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Porting Visual Basic apps to Linux
Realbasic provides an easy solution for converting Visual Basic programs to Linux.
Visual Basic owes its popularity in the world of Windows to its reputation as an easy-to-learn and easily readable programming language. But users moving to Linux typically have to re-write their Visual Basic programs in a different language. Free Basic variants such as Gambas [1], HBasic [2], or WXBasic [3] are just too far removed from VB to support no-worries porting. KBasic [4] promises complete syntactical compatibility to Visual Basic, but it is still at a fairly unstable beta stage despite several years of development. Real Software recently launched Realbasic [5], a commercial tool designed to pick up Visual Basic projects and give users the ability to run them on Linux and Mac OS X. The Realbasic licensing model is slightly unusual. In addition to the right to use the program, customers additionally purchase the right to free bug fixes huand enhancements for a fixed period of time. After this time, the customer retains the license but does not get the bugfixes. Real Software promises to release a new version every 90 days, so licensed users can look forward to new features at regular intervals.
Read full article as PDF:
Realbasic.pdf (158.91 kB)Tag Cloud
New Mint Minted
Version 16 of the popular Linux desktop reveals new tools, edge-snapping, and performance improvements.
New Worm Attacks Linux Devices
Symantec says Linux-Darlioz burrows in through PHP.
Project Sputnik Gets a Boost
Dell renews its quest for the ultimate developer machine.
Sneaky New Linux Attack Discovered in the Wild
Innovative back door looks like normal SSH traffic.
CeBIT Call for Papers
One of CeBITs most successful forums opens the new year with a new name. The popular Open Source Forum continues in 2014 under the name Special Conference: Open Source. This year, the forum will be bigger and offer a wider range of possibilities for sponsors.
Linus Announces Linux Kernel 3.12
New release offers better graphics drivers and expands filesystem support.
Dark Alliance Reinvents Email Security
New mail protocol will shut out the NSA and prevent snooping on metadata.
DDos Attack Map Charts Denial of Service
A new web application helps users visualize distributed denial-of-service attacks.
Saucy Salamander Gets Legs
Ubuntu 13.10 takes a step toward convergence, with lots of mobility, but Mir only partly here.
Intel and Arduino Create Pi-Like System
Galileo board is targeted to embedded developers and educational institutions.


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A Measure of the Depth, Dan Devine, Harry and the Underworld, John Farrell, Learning the Ropes, Lyn Perry, Michael W. Garza, Of All Things Seen and Unseen, Patrick G. Cox, publications, R.E. Diaz, ResAliens, ResAliens Press, Residential Aliens, Return to Sender, Venus Theotokos, Writing
One nice thing about writing short stories is that it's not just a one-shot deal. A good story can often find a second life (or even multiple lives) as a reprint, offered in a different market and/or format. Some purveyers of literary entertainment actually prefer reprints, as they provide a pool of proven stories that have successfully run an editorial gauntlet elsewhere. So it is that one of my stories previously published online is coming back again, in print.
"Of All Things, Seen and Unseen," my story of a space-rescue mishap that sparks a crisis of faith for a member of a unique religious community, is featured in the inaugural issue of ResAliens. Editor Lyn Perry has created a cool, glossy-covered bimonthly mag with the feel of the old SF pulp digests, and fills it with some of his favorite stories from the past year's offerings in Residential Aliens online magazine. I'm proud that mine is one of them. Continue reading »

subset: commoncrawl


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Tigers win fifth straight with 13-3 victory at Piedmont
March 22, 2004
Demorest, Ga. - DePauw banged out a season-high 17 hits on the way to a 13-3 victory over host Piedmont College. The Tigers improved to 10-8 with its fifth straight win.
John Younger collected five hits in six at-bats, while Kevin Ehinger finished with a four-for-five performance. Matt Deahl and Ryan Sipe each delivered two base hits in the victory.
The Tigers scored three times in the first, four in the second before adding one in the fourth and sixth and four more in the eighth. Kerry Frost picked up the win with Eric Mattingly earning the save.
DePauw travels to LaGrange on Wednesday.


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Injured NYPD sergeant nabs Giants tickets scalper
Police said the scalper was trying to sell the tickets for over $100. The sergeant was hurt while chasing a fleeing accomplice.
Ocean City NJ ride operator fired after girl, 4, injured
A four-year-old girl was injured Sunday on the platform of ride at Gillian's Wonderland Pier on the Ocean City boardwalk, and the ride operator was fired.
(UPDATED) Woman hit by taxi in Midtown in surgery for severed leg
Police said the victim is a 23-year-old tourist from England. They said her right leg was severed below the knee.
Actor hurt during performance of 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark'
An actor was seriously hurt during a performance of the Broadway show "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" at the Foxwoods [...]
Three children injured as car hit Kansas City child care center
Three young children were seriously injured on Tuesday, including two trapped under a car, after the vehicle slammed into a child care center in Kansas City, Missouri, according to local officials.
Woman injured in fall onto Center City train tracks
A woman was hurt when she fell onto train tracks at SEPTA's Market East Station early this morning.
Firefighters injured in 5-alarm Hamilton Heights fire
A five-alarm fire tore through a Hamilton Heights apartment building Monday evening, leaving at least one civilian and 19 firefighters [...]
Man critically injured in North Philadelphia gunfire
A 36-year-old man was critically injured in a hail of bullets in North Philadelphia late Sunday.
Teen couple killed in Queens crash, driver charged
A 20-year-old man has been charged in the crash on the Grand Central Parkway in Queens on Saturday that left [...]
Police seek two men in connection with East Flatbush shooting
Police have released a surveillance video of two men wanted for questioning in connection with a shooting at an East [...]


text:
WUA is an abbreviation for:
Weighted Usable Area
Find a translation for WUA in other languages:
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"WUA." Abbreviations.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2013. Web. 11 Dec. 2013. <http://www.abbreviations.com/term/262983>.
WUA also stands for:
- Wake Up America, Inc.
- Water User Association
- Wireless USB (Universal Serial Bus) Adapter
- Wireless USB Adapter
- Wisconsin Utilities Association
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Green Hostel Reviews
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The rating percentage is calculated from customers who booked within the last 12 months.
All ratings and reviews are based on the feedback and opinions of the customers who submitted them and do not express the opinions of Hostelworld.com. This way, you get an up-to-the-minute opinion of just how good a hostel really is.
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My windows was just next to a main street. Because of that there was quite some noise. Sleeping wasn't so easy :\
- Novice Nomad
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Good value for money. The hostel is located right in the Kazimierz district which is a nice place for an evening bar-hopping and just a couple of minutes from the Wawel castle. A very tasty breakfast is included in the price and the staff is extremely helpful. We were given a room for 10 people for our group of three friends so we could not complain about the lack of space. Good deal !
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Its a very good price for the money. Good location, privacy and well equiped rooms. Best value for money
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You probably know that smoking is NOT cool—and that it's really dangerous, too. Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, and kills nearly a half a million people each year. The chemicals found in cigarette smoke have been linked to serious long-term side effects, including cancer, emphysema, heart disease, and even death. People who smoke may become infertile, and pregnant women who smoke are more at risk for stillbirths, having babies with low birth weight, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced that it will require prominent cigarette health warnings on all cigarette packaging and advertisements in the United States. Check out the new warning labels here: http://www.fda.gov/TobaccoProducts/Labeling/Labeling/CigaretteWarningLabels/default.htm.
But cigarette smoking doesn't just affect the smoker—"secondhand" smoke also affects families and friends and many thousands of others. Secondhand smoke is exactly what it sounds like: nonsmokers inhale the smoke that "firsthand" smokers exhale from cigarettes, cigars, and pipes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that each year, secondhand smoke causes as many as 3,400 lung cancer-related deaths in the United States.
So, if you want a longer, healthier life, better to indulge in activities like sports, yoga, running, and spending time with friends and family.
We already know how harmful smoking is to your health, but did you know it can be bad for the environment?
Cigarette butts are the most littered item in the United States—and the world.
Since cigarette butts are so small, most people who smoke don't think much about their effect on our environment. In fact, many smokers think putting out their cigarettes on the ground is the "right" thing to do. But the effects of tossing that butt are far from harmless.
Along with making sidewalks and parks look dirty, cigarette butts are a toxic threat to the environment and to wildlife. Here are some reasons why:
- Cigarette filters are made from plastic that does not quickly degrade. Depending on the conditions, it can take 18 months to 10 years for a cigarette filter to decompose.
- Cigarette filters are meant to absorb the toxins from cigarettes that are dangerous for people to inhale, such as tar—that means those toxins are being thrown on the ground with the filter and polluting the environment.
- Cigarette butts also pollute our water, traveling through storm water systems to end up in streams, rivers, and waterways. Marine life can mistake them for food—in fact, plastic pieces from the filter have been found in the stomachs of fish, birds, whales, and other marine animals. This can cause severe internal injuries, suffocation, starvation, and death.
So, what can you do to help? Spread the word and check out PreventCigaretteLitter.org—sponsored by Keep America Beautiful—for ideas on how to reduce cigarette litter in your community.
Many teens and their parents spend money on clothes, haircuts, braces, perfumes, athletic gear and sports memberships, all to try and look their best. But smoking cigarettes can cancel out all these hard-earned efforts. Besides diseases like cancer and emphysema, smoking can cause:
- Yellow-brown teeth and bad breath
- Discolored skin on your fingers
- Smelly clothes and hair (Not good on a date!)
