Tobacco News and Research

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A checklist to stay healthy at every age

Shantanu Nundy, MD, a second-year resident in internal medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center may soon find out. Driven by his mother's health questions and the difficulty of providing simple, reliable answers, Nundy collected all of the "generally accepted truths" about preventing disease, organized them into checklists based on age, and persuaded the Johns Hopkins University Press to publish them as Stay Healthy at Every Age: What Your Doctor Wants you to Know.

7 May 2010

Keryx Biopharmaceuticals commences Phase 3 registration program for Zerenex

Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today the initiation of its short-term Phase 3 study of Zerenex™ (ferric citrate), the Company's iron-based phosphate binder for the treatment of elevated serum phosphorous levels, or hyperphosphatemia, in patients with end-stage renal disease on dialysis.

6 May 2010

Angelenos observe Children's Mental Health Awareness Day

Angelenos observe "Children's Mental Health Awareness Day in the City of Los Angeles" today, thanks to a proclamation introduced by Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard Parks, signed by the mayor and adopted by council in chambers yesterday.

6 May 2010

Experts unveil roadmap to improve health and health delivery in the U.S.

A Commission of national health care experts convened by the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress has unveiled a roadmap and integrated approach that will put "health" back into our nation's health care system as well as address key opportunities following passage of health care reform legislation.

6 May 2010

Annual heart disease and stroke rates in China to rise up to 73% by 2030: Research

Annual heart disease and stroke rates in China will rise by up to 73 percent by 2030, given an aging population and other increased risk factors, without policies and prevention efforts aimed at controlling blood pressure and smoking, according to research from Columbia University Medical Center published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal.

6 May 2010

Australia to introduce plain cigarette packaging

Cigarettes in Australia will soon have to be sold in plain packaging to prevent consumers - and particularly children - from being influenced by tobacco advertising.

4 May 2010

Non-daily use of tobacco can trigger nicotine dependency among adolescents

Kids who have just started smoking, but not on a daily basis, don't seem to recognize the early symptoms of dependence, according to a new study.

4 May 2010

Prenatal tobacco smoke exposure can increase risk of developmental problems in African American children

Low levels of prenatal tobacco smoke exposure are associated with a higher risk of developmental problems for African American children than white children, according to new research from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

4 May 2010

Tobacco companies increase marketing to women in developing countries

Agence France-Presse examines a trend among tobacco firms targeting ads toward women in developing countries: "Advertisements telling smokers they are smarter, more energetic and better lovers than their non-smoking counterparts are a familiar sight across Bangladesh - something unimaginable in most other countries," the news service writes.

3 May 2010

CACS used to improve classification of risk for prediction of coronary heart disease events

Use of a score based on the amount of calcium in coronary arteries in addition to traditional risk factors improved the classification of risk for prediction of coronary heart disease events, and placed more individuals in the most extreme risk categories, according to a study in the April 28 issue of JAMA.

3 May 2010

Majority of children living in apartments are exposed to secondhand smoke

The majority of children living in apartments are exposed to secondhand smoke, even when they don't live with smokers. This study from the University of Rochester Medical Center is the first to examine whether housing type is a potential contributor to children's exposure to cigarette smoke.

3 May 2010

Hullabaloo over the tobacco tax hike and planned plain cigarette packaging law

The Australian Federal Government this week announced an increase in taxes by 25% on cigarettes to discourage smoking and generate funds for more antismoking measures. In a new development Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott announced that the Coalition will support this move.

29 Apr 2010

Health care providers now have access to free toolkit to improve youth smoking cessation programs

Health care providers and educators nationwide who run youth smoking cessation programs now have access to a free toolkit to improve their programs.

29 Apr 2010

More taxes and drab packages for cigarettes to deter the young from smoking

From 1st July 2012 companies making cigarettes will be allowed only to have a brand name and a graphic health warning on their cigarette packs. There has been a huge debate over this issue. Trade experts believe that this move could mean that the Federal Government may have to cough up more than $3 billion a year to cigarette companies. Tim Wilson from the Institute of Public Affairs also believes that this would cost taxpayers $3.4 billion a year in compensation to tobacco companies. However Australia will be the first country to introduce such a measure.

28 Apr 2010

Coronary artery calcium score helpful for determining intermediate risk of heart disease

Including a coronary artery calcium score in a risk assessment for future heart disease events, such as heart attacks, provides a better estimate in some populations than a standard coronary risk factors assessment, according to research supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health.

28 Apr 2010

Head- and neck-cancer patients who continue to smoke during radiation therapy have poorer overall survival

Smokers who don't quit before radiation therapy for throat, mouth and other head and neck cancers fair significantly worse than those who do, research from the UC Davis Cancer Center has found.

28 Apr 2010

AstraZeneca to pay $520 million in largest pharmaceutical civil settlement

AstraZeneca will pay the federal government $520 million in civil fines to settle charges of off-label marketing of the powerful antipsychotic drug Seroquel. The settlement is the largest pharmaceutical civil settlement and among the top five civil and criminal drug company settlements in U.S. history.

28 Apr 2010

DeCODE scientists discover common SNPs that increase number of CPD and risk of lung cancer

Cigarette smoking is a major cause of illness and death worldwide. But it is a complex behavior, and how much people smoke, how hard they find it to quit, and the impact of long-term smoking on health varies greatly among individuals. A substantial portion of this variability is genetic. Two years ago, deCODE discovered the first common, single-letter variation in the sequence of the human genome, on chromosome 15q25, associated with nicotine addiction and risk of lung cancer.

26 Apr 2010

Three genetic regions associated with cigarette smoking

A team of scientists has used data from genome-wide association studies to identify genetic variants associated with key smoking behaviors that have a significant impact on health.

26 Apr 2010

Genes that predispose to smoking behavior and lung cancer identified: More reason to quit say researchers

According to new research there are certain genes in a smoker that make it difficult for them to cut down or quit the bad habit. This report from three studies published in the journal Nature Genetics mentions at least three different genetic mutations on chromosome 15 or changes that can increase the number of cigarettes smoked per day by an individual.

25 Apr 2010

Tobacco News and Research

A checklist to stay healthy at every age

Keryx Biopharmaceuticals commences Phase 3 registration program for Zerenex

Angelenos observe Children's Mental Health Awareness Day

Experts unveil roadmap to improve health and health delivery in the U.S.

Annual heart disease and stroke rates in China to rise up to 73% by 2030: Research

Australia to introduce plain cigarette packaging

Non-daily use of tobacco can trigger nicotine dependency among adolescents

Prenatal tobacco smoke exposure can increase risk of developmental problems in African American children

Tobacco companies increase marketing to women in developing countries

CACS used to improve classification of risk for prediction of coronary heart disease events

Majority of children living in apartments are exposed to secondhand smoke

Hullabaloo over the tobacco tax hike and planned plain cigarette packaging law

Health care providers now have access to free toolkit to improve youth smoking cessation programs

More taxes and drab packages for cigarettes to deter the young from smoking

Coronary artery calcium score helpful for determining intermediate risk of heart disease

Head- and neck-cancer patients who continue to smoke during radiation therapy have poorer overall survival

AstraZeneca to pay $520 million in largest pharmaceutical civil settlement

DeCODE scientists discover common SNPs that increase number of CPD and risk of lung cancer

Three genetic regions associated with cigarette smoking

Genes that predispose to smoking behavior and lung cancer identified: More reason to quit say researchers

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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