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No sexual health clinic in the West Midlands can offer patients an appointment within 48 hours, a BBC survey has revealed. BBC researchers contacted 22 clinics in the region with one caller being told to wait 56 days for an appointment.

By 2008 the government's goal is to have all patients seen within two days.

The Department of Health admits more needs to be done, and is investing £300m in the problem UK-wide over the next three years.

Dr Mia Huengsberg, a sexual health specialist, said: "It's dreadful. It (the wait) not only allows the infection to start giving rise to complications but it also increases the rate of spread."

'Instant test'

Panorama said its investigation revealed the scale of the sexually-transmitted infection (STI) epidemic in the UK, and showed a nation where sexual health is in rapid decline, due to big increases in the infection rates for some of the most common STIs.

One caller was told to ring at 0900 for an appointment the same day, if they were unsuccessful they should try the next day at the same time.

Another was told an appointment could be made but it was likely to be in eight weeks time.

Whittal Street Clinic, in Birmingham, has cut its waiting times to two weeks after taking on another conultant and is in the process of creating two new consulting rooms.

While the Brook Advisory Centre is trialling a new instant chlamydia test to try to reduce its waits.

BBC News

The Scottish Executive has said that sexual health is a priority on which £4.5m is being spent this year. Health Minister Andy Kerr was responding to a survey of the UK's sexual health clinics by the BBC's Panorama programme.

It found that 45% of Scotland's 20 clinics could not treat a patient showing serious symptoms of a sexually transmitted disease within two days.

The 48-hour figure is not a Scottish target, but one set for England.

Mr Kerr said: "Improving Scotland's poor sexual health record is a priority for us. We want more people to take responsibility for their own sexual health and well-being.

"Our action plan, published earlier this year, sets out ways to deliver improved access to sexual health services in Scotland.

'Improving services'

"NHS boards have been allocated specific funding totalling £4.5m this year to improve sexual health services in their areas.

"This will be directed towards improving clinical services and in particular, reducing waiting times and improving service access and availability."

Panorama contacted every clinic in the UK posing as patients and found that the longest wait for a routine appointment at any clinic was 30 days, while the average figure was 17 days.

Of those in Scotland which could offer a routine appointment when first contacted, none was available within 48 hours.

Some 20% could not see a patient whose partner had gonorrhoea within the recommended time.

Mr Kerr added: "Work on targets is being taken forward as part of the national Sexual Health Strategy.

"In addition, we have asked NHS boards to produce local clinical service plans to respond specifically to local needs."

BBC News

A Bosnian pensioner who claims to have been married 162 times has said he wants to marry at least another 100 women.

Nedeljko Ilincic, 75, from Milosevac in Bosnia and Herzegovina, said he first got married when he was 15 and since then it has been "just one wife after another".

He said he now plans to see if his "feat" is worthy of a place in the Guinness Book of Records.

The former waiter, who has 14 children from different marriages, told local weekly Svet: "I first got married when I was only 15.

"I did it mainly because my parents wanted me to marry a woman named Joka, even though she was 20 years older than me, because her family was rich.

"I soon divorced her though because I didn't like her and after that it was just one wife after another. I seemed to be getting either married or divorced all the time.

"The length of the marriages was always different, sometimes I'd spend a few years with my wife, other times it would just be a week. I must hold the record though."

And the former waiter, who is currently single, said that at 75 he had not lost his appetite for marriage.

He said: "I'm still very popular with the ladies. At the moment there are two I could choose from, Janja and Dragica, who are both from Gradacac in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and I've heard one of my ex-wives Petra also wants me back.

"I may be getting on a bit, but I'm not ready to give up on love just yet. Another 100 marriages would probably calm me down."

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Campaigners and health professionals are concerned teenagers may be put off seeking sex advice by proposed changes to confidentiality laws. The government is consulting on if it should require health workers to tell police or social services about under age sex to improve child protection.

Teenagers are currently entitled to the same confidentiality as adults except when they are at risk of serious harm.

A Brook survey found such a move would deter youngsters from seeking help.

