Smoking Cessation News and Research

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Court rules in favor of graphic labels on cigarette packages

An appeals court ruled on Monday that the government’s planned graphic warnings on cigarette packages was legal and didn’t violate the free speech rights of tobacco companies.

20 Mar 2012

Smoking may restore self-control

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., have found that when they deplete a smoker's self control, smoking a cigarette may restore self-control.

20 Mar 2012

NZ campaigners hope for and work towards a smoke-free world

New Zealand anti-smoking groups want to see the world become smoke free by 2040. Delegates from our National Tobacco Control Working Group are heading to Singapore next week to submit a proposal to the World Conference on Tobacco or Health. The New Zealand delegation wants tobacco removed from trade agreements, and treated the same as the likes of arms, ammunition and asbestos.

19 Mar 2012

U.S. to launch graphic anti-smoking warnings

The United States Government is starting a major new effort to cut the country's smoking rate by showing graphic images of people who have sustained life-altering health problems after smoking for years.

18 Mar 2012

LCA comments on CDC's new anti-tobacco campaign

Today, Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA) said that the new anti-tobacco campaign just launched by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is an important revitalization of the efforts to prevent young people from smoking and encourage all who do smoke to quit.

17 Mar 2012

Research looks at how perceived discrimination influences smoking rates among minority groups

Smoking, the leading preventable cause of mortality in the United States, continues to disproportionately impact lower income members of racial and ethnic minority groups. In a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health, Jason Q. Purnell, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, looked at how perceived discrimination influences smoking rates among these groups.

16 Mar 2012

AT-1001 shows promise in treating drug addiction

In preclinical studies, researchers at SRI International and Astraea Therapeutics have recently evaluated the role of a new drug receptor target that shows promise for the treatment of drug addiction.

15 Mar 2012

FDA clears Aradigm IND for Pulmaquin Phase 3 clinical trial in non-cystic fibrosis BE

Aradigm Corporation today announced that the Company's Investigational New Drug Application (IND) to conduct a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial of Pulmaquin (dual release ciprofloxacin for inhalation) in non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis (BE) has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

12 Mar 2012

LSD for alcohol addiction: Study

Hallucinogenic drug LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) could help alcoholics give up drinking, according to an analysis of studies performed in the 1960s. A study, presented in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, looked at data from six trials and more than 500 patients. It said there was a “significant beneficial effect” on alcohol abuse, which lasted several months after the drug was taken.

12 Mar 2012

Smoking and lung cancer notice turns fifty but 20% Britons still smoke: Report

According to health experts, it has been five decades after doctors issued their first warning about the dangers of cigarettes. Still more than 20 percent of Britons still smoke - and unless they quit, half of them will die from the habit. Smoking has killed more than six million people in Britain since 1962, when the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) published a landmark report about the health risks of tobacco.

7 Mar 2012

Women use condoms less frequently during first year of college

Women gradually use condoms less frequently during their first year of college, according to a new study by researchers from The Miriam Hospital's Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine. This was particularly true for women who binge drink, have lower grade point averages or come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

29 Feb 2012

Seven scientists aim to make strides in predicting and preventing preterm birth

With the help of funding from the March of Dimes, researchers from five states and Canada are seeking answers to questions such as how cellular-level processes that control uterine muscles may affect preterm labor, the causes of preeclampsia, and how air pollution may affect pregnancy and preterm birth - all with the goal of preventing preterm birth so more babies will get a healthy start in life.

24 Feb 2012

Varenicline improves walking ability in patients with SCA3

A nicotinic drug approved for smoking cessation significantly improved the walking ability of patients suffering from an inherited form of ataxia, reports a new clinical study led by University of South Florida researchers.

23 Feb 2012

Quit-smoking drug Chantix effective in cocaine and alcohol addiction

Varenicline is unique among anti-addiction medications in the way it affects the brain. Like nicotine, varenicline activates a specific receptor for a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine, but it does so less intensely than the active ingredient of cigarettes does. The net effect is that the drug seems to help by both cutting cravings and making the formerly desired drug less pleasant — without making non-drug pleasures less intense. Alcohol works on the same chemical receptors in the brain as nicotine, and it may enhance the pleasurable effects of smoking.

18 Feb 2012

Smoking kills healthy bacteria and leads to infection

According to a new study, smoking causes the body to turn against its own helpful bacteria, leaving smokers more vulnerable to disease.

16 Feb 2012

Mental health can also interfere with the heart

Mental state can play a crucial role in physical health - medical professionals have long known about the connection between anxiety and the immune system, for example. Now researchers at Tel Aviv University have found that mental health can also interfere with the heart.

15 Feb 2012

Social influences can fuel weight loss

Is weight loss "contagious"? According to a new study published online in the journal Obesity, teammates in a team-based weight loss competition significantly influenced each other's weight loss, suggesting that shedding pounds can have a ripple effect.

15 Feb 2012

First sign of coronary heart disease in men could be death

The healthy heart movement in recent years has focused largely on heart disease as the No. 1 killer of women. But the same statistic is true for men, and the reality is grim: The first sign that a man has coronary heart disease could be death, says one University of Alabama at Birmingham expert.

8 Feb 2012

Takeda launches EDARBYCLOR in the U.S. for treatment of hypertension

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc., announced EDARBYCLOR (azilsartan medoxomil and chlorthalidone) is now available by prescription in U.S. pharmacies for the treatment of hypertension to lower blood pressure in adults.

6 Feb 2012

Smoking cessation reduces coughing, other respiratory symptoms within weeks

If the proven long-term benefits of smoking cessation are not enough to motivate young adults to stop smoking, a new study shows that 18- to 24-year olds who stop smoking for at least two weeks report substantially fewer respiratory symptoms, especially coughing.

4 Feb 2012