
80-year-old Russian woman found to have lived her whole life with needle in brain
Doctors found an 80-year-old woman in Russia has lived her entire life with an inch-long needle in her brain. A local radiologist discovered a three-centimetre needle inside the octogenarian’s brain during an X-ray scan, said the Ministry of Health in Sakhalin in a Telegram post on Wednesday. The tiny needle was located in the parietal lobe of the unnamed woman’s brain, according to the ministry. While it did not disclose the exact date of discovery, it said the needle was found this year. The needle was lodged inside her brain since she was born. Doctors believe she had survived a failed infanticide attempt by her parents. In the Soviet era during the famine of the 1930s, desperate parents struggling with poverty would insert a needle into the soft spot of a baby’s head – the fontanelle – where the skull hadn’t entirely developed. It would then close, obscuring the needle, but the newborn would eventually die. “Such incidents were not uncommon during the years of starvation: a thin needle would be inserted into a newborn’s fontanel to damage the brain,” the local health department of the remote Russian region wrote on its Telegram channel. “The fontanelle quickly closed up, covering up evidence of the crime, and the baby died.” Such an attempt, believed to have been carried out on the woman who was likely born around 1943, did not lead to the intended effect. The woman had, however, occasionally complained of headaches. While doctors have decided against surgery to pull the needle, fearing it could harm the patient, “her condition is being monitored by primary care physicians”, said the ministry’s statement, adding that she was not at risk. Sakhalin is an island of 50,000 people located 6.5km off the southeastern coast in Russia and 40km of north Japan’s Hokkaido. Its control was split between the former Soviet Union and the then Japanese Empire in 1905, following a war between the two sides. The Soviet Union had seized the Japanese portion of the island in the final days of the Second World War in 1945. Read More ‘Alive and wriggling’ parasitic worm removed from brain of Australian woman Dog thought to have a brain tumour turns out to have a 7cm needle stuck in neck Pope links plight of Ukrainians today to Stalin's 'genocide' The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary
2023-10-05 16:17

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Ukraine-Russia war - live: Putin ‘may use sea mines to attack civilian ships and blame Kyiv’
Russia may use sea mines to target non-military ships and blame Ukraine for any attacks, the British government has said. Declassified intelligence warned last month that the Russian military had attempted a missile strike against a cargo ship in the Black Sea. The UK believes Russia could continue targeting civilian shipping, including by laying explosive devices in the approach to Ukrainian ports. However, Vladimir Putin’s army wants to openly avoid sinking ships in order to blame Ukraine for attacks, the government said. Foreign secretary James Cleverly said: “Russia’s pernicious targeting of civilian shipping in the Black Sea demonstrates Putin’s total disregard for civilian lives and the needs of the world’s most vulnerable. “The world is watching – and we see right through Russia’s cynical attempts to lay blame on Ukraine for their attacks. We and our allies stand united against Putin and his attempts to harm Ukraine, and thus harm the rest of the world.” Read More Former Russian state TV journalist gets 8 1/2-year sentence in absentia for Ukraine war criticism Russia facing ‘functional defeat’ in the Black Sea – but Kyiv allies warn they are running out of ammunition Russia may attack civilian ships with sea mines and blame Ukraine, UK warns
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Eurostar introduces preventative measures amid Paris bedbug surge
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Goldman Turns Cautious on ‘Expensive’ India Stocks Before Polls
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