Dr. John's Health Matters
Welcome to Dr. John's Health Matters blog.
The articles posted here are from various sources who are duly acknowledged. I would appreciate being immediately notified, if any copywritten material needs to be removed. This blog is not intended to replace the qualified advice of a licensed health practitioner. Readers should exercise their own judgment. Enjoy, subscribe, participate and tell others :)
Following:
Navigate
COMING SOON!
Expand all | Collapse all 
Search
Click Tags under Articles
NOTE: SEARCH BY KEYWORD FUNCTIONS BELOW ARE TEMPORARILY MALFUNCTIONING. USE AT OWN RISK.
Or Display Full Article by
Posts tagged "smoker"
Tuesday, Sep 1st, 2009 ↓Breast Cancer: Risk Increases For Smokers And Overweight Women →
Sept 1, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—A recent study published in the Journal of Cancer Epidemiology has reinforced the correlation between being overweight, smoking and breast cancer. What makes this study unique is how test subjects were not diagnosed for BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations, which predispose women to breast cancer.
Instead, women with such gene mutations were excluded to allow researchers to concentrate on lifestyle factors such as smoking, exercise, nutrition and weight. All women analyzed in the study were direct ancestors of the first French colonists.
“To our knowledge, this is the first study conducted on a sample of women without BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations, which are often found in French-Canadian women,” says lead researcher Vishnee Bissonauth, a graduate of the Université de Montréal’s Department of Nutrition and a researcher at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center.
For full article, see link above.
Tags: smoking breast cancer risk overweight obesity cigarette smoker gene mutation correlation
Tobacco Smoking May Increase Risk for Tuberculosis →
September 1, 2009 (Medscape.com)— Tobacco smoking is associated with a 2-fold increased risk for active tuberculosis, according to the results of a prospective Taiwan cohort study reported in the September 1 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
“Previous case-control studies and a small number of cohort studies in high-risk populations have found an association between tobacco and active tuberculosis, but no cohort studies have been conducted in the general population on this association to date,” write Hsien-Ho Lin, MD, ScD, from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues.
The goal of the study was to evaluate the association between tobacco smoking and active tuberculosis in a general population cohort of 17,699 participants older than 12 years enrolled in the Taiwan National Health Interview Survey. An in-person interview at baseline determined smoking status and other covariates. During follow-up from 2001 to 2004, incident cases of active tuberculosis were identified with use of the National Health Insurance database. After adjustment for age, sex, alcohol intake, socioeconomic status, and other covariates, the association between smoking status and active tuberculosis was estimated with multivariate logistic regression.
During the 3.3 years of follow-up, there were 57 new cases of active tuberculosis. Current smoking was linked to an increased risk for active tuberculosis (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.94; 95% confidence interval, 1.01 - 3.73). Compared with patients older than 65 years, those younger than 65 years showed a stronger association between current smoking and the risk for active tuberculosis (adjusted OR, 3.04 vs 0.78; P for interaction = .036). There were significant dose-response associations for cigarettes per day (P for trend = .0036), years of smoking (P for trend = 0.023), and pack-years (P for trend = .0023).
“Tobacco smoking was associated with a twofold increased risk of active tuberculosis in a representative cohort of Taiwan’s population,” the study authors write. “The finding that smoking increases the risk of tuberculosis suggests that tobacco control be considered as an important component in the global effort to eliminate tuberculosis.”
For full medical article, see link above.
Parents Play Key Role In Whether Teen Tobacco Use Becomes A Daily Habit →
Sept 1, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Researchers have found new evidence showing that parents play a key role in whether or not their adolescent children who experiment with tobacco progress to become daily smokers before they graduate from high school.
A study published on-line and in the September issue of journal Pediatrics shows that parents can be a positive or negative influence on their children’s future smoking habit.
“If parents really don’t want their children to smoke they need to communicate that by establishing clear guidelines in their families about not smoking and discuss them with their school-age children.” said Min Jung Kim, a research scientist with the University of Washington’s Social Development Research Group and lead author of the study.
At the same time, parents can increase their children’s chances of smoking by their own use of tobacco.
“If parents smoke, teens have more access to cigarettes than teens who have non-smoking parents. A second preventive measure for smoking parents is to quit smoking themselves,” said Kim.
For full article, see link above.
Secondhand Smoke Worsens Outcome of Acute Coronary Syndrome →
Aug 28, 2009 (Medscape.com)— - Environmental exposure to tobacco smoke - a known risk factor for myocardial infarction and other acute coronary syndromes (ACS) - can also worsen prognosis after ACS, according to a new study.
