Smoking


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Smoking 'Can Improve Schizophrenic Minds'

Gabrielle Monaghan
Times Online
Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:49 UTC
Image
Smoking may cause cancer but the nicotine in cigarettes can improve the lives of schizophrenics by boosting attention and memory.

A chemical in the drug may help people with the mental illness to think more clearly and maintain their concentration, according to Ruth Barr, a psychiatrist who formerly worked at Queen's University Belfast, which has made the finding. She conducted a three-year study to find out why schizophrenia sufferers are three times more likely to smoke than the general population.
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Magnify

Molecule Plays Early Role in Nonsmoking Lung Cancer


PsysOrg
Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:00 UTC
The cause of lung cancer in never-smokers is poorly understood, but a study led by investigators at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and at the National Cancer Institute has identified a molecule believed to play an early and important role in its development.

The findings, published online recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may lead to improved therapy for lung cancer in both never-smokers and smokers, including those with tumors resistant to targeted drugs such as gefitinib.

The study examined lung tumors from people who had never smoked and found high levels of a molecule called miR-21. The levels were even higher in tumors that had mutations in a gene called EGFR, a common feature of lung cancer in never-smokers.
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Wolf

Study recommends total ban on smoking for soldiers


CNN
Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:41 UTC
You've seen the iconic picture of a soldier with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, but that could soon be a thing of the past.

A new study commissioned by the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs recommends a complete ban on tobacco, which would end tobacco sales on military bases and prohibit smoking by anyone in uniform, not even combat troops in the thick of battle.

According to the study, tobacco use impairs military readiness in the short term. Over the long term, it can cause serious health problems, including lung cancer and cardiovascular disease. The study also says smokeless tobacco use can lead to oral and pancreatic cancer.
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Alarm Clock

Suicide Warnings Required for Anti-Smoking Drugs


The Washington Post
Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:43 UTC
The Food and Drug Administration announced today that it is requiring the smoking-cessation drugs Chantix and Zyban to carry the strongest type of safety warning possible to alert patients that the medications can cause serious mental health problems, including depression and suicide.

The agency said it took the action requiring "boxed warnings" after finding a surprisingly high number of reports of problems involving changes in behavior among people taking the medications, including depression, hostility, suicidal thoughts and attempted and successful suicides. The agency had received 98 reports of suicide among patients taking Chantix and 188 reports of attempted suicide, and 14 suicides and 17 suicide attempts among patients taking Zyban, officials said.
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Health

Cigarette Smoke Can Prevent Allergies, Study Suggests


Science Daily
Mon, 18 May 2009 12:06 UTC
Everyone knows that smoking can kill you, but new research suggests that it may help with your allergies. A study of mouse mast cells shows that cigarette smoke can prevent allergies by decreasing the reaction of immune cells to allergens.

Smoking can cause lung cancer, pulmonary disease, and can even affect how the body fights infections. Along with many harmful effects, smoking cigarettes has a surprising benefit: cigarettes can protect smokers from certain types of allergies. Now, a study recommended by Neil Thomson, a member of Faculty of 1000 Biology and leading expert in the field of respiratory medicine, demonstrates that cigarette smoke decreases the allergic response by inhibiting the activity of mast cells, the major players in the immune system's response to allergens.

Comment: For a more information on cigarettes and smoking, read:

Let's All Light Up!

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Propaganda

Bad smell 'may motivate smokers to quit'

Danny Rose
NineMSN
Sat, 16 May 2009 01:02 UTC
Image
© UnknownA study shows that the threat of smelling bad may be a motivator to quit smoking.
There's a stink that envelops a smoker on their return from a ciggie break, and they know it.

A new Australian study suggests this embarrassing fact could be used as a potent motivator to quit, even more powerful than gruesome images of tobacco-related disease.

University of Sydney Department of Psychology PhD candidate Emily Kothe brought together 28 current and former smokers to test the effectiveness of the latest anti-smoking advertisements.

While the television ads were shown to reduce cravings and inspire a sense of "disgust" and "worry" in current smokers, worryingly they also reported feeling the images did not relate to them.

"Many smokers did not feel the advertisements were enough to make them quit," Ms Kothe said.
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Propaganda

Anti Smoking Propaganda - Fruit and vegetables may be harmful to smokers


NineMSN
Thu, 16 Apr 2009 08:21 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Smokers may increase their chances of contracting colon cancer by eating fruit and vegetables, according to a new Europe-wide scientific study says.

A high intake of fruit and vegetables appeared to reduce the risk among non-smokers but seemed to have the reverse effect on smokers, findings by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) showed on Wednesday.