The poll of 729 under-25s found that 64% would be less likely to seek advice on issues such as contraception, pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections if they knew professionals could pass on information. The figure rose to 74% for under 16s.

Brook chief executive Jan Barlow said confidentiality was the number one concern for young people when it came to sex advice.

"Any erosion of young people's rights to confidential sexual health advice and treatment would be disastrous.

"It could reverse all the good work that has been set in progress, leading to a whole generation of young people losing faith in the sexual health services available to them and a massive increase in the rates of unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections."

Mother's challenge

The charity said anecdotal evidence suggested some areas of London and Yorkshire had already started changing practices even though the Department for Education and Skills (DES) is still consulting on the proposed changes.

It comes as a mother is challenging the law by going to court in November to demand the right to know if her daughters have an abortion.

Brook has also launched a campaign, Wise Up!, to safeguard teenagers' confidentiality rights.

Their calls have been supported by a range of health professionals and campaigners.

Dr Michael Wilks, chairman of the British Medical Association's ethics committee, said: "Mandatory reporting of non-abusive relationships threatens the trust that underpins the relationship between doctors and patients.

"This will deter young people from seeking medical care to reduce risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease."

'Views sought'

Royal College of Nursing general secretary Beverly Malone said young people needed to have "trust" in the people providing care to them.

Anne Weyman, chief executive of the Family Planning Association, added: "Fears about the confidentiality of sexual health services are one of the main reasons young people fail to seek professional advice."

But Paul Tully, general secretary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said while it was not always necessary for professionals to inform other authorities if advice was given, a distinction should be drawn when it came to treatment such as abortion.

The DES said the changes were being considered as part of the government's response to the inquiry into the Soham murders.

"We are seeking views on what guidance would be helpful in sharing information about under-age sexual activity, to better safeguard children and young people from harm."

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US researchers say there may be a better marker to indicate when a man has a more aggressive form of prostate cancer. Checking for a protein called MDM2 could improve current testing methods which are less than perfect, the Fox Chase Cancer Center team hope.

Spotting the most dangerous tumours early so they can be treated is important to improve survival.

The work was presented at a cancer meeting in Denver, Colorado.

To predict prostate cancer outcomes, doctors currently rely on measures that suggest how far the tumour has spread and how abnormal the cancer cells appear under the microscope.

They also use blood tests to look for a marker called prostate specific antigen (PSA), but the problem is that some men with prostate cancer do not have a raised PSA level and some men with a raised PSA do not have prostate cancer.

For every 100 men with a raised PSA, only about a third will have any cancer cells in their prostate.

And a stable PSA or a drop in the level with treatment for those diagnosed with prostate cancer does not always mean that the cancer therapy is working as PSA levels can fluctuate for other reasons.

MDM2

Dr Alan Pollack and colleagues looked at the amount of a protein called MDM2 in prostate cancer cells to see if this might improve prognosis prediction.

MDM2 is involved in regulating cell growth and has been linked to prostate tumours and other cancers by scientists in the past.

Among 469 men with prostate cancer who had been treated with radiation and drugs, MDM2 appeared to reflect which had responded well to these therapies and which had not.

Detectable MDM2 was associated with a doubling of distant cancer spread and a nearly 10% reduction in five-year survival.

Dr Pollack told the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology meeting: "New biomarkers hold promise in strengthening our ability to predict response to treatment.

"By identifying more virulent forms of prostate cancer, we may be able to tailor treatment or develop therapies to target the abnormalities identified."

Chris Hiley of The Prostate Cancer Charity Head said: "We very much welcome this research although it is early days.

"A test that can enable doctors to distinguish clearly between aggressive and slow growing forms of prostate cancer - the 'tigers' and the 'pussycats' - is vital.

"If this new marker fulfils its promise, doctors will be able to give much clearer, timely guidance to men on their treatment options and what outcomes to expect."

Dr Emma Knight of Cancer Research UK, said: "Such a test could reduce the need for unnecessary treatment while allowing those men with potentially life-threatening disease to be followed up more rapidly."

Prostate cancer is now the most common cancer to affect men in the UK - more than 30,000 are diagnosed with it each year.

