Computer manufacturer BenQ has announced that it is releasing four new X Series LCD monitors. The four units namely the X900 (19'), X900W (19' Wide), X2000 (20' Wide), and X2200 (22' Wide) have various features that the developer hope will appeal to gamers.

The units come equipped with HDMI ports which allows users to connect their consoles and play their games in full HD. Check out the full article to read more about their specifications.

Gamers need not worry about their favorite video games becoming crime and misbehavior scapegoats... for now. Doctors specializing in addiction and mental disorders attest that video games do not necessarily cause any form of addiction, saying that more research is needed before making such an assumption.

"Working with this problem is no different than working with alcoholic patients. The same denial, the same rationalization, the same inability to give it up," Dr. Thomas Allen of the Osler Medical Center commented about formally recognizing video games as a possible cause of addiction. Listing video games as one possible cause of acute addiction would pave the way for insurance against video game addiction.

But addiction experts beg to differ. "There is nothing here to suggest that this is a complex physiological disease state akin to alcoholism or other substance abuse disorders," said Dr. Stuart Glow, echoing the statements of other doctors who didn't share the American Medical Association's (AMA) sentiments regarding video games being the cause of mental illness. Psychiatrists also add that it wasn't clear whether video games are addictive. "It's not necessarily a cause-and-effect type issue. There may be certain kids who have a compulsive component to what they are doing," said Dr. Louis Kraus of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

It is interesting to note that that committee who made the proposal eventually backed away from its position, instead asking the American Psychiatric Association to consider adding "video game addiction" to the next edition of its diagnostic manual, "American Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders", due to be published in 2012.

Actions against video games are getting stronger - even the American Medical Association (AMA) is making a move. However, this isn't all about banning games branded as murder simulators or preventing games from defiling church grounds. Video game addiction is now being seriously considered to be categorized as a formal diagnostic disorder.

First of all, what's considered a gamer? Mohamed K. Khan's "Report of the Council on Science and Public Health: Emotional and Behavioral Effects, Including Addictive Potential of Video Games" reads:

Historically, a gamer was someone who played role-playing games or war games, but more recently the term has come to include computer and video game players. Although the term technically includes those who do not necessarily consider themselves gamers (ie, casual gamers), it is a commonly used colloquial term to identify persons who spend as much of their leisure time as possible playing or reading about games.

Furthermore, the report defines the "prototype gamer" as a 30-year-old male who averages between 6.8 and 7.6 hours weekly playing video games. Hardcore MMORPG players are included too (WoW and them 7-hour raids), though research shows that they only make up 9% of the population. It also added that "75% of heads of households played video games, while 35% of gamers were under age 18 years"

More on this after the jump!

Normally, salt is good in moderation, good in the proper doses, but doctors are so alarmed at how much salt Americans are consuming on average, they're calling for strict regulation of the seasoning. The American Medical Association (AMA), for the first time in its history, called on the FDA to revoke salt's "generally safe for consumption" status and impose regulation on how much salt could be added to processed or prepared foodstuffs.

Their alarm is not without reason. The current recommended daily allowance for sodium intake is 2,230 milligrams of sodium per serving. Sodium is one half of sodium chloride, the chemical name for salt. Excessive sodium consumption is generally believed by medical experts to cause cases of high-blood pressure, or hypertension, which can later lead to strokes and heart diseases. Americans on average consume 3,300 milligrams of sodium a day.

We don't exactly know how many milligrams of sodium is there in a pinch of salt - that's a question for a chemist - but if you buy packaged, processed food, the Nutritional Information box should show the amount of sodium in it. About three-quarters of consumed salt is present in processed food. Those at risk of heart disease and those who are on low-sodium diets should be paying attention to that box.

This really is a first for the FDA, being called to regulate a product like... salt. Already the battle lines are drawn. The AMA and other health advocacy groups are on one side, calling for stricter regulation. On the other, the salt miners and the food industry are fighting any attempts to regulate salt use, as it is an important flavoring and preservative product in many of their products. In between are the FDA, which face all this work with a shrinking budget, and scientists who are trying to develop low-sodium alternatives to salt (all the salt flavor, none of the salt hangups).

Despite its 2,500 year-old history and literally billions of satisfied patients in the east, acupuncture remains a health fad in the western world. In the words of Wallace Sampson, clinical professor emeritus of medicine at Stanford University and editor of the Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine, "It doesn't exist. We've looked into most of the practices and, biochemically or physically, their supposed effects lie somewhere between highly improbable and impossible."

Sampson claims that although acupuncture is an ancient medical practice it was only formalized in a complex way in the past 100 years. Prior to that, the principle of sticking needles at certain pressure points largely varied form from region to another.

In addition, he says acupuncture does not provide specific cures. "If it has the effect of, say, releasing endorphins through the application of needles, well, many things release endorphins -- a walk in the woods, a 5-mile run, a pinch on the butt."

Although he does not think acupuncture is harmful he did call it useless.

Medical researchers investigating acupuncture have come up with mixed results. Some clinical trials found it effective for headache, low back pain and nausea. Others found insufficient evidence as far as its curative value is concerned. The World Health Organisation (WHO), the National Institute of Health (NIH), the American Medical Association (AMA) believe acupuncture is safe when administered by well-trained practitioners, and that further research is warranted.

We haven't tried acupuncture yet but we did see an interesting feature where a sick komodo dragon in an Asian zoo was given this treatment. According to the feature, if acupuncture had not been administered the endangered lizard would most likely have died.