Both they and Geri Halliwell will be performing at the ceremony in London on 3 March.Dance dominates this year's awards, with acts such as the Chemical Brothers appearing four times in the nominations - for best British album, best British dance act, best British single and best British video. The group shot to stardom in 1995 and have clocked up album sales of more than 36 million, with eight number ones in the United Kingdom. Halliwell is also nominated for best pop act, while the remaining Spice Girls - all of whom have also released solo singles - were ignored. They will, however, receive a special "lifetime achievement award". Nominated for best female solo artist are the folk singer Beth Orton, the soul diva Gabrielle, currently at number one with "Rise", Beverly Knight, Geri Halliwell and Melanie C.Pop pundits will be eagerly anticipating a frosty exchange between Halliwell and "C", as former and current members of the Spice Girls, who have not spoken since Halliwell - formerly Ginger Spice - left to pursue a solo career. The youngest is pushing 40.While David Bowie, Sting, Tom Jones, Van Morrison and Ian Brown strike a blow against ageism within Britain's top pop awards, their female counterpoints have a somewhat lower collective age. Pop fans whose parents complain that singers were better in their day should tell them to take a look at the Brit awards: most of the singers are likely to be the same ones.

Pop fans whose parents complain that singers were better in their day should tell them to take a look at the Brit awards: most of the singers are likely to be the same ones. Of the five nominations for the best British male solo artist slot, announced last night, one was big in the Sixties, two in the Seventies, and the other two are best known for their work in the Eighties. He amputated a 79-year-old man's healthy leg to satisfy a sexual fetish, but two days later the man died of gangrene.. Although the patients were treated privately, he waived his fee because the operations were being done in an NHS hospital.Last October a suspended American doctor was jailed for 15 years in San Diego for murder. "My fear is that someone will injure themselves or kill themselves," he added. "I have very serious concerns that they will go to an unlicensed practitioner, or they may take the law into their own hands and go and lie on a railway line and wait for a train, or they may take a shotgun."Mr Smith said the two men had been assessed by two psychiatrists and a psychologist before surgery, and understood what they had requested. "It took me a year and a half to pluck up the courage to do the first one, but it is probably one of the most satisfying operations I have ever done," he said. "I have no doubt that what I was doing was the correct thing for those patients."He said that BDD sufferers fell into two categories, those who were doing it for sexual arousal and those who regarded their body as incomplete with four limbs, but complete after amputation.Mr Smith said with the second group amputation was more successful than psychiatric or behavioural therapy and could prevent suicide.

The condition affects women more than men, with 84 per cent of the anxieties centred on some imagined facial defect such as a large nose, fat cheeks, or small eyes.Mr Smith performed the first operation in September 1997 and the second in April 1999. Sufferers can become so depressed and suicidal that psychiatrists sometimes decide removing the "offending" part is the only way to cure the "condition".In Britain, 1 per cent of the population is said to have BDD. "I find it almost incredible that any reputable surgeon would amputate a perfectly healthy limb," he said."I'm also concerned that this operation was apparently done by private practice in a National Health Service hospital when NHS patients are having to wait for essential operations." Both men were suffering from "body dysmorphic disorder", (BDD), an obsessive conviction that some part of the body is defective. But Mr Smith said he had at least a dozen more patients who could benefit from it and hoped his actions would encourage more surgeons to consider similar operations.A six-month investigation by the hospital trust concluded yesterday that Mr Smith, 52, had followed correct procedures and said it would not rule out further similar surgery.But Dennis Canavan, Lab-our MP for Falkirk West, demanded an inquiry by the Scottish health minister. A surgeon who amputated healthy limbs of two psychologically disturbed men said yesterday that both patients were delighted and making rapid and satisfactory recovery. Robert Smith, 52, a consultant at Falkirk and District Royal Infirmary, cut off the lower leg of two patients, one from England and one from Germany, neither of whom had anything physically wrong.Only a few such operations are done worldwide each year because most surgeons are reluctant to amputate healthy limbs. A surgeon who amputated healthy limbs of two psychologically disturbed men said yesterday that both patients were delighted and making rapid and satisfactory recovery. The UK has around three cases per 100,000.Volunteers from families with two or more cases of testicular cancer are needed for research Call Dr Robert Huddart at the ICR on 0181-661 3457..

Perhaps we can tickle them up or influence them in some way to make them more curable."There are wide variations in the incidence of testicular cancer around the world. The highest rates are found in northern European countries such as Denmark and Switzerland, which has eight cases per 100,000 population. The answer must reside in the molecular basis of the cancer and if we can find out more about that we may get an insight into what the biological processes are that make this cancer more curable."Then we can look at breast, bowel and lung cancer and ask whether these processes are lacking in those cancers. The researchers, who published their findings in Nature Genetics journal yesterday, say about one-third of the inherited cases could be linked with the new gene, called TGCT1 (testicular germ-cell tumour gene), but at least two other genes remain to be discovered."This has major implications because if we can identify individuals carrying abnormalities of these genes before they are affected [by cancer], it will allow us to develop screening so the disease can be detected earlier and treated with less aggressive chemotherapy," Professor Stratton said.Testicular cancer has a uniquely high cure rate of 90 to 95 per cent Professor Stratton said: "We would like to know why.

Professor Tim Bishop, of the University of Leeds, said doctors were baffled about the reason for the increase, but the strongest theory was that it was linked to the exposure of pregnant mothers to something in the environment - possibly oestrogens or oestrogen-like chemicals, such as fertilisers used in farming.About 20 per cent of cases of testicular cancer are thought to have a genetic cause although in only 2 per cent of cases is more than one family member affected. Cases have doubled since the early Seventies and similar rises have been seen around the world. this is the only way to defend ourselves against predators who want to take out a patent and exploit it."There are more than 1,400 cases of testicular cancer in the UK each year, with a peak incidence among men in their late twenties. That would take another two to five years.Professor Michael Stratton of the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in Sutton, Surrey, said: "I am typical of most scientists in that I am not in favour of patenting gene sequences However... Identifying those at high risk will enable doctors to start treatment sooner, improve cure rates and could yield important insights into the treatment of other cancers such as breast, lung and bowel.The discovery is the result of a 10-year collaboration between three United Kingdom cancer charities - the Cancer Research Campaign, The Imperial Cancer Research Fund and the Institute of Cancer Research - who worked with scientists in Norway, Germany, Australia, Ireland and Canada to study 134 families with two or more men affected by the cancer.The researchers said that once they had identified the gene, located on one section of the X-chromosome containing about 300 genes, they would patent it to ensure it remained freely available to other scientists. The first gene for testicular cancer, the commonest male cancer between ages 15 and 40, has been traced to a chromosome that men inherit from their mothers. The defective gene, on the sex-linked X-chromosome, increases the risk of the cancer by up to 50 times in men who carry it, scientists reported yesterday.