Tobacco.org

Smokers fuel prediction of steep rise in lung disease 

DUBAI // The prevalence of a progressive and irreversible lung disease is increasing rapidly.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects 4 per cent of the Abu Dhabi population, according to a study by UAE University, Zayed Military Hospital and the Emirates Allergy and Respiratory Society (Ears).

Worldwide, the disease, caused mainly by smoking and characterised by severely restricted breathing as a result of lung damage and inflammation, affects between 2 and 9 per cent of the population, placing Abu Dhabi slightly below the average.

However, with smokers making up nearly a quarter of the adult population in the emirate, experts project that the prevalence of COPD could increase to 7 per cent in the next five years.

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• PepsiCo Unions Seek NLRB Help to Combat Company’s $50 Tax on Fat, Smoking  

Teamster union members at PepsiCo (PEP) Inc. in upstate New York are seeking National Labor Relations Board help to fight the company’s health-care policy that charges employees $50 a month when they smoke or have medical issues that may trigger weight gain.

Three International Brotherhood of Teamsters locals, representing about 300 drivers, sales agents and warehouse workers in Binghamton, Latham and Syracuse, complained to the labor board in October. PepsiCo is hindering the union’s effort to shop for a health plan without a “sin tax,” said Ozzie Martucci, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 669.

“We’re against that type of tax, frankly,” Martucci said yesterday in a phone interview. “It feels wrong to tax workers if they are overweight or happen to have diabetes or smoke, and we wanted to look elsewhere for different insurance.”

PepsiCo (PEP) workers can avoid the fee if they join programs to stop smoking or lose weight, said Dave DeCecco, a company spokesman. “These programs enable our associates and their families to live a healthier lifestyle,” he said.

The fee is applied to smokers, as well as to workers who have diabetes, hypertension, high blood pressure or asthma, conditions that often lead to being overweight, he said.

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Heavy metals and couple fecundity, the LIFE Study  

Highlights

► Female cadmium and male lead blood concentrations associated with a longer time-to-pregnancy.

► Male blood lead effect remained in the context of female exposures.

► Environmentally-relevant concentrations of metals adversely affect couple fecundity.

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• Smoking, lead linked to pregnancy delay 

Higher blood levels of cadmium in females, and higher blood levels of lead in males, delayed pregnancy in those trying to have a baby, U.S. researchers said.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., and colleagues said smokers are estimated to have twice the levels of cadmium as do non-smokers, but exposure also occurs in workplaces where cadmium-containing products are made and from industrial emissions. Common sources of lead exposure include lead-based paint in older homes, lead-glazed pottery, contaminated soil and contaminated drinking water. . . .

The study was published online in Chemosphere.

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Withdrawal from Chronic Nicotine Exposure Alters Dopamine Signaling Dynamics in the Nucleus Accumbens 

Background

Unaided attempts to quit smoking commonly fail during the first 2 weeks of the nicotine withdrawal syndrome. Alterations in dopamine (DA) signaling correlate with withdrawal from chronic nicotine exposure, but those changes have not been well-characterized. . . .

Conclusions

The relative increase in the sensitivity of DA release to phasic stimulation suggests an increase in the signal-to-noise relationship of DA signaling during the withdrawal period. Therefore, the DA signal produced by acute nicotine re-exposure produces a DA response that might reinforce relapse to drug use (i.e., smoking). Because the basal DA concentration is low during withdrawal, therapies aimed at elevating the background DA signal represent a reasonable treatment strategy for nicotine-dependent individuals attempting to quit.

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Low dopamine levels during withdrawal promote relapse to smoking 

A new study in Biological Psychiatry this month now suggests that low dopamine levels that occur as a result of withdrawal from smoking actually promote the relapse to smoking.

Dopamine is a brain chemical messenger that is critically important in reward and motivation. Some research suggests that one of its central roles is to send a signal to the brain to 'seek something enjoyable'. Indeed, dopamine is released during many rewarding experiences, including taking drugs, smoking, having sex, and eating food.

This signal seems to depend on the dopamine which is released in response to environmental cues, called phasic release, as opposed to the tonic seepage of small amounts of dopamine from nerve cells. The tonic release of dopamine is implicated in helping the dopamine system set the level of its reactivity to inputs.

Since dopamine is released by smoking, it makes sense that dopamine levels become abnormal when a smoker chooses to stop smoking. Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Texas undertook their study to characterize these changes.

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Smoking Cessation Treatment Preferences, Intentions, and Behaviors Among a Large Sample of Colorado Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Smokers 

Conclusions: GLBT self-identification was not associated with lower than average acceptance of evidence-based smoking cessation strategies, especially NRT, but a large minority of GLBT smokers were unlikely to seek cessation assistance through clinical encounters. Public health campaigns should focus on supporting motivation to quit and providing nonclinical access to evidence-based treatments.