- Loss of sense of smell and taste (So much for your favorite foods)
- Lower stamina for exercise and sports
- Deeper wrinkles than average for a person's age
- Uncontrollable coughing fits and mucous overload
The list of negative effects goes on and on. We told you in an earlier post that 75 percent of high school seniors prefer to date someone who doesn't smoke. This list makes it easy to understand why!
Ready to Quit? It's never too late—or too early!—to quit smoking. Quitting isn't easy, but resources are out there to help. In fact, the CDC has several resources on quitting smoking that can help you out. The guide offers specific tips on what to do on the day you quit and ways to distract yourself in the first, hardest days after you toss out the pack and lighters. For instance, when cravings hit, you can:
- Carry things to put in your mouth, like gum, hard candy, or toothpicks.
- Keep busy by going to the movies, bicycling, walking the dog, playing video games, or calling a friend.
- Go places where you're not allowed to smoke, like the movies or the mall.
When you quit, treat yourself to a reward, and pay for it with the money you used to spend on cigarettes. To talk to someone about quitting, call the national toll-free number, 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669). If you don't smoke (good for you!) but you may have a friend or sibling who does, so send them this blog post to encourage them to take the positive, life-saving step of quitting.
How Many Teens Actually Smoke, Drink, or Do Drugs?
It's natural to be curious about your peers—especially when it comes to things that we know can be dangerous, like alcohol and drug use. You've probably heard rumors of kids drinking beer at a party or may have a friend who smokes cigarettes.
You may wonder how many teens actually smoke, drink, or do drugs. It's a question we hear frequently from teens. During NIDA's 2011 Drug Facts Chat Day, students from the around the country asked NIDA scientists questions such as:
- "How many teens smoke every year?"
- "Has the number of people who abuse drugs increased or decreased in the past 5 years? And why?"
- "What percent of teens has tried drugs?"
- "How many kids are doing drugs?"
In December 2011, NIDA released the 2011 Monitoring the Future Study, and it seems that more teens are making better decisions when it comes to smoking and alcohol use, but not so much when it comes to using marijuana and abusing prescription drugs.
Here's a glimpse at the most recent trends in teen drug and alcohol use.
Cigarette and Alcohol Use at Historic Low
Teen smoking has declined in all three grades included in the study—grades 8, 10, and 12. Still, almost 19 percent of 12th graders reported current (past-month) cigarette use.
This decline shows that more teens realize the harm smoking does to your body and are making the decision not to start. Also, teens' attitudes about smoking have changed. They increasingly prefer to date nonsmokers and believe smoking to be a dirty habit.
Likewise, among nearly all grades, trends over the past 5 years showed significant decreases in alcohol use—including first-time use, occasional use, daily use, and binge drinking. As with smoking, this decline may be the result of more teens understanding the risk of drinking alcohol and disapproving of this behavior.
Marijuana Use Continues To Rise
Unlike cigarettes and alcohol, marijuana use is increasing. Among 12th graders, 36.4 percent reported using marijuana at least once in the past year, up from 31.5 percent 5 years ago. This accompanies a decrease in the number of 12th graders who perceive that smoking marijuana is harmful. For example, only 22.7 percent of high school seniors saw great risk in smoking marijuana occasionally, compared to 25.9 percent 5 years ago.
Of course, we know the risks: marijuana can affect memory, judgment, and perception, and it can harm a teen's developing brain.
Prescription Drug Abuse Remains Steady
Prescription drug abuse hasn't changed much since 2010. Abuse of the opioid painkiller Vicodin and the nonmedical use of Adderall and Ritalin, stimulants meant to treat ADHD, remained about the same as last year. Also, the abuse of the opioid painkiller OxyContin remained steady for the past 5 years across all 3 grades surveyed.
To drive this trend downward, NIDA recently launched PEERx, a prescription drug abuse awareness campaign that gives teens science-based information about the harmful effects of prescription drug abuse on the brain and body.
When teens understand the health risks of abusing drugs, they do it less. So, tell us, how would you convince your peers that marijuana use and prescription drug abuse are harmful?
These estimates come from the Monitoring the Future Study's national surveys of approximately 47,000 students in about 400 secondary schools each year. The survey was conducted in classrooms earlier this year. View all of the 2011 data.
The relationship between genes and addiction is complex. Researchers estimate that someone's risk for becoming addicted to drugs depends both on their genetic makeup and on environmental factors, such as whether their friends abuse drugs.
NIDA researchers are busy studying which genes are linked to increased risk for drug addiction. For example, in 2012, a study looked at a gene that is tied to nicotine addiction and found that people with a "high-risk" variation of this gene had a harder time quitting smoking than people with a "low-risk" variation of the same gene. Generally, people with the high-risk gene took longer to quit smoking and were more likely to be heavy smokers than those with the low-risk version.
If researchers can zero in on the genes that may lead to increased risk of addiction, it might help doctors and other clinicians identify patients who would respond best to particular treatments designed to help them quit. For example, in the same study, people with the high-risk variation of the gene were three times more likely to be able to quit smoking if they used a medication than if they didn't use one.
NIDA is also working to develop vaccines that would help protect people from addiction and drugs' other harmful effects.
Want to learn more? Check out SBB's posts on genes and genetics and NIDA's overview, Genetics of Addiction.
Never underestimate the power of a bright white smile. NIDA's 2008 Monitoring the Future Survey found that the vast majority of teens—75% of high school seniors—would "prefer to date people who don't smoke."
According to scientists at the University of Michigan, "teens should take note that becoming a smoker will make them less attractive to the great majority of the opposite sex—a high price to pay." You can say that again! Dating is hard enough already—why smoke cigarettes and make it even harder?
Lots of teens have questions about drugs. Each year, NIDA scientists spend a whole day chatting online with high school students and answering their questions.
At the last Drug Facts Chat Day, "hbishop" asked:
Can a baby die from drugs that a pregnant mom is using?
To answer your question, it is possible. As one NIDA scientist put it, "We know that drugs of abuse can cross the placenta and reach the fetus. So, drugs used by the mother definitely can affect the baby's health and can even cause long-term harm many years later. That is why doctors recommend that pregnant mothers not smoke or use alcohol or other illicit drugs."
Anything a pregnant mother puts in her body the baby also takes in. Exposure to different drugs can harm the baby in many different ways. Like—
Smoking during pregnancy can cause slowed fetal growth, decreased birth weights, and even behavioral problems.
Drinking alcohol while pregnant can cause fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Children with FAS may be born small; have problems eating, sleeping, seeing, and hearing; and have trouble learning and getting along with others. NO amount of alcohol is safe during pregnancy.
Using cocaine and marijuana during pregnancy can lead to children having attention, language, and learning problems, as well as behavioral issues. Mothers who use alcohol, tobacco, or any illicit drug are setting their children up for potential lifelong problems or even death. The best thing a pregnant mom can do is talk to her doctor about which foods to eat and vitamins to take to make sure her child gets a healthy start.
Sources: http://www.drugabuse.gov/tib/prenatal.html For alcohol: http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/DrinkingPregnancy_HTML/pregnancy.htm
The Government banned cigarette commercials on television in 1970 after the 1964 Surgeon General's report found that smoking cigarettes increased your chances of getting lung cancer. This was a big deal, considering the strong smoking culture in the United States at the time. However, this ban didn't stop smoking on television. Forty-years later, characters on television shows continue to smoke.
And, what if we told you that teens are one of the primary audiences for some of those shows?
Researchers from Columbia University and Legacy (formerly the American Legacy Foundation), an anti-tobacco group that produces the "Truth" anti-smoking ad campaign, teamed up to find out how often tobacco use shows up on TV shows popular with teens. The shows included:
"Gossip Girl," "Heroes," "American Dad," "Desperate Housewives," "Family Guy," "House," and "The Simpsons." They also looked at reality shows like "America's Next Top Model" to measure depictions such as smoking, or even showing a pipe or pack of cigarettes on screen.
TV Shows Still Smokin'
Researchers watched every episode of the season. Of the 73 episodes in the analysis, 40 percent contained at least one depiction of tobacco (mainly cigarettes), double the rate from a similar study 10 years earlier. In all, there were 271 depictions, which worked out to an average of 4.4 depictions an hour.
Published in February 2011, the researchers concluded in their study:
Substantial tobacco use was observed in television shows popular among youth. It is projected that almost 1 million youth were exposed to tobacco depictions through the programming examined. Tobacco use on television should be a cause for concern, particularly because of the high volume of television viewing among younger audiences.
Other research on the connection between hours spent watching TV and young people taking up smoking, it was found that tweens and teens who watched 5 or more hours of TV each day were almost six times more likely to take up smoking than those who watched less than 2 hours.
Why Does It Matter?
Seeing other teens and young adults—celebrities, entertainers, and musicians—smoking can make it seem "cool" or popular. In fact, tobacco companies are counting on it and have invested a lot of time and money to find out the best places to reach teens. Just because the tobacco companies are banned from showing commercials on television doesn't mean they can't influence the content of TV shows in other, more subtle ways, or use other tools to influence smoking behavior.
Fortunately, NIDA's 2011 Monitoring the Future survey of 8th, 10th and 12th graders found that smoking is decreasing to historically low rates among teens, so it appears most young people are smarter than the tobacco marketers had hoped.
Which Program Had the Most Smoking-Related Depictions?
