http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/category/COPD.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://ajrccm.atsjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/200912-1794OCv1 http://tobacco.org/news/298815.html Rationale: Cigarette smoke is the major cause of COPD and there is currently no satisfactory therapy to treat people with COPD. We have previously shown that GM-CSF regulates lung innate immunity to LPS through Akt/Erk activation of NFB and AP-1. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether neutralization of GM-CSF can inhibit cigarette smoke-induced lung inflammation in vivo. . . . Conclusion: GM-CSF is a key mediator in smoke-induced airways inflammation and its neutralization may have therapeutic implications in diseases such as COPD. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine Australia Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/18/smoko_proofing_treatment/ http://tobacco.org/news/298740.html Australian boffins have developed a treatment which allows mice to smoke cigarettes without the usual negative health consequences. The method could potentially allow gasper-loving humans to sidestep some of the self-destructive results of their habit. The key to the business, according to lead cig-boffin Ross Vlahos, is Granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), an agent released by the lungs when they are exposed to cigarette smoke. GM-CSF causes inflammatory leukocytes to activate in the lungs, which then leads to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other complaints such as "oxidative stress, emphysema, small airway fibrosis, mucus hypersecretion and progressive airflow limitation". . . . Unfortunately Anti GM-CSF isn't a cure-all, as the risk of cancer will still remain. "Our treatment deals with cigarette smoke-induced lung inflammation involved in COPD, not cancer and other smoking-related ailments. Quitting remains the best and only cure for smoking-related lung disease," warns Vlahos sternly. The Register Australia Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=637107 http://tobacco.org/news/298710.html Blocking a specific protein reduced or prevented smoking-related lung inflammation in mice, Australian researchers report. Inflammation is associated with chronic pulmonary obstructive disease (COPD) and many other health problems caused by smoking. In the study, researchers from the University of Melbourne focused on a protein called granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), which controls the growth, activation and survival of leukocytes, the white blood cells that are part of the immune system and that play a role in the development of COPD. The researchers exposed mice to the equivalent of smoke from nine cigarettes a day for four days. Half the mice were treated with a GM-CSF blocking agent (anti-GM-CSF). After four days, the rodents' lung tissue was examined for the presence of inflammatory cells. HealthDay [HealthScout] Australia Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.news-medical.net/news/20100318/Blocking-GM-CSF-could-reduce-inflammation-and-deleterious-effects-of-cigarette-smoke-exposure.aspx http://tobacco.org/news/298708.html Researchers in Australia have demonstrated that blocking a certain protein can reduce or prevent cigarette smoke-induced lung inflammation in mice. Inflammation underlies the disease process of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and many other smoking-related ailments. The findings have been published online ahead of print publication in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Cigarette smoking causes lung inflammation, which can lead to oxidative stress, emphysema, small airway fibrosis, mucus hypersecretion and progressive airflow limitation. Since the inflammatory reaction to cigarette smoke responds poorly to current anti-inflammatory treatments, there is intense research to identify more effective therapies for cigarette smoke-induce lung damage. Granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) is of special interest because it governs the growth, activation and survival of leukocytes directly implicated in the pathogenesis of COPD. News-Medical.net Australia Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://ibtimes.com.au/contents/20100318/smoking-anti-gm-csf-smoko-proofing-drug.htm http://tobacco.org/news/298707.html Based on the developed treatment of Australian scientist, experimental mice can smoke cigarettes without the usual adverse health consequences. This method can potentially allow smokers to evade some of the ill effects of their habit. According to the lead researcher, Ross Vlahos, the granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), an agent released by the lungs when exposed to cigarette smoke, is the key aspect of the study. GM-CSF triggers inflammatory leukocytes to become active in the lungs, leading to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and other negative health effects such as "oxidative stress, emphysema, small airway fibrosis, mucus hypersecretion and progressive airflow limitation". Vlahos and his colleagues at the Melbourne University used a blocking agent, known as "anti GM-CSF" (smoko-proofing drug) and dosed half of the mice with the agent International Business Times Australia Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-03/ats-ntr031610.php http://tobacco.org/news/298704.html Researchers in Australia have demonstrated that blocking a certain protein can reduce or prevent cigarette smoke-induced lung inflammation in mice. Inflammation underlies the disease process of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and many other smoking-related ailments. The findings have been published online ahead of print publication in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. . . . Cigarette smoke triggers the release of GM-CSF and other cytokines and chemokines which cause activation and recruitment of more inflammatory cells into the lung,thereby perpetuating the inflammatory response and exacerbating ongoing inflammation. These activated and recruited inflammatory cells also release proteases such as matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-12, which destroy the lung tissue, resulting in emphysema. EurekAlert ksavoie@thoracic.org Australia Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://content.onlinejacc.org/cgi/content/abstract/j.jacc.2010.03.002 http://tobacco.org/news/298596.html Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine whether smoking cessation improves flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery. . . . Conclusions: Despite weight gain, smoking cessation leads to prolonged improvements in endothelial function, which may mediate part of the reduced cardiovascular disease risk observed after smoking cessation. Journal of the American College of Cardiology Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20100309/thl-expert-calls-for-total-smoking-ban-d831572.html http://tobacco.org/news/298123.html More young people are being treated for smoking-related lung diseases, an expert has claimed. Anindo Banerjee, 