Failure to diagnose treatable male infertility leading to unnecessary IVF, experts say

Couples are needlessly going through IVF because male infertility is under-researched, with the NHS too often failing to diagnose treatable causes, leading experts have said.Poor understanding among GPs and a lack of specialists and NHS testing means male infertility is often left untreated in couples struggling to conceive, despite men accounting for 50% of all infertility cases.Many causes of male infertility are treatable. One of the most common, varicocele – a dilated vein in the scrotum that increases testicular temperatures, damaging sperm – can be treated through surgery, while lifestyle adjustments and supplements can also help.Vaibhav Modgil, an honorary clinical professor at the University of Manchester, and consultant urological surgeon and andrologist, said there was a lack of awareness of male infertility, which affects between 5% and 10% of men in the UK

‘It was soul destroying’: men on the struggle to get answers about infertility

After six years of trying for a baby and two failed rounds of IVF, Toby Trice found himself at his “lowest ebb”, feeling “lost, lonely and alienated from society”.“We were in this dark phase of not knowing where we were at. All our friends and family around us had children and we were constantly reminded we couldn’t. It was soul-destroying.“After the second round of IVF – and hope was ripped away from us – I had suicidal thoughts

‘We’ve got to listen to dead women’: critical part of Queensland’s DV response stops reviewing all recent deaths

The Queensland advisory board tasked with reviewing domestic and family violence deaths has quietly stopped routinely analysing new cases, and has not looked into most of the latest deaths for more than two years.Guardian Australia’s Broken trust investigation has uncovered evidence and allegations that raise concern about the way the coronial system investigates women’s deaths and the accuracy of Queensland’s DFV statistics.Coroners have repeatedly made rulings that nothing more could have been done to prevent homicides, in the face of evidence of serious policing and system failures that have contributed to women’s deaths and the mounting toll.Queensland’s Domestic and Family Violence Death Review and Advisory Board is considered a “critical” part of the state’s response to domestic and family violence. Its aim is to “prevent future avoidable deaths”

What has happened since the UK supreme court’s gender ruling?

In April, the supreme court ruled in a long-running case against the Scottish government brought by gender critical campaigners For Women Scotland (FWS). The landmark judgment said that, for the purposes of the Equality Act, the legal definition of a woman was based on biological sex. We look at what has happened since the ruling.The judgment has significant ramifications for who can now access women-only services and spaces, such as refuges or toilets, but most public bodies, businesses and other service providers are still waiting for an updated code of practice from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which will offer practical guidance on how to apply the ruling.A few companies, such as Barclays, moved quickly to bar transgender people from using toilets of their lived gender, as did Virgin Active, after a legal threat this summer

Rage rooms: can smashing stuff up really help to relieve anger and stress?

If you find it hard to count to 10 when anger bubbles up, a new trend offers a more hands-on approach. Rage rooms are cropping up across the UK, allowing punters to smash seven bells out of old TVs, plates and furniture.Such pay-to-destroy ventures are thought to have originated in Japan in 2008, but have since gone global. In the UK alone venues can be found in locations from Birmingham to Brighton, with many promoting destruction as a stress-relieving experience.According to Smash It Rage Rooms in south-east London, where a 30-minute solo session costs £50, “each smash is a cathartic release, a burst of pure, primal joy”

‘The admin’: why it’s not easy to rename streets called after Prince Andrew

Streets named after Andrew, formerly known as Prince but now plain Mountbatten-Windsor, can be found from Broadstairs to Belfast to Birmingham. Roads, avenues, terraces, lanes, crescents, closes, drives and ways are all afflicted – to the dismay of some residents.In Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, Prince Andrew Way, celebrating Mountbatten-Windsor’s 1986 marriage to Sarah Ferguson, will be purged after Mid and East Antrim council passed a motion, described by one councillor as “sad but necessary”, to rename. A public consultation is under way.In Maidenhead, Berkshire, there is a double whammy of Prince Andrew Road adjoining Prince Andrew Close, where some residents have complained of “surface-level embarrassment” , “smirks” and “raised eyebrows” whenever they give their address