves and up to three companions. They are then allowed to wait for their turn away from often crowded queues.But the company said disabled visitors with “additional accessibility needs” have said the digital pass “simply isn’t working for them, particularly as demand has grown and queue times for these guests have increased”

We need new drugs for mental ill-health | Letter

It is not only veterans and emergency workers living with post-traumatic stress disorder who could benefit if ministers heed the call from Sir Nick Carter (Ex-British army chief calls on ministers to back MDMA-assisted therapy for veterans, 1 February). Thousands of people who have major mental illness, and those dealing with bereavement and trauma, could be helped too.The shocking lack of progress in developing transformative psychiatric medicines, and a dearth of innovation has left clinicians with few weapons in their armoury to relieve mental pain. Families and people scarred by long-term distress tell us they are desperate for new treatments and therapies.At the Prince of Wales International Centre for Sane Research, our research centre in Oxford, we host clinical trials researching the medical use of innovative interventions such as esketamine and cannabidiol for psychiatric ill-health

Autistic girls much less likely to be diagnosed, study says

Females may be just as likely to be autistic as males but boys are up to four times more likely to be diagnosed in childhood, according to a large-scale study.Research led by the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden scrutinised the diagnosis rates of autism for people born in Sweden between 1985 and 2020. Of the 2.7 million people tracked, 2.8% were diagnosed with autism between the ages of two and 37