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Scientists discover men and women do feel pain differently

Men and women process pain signals differently - probably due to hormones, a new study reveals. Researchers discovered for the first time that the way neurons in the spinal cord deal with the signals for pain depend on your sex.

'Developing new pain drugs requires a detailed understanding of how pain is processed'

The findings, published in the journal Brain, could lead to better and more personalised treatments for chronic pain. The team from Carleton University and Ottawa Hospital, in Canada, used both donated human spinal cords as well as rat cords for their study.

Previous research showed that men and women experience pain differently but most pain research used male rodent spinal cords. The new study used female rodent and human cords as well to discover where the difference lay.

They found a neuronal growth factor called BDNF plays a major role in amplifying spinal cord pain signalling in male humans and male rats, but not in female humans or female rats. When female rats had their ovaries removed, the difference disappeared, pointing to a hormonal connection.

Dr Annemarie Dedek, lead author of the study, said: "Developing new pain drugs requires a detailed understanding of how pain is processed at the biological level. This new discovery lays the foundation for the development of new treatments to help those suffering from chronic pain.” 

Reference: Hull Live: Jim Leffman & Daniel Smith

Meet the world's shortest woman who measures just 72cm tall but is on a mission

The world's shortest non-mobile woman says she is on a mission to educate others about her rare form of dwarfism. Wildine Aumoithe, 19, holds a Guinness World Record for measuring just 72cm (28.3 inches) tall.

The high school student has created a YouTube channel detailing her love of fashion and keeping followers up with her day-to-day life. She was diagnosed with a rare form of dwarfism known as SADDAN (severe achondroplasia with developmental delay and acanthosis nigricans) dysplasia but has never let her disability hold her back.

Ms Aumoithe said: "I don't really walk much anymore because my legs are bowed but I have a power wheelchair that goes up and down, which is really an extension of my mobility. My mum helps me out with lots of things too, like getting dressed and reaching things high up – my mum is like my best friend.

"I've always had a really positive reaction on social media. Someone even made a fan page of me."

Adam Gray/SWNS

Ms Aumoithe had her record confirmed in October 2021, when she was aged 18. Although she now lives with long-term health issues due to her condition, doctors had initially doubted she would survive even 24 hours when she was born.

"I am really proud to be the first Haitian-American to hold a shortest woman world record", she said. "I've been through a lot. I was even sent to a hospice for six months after birth as doctors didn't think I'd make it – but finally I was allowed to come home."

Ms Aumoithe, from Miami, Florida, has been using her online presence to help break down the stigma surrounding her dwarfism. Her videos can be found on her YouTube channel, Life of Wildine.

"I want people to learn a bit about my dwarfism, just because I'm short I'm still a regular person," she said. "I don't want to let anything hold me back. I just have to find a way to do things, my own way."

Adam Gray/SWNS

Ms Aumoithe plans to go to university to study pharmacology later this year. Due to her medical vulnerability, she has been home-schooling at her custom-made desk during the pandemic.

She said: "I'm currently a high school senior, I'm graduating in May. I'm pretty normal in high school and all my friends accept me for who I am.

"Because of coronavirus I've been doing virtual school online. I do miss my friends but that's the only real negative about home-schooling." 

Reference: Hull Live: Hattie Bishop & Erin Santillo

Bruce Willis has been diagnosed with brain condition, will stop acting

Bruce Willis has reportedly been struggling with cognitive issues on the sets of his films for years - and even needed an earpiece to feed him lines - long before his family announced on Wednesday that the famed actor had been diagnosed with a brain condition.

In a statement on social media, Willis' family told his fans that he had been diagnosed with aphasia, a brain condition that affects his ability to understand language, and will therefore be stepping away from acting.

But an unnamed source told Page Six his declining cognitive ability had been an open secret in Hollywood as the actor repeatedly had trouble acting in his films. 

'Everybody knew, the cast and crew,' the unnamed source said, adding that Willis was 'using earpieces, hearing things, for them to feed him the lines,' and it 'was increasingly difficult to have him on screen.'

He said that films actually had to be made closer to where Willis resided with his family - who, the source said, has been taking care of the 67-year-old actor - to make productions easier. 

