British medical bulletin
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Recent follow-up studies have provided convincing evidence that the foundations of chronic airflow obstruction (CAO) are laid in utero and early childhood. Men born in Hertfordshire and Derbyshire, England, were more likely to have impaired lung function at 60-70 years of age if they had been lighter at birth and if they had had lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) in the first 2 years of life. ⋯ These findings suggest that impairment of pulmonary growth in utero and early childhood, as a consequence of undernutrition and LRTI, plays an important part in the development of CAO in late adult life. This may be of particular importance for the future respiratory health of developing nations as the additive effects of smoking take hold.
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British medical bulletin · Jan 1997
ReviewLung development and early origins of childhood respiratory illness.
In the last two decades, 5 cohort studies have been initiated to examine the association of infant respiratory function with genetic and environmental risk factors, as well as with subsequent lower respiratory illness in early childhood. While the current complexity of respiratory function tests in this age group precludes study samples with sufficient power to examine more complex issues, information from these studies has provided an exciting adjunct to that available from the longer cohort studies. ⋯ In addition, gender differences in airway function and the response to maternal smoking have been observed. Larger collaborative population-based studies are needed to explore the environmental, genetic and immunological mechanisms responsible, but will depend on the development of less invasive tests of airway function appropriate for use in healthy infants.
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The discovery that CED-3, the product of a gene necessary for programmed cell death in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, is related to the mammalian cysteine protease interleukin-1 beta converting enzyme (ICE/caspase-1) has led to intense interest in the role of proteases in apoptosis. It is now clear that at least some members of the caspase (ICE/CED-3) family, which at present includes ten homologues of human origin, are essential components of an evolutionarily conserved pathway of apoptosis. These enzymes appear to be involved in both the initial signaling events and the downstream proteolytic cleavages that result in the apoptotic phenotype. Selective macromolecular and peptide-based inhibitors attenuate apoptosis in whole cells, suggesting that one or more of these enzymes will be suitable targets for therapeutic intervention in diseases resulting from inappropriate cell death.
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The tobacco industry's strong-arm tactics have been used consistently over many years. These tactics include: using the industry's size, wealth, and legal resources to intimidate individuals and local governmental bodies; setting up 'front groups' to make it appear that it has more allies than it really does; spending large sums of money to frame the public debate about smoking regulations around 'rights and liberty' rather than health and portraying its tobacco company adversaries as extremists; 'investing' thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to politicians; and using financial resources to influence science. These tactics are designed to produce delay, giving the nicotine cartel more time to collect even more profits at the direct expense of millions of lives around the world.