Lung Cancer Risk May Be Higher In People With Long Telomeres

By Dr Deepu

HealthDay (7/30, Preidt) reports that research published in Human Molecular Genetics suggests that individuals “with long telomeres are at increased risk for lung cancer but not other types of cancer.” Investigators “analyzed genetic data from more than 50,000 cancer patients and 60,000 people without cancer to learn more about the links between telomere length and the risk of five types of cancer: breast, lung, colon, ovarian and prostate.” While the researchers “found an association between long telomeres and increased risk of lung cancer,” they did not find any “significant association between telomere length and any of the other types of cancer.”

Ex-Smokers May Have Less Severe Hot Flashes Than Smokers

By Dr Deepu

Reuters (7/24, Rapaport) reported that a small study found that women who quit smoking appeared to have fewer and less severe hot flashes during menopause than those who continued smoking. The findings were published in online June 22 in Maturitas.

Low-Nicotine Cigarettes Don’t Help Smokers Quit In The Long-Term

By Dr Deepu

HealthDay (7/25, Preidt) reported that a new study by researchers at the University of California San Francisco found that “low-nicotine cigarettes alone don’t help smokers quit over the long term.” The study “included 135 smokers who had no immediate plans to quit,” 80 of which were given “cigarettes with progressively lower levels of nicotine, eventually reaching just 5 percent of the level used in regular cigarettes,” while the rest continued to use their regular cigarettes. Researchers concluded that “while smokers who used low-nicotine cigarettes lowered their nicotine intake, they were unable to reduce their smoking in the long term.”

Sleep Apnea May Lead To Development, Attention Problems In Kids

By Dr Deepu

The New York Times (7/27) “Well” blog reports that “experts say that between 1 percent and 3 percent of children have sleep apnea that, if untreated, can disrupt far more than a family’s restful nights.” Children with the condition “simply do not get enough restorative sleep to assure normal development.” Sleep apnea, “if not corrected...can result in hyperactivity and attention problems in school that are often mistaken for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.”

Patients With Advanced HIV May Not Benefit From Empiric Tuberculosis Treatment

By Dr Deepu

Medscape (7/28, Harrison) reports that a study suggests that “whether patients with advanced HIV receive empiric treatment for tuberculosis (TB), which they frequently die from, or isoniazid preventive therapy, there is no difference in mortality rates.” The findings were presented during the 8th International AIDS Society Conference.