Lawyers acting for Edgar Pearce - the Mardi Gra bomber - have claimed he suffers from Binswanger’s disease, and that this rare form of dementia is the reason for his attacks on Barclays Bank and the Sainsbury’s supermarket chain.
What is it?
Binswanger’s disease is an extremely rare form of dementia that can affect a sufferer’s thought [...]

Every year around 50 babies a year are born in England and Wales with biliary atresia.
Once the condition is spotted, they are sent for an operation called Kasai-poroenterostomy. If this fails, they will require a liver transplant.
Three centres in England have expertise in the operation.
What is biliary atresia?
Biliary atresia is caused when the bile duct [...]

Experts believe a flu pandemic is long-overdue. The most obvious source is bird flu.
Humans have been catching if from birds for the last decade, but as yet it has still not kick-started a global outbreak.
What is bird flu?
Like humans and other species, birds are susceptible to flu.
There are many types of bird, or avian, flu.
The [...]

Back pain is one of the most common ailments in the UK.
It is thought more than 17 million Britons suffer from the problem, and the Health and Safety Executive estimates that it is responsible for nearly 5 million lost working days a year.
How is the back made up?
The major feature is the spine. This is [...]

Babies can develop breathing difficulties
Apnoea attack occurs when a baby stops breathing. It affects approximately 500 babies a year.
What is apnoea?
Apnoea means that air flow into the lungs has stopped.
This can be because the baby stops breathing, or because the windpipe or airways have become blocked.
In some instances, it may be due to a combination [...]

Research suggests levels of autism have increased by ten-fold over the last decade.
But nobody really knows why there has been such a dramatic increase or what causes it. BBC News Online examines the perplexing condition.
What is autism?
Autism is a developmental disability that affects the way a person communicates and interacts with other people.
People with autism [...]

Asthma is a controllable but not curable disease. Around 5.4 million people in the UK are currently being treated for the condition, including over a million children.
There were 1,200 deaths from asthma in the UK in 2006
What is asthma?
Asthma is a chronic, inflammatory lung disease characterised by recurrent breathing problems. People with the [...]

Sean Honeysett was eventually diagnosed with Asperger’s
Asperger’s syndrome is one of a range of autism-like disorders which often manifests in “eccentric” behaviour rather than pronounced and obvious disability.
It was first identified as a separate condition in 1944 by a German Doctor, Hans Asperger, who spotted similar, odd behaviours in more than one of his patients.
The [...]

Asbestos diseases are caused by inhaling asbestos dust, a mineral commonly used in the construction industry until the 1970s. The main diseases caused by asbestos inhalation are asbestosis - the scarring of lung tissue, lung cancer, mesothelioma (cancer of the lining of the chest and lungs) and pleural disease. Pleural disease includes calcification of [...]

Arthritis is a very common medical condition, estimated to affect around seven million people in the UK.
However, it is not a single disease, but comes in around 200 different forms.
The term essentially means an inflammation of the joints. This inflammation makes the joints painful, stiff, and swollen, and in severe cases can significantly restrict movement.
The [...]