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‘Designer vaginas’ on the increase, getting your oats, and why women are more spooked by horror films.

Our round-up of the health headlines on Wednesday 24 August.

The Independent reports on new research which shows that demand for female genital cosmetic surgery – so-called 'designer vaginas' – has risen five-fold in a decade on the NHS despite the fact that most women do not need it. The Indie says the rise in women seeking the operation is being driven by pornographic images of women on the internet and TV programmes about cosmetic surgery

The Telegraph and others report how patients suspected of having high blood pressure are to be given home monitoring devices over fears millions have been misdiagnosed because they were simply nervous in their GP surgery. 

The Guardian reports that the biggest public consultation conducted by the NHS found 'widespread support' for closing child heart surgery centres in Leeds, Oxford and the Royal Brompton.

The Mail reports that eating more nuts and oats – as opposed to simply avoiding fatty foods – could boost efforts to reduce cholesterol. Canadian researchers found that a six-month change to the diet could result in a ‘meaningful' 13% reduction in blood levels of LDL-cholesterol. 

And finally - also in The Mail -we read how women are more likely to be terrified by horror movies than men. Boffins at UCL who studied how the sexes anticipate unpleasant events said women's brains quickly leap into action when given warning of extreme violence or horror, while men's stay calm until the grizzly event has unfolded. They've obviously never watched a slasher movie with the Pulse news team…