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Stopping Smoking Reduces Postoperative Complications, Study Shows 

Patients who stop smoking four weeks before an operation reduce the risk of complications, according to a doctoral thesis from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet. Moreover, many of those who receive help with this ahead of operations remain non-smokers for a long time afterwards.

Smokers who undergo surgery suffer complications, such as wound infections and poorly healing wounds, more often than non-smokers. Research has shown that the risk of complications is reduced if the patient stops smoking ahead of the operation, but it is unclear how long beforehand it has to happen.

Dr David Lindström works as a surgeon at the Stockholm South General Hospital (Södersjukhuset). He now shows in his doctoral thesis that quitting tobacco use as late as four weeks prior to an operation is effective. His study involved 117 patients

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• Early Exposure To Tobacco Smoke Causes Asthma And Allergy 

Babies exposed to cigarette smoke before birth or during the first months afterwards run a greater risk of developing asthma and allergy. This according to a doctoral thesis from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet.

It is a well known fact that babies are harmed by tobacco smoke in numerous ways, but it has always been difficult to separate the effects of the mother smoking during pregnancy and passive smoking after birth. Dr Eva Lanner�'s doctoral thesis now provides new detailed knowledge on how exposure to tobacco smoke early in life influences the risk of developing allergy and asthma respectively.

The thesis, which is based on the so called BAMSE study, shows that smoking during pregnancy increases the chances of the child developing asthma. The study showed that children of mothers who had smoked while pregnant ran double the risk of developing asthma before the age of four. There was also a clear correlation between the number of cigarettes smoked and the risk of developing asthma. . . .

Thesis: 'Parental smoking, wheezing and sensitisation in early childhood', Eva Lannero Institute of Environmental Medicine (IMM), Karolinska Institutet

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• Smoking vaccine trialled  

Scientists in Sweden are trialling a vaccine which could help smokers kick the habit.

In three Nordic countries, 400 people are taking part in the clinical study by Independent Pharmaceutica - a private company based at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute.

Chief Executive Lena Degling Wikingsson said: "By vaccination you will induce anti-bodies against nicotine and those anti-bodies will be very specific for nicotine.

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Swedish Match: Half Year Report January - June 2008 

* Net sales for the second quarter increased to 3,284 MSEK (3,090)

* In local currencies, net sales were 12 percent above the same quarter of last year

* Operating profit for the second quarter increased to 733 MSEK (642)

* EPS for the second quarter increased by 22 percent to 2.02 SEK (1.66)

* We maintain our outlook for 2008 with improving sales and underlying operating profit for the Group compared to 2007. For further comments on the outlook please see Outlook for 2008 below

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Swedish Match Profit Beats Estimates on Snuff Demand (Update4)  

Swedish Match AB, Europe's largest maker of smokeless tobacco products, reported second-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates on stronger sales of snuff in the U.S. and Sweden.

Net income climbed 16 percent to 512 million kronor ($86 million) from 441 million kronor a year earlier, the Stockholm- based company said today. The average of eight analysts' estimates compiled by Bloomberg was 471 million kronor.

Snuff is Swedish Match's main earnings generator and most profitable product. Margins strengthened in Scandinavia, where the product is called snus, after first-quarter growth was held back by a second Swedish tax increase in two years. Competition is increasing in the country and the U.S. as British American Tobacco Plc and Altria Group Inc. jockey for market share.

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Swedish Match Q2 tops consensus, outlook stands 

Tobacco products maker Swedish Match posted a bigger-than-expected rise in second-quarter earnings on Friday, helped by snuff sales, and stood by its full-year forecast, sending its shares higher.

Pretax profit came in at 614 million Swedish crowns ($103 million), versus a year-earlier 563 million and a mean forecast of 586 million in a Reuters poll.

"The report looks pretty good overall (with) good snuff sales and a good cigar margin," said an analyst who declined to be identified.

The operating margin for wet snuff or snus -- a tobacco sold mainly in the United States and Scandinavia but banned elsewhere in the European Union -- rose to 43.0 percent from 39.1 percent, and compared with a consensus forecast of 42.9 percent.

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Now, smoking onstage for your entertainment!  

It may just be a cultural nuance, but our actual caption says this guy is performing at a festival in Sweden.

That seems an odd verb to use, because to me it just looks like he’s lighting a cigarette. That isn’t much of a performance. You can see that outside any office building.

I’m not saying this dude isn’t really good at it. Heck, he even has spare cigarettes in his hatband, so he must “perform” a lot. I’m just saying if Swedish fans are entertained by this, we have a lot of smokers we can send over for the next festival. I mean, if they’re still alive.

smoking-360.jpgPete Doherty of the Babyshambles performs at the Hultsfred festival in Sweden June 12, 2008.

