Exercise can make cigarettes less tempting to smokers and may help them kick the habit, says a new study.
Research from the University of Exeter shows that exercise can decrease the power of cigarettes and smoking-related images that grab the attention of smokers.
The study involved moderately heavy smokers, who had abstained from cigarettes for 15 hours before the trial.
"We know that smoking-related images can be powerful triggers for smokers who are abstaining," said Kate Janse Van Rensburg, doctoral student at the University of Exeter, who led the study.
"While we are no longer faced with advertisements for cigarettes, smokers are still faced with seeing people smoking on television, in photographs or in person. We know that this makes it more difficult for them to quit," added Rensburg.
"During two visits to our laboratory participants began by being shown smoking-related and neutral images, and then spent either 15 minutes sitting or exercising on a stationary bike at a moderate intensity. Afterwards, they were again shown the images," she said.
While participants were shown the images, the research team used the latest technology to measure and record their precise eye movements.
They were able to show not only the length of time people looked at such images but also how quickly pictures of cigarettes could grab their attention, compared with non-smoking matched images.
The study showed an 11 per cent difference between the time the participants spent looking at the smoking-related images after exercise, compared with the after sitting.
Also, after exercise, participants took longer to look at smoking-related images. Exercise, therefore, appears to reduce the power of the smoking-related images to grab visual attention.
Numerous studies have shown that a single session of light to moderate intensity exercise, for example five-15 minutes of brisk walking, can reduce cravings and responses to smoking cues, said an Exeter release.
четверг, 29 октября 2009 г.
среда, 28 октября 2009 г.
Convict pleads guilty to kidnapping family
GAFFNEY -- Jerry Douglas Case, a convicted murderer who sat on death row but was paroled, pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to kidnapping five members of a North Carolina family in July.
The crime spree began near Gastonia, where some members of the family had been fishing, and ended in Gaffney.
Case, 52, admitted he carjacked the family and committed two counts each of kidnapping and kidnapping involving a child. Testimony shows Case threatened to kill a Gastonia man, his adult daughter and two grandchildren, including an infant.
Case was accused of forcing the woman to drive aimlessly through North and South Carolina for 12 hours while pointing a gun at his victims. The victims told investigators Case forced the woman to stop and buy alcohol and cigarettes for him.
The next day about 5 a.m. while stopped at the Kangaroo Express convenience store on Highway 18 near Gaffney, Case accidentally left the keys in the car.
As he walked toward the store, the family drove away and used Case's cell phone to call 911. They were met by law enforcement officers several miles away from where they left Case.
The crime spree began near Gastonia, where some members of the family had been fishing, and ended in Gaffney.
Case, 52, admitted he carjacked the family and committed two counts each of kidnapping and kidnapping involving a child. Testimony shows Case threatened to kill a Gastonia man, his adult daughter and two grandchildren, including an infant.
Case was accused of forcing the woman to drive aimlessly through North and South Carolina for 12 hours while pointing a gun at his victims. The victims told investigators Case forced the woman to stop and buy alcohol and cigarettes for him.
The next day about 5 a.m. while stopped at the Kangaroo Express convenience store on Highway 18 near Gaffney, Case accidentally left the keys in the car.
As he walked toward the store, the family drove away and used Case's cell phone to call 911. They were met by law enforcement officers several miles away from where they left Case.
пятница, 23 октября 2009 г.
UM looks at other tobacco-free campuses
The University of Montana is gearing up to become a tobacco-free campus by fall 2011 and it is not alone in its effort to ban tobacco products on school grounds — 172 other college campuses across the nation have done the same thing.
And not just colleges are taking such initiatives.
Designating tobacco-free grounds is becoming a “mega-trend,” said Clare Lemke, coordinator of the Montana Tobacco Free Medical Campus Project that helped four local hospitals go tobacco-free on Oct. 1.
“When I started this position in fall of 2007, there were three hospitals with tobacco-free campuses and by the end of November (there will be) 30,” Lemke said. “That’s just about half of the hospitals in the state.”
Along with the 172 tobacco-free university campuses nationwide, there are at least another 322 smoke-free campuses, said Julee Stearns, UM health promotion specialist and chair of the UM Tobacco Task Force that drafted the University’s tobacco-free plan. These tobacco-free university and hospital campuses serve as models for UM’s plan.
