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Test detects molecular marker of aging in humans 

In 2004, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center announced a crucial discovery in the understanding of cellular aging. They found that as cells and tissues age, the expression of a key protein, called p16INK4a, dramatically increases in most mammalian organs. Because p16INK4a is a tumor suppressor protein, cancer researchers are interested in its role in cellular aging and cancer prevention.

Now the team has proven that the same biomarker is present in human blood and is strongly correlated both with chronological age and with certain behaviors such as tobacco use and physical inactivity, which are known to accelerate the aging process.

In a paper published online ahead of print in the journal Aging Cell, the researchers reported that they have solved technical hurdles to develop a simple blood test to detect p16INK4a expression, which is present in cells called T-lymphocytes, also known as T-cells. . . .

They found that expression of the biomarker was strongly correlated with the donor's chronological age and, in fact, increased exponentially with age. In addition, increased levels were independently associated with tobacco use and physical inactivity as well as with biomarkers of human frailty.

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SF lawmakers pass ban on new smoke shops that sell paraphernalia used by pot smokers 

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Lawmakers agreed unanimously Tuesday to snuff out new shops that sell pot-smoking paraphernalia in the heart of San Francisco's one-time hippie district.

The Board of Supervisors approved a three-year moratorium on new businesses in the Haight that sell the smoking equipment.

At least a dozen businesses sell rolling papers, roach clips and glass water pipes along Haight Street, a popular destination for tourists nostalgic for the Summer of Love.

The ban does not affect existing shops.

Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi said the shops have a place in his district but were crowding out other businesses that serve the needs of neighborhood residents.

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• Health research agencies form global alliance to curb humanity's most fatal diseases 

Six of the world's foremost health agencies, collectively managing an estimated 80% of all public health research funding, today announced formation of a landmark alliance to collaborate in the critical battle against chronic, non-communicable diseases: cardiovascular diseases (mainly heart disease and stroke), several cancers, chronic respiratory conditions, and type 2 diabetes.

The health impact and socio-economic cost of these largely-preventable diseases is enormous and rising, potentially derailing efforts at poverty reduction.

The Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (Alliance) is being created to support clear priorities for a coordinated research effort . . .

The Alliance's charter members are:

* Australia National Health and Medical Research Council;

* Canadian Institutes of Health Research;

* Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences;

* The U.K. Medical Research Council; and

* The U.S. National Institutes of Health, specifically its National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), and the Fogarty International Center. . . .

The following research priorities have been proposed by some founding Alliance members, for discussion at their inaugural scientific meetings in November:

* Test ways to prevent cardiovascular diseases and complications of diabetes;

* Identify and promote public health measures for controlling obesity;

* Characterize and quantify the major risk factors for chronic obstructive airways disease (both tobacco and environmental pollution) and the development of control measures; and

* Advance research into the problem of tobacco consumption and its relationship to cancer, cardiovascular disease and other disorders;

* Develop interventions to address the above priorities.

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'Cannabis alters human DNA' -- new study 

A new study published by University of Leicester researchers has found "convincing evidence" that cannabis smoke damages DNA in ways that could potentially increase the risk of cancer development in humans.

Using a newly developed highly sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method, the University of Leicester scientists found clear indication that cannabis smoke damages DNA, under laboratory conditions. . . .

"There have been many studies on the toxicity of tobacco smoke. It is known that tobacco smoke contains 4000 chemicals of which 60 are classed as carcinogens. Cannabis in contrast has not been so well studied. It is less combustible than tobacco and is often mixed with tobacco in use. Cannabis smoke contains 400 compounds including 60 cannabinoids. However, because of its lower combustibility it contains 50% more carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons including naphthalene, benzanthracene, and benzopyrene, than tobacco smoke."

Writing in the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology, the scientists describe the development of a mass spectrometry method that provides a clear indication that cannabis smoke damages DNA, under laboratory conditions.