“These findings suggest that, by reducing exposure to secondhand smoke, smoke-free legislation may not only reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events, but may also improve prognosis in those who suffer them,” Professors Jill P. Pell and Sally Haw write in a featured editorial published with the study in the September issue of Heart.
For full medical article, see link above.
Tags: secondhand smoke cigarette acute coronary syndrome myocardial infarction risk danger cardiovascular smoker
Smokers' Tongues Fail Taste Test →
Aug 20, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Smokers have fewer and flatter taste buds. A study of the tongues of 62 Greek soldiers, published in the open access journal BMC Ear, Nose and Throat Disorders, has demonstrated how cigarettes deaden the ability to taste.
Pavlidis Pavlos led a team of researchers from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki who used electrical stimulation to test the taste threshold of the soldiers and endoscopes to measure the number and shape of a kind of taste bud called fungiform papillae. He said: “Statistically important differences between the taste thresholds of smokers and non-smokers were detected. Differences concerning the shape and the vascularisation of fungiform papillae were also observed.”
For full article see link above.
Tags: smoker smoking cigarette taste bud mouth tongue risk fungiform papillae sensitivity blood supply nicotine
Dementia risk higher in middle-aged smokers →
Aug 4, 2009 (Presstv.com)—Middle-aged individuals, who smoke and have high blood pressure or diabetes, are placed at a considerable increased risk of developing dementia.
According to a study published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, smoking, diabetes and hypertension are major risk factors contributing to dementia in the long run.
Smokers under the age of 55 are five times more likely to develop dementia. As for diabetics, however, the risk is tripled.
Smoking, high blood pressure and diabetes can damage the brain and its nourishing small blood vessels, leading to dementia.
Scientists therefore pointed out the importance of early lifestyle changes and risk factor treatment to prevent dementia.
For full article see link above.
Tags: memory brain risk smoker smoking cigarette dementia hypertension diabetes cardiovascular
Emphysema Severity Directly Linked To Coal Dust Exposure →
July 23, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Coal dust exposure is directly linked to severity of emphysema in smokers and nonsmokers alike, according to new research from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
“In this study we have shown that coal mine dust exposure is a significant predictor of emphysema severity,” said Eileen Kuempel, Ph.D., a senior scientist at NIOSH and lead author of the study.
The findings, which were reported in the August 1 issue of the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (AJRCCM), highlight a health problem related to a growing industry. In the past 25 years, coal production has nearly doubled worldwide.
For full article see link above.
Ovary Removal May Increase Lung Cancer Risk →
July 21, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Women who have premature menopause because of medical interventions are at an increased risk of developing lung cancer, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Cancer. The startling link was made by epidemiologists from the Université de Montréal, the Research Centre of the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal and the INRS—Institut Armand-Frappier.
“We found that women who experienced non-natural menopause are at almost twice the risk of developing lung cancer compared to women who experienced natural menopause,” says Anita Koushik, a researcher at the Université de Montréal’s Department of Social and Preventive Medicine and a scientist at the Research Centre of the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal. “This increased risk of lung cancer was particularly observed among women who had non-natural menopause by having had both their ovaries surgically removed.”
The scientists studied 422 women with lung cancer and 577 control subjects at 18 hospitals across Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They assessed socio-demographic characteristics, residential history, occupational exposures, medical and smoking history, and (among women) menstruation and pregnancy histories.
“A major strength of this study was the detailed smoking information which we obtained from all study participants; this is important because of the role of smoking in lung cancer and because smokers generally have lower estrogen levels than non-smokers,” says Dr. Koushik. “Although smoking is the dominant cause of lung cancer, we know other factors can play an important role in enhancing the impact of tobacco carcinogens; this research suggests that in women hormonal factors may play such a role.”
For full article see link above.
Tags: lung cancer estrogen women woman smoking smoker premature menopause ovary removal risk surgery carcinogens hormone
Superfood Soy Linked To Reduction In Smoker's Lung Damage Risk →
June 28, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—People who eat lots of soy products have better lung function and are less likely to develop the smoking-associated lung disease COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). A new study has shown that consumption of a wide variety of soy products can be associated with a reduction in the risk of COPD and other respiratory symptoms.
Dr. Fumi Hirayama and Professor Andy Lee from Curtin University of Technology, Australia, worked with a team of respiratory physicians to poll 300 patients with COPD from six Japanese hospitals and 340 age-matched control subjects from the same areas as the patients about their soy intake. Dr. Hirayama said, “Soy consumption was found to be positively correlated with lung function and inversely associated with the risk of COPD. It has been suggested that flavonoids from soy foods act as an anti-inflammatory agent in the lung, and can protect against tobacco carcinogens for smokers. However, further research is needed to understand the underlying biological mechanism”.
For full article see link above.