The plan is framed similarly to one used by Oklahoma State University, a school with more than 21,000 students that went tobacco-free last year, Stearns said. In her research, Stearns focused particularly on Oklahoma State as an example of how UM can successfully implement a tobacco-free campus using a “phase-in” plan. That phase-in will include gathering more feedback this semester and going to the faculty and staff senates in the spring.
President George Dennison sent an e-mail to the campus community Monday to inform students and faculty of the plan, and the ASUM Senate voted in support of it on Oct. 7. Education and development will continue until full implementation in 2011.
Yvon Fils-Aimé, a tobacco health educator with Oklahoma State’s University Health Services, said enforcing the tobacco ban at his university hasn’t been difficult and officials haven’t seen many students smoking on campus since it took effect last year.
Oklahoma State is an agricultural and mechanical university with a rodeo culture that is tolerant of chewing tobacco, Fils-Aimé said. In a 2006 survey, about 33 percent of students there said they used a tobacco product within the past 30 days.
Fils-Aimé said that if Oklahoma State can implement a smoking ban, any school can.
A few months after the policy was implemented in July 2008, tobacco use at Oklahoma State dropped from 33 percent to about 23 percent, he said.
“We cannot be a healthy campus with tobacco,” Fils-Aimé said, adding that every day 1,200 people die from tobacco use. While some argue it’s their personal right to smoke or chew tobacco, he said, this personal choice doesn’t trump the university’s responsibility to provide a healthy campus for all.
Aside from the harms of secondhand smoke, chewing tobacco use has the potential to be unhealthy for others as well, Fils-Aimé said. Spit bottles are sometimes left around campus full of saliva that can transmit disease to other students and university employees that have to clean up the mess, he said.
Fils-Aimé disagreed with Oklahoma students who argued that banning tobacco on campus oppressed the minority – smokers – saying that the university has a right to protect the health of non-smokers from secondhand smoke regardless of the number of smokers.
Though the university encountered some resistance, enrollment wasn’t negatively affected and only increased following the ban, Fils-Aimé said. The school didn’t experience a drop in the number of applicants for student housing, he said.
His only regret is not fining students for smoking on campus. Some students have complained to him that it’s unfair that people breaking the rules don’t get penalized.
Maintenance and insurance costs also played a role in turning Oklahoma State tobacco-free.
While designated “smoking zones” were considered as an alternative to the tobacco-free plan, research showed that those areas are rarely used, Fils-Aimé said. It’s difficult to get insurance for structures in smoking areas and cleaning these areas costs money and poses a health threat to maintenance workers, he said. A structure-less “smoking zone” was designated on the Oklahoma State campus for the year following the plan’s implementation at the request of a faculty committee, but it has since been taken out.
Mary Windecker, director of strategic planning and spokesperson for Community Medical Center, said the hospital campus went tobacco-free on Oct. 1, partly because people weren’t going to designated “smoking zones” to light up, sometimes still smoking in front of doorways. Making their entire campus tobacco-free made enforcement easier because it erased the ambiguity surrounding smoking zone boundaries. She said the center hasn’t encountered problems with people not complying with the ban.
Community Medical Center went tobacco-free at the beginning of the month, along with St. Patrick Hospital, St. Joseph’s western Montana clinic, and Tamarack Medical Clinics throughout western Montana.
Montana Tech will be completely tobacco free in July 2010.
Tobacco policy changes are backed by anti-tobacco legislation across the state. The Montana Indoor Clean Air Act, passed in 2005, prohibits smoking in all work places. Another 13 states across the country have similar smoke-free laws. The Montana Collegiate Tobacco Prevention Initiative, led by the BACCHUS Network, is also working with UM and six other universities across Montana to reduce tobacco use.
Lemke said that while she doesn’t have a magic wand to change opponents of tobacco legislation into supporters, working to help hospitals transition into tobacco-free campuses has shown her that educating people about the harms of tobacco and getting the word out early regarding upcoming policy changes has made transitions to “tobacco-free” much easier. Oklahoma State spent two years preparing their campus for the transition and Community Medical Center spent six months.
“Don’t rush through this and think you can do this in two months, it really takes time,” she said.
