France to hike tax on cheap cigarettes, rolling tobacco in bid to save lives

The French government on Friday announced it would be hiking the tax on cheap cigarettes and rolling tobacco as part of a campaign to tackle deaths from smoking.

The move follows other initiatives aimed at addressing the figure of some 73,000 annual deaths stemming from the habit.

The tax increase would apply to packs of cigarettes that retail for less than 6.60 euro ($7), which make up about 40 percent of the brands on the market, according to a statement issued by Health Minister Marisol Touraine.

Taxation per packet would increase by 10-20 cents euro, while rolling tobacco costing less than 8 euro per 30 grams would also be affected by the initiative.

The cost of loose tobacco in France went up from 5.10 euro in 2004 to 9.85 euro in 2016.

Other anti-smoking measures adopted in the European nation include the introduction of "neutral" or plain cigarette packaging that is void of branding, proof-of-age checks for tobacco buyers, as well as the banning of flavored liquids for vaporizers.

Source: EFE

Virtual reality 'could help treat vertigo'

People with the condition suffer from dizziness and nausea and often cite places with repetitive visual patterns, such as supermarkets, as the trigger.

A team of psychologists is working to develop virtual environments to help with diagnosis and rehabilitation.

The scientists believe the approach has "real potential".

Dr Georgina Powell, of the School of Psychology, said: "We don't know very much about what causes visual vertigo at the moment.

"There also are not many effective rehabilitation therapies available, so the aim of our project is to try and understand those two things."

She said vertigo can be extremely debilitating, adding: "It can mean that a patient can't leave their house because they feel so sick and nauseous every time they walk around in their visual environment.

"They can't work, they just can't function."

The team said one of the most striking observations they had made about sufferers was the variation between what sparks their symptoms.

"All the patients are very different and some environments might trigger symptoms for some patients whilst other environments might trigger symptoms for others," Dr Powell said.

"So by using virtual reality (VR) we can have vast flexibility over the different types of environments that we can show to patients and we can find out what their individual triggers might be and then tailor specific rehabilitation therapies."

'We have a bucket ready'

Visual vertigo is often referred to as "supermarket syndrome" because large shops, with their cluttered shelves and repetitive aisles, can act as a catalyst to attacks.

"Other environments include walking by the side of a river, where you have motion one side of you but not on the other," Dr Powell said.

"Generally they can only handle so much of the virtual reality images at one time - we have a bucket ready," She added.

"But we give them lots of breaks and lots of water and monitor how they are feeling."

Source: BBC

Scientists make 'second skin' to hide wrinkles

Once applied, the formula dries to form a film that "mimics the properties of youthful skin", Nature Materials reports after a series of small trials.

At the moment it is being explored as a commercial cosmetic product.

But the US scientists say their "second skin" might eventually be used to deliver medicines and sun protection.

Second skin

The team from Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have tested their prototype product on a handful of volunteers, applying the formula to their under-eye bags, forearms and legs.

The polysiloxane polymer was made in the lab using molecules of silicone and oxygen as the building blocks.

Although it's synthetic, it's designed to mimic real skin and provide a breathable, protective layer.

According to the researchers, the temporary film locks in moisture and helps boost skin elasticity.

They performed several tests, including a recoil test where the skin was pinched and then released to see how long it takes to ping back into position.

As skin ages, it becomes less firm and less elastic and so performs less well in this sort of test.

Skin that had been coated with the polymer was more elastic than skin without the film. And, to the naked eye, it appeared smoother, firmer and less wrinkly.

The researchers, who have a spin-off company that could eventually market their patented formula, say the film is essentially invisible, can be worn all day without causing irritation and can withstand things like sweat and rain.

But more studies are needed before then. The polymer would also need safety approval from regulators.

Dr Tamara Griffiths of the British Association of Dermatologists says bags under the eyes are caused by the protrusion of fat pockets associated with ageing.