Meanwhile, can you guess which primetime program that the Columbia University and Legacy researchers studied showed the highest incidence of smoking-related depictions? Was it (a) "Gossip Girl," (b) "Heroes," or (c) "America's Next Top Model"? If you picked (c), the reality-based show "America's Top Model," you got it right.
Kind of ironic that a show about being beautiful and glamorous shows young girls using an addictive product that eventually will make their teeth yellow, cause premature wrinkling, and possibly lead to cancer, emphysema, or heart disease—none of which is very glamorous!
What do you think about depictions of smoking on TV? To answer the question, you can either write your response in the "Leave a Reply" box below or send us a message. As always, we read all comments and consider all feedback! We look forward to hearing from you.
To learn more about the effect of product placement on teens, check out Drugs: Shatter the Myths.
Many of us don't realize how much secondhand smoke we inhale each day. We tend to forget about the person smoking outside a restaurant or sitting on a park bench. People's smoking in the apartment next door affects us as well.
While these encounters with secondhand smoke seem harmless, they can mean a lot to your health.
- Secondhand smoke contains many of the same chemicals as inhaled smoke.
- According to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, effects of secondhand smoke kill 42,000 Americans each year, including nearly 900 infants.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that secondhand smoke can cause lung cancer in a healthy nonsmoker.
- Another recent study found that people exposed to secondhand smoke have higher rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes.
To figure out your level of secondhand smoke exposure, doctors can measure the amount of cotinine in your blood, saliva, or urine. Cotinine is the chemical created by the body when nicotine is metabolized. Measuring cotinine levels is more accurate than relying on people to remember how much exposure they have to smoking.
Newer research shows that even exposure to third-hand smoke—the chemicals from smoking that remain on surfaces and in dust—can be detrimental.
How can you avoid secondhand smoke?
- Politely ask people not to smoke around you.
- Don't allow smoking in your home or car.
- Encourage people to use designated smoking areas that are far away from building entrances and crowded areas.
- Encourage friends and family members who want to quit smoking.
Are you worried about being exposed to more smoke than you thought? What can you do to reduce your exposure?
That's what a lot of people were asking at the 2009 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Reno a few months ago. Two 16 year olds in San Antonio, Texas, worked together to try and find out. Keystone High's Sehar Anjum Salman and Jada Nicole Dalley showed that third hand smoke—all the toxic chemicals left behind on furniture, car upholstery or clothing after the cigarette smoke floats away—produces as many mutations in newborn fruit flies as second hand smoke—when someone blows their cigarette smoke near you and you breathe it in.
These photos taken by Jada and Sehar show some of the fruit flies they used for their study. Different genetic mutations can affect the color and shape of the flies' eyes, the color of their bodies, the shape of their wings, the number of bristles they have, and many other features. Compare the normal fruit fly (left) with the mutant fruit fly (right) - do you see a difference? (Hint: the mutant fruit fly is probably going to have some trouble flying).
Sehar and Jada won a First Place NIDA Addiction Science Award at the Super Bowl of science fairs for cleverly showing the dangers of third hand smoke—something scientists don't know a lot about. It makes you think twice about hanging out with smokers, even if they're not lighting up! For more information on Sehar and Jada's project, see NIDA's Web site.
As the 1-year anniversary of the signing of the Tobacco Control Act approaches, new rules that let the Government regulate tobacco products are going into effect. Starting on June 22, cigarette packs may no longer use labels that say "light," "low" and "mild." This is because research shows that "light" cigarettes are no safer than regular ones. Also, tobacco companies will no longer be allowed to sponsor cultural and sporting events, distribute logo clothing, give away free samples or sell cigarettes in packages of less than 20—what's known as "kiddy packs."
Another new law will prohibit the sale of tobacco products to anyone under 18, and vending machine sales of tobacco products will be banned except in adults-only places. We did an earlier blog about the ban on candy and fruit-flavored tobacco products, but these new laws will go even further.
This is great news for the public health and for teens, since tobacco products still account for 20 percent of all deaths in the United States each year, and tobacco companies keep trying to recruit new smokers. Every day 1,000 children become addicted to tobacco, and almost 4,000 try their first cigarette, according to John R. Seffrin, CEO of the American Cancer Society, who says the tobacco industry spends $34 million every day to try and hook new young smokers.
So, show the tobacco companies you can think for yourself. Smoking is very addictive, so the best advice is (yeah, you've heard it before): Don't start!
More people understand now the harmful effects that smoking has on the body as well as the addictive effects of nicotine. The good news is that teens seem to be getting the message—SBB recently reported that smoking rates among 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-graders are at an all-time low.
But many teens are still smoking—according to the 2011 Monitoring the Future Study PDF [230 KB], 19 percent of high school seniors reported smoking in the past month.
New NIDA research gives yet another reason for teens to avoid lighting that first cigarette—nicotine may "prime" the brain to enhance cocaine's effects, making it a very dangerous "gateway drug." That means it could open the door to other drug use.
Science Suggests that Nicotine Changes the Brain
Evidence shows that most people who tried drugs like cocaine were first tobacco or alcohol users. This concept of "gateway drugs" has been controversial, mostly because people question whether prior use of drugs like nicotine, alcohol, or marijuana actually leads to later drug use. Before now, studies have not been able to show a biological reason why smoking or other nicotine use could increase a person's chances of using illegal street drugs.
That changed when NIDA researchers found that mice exposed to nicotine in their drinking water for at least 7 days showed an increased response to cocaine. Why did this happen? Researchers recognized that nicotine actually changes the structure of your DNA, it reprograms how certain genes are expressed—in particular a gene that has been related to addiction—and ultimately, it enhances the response to cocaine.
Why did this happen? Researchers recognized that nicotine actually changes the structure of your DNA, it reprograms how certain genes are expressed—in particular a gene that has been related to addiction—and ultimately, it enhances the response to cocaine.
Moving on from mice, researchers looked at statistics in humans—in particular at when people began nicotine use and their degree of cocaine dependence: Among cocaine users who smoked cigarettes before starting cocaine, the rate of cocaine dependence was higher compared with those who tried cocaine first (before smoking cigarettes).
The study doesn't mean that every person who smokes cigarettes will eventually become addicted to cocaine. But it does suggest that if a person who smokes cigarettes tries cocaine, their brains may have been changed by nicotine to make it more likely that they will become addicted to cocaine.
Need help quitting smoking? Take a look at these resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Did you know that using alcohol, cigarettes, and illegal drugs during pregnancy can harm the mother and her baby? Everything a pregnant woman eats, drinks, or takes affects the baby. Using drugs can hurt the baby's growth or even cause the baby to get sick.
About 1 in 6 pregnant teen girls (ages 15 to 17) used illegal drugs between 2008 and 2009. Below are just a few of the problems a baby can face if the mother drinks alcohol or uses drugs while she is pregnant.
Cigarettes: Pregnant women who smoke expose their babies to nicotine and the dangerous chemicals in cigarettes. If the mother smokes, her baby may:
- Be born early (a preemie)
- Develop an addiction to nicotine
- Have breathing and behavioral problems
- Die before it is born or in the first year of life
Secondhand smoke can also be harmful to a baby. The baby is more likely to develop problems breathing, ear infections, and cavities.
Alcohol: Drinking alcohol while pregnant can cause babies to be born with illnesses. These children may:
- Have problems seeing and hearing
- Be born too small
- Struggle with eating and sleeping
- Have problems in school with learning and paying attention
Illegal drugs: Pregnant women who use illegal drugs like marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy, meth, or heroin can cause lifelong harm to their babies. Drug use can cause babies to:
- Be born early
- Grow slowly
- Have withdrawal symptoms, including fever, vomiting, poor sleep, and shaking
- Have heart problems or a stroke
- Suffer lifelong disabilities
If you have been using drugs and think you might be pregnant, stop using the drug and talk to a doctor as soon as possible. (Exception: If you use heroin and you are pregnant, you will need to see a doctor to help you gradually get off the drug—if you stop too suddenly, it can harm the baby.) There are programs that can help teen moms stop using drugs and get healthy for their babies.
Have you been at a restaurant or party where people are smoking, and acting like their clouds of smoke are no big deal? Do you put up with breathing secondhand smoke to hang out with your friends? In this video, Dr. Gaya Dowling and Dr. Redonna Chandler sink a few balls while sharing some real facts about smoking.
Fact: Nicotine is addictive.
Fact: Most smokers start smoking before the age of 18.
Fact: It only takes eight seconds for the nicotine in cigarette smoke to be inhaled, enter your brain, and start affecting your brain cells—whether or not you're the one who lit up in the first place!
That's less time than it takes most people to cue up and make a shot. Watch the video and see what you think.
Many teens have questions about drugs. On Drug Facts Chat Day, NIDA scientists get to listen in and answer these questions from students all across the country.
Here's one from "zippy do da" from Kingswood Middle School in New Hampshire:
Why do teens who smoke think they are so cool?
There could be many reasons why teens who smoke think they're cool—maybe their friends smoke, maybe their parents told them not to smoke, maybe they think it gives them an edgy look, or a temporary high. But the truth is, as far as your health goes—smoking is so not cool.
And who defines cool anyway? What's cool to one person may not be cool to another. Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, coolness is an individual decision. Not everyone thinks that doing something illegal or unhealthy because your friends are doing it is cool. Lots of teens would say it's cooler to hold a pen, paintbrush, or drum stick between your fingers, instead of a cigarette.
