Integrative Body-Mind Training (IBMT) Meditation Found To Boost Brain Connectivity
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Nicotine replacement therapy and smoking cessation intervention programs are associated with positive outcomes among current smokers, according to two studies in the November 28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. “Despite advances in clinical care and policy, rates of smoking cessation have held constant in the past decade, indicating a need for novel approaches,” the authors write as background information in one of the articles.
University of Missouri researchers have found evidence that shows those who quit smoking show improvements in their overall personality. “The data indicate that for some young adults smoking is impulsive,” said Andrew Littlefield, a doctoral student in the Department of Psychology in the College of Arts and Science. “That means that 18-year-olds are acting without a lot of forethought and favor immediate rewards over long term negative consequences. They might say, ‘I know smoking is bad for me, but I’m going to do it anyway.’
Could a mint-flavored additive to cigarettes have a negative impact on smoking cessation efforts? New research from investigators at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) and UMDNJ-School of Public Health shines a light on this topic. It finds that menthol cigarettes are associated with decreased quitting in the United States, and that this effect is more pronounced for blacks and Puerto Ricans.
Findings from a brain imaging study may provide clues for why some individuals with heavy cigarette-smoking habits experience depressed mood upon withdrawal from smoking, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The research was conducted by Ingrid Bacher, Ph.D., and colleagues from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, and the University of Toronto.
A new report providing state-by-state analyses of a wide range of behavioral health issues reveals that despite some wide variations among the states in the types and levels of problems they confront – every state must deal with these issues. For example, among those aged 12 and older, Iowa had less than half the current illicit drug use rate of Alaska (5.3-percent versus 13.5-percent) – yet Iowa also was among the top 10 states with the highest levels of people age 12 and older currently participating in binge drinking (28.6-percent). Included in this report is a link to download the full national report.
NYU School of Medicine researchers report in a new study that exposure to tobacco smoke nearly doubles the risk of hearing loss among adolescents. The study is published in the July, 2011, issue of Archives of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery. Check the end of this report for a link to download the cited reference for this study: The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General.
Exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) is associated with increased risk of hearing loss among adolescents, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Among U.S. children, approximately 60 percent are exposed to SHS, according to background information in the article.
A new study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine reveals that several unhealthy lifestyle factors, such as weight problems, physical inactivity, high alcohol consumption, tobacco smoking, and hard drugs are associated with sexual dysfunctions in men. Additionally, an unhealthy lifestyle is more common in persons who are sexually inactive.
Smoking cigarettes is a dangerous habit that many are struggling to break, but for the smokers who choose to use one of the most popular smoking cessation drugs on the market, new warnings about the risk of serious cardiovascular events are on their way. This is because a new study by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, in collaboration with researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the University of East Anglia, in the United Kingdom, shows that the use of varenicline – marketed by Pfizer under the brand name Chantix(TM) – is associated with a 72 percent increased risk of hospitalization due to a serious adverse cardiovascular (CV) event, such as heart attack or arrhythmia.
Men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer and who are also smokers have an associated increased risk of all-cause, cardiovascular and prostate cancer-specific death, according to a study in the June 22/29 issue of JAMA. These patients also had an increased likelihood of prostate cancer recurrence. Accumulating evidence suggests that smoking may increase risk of aggressive prostate cancer and prostate cancer mortality. However, studies of smoking in relation to prostate cancer mortality or recurrence in prostate cancer patients are limited, with few prostate cancer-specific outcomes, according to background information in the article.
