A message from Google destined to Stop Centres
2010/12/15
A mesage from Google destined to Stop Centres
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Un message venant de Google destiné au Centres Stop
2010/12/15
Un message venant de Google destiné au Centres Stop
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Nicotine feeds growth of breast cancer tumors
2010/12/07
Tobacco products are known to contain at least 60 chemicals that cause cancer, but up until now nicotine had not been classified as one of them. Nicotine, the chemical that makes tobacco products addictive, is produced by plants as a natural insecticide.
“Every time a person smokes, he or she inhales more than 4,000 differentchemicals, including nicotine,” writes Phyllis A. Balch in the bookPrescription for Nutritional Healing, 4th Edition.
“Nicotine, which is extremely addictive, increases levels of the pleasure-inducing brain chemicals serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. … Nicotine acts as a stimulant on the central nervous system. Whennicotineis ingested, adrenaline production increases, raising the blood pressure and heart rate.”
The new study “suggests … that nicotine could directly contribute to the molecular mechanism of carcinogenesis in addition to indirectly contributing by promoting addiction to smoking,” wrote Ilona Linnoila of the Center for Cancer Research at theNational Cancer Institutein an accompanying editorial.
The researchers exposed bothhealthyand cancerous breast tissue to nicotine. They found that cancerous cells had more receptors for the chemical than healthy cells did, and that nicotine exposure increased theriskthat normal cells would turn cancerous.
The study raises concerns over the safety of nicotine-based smoking cessation aids such as nicotine gum, patches and inhalers.
Smoking is considered the foremost avoidable cause of disability,diseaseand death in the United States. In addition to causing 90 percent of lungcancercases, cigarette smoke increases the risk of birth defects, miscarriage, lung disorders and cardiovascular disease. Secondhand smoke alone kills 38,000 people per year.
Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/030562_nicotine_cancer_tumors.html#ixzz17Rn5uKu9
Your Brain on Nicotine: Smoking May Thin Its Outer Layer
2010/12/07
By myhealthnewsdaily.com,
The researchers scanned the brains of 22 smokers and 21 nonsmokers using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In the smokers, an area of the cortex known as the left medial orbitofrontal cortex was thinner. And the more a person smoked, the thinner this brain area was.
Changes to the orbitofrontal cortex have previously been linked to drug additions and compulsive behavior.
“Since the brain region in which we found the smoking-associated thinning has been related to impulse control, reward processing and decision-making, this might explain how nicotine addictioncomes about,” study researcher Simone Kühn said in a statement.
And because heavier smoking was linked to more pronounced thinning, the results “suggest that smoking may have a cumulative effect on the brain,” said Dr. John Krystal, editor of Biological Psychiatry, the journal in which the study was published.
“This concerning finding highlights the importance of targeting young smokers for antismoking interventions,” Krystal said.
While previous work has linked tobacco smoking with brain abnormalities, including brain decay, the new study is the first to look specifically at the habit’s effect on cortical thickness, the researchers said. The cortex is involved in many of the brain’s so-called “higher order functions,” such as language and memory. A thinner cortex has previously been associated with normal aging and impaired cognition.
The researchers said they’re planning future studies to examine the effects of quitting smoking on the brain.
The study is published in the Dec. 1 issue of the journal Biological Psychiatry.
Pourquoi la cigarette crée-t-elle une dépendance?
2010/12/07
Selon levif.rnews.be,
La nicotine, principal composé chimique du tabac, est non seulement responsable de dépendance physique, mais aussi, partiellement, de dépendance psychologique.
La forme et la structure de la nicotine sont similaires à l’acétylcholine, un neurotransmetteur ou une substance médiatrice stimulant le système dopaminergique du cerveau. La stimulation des récepteurs cérébraux de dopamine génère un sentiment de détente. Pour reproduire cette sensation, des doses toujours plus importantes de nicotine sont nécessaires.
C’est de cette façon que se produit la dépendance. En outre, le surplus de nicotine dans le cerveau entraîne une pénétration des récepteurs dopaminergiques dans la matière grise. La stimulation chronique de ces récepteurs neutralise le sentiment d’euphorie. Résultat: au bout d’un moment, une cigarette sur dix seulement parvient encore à reproduire cette sensation positive.