41, respiratory specialist at Southampton General Hospital, said even though there is a ban on lighting up in public, cigarettes continue to be a major health problem and not just for older generations. He called for a total ban on cigarettes on the eve of No Smoking Day. Mr Banerjee said he is even treating a 19-year-old for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which can cause sufferers to slowly suffocate. "Year on year we are seeing increasing numbers of patients with severe chest diseases due to smoking in which the lungs are damaged, such as COPD," he said. "This is not just death, but a slow suffocation in which patients progressively lose the ability to work, go out, or even walk around the shops because they are out of breath. Eventually they become chair or bed-bound, dependent on oxygen to keep them going." Mr Banerjee went on: "It is an old myth that COPD is a disease of old men. Depressingly, large numbers of young people smoke, and they often believe that the warnings do not apply to them. . . . The 19-year-old COPD patient is female and has been smoking since the age of 10, according to a spokesman for the hospital. The Press Association UK Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/08/AR2010030802321.html http://tobacco.org/news/298086.html THIS STUDY involved 3,528 middle-age and older adults, most in their mid-60s, including 9 percent who had smoked pipes, 11 percent who had smoked cigars and 52 percent who had smoked cigarettes. All participants were given spirometry tests, which gauge breathing ability and lung function and are used to diagnose COPD, and urine tests to measure cotinine levels, which indicate the body's absorption of tobacco smoke. Cotinine levels were higher in cigarette smokers than in pipe and cigar smokers. Nonetheless, spirometry showed that people who smoked pipes or cigars but had never smoked cigarettes were more than twice as likely as nonsmokers to have obstructed airflow; the risk grew to more than threefold higher for pipe and cigar smokers who also smoked cigarettes. . . . FIND THIS STUDY Feb. 16 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. The Washington Post Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/georgepitcher/100028258/the-sad-early-death-of-a-smoker-aged-85/ http://tobacco.org/news/297824.html I doubt there's an emphysema sufferer anywhere who says that it's worth it for all those lovely cigarettes they've enjoyed over the years. But Mr Whittamore died aged 85. Wouldn't his warning from beyond the grave have carried a bit more weight if his death was a premature one? Had he not smoked, what age did he expect to live to? Do we not all wish that we might live to such a grand old age, enjoying life's pleasures in defiance of busybody health dictators wagging their fingers in our faces? With respect, Mr Whittamore's notices are inaccurate. Smoking didn't kill him. Living did. -- George Pitcher is Religion Editor of Telegraph Media. He is an Anglican priest Electronic Telegraph blogs UK Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/8545954.stm http://tobacco.org/news/297823.html A Kent smoker's dying wish to have a sign warning mourners at his funeral about the dangers of the habit has been carried out. 'Smoking Killed Me' signs were placed in the hearse carrying the body of Albert Whittamore, 85, who died of lung disease emphysema in February. Mr Whittamore, known as Dick, blamed smoking on his condition and said he wanted to encourage people to give up. . . . Paul Sullivan, from Sullivan and Sons Funeral Directors, said: "Although he had reached the age of 85, he had been suffering for a while and wanted to do his bit to warn others about smoking. BBC Online UK Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1254881/Cigarettes-killed-Message-smoker-funeral-hearse.html http://tobacco.org/news/297763.html A smoker's final wish was fulfilled today when his hearse was paraded through the streets bearing the sign Smoking Killed Me. Dick Whittamore's last request was that the stark message be displayed alongside his coffin and by his gravestone as a warning to others. The signs, printed in the same typeface as the health warnings on a cigarette packet, read Smoking Killed Me, Albert (Dick) Whittamore. . . . The former assistant theatre manager from Dover, Kent, suffered badly from emphysema, a lung disease caused by the toxins in cigarette smoke. . . . He died aged 85 on February 16 in William Harvey Hospital in Ashford following a heart attack and was buried today. He blamed his ill health on his addiction to tobacco in his youth. The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday UK Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2010-02/25/content_9499484.htm http://tobacco.org/news/297680.html Fang Bo, 58, who survived SARS seven years ago but is now crippled by the hormone treatment that saved his life, looks across from his bed in a Beijing hospital to cuttings of newspaper articles from 2003 that hail him as a symbol of hope against the deadly virus. . . . Fang has started to smoke again, despite quitting for five years. Although he knows it will worsen the fibrosis in his lungs, he said he cannot live without cigarettes. As he sat in his hospital bed chatting, he continued to smoke as he inserted an oxygen pipe into his nose to help his breathing. A nurse entered the room, checked his temperature and left. "The staff at the hospital have given up trying to get me to stop," he said. "Smoking is the only thing that helps with my depression. If I didn't have it, I would go mad waiting for my next bone or joint to break." The 58-year-old was diagnosed with depression in 2008. China Daily China Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://respiratory-research.com/content/11/1/11 http://tobacco.org/news/297587.html In summary, our results showed that prenatal and current household ETS exposure in Taiwan had significant adverse effects on respiratory health in children. Eliminating household ETS exposure may offer the most promising opportunity for reducing morbidity, because this risk factor is potentially modifiable. Public health policy for reducing the burden of respiratory symptoms may require a stronger focus on smoking cessation in the home, where children could gain significant health benefits. Respiratory Research Taiwan Fri, 29 Jan 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://respiratory-research.com/content/pdf/1465-9921-11-11.pdf http://tobacco.org/news/297585.html Our population-based epidemiologic study showed the harmful effects of fetal and current exposure to tobacco smoke products. Prenatal exposure due to maternal smoking had the strongest effects on respiratory symptoms. Current household ETS exposure also showed significant adverse effects, but past-only ETS exposure was not associated with any respiratory outcome. In addition, the number of current household cigarettes smoked, the percentage of ETS exposure during lifetime, and the number of current smokers at home showed increasing trends in risks of respiratory symptoms. Respiratory Research Taiwan Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT