Considering the plethora of facilities that have opened just in the past few years to deal solely with individuals that have become undoubtedly addicted to video games, the internet and all things Hello Kitty (we jest, we jest), we're not surprised one iota to hear that uncontrollably texting / e-mailing could soon become "classified as an official brain illness." According to a writeup in the latest American Journal of Psychiatry, internet addiction is a common ailment "that should be added to psychiatry's official guidebook of mental disorders." More specifically, Dr. Jerald Block, a psychiatrist at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, even goes so far as to argue that said phenomenon (neglecting basic drives to spend more time online) be "included in the [next edition of] Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, psychiatry's official dictionary of mental illnesses." Until then, we wish you the best of luck convincing that creature living in your basement with a dedicated T1 line that he / she isn't alright.

[Via textually]

Sure, you can grab your Nike+iPod Sport Kit and try to work off a few calories, but will that contraption become your drill sergeant when you decide to call it quits five minutes in? For those that need constant motivation, NTT DoCoMo has you covered -- if you understand Japanese, that is. Reportedly, the firm was showing off a D903i equipped with software that can not only "check for bad breath," but it can also check your body fat and keep tabs on your heart rate. Granted, we can't confirm that the translations shown above are entirely accurate, but this type of honesty would never fly in the US, anyway.

[Via GearFuse]

It's still largely unclear just what the heck cellphone-sized doses of radiation do to the human body -- but whatever happens, you've gotta figure those effects are multiplied many times for folks spending their days standing in front of carriers' antenna arrays. An Alaskan equipment installer working for AT&T filed a disability claim against his employer for unspecified health problems caused by ongoing exposure to RF levels above FCC recommendations; eventually, the claim ended up on the docket of the state's Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the employee. We imagine the decision will likely get tied up in further appeals, but if the law ultimately sides with the afflicted worker, this could all spell trouble for carriers whose installers spend much of their time blasted with all manner of airwaves. In the interest of health (or not getting sued, as the case may be), are we looking at more blackouts down the road as transceivers get turned off for maintenance?

While the idea of a diabetes phone is far from new, a company dubbed HealthPia is well on its way to actually delivering such a product. Reportedly, the firm has "obtained FDA approval for its patent-pending technology that integrates a blood glucose meter with a standard-issue cellphone." Interestingly, it not only allows you to send results over the air, but specially equipped mobiles will actually be fitted with a GlucoPack that enables you to test yourself as you would with any other (more traditional) meter. During last week's AADE conference, the company supposedly announced that Verizon's LG5200 would be the first to sport such technology, and for those who think this could make their lives a whole lot easier, grab your specs and hit the read link for more.

[Thanks, Clement S.]

There's a growing number of devices that not only monitor one's health, but can also transmit pertinent information back to remote caregivers, but SHL Telemedicine's latest gizmo takes things a step further by beaming your ECG results directly to your physician's mobile phone. The oddly-named CardioSen'C is a portable heart-monitoring system that gathers information from twelve electrodes strapped to one's chest and upper body, and once activated, transmits the results of the electrocardiograph instantly to a user-selected handset. Unlike similar systems already available in the US, SHL's iteration will be aimed at the Israel / European markets initially, and while we aren't exactly sure how much coinage such an advanced machine will cost to wear, you should probably make sure your insurance covers spontaneous service calls before you start lighting your doc's handset up with ECG results.

[Via Israel21c]

Sure, we've heard of cellphones causing all sorts of medical troubles when not conjuring cancer in your ear, but the latest report of everyday consumer electronics wreaking havoc on humans comes from where else but the UK. Curiously, this isn't the first time England has been the site of allergic reactions to electromagnetic fields (EMF), and Manchester's Debbie Bird has been forced to make outlandish alterations to her home (and way of life) in order to avoid intense headaches, painful skin rashes, and bizarre eyelid swelling. Among the items she can't use are microwaves, BMWs (saywha?), and cellphones, and she has also coated her walls in pricey black carbon paint, covered her windows in "protective film," and weirdest of all, sleeps under a "silver-plated mosquito net" in order to curb her reactions. Now, what type of hidden superpowers are in her arsenal to counter such strange deficiencies?

We've seen so many chapters of the "dangerous / not dangerous" chronicles with regard to cellphone radiation that we've lost count, but thanks to a Danish study recently carried out on 420,000 avid mobile users, we can finally put those worries to rest (we hope). While it's no secret that mobile phone antennas emit "electromagnetic fields that can penetrate the human brain," we've been yearning for a study such as this to quiet the tin-foil advocates (and ensure our own safety). Researchers from the Danish Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Copenhagen looked at data on people who had been using mobile phones "from as far back as 1982" in order to draw their conclusions, and after all was said and done, they found "no evidence to suggest users had a higher risk of tumors in the brain, eye, or salivary gland, or developing leukemia." Thankfully, a similar study published earlier this year by the Institute of Cancer Research also concluded that mobile phone use "was not associated with a greater risk of brain cancer." So, there you have it folks, you can safely yap away without fear of mutating into some form of diseased being -- until the next study "proves" otherwise, of course.

[Thanks, Billfred]

Dieting just got a little easier (or a little harder to cheat at, depending on how you look at it) for Sprint customers with cameraphones, thanks to the company's exclusive rollout of that MyFoodPhone service we first spotted nearly a year ago. Although the cost is much lower this time around -- only $10 per month compared to the pricey $150/month it once was -- the service works essentially the same as before, by providing customers with video feedback based on photos they snap and upload of each and every meal or snack they consume. Besides the bi-weekly vids from nutritional advisers, subscribers also have access to an online food journal, where they can log the all-important dieter's stats of weight lost, exercise performed, and calories burned. Sprint is positioning MyFoodPhone as only one part of an overall health and fitness regimen where your Vision-enabled phone can be of assistance, joining other services such as BIMActive exercise tracking, skynetMD medical info, and Hitech Trainer guided workouts.

[Via picturephoning]