Article in Scientific American

[Spazmelda]

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=do-electronic-cigarettes-help-smokers-quit

Fairly neutral.

ETA: Fixed it so that it goes to the first page.

 

[Petrodus]

The posted link takes you to the 2ND Page of this article.
Here's the link ... starting with the 1st page.
CLICK HERE

 

[CES]

Neutral is good. The lack of misinformation was a breath of fresh air.

 

[Petrodus]

Again ... Here's the link to the 1ST Page
of this article - CLICK HERE

 

[440BB]

Carcinogen levels in e-cig vapor are about one thousandth that of cigarette smoke

Nice to see this information early in an article.

Interestingly, he adds, a control group of smokers who used an e-cig without nicotine also showed a significant drop in tobacco cigarette consumption—although not as great as those using the nicotine e-cig. This decline, he says, “suggests that the dependence on the cigarette is not only a matter of nicotine but also of other factors involved,” like the need to relieve stress or activities that trigger smokers to reach for a cigarette.

This follows my thinking - the physical act contributes to not needing a cigarette, regardless of nicotine.

I thought the article was overall positive. Thanks for the links!

 

[Spazmelda]

Again ... Here's the link to the 1ST Page
of this article - CLICK HERE

Thanks. I fixed my op.

 

[Spazmelda]

New research is teasing out why the seven FDA-approved medications have seen only limited success. For instance, researchers recently showed that some people are genetically predisposed to have difficulty quitting: Particular variations in a cluster of nicotinic receptor genes (CHRNA5–CHRNA3–CHRNB4) contribute to nicotine dependence and a pattern of heavy smoking. Moreover, a study of more than 1,000 smokers reported in a 2012 The American Journal of Psychiatry paper found that people with the risk genes don’t quit easily on their own whereas those lacking the risk genes are more likely to kick the habit without medications.

It would be interesting to see an e-cig study that explores these genes. Are e-cigs more or less effective than traditional NRTs for people who have these "quit resistant" genes?

 

[CES]

The primary studies related to those genes are from mouse studies. The gene of interest is "knocked out" in a transgenic mouse model. The behavior of mice of mice with the gene is compared to the behavior of mice without the gene. That's sort of how they knew where to look in people. It would be cool to know.

 

[Spazmelda]

The primary studies related to those genes are from mouse studies. The gene of interest is "knocked out" in a transgenic mouse model. The behavior of mice of mice with the gene is compared to the behavior of mice without the gene. That's sort of how they knew where to look in people. It would be cool to know.

Interesting. I had to go to the doctor earlier this morning and was planning on looking up more info about the genes later today. I haven't read anything about them yet.

 

[CES]

How much do you want to know?

Each nicotinic receptor is made of 5 subunits. Different combinations of the different subunits (alpha1-alpha10 and beta1-beta4, gamma, delta, episilon) result in different types of nicotinic receptors. Each subunit type comes from a different gene.

Nicotinic receptors made of combinations of alpha 4 and beta 2 subunits are thought to be the type related to the addictive properties of nicotine (this is the subtype that chantix works on). Whether or not the alpha4/beta2 receptors also contain an alpha 5 subunit may be related to nicotine tolerance. Receptors made of alpha 7 subunits are thought to be affected in Alzheimer's disease. Receptors that contain alpha1, beta1, delta and gamma are responsible for muscle contraction (and our ability to move).

this is a decent review if you can get access Nicotinic receptors: allosteric transitions and therapeutic targets in the nervous system : Abstract : Nature Reviews Drug Discovery

if not, the wikipedia entry is pretty accurate Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Spazmelda]

I don't have access to nature anymore since I quit working at a university. Any chance you could email me that article? My husband has access, but he won't email me PDFs as he considers that stealing, so I understand if you don't want to do that.

 

[CES]

i would but, carp, my university library must have changed the subscription access. grrrr. i can't access the darned thing anymore. Let me see if i can find a readable review that i do have access to.

 

[CES]

this review is supposed to have free full text access

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006295211005259

(and since it is free-full text, i can email it to you if you can't access it from the link)

 

[Bill Godshall]

Other than the two false claims below by e-cigarette prohibitionist David Abrams, the Scientific American article was excellent.

“We just don’t know if they are as good as existing nicotine-replacement therapies,”

“Improving the treatments that we have will go a long way toward beating this very severe addiction and saving millions of lives.”

 

[Spazmelda]

this review is supposed to have free full text access

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006295211005259

(and since it is free-full text, i can email it to you if you can't access it from the link)

Thanks, I appreciate it.

 

[kristin]

Other than the two false claims below by e-cigarette prohibitionist David Abrams, the Scientific American article was excellent.

“We just don’t know if they are as good as existing nicotine-replacement therapies,”

“Improving the treatments that we have will go a long way toward beating this very severe addiction and saving millions of lives.”

News flash, David. Not all smokers care about being "addicted" and/or really WANT to quit (even if they say they do in surveys.) So, what about them?

PS. It wouldn't take much to be "as good as" that crap you shill, buddy.