More Anti-Smoking Nonsense

[ScioAgapeOmnis]

_http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/31/AR2007123101922.html?hpid=sec-tech

There's another one, given to "frequent travelers" in US. I don't know what else to say except chugga chugga chugga chugga CHOO CHOO...

 

[PopHistorian]

Q: (L) "His feet were like those of a bear..." what do the feet represent?
A: Russia.
Q: (L) Why are the feet like those of a bear?
A: Hidden power center in that geographic location.
Q: (L) What nature this power center?
A: Same as USA. Feet are not so easily seen.
Q: (L) Does this mean that Russia and the US are secretly united?
A: Under same control.
Q: (L) Are these the Lizards?
A: At the root.

I was set to wondering if this not-so-easily-seen hidden power center of USA and Russia was people or something that people have. It reminded me of a passage from The Ra Material, Book V, which suggests that both USA and Russia are balanced in terms of secret weaponry.

Questioner: How did the United States learn the technology to build these craft?

Ra: I am Ra. There was a mind/body/spirit complex known to your people by the vibratory sound complex, Nikola. This entity departed the illusion and the papers containing the necessary understandings were taken by mind/body/spirit complexes serving your security of national divisional complex. Thus your people became privy to the basic technology. In the case of those mind/body/spirit complexes which you call Russians, the technology was given from one of the Confederation in an attempt, approximately twenty seven of your years ago, to share information and bring about peace among your peoples.

This is under discussion here: http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=7910

 

[observer]

Even more anti-smoking nonsense! Now "scientifically" backed up :

_http://nationmultimedia.com/worldhotnews/read.php?newsid=30064364

 

[Happyville]

A Doctor "friend" of mine has offered to prescribe to me, a new stop smoking drug called CHAMPIX bosting 85 percent success rate among her patients...(not that I really want to quit, but everyone seems to want to be a hero and save my life) I very politly declined the offer as this new drug apperently does wonders on the part of your brain that makes you feel "satisfied". I suspect CHAMPIX may be a nice "gateway" drug (made by pfizer) for future anti-depressent presrciptions (made by pfizer)... Anyone got any info on how this stuff works?

 

[nemo]

Anyone got any info on how this stuff works?

There is a recent article on SOTT News under Health:
"Anti-Smoking Drug Chantix May Pose Psychiatric Risks"
To be found on Health & Wellness - click on: More Recent News, scroll down + go to next page.

PS: I suppose you got the name wrong. Champix = Chantix??

 

[Gaby]

A Doctor "friend" of mine has offered to prescribe to me, a new stop smoking drug called CHAMPIX bosting 85 percent success rate among her patients...(not that I really want to quit, but everyone seems to want to be a hero and save my life) I very politly declined the offer as this new drug apperently does wonders on the part of your brain that makes you feel "satisfied". I suspect CHAMPIX may be a nice "gateway" drug (made by pfizer) for future anti-depressent presrciptions (made by pfizer)... Anyone got any info on how this stuff works?

I believe it is Chantix. There has been already a of story about it in SOTT. I remember posting something here in the forum because there were already "suicidal thoughts" associated with the clinical trials of chantix. The "stop smoking by killing yourself drug" kind of thing.

The active ingredient in this medication is varenicline, a novel alpha4beta2 nicotinic receptor partial agonist that inhibits nicotine binding but stimulates receptor activity.

FDA Evaluating Adverse Reports for Stop-Smoking Drug

The maker of Chantix (varenicline), a prescription medicine to help adults stop smoking, has submitted reports to FDA describing suicidal thoughts in people taking the drug. FDA is working on an analysis of available information and will communicate conclusions and recommendations when complete. Meanwhile, the agency recommends that health care providers monitor patients taking Chantix for behavior and mood changes. Patients taking Chantix should contact their doctors if they experience behavior or mood changes.

_http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01749.html

And another story

FDA Issues Health Advisory
_http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120189673998036071.html

WASHINGTON -- The Food and Drug Administration said it
is "increasingly likely" that Pfizer Inc.'s smoking-cessation drug
Chantix may be tied to serious psychiatric symptoms. The FDA's
comment is part of a public health advisory issued Friday.

