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An infection that often goes undetected can block the lung's natural protective response against tobacco smoke, according to researchers at National Jewish Health. The findings, recently published online and scheduled to appear in the October issue of Infection and Immunity, suggest one mechanism that may cause smokers to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
"Although smoking is the overwhelming cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), only 20 percent of smokers develop the disease," said Brian Day, senior author on the study and Professor of Medicine at National Jewish Health. "Our findings suggest that Mycoplasma pneumoniae (Mp) infection may be one of the co-factors that lead to COPD and other diseases among smokers."
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COPD
If you are aged 40 to 80, a cigarette smoking history of 10 pack-years, and a diagnosis of stable moderate-to-severe COPD, you may qualify for this study.
The research site is in DeLand, Fla.
More information
Please see http://www.centerwatch.com/patient/studies/cat44.html.
The metal cadmium plays a major role in causing emphysema, and even low-level exposure through secondhand smoke and other sources can increase the risk of lung disease, a new study says.
The University of Michigan School of Public Health research also suggests that people with high levels of cadmium in their bodies may have as much as double the risk of developing a pulmonary disease such as emphysema or chronic bronchitis.
In this study, principal investigator Howard Hu and his colleagues tested the lung function of 96 men. Those with higher levels of cadmium in their urine had a reduced ability to exhale. This association was most evident among current and former smokers.
New research suggests that cadmium is one of the critical ingredients causing emphysema, and even low-level exposure attained through second-hand smoke and other means may also increase the chance of developing lung disease.
The University of Michigan School of Public Health study suggests that higher cadmium levels in the body as much as double the risk of developing a pulmonary disease diagnosis such as emphysema or chronic bronchitis.
Though some studies have linked high levels of cadmium with decreased lung function in occupationally exposed workers, this is only the second known study to show that subjects with even slightly increased levels of cadmium had decreased lung function and the first known study to do so using repeated measures of lung function over time.
"The study suggests that the critical ingredient in smoking that may be causing emphysema is cadmium, a well-known contaminant of cigarette smoke," said Howard Hu, professor at the U-M School of Public Health and principal investigator in the study. "The worry is if you are exposed to this (cadmium) through other sources you can also be at risk for emphysema." . . .
The study looked at 96 men randomly selected from within the Normative Aging Study, a project that began in 1961 and includes approximately 2,280 healthy, male volunteers from Boston, Mass. . . .
* Lampe et al. Association between 24-Hour Urinary Cadmium and Pulmonary Function among Community-Exposed Men: The VA Normative Aging Study. Environmental Health Perspectives, 2008
While there is no cure for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, there are ways to improve the way you feel. Your doctor will prescribe a program.
COPD patients must:
• Quit smoking and stay away from secondhand smoke to slow the progress of the disease.
After that doctor appointment, she was immediately hospitalized, put on oxygen and given a 24-hour intravenous drip of a medicine meant to open up the airways in her lungs. She was 54 and finding out for the first time about a disease she had been developing for some time -- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD. The hospitalization lasted 3½ weeks. Fox has been on oxygen ever since.
Fox, who has organized and leads support groups for others with COPD, realizes an earlier diagnosis of her disease would not have meant a cure, but she could have staved off becoming as sick as she became in 1994. "I waited too long to find out what was wrong with me," she said.
"The sooner you can get a diagnosis -- and in its early stages -- the sooner you can stop the progression of the disease," said Rodney J. Folz, a professor of medicine and chief of pulmonary critical care and sleep medicine at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.
"Although smoking is the overwhelming cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), only 20 percent of smokers develop the disease," said Brian Day, senior author on the study and Professor of Medicine at National Jewish Health. "Our findings suggest that Mycoplasma pneumoniae (Mp) infection may be one of the co-factors that lead to COPD and other diseases among smokers." . . .
It has long been known that the lungs mount a strong protective response against tobacco smoke, which the National Jewish researchers confirmed in their studies in mice and cell cultures. They found that mice exposed to tobacco smoke for 16 weeks doubled the amount of the antioxidant glutathione in the fluid bathing the airways. The antioxidant reacts with the reactive species in tobacco smoke, thus preventing damaging reactions with lung tissue.
"This natural protective response actually allows people to smoke," said Day. "Without it, all smokers would suffer significantly more lung damage."
Previous work in Dr. Day's lab had suggested that lung infections might affect the lung's protective response.
For the first time, a drug therapy appears to reduce lung function loss in patients with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to the results of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 42 countries.
The Toward a Revolution in COPD Health (TORCH) study investigated the effects of combined salmeterol, a ß-agonist, and fluticasone propiniate, an inhaled cortical steroid, either alone or in combination, on mortality, exacerbations, health-related quality of life and rate of decline in lung function as measure by forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) in patients with COPD.
The results are published in the second issue for August of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, published by the American Thoracic Society.
"Pharmacotherapy with salmeterol plus fluticasone propionate, or the components, reduces the rate of decline on FEV1 in patients with moderate to severe COPD, thus slowing disease progression," wrote Bartolome R. Celli, M.D., lead author of the study and professor at Tufts University School of Medicine. "To date, smoking cessation is the only intervention that has conclusively been shown to alter the rate of decline in FEV1," remarked Dr. Celli. This is the first demonstration of an effective pharmacothrerapy in COPD.
