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In people with rheumatoid arthritis, heavy cigarette smoking appears to slow the rate of joint destruction, new research suggests.

Potentially, this may be due to the anti-inflammatory properties of nicotine, Dr. Axel Finckh, University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland told Reuters Health.

Cigarette smoking is a known risk factor for rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic inflammatory disease that causes progressive joint destruction, disability, and premature death, Finckh and colleagues reported in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Yet, it remains unclear if smoking influences the progressive joint destruction and disability cause by rheumatoid arthritis. Finckh and colleagues therefore assessed joint X-rays and results from self-reported functional disability questionnaires for more than 2,000 rheumatoid arthritis patients in their early- to mid-fifties.

SOURCE: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, July 2007.

| Tags: Arthritis, Back Pain, Smoking Cessation, Work and Life Health |

Labels: Arthritis, Back Pain, Smoking Cessation

Smoking just one marijuana joint is the same as smoking five cigarettes in terms of the damage it does to your lungs, a new study found.
Lung damage from marijuana results in chronic bronchitis and other respiratory problems. But whether marijuana causes emphysema or lung cancer isn't clear, the researchers said."This damage is a full range from symptoms to structural lung damage and reduced lung function," said lead researcher Dr. Richard Beasley, director of the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, in Wellington.
Beasley thinks marijuana smokers should heed the study's findings. "Many people think that marijuana is safe, but this shows that it's not safe. Hopefully, this will avoid a lack of knowledge among smokers," he said.

More information
For more about marijuana, visit the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse.

| Tags: Addiction, Lung Cancer, Smoking Cessation |

Labels: Addiction, Cancer, Lung Cancer, Smoking Cessation

It's a tip waiters and bartenders could do without.

A potent carcinogen rises quickly in restaurant and bar workers' urine after even brief exposures to secondhand smoke, a new U.S. study finds.

Concentrations of the cancer-causing toxin, called NNK, appear to rise steadily as bar workers' exposure continues, the researchers add.

NNK is "unsafe at any level," according to study lead author Michael Stark, a principal investigator in the health department of Multnomah County, Ore., which includes greater Portland.

"Even with a brief workplace exposure, we were able to detect increases in the level of NNK," Stark said. "On the average, there was a 6 percent increase per hour of work," he said.

Stark said he and his colleagues did the study because "there had been some prior research suggesting you could detect NNK in women and children in homes where workers had smoked."

Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Policy Research Program, Stark and his colleagues focused on 52 nonsmoking employees of bars and restaurants that allowed smoking. They compared NNK levels in the workers' urine with those of 32 workers in areas where laws prohibit smoking in such establishments.

But Stark pointed out that "this is workplace exposure that is completely avoidable."

| Tags: Addiction, Public Health and Safety, Smoking Cessation |

Labels: Addiction, Cancer, Children's Health, Public Health, Smoking Cessation, Women's Health

Long-term and current smokers have a lower risk of Parkinson's disease than the general population, researchers say in a report that confirms previous observations that people with Parkinson's disease were less likely to be smokers.

Dr. Beate Ritz of the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Public Health and colleagues analyzed data from 11,809 people involved in 11 studies conducted between 1960 and 2004. Of those, 2,816 individuals had Parkinson's disease.

The data showed that current smokers and those who had continued to smoke within five years of Parkinson's disease diagnosis had the lowest risk. People who quit smoking up to 25 years before diagnosis also had a reduced risk. Other tobacco products such as cigars, pipe tobacco and chewing tobacco showed reduced risk as well.

The association between tobacco use and Parkinson's disease disappeared for people older than 75, however. And while the association was strong for people of Caucasian or Asian ancestry, it did not hold for Hispanics or blacks.

| Tags: Addiction, Smoking Cessation |

Labels: Addiction, Public Health, Smoking Cessation

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) affects many women just before their menstrual cycles. Common symptoms include cramps, bloating, fatigue and moodiness.

Here are suggestions on how to help curb PMS, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:
- Get regular exercise.
- Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and avoid foods high in salt, sugar, caffeine and alcohol.
- Try to get at least eight hours of sleep each night.
- Avoid smoking.
- Keep stress at bay. Diversions might include talking to friends or writing in a journal.