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Oily Fish Can Protect Against Rheumatoid Arthritis, But Smoking And Psychosocial Stress Increase Its Risk 

New data presented June 13 at EULAR 2008, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism in Paris, France, show that intake of oily fish is associated with a reduced risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA), whereas psychosocial work stress and smoking can increase the risk of developing the condition.

The findings, all taken from a large population-based case-control study in Sweden called EIRA (Epidemiological Investigation of Rheumatoid Arthritis), shed light on the important role of environmental and social factors in the development of RA.

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• No butts or ifs for cigarettes at Ica 

The Umeå branch of supermarket chain Ica in northern Sweden is clearing its shelves of cigarettes.

As of June 1st, Ica in Umeå will be the first grocery store in Sweden to throw out all tobacco products apart from snus, the chewing tobacco popular in Sweden, E24 reports.

Manager Mats Calla felt that the supermarket’s support of local sports and healthy living was at odds with sales of cigarettes.

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• Swedish Match checking tobacco-free snus complaints 

Tobacco products firm Swedish Match said on Tuesday it was investigating whether its tobacco- and nicotine-free snus product could cause cavities after dentists contacted the firm.

Swedish Match's biggest and most profitable product, snus, is a wet tobacco snuff that is placed under the upper lip. In 2006 the firm launched tobacco-free snus in Sweden, the world's biggest snuff market per capita.

Freddi Lewin, health advisor at Swedish Match, said the company had been contacted by two dentists in the past month saying patients using the product had developed cavities, and also by consumers with similar concerns.

The firm said it was taking the information seriously and had initiated an analysis of the production and the ingredients of the product, Onico, which is based on corn fibre.

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Nordic scientists start trial on nicotine vaccine 

Nordic scientists have launched a trial on a vaccine designed to help smokers kick the world's deadliest habit by depriving them of one of its chief pleasures, the firm that owns the vaccine said on Tuesday.

Independent Pharmaceutica, a private company based at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute and founded in 1997 by Professor Torgny Svensson, joins a growing line-up of biotech companies seeking to develop an anti-nicotine shot.

Its researchers say the vaccine eliminates the quick high smokers relish by creating antibodies that bind to nicotine molecules, making them too bulky to enter the brain.

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Anti-Smoking Vaccine To Be Tested In Nordic Countries  

Around 400 people in Nordic countries will get the first shots-literally-of an anti-nicotine vaccine developed by Swedish researchers at the Karolinska Institute. The test run of the vaccine will be conducted over the next year.

According to Lena Wikingsson, head of Independent Pharmaceutica, which is running the experiment, people taking part in the study - heavy smokers who would like to quit - would undergo counselling prior to the treatment. Participants will receive one injection every month for four months.

The anti-smoking vaccine, called Niccine, was developed over a period of 10 years at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden by researchers led by professor Torgny Svensson, who founded Independent Pharmaceutica.

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Swedish multinationals pamper employees to keep them at work  

High-tech gyms, free breakfasts, and programmes to help people lose weight or stop smoking: modern Swedish companies pamper their employees in a bid to combat one of Europe's highest absenteeism rates.

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• Swedish anti-nicotine vaccine to be tested in Nordic countries 

An anti-nicotine vaccine will be tested on 400 people in the Nordic countries over the next year aimed at helping smokers kick the habit, the Karolinska Institute in Sweden said on Monday.

"A Swedish vaccine against nicotine will be tested on 400 people in three Nordic countries," the institute said in a statement.

Lena Wikingsson, head of Independent Pharmaceutica, which is running the experiment, told Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet that people taking part in the study -- heavy smokers who would like to quit -- would be given counselling before they stop smoking and would be given a drug to help them quit. . . .

The vaccine, called Niccine, has been developed over the course of 10 years by Swedish researchers at the Karolinska Institute, under the guidance of professor Torgny Svensson who founded Independent Pharmaceutica.

Niccine is supposed to help the immune system build antibodies against nicotine.

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Non-smokers could get extra holiday 

Marie-Louise Ekholm, a member of the Moderate party and local councillor in Nässjö in southern Sweden, wants non-smoking council employees to be rewarded, reports Dagens Nyheter.

Ekholm, who is a doctor by profession, argues that a healthier life is insufficient reward for stubbing out the cigarettes for good and has submitted a formal proposal to the local council.

Non-smokers get sick less, take fewer breaks and are less of a burden on society it is argued and should therefore get an extra day's holiday.

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