The university needs to make it clear that they aren’t “anti-smokers,” Lemke said. Anti-tobacco policies are put in place to promote safer and healthier environments, they aren’t about segregating people from each other, she said.
And not just colleges are taking such initiatives.
Designating tobacco-free grounds is becoming a “mega-trend,” said Clare Lemke, coordinator of the Montana Tobacco Free Medical Campus Project that helped four local hospitals go tobacco-free on Oct. 1.
“When I started this position in fall of 2007, there were three hospitals with tobacco-free campuses and by the end of November (there will be) 30,” Lemke said. “That’s just about half of the hospitals in the state.”
Along with the 172 tobacco-free university campuses nationwide, there are at least another 322 smoke-free campuses, said Julee Stearns, UM health promotion specialist and chair of the UM Tobacco Task Force that drafted the University’s tobacco-free plan. These tobacco-free university and hospital campuses serve as models for UM’s plan.
The plan is framed similarly to one used by Oklahoma State University, a school with more than 21,000 students that went tobacco-free last year, Stearns said. In her research, Stearns focused particularly on Oklahoma State as an example of how UM can successfully implement a tobacco-free campus using a “phase-in” plan. That phase-in will include gathering more feedback this semester and going to the faculty and staff senates in the spring.
President George Dennison sent an e-mail to the campus community Monday to inform students and faculty of the plan, and the ASUM Senate voted in support of it on Oct. 7. Education and development will continue until full implementation in 2011.
Yvon Fils-Aimé, a tobacco health educator with Oklahoma State’s University Health Services, said enforcing the tobacco ban at his university hasn’t been difficult and officials haven’t seen many students smoking on campus since it took effect last year.
Oklahoma State is an agricultural and mechanical university with a rodeo culture that is tolerant of chewing tobacco, Fils-Aimé said. In a 2006 survey, about 33 percent of students there said they used a tobacco product within the past 30 days.
Fils-Aimé said that if Oklahoma State can implement a smoking ban, any school can.
A few months after the policy was implemented in July 2008, tobacco use at Oklahoma State dropped from 33 percent to about 23 percent, he said.
“We cannot be a healthy campus with tobacco,” Fils-Aimé said, adding that every day 1,200 people die from tobacco use. While some argue it’s their personal right to smoke or chew tobacco, he said, this personal choice doesn’t trump the university’s responsibility to provide a healthy campus for all.
Aside from the harms of secondhand smoke, chewing tobacco use has the potential to be unhealthy for others as well, Fils-Aimé said. Spit bottles are sometimes left around campus full of saliva that can transmit disease to other students and university employees that have to clean up the mess, he said.
Fils-Aimé disagreed with Oklahoma students who argued that banning tobacco on campus oppressed the minority – smokers – saying that the university has a right to protect the health of non-smokers from secondhand smoke regardless of the number of smokers.
Though the university encountered some resistance, enrollment wasn’t negatively affected and only increased following the ban, Fils-Aimé said. The school didn’t experience a drop in the number of applicants for student housing, he said.
His only regret is not fining students for smoking on campus. Some students have complained to him that it’s unfair that people breaking the rules don’t get penalized.
Maintenance and insurance costs also played a role in turning Oklahoma State tobacco-free.
While designated “smoking zones” were considered as an alternative to the tobacco-free plan, research showed that those areas are rarely used, Fils-Aimé said. It’s difficult to get insurance for structures in smoking areas and cleaning these areas costs money and poses a health threat to maintenance workers, he said. A structure-less “smoking zone” was designated on the Oklahoma State campus for the year following the plan’s implementation at the request of a faculty committee, but it has since been taken out.
Mary Windecker, director of strategic planning and spokesperson for Community Medical Center, said the hospital campus went tobacco-free on Oct. 1, partly because people weren’t going to designated “smoking zones” to light up, sometimes still smoking in front of doorways. Making their entire campus tobacco-free made enforcement easier because it erased the ambiguity surrounding smoking zone boundaries. She said the center hasn’t encountered problems with people not complying with the ban.
Community Medical Center went tobacco-free at the beginning of the month, along with St. Patrick Hospital, St. Joseph’s western Montana clinic, and Tamarack Medical Clinics throughout western Montana.