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A Network Method of Measuring Affiliation-Based Peer Influence: Assessing the Influences of Teammates’ Smoking on Adolescent Smoking  

Using a network analytic framework, this study introduces a new method to measure peer influence based on adolescents’ affiliations or 2-mode social network data. Exposure based on affiliations is referred to as the “affiliation exposure model.” This study demonstrates the methodology using data on young adolescent smoking being influenced by joint participation in school-based organized sports activities with smokers. The analytic sample consisted of 1,260 American adolescents from ages 10 to 13 in middle schools, and the results of the longitudinal regression analyses showed that adolescents were more likely to smoke as they were increasingly exposed to teammates who smoke. This study illustrates the importance of peer influence via affiliation through team sports.

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Playing school sports affects youths' smoking 

Young people's choices about using drugs and alcohol are influenced by peers--not only close friends, but also sports teammates. A new study of middle schoolers and their social networks has found that teammates' smoking plays a big role in youths' decisions about smoking, but adolescents who take part in a lot of sports smoke less.

The study was conducted at the University of Southern California (USC) and appears in the journal Child Development.

Researchers looked at 1,260 ethnically diverse, urban, middle-class sixth through eighth graders. They asked the students about their own smoking behavior, and they asked them to name friends at school as well as the organized sports they took part in at school. Then, using a social network method they developed, they examined how participation in sports with teammates who smoked affected adolescents' smoking behavior.

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Smokers prone to lung deterioration  

If you smoke and remain in the basement most of the time, or near an area with compost materials, there are more chances of lung deterioration following Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD). There exists a fungus that can worsen the condition of patients suffering from COPD.

The relation of smoking with fungus has been established for the first time in medical literature by a PGI doctor.

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Amazon.com: Global Tobacco Control: Power, Policy, Governance and Transfer 

The first major book by political scientists explaining global tobacco control policy. It identifies a history of minimal tobacco control then charts the extent to which governments have regulated tobacco in the modern era. It identifies major policy change from the post-war period and uses theories of public policy to help explain the change.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is an excellent case study in which the authors provide a thorough account of global tobacco control issues using political and public policy analysis. The book is clearly written, accessible and will be of great interest to students of politics, policy analysis and public health."

- Rob Baggott, Professor, Health Policy Research Unit, De Montfort University, UK

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Professor’s new book takes political, cultural look at tobacco policies  

West Virginia University political science Professor Donley Studlar has published a new book that evaluates tobacco policies around the world.

"Global Tobacco Control: Power, Policy, Governance and Transfer," explores the history of the tobacco industry and major concerns in the market.

The book focuses on the gap between policy problems in the industry and government response across the globe, in addition to the vast changes in the system over the past 60 years, Studlar said.

"Smoking is a very culturally and economically embedded practice in many countries. One of the most remarkable things is how much change there has been," he said. "While policies still vary in Western, industrialized countries, there's been a convergence of policies as information has diffused concerning the dangers of cigarette smoking, as well as how different countries have dealt with them."

Studlar said the modern view on smoking in the United States has contributed to economic shifts in the marketplace.

"In the 1950s, cigarette smoking was just normal and no one really objected to the situation. Today, smoking is denormalized, and there are restrictions on tobacco," he said. "What we're trying to do in this book is explore that shift - how it came about and the differences across countries."

"Smoking is usually thought of as a public health issue, but it's also a very political issue, and the fact that it is perceived differently in different countries indicates that."

Smoking is the number one cause of preventable death in the world, but many countries do not possess any laws regulating smoking, he said.

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Continuing to wear nicotine patches after smoking lapses promotes recovery of abstinence  

Conclusions:  Continuing treatment to aid smoking cessation with active patches promotes recovery from lapses. Smokers should be encouraged to persist with patch treatment if they lapse to smoking.

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• Sticking to nicotine patch may prevent relapse  

When smokers on nicotine patch therapy lapse, they may have a better chance of avoiding a return to smoking if they stick with the patches instead of giving up their quit attempt, a new study concludes.

Nicotine replacement therapy, via patches, gums, nasal sprays and inhalers, is one option for kicking the smoking habit. But whether people should immediately stop using those therapies if they fall off the wagon has been a foggy area.

So for the new study, reported in the journal Addiction, researchers re-analyzed a past clinical trial testing the effectiveness of nicotine patches in U.S. smokers.

In the original trial, smokers were randomly assigned to use either patch therapy or inactive "placebo" patches.

The new analysis focused on 509 study participants who lapsed during the third to fifth week of treatment. A "lapse" meant smoking even a single cigarette.

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• PAHO Report Urges Higher Tobacco Taxes, Bans on Advertising  

A growing number of countries in the Americas are adopting effective measures to reduce consumption of tobacco and exposure to secondhand smoke. But a new report from the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) recommends further measures, particularly increases in tobacco taxes and bans on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship.

The new Tobacco Control Report for the Region of the Americas summarizes progress in countries’ implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the world’s first international public health treaty, which requires States Parties to apply a series of policies and measures aimed at reducing tobacco consumption and protecting people from secondhand smoke. The treaty has been in force since 2005.

Of 35 countries in the Americas, 29 have ratified the FCTC, most recently, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Kitts and Nevis.

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