When our parents were younger, many of them thought "the Fonz" from the hit TV show "Happy Days" was the epitome of cool. Pretty dorky now.
Today it seems like a lot of teen smokers are figuring out that smoking is not very cool at all. According to a 2007 survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 50% of all high school smokers are actively trying to quit. And, according to the recent NIDA-funded Monitoring the Future study of 8th, 10th and 12th graders, smoking among American teens is at an all time low.
Coolness is a funny thing. Some things are cool one year (or one minute!), and not the next. Other things are cool no matter how much time has passed. What's cool is also influenced by your gender, age, where you live, and, most of all, by who you are. Check out how one high school student examined the cool factor as a science fair project—it even won her a cool prize. But don't take our word for it—you decide.
For anyone who resolves to stop smoking, help is as close as your cell phone.
According to NIDA's 2011 Monitoring the Future survey results, teen smoking rates are currently at their lowest since the survey began in 1975. However, many teens continue to take up the habit—19 percent of 12th-graders reported past-month cigarette use.
By now, we all know that smoking has negative health effects. These include lung and heart disease and particularly cancer—since cigarettes contain chemicals that are carcinogenic, or cancer-causing. However, when it comes to quitting, the main problem is nicotine. Nicotine is addictive and makes quitting notoriously hard.
To help teens quit, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently launched SmokefreeTXT, a free text-to-quit service that sends text messages with encouragement, advice, and tips directly to teens' cell phones.
How It Works
Sign up at www.teen.smokefree.gov or text "QUIT" to "iQUIT" (47848) and provide the date you smoked last. After that, you'll receive text messages for up to 6 weeks. Research shows that support for quitting continues to be important beyond the first few weeks.
Smokefree Teen
The text-to-quit campaign is just one feature of a broader effort to encourage teens to quit smoking. NCI's new Smokefree Teen Web site features information, quizzes, comics, and other resources to help teens understand the decisions they make and to take control of their health.
Smokefree Teen also offers a free smartphone app, QuitSTART—an interactive guide that provides mood management tips, tracks cravings, and monitors quit attempts.
You can find Smokefree Teen on several social media pages to connect other teens with tools to help them quit.Think about "liking" Smokefree Teen on Facebook, even if you don't smoke, to show support for your friends or family who are trying to quit.
Is 2012 the year of texting for healthy living? Let us know if you think campaigns like these can help you stay committed to your resolutions.
Cigarette smoking among American teenagers dropped to a record low in 2012. But are teens turning to a new alternative known as "e-cigarettes"?
According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) are battery-operated products designed to deliver nicotine, flavor, and other chemicals as vapor that a user inhales, without producing actual tobacco smoke. Some people assume e-cigs are healthier than traditional cigarettes.
A survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the use of e-cigs has doubled since 2011, raising the percentage of high school students who have tried them to 10%.
Why Are Teens Trying E-Cigs?
- Advertising: Traditional cigarette TV ads have been banned since 1970, but most e-cigs are not regulated by the FDA. Because of this, they do not fall under the same advertising and marketing rules, so tobacco companies have been buying TV ad time to push e-cigs.
- Flavors: The lack of FDA regulation has allowed tobacco companies to sell flavored e-cig products such as Bora Bora, with "pronounced notes of Exotic Island spice," and Iced Berry, which claims to offer "immediate, irresistible refreshment." These and other exotic flavors can sound very appealing to the younger crowd.
- Selling to Teens: While more than 20 states have banned store sales to minors, e-cigs can still be bought online. Make no mistake about it—the tobacco companies want your money!
Aren't E-Cigs Better Than Traditional Cigarettes?
We don't know. Some companies advertise e-cigs as a way to lower nicotine cravings while causing less harm than traditional tobacco products, and some people claim e-cigs help them quit smoking. But there's no actual evidence yet to support this claim.
The FDA has found that e-cigs might be safer than regular cigarettes because they do not release tar, carbon monoxide, and other poisons found in cigarettes. However, e-cigs still release carcinogens and other toxic chemicals, whose long-term effects are unknown.
What if you inhale the vapor of a few of these things every day—what will that do to your body over time? We just don't know—do you want to be a guinea pig?
What's in the Future for E-Cigs?
The FDA's Center for Tobacco Products may start regulating the sale of e-cigs. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act has given the FDA authority to regulate the manufacture, distribution, and marketing of tobacco products, and it will soon be decided if this includes the vaporized form of nicotine used in e-cigs.
For more information on electronic cigarettes, watch this NIDA TV Spotlight.
For information on safely quitting tobacco, see these smoking cessation products.
Comment on this post and tell us what you think: Do you know anyone who uses e-cigs?
ots of teens have questions about drugs. That's why each year, NIDA scientists spend a day chatting online with high school students and answering their questions.
At NIDA's last Drug Facts Chat Day, ham223 asked this question:
"What types of drugs are most used by high school students?"
According to NIDA's Monitoring the Future Survey—which looks at the different drugs that teens are using—alcohol is number one (yes, it's a drug), followed by tobacco and marijuana, which are pretty equal. Turns out, though, that not many teens are using most illegal drugs. The survey shows that in 2008, fewer than 1 in 6 10th graders reported that they used any illegal drug in the past month. And the numbers are still going down.
When you hear that something comes in strawberry, ice cream, chocolate, peach, or grape flavors, your first thoughts may be: ice cream, candy, or something made for kids. After all, manufacturers of kids' toothpastes, medicines, and vitamins add fun flavors to make their products more appealing. You may also think that flavored products are harmless, like candy.
But if you think flavored mini cigars are harmless, you're mistaken.
Cigars of any kind, including flavored mini cigars, contain the same addictive and cancer-causing qualities as regular cigarettes. In fact, cigar tobacco has a high concentration of nitrogen compounds, some of the strongest cancer-causing substances known. Cigar smoking also is linked to gum disease and tooth loss.
Although the Food and Drug Administration has banned similar flavored cigarettes, there's no such ban (yet) on mini cigars. Unfortunately, more and more teens across the country are smoking mini cigars.
In some states, like Maryland, statistics show that 14% of teens smoke cigars—this mirrors the rate of cigarette smoking among teens.
But Maryland isn't ignoring the issue. Recently, the state launched a new campaign called The Cigar Trap to let teens discover the truth about these flavored brown sticks that you might see behind the checkout counter, near the candy bars and gum.
Find out more about mini cigars, including how you can tell your friends the facts behind the flavors.
Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States.
In November 2013, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a bill hoping to change this frightening statistic for future generations. Nicknamed the "Tobacco 21 Bill," it raises the legal age for buying tobacco products—including cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, and cigars—in NYC from age 18 to 21.
This will be one of the strictest limits on tobacco purchases in any major city in the United States, sending a healthy message, trying to delay young people's access to tobacco, and reducing long-term addiction.
Here are some facts from a report of the U.S. Surgeon General:
- Nearly 9 out of 10 people who smoke started by age 18.
- The younger people are when they start using tobacco, the more likely it is they'll become addicted.
- Almost 1 in 4 high school seniors smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days.
Despite those facts, some people don't like the Tobacco 21 Bill, saying that it takes away a person's ability to make his or her own choices.
Age 18 is the legal age when the majority of rights—such as driving, voting, and fighting for your country—are granted. Some people argue that having control of your health and body is another right. Others argue that people who smoke under the legal age will simply find ways around the law.
But smoking is horrible for you, right? Cigarette smoking has been linked to about 90 percent of all lung cancer cases, the number-one cancer killer of both men and women. Why would anyone argue against a law that will probably save lives?
Regardless of the controversy, however, raising the legal age for buying tobacco products seems to be a trend coming to a city near you! Several towns in Massachusetts have already banned tobacco sales to those under age 21 and similar legislation has been introduced in Washington, DC, as well.
By the way, today's teens are smarter than ever about not smoking cigarettes. In 1997, nearly 25% of 12th graders smoked every day; now that number is less than 10%. But how do we keep that last 10% from even starting, so they can lead healthier lives?
What do you think, should the legal age for buying tobacco be raised to 21 everywhere?
Have you noticed that a lot of restaurants don't have indoor smoking sections anymore? More and more cities, counties, and entire states are banning indoor smoking. People everywhere are getting the message: smoking causes disease and death. In fact, it is the number one preventable cause of death in this country. NIDA scientists have shown how incredibly addictive smoking is, especially when people start in their teens—which most that do, get addicted. So protect your health and avoid the hassle and...don't start. It's a no-brainer.
If you need more reasons not to smoke besides smelly clothes and yellow teeth, here you go:
- Your wallet. How can you afford that new video game if you're burning cash on cigarettes?
- Your athletic ability. Smokers run slower and can't run as far, like being old before you're old.
- Your state of mind. It takes just 8 seconds for nicotine from cigarettes to reach your brain and change the way it works. Although scientists aren't totally sure why yet, one study found that teens who smoke a lot are 15 times more likely to have panic attacks than teens who don't smoke. Teen smokers also are more likely to have anxiety disorders and depression.
- Your future. Quitting smoking is hard. But the health consequences are even harder to deal with.
If you or any of your friends smoke, know help is out there. For free quitting support, call 1–800–QUIT–NOW (1–800–784–8669).
You've already heard plenty about what smoking can do to your looks and your life. But have you ever stopped to really think about how much money gets burned up with each pack of cigarettes?
The average price for a pack of cigarettes (PDF, 57.91 KB) nationwide is around $5.50—more or less depending on the State you live in. The spending calculator lets you enter the number of packs smoked per week as well as the price per pack. Then, it calculates the monthly and yearly cost.