"People who eat 600 grams or more vegetables and fruit a day appear to have a 20 to 25 per cent lower chance of developing colon cancer than people who eat 220 grams or less," said the statement.

"For smokers, the consumption of vegetables and fruit appears, on the contrary, to increase the chances of colon cancer. Protection against colon cancer through the consumption of vegetables and fruit therefore appears to depend on smoking habits."

Comment: Considering this was supposedly a large study taken over many years, the authors are surprisingly uncertain about their results, casting aspersions on the effects of fruit and vegetables for smokers without actually making any definite claims. Note the use of "appears" and "may".

We also wonder if this fruit problem described in relation to smokers might have anything to do with this other fruit problem?

Rising number of children allergic to fruits and vegetables

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Bell

Airplane Cabin Air Filled with Toxic Chemicals

David Gutierrez
Natural News
Sat, 04 Apr 2009 13:00 UTC
A new undercover investigation has found traces of toxic chemicals on board the planes of several popular commercial airlines, bolstering claims from pilots and others that contamination of the air in jet cabins is widespread.

A Swiss and German television network collaborated to secretly swab the cabins of 31 airplanes from several popular airliners. The swabs were then sent off to the University of British Columbia for analysis. Twenty-eight of them tested positive for high levels of a jet oil ingredient called tricresyl phosphate (TCP).

TCP is used to prevent wear inside jet engines, but is also known to cause respiratory distress, drowsiness, headaches or other neurological problems in humans.

This cluster of symptoms is known as Aerotoxic Syndrome. Former British Airways pilot Tristan Loraine has conducted research into the condition for seven years, leading eventually to a documentary about his findings. Loraine claims that it was contaminated cabin air that made him unable to work after 19 years as a pilot.

Comment:
"One curious and unintended consequence of the aeroplane ban [on smoking] was that airlines began to save money by changing the air in the cabin less frequently. Traditionally, this was done every two minutes and old air was never recirculated, but with no tobacco smoke to draw attention to the quality of air, the carriers reduced air changes to once every twenty minutes. This led to a musty aroma on board and, according to a report in The Lancet, contributed to the appearance of Deep Vein Thrombosis, a disease unknown in airline passengers until the 1990s."
Christopher Snowdon - Velvet Glove, Iron Fist: A History of Anti-Smoking

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Syringe

Nicotine may have more profound impact than previously thought


Brown University
Sun, 05 Apr 2009 03:08 UTC
nicotine & alpha-7 receptor binding
© Hawrot Lab/Brown UniversityResearchers have found that the alpha-7 receptor, a site known to bind with nicotine, interacts with 55 different proteins. Nicotine may affect bodily processes -- and perhaps the actions of other commonly used drugs -- more broadly than was previously thought.
Nicotine isn't just addictive. It may also interfere with dozens of cellular interactions in the body, new Brown University research suggests.

Conversely, the data could also help scientists develop better treatments for various diseases. Pharmaceutical companies rely on basic research to identify new cellular interactions that can, in turn, serve as targets for potential new drugs.

"It opens several new lines of investigation," said lead author Edward Hawrot, professor of molecular science, molecular pharmacology, physiology and biotechnology at Brown University.

Hawrot's research is highlighted in a paper published April 3 in the Journal of Proteome Research. He and a team that included graduate students William Brucker and Joao Paulo set out to provide a more basic understanding of how nicotine affects the process of cell communication through the mammalian nervous system.

Comment: Notice that the article makes no mention of whether the interaction of nicotine with the alpha-7 receptor is negative or not. And that it shows promising research possibiities with respect to treating schizophrenia. Yet this substance, which has been in use for thousands years by indigenous peoples is still demonized. Why?

Nicotine Activates More than Just the Brain's Pleasure Pathways
Nicotine and Autism: Another study demonstrates nicotine's neurological benefits
Nicotine Found To Protect Against Parkinson's-like Brain Damage
Researchers Light Up for Nicotine, the Wonder Drug
Let's All Light Up!

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Health

Modified tobacco plant may block HIV


United Press International
Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:44 UTC
Owensboro, Kentucky-- A gel derived from a close relative to the tobacco plant is being tested as an affordable preventative measure for HIV, U.S. researchers said.

Kenneth Palmer, a senior scientist in the University of Louisville's Owensboro Cancer Research Program, has published research that suggests growing large quantities of the protein griffithsin found in the transgenic plant Nicotiana benthamiana can prevent human immunodeficiency virus from infecting cells of the immune system, the university's James Graham Brown Cancer Center said in a release.
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