Infosys TV

A new, highly accurate test for Down’s syndrome has been recommended for high-risk women on the  NHS . The simple blood test is used to detect Down’s syndrome and can also pick up two other chromosomal disorders, Patau’s syndrome and Edwards’s syndrome. The move would mean far fewer women needing invasive amniocentesis tests, which carry a 1% chance of miscarriage and around a one in 1,000 risk of serious infection. At present, all pregnant women in England are offered a combined blood and ultrasound test when they are 10 to 14 weeks pregnant to check for abnormalities. In new recommendations, government advisers say women found to have a one in 150 chance or greater of having a baby with Down’s, Patau’s or Edwards’s syndrome in the combined test should then be offered the new test. The new screening method – known as non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) – works on the knowledge that a developing foetus’s DNA circulates in the mother’s blood. Non-invasive Down'

I am a 73-year-old woman. I have had no trouble having orgasms with a vibrator until recently. But now, though I get close, it just doesn’t happen. What do you think is wrong? The suddenness with which your anorgasmia appeared might suggest there is something going on of a physiological nature, and it would be wise to have a checkup with your doctor. Some medications – even over-the-counter preparations – might have sexual side-effects, and do ask your doctor about your hormone levels, as there is a relationship between hormonal activity and orgasm. To be proactive, step up your exercise programme if your doctor allows it, and maintain general healthy habits. Has something changed in your life recently that might be sexually significant, such as a downturn in your self-esteem, body image or mood? Are you feeling sad or worried about something? Depression can negatively influence sexuality, and so can anxiety, stress and bereavement. The use of fantasies or erotic materials dur

What I’ve learned about diets: punishing your body is not taking care of it Lindy West It’s the third week in January. You’re probably on a diet. More than any other axis of life – more than our careers, our relationships, our finances – we’re trained to ring in the dawn of each year with a hyper-critical evaluation of our bodies. Even if we don’t plunge into full-blown six-almonds-with-a-side-of-chia-seed-slurry regimens, there’s always a notion, come 1 January, of getting our shit together, tightening up and becoming the effortlessly moderate wood nymph we pretend to be on Instagram. Our true self. “This will be the year,” we think, “when I will finally get smaller.” If you’re some sort of contrarian Flintstone with a rock for a TV and a toucan for a phonograph, that might sound like a gross generalisation, but open any women’s magazine, eavesdrop in a coffee shop, talk to your mother on the phone, log into Facebook or tune into a daytime talk show, and you’ll be bombarded

20 reported killed in Burkina Faso hotel attack Gunfire and explosions have erupted in Burkina Faso’s capital as security forces battled militant fighters who were holding hostages at one of Ouagadougou’s most prominent hotels. There were reports that 20 people had been killed. Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for the ongoing attack. It follows a deadly raid on a hotel in Mali last November, as well as attacks by militants in other countries in west Africa. The gunmen stormed the five-storey Splendid hotel in Ouagadougou’s business district, burning cars outside and firing in the air to drive back crowds before security forces arrived, prompting an intense exchange of gunfire. Robert Sangare, director of Ouagadougou’s university hospital centre, said: “We have received around 15 wounded people. There are people with bullet wounds and people who are injured because of falls.” He said that the injured patients had told him they had seen around 20