Visit BBC News for up-to-the-minute news, breaking news, video, audio and feature stories. BBC News provides trusted World and UK news as well as local and regional perspectives. Also entertainment, business, science, technology and health news.

The UK's first major study of a disease using stem cells that circumvent the need to create and destroy embryos is launched.

NHS hospitals will be looking to exploit a host of "exciting" opportunities to move into private health markets, bosses say.

Seeing a celebrity endorse a pair of shoes alters a woman's brain activity, a Dutch study suggests.

A stem cell therapy for the joint disease osteoarthritis is to be tested on patients in the UK for the first time.

The prevalence of HIV among young people in Africa falls because of changing sexual behaviour, new UN figures show.

Who should decide when to stop supportive care?

Having low vitamin D levels appears to increase a person's risk of developing Parkinson's disease, say experts.

A big head may help protect against the ravages of Alzheimer's, say experts.

The NHS in England is to undergo a major restructuring in one of the biggest shake-ups in its history, the government says.

A leading nutritionist says GPs should send obese patients to weight-loss schemes rather than offer treatment themselves.