there have already been cases of insertion of swing needles in the skull through the fontanell for the purpose of murdering or hurting infants and babies. however no such cases of suicide were ever reported. the present study reports the case of a 25 year old single woman, suffering from mild mental retardation and major depression, who attempted suicide by inserting two sewing needles in her s...

BACKGROUND The extent to which a fear of needles influences health decisions remains largely unexplored. This study investigated the prevalence of fear of needles in a southeast Queensland community, described associated symptoms, and highlighted health care avoidance tendencies of affected individuals. METHODS One hundred and seventy-seven participants attending an outer urban general practi...

Self-insertion of foreign bodies is a rare event. This report details a 56-year-old male who had self-inserted six hypodermic needles into his left frontal lobe 6 years previously. He subsequently presented with seizures and went on to have the needles surgically removed. This represents the first case of its type involving hypodermic needles. Given that intracranial needles are a rare finding,...

Seasonal changes in freezing stress resistance of needles of red pine (Pinus resinosa Ait.) and Austrian pine (Pinus nigra Arnold) trees were measured by an electrolyte leakage method and by visual observation. During most of the year, freezing stress resistance determined by the two methods gave similar results. The electrolyte leakage method provided a good estimate of seasonal changes in fre...

The significance of endophytic needle infections to Norway spruce is still largely unsolved. Lophodermium piceae is the most common species representing typically over 90 % of the cultivable isolates obtained from surface sterilized needles. Generally, more than 50 % of the needles are infected with this species and single healthy looking needles can accommodate several, even more than 30 indiv...