cigarette smoke

The damaging effects of smoking and smoke exposure can be seen at any age. Pediatricians have even noted these negative effects in various stages of infant development.

The consequences of maternal smoke exposure during pregnancy can range from higher rates of prematurity to increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome.

Two new studies examine several physical and behavioral effects of cigarette smoke exposure on infants.

A new study could explain why the cold and flu virus symptoms that are often mild and transient in non-smokers can seriously sicken smokers.

The study also identified the mechanism by which viruses and cigarette smoke interact to increase lung inflammation and damage.

Researchers have pinpointed the protein that can lead to genetic changes that cause lung cancer. They discovered the production of a protein, FANCD2, is slowed when lung cells are exposed to cigarette smoke.

Low levels of FANCD2 leads to DNA damage, triggering cancer. Cigarette smoke curbs the production of 'caretaker' proteins, like FANCD2, which prevent cancer by fixing damages in DNA and causing faulty cells to die.

Dry airways may not only play a central role in the development of the inherited lung disease cystic fibrosis, but also in acquired chronic lung diseases like asthma and smoker's lung, the cigarette smoke-induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Researchers found, in animal studies, that insufficient hydration of the airways leads to pathologies typical of COPD in humans.

A toxic pollutant spread by oil spills, forest fires and car exhaust is also present in cigarette smoke, and may represent a second way in which smoking delays bone healing, according to new research.

Everyone has known for decades that that smoking can kill, but until now no one really understood how cigarette smoke causes healthy lung cells to become cancerous.

Researchers now show that hydrogen peroxide (or similar oxidants) in cigarette smoke is the culprit. This finding may help the tobacco industry develop "safer" cigarettes, while helping medical researchers develop new lung cancer treatments.