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Tag: smoking

Getting Not-Ready-To-Quit Smokers to Quit

Getting Not-Ready-To-Quit Smokers to Quit

JAMA (Journal of American Medical Association) just published research on this quit smoking project.  After years of decline in the number of smokers in the US, sadly there is a major upsurge among American youth.  Currently 14% of adults use tobacco (cigarettes or E. cigarettes) while 24% of teens do.  The prevailing thought among psychologists has been that until a smoker is ready to quit the likelihood of motivating them or helping them is nil.  The JAMA article reflects research into a new approach called brief abstinence games.  Basically, the researchers asked smokers to “take a break”.  As a control group they used non-inhalation nicotine in the form of nicotine lozenges. 

The researchers were pleasantly surprised that taking a break for a very brief time (a day or so) over a period of time led to 18% of the smokers quitting.  This study was done in adults, not teens.  So, the next project will be aimed at this younger population.  

Q – Tips: Smoking

Q – Tips: Smoking

  • A recent study by the CDC (Center for Disease Control) reveals greater risk for death from smoking as related to diseases not previously tied to tobacco use: renal failure, intestinal ischemia, hypertensive heart disease and breast and prostate cancer.
More lung injury from smoking

More lung injury from smoking

Researchers at the University of Alabama Medical Center have discovered a new reason cigarette smoke causes lung damage.

They found that smoke inhibits leukotriene A4 hydrolase (LTA4A). This molecule is important in shutting down white blood cells following a successful response to inflammation. By not shutting down white blood cells, smokers experience ongoing inflammatory damage to the lung and airways; this leads to COPD and emphysema.

The same researchers also discovered previously unknown substrata of LTA4H called proline-glycine-proline (PGP), which actively recruits white blood cells into lunch tissues.

Discovering these two molecules naturally helps understand how smoking injures lungs, but may also lead to research that allows manipulating these molecules to reduce lung injury.

This could be of benefit not only for smoke-related lung disease, but also for other inflammation problems such as asthma and cystic fibrosis.

Quick Tips – Second-hand smoke

Quick Tips – Second-hand smoke

Scientists in Sweden who did a study on second-hand smoke exposure worldwide found that 40 percent of children, 33 percent of non-smoking males and 35 percent of non-smoking females got second-hand smoke exposure to a degree that it shortens life spans, and adversely affects their health.