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Did Ramadoss misrepresent facts? 

he Supreme Court made headlines recently when it asked for records of the controversial group of ministers (GoM) meeting on February 3 after former health minister A Ramadoss alleged that the minutes of the meeting — that took a call on tobacco warnings on cigarette and beedi packets — had been altered under pressure.

The TOI has now accessed records on the basis of which SC supported the government in its stand that Ramadoss had misrepresented facts when he alleged that the pictorial warnings had been reduced under pressure from the tobacco lobby.

The GoM chaired by the then foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee included urban development minister S Jaipal Reddy, former commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath and former minister of state (MEA and I&B) Anand Sharma besides Ramadoss. The ministers, with the exception of Ramadoss, agreed that the pictorial warnings on cigarette and beedi packets should be restricted to 40% of the principal display area on the front panel of the package only.

There was also unanimity that the warnings should not apply to wholesale packaging even if it meant making amendments in the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Packaging and Labelling Rules of 2008. . . .

On May 1, Ramadoss wrote to PM Manmohan Singh protesting that further amendment to the Packaging and Labelling Rules were being contemplated by the GoM to restrict the health warning to the front panel and only on packs meant for consumers. The health minister pointed out that the intended health warning in real terms would actually occupy only 20% space and would not meet the minimum requirement as per internationally accepted norms.

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ELLIOTT: Lighten up! 3 reasons the travel industry should end its war on smokers  

It’s more than a little ironic that the persecution of smokers is a legitimate issue in 2009. Just two short decades ago, the travel industry was more than accommodating to visitors who wanted to have a cigarette. You could puff away in rental cars, hotel rooms, restaurants — even on flights. . . .

Should the travel industry try to turn back the clock, pushing for laws that permit smoking in hotels, planes and restaurants?

No. The dangers of secondhand smoke are indisputable. But shouldn’t smokers be allowed to enjoy a cigarette, cigar or pipe when they aren’t exposing anyone else to the dangerous carcinogens to which they’re addicted? As long as smoking is legal in America, the answer to that question ought to be: “yes.”

Even ardent nonsmokers like Bill Armstrong, a consultant based in Calgary, concede that smokers should have a place in this world. “In my opinion, a smoking area in a hotel should be away from where guests normally go,” he says. “The smoke from the smoking area should not blow into the hotel, pool or rooms.”

I agree. I think just as we used to allow smokers to indiscriminately consume tobacco products anywhere, we’ve now gone too far in the other direction. Maybe it’s time for a little balance.

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DOWD: Vice and Spice  

Sneaking a smoke now and again is not the worst presidential flaw imaginable.

Our president is positively monkish compared with Silvio Berlusconi, whose Vesuvial vices spurred a trio of women academics in Italy to write an "Appeal to the First Ladies." . . .

Given Berlusconi's louche ways, L'Aquila is a safe place for President Obama to indulge his lingering smoking habit.

It's interesting that someone with such daunting discipline can't apply his willpower to cigarettes. The day after he signed a historic tobacco bill, the president conceded at a White House news conference that he "constantly" struggles with his vice and falls off the wagon sometimes.

He got testy with the McClatchy reporter who asked him about his bill and his habit . . .

He also got prickly with NBC News's Chuck Todd when Todd said the president had "hinted" that there would be consequences for a repressive Iran. . . .

the president shot back, "I know everybody here is on a 24-hour news cycle. I'm not. O.K.?"

It was enough to make a guy sneak out to the Truman balcony for a smoke.

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VIDEO: "Smoke Free" Cigarette Debate - CBS News Video 

Some smokers who wish to quit are now praising the controversial e-cigarette, which simulates the effects of smoking. But, as Karina Mitchell reports, U.S. health officials are less optimistic.

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VIDEO: Low-Income Americans Will Be Hardest Hit by Smoking Tax 

The financial strain of the new increase in federal cigarette taxes will affect lower income Americans the most as they are much more likely to report they smoke than their higher income counterparts.

