Cigarette smoke is associated with delayed fracture healing, alterations in mineral content, and osteoporosis, however, its effects on osteoblastic differentiation of osteoprogenitor cells are not fully understood. In the present study, we examined the effects of cigarette smoke extract (CSE) on osteoblastic differentiation of cultured human periosteum-derived cells. We found that CSE inhibited...

The influence of tobacco-smoke-material (TSM) on the detachment of microparticles from surfaces by turbulent air flow was investigated experimentally. Both clean and dusty glass surfaces were subjected to TSM either before or after the deposition of 64 microm to 76 microm-diameter stainless steel microparticles onto the surfaces. The TSM was generated by mechanically puffing research-grade ciga...

Maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with a number of adverse offspring outcomes. In the present study, based on 209 offspring from a 3-generation family study of depression, we show that the effects of prenatal exposure on offspring externalizing psychopathology (conduct, substance use disorder) is more pronounced in the presence of lower-expressing brain derived neurotrophic factor...

Adiponectin is a cytokine with both proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory properties that is expressed in epithelial cells in the airway in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease-emphysema (COPD-E). To determine whether adiponectin modulates levels of lung inflammation in tobacco smoke-induced COPD-E, we used a mouse model of COPD-E in which either adiponectin-deficient or wild-type (WT) mice we...

Abstract Fire stimulates the germination of most seeds in fire-prone vegetation. Fruits Leucadendron (Proteaceae) are winged achenes or nutlets that correlate with their requirements for smoke and/or heat promoting germination. We describe five possible smoke–heat dormancy-release/germination syndromes among plants, which displays three (no response, only, and heat). As seed-coat thickness vari...

Initially, tobacco was considered as a decorative plant and only later began to be treated as a herb with special therapeutic properties. With time, it was found that tobacco had strong insecticidal and addictive properties. There also occurred reports about the negative influence of tobacco on human health. The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies smoking as a chronic, progressive diseas...

A draft updated code of building fire safety in Hong Kong was just released in end September 2011. Effect of smoke toxicity on tenability limits was not yet specified clearly. Only temperature of smoke layer, visibility and carbon monoxide concentration were mentioned on specifying smoke effect on tenability limits. The necessity of specifying smoke toxicity on tenability limits properly is poi...

OBJECTIVE To analyze the perceptions and appreciations over smoke-free environments of restaurant and bar managers from four cities in central Mexico. MATERIAL AND METHODS Managers from 219 restaurants and bars from Mexico City, Colima, Cuernavaca and Toluca were surveyed about smoke-free environments opinions and implementation. Simultaneously, environmental nicotine was monitored. RESULTS...

Hourly GOES-8 imager data (1345UTC-1945 UTC) from July 20-August 31, 1998 were used to study the daytime variation of shortwave direct radiative forcing (SWARF) of smoke aerosols over biomass burning regions in South America (4-16 S, 51-65 W). Vicarious calibration procedures were used to adjust the GOES visible channel reflectance values for the degradation in signal response. Using Mie theory...