latimes.com - Science

Is binge eating a psychiatric disorder?

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

As the American Psychiatrics Assn. considers including it in its diagnotic manual, skeptics object and possible treatments are debated.

Rina Silverman's refrigerator is almost always empty. She keeps it that way to avert episodes of frantic food consumption, often at night after a full meal, in which she tastes nothing and feels nothing but can polish off a party-sized bag of chips or a container of ice cream, maybe a whole box of cereal. The food she's eating at these moments hardly matters.

Trying to define binge eating disorder

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Many binge eaters do not fit into currently defined and accepted psychiatric illnesses.

Binge eating was long seen by psychiatrists as an unusual symptom of major depression or an anxiety disorder. After all, it seemed sometimes to lessen or yield to antidepressants and psychotherapy -- both aimed primarily at treating depression or anxiety.

Binge eating: Is it a form of addiction?

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Overeaters describe cravings and benders. Experts are split.

The notion that binge eating is a form of addiction comes up frequently in experts' discussions of the diagnosis.

A desire booster for women?

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

An experimental non-hormonal drug appears to help women increase their sexual desire, but will the FDA approve it?

An experimental non-hormonal drug appears to help women increase their sexual desire and satisfaction -- and reduce the distress associated with lack of desire.

Anesthetic spray shows promise for premature ejaculation

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The first U.S. trials of a spray-on anesthetic for the penis showed that it increased the time to ejaculation nearly fivefold, providing the first good solution for premature ejaculation, researchers reported Thursday.

Holidays can feed binge eaters' problems

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Food's central place in seasonal celebrations can prove difficult, especially with stress triggers from family or lonely feelings.

Three of the most common and most powerful triggers for binge eaters -- family, food and feelings -- converge at this time of year, making the holidays an especially challenging time.

Catalina bison going on birth control

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:20:00 -0800

The Catalina Island Conservancy has been rounding up the herd so females can get a reversible contraceptive vaccine. The goal: Control the size of the herd to keep it and the environment healthier.

Half a dozen men with walkie-talkies and cattle prods set out on foot at sunrise Thursday to coax a herd of 10 feral bison into a corral a mile away at the bottom of a Santa Catalina Island valley.

Scientists zero in on reason for mammoths' demise

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The sediment beneath an Indiana lake is providing clues. One thing is clear: A meteor didn't kill off the mammoths, mastodons and other large plant-eaters, as previously theorized.

About 15,000 years ago, North America was home to an astonishing number of large plant-eating mammals -- giant sloths, mastodons, mammoths. A thousand years later, they were all gone, wiped from the face of the Earth with sudden finality.

Cancer screening: What could it hurt? A lot, actually

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Routine cancer testing saves lives, but it also leads to biopsies, surgeries, radiation, even deaths that otherwise would not have occurred. But experts' reevaluations are met with public angst.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Group recommends less-frequent Pap tests

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The cervical cancer screening advice follows another panel's controversial mammogram report, but experts say it's a much different situation. Still, Paps are the only reason some women see a doctor.

Only days after a federal panel scaled back on breast cancer screening recommendations for many women, another organization -- the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists -- has done the same for a screening credited with drastically reducing the rates of cervical cancer in the U.S.