Apr 11
TUESDAY, April 12 (HealthDay News) — Many smokers in western nations still incorrectly believe that certain types of cigarettes, such as “mild” and “low tar” brands, are less of a health risk than others, a new study shows.
Researchers surveyed more than 8,000 smokers in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, and found that about one-fifth of them wrongly believed that “some cigarettes could be less harmful than others.”
The study also found that many smokers incorrectly believed that slim cigarettes are less harmful, smooth-tasting cigarettes are less risky than hard-tasting cigarettes, filters reduce risk, and nicotine is responsible for most of the cancers caused by cigarettes.
The findings were published April 12 in the journal Addiction.
The researchers noted that more than 50 countries have banned the use of labels such as “light,” “mild” and “low tar” on cigarettes.
Full article…
Tags: Cigarette, Cigarette Labeling
Apr 05
A Boston area landlord has been forced to pay $25,000 for trying to force an HIV+ tenant to move or get rid of his emotional support dog. Richard M. Blake, who was diagnosed with HIV more than two decades ago, filed suit against Brighton Gardens LP, which owns the building; Lombardi Corp., a general partner in Brighton Gardens LP; and the president and vice president of Lombardi Corp., Michael J. Lombardi and Louis M. Lombardi, according to Boston.com. Denise McWilliams, Blakes attorney, argued that a doctor suggested her client get a support dog after he became depressed, isolating himself and rarely leaving the house. Full article…
Tags: Dog
Apr 03
Low levels of vitamin D are associated with an important early-warning sign of cardiovascular disease in patients with HIV, US investigators report in the April 1st edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases.
The research showed a significant relationship between vitamin D insufficiency and thickening of the carotid artery.
“To our knowledge, this study is the first to report the association between vitamin D status and atherosclerotic vascular disease, measured by cIMT [carotid intima-media thickness], in HIV-infected persons,” comment the authors.
A number of studies have already shown that large numbers of HIV-positive patients have low levels of vitamin D. In
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Tags: Cardiovascular Disease, Hiv, Vitamin D
Mar 27
One in nine HIV-infected children with advanced illness was hospitalised with severe malnutrition within 12 weeks of starting antiretroviral and these children had a 15-fold increased risk of dying within the first six months compared to those children not hospitalised, Andrew Prendergast and colleagues reported in the ARROW study published in the advance online edition of AIDS.
The high frequency of new cases of severe malnutrition in children after starting antiretroviral therapy (ART) is not easy to explain say the researchers, and they warn that health care workers need to be alert for the condition, especially in children who are already malnourished.
Treatment programmes for children also need to integrate HIV and malnutrition care, and look at whether nutritional supplementation before starting treatment can protect against development of severe malnutrition once ART begins.
Antiretroviral Research for Watoto (ARROW) is an open-label, randomised trial of induction-maintenance and monitoring strategies for antiretroviral treatment in 1207 HIV-infected children with a median age of 6 (3-17) in three hospitals in Uganda and one in Zimbabwe recruited from March 2007 to November 2008.
HIV infection and malnutrition among children in resource-limited settings cannot be separated.
Full article…
Tags: Art, Starting Art