Nicotine News and Research

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Nicotine is an alkaloid found in the nightshade family of plants (''Solanaceae'') which constitutes approximately 0.6–3.0% of dry weight of tobacco, with biosynthesis taking place in the roots, and accumulating in the leaves.

Viewpoints: Frightening seniors; regulating e-cigarettes; waiting for black lung drugs

The Obama administration's proposed cuts to Medicare Advantage plans - the private insurance plans that cover almost 30 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries - are fair and reasonable. As it happens, they are also mandated by law. Yet Republicans, sensing a campaign issue, are telling older and disabled Americans that the administration is "raiding Medicare Advantage to pay for Obamacare." The health insurance industry, for its part, is warning that enrollees will suffer higher premiums, lower benefits and fewer choices among doctors if the cuts go into force (3/1).

4 Mar 2014

ClearWay Minnesota launches new version of QUITPLAN Services for Minnesotans

ClearWay Minnesota launched a new version of QUITPLAN Services, the free cessation program available to any Minnesotan who wants to quit tobacco. The new services now include free access to text messages, email support, a downloadable quit guide and free "starter kits," which provide a two-week supply of nicotine patches, gum or lozenges to help tobacco users quit.

3 Mar 2014

Study: Rising prices is the best way to tackle tobacco-related diseases

A recent study finds that rising prices is, by far, the best way to tackle tobacco-related diseases while ignoring tobacco industry arguments that higher taxes would affect state revenues.

28 Feb 2014

FSU researchers link prenatal nicotine exposure to future ADHD

Prenatal exposure to nicotine could manifest as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children born a generation later, according to a new study by Florida State University College of Medicine researchers.

28 Feb 2014

Viewpoints: Health law distorting--or 'undistorting' the labor market; gas stations should follow CVS' lead; ways to fight heroin

On Wednesday, Douglas Elmendorf, the director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, said the obvious: losing your job and choosing to work less aren't the same thing.

10 Feb 2014

Third-hand smoke as deadly as first-hand smoke

Do not smoke and do not allow yourself to be exposed to smoke because second-hand smoke and third-hand smoke are just as deadly as first-hand smoke, says a scientist at the University of California, Riverside who, along with colleagues, conducted the first animal study of the effects of third-hand smoke.

30 Jan 2014

19 harmful chemicals in e-cigarettes

It's no easy task to quit smoking and the lure of an e-cigarette, which claims to mimic the smoking experience without the harmful chemicals, seems a dream come true for many smokers.

30 Jan 2014

Viewpoints: Consumers awakening to health law's 'perverse incentives;' Medicaid expansion could help Dems in mid-term elections; new 'devious tactic' in smoking

With fewer glitches to deter them, millions of Americans are now logging on to the ObamaCare health-insurance-exchange websites. When they get there, many are discovering some unpleasant surprises:

25 Jan 2014

Study shows impulsive personalities more likely to report higher levels of food addiction

The same kinds of impulsive behavior that lead some people to abuse alcohol and other drugs may also be an important contributor to an unhealthy relationship with food, according to new research from the University of Georgia.

25 Jan 2014

Exposure to secondhand smoke increases odds of kids being readmitted to hospital for asthma

A new study shows that exposure to secondhand smoke at home or in the car dramatically increases the odds of children being readmitted to the hospital within a year of being admitted for asthma.

20 Jan 2014

Babies born to smoking mothers have 47% increase in odds of becoming overweight

Many women are encouraged to quit smoking when they become pregnant using nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) whether as gum, transdermal patches, nasal spray or lozenges.

16 Jan 2014

Latham & Watkins recognized with CEO Cancer Gold Standard accreditation

Latham & Watkins, a leading global law firm, is working with its lawyers and staff to promote healthy lifestyle choices and encourage workplace wellness. The CEO Roundtable on CancerTM has accredited Latham & Watkins with the CEO Cancer Gold Standard recognizing the firm's efforts to reduce the risk of cancer for its employees and covered family members by establishing programs to reduce cancer risk, encouraging early detection through cancer screenings, and ensuring access to quality treatment.

15 Jan 2014

Smoking and cancer: an interview with Dr. Lewis Foxhall, VP of Health Policy, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

The report Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General, identified tobacco as the predominant cause of lung cancer in men. This was the first widely disseminated report based on scientific studies showing the clear link between smoking tobacco and serious health conditions including cancer, chronic lung diseases and heart disease.

13 Jan 2014

Prenatal exposure to maternal stress hormones predicts nicotine dependence for daughters

Tobacco smoking by pregnant women has long been viewed as a public health risk because of smoking's adverse effects on the development of a fetus.

10 Jan 2014

Study: Combined medications may improve smoking cessation than single drug therapy

Among cigarette smokers, combining the smoking cessation medications varenicline and bupropion, compared with varenicline alone, resulted in higher smoking abstinence rates for one outcome but not the other at three and six months; rates were similar at one year, according to a Mayo Clinic study published this month in JAMA.

8 Jan 2014

Study finds link between common beliefs and e-cigarette use among young adults

Despite years of anti-smoking education and legislation, tobacco use still remains an important public health issue in the United States. In 2010, 25.2% of all adults and 35.6% of young adults reported current tobacco use.

7 Jan 2014

New guidelines provide screening recommendations for people at higher risk of developing lung cancer

Alarmingly, more than 200,000 Americans will be diagnosed with lung cancer this year and nearly 160,000 people will die of the disease. In fact, according to the American Cancer Society, lung cancer takes more lives each year than colorectal, breast and prostate cancers combined.

7 Jan 2014

Molecule produced by brain acts as natural defence mechanism against cannabis

Two INSERM research teams led by Pier Vincenzo Piazza and Giovanni Marsicano (INSERM Unit 862 "Neurocentre Magendie" in Bordeaux) recently discovered that pregnenolone, a molecule produced by the brain, acts as a natural defence mechanism against the harmful effects of cannabis in animals.

3 Jan 2014

Rates of smoking, drinking and drug use are higher among people with psychotic disorders

In the largest ever assessment of substance use among people with severe psychiatric illness, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Southern California have found that rates of smoking, drinking and drug use are significantly higher among those who have psychotic disorders than among those in the general population.

2 Jan 2014

Study explains how nicotine exploits body's cellular machinery to promote addiction

A study in The Journal of General Physiology helps explain how nicotine exploits the body's cellular machinery to promote addiction. The findings could lead to new therapies to help people quit smoking.

30 Dec 2013