And in at least one production, the source said, producers began using a body double to increase Willis' screen time, while in another his screen time was 'whittled down,' with the actor shooting on set for only three days.

The source said: 'It was becoming super obvious he was having trouble ... he could not act anymore.'  

The famed actor can even be seen in a scene in his new movie American Siege, which was filmed in 2020, wearing an earpiece. This was a full two years before the family's announcement that Willis has aphasia.

Willis had previously been seen using an earpiece to feed him lines in his Broadway debut in Misery in 2015, an an unnamed insider also told OK! Magazine 

He was also reportedly struggling during the filming of M. Night Shyamalan's 2019 film Glass.

'While filming Glass, staffers worked around him by cutting and editing and having him overdub lines because he struggled to remember and/or deliver them,' they told the publication, according to the New Zealand Herald.

'In most scenes on Glass he's hooded, and they used stand-in and body doubles to replace him. On set, he wouldn't smile and was always chaperoned by an assistant to guide him while walking.'

The source also said at the time that Willis had sold his New York property to spend more time with his wife and children in Los Angeles, and said that his wife, as well as ex-wife Demi Moore, were working together to take care of the famed actor.

'His wife Emma has helped Demi Moore and the children Bruce shares with his ex-wife to make truces because they know he's fading,' the unnamed source told the magazine in January 2021.

'Between Demi and Emma, the family has always ensured Bruce has the support and care he might need at any given time,' the insider said. 

They added, 'The good news is that although there is the real concern of dementia fears, it largely has not impacted his ability to work in Hollywood – and in true super hero form – he won't slow down because new technology like earpieces allows actors of his caliber not to skip a beat.'

But in recent years, the New Zealand Herald reports, die hard fans of the actor have noticed he was taking more roles in straight-to-video releases.

This year, Page Six reports, Willis was given his own category at the Razzies - a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements - for the 'worst movies of 2021' after he starred in eight critically-panned films.

One of his films, Out of Death, earned a zero percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The parody awards show apologized to the actor following the announcement of his diagnosis on Wednesday, tweeting: 'The Razzies are truly sorry for #BruceWillis' diagnosed condition.  

'Perhaps this explains why he wanted to go out with a bang in 2021. Our best wishes to Bruce and family.' 

That same weekend, Emma posted a tribute to her husband of 13 years in honor of their anniversary, sharing a photo of them at their 2009 wedding.

'13 years ago, those wedding speeches really sent us over the edge,' she wrote.

Emma also posted her own birthday tribute to Bruce - a photo montage she created, writing: 'I don't just love him, I really, really like him.'

Willis shares three children - Rumer, 33, Scout, 30 and Tallulah, 28, with Moore, to whom he was married from 1987 to 2000. He also has two daughters, Mabel, 9, and Evelyn, 7, with his wife Emma, 43.

Putin 'constantly accompanied by cancer doctor' amid health speculation

US intelligence suggests the Russian president is experiencing severe ‘isolation’ (Picture: AFP)

Speculation that Vladimir Putin is seriously ill has mounted after a report claimed he has been under near-constant monitoring by a cancer surgeon.

Yevgeny Selivanov, a leading expert in thyroid cancer from Moscow’s Central Clinical Hospital, is said to have spent at least 166 days with the Russian leader across 35 visits over a four-year period.

The figures are limited to visits during Putin’s luxury getaways at his favourite Black Sea resort of Sochi, suggesting he may spend considerably more time in the doctor’s company.

The investigation, by independent Russian outlet Proyekt Media, found 10 doctors spent a total of 1,313 days between them in Putin’s swarming entourage between 2016 and 2020, many of them overlapping.

Two otolaryngologists – surgeons who specialise in head and neck conditions – made even more visits to the 69-year-old president than Selivanov.

Igor Esakov and Alexey Schchlegov spent 152 days and 282 days with him respectively.

Thyroid cancer affects a small gland at the base of the neck, and problems with the gland are often first diagnosed by an otolaryngologist.

Putin has publicly shown interest in thyroid cancer research, raising the issue in a meeting with the head of Russia’s National Medical Research Center for Endocrinology in July 2020, according to Proyekt.

Reference: Metro: Sam Courtney-Guy -