The public health advisory highlighted warnings issued by Pfizer last
month stating that Chantix users should be monitored for suicidal
behavior, depressed mood and other changes in behavior.

On Jan. 18, Pfizer said it would update the product label for Chantix
to more prominently display post-marketing reports of adverse events
that were first added to the product label last November after the
FDA conducted a preliminary assessment of reported side effects.

Such reports included depression, changes in behavior and suicidal
thinking in some patients within days or weeks after starting Chantix
treatment. At the time, the FDA said the role of Chantix wasn't clear.

Now, the FDA said, "it appears increasingly likely that there may be
an association between Chantix and serious neuropsychiatric symptoms."[...]

 

[Happyville]

I believe it is Chantix. There has been already a of story about it in SOTT. I remember posting something here in the forum because there were already "suicidal thoughts" associated with the clinical trials of chantix. The "stop smoking by killing yourself drug" kind of thing.

Wow... Thanks a lot for the info... I have forwarded that off to my Dr. Friend, I am curious to see how she responds to this... thanks again.

 

[dant]

More Anti-smoking Nonsense from "Parade Magazine"
as found as an insert for "The Oregonian" without comment:

 

[Laura]

Yeah, right! I bet we can figure out who funded THAT study!

 

[dant]

I said I wouldn't comment, but I guess I will break my silence and just add
a "small" comment as to why I posted this article.

One who is very, very close to me, was reading the Parade Magazine, looked
at me said: "Oh! there it is!", closed the magazine and stuffed it back into the
Oregonian, and looked at me with a smirk. Piqued, I replied: "What is it?".
She said: "Never mind", rolling her eyes.

So, I obtained the Parade Magazine, scanned through it, and found this article
as posted.

Knowing her position, I concluded in my mind: "She found what she was looking
for, the so-called "evidence" to bolster her own position as if being in the right,
(and I am in the wrong), and took the article's claims, on face value, and without
question."

Notice, there is no references/links to the so called "evidence" in question. Parade
Magazine's position seems to be: "We are an authoritative source, trust us, we
bring you the truth!" and so she did, and went back to sleep. No questions asked.

So there you have it.

Lazy and sleeping people will take almost anything at face value and without
question (since they are too ignorant/lazy to be discerning), thus cling on to
their false belief systems, their "sacred cows" intact, and went back to sleep.

That was the lesson of the day for me. Truly amazing.

 

[ScioAgapeOmnis]

The funny thing is, this article basically says "Oh yeah, remember all those other studies and evidence we had that smoking reduces the risk of Alzheimers? Yeah apparently all that was total nonsense, we made all that other stuff up. We're not making this one up though, this is most definitely a real study that we won't turn around and say was wrong later, promise!! We know we said that a million times before, but we're for real this time, seriously!"

I mean, this is exactly what this little article is trying to say. A logical mind cannot possibly skip over the question - if they so easily dismiss all the previous studies/evidence that demonstrate the opposite, who's to say they're suddenly telling the truth NOW and won't just completely change their mind again in yet another study? This article just called all the other studies, which were far more comprehensive because they actually provided the details of the evidence/data to the reader - a big joke. This ironically makes this article a much, much bigger joke. Somehow that irony is lost on your friend.

 

[Renaissance]

The study looks like it was published in the journal Neurology.

Unfortunately all that's available publicly is an abstract:

_http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/abstract/69/10/998

NEUROLOGY 2007;69:998-1005
© 2007 American Academy of Neurology
Relation between smoking and risk of dementia and Alzheimer disease
The Rotterdam Study
C. Reitz, MD, PhD, T. den Heijer, MD, PhD, C. van Duijn, PhD, A. Hofman, MD, PhD and M.M.B. Breteler, MD, PhD

From the Departments of Epidemiology & Biostatistics (C.R., T.d.H., C.v.D., A.H., M.M.B.B.) and Neurology (T.d.H.), Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to DrB. Breteler, Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Erasmus Medical Center, PO Box 1738, 3000DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands m.breteler(at)erasmusmc.nl

Background and Objective: Previous studies relating smoking with the risk of dementia have been inconsistent and limited in their validity by short follow-up times, large intervals between baseline and follow-up assessments, and unspecific determination of dementia diagnosis. We re-assessed after longer follow-up time in the large population-based cohort of the Rotterdam Study whether smoking habits and pack-years of smoking are associated with the risk of dementia, Alzheimer disease (AD), and vascular dementia (VaD).

