tagged w/ Smoking Cigarettes
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LONDON (Reuters) - Intelligence comes second only to smoking as a predictor of heart disease, scientists said on Wednesday, suggesting public health campaigns may need to be designed for people with lower IQs if they are to work.
Research by Britain's Medical Research Council (MRC) found that lower intelligence quotient (IQ) scores were associated with higher rates of heart disease and death, and were more important indicators than any other risk factors except smoking.
Heart disease is the leading killer of men and women Europe, the United States and most industrialised countries.
According to the World Health Organisation, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes accounted for 32 percent of all deaths around the world in 2005.
It is well known that people with poorer education and lower incomes often face higher risks of ill health and a range of diseases. Studies have pointed to many likely reasons, including limited access to healthcare and other resources, poorer living conditions, chronic stress and higher rates of lifestyle risk factors like smoking.
The MRC study, which analysed data from 1,145 men and women aged around 55 and followed up for 20 years, rated the top five heart disease risk factors as cigarette smoking, IQ, low income, high blood pressure, and low physical activity.
The researchers, led by David Batty of the MRC and Social and Public Health Science Unit in Glasgow, Scotland, said there were "a number of plausible mechanisms" which might explain why lower IQ scores could raise the risk of heart disease -- in particular a person's approach to "healthy behaviour."
Those who ignored or failed to understand advice about the risks of smoking or benefits of good diet and exercise for heart health would be more likely to be at higher risk, they wrote in a study in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE61900L20100210LONDON (Reuters) - Intelligence comes second only to smoking as a predictor of heart... more
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British scientists said on Thursday that mothers who smoke during pregnancy put their children at greater risk of developing psychotic symptoms as teenagers, Reuters reported.
Studies carried out by four British universities looked at 6,356 12-year-olds -– of which around 19 percent had mothers who smoked during pregnancy -- and interviewed them for psychotic-like symptoms such as hallucinations or delusions.
The researchers found that just over 11 percent, or 734 of the total group, had suspected or definite symptoms of psychosis.
Studies in the past have shown that cigarettes can harm the fetuses of mothers who smoke while pregnant. Some of the risks include babies being born smaller and an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome or heart problems.
The more the mothers smoked, the more likely their children were to have psychotic symptoms, according to study leader Stanley Zammit, a psychiatrist at Cardiff University's School of Medicine.
He suggests an estimated 20 percent of adolescents in this cohort would not have developed psychotic symptoms if their mothers had abstained from smoking.
Experts say between 15 and 20 percent of women in Britain smoke during pregnancy, despite countless studies warning about risks to babies.
Drinking during pregnancy was also associated with increased psychotic symptoms, but only in children whose mothers consumed more than 21 units of alcohol a week in early pregnancy, researchers said.
Zammit and colleagues noted that the reasons for the link between maternal smoking and psychotic symptoms are not clear, but the team suggests that exposure to tobacco in the womb might affect a child's impulsivity, attention or cognition.
Additional studies would need to be carried out to investigate how exposure to tobacco in the womb affected children's brains.
Some mothers in the study admitted to also smoking cannabis during pregnancy, but it was not found to have any significant link with psychotic symptoms.British scientists said on Thursday that mothers who smoke during pregnancy put their... more
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The use of Tabacco has increased in developing countries while it has declined in rich countries, like the United States, Japan and Britian.The use of Tabacco has increased in developing countries while it has declined in rich... more
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I'm interested to know why you get up in the morning, what you're working towards, what you're looking forward to, etc. How important is your health? how important to you is the air you breathe? How important is peace of mind?I'm interested to know why you get up in the morning, what you're working... more
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First there was smoked tobacco. Then there was smokeless tobacco. Now there's something in between.
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It's vaporized nicotine, aka "vaping." It isn't quite tobacco, and it isn't quite smoking. Should we ban it, since it's sort of like smoking? Or should we tolerate it, since it's different in important respects? Does the war on smoking require total victory, or can we accept a peace deal that lets the industry, in some form, escape?
Let's start with a bit of background. Vaporized nicotine has been around in various forms for at least two decades. Lately, it's been spreading across the world in the form of "electronic cigarettes." Two months ago, Slate's Emily Yoffe tried them out and reported:
The e-cigarette contains no tobacco and produces no smoke. Instead, it is an ingenious electronic device. … The "filter" is a receptacle for nicotine suspended in propylene glycol—the main ingredient in deodorant sticks and artificial smoke machines. … When the user sucks on the filter, a nicotine-laced vapor is produced, satisfying a smoker's cravings. … [One product] allows you to choose filter cartridges with different levels of nicotine. I selected "none," which meant my e-cig was the buzz-free equivalent of nonalcoholic beer. The cigarette came in flavors such as tobacco, vanilla, mint, and apple. … Fortunately, as bad as the mist tasted, there was no noticeable odor, and it dissipated almost immediately, and thus didn't create a secondhand vapor problem.
Yesterday's Wall Street Journal and New York Times followed up with similar reports. "The vapor can be inhaled and then exhaled, creating a cloud that resembles cigarette smoke but dissipates more quickly and doesn't have the lingering odor," says the Journal. The Times described an e-cigarette that "delivered an odorless dose of nicotine and flavoring without cigarette tar or additives, and produced a vapor mist nearly identical in appearance to tobacco smoke."
So is vaping smoking? Let's run the checklist. Cigarette? Yes. Smoke? No. Cloud? Yes. Odor? No. Tar? No. Nicotine? Optional.
Good luck sorting this one out.First there was smoked tobacco. Then there was smokeless tobacco. Now there's... more
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An exaggerated, but truthful example of why cigarettes destroy the quality of life.
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