Body temperature has a circadian rhythm, and in women with ovulatory cycles, also a menstrual rhythm. Body temperature and sleep are believed to be closely coupled, but the influence on their relationship of gender, menstrual cycle phase and female reproductive hormones is unresolved. We investigated sleep and 24 h rectal temperatures in eight women with normal menstrual cycles in their mid‐follicular and mid‐luteal phases, and in eight young women taking a steady dose of oral progestin and ethinyl oestradiol (hormonal contraceptive), and compared their sleep and body temperatures with that of eight young men, sleeping in identical conditions. All subjects maintained their habitual daytime schedules. Rectal temperatures were elevated throughout 24 h in the luteal phase compared with the follicular phase in the naturally cycling women, consistent with a raised thermoregulatory set‐point. Rectal temperatures in the women taking hormonal contraceptives were similar to those of the naturally cycling women in the luteal phase. Gender influenced body temperature: the naturally cycling women and the women taking hormonal contraceptives attained their nocturnal minimum body temperatures earlier than the men, and the naturally cycling women had blunted nocturnal body temperature drops compared with the men. Sleep architecture was essentially unaffected by either menstrual cycle phase or gender. The women taking hormonal contraceptives had less slow wave sleep (SWS), however, than the naturally cycling women. Gender, menstrual cycle phase and hormonal contraceptives significantly influenced body temperature, but had only minor consequences for sleep, in the young men and women in our study.

Musculoskeletal involvement by TB is rare in comparison to other forms of the disease. It most commonly involves the spine but can also involve large weight-bearing joints, long bones, the skull and the soft tissues. Characteristic appearances of musculoskeletal TB are described for numerous imaging modalities in this paper but it is also highlighted that when based on imaging appearances alone, there is always a differential diagnosis, including other infections and malignancies. Awareness of of TB as a possible cause of vertebral body lesions, arthritis and synovitis, long bone lesions and soft tissue collections will allow clinicians to consider TB based on imaging and will sometimes be characteristic enough to allow for a trial of therapy, thereby avoiding biopsy. This paper specifically describes the imaging appearances on both basic modalities such as plain radiographs and ultrasound for those working in resource-restricted areas, as well as on high-end modalities such as CT and MRI for those with access to these. Tuberculosis is no longer a disease limited to the developing world and radiologists in the developed world must be able to make this diagnosis in both immigrants and the native population.