Le rôle des neuf autres cigarettes consiste à neutraliser les émotions et à contrer les effets négatifs. En l’absence de cigarette, les récepteurs restent en effet insaturés, causant irritabilité et nervosité.
Constance des niveaux de nicotine
Inconsciemment et à sa façon, chaque fumeur veille à ce que le niveau de nicotine dans son sang soit plus ou moins constant. Non seulement en fumant un nombre de cigarettes relativement similaire chaque jour, mais aussi en effectuant cet acte d’une manière bien précise.
Un fumeur est capable, bouffée après bouffée, de moduler assez précisément la dose de nicotine dans son sang. Le surdosage, lors des périodes de stress par exemple, est difficile. En effet, lorsque plusieurs cigarettes sont fumées les unes à la suite des autres, l’inhalation est moins forte, car les voies respiratoires rejettent les doses trop importantes de nicotine.
La stabilité de la concentration en nicotine dans le sang est frappante. Chaque fumeur possède sa dose personnelle et optimale. Les cigarettes dites légères, renfermant un taux de nicotine plus faible, sont pour cette raison dénuées de sens. Les fumeurs compensent en effet la dose plus faible en inhalant plus profondément la fumée ou en compressant le filtre.
Les cigarettes dites légères sont pourvues de filtres à micropores mélangeant la fumée inhalée à l’air ambiant. Un fumeur qui tente de réduire son nombre quotidien de cigarettes, inhalera ainsi plus profondément la fumée afin d’en retirer des doses maximales. Inconsciemment, un fumeur ne ‘consommera’ jamais moins de cigarettes que le nombre auquel il s’est habitué.
Le degré de dépendance diffère bien entendu d’un fumeur à un autre. Pour examiner le niveau de dépendance physique, il existe un instrument fiable et internationalement reconnu: l’auto-diagnostic Fagerström.
La Serbie interdit de fumer dans les lieux publics
2010/12/01
Selon nouvelobs.com,
BELGRADE (AP) — La loi interdisant de fumer dans les lieux publics est entrée en vigueur ce jeudi en Serbie.
La cigarette n’est pas totalement bannie des cafés et des restaurants dans ce pays où un tiers de la population fume. En revanche, elle est complètement interdite dans les bureaux, les cinémas, les théâtres et les salles de concerts.
Les amendes prévues par la loi peuvent atteindre les 5.000 dinars (47 euros) pour les particuliers, bien plus pour les sociétés. AP
Tabac : l’OMS veut des paquets de cigarettes moins attrayants
2010/12/01
Selon maxisciences.com,
C’est lors de la Convention-cadre de l’Organisation mondiale de la santé pour la lutte antitabac que 170 pays se sont unis afin de lutter contre le tabac sur leur territoire. Cela devrait passer par des campagnes de sensibilisation, ainsi que par des programmes d’aide à l’arrêt de lacigarette et du tabac.
L’analyste principal des politiques de la Société canadienne du cancer explique à l’AFP : “Ces directives vont aider les pays à adapter leurs lois et à répondre aux faux arguments de l’industrie du tabac“. Le Figaro explique que si aucune mesure concrète n’a alors été prise, chaque pays devra mettre au point ses propres mesures et cela notamment en ce qui concerne la réglementation des additifs chimiques. Sur le sujet, Antoon Opperhuizen, membre du secrétariat de la Conférence des parties à la Convention-cadre de l’Organisation mondiale de la Santé pour la lutte anti tabac, explique : “Il y a des centaines de substances chimiques qui sont utilisées dans les produits de tabac pour les rendre plus attractifs et visent spécialement un public jeune“.
De son côté, France Soir explique que l’Organisation mondiale de la Santé est aujourd’hui toujours en train de travailler à la standardisation des paquets de cigarettes et de tabac afin de rendre le produit le moins attractif possible. Plusieurs pays seraient déjà engagés dans cette voie comme l’Australie où l’idée a d’ores et déjà été approuvée. Mais il s’agit là d’un sujet difficile puisque le paquet de cigarettes reste le seul emplacement marketing pour les marques de tabac. En France, le rapporteur de la mission Santé à la commission des Finances de l’Assemblée juge cette nouvelle mesure précipitée en expliquant : “Il faudra voir à l’usage, cela peut-être un complément mais la priorité serait plutôt à une harmonisation européenne des taxes sur le tabac“.
