HEALTH NOTES: Virtual Reality headsets to predict miscarriages

Experts will soon be able to predict which pregnancies will end in miscarriage using virtual reality (VR) headsets.

Researchers at the Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands developed the system using ultrasound on women eight weeks after pregnancy. Each scan was converted into 3D and enlarged until the embryo was the size of an adult, which was then inspected by experts using VR headsets that allowed them to move around and spot any problems.

Analyzes showed that those who developed unusually slowly were less likely to make it to full term.

NHS to ramp up training in autism

More than 1,300 NHS psychiatrists will undergo training to radically improve their understanding of autism.

Professor Ashok Roy, a consultant psychiatrist who will lead the two-year program developed by Health Education England, said it aims to prevent autistic people from being unnecessarily admitted to mental health hospitals.

Autism affects around 700,000 people in the UK with a wide spectrum of mental health problems. NHS data suggests that around 1,100 people with autism are currently in psychiatric hospitals, often due to a misdiagnosis of their condition or a lack of appropriate care facilities.

Tom Cahill, NHS England’s Director for Learning Disabilities and Autism, said: ‘We want to ensure that people working in the NHS develop their knowledge to better support the needs of autistic people.’

Sexual activity in Britain has fallen to its lowest point in a decade, according to a study by University College London and University of Glasgow.

People in the UK have sex on average twice a month, compared to three times a month in 2010. The researchers also found fewer pregnancies compared to a decade ago.

The data comes from the UK’s largest sex survey, involving 6,500 adults, and the experts suggest the drop in intimacy may be a residual effect of the pandemic – when social contact was limited. They also found that a quarter of men and a fifth of women said their sex lives were worse in 2021 than they were in 2020.

Specialist pain clinics prescribe too many addictive painkillers, an NHS boss warned.

There are around 200 pain centers in the UK, offering treatments that include psychotherapy, exercise and strong pain medication. But according to Professor Anthony Avery, a clinical director for the NHS England, ‘all too often they prescribe higher strength opioids’ – strong painkillers that can quickly become addictive. According to some mental health services, addiction to these prescription painkillers has increased by 40 percent in the past decade.

“I’ve largely stopped referring to pain clinics,” Prof. Avery told Pulse magazine’s conference last week.