Montana Tech will be completely tobacco free in July 2010.
Tobacco policy changes are backed by anti-tobacco legislation across the state. The Montana Indoor Clean Air Act, passed in 2005, prohibits smoking in all work places. Another 13 states across the country have similar smoke-free laws. The Montana Collegiate Tobacco Prevention Initiative, led by the BACCHUS Network, is also working with UM and six other universities across Montana to reduce tobacco use.
Lemke said that while she doesn’t have a magic wand to change opponents of tobacco legislation into supporters, working to help hospitals transition into tobacco-free campuses has shown her that educating people about the harms of tobacco and getting the word out early regarding upcoming policy changes has made transitions to “tobacco-free” much easier. Oklahoma State spent two years preparing their campus for the transition and Community Medical Center spent six months.
“Don’t rush through this and think you can do this in two months, it really takes time,” she said.
The university needs to make it clear that they aren’t “anti-smokers,” Lemke said. Anti-tobacco policies are put in place to promote safer and healthier environments, they aren’t about segregating people from each other, she said.
четверг, 22 октября 2009 г.
Scottsdale PD: Robber grabs cigarettes, lighters and cash
SCOTTSDALE, AZ -- Police say a suspect robbed a Circle K at gunpoint, getting away with cash, cigarettes and lighters.
According to Scottsdale police, a Hispanic male went into the store near Shea Boulevard and the Loop 101 around 9:15 Tuesday and demanded cigarettes, butane lighters and cash from the 43-year-old clerk.
The suspect reportedly pointed a dark-colored semi-automatic pistol at the clerk during the robbery.
The robber left in an older white commercial-style van driven by an older male, according to police.
The suspect was described as 5 feet 6 inches tall and 120 pounds. He was reportedly wearing a dark shirt and jeans.
Officers searched the area but were not able to find the suspects.
No injuries were reported, according to police. There was no word on how much money was taken.
According to Scottsdale police, a Hispanic male went into the store near Shea Boulevard and the Loop 101 around 9:15 Tuesday and demanded cigarettes, butane lighters and cash from the 43-year-old clerk.
The suspect reportedly pointed a dark-colored semi-automatic pistol at the clerk during the robbery.
The robber left in an older white commercial-style van driven by an older male, according to police.
The suspect was described as 5 feet 6 inches tall and 120 pounds. He was reportedly wearing a dark shirt and jeans.
Officers searched the area but were not able to find the suspects.
No injuries were reported, according to police. There was no word on how much money was taken.
пятница, 16 октября 2009 г.
Free Press finds Rich Rodriguez does not really eat Corn Flakes (kidding)
In its continuing fight to give the whole truth and nothing but the truth to the people of Michigan, the Detroit Free Press through information given to them through the Freedom of Information Act, found out that contrary to his statements to the contrary, Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez actually eats Count Chocula and not Corn Flakes as he stated.
Rodriguez issued a statement saying, "I am a frequent eater of Count Chocula, but thought Corn Flakes would put the program in a more positive light"
Obviously the above is not true, but I think it points out the ridiculousness of what the Detroit Free Press is after in their investigation of Rodriguez and Michigan. I understand about the investigation on the practice time, but going all out to find that Rodriguez may have exaggerated the grade point average of his football team is a bit much.
Investigating alleged NCAA rules violations are one thing, monitoring everything Rodriguez says is something else. What's next, exposing that Jim Schwartz actually sings Barry Manilow tunes in the shower instead of Metallica? Or are they going to use the Freedom of Information Act to seek the truth that Jim Leyland really does not inhale his cigarettes?
Let's just wait for the NCAA findings. Personally I don't care if Rodriguez actually fudged the facts on their grades in a talk to alumni or to the media as long as he did not fudge the actual grades. Who knows soon the Freep will let us know if Rodriguez actually likes fudge.
Rodriguez issued a statement saying, "I am a frequent eater of Count Chocula, but thought Corn Flakes would put the program in a more positive light"
Obviously the above is not true, but I think it points out the ridiculousness of what the Detroit Free Press is after in their investigation of Rodriguez and Michigan. I understand about the investigation on the practice time, but going all out to find that Rodriguez may have exaggerated the grade point average of his football team is a bit much.
