SOME things take a long while to digest, but this is ridiculous - Doctors in Perth have managed to trace a woman's mysterious stomach pains to something she swallowed about a decade ago.
Reported in BMJ Case Reports, the curious symptoms included an elevated heart rate and inflamed abdominal wall - but other tests including blood counts and an ultrasound were all normal.
However a CT scan (pictured) revealed a thin metal wire lodged in her intestines, with the 6cm object part of a dental brace that the woman used to wear.
She didn't recall ever swallowing the item, and didn't experience pain until very recently when doctors said the intestine began to twist around on itself.
Authorities may be scrambling to address a flaw in the English language proficiency test for overseas professionals wanting to live in Australia, after a native Irish speaker failed the test due to her strong accent.
Irish veterinarian Louise Kennedy was seeking permanent residency in Australia earlier this year, and was shocked when she failed to reach the minimum score required in the test of English administered by Pearson.
The test uses computer-based voice recognition technology to evaluate the speaker's language ability - but clearly had difficulty dealing with Kennedy's Irish lilt.
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