Anti-smoking messages to appear on some DVDs
Film industry veterans Bob and Harvey Weinstein will put anti-smoking video messages on DVDs of movies in which people smoke—a move sought by U.S. states to combat teen smoking.
“These messages will fight false film images of healthy and hip smokers with the real hard truth of addiction and disease,” Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said in a statement on Tuesday announcing the agreement.
Forty-one U.S. states, Puerto Rico, Washington D.C. and two U.S. territories, last month sent free anti-smoking ads to the Weinstein Co. and 12 other movie studios in hopes of persuading them to include the messages.
Hostility and stress predict insulin resistance
Individuals with high stress and high hostility levels have an increased risk of developing insulin resistance, which occurs when the body’s response to insulin begins to slow down and blood sugar levels begin to rise. People with insulin resistance have a high risk of developing diabetes.
Previous research has shown that insulin resistance is associated with stress and certain personality factors, including hostility. However, the association between hostility and insulin resistance has been inconsistent, Dr. Jianping Zhang explained to Reuters Health.
Zhang, of The Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, and colleagues hypothesized that hostility may interact with stress to affect insulin resistance. To investigate, the team studied 643 men, who were an average of 60.6 years old. The findings are published in the current issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.
Smoking Cessation Therapy May be Harmful for ICU Patients
A common smoking cessation therapy used to help reduce adverse events associated with nicotine withdrawal may actually increase the risk of death for smokers admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). In a new study presented at CHEST 2006, the 72nd annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), researchers found that smokers admitted to the ICU who received nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) during their stay had a higher risk of death than smokers who did not receive NRT.
“In some critically ill patients, the development of nicotine withdrawal symptoms can worsen their prognosis. As a result, NRT is given to active smokers in the ICU to prevent nicotine withdrawal symptoms,” said lead researcher Amy Lee, MD, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Minneapolis, MN. “The hemodynamic effects of nicotine may lead to increased heart rate, systemic arterial blood pressure, and constriction of the coronary arteries. Although these potential adverse effects of NRT have not been shown to worsen the prognosis of healthy volunteers and patients with stable coronary artery disease, they may be detrimental in critically ill patients.”
CHEST 2006 Abstract Briefs: Obesity
Asthma May Be Overdiagnosed in Obese Patients
(Monday, October 23, 2006, 4:30 PM EST)
A new study reveals that, despite lack of evidence, obese patients are often diagnosed with asthma. Researchers at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in New Jersey studied 20 patients, all of whom had a diagnosis of asthma, but none of whom exhibited any spirometric evidence of airway obstruction. The body mass index (BMI) was calculated, and bronchoprovocations tests were performed. In all, 90 percent of patients had an above-normal BMI. Of that, 61 percent were nonreactive to methacholine, suggesting an overdiagnosis of asthma in obese patients. Researchers suggest bronchoprovocation testing should be considered in such patients.
Teens may resist some effects of drinking
New animal research suggests that teenagers’ brains may be better at adapting to certain short-term effects of drinking. But that’s not a good thing, researchers say.
In experiments with rats, scientists found that adolescent rodents developed an “acute tolerance” to alcohol, quickly recovering from the immediate effects alcohol had on their social behavior, while their adult counterparts remained impaired for a longer stretch.
For rats, social behavior essentially consists of sniffing and play fighting. In human terms, the animals’ alcohol-induced impairment was akin to being unable to speak with your drinking buddies.
Nicotine slows healing of rotator cuff repair
Smokers may have a tougher time recovering from tendon injuries, such as rotator cuff tears and Achilles tendon ruptures, a new study in rats suggests.
Based on the observed effects of nicotine on tendon healing in rats, the study’s authors recommend that people who are about to undergo rotator cuff repair should avoid tobacco products entirely.
While cigarette smoking is known to hamper the healing of bones and skin, the current investigation is the first to show it can slow tendon healing as well, Dr. Leesa Galatz of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, told Reuters Health in an interview.
Bronchial thermoplasty reduces asthma attacks
The removal of muscle tissue in the hyperactive airways of asthma patients by exposing the tissue to heat reduces disease exacerbations and significantly improves the patients’ quality of life, Canadian investigators announced here during CHEST 2006, the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians.
The Asthma Intervention Research trial involved 108 patients, who were an average of 39.4 years old, with poorly controlled moderate-to-severe asthma. The subjects’ asthma persisted despite optimal drug therapy with corticosteroids and long-acting beta-agonists.
At study entry, the patients had FEV1 levels between 60 and 80 percent of normal. FEV1 (forced expiration volume in 1 second) is a test commonly used to assess lung function.
Grapefruit-sized stone removed from Israeli woman
Israeli doctors have removed a grapefruit-sized stone from the bladder of an Israeli woman after she left it untreated for years, possibly breaking world records.
The stone, removed in its entirety, had a diameter of 13 centimeters (5.1 inches) and weighed almost 1 kilograms (2.2 lbs), doctors who treated the 48-year-old woman at the Western Galilee Hospital in northern Israel said.
“When I saw the stone, I was stunned,” patient Moneera Khalil said in a statement released by the hospital.
