Nicotine News and Research

RSS

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.

Silencing gene in tobacco plants reduces harmful carcinogens

In large-scale field trials, scientists from North Carolina State University have shown that silencing a specific gene in burley tobacco plants significantly reduces harmful carcinogens in cured tobacco leaves.

19 Mar 2008

Toddlers affected most by secondhand smoke exposure at home

Secondhand smoke in the home appears to induce markers for heart disease as early as the toddler years, researchers reported at the American Heart Association's 48th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention.

14 Mar 2008

Giving up smoking during pregnancy boosts chances of easygoing child

Giving up smoking during pregnancy may boost the chances of giving birth to an easy going child, indicates research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

14 Mar 2008

The potential for cannabinoids as medicines

Smokers trying to quit in the future could do it with the help of cannabis based medicines, according to research from The University of Nottingham.

10 Mar 2008

Cigarette smoke prevents stem cells from becoming cartilage

A toxic pollutant spread by oil spills, forest fires and car exhaust is also present in cigarette smoke, and may represent a second way in which smoking delays bone healing, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Society in San Francisco.

4 Mar 2008

Smoking from a hookah - harmful and addictive

A new fad among college students and other young people - smoking from a hookah - is raising public health concerns.

1 Mar 2008

Nicotine's effects are receptor specific

Following chronic nicotine exposure, nicotine receptors increase in number, an upregulation that contributes to nicotine's addictive properties.

1 Mar 2008

Protein protects lung cancer cells from efforts to fix or kill them

A protein that helps lung cancer cells thrive appears to do so by blocking healthy cells' ability to fix themselves when radiation or chemicals such as nicotine damage their DNA, according to a University of Florida study to be published Friday (Feb. 29) in the journal Molecular Cell.

28 Feb 2008

Step-parents influence teenage smoking behaviour

Smoking by a non-biological parent is as influential as smoking by biological parents in determining whether their teenager smokes, reveal the results of a Cancer Research UK study published in the journal Addiction.

27 Feb 2008

Smoking and pre-eclampsia

Pregnant women who suffer from the high risk condition pre-eclampsia which leads to the death of hundreds of babies every year are putting the lives of their unborn children at significantly increased risk if they continue to smoke during pregnancy.

26 Feb 2008

Smoking's effects on genes may play a role in lung cancer development and survival

Smoking plays a role in lung cancer development, and now scientists have shown that smoking also affects the way genes are expressed, leading to alterations in cell division and regulation of immune response.

21 Feb 2008

Australian neuroscientist tests Chantix

UQ pharmacy graduate Dr Selena Bartlett is starting clinical trials of a new drug that could potentially curb addictions such as smoking, drinking, gambling even depression.

20 Feb 2008

Booze and smokes damage men's sperm

According to the latest research exposure to environmental toxins can damage sperm and the resulting defects can be passed down for generations.

20 Feb 2008

Additional similarities found between nicotine and opiate addiction

"That was good!" "Do it again."This is what the brain says when people use tobacco, as well as 'hard drugs' such as heroin.

14 Feb 2008

New findings show additional similarity between opiate and nicotine addiction

"That was good!" "Do it again." This is what the brain says when people use tobacco, as well as ‘hard drugs' such as heroin.

13 Feb 2008

WHO warns of one billion death toll from tobacco

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued a stark warning about smoking saying that unless urgent action is taken, by the year 2100 tobacco could kill one billion people.

11 Feb 2008

Seniors more likely to deny smoking when asked

More elderly adults are lighting up cigarettes and not reporting their nicotine habits to doctors and others, according to findings from one of the first studies to examine the accuracy of self-reported smoking habits by age, race and gender of adults 18 years and older by researchers at the Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine and other university collaborators.

8 Feb 2008

New FDA advisory on Chantix (varenicline)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a Public Health Advisory to alert health care providers, patients, and caregivers to new safety warnings concerning Chantix (varenicline), a prescription medication used to help patients stop smoking.

5 Feb 2008

Smoking and SIDS

A new study sheds light on the relationship between women who smoke while pregnant or are exposed to second-hand smoke and an increased risk of SIDS to their babies.

30 Jan 2008

Anti-smoking drug Chantix adds suicide to it's warning label

The anti-smoking drug Chantix, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May 2006, will in future carry a warning about the possibility of suicidal thoughts in patients who take it.

21 Jan 2008