Menthol-smoking kids easy to get hooked

In a study of tens of thousands of U.S. students, researchers found that kids who were dabbling with menthol cigarettes were 80 percent more likely to become regular smokers over the next few years, versus those experimenting with regular cigarettes.

Menthol is added to cigarettes to give them a minty "refreshing" flavor. Critics have charged that menthol makes cigarettes more palatable to new smokers - many of whom are kids - and may be especially likely to encourage addiction.

"This study adds additional evidence that menthol cigarettes are a potential risk factor for kids becoming established, adult smokers," said study leader James Nonnemaker, of the research institute RTI International in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.

Still, the findings, which appear in the journal Addiction, do not prove that menthol cigarettes are to blame.

"The study's subject to a number of limitations," Nonnemaker said. "This shows an association, not cause-and-effect."

One issue, he said, is that the study was not set up specifically to answer the question of whether menthol might encourage habitual smoking.

The findings come from three years' worth of surveys of over 47,000 U.S. middle school and high school students. That included almost 1,800 kids who had just started smoking during the first or second survey - one-third of whom had opted for menthol cigarettes.

By the third-year survey, more than half of those experimenters had quit smoking. Another third were still occasional smokers, and 15 percent had become habitual smokers.

The odds of becoming a regular smoker, the study found, were 80 percent higher for kids who'd started off with menthol cigarettes. That was with the kids' age, gender and race taken into account.

The results are consistent with the idea that menthol cigarettes encourage kids to get hooked because of menthol's "sensory properties," according to Nonnemaker.

But, he said, more studies are needed. One question is whether the findings might vary by race. This study included mostly white students. But it's known that young African Americans and Asian Americans are especially likely to smoke menthol varieties.

Last year, an advisory committee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said taking mentholated cigarettes off the shelves may benefit public health.

But studies have varied on the possible effects of the cigarettes versus regular ones.

One recent study found that menthol smokers had a higher stroke rate than those who favored the non-menthol variety. Another, however, found no higher risk of lung cancer, and no evidence that menthol fans had a harder time kicking the smoking habit.

Of course, not smoking at all is the wisest choice. The risks of the habits go beyond lung cancer, and include a range of other cancers, emphysema and heart disease - the number-one killer of Americans.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking any type of cigarettes increases a person's risk of heart disease two- to four-fold compared to non-smokers.

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Movement disorders

How does movement work?

Even a simple action such as picking up a pencil engages several different parts of the brain. The conscious thought areas of the brain trigger the motor area to send signals to the muscles of the arm.
As the movement begins, sensors in the arm are activated, sending signals back into different areas of the brain that interpret them and then send further messages to the motor area to fine tune power, speed, coordination and balance.

Who's affected?

Given such complexity, problems with the control of movement are understandably widespread. Essential tremor - the most common movement disorder - affects one in 20 people under the age of 40 and one in five people over 65. Up to one in ten people has restless legs syndrome.
Other conditions such as Parkinson's disease (which affects one in 500 people) are less common, but can severely impair quality of life because they reduce the independence of those affected.

Dyskinesia

Dyskinesia simply means abnormal ('dys') movement ('kinesia'). Tics, spasm, athetosis (slow, writhing motions), chorea (rapid, randomly irregular jerky movements) and dystonia are all different types of dyskinesia.
The term 'paroxysmal' is also often used, to indicate the abnormal movements are sudden and unpredictable, with a fairly rapid return to normal.
Dyskinesia is often used to describe the movement difficulties of Parkinson's disease and similar disorders. They're also a common side-effect of certain drugs, such as L-dopa and antipsychotic medication.

Dystonia

In dystonia there are sustained or persistent contractions of one or more muscles. This leads to abnormal postures or writhing, twisting movements of part of the body. There are many different types, with various muscles involved. Writer's cramp is an example of focal dystonia (limited to one group of muscles), causing bizarre postures in one arm when writing or typing and disappearing at rest.
Blepharospas is a focal dystonia involving muscles that control closure of the eyelids. This leads to increased blinking and involuntary closing of the eyes.
Dystonias tend to be aggravated by tiredness, stress, anxiety and emotion.

Tics

Tics are involuntary rapid and repeated contractions of a group of muscles. This may cause movement, such as blinking, shrugging or grimacing, or the production of a sound.

Tremor

A tremor is an involuntary, rhythmic oscillation of a body part due to contractions of opposing muscles. There may be many causes. Everybody has a physiological tremor - that is, a very faint tremor in response to signals from the part of the brain called the cerebellum. Certain factors, such as exercise, emotional stress, or an overactive thyroid gland, can make this 'normal' tremor more prominent.
Essential tremor is as common as angina or stroke. It usually causes a tremor of the hands and feet, but the head and voice may also be affected. Very little is known about what goes on in the brain to cause essential tremor. It's often dismissed as insignificant, especially in elderly people, or misdiagnosed as Parkinson's disease.
But although it isn't fatal, it can cause severe disability. Essential tremor can be treated with drugs, including beta-blockers, or brain surgery in severe cases.

Dysphonia

Spasmodic dysphonia is a disorder of the voice caused by abnormal contraction of the muscles controlling the vocal cords. This results in a quivery, jerky or strained voice. There may be times when no sound can be made at all, while at other times the voice is fairly normal.