Missouri hospital to stop hiring smokers
2010/12/01
By businessweek.com,
The hospital will no longer hire smokers as of Jan. 1, the Southeast Missourian newspaper reported. Applicants will be tested for nicotine as part of a pre-employment screening.
The hospital website’s “Current Openings” page now includes the nicotine-free hiring policy. Those logging onto the employment site see this message:
“Because it is important for health care providers to promote a healthy environment and lifestyle, effective January 1, 2011, Saint Francis Medical Center has a nicotine-free hiring policy. Applicants will be tested for nicotine as part of a pre-employment screening.
“I understand that my application will not be considered if I use tobacco products.”
The policy will not affect current employees, who will continue to be offered access to tobacco cessation programs and other incentives to stop smoking.
Dave Dillon, a spokesman for the Missouri Hospital Association, said he knows of only one other hospital in the state with a similar policy — Truman Medical Center in Kansas City.
“It’s likely that other hospitals will make other moves like this, if they haven’t already,” he said.
Truman Medical Center began the tobacco-free hiring policy at its two hospitals in 2006, spokesman Shane Kovac said. Truman’s policy was modeled after the Cleveland Clinic, which Kovac said was the first health care provider in the nation to prohibit smokers from jobs.
Missouri labor law mandates that employers cannot refuse to hire or they cannot fire an employee for alcohol or tobacco use after working hours off company property. But Amy Susan, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, said not-for-profit hospitals and church-related organizations like Saint Francis are exempt.
Kovac said Truman has not had any legal challenges stemming from its non-smoking hiring policy.
“We have seen that initially (prospective employees) were upset, but then they realized what the upside is, the health of patients and staff,” he said.
Nicotine-free hiring policies have been challenged in court. In a closely watched case in Massachusetts, a contingently-hired worker at Scotts LawnService was fired when his nicotine test came back positive. He sued in federal court in Massachusetts, but the court ruled that public policy favored a smoke-free society over an individual’s right to smoke on his or her own time.
Report: Smoking during pregnancy affects genes involved in brain development
2010/12/01
By newsleader.com,
The findings, presented earlier this month at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego, may explain why the children of mothers who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to develop such psychiatric disorders as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, autism and drug abuse.
Researchers found that when rodents were given nicotine during pregnancy, their offspring showed changes in myelin genes in specific regions of their brain’s limbic system – structures involved with emotion. The effect was strongest in the prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain important for decision-making.
“Our research shows that gestational treatment with nicotine significantly modifies myelin gene expression in specific brain regions that are involved in behavioral processes,” says Ming Li, a professor in the U.Va. Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, who led the study. “Myelin deficits have been observed in adults with various psychiatric disorders. Our findings suggest that abnormal myelination may contribute to the psychiatric disorders associated with maternal smoking.”
Previous research has shown that maternal smoking during pregnancy has various long-lasting neurobehavioral effects on offspring, Li said. Many psychiatric disorders associated with smoking during pregnancy begin or change symptomology during adolescence, a period of continuous development of the central nervous system. Most of these disorders are thought to be mediated by dysfunction of the limbic system, a collection of brain nuclei that mature during adolescence.
Li’s research team also identified gender differences in nicotine’s effects. Myelin-related genes increased in the prefrontal cortex of the male offspring but decreased in the females. The opposite was observed in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus, a brain region involved in the regulation of stress and appetite, among other functions.
“These findings suggest that maternal smoking may affect daughters and sons differently,” Li said.
In addition, the substantial and long-lasting changes by the low dose of nicotine administered to rodents in the study imply that nicotine replacement therapy during pregnancy may carry many of the same risks to children as does smoking during pregnancy.
“While further studies are necessary to determine a direct correlation of our initial findings,” Li said, “our research lends weight to the necessity of educating women to avoid smoking during pregnancy.”
Centres Stop
Centres Stop
