Month: December 2010

Questions and Answers: Is internet addiction a distinct mental disorder?

Some mental health professionals feel that internet addiction should be classified as a distinct disorder, but regardless of the form an addiction takes, getting to the roots of the behavior is the goal that treatment should strive to attain.

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Time, Surgery Help Ménière’s Disease

Ménière’s disease tends to improve over time, and surgery also can help, two new studies have found. This disease causes vertigo, a feeling that you are spinning. It also can cause dizziness, hearing loss and ringing in the ears. But a new study of 510 patients found that symptoms mostly decreased over time. In a second study, 51 people had surgery to insert a tube called a shunt in the ear. The purpose was to drain fluid. About 3 out of 4 people had fewer symptoms after the surgery. In some, symptoms returned. So 16 people had repeat surgery. About 2 out of 3 got better after the second surgery. The studies appeared November 18 in the journal Archives of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery.

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On the horizon: Removing fat makes HDL (“good cholesterol”) even better

A process called delipidation, in which cholesterol and fats are removed from HDL particles that are then returned to a person’s bloodstream, stimulates the HDL to attack cholesterol in blood vessels more effectively.

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