Tobacco Smoke by Any Other Name Is Still as Deadly: Association of Pipe and Cigar Use With Cotinine Levels, Lung Function, and Airflow Obstruction

In a study of 3528 participants, 9% reported pipe smoking, 11% reported cigar smoking, and 52% reported cigarette smoking.

Self-reported current pipe and cigar smokers had elevated urine cotinine levels compared with never-smokers.

Participants who smoked pipes or cigars had increased odds of airflow obstruction.

Pipe and cigar smoking increased urine cotinine levels and was associated with decreased lung function and increased odds of airflow obstruction, even in participants who had never smoked cigarettes.

References:
http://www.annals.org/content/152/4/201.short
http://www.annals.org/content/152/4/259.short
Image source: Wikipedia, public domain.

How to Exercise WHILE Blogging or Doing Other Computer Work

The exercises below have been adapted from a ProBlogger post. Most of the names have been modeled after popular social media services such as Twitter, RSS, Blogger, etc.

1. Cyber Squats. Set your chair aside for a few minutes and instead move to a semi-squat position with thighs parallel to the floor. Hold for 1 minute.

2. RSS Raises. As you’re sitting at your desk, straighten your knees and lift your legs out in front of you.

3. Ten Minute "Move it!" Break. Alternate jogging in place with jumping jacks – do a minute of each and repeat 5 times.

4. Twitter Tummy Tone. Tighten your abdominal muscles for 30 seconds and then release.

5. Social Squeezes. Tighten your gluteal muscles for 30 seconds and then release.

6. Ten Minute "Move it!" Break. Grab a step stool and climb up and down.

7. Inbox Incline. While you’re sitting with your feet on the floor, raise your heels so you are on the balls of your feet and lower them.

8. Ten Minute "Move it!" Break. Do walking lunges around the house. You can add some weights and do bicep curls at the same time.

9. Blogger Breather. Close your eyes and focus on your breath. Count to 10 as you slowly inhale through your nose, thinking positive thoughts. Exhale through your mouth, again counting to 10. Release all the tension and stress out of your body.

10. Sign Off Stretches. Shoulder shrugs – with your head at your chest, shrug your shoulders up and down. Neck Rolls – relax your shoulders and let your head roll forward. Slowly rotate your head in a circle. Repeat five times.

How to stay healthy while traveling: This is a mnemonic for exercises that can be done with just body weight: PLSS

P ushups
S itups
L unges
S quats


Exercises that can be done with just body weight: PLSS.

Exercise slows telomere shortening (and aging). Telomeres are the chromosome tips which shorten each time a cell divides, making them a possible marker of aging. A study of 2400 twins showed that physically active people had longer telomeres than sedentary people. According to the authors, this provides a powerful message that could be used by clinicians to promote the potentially antiaging effect of regular exercise.


Human chromosomes (grey) capped by telomeres (white). Image source: Wikipedia, public

domain.

If you need any more convincing, please see this "health promotion" video that clearly shows the benefits of exercise:

"Health Promotion" video: Benefits of exercise. References: 10 Ways to get Fit WHILE Blogging. ProBlogger, 2009. How to stay healthy while traveling

What's the best exercise for heart health? A combination of weight training and aerobic exercise http://goo.gl/h1YKD and bit.ly/on9sNn

Related reading: Minimum amount of physical activity for reduced mortality and extended life expectancy: 15 min a day or 90 min a week. Lancet, 2011.
3 Best Exercises & Why Exercise is the WORST Way to Lose Weight - YouTube http://bit.ly/19m4Jx7

Worldwide number of new TB cases is higher than any other time in history

From the 2011 Lancet review:

The worldwide number of new TB cases is more than 9 million - higher than at any other time in history.

22 low-income and middle-income countries account for more than 80% of the active cases in the world.

Due to the devastating effect of HIV on susceptibility to TB, sub-Saharan Africa has been disproportionately affected and accounts for 4 of every 5 cases of HIV-associated tuberculosis.

Management problems include:

- In highly endemic areas, TB diagnosis continues to rely on century-old sputum microscopy

- No vaccine with adequate effectiveness (although BCG works to some extent). According to a recent report, BCG vaccination not only protects against tuberculosis but the number needed to treat (NNT) is 11.

- TB treatment regimens are protracted and have a risk of toxic effects

- Increasing rates of drug-resistant tuberculosis in eastern Europe, Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa

Promising progress includes improved tuberculosis diagnostics with biomarkers of disease activity. New and improved drugs, biomarkers, and vaccines need to be developed.

Diagnosing tuberculosis with cytokines IL-15, IL-10 and MCP-1, in addition to interferon-gamma

A pattern of two cytokines, called MCP-1 and IL-15, was reasonably good at differentiating between persons sick with TB and persons infected but not sick.

Monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) is a small cytokine belonging to the CC chemokine family. According to the new nomenclature, MCP-1 is called chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 (CCL2).

A third cytokine called IP-10 also showed promise at differentiating between people who are infected and those who are not.

Interferon gamma-induced protein 10 kDa (IP-10) is also known as C-X-C motif chemokine 10 (CXCL10). It belongs to the CXC chemokine family.

These 3 cytokines could form the basis of a new test to quickly detect whether tuberculosis is dormant or active and infectious.

52 chemokines from 4 families have been described. They interact with 20 receptors (click here for a larger image).

References:

Tuberculosis. Stephen D Lawn MRCP, Prof Alimuddin I Zumla FRCP. The Lancet, Volume 378, Issue 9785, Pages 57 - 72, 2 July 2011.

Immune system could be used to test for TB. Reuters.

Immunology Made Simple: "What are These People Talking About?"

Cytokines

Xpert MTB/RIF is a rapid diagnostic test for tuberculosis with high sensitivity (90%) and specificity (99%). Lancet, 2011.

Image source: PPD, CDC, public domain.

Comments from Twitter:

@sdietrich17: How discouraging. We just keep going backwards with so many infectious diseases...