Let's say you smoke one pack a week at the average price of $5.50 per pack—that's $22 a month and $264 a year. If you smoke two packs a week, the numbers double—$44 a month and more than $500 a year! I'm sure you can think of better things to do with $500....
According to NIDA research, nicotine in cigarettes is addictive, and most people smoke tobacco regularly because they are addicted to nicotine. Once people get addicted, they need more and more of the drug to get the same effect. That means smoking leads to more smoking, which leads to more money for the cigarette companies and less for you—not to mention the hit on your health.
When you quit, treat yourself to a reward, and pay for it with the money you used to spend on cigarettes. To talk to someone about quitting, call the national toll-free number, 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is betting that young people have something powerful to say about smoking. Teens 13–17 years old and young adults 18–25 years old are invited to develop original videos that feature one or more of these findings from the recent Surgeon General's report on tobacco use and young people:
- Cigarette smoking by teens and young adults immediately starts a series of health consequences that include addiction, lung problems, asthma, and heart disease.
- Advertising and promotional activities by tobacco companies influence adolescents and young adults to start and continue smoking.
- Use of tobacco products by teens and young adults shows signs of increasing after years of steady decline.
Submit a video by yourself or with a group of friends, and you could win up to $1,000!
Why You Should Submit a Video
Approximately 88 percent of adults who smoke cigarettes daily report that they started smoking before age 18. Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable and premature death in America, killing more than 1,200 people every day. For every tobacco-related death, two new young people become regular smokers. To keep their companies in business, tobacco manufacturers need new people to pick up the habit. This contest is an opportunity to tell them and others why YOU won't be one of them!
Contest Rules
The deadline for submitting a video is April 20, 2012. Individuals or groups can submit videos in English or Spanish. All submissions must be made through Challenge.gov. Go there to learn more and submit your video for the tobacco contest. Grand prize winners in each of four categories will receive $1,000. Three runners-up in each category will receive $500. Find inspiration for your video by checking out these resources:
- Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General
- Past SBB blog posts on smoking and tobacco
- Facts on tobacco and nicotine addiction from NIDA for Teens
- Facts on tobacco and kids from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
- Tips on quitting from former smokers
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (known by most people as the "FDA") has banned cigarettes with flavors that make them taste like fruit, candy, or clove. Which reminds me…real candy and fruit are soooo much better…but this ban does raise some questions—so, in case you were wondering:
Who is smoking flavored cigarettes? Studies show that 17-year-olds who smoke are three times more likely to use flavored cigarettes as smokers over 25. In fact, some people think cigarette companies add the flavors as a way to get teens to try smoking. The FDA says young people are twice as likely to report seeing advertising for these flavored products, so the cigarette companies are obviously putting the ads in places that are popular with teens. (Hmmm, pretty sneaky).
Why ban the flavored cigarettes? 3,600 young people start smoking each day, and almost all adult smokers (90 percent) started smoking as teenagers. If the idea of flavors encourages kids to smoke, many of them will keep smoking and face a lifelong battle with nicotine addiction (hardly worth it).
Do the flavors make the cigarettes any safer? No way! They are just as toxic as ever. In fact, the flavors might hide some of the bad taste of cigarettes, so in a way they are more dangerous.
How will they enforce this ban? The FDA encourages people to report continuing sales of flavored cigarettes through a special tobacco hotline (1-877-CTP-1373) and website. You can learn more about the risks of flavored tobacco products at www.fda.gov. Might even make a great report for health or science class!
What does SBB think about flavored cigarettes? The companies that make these flavored cigarettes think they are pretty smart, trying to make money off of teens who think "candy, fruit and clove" sound like fun. However, smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides and murders combined.*
So don't be "tricked" into smoking by the lure of flavored cigarettes.
That was my question. Why do people do the things they do. I used to just love to sit and watch people. I could sit at the park or in the mall for hours and just "people watch." I think that's why when I got to college I eventually became a psychology major. I wanted to understand more about why people behave in certain ways and what makes people choose to do different things.
One thing fascinated me in particular was why do some people smoke? My parents smoked when I was growing up. I remember my dad decided to quit and he seemed to do it so easily but when my mom tried, it was so hard for her. She seemed to try everything to quit, and then her mood would get so bad that soon she was buying another pack. Eventually though she did quit...I don't know what finally did it—back then we didn't have the patch or gum and there were no medications. No one talked about smoking being an addiction, it was just a habit, and people thought you only needed willpower to be able to quit. Imagine how hard it must have been for my mom to see my dad being able to quit so easily and her having to struggle so hard.
Smoking affects people very differently. When I was about 18, I had some very cool friends who smoked and so I wanted to smoke too. So I tried it but, lucky for me, I hated it. That was my first lesson in genetics. My second was when I took a class in behavioral genetics, and suddenly all my life experiences started to click, to make sense. My mother struggled to quit because she had a genetic tendency for addiction, not just smoking but also for alcohol, which eventually took her life. I was lucky I had many of my dad's protective genes so substances of abuse were never tempting to me.
It was these life experiences that drew me to the field of genetics, to better understand why some people struggle so mightily with addiction like my mother. We don't have all the answers even today, but many scientists are working on this puzzle to help find better treatments so people can overcome their addictions and reclaim their lives. Think about becoming a scientist to help solve this puzzle and make life better for so many! It's a great field and very rewarding, too.
Dr. Miner is the Deputy Director of the Office of Science Policy and Communications (OSPC) at NIDA. She helps coordinate all of NIDA's communications to Congress, constituent groups, and the media. She also oversees NIDA's plans for the research it will support. Cindy earned her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Colorado in 1986. She's published numerous papers and book chapters on the genetic and biochemical bases of addiction. Oh—she's also a wonderful person, an Emmy award winner (as part of NIDA's work on the HBO special, "Addiction"), and a super athlete! So being a successful "science nerd" is just one of her many talents
* Dr. Miner will soon leave her position at NIDA to start an exciting new job with the Food and Drug Administration's new Center for Tobacco Products, helping to start up their Communications and Policy offices. SBB wishes her the best!
According to the Surgeon General's report on smoking and young people, more than 600,000 middle school students and 3 million high school students smoke cigarettes.
In March 2012, the Surgeon General launched a video contest encouraging teens to develop videos around the facts in the tobacco report. SBB announced the contest, and now we want to share the winners.
Grand Prize Winner (Ages 13–17 Category): "Tobacco—I'm Not Buying It Rap"
The Manatee Youth for Christ SOZO team from Bradenton, Florida, raps about the dangers of smoking and why some teenagers start smoking, emphasizing with the chorus, "Tobacco OH NO I Ain't Buying It."
Grand Prize Winner (Ages 18–25 Category): "You Don't Smoke Cigarettes, Cigarettes Smoke You"
Ayyaz Amjad's video features a young man who realizes that people who smoke may not be as in control as they might think.
Grand Prize Winner (Spanish Category): "El Tabaco y la industria"
A narrator describes the dangers of smoking as her friends hold up signs with selected facts on them. The video was created by Sarah Skipper, Karolina Almasi, Taylor Crews, Natalie Curtis, and Malorie McKinnon.
Check out all the winning videos, including the runners-up.
What do you think of the videos? Do their messages inspire you to make your own video or to think differently about smoking?
What we know about drug abuse evolves over time. This is true for smoking and tobacco addiction, too. We know much more now than we did 100, 40, or even 10 years ago. As we learn more about tobacco, smoking, and health, we continue to do more to prevent illness and death caused by tobacco.
Did you know there was a time when people didn't know that smoking cigarettes could be deadly? A long time ago, doctors even recommended that people smoke to cure other illnesses-check out the old advertisement below:
Looks pretty silly now. Today, no doctor who has gone to medical school would recommend smoking to their patients. Just the opposite: doctors, nurses, and teens like you are telling people not to smoke. Why? Because smoking "causes lung cancer heart disease, emphysema, and may complicate pregnancy"—and it says so right on the box! Every cigarette carton in the United States is required to warn against the health effects of smoking.
Different warnings appear on different cigarette packaging. While traveling in Europe recently, one of our bloggers snapped a picture of some cigarette cartons, each with its own saying. One of them said: "Smokers die younger." That's what you call truth in advertising. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, smoking causes more deaths each year than HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides and murders combined! Check out more info for youth on CDC's website.
Here at NIDA, we know and understand what smoking looked like then and now. But, what gets us excited is applying what we've learned about tobacco and nicotine to help improve people's lives in the future. So, stay tuned to the Sara Bellum Blog—you never know what we, or one of your classmates, might discover.
Many people justify smoking one or two cigarettes once in a while—known as social smoking—by thinking occasional smoking won't damage their health as much as smoking every day. Unfortunately, smoking fewer cigarettes does not reduce the risk of smoking-related health problems.
Physical Health
With occasional smoking, you still have several health risks, like:
- Heart disease
- Lung and other cancers
- Respiratory tract infections
- Slower recovery from torn cartilage and other injuries
Brain Health
It's not just the body—the brain suffers as well. A 2011 study shows that even occasional smoking affects memory. Northumbria University in the United Kingdom gave a memory test to college students who smoked either occasionally, regularly, or not at all. Results showed that both occasional and regular smokers performed much worse than nonsmokers on this task. In fact, social smokers performed just as badly as regular smokers.