BBC News

It's a modern day dilemma - should you greet a friend with one cheek kiss, two or go for broke with three? The answer, among many to 21st Century etiquette conundrums for women, is two, says Good Housekeeping magazine.

Its guide advises that while three kisses are de rigueur for French ladies, two is quite sufficient here.

The magazine's Noughtiquette guide also addresses such thorny issues as showing the top of a thong and using the loo while your other half is showering.

The answer to both is: "Don't."

The magazine says it is a manners guide for the Sex in the City generation.

And contrary to the openness about sex in that programme, it says it is poor form to ogle other men while with a partner and women should not reveal details of their sex life.

Noughtiquette guide (from November's Good Housekeeping):

DON'Ts:

• Kiss anyone other than your partner on the lips
• Kiss a boss, plumber or doctor or anyone you have a professional relationship with
• Argue loudly in public
• Steal from your partner's plate; order chips yourself
• Stretch out in a gym changing room without clothes on
• Quibble over a group restaurant bill
• Use a smiley face in an e-mail
• Write anything in an e-mail you wouldn't be prepared to say to someone's face.

• Answer an invite to dinner as soon as you can, not on the morning of the party
• Serve food within an hour of guests arriving or they will be too drunk to eat
• Avoid serving food which has been the subject of a recent food scare
• Invite your former spouse to your wedding - and even better manners for them to be unable to make it
• Where children are involved, maintain exquisite manners when referring to your ex.

A giant brothel set to cater for tens of thousands of football fans at next year's World Cup in Germany is opening its doors in Berlin.

Built just yards from the main stadium, its owner believes the three-storey Artemis brothel will be a big hit with World Cup visitors.

Norman Jacob, lawyer for the private investor who wishes to remain anonymous, said: "Football and sex go together extremely well."

Prostitutes wanting to use the facility also have to pay £50 to "rent" a room there for three months. For that price they get free meals and access to the Artemis gym.

Prostitutes negotiate their own fees with clients who must also pay an entrance fee of £50 to enter the complex, which has rooms for more than 100 girls as well as a sauna and lap dancing bar.

Ananova.com

A technique to make sperm glow green could aid research into infertility, say scientists. An Oxford University team extracted a gene that manufactures a green protein in a jellyfish and used it to create green sperm in hamster testicles.

Hamsters have similar sperm to humans and therefore provide an ideal model for studying human sperm development, and how things go wrong.

Details are published in the journal Biology of Reproduction.

The Oxford team say the technique should allow many different aspects of gene function in sperm to be analysed in close detail.

It should be possible to highlight specific genes within the sperm using the jellyfish protein, and then to follow their progress.

Lead researcher Dr John Parrington said: "Our real aim is to use this technique to study the function of genes that are important during fertilisation and that may cause infertility if they become defective.

"That's an important goal given that a recent study found that one in seven British couples have fertility problems, and a third of these have an unknown cause."

Many cells of the body can be cultured and genetically modified in the lab.

But this is not possible for sperm cells because of their small size and unusual shape, and because they only live for a short time outside the body.

Egg activation

The Oxford team plan to focus on the mechanism by which sperm entering an egg triggers it to develop into an embryo rather than remaining in a state of suspended animation.

The technique may also offer the possibility of a new way of creating genetically modified animals for all sorts of other research.

Currently, genetically modified mice are created by introducing synthetic genes called transgenes into an egg.

However, this method is relatively inefficient, and so far attempts to use it to create genetically modified versions of important model species such as hamsters and guinea pigs have failed.

Creating the transgenic animals from transgenic sperm - genetically modifying the sperm and then fertilizing a normal egg with it - might be the answer.

Not only would it potentially reduce the number of mice used in medical research, it also opens up the possibility of studying gene function in species that are better models than mice for studying certain human diseases.

The fluorescent green protein only shows up in the mid-section of the sperm between the head and the tail.

This is because the protein targets structures called mitochondria, which are only located in the midpiece.

The fluorescence is only visible under a particular wavelength of light under a microscope.

Dr Allan Pacey, a fertility expert based at the University of Sheffield and secretary of the British Fertility Society, told the BBC News website the research was an "exciting development".