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• VIDEO: Majority Oppose New Law Regulating Tobacco 

Fifty-two percent of Americans disapprove of the new law that gives the federal government power to regulate the manufacturing and marketing of cigarettes and other tobacco products, while 46% approve.

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San Francisco lawmakers pass Haight smoke shop ban (4 p.m.)  

San Francisco lawmakers have agreed unanimously to snuff out new shops that sell pot-smoking paraphernalia in the district at the heart of the city's hippie history.

The Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance Tuesday that places a three-year moratorium on new businesses in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood that sell smoking equipment.

At least a dozen businesses sell rolling papers, roach clips and glass water pipes along Haight Street

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Polish police arrest 21 in anti-smuggling operation 

Investigators have arrested 21 suspects in raids against a cigarette-smuggling operation between Ukraine and Italy, thought to have generated millions of dollars, police said Tuesday.

The smuggling gang, which moved their cargoes through several European countries, had defrauded the EU authorities of at least eight million zloty (1.75 million euros, 2.46 million dollars), said police.

The gang was based in both Poland and Italy and had been active from January 2006, said a statement from the Lublin provincial police headquarters, eastern Poland.

They had smuggled at least 53 sizable shipments of contraband cigarettes between the two countries, via Romania, Austria, Greece, Slovenia and Croatia.

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Heart Patients Are Twice As Likely To Quit Smoking With Intensive In-Hospital Support 

A new study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) shows that patients admitted to a hospital with coronary artery disease are twice as likely to quit smoking after receiving intensive smoking cessation support than those receiving minimal support.

The researchers, through a randomized clinical trial, compared intensive intervention with minimal intervention. They found that patients admitted for open heart surgery, such as coronary artery bypass grafts, had considerably higher long-term abstinence rates after one year, compared with those admitted for heart attacks, such as acute myocardial infarctions.

Other elements were instrumental in reaching successful long-term smoking cessation, including absence of a previous heart attack, postsecondary education and some type of smoking restrictions at home.

The study used an intervention that turned out to be in the highest rates of one-year confirmed smoking termination in prior tests in the US.

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希腊将于7月1日执行公共场所室内禁烟令 

中新网6月24日电 据路透社报道，欧洲烟民比率最高的国家--希腊计划在7月1日开始执行公共场所的室内禁烟令，但许多人质疑这项禁令是否能真正生效。

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Smoking Linked To Brain Damage, New Study 

Research led by scientists in India suggests there is a direct link between smoking and brain damage whereby a compound in tobacco that turns into a cancer-causing chemical once it has been through the body's metabolism, triggers white blood cells in the brain's immune system to attack healthy brain cells.

The study is the work of lead investigators Debapriya Ghosh and Dr Anirban Basu from the Indian National Brain Research Center (NBRC) and was published online on 2 June in the Journal of Neurochemistry.

NNK is a procarcinogen commonly found in tobacco. A procarcinogen is a chemical that becomes cancer-causing (carcinogenic) once it has been metabolised in the body.

While alcohol and many drugs used by drug abusers damages brain cells directly, the researchers believe NNK damages brain cells indirectly, by first causing inflammation in brain cells, similar to that which leads to disorders like Multiple Sclerosis. . . .

Basu said these findings prove that:

"Tobacco compound NNK can activate microglia significantly which subsequently harms the nerve cells."

NNK passes into the body not just through smoking tobacco, it can also pass into the body from chewing tobacco.

Second hand smoking or so called "passive" smoking is another way that NNK can enter the body since it is present in tobacco smoke. A smoke-filled room may contain as much as 26 nanograms of NNK, which is on a par with the amount of NNK found in cigarettes which ranges from 20 to 310 nanograms, said the authors.

Ghosh said this research helps us understand one way that people who smoke or consume tobacco regularly might end up with damaged nerve or brain cells.

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