Ruth Odaji is one of 300,000 people in the UK with Tourette's syndrome. The condition causes sufferers to make involuntary sounds and movements known as tics.

Tummy bugs, coughs and colds all seem to thrive in the classroom. Here is a comprehensive guide to the most common of school ailments - and how to tackle them.

The NHS rationing body said Benlysta was too expensive at £9,000 a year despite there being no alternative treatments for lupus. But patient groups and doctors won an appeal against the condition.

A study found mice without a vital gene were more likely to struggle with their oxygen intake and researchers from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, think the same could be true of humans.

Drinking green tea is not just good for you heart - it could boost the memory as well, say researchers from the Third Military Medical University in Chongqing, China.

According to the Department of Health's own survey, nearly one in ten patients saw their GP five or more times before finally being referred to hospital.

The phenomenon of mental fogginess after chemotherapy really does exist, according to a review by scientists from the Moffitt Cancer Center in Florida.

Nearly half of fat people are just as healthy as slim people - and at no more risk of developing heart problems or cancer, found a study by the University of South Carolina.

A popular contraceptive implant may have been lost in the bodies of hundreds of women, raising fears for their future fertility. The device is manufactured by Merck, which has headquarters in New Jersey.

People with sleep apnoea, which causes snoring and dangerous pauses in breathing at night, could be twice as likely to die of cancer as those who sleep soundly.

Simone Brabner rushed her daughter to A&E; last month when the two-year-old was doubled up with stomach pain.

It may be safer for women having IVF - and their babies - if all embryos are frozen first, according to a review by Dr Abha Maheshwari from NHS Grampian.

Teresa Hughes had transvaginal tape (TVT) — a mesh implanted under the bladder like a hammock to support damaged pelvic organs after childbirth.

ANGELA EPSTEIN speaks to the experts to reveal the triggers - such as eczema, medication, dry skin and the sun - behind the urge to scratch.

The test can detect 99 per cent of Down’s syndrome babies without risking a miscarriage and could save hundreds of healthy babies being lost each year.

Researchers from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada fear that smoking leads to subtle structural variations in the growing brain of the unborn baby.

Heavy alcohol use can rewire the brain making it more difficult for drinkers to realise that a traumatic experience is no longer 'dangerous' to them, say researchers at the University of North Carolina.

To the uninitiated, they look like ordinary black bracelets.
And that, it would seem, is exactly what some so-called sports bands are - despite their hefty price tag.

Traton Steven, 18, is one of half a million Britons who suffer from a condition called food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis (FDEIA).

Gwennan and Elin Thomas have exactly the same genes - yet one has alopecia, the other a full head of hair. Now scientists believe they could hold the key to sudden baldness.

Researchers in Ireland found that, when coconut oil was treated with digestive enzymes, it became a powerful killer of the main bug responsible for tooth decay.

Mark Hornby, from Lincolnshire, sustained serious head injuries in 1986 and doctors warned his parent he could be a 'vegetable' for the rest of his life.

It might look like something an electrician would use, but it is, in fact, kinesiology tape — the latest must-have accessory designed to relieve injury.