E-Cigarettes in youth

In current times, electronic cigarettes (E-Cigarette) are very popular because it's smoking without smoking a cigarette. These E-Cigarettes turn nicotine into vapor which can be inhaled. It is proven to cause harm to brains of those who use them and just the air of the people around the users.
The study was performed on those who are off adolescent age, and not on adults. "Some researchers have said that e-cigarette use amount youth could act as a gateway to traditional smoking but the report says the relationship is not fully established."


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/health/e-cigarettes-united-states.html

Cancer mutation patters differ in smokers/non-smokers

An international team of researchers found several differences in the amount of altered DNA signatures in the tumors of smokers compared with those from non-smokers with the same type of cancer.

"Tobacco smoking leaves permanent mutations - it erodes the genetic material of most cells in your body", says Ludmil Alexandrov of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, who led the analysis. "Even if you are just a social smoker who occasionally has one or two or five cigarettes, there is a cumulative effect."

The team compiled data on over 5000 human samples of 17 different cancers. The DNA was then searched for patterns of damage, known as "mutation signatures". One type of mutation, called "Signature 4", which indicates damage to Guanine, showed a far greater presence in tissues exposed to tobacco smoke. Signature 4 also strongly correlated with lung squamous cancer, lung adenocarcinoma and larynx cancers.

Strangely, signature 4 showed a significantly lesser correlation with oral, pharynx, and esophagus cancer, despite being just as exposed to tobacco smoke as the lungs and larynx. Researchers also were able to graph the relationship between quantity smoked and number of mutations. For instance, a pack a day for one year leads to 150 mutations in a lung cell, 97 in a larynx cell, 39 in the pharynx, 23 in the oral cavity, 18 in the bladder and 6 in the liver cell.

I take interest in the genetic or hereditary aspects of tobacco resistance. I have known individuals who have smoked a pack or so a day for numerous decades and never got lung cancer, and others who have smoked far less over a shorter period of time, yet fell ill with some respiratory related cancer.

Genetic Link to Addiction

Researches have noticed that people who clear nicotine slower are twice as likely to become addicted. The study focused on genetic defects that have a moderate or sever affects on the liver's ability to metabolize nicotine. 281 seventh graders that have begun to smoke, but not are not necessarily addicted were studied and thirteen percent had versions of the defected gene. Also having the nicotine remain in the brain longer also sped up the addiction.

It would be interesting to see how well this study develops. It could help save lives of many Americans from having to rely on such an addictive drug that is so readily available and is harming so many. Having a better understanding of how toxins affect us and how are body react to them can all be discovered through genetics.

Cigarette Smoke makes Superbug Invincible?

 

 

It was already known that Cigarettes are bad for you, but people really don't care so they never listen. Little did they know that it coats superbugs in particular MRSA. Crotty Alexander and her team tested out whether or not cigarette smoke causes MRSA to become more resistant. They found out that the smoke does make MRSA harder to kill and the more smoke it was exposed to the harder it got to kill it.

 

The team also discovered that smoke-exposed MRSA were more resistant to killing by antimicrobial peptides, small protein pieces the immune system uses to poke holes in bacterial cells and trigger inflammation. The smoke also made MRSA better at sticking to and invading human cells.

 

This is a very serious issue and people that smoke need to be aware of this. Because what's going to stop the superbug from spreading to others. And medicine won't work because it repels almost everything.

 

Source:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150402174345.htm

Behavior Linked with Smoking?

     We all know cigarettes are bad for you, but the real question is "how bad"? We all know that cigarettes damage our throats, lungs, and other parts of our body, but scientists are beginning to discover a new problem arising out of smoking. A recent study has shown that mother's who smoke cigarettes during their prenatal stage, are putting their children at greater risk for behavioral problems. Of course, this is usually linked with a genetic risk for behavioral problems, but they are now beginning to understand that the smoking of cigarettes increases their risk of the behavioral problem arising. This is very interesting news as it sheds light onto an already tattered reputation, but no one is complaining. In our current society smoking cigarettes is increasing being looked down upon, and more news like this puts cigarettes deeper and deeper into the hole they have dug themselves into. So, we already know the life threatening side-effects of smoking cigarettes presents, but now that more problems arising. So the question then becomes, "Will people continue to smoke cigarettes?" The answer to that question is YES! People are addicted to cigarettes and will continue to be regardless of the negative effects. So, if you see a mother-to-be walking down the street smoking a cigarette, make sure you warn her and tell her to read this article.

Spit out your gum and become a sculpture

Ever wounder what happens to that piece of gum you spit out on the sidewalk or that used tissue you threw away well wounder no more. Heather Dewey Hagborg , Ph.D. candidate in Electro Arts at Resselaes Polytechnic Institute, who is living in New York is putting all of those used tissues and chewed pieces gum to good use. Hagborg uses the chewed gum to retrieve DNA, by genetic analysis, from the person who chewed it and uses 3D printing techniques to creates a 3D facial sculpture of that person without ever having to meet that person in person. Hagborg gets most of her art materials from public sidewalks, subways, and public bathrooms in New York. She mostly uses items people have left saliva or DNA on like gum, cigarette butts, used tissues, and what ever else she can find. With all the items she finds she creates a exhibit of anonymous strangers. Hagborg does not create an exact copy of the persons face, but she creates more of a resemblance of the person.      

I found this to be very interesting because I never really thought people would want to use someones used and chewed gum to create a sculpture of them. It also interested me because the creator of the sculptures was using pretty much anything that people had left their spit on to create an exact 3D sculpture of their face.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/04/tech/innovation/dna-face-sculptures/