While entirely natural, some people see it as undesirable and seek ways to reverse it - sometimes resorting to surgery.

Dr Griffiths said: "The results [with the polymer film] appear to be comparable to surgery, without the associated risks. Further research is needed, but this is a novel and very promising approach to a common problem. I will follow its development with interest."

Prof Robert Langer, who led the work at MIT, said: "Developing a second skin that is invisible, comfortable and effective in holding in water and potentially other materials presents many different challenges.

"It has to have the right optical properties, otherwise it won't look good, and it has to have the right mechanical properties, otherwise it won't have the right strength and it won't perform correctly.

"We are extremely excited about the opportunities that are presented as a result of this work and look forward to further developing these materials to better treat patients who suffer from a variety of skin conditions."

Source: BBC

Vitamin D 'heals damaged hearts'

A trial on 163 heart failure patients found supplements of the vitamin, which is made in the skin when exposed to sunlight, improved their hearts' ability to pump blood around the body.

The Leeds Teaching Hospitals team, who presented at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology, described the results as "stunning".

The British Heart Foundation called for longer trials to assess the pills.

Vitamin D is vital for healthy bones and teeth and may have important health benefits throughout the body but many people are deficient.

No safe way to suntan - warning

The average age of people in the study was 70 and, like many people that age, they had low levels of vitamin D even in summer.

"They do spend less time outside, but the skin's ability to manufacture vitamin D also gets less effective [with age] and we don't really understand why that is," said consultant cardiologist Dr Klaus Witte.
Patients were given either a 100 microgram vitamin D tablet or a sugar pill placebo each day for a year.

And researchers measured the impact on heart failure - a condition in which the heart becomes too weak to pump blood properly.

The key measure was the ejection fraction, the amount of blood pumped out of the chambers of the heart with each beat.

In a healthy adult, the figure is between 60% and 70%, but only a quarter of the blood in the heart was being successfully pumped out in the heart failure patients.

But in those taking the vitamin pills, the ejection fraction increased from 26% to 34%.

Dr Witte told the BBC News website: "It's quite a big deal, that's as big as you'd expect from other more expensive treatments that we use, it's a stunning effect.

"It's as cheap as chips, has no side effects and a stunning improvement on people already on optimal medical therapy, it is the first time anyone has shown something like this in the last 15 years."

The study also showed the patients' hearts became smaller - a suggestion they are becoming more powerful and efficient.

In the UK, people over 65 are advised to take 10 microgram supplements of the vitamin.

However, Dr Witte does not think high-dose vitamin D should be routine prescribed just yet.

He told the BBC: "We're a little bit off that yet, not because I don't believe it, but data have shown improvements in heart function, they may show improvements in symptoms and we now need a large study."

It is also not clear exactly how vitamin D is improving heart function, but it is thought every cell in the body responds to the vitamin.

Most vitamin D comes from sunlight, although it is also found in oily fish, eggs and is added to some foods such as breakfast cereals.

Prof Peter Weissberg, from the British Heart Foundation, cautioned that the patients seemed no better at exercise.
And added: "A much bigger study over a longer period of time is now needed to determine whether these changes in cardiac function can translate into fewer symptoms and longer lives for heart failure patients."

Source: BBC

In Developing World, Cancer Is a Very Different Disease

In the United States the median age at which colon cancer strikes is 69 for men and 73 for women. In Chad the average life expectancy at birth is about 50. Children who survive childbirth — and then malnutrition and diarrhea — are likely to die of pneumonia, tuberculosis, influenza, malaria, AIDS or even traffic accidents long before their cells accumulate the mutations that cause colon cancer.

In fact, cancers of any kind don’t make the top 15 causes of death in Chad — or in Somalia, the Central African Republic and other places where the average life span peaks in the low to mid-50s. Many people do die from cancer, and their numbers are multiplied by rapidly growing populations and a lack of medical care. But first come all those other threats.