Investigating alleged NCAA rules violations are one thing, monitoring everything Rodriguez says is something else. What's next, exposing that Jim Schwartz actually sings Barry Manilow tunes in the shower instead of Metallica? Or are they going to use the Freedom of Information Act to seek the truth that Jim Leyland really does not inhale his cigarettes?
Let's just wait for the NCAA findings. Personally I don't care if Rodriguez actually fudged the facts on their grades in a talk to alumni or to the media as long as he did not fudge the actual grades. Who knows soon the Freep will let us know if Rodriguez actually likes fudge.
вторник, 13 октября 2009 г.
Yao Ming enlisted as China anti-smoking ambassador
Basketball star Yao Ming has joined up with the wife of China's vice president to lead an anti-tobacco campaign in the country with the world's largest number of smokers, state media said Tuesday.
The NBA All-Star Houston Rockets centre was named as an ambassador to the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control and is expected to appear in public service announcements urging people not to smoke, Xinhua news agency said.
Also named was pop singer Peng Liyuan, the wife of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, the report said.
About 350 million Chinese, or nearly 27 percent of the country's population, smoke cigarettes, with the nation consuming up to one-third of the tobacco products sold annually worldwide, said the report, citing the association.
Up to one million Chinese die every year from lung cancer or cardiovascular diseases directly linked to tobacco consumption, it said.
In 2006, Yao, the most successful Chinese player in the NBA, joined a Wild Aid campaign against the eating of shark fin's soup, a popular Chinese delicacy that has left the fish at risk of extinction.
Peng has also served as a spokeswoman for a public awareness campaign against the stigmatisation of HIV/AIDS sufferers.
The NBA All-Star Houston Rockets centre was named as an ambassador to the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control and is expected to appear in public service announcements urging people not to smoke, Xinhua news agency said.
Also named was pop singer Peng Liyuan, the wife of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, the report said.
About 350 million Chinese, or nearly 27 percent of the country's population, smoke cigarettes, with the nation consuming up to one-third of the tobacco products sold annually worldwide, said the report, citing the association.
Up to one million Chinese die every year from lung cancer or cardiovascular diseases directly linked to tobacco consumption, it said.
In 2006, Yao, the most successful Chinese player in the NBA, joined a Wild Aid campaign against the eating of shark fin's soup, a popular Chinese delicacy that has left the fish at risk of extinction.
Peng has also served as a spokeswoman for a public awareness campaign against the stigmatisation of HIV/AIDS sufferers.
пятница, 9 октября 2009 г.
Mickey Rourke on the priest who saved his life
In the Year for Priests, here's a story that reminds us the impact a priest can have on just one life:
Mickey Rourke has revealed that he was on the verge of suicide before he turned to the Catholic Church for help.
"The Wrestler" star, who battled alcohol and drug addiction for several years, claims in PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk's new book "One Can Make a Difference: How Simple Actions Can Change the World" that a priest helped save his life.
He explained: "One day I looked in the mirror and I saw myself the way others saw me. I saw the armour and I scared the f**k out of myself.
"I did see a priest for a while, a great one who stopped me from blowing my brains out. We'd go in the basement, he'd pour me a glass of wine, we'd smoke cigarettes, and then we'd pray. But I needed a shrink too, so I forced myself to go.
"I had to learn not to let people push my buttons, find out what was triggering all this rage, and stop throwing things away. I've barely missed a therapy session in over a decade, and that takes willpower."
Mickey Rourke has revealed that he was on the verge of suicide before he turned to the Catholic Church for help.
"The Wrestler" star, who battled alcohol and drug addiction for several years, claims in PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk's new book "One Can Make a Difference: How Simple Actions Can Change the World" that a priest helped save his life.
He explained: "One day I looked in the mirror and I saw myself the way others saw me. I saw the armour and I scared the f**k out of myself.
"I did see a priest for a while, a great one who stopped me from blowing my brains out. We'd go in the basement, he'd pour me a glass of wine, we'd smoke cigarettes, and then we'd pray. But I needed a shrink too, so I forced myself to go.
"I had to learn not to let people push my buttons, find out what was triggering all this rage, and stop throwing things away. I've barely missed a therapy session in over a decade, and that takes willpower."
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