Men who use anabolic-androgenic steroids are sometimes said to be prone to violence, and a study of 50 men who attended gyms for weight training found that those who used steroids were less in control of their aggression than men who did not use the drugs (Medicine, Science and the Law 2001;41:309-14). The authors acknowledge, however, that one explanation of their finding is that naturally aggressive men may be more than usually attracted to steroids.

Children with recurrent abdominal pain present a difficult conundrum for doctors. Studies from Western countries indicate a link between recent significant life events and abdominal pain, and a study from Malaysia indicates a similar relation. Reinforcement of symptoms by parents is said to further contribute to the experience of pain, and as parenting styles in Malaysia are considered by some to be overprotective it would be interesting to compare the experience of these children with those in the West (Journal of Psychosomatic Research 2001;51:559-62).

As Minerva copes with her annual bout of viral sniffles, she was interested to read that scientists have worked out which bit of the influenza virus is responsible for killing the immune cells that are sent to destroy it. A peptide segment called …