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How different this is from the United States, where oncologists are working to rid a 91-year-old former president of metastatic melanoma, one of the deadliest cancers. One of Jimmy Carter’s drugs, a new immunotherapy agent called Keytruda, has been priced at $12,500 a month, in addition to the cost of his surgery and treatment with computer-guided radiation beams.

Mr. Carter, a religious man, says he is prepared to meet his maker. But he is among the fortunate who first have the luxury of exhausting the most expensive remedies medicine has to offer.

So far the approach appears to be working, shrinking his brain tumors to invisibility. Should there be a setback, his doctors may have the option of combining Keytruda with other recently approved immune system therapies, the next line of defense. Last summer at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Dr. Leonard Saltz, chief of gastrointestinal oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, estimated that medical bills for these cocktails could run $300,000 a year.

That is for just one person. For those with the will and the resources, the war on cancer has come to mean pushing incrementally toward some imagined immortality, the ultimate right to life. There appears to be no limit to what we — society in the abstract — will agree to pay for extending long and well-lived lives.


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Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was envisioning more of these death-defying acts when, borrowing a metaphor, he recently called for a “moon shot” to end cancer — infusions of additional dollars that, judging from the past, would go largely toward research that helps older people become older.

Children with leukemia, lymphoma or osteosarcoma might also benefit, along with some younger adults and those just reaching their prime, like the vice president’s son, Beau Biden, who died this year from a brain tumor at age 46. But the median age of diagnosis for cancers of all kinds in this country is 66. Seventy-eight percent of cases are diagnosed in people 55 or older. Childhood cancer, among the most curable, remains rare.

In the developing world, cancer has a very different look, as illustrated in maps drawn by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Cancer Research.

The countries with the highest incidence, like the United States, Canada, Australia and those of Western Europe, are dark blue. With the exception of South Africa, almost all of the African continent is light blue or white. The map could serve double duty — as a pointer to places with the highest standards of living and hence the longest life spans.

But that is just part of the story. Cancers that arise in poorer countries are far less likely to be survived.

A disproportionately large number of these cases are caused by infectious agents. Look again at the international maps, and pick the ones showing the worldwide incidence of cervical cancer, which is brought on by infection with the human papilloma virus.

This map is almost a reverse image of the ones for colorectal cancer or breast cancer — the leading cancers of the richer realms. For cervical cancer, the dark blues of trouble are concentrated in places like Mali, while the wealthier countries, with lower rates, are rendered in white.

This is a cancer that could practically be wiped out everywhere by the HPV vaccine, and those efforts are underway in poorer regions. Infection is also a major factor in stomach cancer and liver cancer. An Apollo-scale moon shot aimed at all of these killers would save millions of people who still have much of their lives to come.

As improvements in economic development and public health move forward, the disparities are evening out, as described in an update this week by epidemiologists at the American Cancer Society. Life expectancy will slowly increase, and rising alongside will be the overall cancer rate.

Cancers of the poor will gradually give way to cancers of the more affluent. They will move up the list of leading killers, replacing the old diseases.

This is already happening in countries like India, where more people are becoming overweight and living less active lives — risk factors for malignancies of the colon and breast. Women who forestall or forgo childbearing are also at higher risk for breast and other gynecological cancers.

More people are also able to afford a steady supply of cigarettes — and to live for the additional decades it takes for the cancerous mutations to pile up. China has joined North America and Europe as a hotbed of lung cancer, and other countries seem determined to catch up.

Dr. Vincent T. DeVita Jr., the renowned American oncologist, titled his new book “The Death of Cancer,” envisioning a time “when we’ll be able to cure almost all cancers” with an ever-improving stream of engineered pharmaceuticals and other cutting-edge treatments yet to be discovered.

Maybe that will happen, if we can afford it. But there are so many lower-tech, lower-cost and ultimately more heroic cancer moon shots yet to be made — ones that would save younger lives in Africa and throughout the world.

Fonte:New York Times