Ataxia

Ataxia is unsteady or poorly controlled movement due to problems with the control of coordination and balance. There are many different types. Ataxia may be a symptom of conditions such as multiple sclerosis or cerebral palsy, or it may be due to diseases of the cerebellum (a part of the brain). One simple and familiar cause of ataxia is alcohol consumption

Restless legs syndrome

Restless legs syndrome is an intensely uncomfortable sensation in the legs (and sometimes arms), which typically occurs with inactivity, especially around bedtime. The sensation, which has been described as tingling, creeping or 'bugs tunneling', is temporarily relieved by moving the limbs.
Other problems include disrupted sleep, insomnia and daytime fatigue. In most cases the cause isn't clear although it may be related to other conditions such as iron deficiency.
Relaxing bedtime routines can help, as can avoiding caffeine, nicotine and alcohol. The condition may be related to a disruption of brain chemical transmitters and medicines, for example those that increase the transmitter dopamine (such as those used to treat Parkinson's disease), can be effective in treating the syndrome.
There are many other movement disorders, including myoclonus, Huntington's disease, gait disorders, spasticity and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).
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Change in taste in older people

What is change in taste?

It’s caused by a variety of factors and like most of our senses, the sense of taste tends to decline with age as the taste buds degenerate. This means problems that would cause a bit of a loss of taste in younger people can wipe out what little remains in an older person.
This loss (or distortion) of taste and smell can then take away someone's appetite so that they're less interested in eating. Older people often tend to have a poorer appetite anyway (many exist on tea, toast, biscuits and other snacks) and so quickly lose weight.
Certain illnesses can also cause a change in taste.

Causes and risk factors

Very often, what a person actually loses is their sense of smell - and this is what causes a change in taste (as smell is a major contributor to the sense of taste). Smell is disrupted by conditions that affect the lining of the nose, such as the common cold or chronic rhinitis. More rarely, it's affected by nerve problems, ranging from damage to nerves in the nose, to damage to areas of the brain controlling smell (such as the result of a stroke).
Perhaps the most common cause of taste problems, especially in older people, is problems in the mouth (related to teeth or saliva).
Any condition that results in a dry mouth can cause problems because saliva is essential for taste. Chemicals in food or drink dissolve in saliva and this bathes the taste buds. In a dry mouth, the chemicals never reach the taste buds.
Anything that causes inflammation in the mouth can damage the taste buds. Ill-fitting dentures or teeth and gums full of decay are some of the major culprits. Smoking can also destroy taste.
Rarer causes of taste problems include:

• Damage to the nerves between face and brain
• Stroke
• Brain tumours
• Tumours elsewhere in the body
• Liver disease
• Extreme vitamin deficiencies
• Some medicines and drugs that can cause changes in taste
• Depression and other psychological problems that can alter taste
• Heavy metal poisoning (though this is extremely rare these days

Treatment and recovery

An older person with taste problems should see a doctor to rule out any medical causes, and a dentist to check the mouth and gums. 
READMORE:http://www.bbc.co.uk/health

Back curves

How does the spine work?

The spine is the central pillar of the body. It supports the weight of the head and trunk, and provides a protective passage for nerves.
The spine is made up of 33 irregularly shaped bones, or vertebrae. Each vertebra has a hole in the middle through which the spinal cord runs. In between these vertebrae are discs filled with soft material, which act as shock absorbers.
Seen from behind, a normal spine is straight and stretches vertically from the head down to roughly the top of the cleft between the buttocks.
From the side, the spine has two curves: one at the top of the back bending outwards and one in the small of the lower back curving inwards.

What causes excessive curvature?

Excessive curvature of the upper spine is called kyphosis. Typically, the back appears hunched and more rounded than usual.
Poor posture may contribute to its development over the years, but diseases affecting the spine - such as osteoarthritis or osteoporosis - are responsible. Children can have kyphosis, but the cause is usually unknown.
Excessive inward curving of the lower back is called lordosis. Being overweight is a common cause. Having a large belly leads to imbalance. To compensate for this - and to prevent toppling forwards - a person will lean backwards.
Weak abdominal muscles or poor posture may also be partly responsible. Having kyphosis may even contribute to lordosis developing.
When the spine curves to the side it is called scoliosis. This occurs most often in the upper chest area or lower back and often there's no obvious cause.
It's more common for women to develop scoliosis and it can run in families. Some babies are born with congenital scoliosis. Rarely, diseases causing muscle weakness around the spine may be responsible, such as muscular dystrophy.
If the legs aren't the same length, this will cause the spine to curve.

What are the symptoms?

Kyphosis and lordosis can cause muscular strain and muscle aches.
Scoliosis, if not obvious from birth, tends to develop during childhood and teenage years, and gradually becomes more visible. Bending forwards makes it more obvious. A person with scoliosis may have an abnormal gait, which contributes to back pain that may be experienced intermittently.
It's important not to ignore the emotional effects of scoliosis, particularly because it tends to appear at puberty when many other body changes are also taking place.

What's the treatment?

In kyphosis and lordosis, physiotherapy can help to strengthen the supporting muscles of the spine and correct poor posture. Where there's an underlying cause, such as osteoporosis, this needs to be treated.
Maintaining an ideal weight is also advisable to avoid further problems.
Treatment of scoliosis also involves physiotherapy to strengthen the supporting muscles of the spine and where a cause is known this must be corrected. Wearing appropriately raised shoes to make the legs of equal length, for example, can help.
When scoliosis is severe or getting worse quickly, it may be necessary for a spinal brace to be worn to prevent further curvature, or to have spinal surgery.
READMORE:http://www.bbc.co.uk/health