He said "This will allow scientists to examine many aspects of sperm function that would previously have been impossible.

"There is an awful lot to discover about how sperm work and why sometimes they fail to function properly."

BBC News

British people may soon be able to board ships anchored off the coast to obtain fertility treatment forbidden in the UK, such as anonymous donor sperm. Some fear the removal of anonymity from sperm donors in April will exacerbate the shortage of donors, affecting infertile couples.

Ole Schou from the international sperm bank company Cryos, based in Denmark, is consultant to the ship scheme.

Ships would be governed by the laws of the country whose flag they flew.

He envisages that the ships would be equipped with operating theatres and clinics which could be staffed with UK doctors.

Mr Schou, who is advising business planners outlining the cost of such enterprises, believes there could be a market for hundreds of ships in Europe, and all would be completely legal.

As the fertility ships would be governed by the laws of their own country, people from many different countries would be able to sidestep their own nation's fertility laws.

In Denmark for example, it is illegal for fertility doctors to assist lesbians and single people in their quest for a baby.

Legal loopholes

Danish couples are also unable to keep IVF embryos frozen for more than two years, which Mr Schou said can put big time stresses on them when trying to plan a family.

The concept is not new. In 2001, a Dutch ship docked in Dublin, Ireland, and offering abortions onboard.

Mr Schou said: "It is important that we find a solution for people.

"These very restrictive legislations leave patients in a bad situation, unable to find help for their needs."

He said it was a question of marketing.

"If you have different regulations on treatments then you will have trading across borders."

Cryos already supplies anonymous donor sperm to people in the UK upon a UK doctor's request.

Infertility Network UK said it had been getting more calls from people interested in going abroad to seek fertility treatment because of long waiting times in the UK due to donor shortages.

Chief executive Claire Brown said: "We do have a massive shortage of both sperm and egg donors.

"With the removal of anonymity there are some couples who did not agree with that and do not want their donor to be known.

"I can see why couples may consider it but they need to be very careful."

She said it was important for any person seeking treatment to be sure that the service they opted for was safe and legal.

A spokesman from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which regulates and inspects all UK clinics providing IVF, donor insemination or the storage of eggs, sperm or embryos, said such ships would fall outside of the authority's regulation.

"Our job as the UK regulator is to provide guarantees for people in terms of the safety and the appropriateness of the treatment they are receiving.

"We are not saying people should not make this choice, but you can't be sure what you are getting."

He said there was also a question mark over who would provide after care if things went wrong.

BBC News

A "sex academy" opening next year promises to bring bedroom issues out into the open - including tips on being a better lover and explaining orgasms. Sex therapists, historians and artists have been working on the £4.7m London Academy of Sex and Relationships.

It will include explanations of sexual chemistry and rejection, as well as looking at sexually-transmitted disease and common problems in the bedroom.

"Titillation is not the goal," said a spokesman for the academy.

"This is not a sex museum like those in Amsterdam, Barcelona and Paris, which tend to veer towards pornography for commercial benefit alone.

'Not sleazy'

"The management is committed to avoiding the sleazy image that the sex industry usually conjures."

He added the aim was to create a "Kinsey-type institute in Europe" - referring to the 1948 Kinsey Report into American sexual behaviour.

Sexual chemistry, erogenous zones and orgasms will be explained, as will sexually-transmitted diseases and erectile dysfunction.

The academy, described as a "theme park", is backed by the Terrence Higgins Trust, Relate, Avert and the Sexual Dysfunction Association.

The academy said it would address sex issues "in an exciting, amusing and yet educational way".

And the Sexual Dysfunction Association said it would help the 10% of British men and 40% of women suffering from some sort of sexual dysfunction.

Dr Kevan Wylie, from the European Federation of Sexology, added: "People need to know the options open to them and get all the information they need to be able to make informed decisions.

"Whether this is in relation to better love-making, avoiding sexually transmitted infections and even enjoying particular kinks or fetishes, it's high time there's a leading London venue that communicates this information in a responsible and engaging manner."

BBC News