Sourse - HealthDay News

| Tags: Sexual Health, Smoking Cessation, Stress, Women's Health |

Labels: Sexual Health, Smoking Cessation, Stress, Women's Health

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) develops slowly over many years sometimes before you notice symptoms such as “feeling short of breath.” Cigarette smoking is the most common cause of COPD. It can also be caused by breathing in lung irritants like pollutions, dust, or chemicals over a long period of time.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is usually diagnosed in people 40 years old or older, and is a major cause of death and illness throughout the world. In the U.S.A., chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is the 4th leading cause of death. There is no cure for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It is not a contagious disease. Damage to airways and lungs cannot be reversed.

There are only things you can do to feel better and slow the damage to your lungs.

In a healthy person airways of the lungs are clear and open and the air sacs are small, elastic, and springy. In people diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the airways and air sacs lose their shape and become floppy.

Causes of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease include:

Cigarette smoking (most common cause)
Breathing fumes and other pollutants that irritate and damage the lungs and airways
Pipe, cigar and other types of tobacco smoking can cause COPD especially if the smoke is inhaled.
People with a family history of COPD are more likely to get the disease if they smoke
Secondhand smoke plays a role in causing COPD
Frequent, severe lung infections in childhood may increase the risk for acquiring COPD later in life

Symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease start years before the flow of air in and out of the lungs is reduced and include:

Cough with sputum production (most common is a cough that does not go away and coughing up lots of sputum)
Shortness of breath especially with exercise
Wheezing or whistling sound when you breathe
Tightness in the chest

It is important to note that not everyone who has a cough and sputum goes on to develop chronic pulmonary obstructive disease.

A doctor looking for chronic pulmonary obstructive disease will examine you, listen to your lungs and ask you questions about your medical history. Physician questions will include what kind of lung irritants you may have been around for long periods of time and if you smoke.

A breathing test called “spirometry” may be used. It is painless and used to show how well your lungs work. Based upon this the spirometry test results, your doctor can determine if you have chronic pulmonary obstructive disease and just how severe it is. There are four levels of chronic pulmonary obstructive disease severity, they are:
People at risk for COPD
People with mild COPD
People with moderate COPD
People with severe COPD

Goals of treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease include:

To relieve symptoms with no or minimal side effects from the treatments
To slow progress of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
To prevent complications from the disease
To improve overall health

The exact treatment plan for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can be different for each person and is based on whether symptoms are mild, moderate or severe.

Treatments used for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease include:
Medications such as bronchodilators that work by relaxing the muscles around the airways to open them up and make it easier to breathe. Bronchodilators are inhaled directly into the lungs via an inhaler
Pulmonary or lung rehabilitation
Oxygen treatment
Surgery
Treatments to manage complications or sudden onset of symptoms
Pneumococcal vaccine may be recommended to prevent pneumonia
Annual flu shot to avoid breathing complications from the flu

Surgery is usually done for patients with severe symptoms that do not improve from other types of

treatments, and have a hard time breathing most of the time. The two types of surgery that are considered in cases of severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are:
A bullectomy to remove a large air sac that may compress a good lung
A lung transplant

Hospitalization may be needed if:
You have a lot of difficulty catching your breath
You have a hard time talking
Your lips or fingernails turn blue or gray

Source: The American Lung Association

| Tags: Allergy, Flu Health, Lung Cancer, Smoking Cessation |

Labels: Allergy, Cancer, Flu Health, Lung Cancer, Smoking Cessation

Growing up, my dad always smoked cigarettes. At least 2 daily packs of either Camel Lights or Ultra Lights, depending, I suppose, on what level of tar he was feelin’ that day. I went to school every day wearing clothes completely reaking of smoke, and, suffice it to say, the other kids noticed. I was so embarassed by it that I swore that I would NEVER touch a cigarette as long as I lived.

Well, high school hit, and somewhere between classes and social pressures, my previous resolutions went right out the window. At age 14, I took my first drag and thus began a 7-year long addiction. Why did I decide to smoke that first cigarette? Who knows. I’m sure there are a lot of things feeding into at the time, including my young stupidity, but if you are a proponent of determinism, as I am, then you also know that it couldn’t have been any other way.

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| Tags: Addiction, Anxiety, Smoking Cessation |

Labels: Addiction, Anxiety, Smoking Cessation