Researchers involved in the study concluded that smoking damages memory no matter how often you do it. And decline in smoking-related memory has been linked with changes in the brain, such as brain shrinkage. That can't be good.
Regain Your Memory
Fortunately, the damage doesn't have to be permanent. The psychologists who researched how smoking affects memory published another study last year showing that quitting smoking can actually improve memory, restoring everyday memory to nearly the same level as that of people who don't smoke.
For this study, participants were taken on a tour of a university campus and asked to remember a series of predetermined tasks at specific locations. While current smokers remembered 59% of tasks, people who had given up smoking remembered 74% of their required tasks. Those who had never smoked remembered 81% of tasks.
What Do You Think?
Does knowing that occasional cigarette smoking has the same brain and physical health effects as regular smoking make you think twice before lighting up? If you smoke now, have you found it harder to remember everyday tasks or errands than before you started smoking?
Relapse…If you keep up with the SBB you know by now that addiction is a chronic (long-lasting) disease that takes hold in some people who abuse drugs. You may also know that some people can quit their drug use. But often a person will return to using drugs after they have quit. This is what NIDA Scientists call a relapse.
Why does it happen? Addiction changes the wiring of the brain to cause uncontrollable craving and compulsive drug use—despite the consequences. For someone with an addiction, going without the drug for periods of time can make that person feel so anxious and stressed that they need the drug just to stop feeling bad.
A person who is addicted to a drug usually needs professional treatment to quit drug use. This can include medication or "talk therapy (PDF, 1.19 MB)," or a combination of both. It also helps to have support in the family and the community. While quitting drug use is possible, addiction is a long-lasting disease, and treating it takes time-and just because someone gets treatment and stops using a drug does not mean that these strong cravings go away for good, especially when certain cues are present. These cues vary from person to person and can trigger a relapse.
Imagine that your best friend is addicted to cigarettes and says she smokes to relieve stress, but that she recently quit because her boyfriend hates the smell of cigarette smoke. Since she has connected cigarette smoking with stress relief, the next time your friend faces a stressful situation, like a fight with parents or final exams, she will most likely crave a cigarette, increasing her risk of a relapse. Her use of cigarettes, which led to an addiction to nicotine, has also caused her to associate "relaxation" with cigarettes.
Not everyone will relapse once they have quit drug use; it depends on the person, their genes, their environment, and many other factors, including personal commitment and family support.
For more information on addiction and today's "Word of the Day," check out the myths about drug abuse or the Brain and Addiction page on the NIDA for Teens website.
Ever wonder how teens in other schools or parts of the country feel about drug abuse? Two teens recently told SBB about their real-life experiences with drugs and high school:
Mila, 16
Think of the two words: weed and cigarettes. What's the first thing that crosses your mind? Maybe it's addiction…but to a lonely teen who feels like an outcast from society, it might be something completely different. Maybe the first thing they think of is fitting in. In high school there are loads of different cliques, like the manly jocks, the nerds, that group of back-stabbing sassy girls. They're all unique, and so are the stoners. And to a lonely freshman, this is a whole new world, and they may feel left out. Which is probably terrifying, because not fitting in is the worst feeling in the world. Whether it's having no one to eat with at lunch, or not having a partner to do the assignment with in class.
If you take a closer look at the mind of that freshman, the only thing that he's going to be thinking about is having some friends, and how he can fit in with one of those cliques. However, he may not exactly fit anywhere, and now he may be feeling even worse than before. Maybe he'll turn to drugs, not because it's the cool thing to do but because he desperately wants to be part of something, and the stoner group is the easiest one to be a part of! But just because they're easy to be friends with doesn't mean that they are who you should hang with.
As brainless as this may sound, some teens will stop at nothing to be "popular." And this is exactly what happened to one of the kids at my school. He started out innocent and open, but now drugs are the only thing on his mind. He's not the same kid he was, and there's no way I can respect someone who did what he did, no matter how desperate he was. Drugs are never the answer to any of your problems.
Mike, 17
On the last day of the first week of school, my school had a back-to-school dance. Even though this year it seemed like it would be really dumb, some friends and I decided to go. Some other kids we knew decided to go, too, but said they were going to smoke beforehand. That plan seemed way too risky because our school was getting really serious about drugs and threatened to have police at the dance. They decided to do it anyway.
About 10 minutes into the dance, teachers started coming in and looking around, and we saw them pull someone we knew who was in the group that smoked. Then, another one of our friends got pulled out. Eventually, the school contacted all the parents of kids in the group that smoked before the dance.
Although the kids involved were able to avoid any legal charges, they were given a 2-week suspension and forced to go to drug counseling sessions until deemed ready to stop by their respective counselors. The ones on football were also kicked off the team for the season and had to apologize to their coaches. Two of them are still in trouble with their parents and lost their trust because of it. In the end, I really don't think the consequences were worth the 10 minutes they were able to have fun at the dance.
So maybe think about their situation and how it ended up for them the next time you want to do what they did.
As more and more people use smartphones, a world of virtual games, social networking, and fun apps are at their fingertips 24/7. Photo-sharing and exercise-tracking apps can be useful and fun. Others, though, may have devious intentions, like trying to get you hooked on smoking.
Cigarette advertising was banned from TV and sports stadiums because of the terrible health risks of smoking and because it was an easy and effective way to market cigarettes to youth. But with each technological advance, tobacco companies and other advertisers are looking for new ways to reach teens—even if that means developing games and free apps for your phone.
A study of available apps on Apple and Google Play during a single month in 2012 found 107 phone apps that promoted smoking! Some of these let users smoke virtual cigarettes while others compare cigarette prices.
Many of the virtual smoking apps allow you to "smoke with friends," and they use catchy animations that make them seem like a game. Don't be fooled.
Next time you download an app, pause a moment to ask: "Is this app just a game or is there a hidden message?"
Have you seen Avatar? Awesome special effects. And you had to love the story, especially if you're into science. But there was this one thing ...the top scientist (played by Sigorney Weaver) was a chain smoker. WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT? Alright, so movie directors will put smoking in movies to make characters look edgy and rebellious, or even stupid sometimes. But Avatar is happening 125 years in the future. Would a top-level scientist a century from now get addicted to cigarettes and not know how to stop?
Or maybe, like some other bloggers suggest, this was sponsored "product placement" by the tobacco industry-a sneaky way to get teens to think smoking is cool. Some people say that because it's illegal now for the tobacco industry to advertise on TV or in other places, their new strategy is to hook potential customers by associating smoking with heroes and heroines. Meanwhile, the American Lung Association and other groups are trying to stop moviemakers from showing so much smoking—especially since research shows that teens who see a lot of smoking in movies are more likely to start smoking themselves.
Thanks to NIDA research, we now know what smoking really does to people. And it's far from cool. To put it bluntly, the effects range from stinky breath and bad gums to heart and lung disease to early death. This message has gotten through despite the movies, and teens are smoking less now than they have in over a decade. Thanks to NIDA, better treatments to help people quit are also getting out there...125 years from now, incurable smoking addiction could be a thing of the past, like small pox. So you have to wonder why this amazing movie director who learned so much about science to create Avatar didn't take a good look at what is going on in science and health. Why else would a successful, top-level scientist still be chain smoking that far into the future?—especially in a lab, of all places! Let SBB know if you see any other ridiculous smoking scenes in the movies.
Have you ever heard friends say they'd like to quit smoking, but they are afraid they'll gain weight if they stop?
Some people do experience a slight weight gain after they quit smoking. It could be that smokers trying to quit may reach for food for the same reasons they used cigarettes—to deal with stress or boredom or to be social.
The good news is that research shows that by 6 months, many people start losing this extra weight (typically less than 10 pounds) as they adjust to becoming non-smokers.
When you think about the many health benefits of quitting smoking, it's easy to see far more pros than cons, tobacco use being the number one preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States.
Here are some ways you can keep weight gain to a minimum while making the healthy life choice to leave those cigarettes behind.
Choose healthy foods. Fill your plate with fruits and veggies and lean meats like fish or grilled chicken.
Get moving! Exercise reduces stress and boredom, increases your metabolism, and can even help you get a better night's sleep. Consider joining a class with a friend to help keep you motivated.
Drink more water. Skip the sugary soft drinks and make sure you drink at least six to eight glasses of water each day.
Watch your portions. Many people eat far more than the recommended serving size, and many restaurants serve huge portions of food! But remember, you don't have to eat everything at one meal—take half of it home for lunch the next day.
To learn more about weight as it relates to quitting smoking, see Forever Free: Smoking and Weight (PDF, 1.18MB), a publication from the National Cancer Institute.
- Urea, a compound found in urine
- Diammonium phosphate, used to make fertilizer
- Levulinic acid, used in cleaning solvents
- Ammonia
- Formaldehyde
- Chocolate (not the Hershey bar kind, the bitter baking kind)
He found secretions from the anal gland of the civet cat as well as the Siberian beaver—ewwwwww!
These are just a few of more than 158 additives some cigarette manufacturers roll up in cigarettes.
What Makes Smoking Cigarettes so Addictive?
You may wonder—why these ingredients? Nicotine, the main addictive chemical in all cigarettes, and other ingredients are designed to make it harder to quit:
- Chocolate is meant to make cigarettes taste better, but cocoa is also a bronchodilator, meaning it helps open the lungs and makes them more receptive to the smoke.
- Ammonia breaks down nicotine molecules into a "free base" state—just like the process that makes crack cocaine so potent and addictive—which adds to cigarettes' potency.