Pharmacotherapy with salmeterol plus fluticasone propionate, or the components, reduces the rate of decline on FEV1 in patients with moderate to severe COPD, thus slowing disease progression. To date, smoking cessation is the only intervention that has conclusively been shown to alter the rate of decline in FEV1 [forced expiratory volume in one second].Lead author Bartolome R. Celli, M.D., professor at Tufts University School of Medicine.
Even at the National Paediatrics Hospital, where every day scores of children arrive for bronchial check-ups, many fathers can be seen smoking in the waiting room.
A recent survey conducted by the Ha Noi School of Public Health on public perceptions about smoking reported that 100 per cent of respondents said that smoking was harmful to health.
However, the school's doctor Pham Quynh Nga said only one third of the survey's respondents knew that smoking resulted in diseases for smokers and second-hand smokers.
Another survey from the Viet Nam Consumer Protection and Standards Association reported that though most people agreed to the Government's ban on smoking in public places, only 37.4 per cent agreed to the ban in crowded, open-air settings.
"The survey's results prove the community's awareness about second-hand smoking is still inadequate. Government policies to enforce the country's ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship are limited," Do Gia Phan, the association's chairman, said.
Government Decree 45 has instituted fines of between VND50,000-VND100,000 for each violation, but as it stands, very few people have actually been fined. . . .
The country's health experts have warned that 8 million Vietnamese will die from smoking-related diseases by 2010 if the number of chain smokers doesn't fall.
Healthy Interactions, a global leader in health education, and the American Thoracic Society, the world's leading professional society for respiratory health, today announced the beginning of a five-year U.S. partnership that will drive the development and distribution of educational programs designed to help patients better manage respiratory disease and overcome tobacco addiction. The agreement represents the first application of Healthy Interactions innovative, patient-centric Conversation Map learning methodology, which has been widely used in the diabetes area, in the arena of respiratory health.
The Conversation Map approach uses the power of small group dialogue and collaborative learning to improve health. Through this method, individuals learn about a disease, recognize how their beliefs or attitudes affect their perception of the disease, and discover ways they can change behavior and improve their management of the disease. Healthy Interactions Conversation Map tools have been widely used in North America since 2005, dramatically improving healthcare professionals' ability to engage patients and support behavior change.
With more than 34 million people in the U.S. who suffer from asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)(1) and 43 million smokers(2), respiratory disease represents a leading cause of premature death and a significant drain on American healthcare resources. Healthy Interactions and the American Thoracic Society are partnering to develop new and powerful educational tools to address the needs of those who suffer from asthma and COPD as well as to help people quit smoking.
Cigarette smoke has both pro- inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects. Both active and passive cigarette smoke exposure are linked to an increased incidence and severity of respiratory virus infections, but underlying mechanisms are not well defined.
We hypothesized, based on prior gene expression profiling studies, that upregulation of pro-inflammatory mediators by short term smoke exposure would be protective against a subsequent influenza infection. . . .
Conclusion: Smoke induced inflammation does not protect against influenza infection. In most respects, smoke exposure worsened the host response to influenza.
This animal model may be useful in studying how smoke worsens respiratory viral infections.
In a 2007 interview, Tavis Smiley asked Mac about "Ocean's Thirteen," the third film in the hit movie series where Mac played a member of George Clooney's con-game posse. . . .
"The set is such a blast," he told Smiley. "It's so much fun. We work 20-plus hours a day, we always fraternize with one another every morning for breakfast. We drink the best liquor in the world, smoke the best cigars. I'm just saying it's out there. It's there for you. And the food is great."
Actor and comedian Bernie Mac, 50, who won acclaim and affection as the goggle-eyed grump with the wise heart, died yesterday in Chicago of complications from pneumonia, his publicist Danica Smith said in a statement. . . .
She also told the Sun-Times that the pneumonia was not related to Mr. Mac's sarcoidosis, an inflammation that, according to the National Institutes of Health, usually starts in the lungs or lymph nodes. Mr. Mac disclosed in 2005 that he had the potentially deadly disease. . . .
His character was no Bill Cosby dad. He was big and blustery, physically imposing at 6-foot-3, and his approach to the audience was direct. Puffing on a cigar, he would look at the camera and tell the folks at home just how tough - physically tough - he was going to be on those kids.
Since January of this year, I have spent more than a month in the hospital, and many of those days in intensive care, because of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema.
I smoked for over 50 years and was told in the late 1990s that I would be on oxygen in a couple of years.
Well, I didn’t listen, but in 2004 my doctor put me on oxygen, even though I had quit smoking in 2003. . . .
I invite any one of you to call me or come visit me so I can explain what it is like to not be able to breathe, until you have been near death a couple of times in a six-month period.
Or ask my family what it was like to see me suffer with a breathing tube down my throat. It is not a very pleasant picture.
One-fifth of British adult survivors of childhood cancers are current smokers, and nearly a third have been regular smokers at some point in their lives, according to a study in the July 29 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Adult survivors of childhood cancer are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, lung problems, and second malignancies, relative to the general public. These increased risks are due to long-term effects of the original cancer and its treatment, as well as to genetic conditions that predispose the survivors to multiple cancers. Smoking would be an additional source of risk for this population. . . .
In an accompanying editorial, Karen Emmons, Ph.D., of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard School of Public Health in Boston notes that the new findings are remarkably similar to data from the U.S. Childhood Cancer Survivor Study, in which 17 percent of adult survivors reported being current smokers and 28 percent reported being ever smokers. The good news is that the rates are lower than the general public. The bad news, according to Emmons, is that for the survivors who do smoke, the habit is likely to exacerbate the already negative long-term effects of cancer treatment.