Alcohol use disorders (AUDs), including alcohol abuse and dependence, and cigarette smoking are widely acknowledged and common risk factors for pneumococcal pneumonia. Reasons for these associations are likely complex but may involve an imbalance in pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines within the lung. Delineating the specific effects of alcohol, smoking, and their combination on pulmonary cyto...

BACKGROUND Non-random mating affects population variation for substance use and dependence. Developmentally, mate selection leading to positive spousal correlations for genetic similarity may result in increased risk for substance use and misuse in offspring. Mate selection varies by cohort and thus, assortative mating in one generation may produce marked changes in rates of substance use in th...

INTRODUCTION Chronic infection with hepatitis B (HBV) and C viruses (HCV) as well as cigarette smoking are established risk factors of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but it is unclear whether an interaction exists between these factors in causing hepatocellular carcinogenesis. We conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the interaction of HBV and HCV infection and cigarette smoking on the risk of...

cardiovascular disease (cvd) is the driving force behind the discrepancy in life expectancy between indigenous and nonindigenous groups in many countries. preceding cvd many indigenous groups exhibit a cluster of cardiometabolic risk factors, including overweight-obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. in turn, modifiable lifestyle risk factors contribute to the developmen...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the impact of combinations of lifestyle factors on mortality in middle aged women. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING Nurses' health study, United States. PARTICIPANTS 77 782 women aged 34 to 59 years and free from cardiovascular disease and cancer in 1980. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Relative risk of mortality during 24 years of follow-up in relation to five lifest...

The association of lifestyle factors with serum gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) was examined in 1176 Japanese male office workers aged 40-59 years. Those who had serum aminotransferase levels exceeding the normal range and/or who took prescription medication for, or had a past history of, liver disease were excluded. From the logistic regression analysis, lifestyle factors showing a positive as...

Older women who routinely drink alcohol may experience health benefits, but they are also at risk for adverse effects. Despite the importance of their drinking patterns, few studies have analyzed longitudinal data on changes in drinking among community-based samples of women ages 50 and older. Reported here are findings from a semi-parametric group-based model that used data from 4,439 randomly...

Objective(s):One cause of cigarette smoking is oxidative stress that may alter the cellular antioxidant defense system, induce apoptosis in lung tissue, inflammation and damage in liver, lung, and kidney. It has been shown that Chinese green tea (CGT) (Lung Chen Tea) has higher antioxidant property than black tea. In this paper, we will explore the preventive effect of CGT on cigarette smoke-in...