- Levulinic acid increases the efficiency of nicotine uptake, or binding, in the brain.
- Licorice, nutmeg powder, dandelion root extract, sugar, and prune juice are flavors added to cigarettes that make the smoke smoother and better smelling.
Consumers' Reports
Proctor's research found some odd complaints from smokers over the years. For example, a 1994 Philip Morris Co. document revealed contamination in cigarettes from rubber bands, machine belts and lubricants, ink and tax stamp solvents, glass fibers and plastics, and stains called "consistent with blood." That doesn't even include the bugs or worms (dead and alive!) that have been reported in cigarettes!
For more startling facts on smoking, check out the American Legacy Foundation. This group was set up using the proceeds from the Government's lawsuit against tobacco companies for fooling the public into thinking smoking was harmless. Find out more in Legacy's truth campaign for youth.
Get this: There are more than one billion smokers on planet Earth. Yep, that's a billion people around the world whose nicotine addiction is leading to high rates of cancer and emphysema, increased air pollution and death. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking causes more deaths each year than HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined!
So what to do about it? For starters, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared May 31 as "World No Tobacco Day." For this year's theme, WHO is focusing on women and girls—who make up about 20% of all smokers worldwide. That's more than 200 million women and girls who may not be getting all the facts!
But fortunately, the trend with teens is going in the right direction. The latest Monitoring the Future report of teens in 8th, 10th and 12th grades found that Cigarette smoking among U.S. teens is at its lowest point since the survey started in 1975. That's a fact worth celebrating, since smoking is the leading preventable cause of death and disease in this country, which means the best way to avoid these negative consequences is not to start.
Other trends are not so good, including the one showing that advertisers are targeting more girls outside the U.S., who may not know as much about the dangers of smoking.
Everyone can take a step toward making May 31 tobacco-free—in your family, your school, your community, or the world. If you or someone you love smokes, get the facts. The American Cancer Society is a good place to start, with a Guide to Quitting Smoking.
Make every day a No-Tobacco Day!


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Cheap Flights from Denver to Spain
Popular Flights from Denver to Spain
- Airfare from Denver to Barcelona from $723 round trip
- Airfare from Denver to Madrid from $725 round trip
- Airfare from Denver to Malaga from $871 round trip
- Airfare from Denver to Palma Mallorca from $989 round trip
Did You Know?
- There are 50 countries in the same zone as Spain.
- There are 223 cities with flights to Spain.
- Iberia has the most flights to Spain.
- The longest flight to Spain is 6,656 miles.
- The currency symbol for EUR is €.
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Kansas City Disc Golf Events Calendar
September 2013 – January 2014
When: Saturday, September 14th, 2013
Where: Cliff Drive Disc Golf Course at Kessler Park
What: PDGA C-Tier Tournament
Why: Raise money to plant trees at the course
Fees: All Open Divisions- $45
All Amateur Divisions – $35
Ace Fund – $2
Non-PDGA Members – Additional $10
*Amateur Divisions Will Play for Trophy Discs*
Register/Check-In by 8:30 am – Players Meeting at 9:00
72 Players Maximum – Pre-Registration is Suggested and Appreciated
*Ams Must be Pre-Registered by Wed Sept 4th to receive a Players Pack*
For Questions/Registration/Additional Information:
TD: Drew Neitzel 816-237-0813 email@example.com
To Register: www.dynamicdiscs.com/disc-golf-tournaments/
2013 Mighty Shunga Open A-tier September 21 and 22nd
Where: Topeka, KS
Saturday: 10 Tee Off. Sign up at Crestview Gold until 9:30
Sunday: 9 Tee Off @ Lake Shawnee N & S
Cost: Open Men Division- $100
Open Women/Pro G-Masters/Masters- $90
Advanced Men & Women- $70
Adv G-Masters & Adv Masters- $65
Intermediate Men & Women- $55
Recreational Men & Women- $45
Juniors- $40
It is an A Tier for all Adv and Pro divisions
It is a B Tier for all Int, Rec and Juniors divisions
*Add $10 for non-PDGA members*
*Flex start, bring your own partner, 100% Payout doubles on Friday September 20th from 3-6. $20/Team @ Crestview Gold*
Pre Registration at www.lsdiscs.net
Also check out the facebook event at https://www.facebook.com/events/490147561079861/
Come celebrate the richness of the Historic Northeast by joining in our first annual Community Harvest in the Park.
Festivities will begin with a Disc Golf tournament, followed by games, food, and live music from local bands.
Disc Golf Tournament starts at 9:00 A.M. Games, food and live music start at 11:00 A.M
All proceeds will benefit Jerusalem Farm, a non-profit organization which addresses the home-repair needs for low-income families/individuals and also focuses on community building.
$40 Registration includes: entry into the tournament, lunch, event t-shirt, commemorative mini-disc, Jerusalem Farm bumper sticker, entry into longest drive and closest to the pin competitions, and two raffle tickets.
Interested In Becoming an Event Sponsor?
Help support our event and Northeast Kansas City. For more information, click here.
Please Join Us on October 5th, 2013 for the 3rd Annual Disc Golf and Family Fun to benefit Hopefaith Ministries.
Disc Golf Tournament:
$200 for a Team of 4 (Food and Drink Included)
Registration at 9am
9:30 Ring Of Fire Kick-off
10:00am Tournament Play Starts (Shotgun Start)
Amazing Awards and Prizes after Tournament: Overall Best Team, Closest to pin, (2) Longest Drive, Longest Putt
Family fun activities10:00am-6:00pm:
$35 Family of 4
$50 Family of 6
$5-$10 Pumpkin Patch and Decorating Area
Food, drinks, bounce houses, face paint, pumpkin patch, games, music, animals, and mini disc golf for the kids.
Lunch at 12:00
Come on Out, Relax, Have fun, and you can bring the whole family.
Friends and family welcomed to walk course with you and your team.
Pros and Beginners are welcomed (Red and Blue)
100% of all proceeds go to Hopefaith Ministries
Registration Is Now OPEN!!!http://www.hopefaithministries.org/discgolf!
The 27th Annual Kansas City Ice Bowl will be held at Rosedale Park on Saturday, January 25 and Sunday, January 26. The KCFDC has set its charitable goal high this year—$10K for our historic beneficiaries: Bishop Sullivan Center's Saint James Place Food Pantry and Harvesters: the Community Food Network.
To give us a chance to reach this goal, please download the Sponsorship Form and the Pledge Sheet. The Sponsorship Form is four pages long: the first page describes the mission, pages two and three include the sponsorship options and a sponsor agreement, and page four offers a brief description of the KCFDC and of disc golf.
The various sponsorship options ask for both money (to go directly to the charities) and goods and services that we can use to trim operating expenses and provide prizes for the CTP contest and/or a raffle. Thus, there are sponsorships for printing, power (generator), heat, groceries, beer, non-alcoholic beverages, and a chili-contest prize. While our cause is a good one, most companies get many similar solicitations during the year. This means that we often get sponsorship, not from the sponsorship form per se, but from having a personal relationship with the potential sponsor. So, consider asking for gift certificates from restaurants and bars you patronize. Or perhaps you know the manager of your grocery store. The sponsorship form will help establish your credibility.
This will be the third year we've used the Pledge sheet, which has raised about $1600 the last two years. This is where you solicit smaller donations from your friends, co-workers, and families.


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Infectious disease knows no boundaries, especially in today's increasingly mobile world. When diseases—including vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs)—break out anywhere in the world, their spread to the United States is only a plane flight away. For example, in 2011, there were 220 reported cases of measles in the United States. 200 of the 220 cases were brought into the United States from other countries with measles outbreaks.
Why CDC Is Committed
Infectious disease knows no boundaries, especially in today's world when international travel is so common.
What CDC Is Doing
Learn more about Global Immunization in Action.
Our Progress
Because of the scope and intensity of global health challenges, no single country, agency, or institution can work alone to meet.
Who We Are: CDC and Our Partners
View the list of our partners.
Recent Reports
The list of GID Publications.
What You Can Do
The CDC Global Immunization Division recruits for exciting and challenging positions in its programs in Atlanta and at numerous global locations.
The Future of Global Immunizations: Will the Promise of Vaccines Be Fulfilled?
CDC is involved in one of the most effective global public health missions: vaccination against deadly diseases. Ultimately, they protect Americans from sickness and death from diseases carried to the U.S. In the past two decades, immunization has prevented about 20 million deaths worldwide. New vaccines in development might prevent millions of additional deaths. To learn about challenges facing organizations involved in global vaccines, see the Center for Strategic and International Studies article authored by Dr. Steve Cochi.
CDC's Global Immunization Strategic Framework
The burden of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) in the U.S. has been greatly reduced by childhood immunization. However, even as VPDs such as polio, measles, and rubella have been eliminated in this country, the U.S. remains vulnerable to disease importations as long as they persist elsewhere. The Global Immunization Strategic Framework outlines the vision, mission, goals, objectives, and strategies of CDC and its partners for meeting worldwide immunization targets from 2011 through 2015. Achieving adequate vaccination coverage by 2015 will require CDC and partners to work closely to accomplish the six overarching goals outlined in the plan.
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I wanted a curtain that would keep the bathroom bright. This one looked so pretty on the website and I loved the little touches of green with the leaves. I ordered bath towels at the same time that were a nice deep leaf green and when everything came together, they were a perfect match. This curtain washed nicely too. Came right out of the dryer without a wrinkle.
