Sexual minorities experience excess psychological ill health globally, yet the UK data exploring reasons for poor mental health among sexual minorities is lacking. This study compares the prevalence of a measure of well-being, symptoms of common mental disorder (CMD), lifetime suicidal ideation, harmful alcohol and drug use among inner city non-heterosexual and heterosexual individuals. It is the first UK study which aims to quantify how much major, everyday and anticipated discrimination; lifetime and childhood trauma; and coping strategies for dealing with unfair treatment, predict excess mental ill health among non-heterosexuals. Further, inner city and national outcomes are compared.

Self-report survey data came from the South East London Community Health study (N = 1052) and the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (N = 7403).

Adjustments for greater exposure to measured experiences of discrimination and lifetime and childhood trauma had a small to moderate impact on effect sizes for adverse health outcomes though in fully adjusted models, non-heterosexual orientation remained strongly associated with CMD, lifetime suicidal ideation, harmful alcohol and drug use. There was limited support for the hypothesis that measured coping strategies might mediate some of these associations. The inner city sample had poorer mental health overall compared with the national sample and the discrepancy was larger for non-heterosexuals than heterosexuals.

Childhood and adult adversity substantially influence but do not account for sexual orientation-related mental health disparities. Longitudinal work taking a life course approach with more specific measures of discrimination and coping is required to further understand these associations. Sexual minorities should be considered as a priority in the design and delivery of health and social services.

Interest in the mental health of women deployed to modern military campaigns is increasing, although research examining gender differences is limited. Little is known about experiences women have had on these deployments, or whether men and women respond differently to combat exposure.

The current study used data from a representative sample of UK Armed Forces personnel to examine gender differences among those deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan (n=432 women, n=4554 men) in three measures of experience: ‘risk to self’, ‘trauma to others’ and ‘appraisal of deployment’. We examined the impact of such experiences on post-deployment symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), symptoms of common mental disorder (CMD) and hazardous alcohol use.

After adjustment, men reported more exposure to ‘risk to self’ and ‘trauma to others’ events and more negative appraisals of their deployment. Among both genders, all measures of combat experience were associated with symptoms of PTSD and CMD (except ‘risk to self’ events on symptoms of CMD among women) but not with alcohol misuse. Women reported higher scores on the PTSD Checklist – Civilian Version (PCL-C) among those exposed to lower levels of each experience type but this did not hold in the higher levels. Women reported greater symptoms of CMD and men reported greater hazardous alcohol use across both levels of each experience type. Examining men and women separately suggested similar responses to exposure to adverse combat experiences.

The current findings suggest that, although gender differences in mental health exist, the impact of deployment on mental health is similar among men and women.

There is concern surrounding the psychological health and uptake of treatment services among veterans of the UK Armed Forces.

Data from a cross-sectional, nationally representative sample were used to compare health outcomes and treatment seeking among 257 post-national service veterans aged 16–64 years and 504 age and sex frequency-matched non-veterans living in the community in England. Early leavers (<4 years service) were compared with longer serving veterans.

Male veterans reported more childhood adversity and were more likely to have experienced a major trauma in adulthood than non-veterans. There was no association between any measure of mental health and veteran status in males, except reporting more violent behaviours [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.44, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01–2.06]. In females, a significant association was found between veteran status and ever having suicidal thoughts (aOR 2.82, 95% CI 1.13–7.03). No differences in treatment-seeking behaviour were identified between veterans and non-veterans with any mental disorder. Early service leavers were more likely to be heavy drinkers (aOR 4.16, 95% CI 1.08–16.00), to have had suicidal thoughts (aOR 2.37, 95% CI 1.21–4.66) and to have self-harmed (aOR 12.36, 95% CI 1.61–94.68) than longer serving veterans.

The findings of this study do not suggest that being a veteran is associated with adversity in terms of mental health, social disadvantage or reluctance to seek treatment compared with the general population. Some evidence implies that early service leavers may experience more mental health problems than longer-serving veterans.

To determine the accuracy of fine needle aspiration cytology conducted within a standard ENT out-patients service (rather than a one-stop neck lump clinic), and also to assess the value of ultrasound guidance during fine needle aspiration cytology.

Retrospective study of all patients undergoing fine needle aspiration cytology of a neck lump, from 2005 to 2008 in Leeds teaching hospitals.

Accuracy of fine needle aspiration cytology, compared with the corresponding histology report of the original surgical specimen, and non-diagnostic fine needle aspiration cytology rates with and without ultrasound.

Fine needle aspiration cytology yielded the following respective sensitivity, specificity and accuracy rates: 85, 91 and 87 per cent for lymph nodes; 80, 93 and 89 for salivary glands; and 52, 80 and 69 for thyroid. The proportion of non-diagnostic procedures was 28 per cent, both with and without ultrasound guidance.

Cytologist-led fine needle aspiration cytology would have reduced the time to diagnosis and the number of clinic visits per patient. Fine needle aspiration cytology was accurate for predicting malignancy in salivary gland and lymph node lesions, and for diagnosing lymph node pathology. Study results did not support the use of ultrasound guidance during fine needle aspiration cytology.

We report the second known case of aggressive angiomyxoma of the larynx.

Case report and a review of the world literature concerning angiomyxoma of the larynx and recent advances in the immunohistochemical, cytogenic and clinical study of its female pelvic counterpart.

Aggressive angiomyxoma is a rare mesenchymal tumour originally thought only to occur in the female pelvis and peritoneum, or rarely in the male genital tract. A 47-year-old man presented with a one-month history of dysphonia. He was found to have a supraglottic mass on endoscopic examination, and underwent a laryngofissure approach excision biopsy and covering tracheostomy. Histological analysis showed a characteristic proliferation of spindle cells widely separated by loose, myxoid stroma with a prominent vascular component. Aggressive angiomyxoma was diagnosed.

To our knowledge, this is the second report in the world literature of aggressive angiomyxoma of the larynx. Comparison with the female pelvic counterpart facilitates diagnosis, aided by recent advances, and suggests that complete surgical excision with a wide margin is the treatment of choice.