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.

FDA accepts for review Bristol-Myers Squibb's ORENCIA sBLA for severe RA

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for review a supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for the subcutaneous formulation of ORENCIA® (abatacept), a treatment for adult patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) administered through an injection into the skin. Bristol-Myers Squibb submitted the sBLA to the FDA for the subcutaneous formulation of ORENCIA and received confirmation of its receipt on October 4, 2010.

7 Dec 2010

Quit smoking to lift mood: Study

The latest research has shown that quitting smoking not only helps ease depression, but also increases the level of happiness. Researchers at Brown University studied 236 men and women in total who were trying to quite smoking. They looked at physical as well as mental impact of kicking the habit on these people.

5 Dec 2010

Personal environment influences effects of genes and risk of disease

Personalized medicine centers on being able to predict the risk of disease or response to a drug based on a person's genetic makeup. But a study by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that, for most common diseases, genes alone only tell part of the story.

4 Dec 2010

Exposure to nicotine during pregnancy may cause learning disabilities in children: Research

Exposure to nicotine during pregnancy leads to a decrease in adult stem cells and a change in synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus of the offspring, according to new research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham presented at Neuroscience 2010, the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego in November.

4 Dec 2010

Electronic cigarettes are potentially harmful, researchers say

Electronic cigarettes (or e-cigarettes), also called "electronic nicotine delivery systems," are increasingly used worldwide even though only sparse information is available on their health effects. In the United States, e-cigarettes are readily available in shopping malls in most states and on the Internet.

4 Dec 2010

Quitting smoking eases symptoms of depression

Quitting smoking is certainly healthy for the body, but doctors and scientists haven't been sure whether quitting makes people happier, especially since conventional wisdom says many smokers use cigarettes to ease anxiety and depression. In a new study, researchers tracked the symptoms of depression in people who were trying to quit and found that they were never happier than when they were being successful, for however long that was.

3 Dec 2010

Smoking reduces brain thickness

Many brain imaging studies have reported that tobacco smoking is associated with large-scale and wide-spread structural brain abnormalities.

3 Dec 2010

Molecular switch plays crucial role in addictive behavior and memory processes

Learning and memory formation are based on the creation of new connections between neurons in the brain. Also, behaviors such as nicotine addiction manifest themselves in long-term changes of neuronal connectivity and can - at least in this respect - be viewed as a form of learning.

30 Nov 2010

New WHO report highlights second-hand smoke danger

A report, a first of its kind, that assessed all deaths related to tobacco showed that secondhand smoke sickens millions and kills more than 600,000 people worldwide each year, including more than 165,000 children under 5.

25 Nov 2010

Health groups urge restrictions on tobacco additives

Following five days of deliberations aimed at fleshing-out the so-called Framework Convention for Tobacco Control, delegates on Saturday approved a proposal to limit the use of tobacco additives, which critics say improve the flavor of cigarettes, encouraging consumers to smoke more, Reuters reports.

23 Nov 2010

Substance abuse treatment facilities offering nicotine replacement therapy increased by 6%: Report

The percentage of substance abuse treatment facilities offering nicotine replacement therapy to clients gradually increased by about 6 percentage points from 2006 to 2009, according to a new Spotlight report issued by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration released in conjunction with the "Great American Smokeout."

19 Nov 2010

St. Jude organizes tobacco cessation program for cancer survivors who smoke

Cancer survivors who smoke and need help quitting can receive help through a tobacco cessation program organized by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

17 Nov 2010

New findings help identify impact of prenatal environment on early parental care on brain

New findings released today help identify the long-term impact of the prenatal environment and early parental care on the brain. Using animals as models, researchers help explain why early inflammation and a mother's exposure to drugs such as nicotine and high doses of pain killers have lasting consequences for children and even future generations.

16 Nov 2010

Graphic images of negative consequences of smoking have greatest impact on smokers

Marketing researchers at the University of Arkansas, Villanova University and Marquette University surveyed more than 500 U.S. and Canadian smokers and found that the highly graphic images of the negative consequences of smoking have the greatest impact on smokers' intentions to quit. The most graphic images, such as those showing severe mouth diseases, including disfigured, blackened and cancerous tissue, evoked fear about the consequences of smoking and thus influenced consumer intentions to quit.

15 Nov 2010

FDA unveils graphic anti-smoking warnings for cigarette packages

The Washington Post: "Federal health officials Wednesday unveiled plans to replace the warnings cigarette packs began carrying 25 years ago with new versions using images that could include emaciated cancer patients, diseased organs and corpses. Public health authorities and anti-smoking advocates hailed the move as a milestone in the battle against tobacco in the United States that began in 1964 when the surgeon general first declared cigarettes a public health threat.

12 Nov 2010

First Edition: November 11, 2010

In today's headlines, health law advocates huddle in an effort to defend the measure against GOP efforts to undo it.

11 Nov 2010

Article shows link between maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy, SIDS

The link between maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome may relate to the negative effects of nicotine on the development of brain centers that regulate breathing, according to an article in the recent issue of Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

10 Nov 2010

Americans to get needed help to quit smoking through federal health care law: New report

Millions of Americans will get needed help to quit smoking thanks to the newly enacted U.S. health care law, and it is up to states to close a gap that still remains for other smokers, a new American Lung Association report finds.

10 Nov 2010

Enrollment complete in Nabi's second NicVAX Phase III clinical trial for nicotine addiction

Nabi Biopharmaceuticals announced today that it has completed enrollment in the second Phase III clinical trial of NicVAX® (Nicotine Conjugate Vaccine), the company's innovative and proprietary investigational candidate vaccine being developed to treat nicotine addiction and prevent smoking relapse.

10 Nov 2010

Home smoking restrictions needed to reduce tobacco-related carcinogens in children's urine

Ninety percent of children who lived in a house where an adult smoked had evidence of tobacco-related carcinogens in their urine, according to research presented at the Ninth AACR Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference, held here from Nov 7-10, 2010.

10 Nov 2010