I ordered the Perry Ellis Asian Lilly Shower curtain for our newly renovated bathroom. It is a heavy cotton curtain and hangs wonderfully on my curved rod. The colors are true to the picture I saw and are "crisp & understated". It adds to my travertine tile so beautifully. I definitely would recommend this shower curtain. I am more than pleased with it's quality, look, and affordability!
Nice match to comforter set--it's all cotton and needs a liner and ironing, but it really looks nice once it's hung.
I read good reviews about the material of this shower curtain so I bought one to see if I could use it as a drapery to match the duvet I bought for my spare room.. I loved it! I ordered another one. I'm going to hang them from rings on a rod. I haven't decided if I want to get black buttons to use as a decoration at the top where the button holes are. (to hang from the shower rod). The drapery will be full on each side of the window where i plan on lifting it up with a black ribbon or a simple drapery hook. It'll hang for me, a little longer than a 63inch length but I love it that way. They can easily be hemmed to your liking. You will not be disappointed.
Excellent quality and beautiful, this shower curtain finished the look of our new bathroom.
I bought both the shower curtain and duvet cover in this pattern. The pattern is as appears in the picture and beautiful. The shower curtain is a little thinner than I would have liked, but I would still recommend this.
Bought a shower curtain from a retail store, but was not satisfied with it. Returned it and came to this website and knew this would be the one. The pattern is lovely, it gives my bathroom a more modern look and really brightens the room. Great quality at an affordable price!
Very nice. Good quality. Great price. Was wrinkled when taken out of package but wrinkles "disappeared" after it was hanging a few days
This curtain really brightened up my bathroom! It was a great purchase. It does need a liner. Be sure to get one!
I bought this for the fabric, I plan on making a roman shade for the master bathroom to coordinate with the matching comforter on the bed.
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The officially licensed kid's battery operated version of the Mercedes Benz E550. The car rolls up to 2.5 miles per hour and features forward and reverse gears. Comes with 6V rechargeable battery and charger.
"R"Web#: 598237
Manufacturer #: 0770
Product Weight:33 pounds
Product Dimensions (in inches):44.0 x 24.5 x 13.5
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Average Customer Rating:
(based on 3 reviews)
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(3 of 3 customers found this review helpful)
Driving in style
By Joanna
from Marco island ,Fl
About Me First Time Parent
Best Uses
Comments about Kidz Motorz 6 Volt Mercedes Benz E550 Ride On - Red:
My daughter loves this car. My parents bought this as gift for her and she was the most excited 3 year old. What I like is that it's not that heavy to carry out, the color red is great I just wish it could come in white
Comment on this review
(0 of 1 customers found this review helpful)
Super Cute but...
By strawberrybee
from Texas
We have this adorable Mercedes car. It is our first power car so I don't know how it compares to others. The first few drives were a bit of a nightmare. I thought we would take it down to the cul-de-sac and back, but it was impossible to make it out of the driveway. The steering can be a bit difficult and my girls are 6 and 7. With practice they have gotten better, but I still wouldn't say it is easy. We can fit one older child and our tiny 2 year-old in at once. Sometimes a part comes unstuck and you have to stop and rejam it into the tire component to get it to work again. And it's kind of a big deal to charge to get it ready for the next day rides, so we really only use it occasionally. Kind of more trouble than I thought it would be. But the kids really enjoy it.
(4 of 5 customers found this review helpful)
would buy this product again
By mama2010
from los angeles
it was great she loved it
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Thursday, December 12, 2013
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CORNING, N.Y. -- Wednesday was the first step in the creation of a brand new hospital in Corning as Guthrie officials broke ground on the new facility.
Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy was on hand as the first dirt was overturned, marking the start of construction on the 67 acre, $147 million hospital. The building will be in the Town of Corning just off exit 48 on I-86 and feature 65 private rooms and state of that art medical equipment.
Officials are excited about the benefit the hospital will bring to the community.
Dr. Russel Woglom, an Interim Medical Director of Corning Hospital said, "It's going to certainly allow us to attract better and more staff but I think it is really going to provide a phenomenal environment to provide care for our community."
Robert Duffy, New York State Lieutenant Governor said, "It's going to create jobs in the construction and certainly jobs when it opens up but most importantly it is going to provide outstanding world-class care to the patients that come through those doors when it opens in two years."
Construction will begin shortly and plans are for the hospital to be open in the summer of 2014.


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A public lecture by Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, Harvard University
Fatemeh Haghighatjoo is a human rights activist and former parliamentarian in the 6th Majils from 2000 to 2004. She is currently a Fellow in the Women and Public Policy Program of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. During her time in parliament, she was renowned as an articulate and fearless advocate of human rights and women's rights in particular. She writes extensively on human rights and has also published on educational and sociological issues. She has previously held professorships at Tehran University and Shahid Behesti University, and was a fellow at MIT's Center for International Relations.
This lecture is part of the Center's Bilingual Lecture Series on Iran.
Cost: Free
Lecture will be presented in Persian.
Peter Szanton, Center for Near Eastern Studies
Tel: (310) 825-1455
© 2013. The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
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What Causes Bacterial Infections?
Bacterial Infection
What Causes Bacterial Infections?
All types of bacteria are not dangerous. Your body contains a number of bacteria on your skin, in your mouth, in your intestines and other areas. Most of the bacteria are harmless and they help with the body's normal functioning.
When reproduction occurs in certain types of bacteria, this can lead to injection of acids or toxins inside the body and this can cause an infections.
When bacterial infections are present in the body, your body activates its repair system (immune system) to fight off the infection. The symptoms that affect you from a bacterial infections are actually the responses of your body to fight the infection. In many instances, you have to take treatment to accelerate your body's defense system and reduce infection.
Many bacterial infections are unnoticeable and you barely experience any symptoms. Only when your body fights hard against the infection, do you notice or feel the symptoms. Most of the symptoms make you feel lethargic and drowsy.
Certain infections on the can cause boils and pus nodules. Infection in throat and nose indicate problems due to bacteria in the respiratory tract. Similarly, infections in digestive tract can be identified with digestion problems. Once you experience these symptoms, you have to consult a doctor to prevent the infection from spreading.
Bacterial infections can be caused by pollution and contamination. Skin infections can develop frequently when you are in the and/or in polluted areas. Damp and moist areas are favorable for reproduction of bacteria.
As bacteria reproduce by a cellular division mechanism, they are able to increase their numbers exponentially. When you come into contact with contaminants, harmful bacteria enter into your body through various ways and cause infection.
People, who for whatever reason have a poor immune system can easily catch bacterial infections.
Bacterial infections in the digestive tract are caused by contaminated food and water. Even if you do not eat or drink contaminated food or water, you are likely to catch infection if you are expose to the person who is contaminated. Always wash your hands before and after meals.
Infections in urinary tract and genital area are caused by poor personal hygiene. You should always wash your hands after using public toilets.
Certain diseases caused by bacterial infection such as meningitis and sepsis require both immediate and continuous medical monitoring because the infection is serious and can be life-threatening.
Bacterial infections are generally treated with antibiotics. Bacteria are also living organisms and they have their own process for absorbing nutrition, multiplying and so on. Antibiotics are designed to hinder the bacterial reproduction process and prevent the bacteria from doing its normal functions.
Some antibiotics actually kill the bacteria and reduce their numbers. Other antibiotics may slow down the growth and allow your immune system to become strong and fight the infection.
Depending on the type of infection, different antibiotics are prescribed.
Sometimes, your body may not respond to certain types of antibiotics. You must make sure to follow your doctor's instructions and take the antibiotic as directed. If you have any type of reaction to an antibiotic, contact your doctor immediately.
Your symptoms may lessen and you may feel better, even before you complete the course of antibiotics, but you need to take all of it, so the infection is stopped completely. By not finishing the antibiotic, all of the bacteria will not be killed and you could develop another infection that is more serious.
Beyond Antibiotics: Strategies for Living in a World of Emerging Infections and Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
by: Michael A. Schmidt Ph.D
publisher: North Atlantic Books, published: 2009-01-20
sales rank: 392611
price: $10.39 (new), $0.83 (used)
At a time when the numbers of emerging infections and antibiotic-resistant bacteria are rising sharply, the supply of new antibiotic drugs has been steadily decreasing. In addition, many health providers have failed to consider that our bodies are cloaked in a blanket of bacteria so pervasive that the bacterial cells outnumber our "human" cells by a factor of ten. In short, we are living in a microbe's world and cannot ignore the very real potential for untreatable serious infections.
In this timely book, Dr. Michael Schmidt proposes we focus on strengthening ourselves by thinking of our bodies as a "human-microbe hybrid." This requires taking action to raise our defenses, while preserving the integrity of the microbial elements that live on and within us. Drawing on the latest research from several scientific fields, Schmidt presents a strategy of medicine that can be used to build and balance our system of immune defense and repair. He offers a set of general recommendations that can easily be used to tailor programs to individuals seeking to support health maintenance, prevent illness, fight active acute or chronic infections, and foster faster recovery from infections.
Dangerous Infections
price: $19.95 (new)
Immune response-Bacterial infections
Immunology topics
Researchers capture bacterial infection on film
Researchers have developed a new technique that allows them to make a movie of bacteria infecting their living host. : The insect immune cells called hemocytes (green) rapidly engulf the bacteria (red) following infection and this can be studied in real-time using timelapse microscopy. Press release: tinyurl.com