Research

Secondhand smoke blocks artery repair
A recent study provides evidence that secondhand smoke harms the cardiovascular system in two ways:  it both harms the blood vessels, and also inhibits the body’s natural repair mechanism for damaged vessels.  In this repair mechanism, endothelial progenitor cells, which are made by bone marrow, circulate through the bloodstream to find and repair endothelial (blood vessel) damage.  The study examined found that endothelial progenitor cells are impaired in their ability to travel to and repair damaged cells for at least a day after secondhand smoke exposure. This strengthens the existing scientific evidence that secondhand smoke is harmful to cardiovascular health. Click here to learn more. The research article was published in the May 6 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Smoking 'triggers deadly changes'
Researchers have revealed a possible mechanism for the development of lung cancer from exposure to cigarette smoke. Scientists at Oregon Health and Science University created an artificial windpipe to simulate smoke exposure to a lung from smoking, and examined the effects of smoke on proteins in lung cells. They found that smoke exposure caused a decrease in production of the protein FANCD2. This protein is involved in the DNA repair process that prevents abnormal cells from replicating and becoming cancers, so the observed lowered levels of FANCD2 in the simulated smoke-exposed lung could explain how cigarette smoke works as a carcinogen. For more information, click here. This research is published online in the May 13 issue of the British Journal of Cancer. Click here for the journal article.

Quit smoking: Death risk drops fast
Findings from the ongoing Nurses Health Study have shown that it is never too late to benefit from quitting smoking. The Nurses Health Study has tracked the health habits and deaths of over 100,000 women since 1976. The data showed that within five years after quitting, women in the study decreased their risk of death from all causes by 13%, and slashed their heart disease death risk by 47%. Within 20 years of quitting, a woman’s death risk dropped to essentially the same as that of a nonsmoker. The research is published in the May 7, 2008 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The abstract is available here.

Air pollution, smoking affect latent tuberculosis
Researchers have found that carbon monoxide (CO), a gas emitted in cigarette smoke, car exhaust, and industrial pollution, could have a hand in raising tuberculosis rates. The study found that carbon monoxide causes mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that cause tuberculosis infections, to shift from an active infection to a latent state. Latent tuberculosis is more difficult to detect than active TB, and undiagnosed TB is much more easily transferred to others. In other words, exposure to cigarette smoke can raise the prevalence of latent TB, thus increasing the chances that these cases will go unnoticed and untreated. Click here to read more.

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