Methods: Prospective population-based cohort study in 6,868 participants, 55 years or older and free of dementia at baseline. First, Cox proportional hazard models were used to relate smoking status at baseline with the risks of incident dementia, VaD, and AD, using never smokers as the reference category in all analyses. Then Cox proportional hazard models were used to relate pack-years of smoking with the risks of incident dementia, VaD, and AD. To explore the impact of the APOE{varepsilon}4 allele, sex, and age on the association between smoking status and dementia, we repeated all analyses stratifying, in separate models, by APOE{varepsilon}4 genotype, sex, and median of age.

Results: After a mean follow-up time of 7.1 years, current smoking at baseline was associated with an increased risk of dementia (HR 1.47, 95% CI 1.18 to 1.86) and AD (HR 1.56, 95% CI 1.21 to 2.02). This increase in disease risk was restricted to persons without the APOE{varepsilon}4 allele. There was no association between current smoking and risk of VaD, and there was no association between past smoking and risk of dementia, AD, or VaD.

Conclusion: Current smoking increases the risk of dementia. This effect is more pronounced in persons without the APOE{varepsilon}4 allele than APOE{varepsilon}4 carriers.

Supported by the Erasmus Medical Center and Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMW), the Research Institute for Diseases in the Elderly (RIDE), the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports, the European Commission (DG XII), the Municipality of Rotterdam, and the Lise-Meitner-Stipend provided by the Ministry of Innovation, Science, Research and Technology of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Federal Republic of Germany (Ministerium für Innovation, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, Bundesrepublik Deutschland).

Disclosure: The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Received January 3, 2007. Accepted in final form April 5, 2007.

Strangely enough the same institution, the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Erasmus University Medical School was among the many who found the reverse to be true 16 years ago. Gee. I wonder what happened at Erasmus.

Relation between nicotine intake and Alzheimer's disease.
C M van Duijn and A Hofman

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Erasmus University Medical School, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Small right arrow pointing to: See letter "Nicotine intake and Alzheimer's disease." in volume 303 on page 361.
Small right arrow pointing to: This article has been cited by other articles in PMC.

Abstract
OBJECTIVE--To study the association between Alzheimer's disease and nicotine intake through smoking. DESIGN--Population based case-control study. SETTING--City of Rotterdam and four northern provinces of The Netherlands. SUBJECTS--198 patients with early onset Alzheimer's disease, 198 controls matched for age and sex, and families of 17 patients in whom Alzheimer's disease was apparently inherited as an autosomal dominant disorder. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Age of onset of dementia, relative risk of Alzheimer's disease. RESULTS--89 of 193 patients with Alzheimer's disease had a history of smoking compared with 102 of 195 controls. Among the patients and controls with a family history of dementia, smoking was significantly less common in those with dementia (40/95 with dementia v 55/96 controls; relative risk 0.35; 95% confidence interval 0.16 to 0.78). The risk of Alzheimer's disease decreased with increasing daily number of cigarettes smoked before onset of disease (relative risk 0.3 in those smoking greater than 21/day v 1 in non-smokers). In six families in which the disease was apparently inherited as an autosomal dominant disorder, the mean age of onset was 4.17 years later in smoking patients than in non-smoking patients from the same family (p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS--These findings suggest an inverse association between smoking and Alzheimer's disease, although smoking cannot be advocated for other health reasons. We speculate that nicotine may have a role in the aetiology of both Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

Full article here.

 

[dant]

Interesting, Shane.

The way I see it:

American Academy of Neurology (AAN)
+ C. Reitz, MD, PhD
+ T. den Heijer, MD, PhD
+ M.M.B. Breteler, MD, PhD
- C. M. van Duijn, PhD,
- A. Hofman, MD, PhD
===================
Vote = 3 Yays and 2 Nays
Conclusion: Retraction
Winner: AAN

As Laura asks: Who funded THAT study?
Answer: AAN

Shane asks: Gee. I wonder what happened at Erasmus?
Answer: The AMA funded the 2nd study got what they wanted by installing 3 sympathizers and a retraction?

Familiar pattern?

Follow the money! :D