30 Sep PERF Monthly Newsletter – September 2016
SEPTEMBER
2016
Here is a roundup of the articles, news & updates that we've published on the PERF blog site during the past month. Click on the "Read More" link at the bottom of each excerpt to read the full article.
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Vaping Is Attracting More Teens to Tobacco Use
Vaping is touted by some as a weapon in the war against smoking, but the unfortunate truth is that its effectiveness in helping motivated smokers reduce or stop smoking conventional cigarettes is open to question. More importantly, though, vaping is attracting teens who otherwise might not be smoking or using tobacco at all. A study published in the CDC’s online journal Preventing Chronic Disease found that, among teens in North Carolina surveyed in 2013, four and a half times as many were using e-cigarettes as were using them in 2011: 7.7% versus 1.7% two years earlier. Among non-smoking teens, a fifth planned to try vaping within the year. These findings reflect a growing trend in increased teen use of e-cigarettes nationwide.
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After 9 Years, the FDA Cracks Down On E-Cigarettes
“August 8th … marks the beginning of a two-year countdown to FDA prohibition of 99.9%+ of vapor products on the market,” wrote Greg Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, on the group’s website.
As of that date, the Food and Drug Administration imposed a regulation requiring that nearly every e-cigarette product on the market must now go through an application process to deem whether it can continue to be sold. This applies to all e-cigarette products that have been available since February 2007. A two-year window gives manufacturers time to keep selling their products before complying with this new requirement. After August 8, 2018, those who have submitted an application may continue selling for one more year while the FDA reviews their product.
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A Patient’s Experience in Clinical Trials for COPD Treatment
Exercise training, together with behavioral modification, have become the central focus of pulmonary rehabilitation. Increased exercise tolerance and increased habitual physical activity acting together can improve the lives of people with lung conditions.
In this video, posted on PERF’s new YouTube channel, Kurt Antonius, a COPD patient, talks about the life-improving experience of participating in a clinical trial at Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute in which exercise was practiced and tested over the course of many weeks.
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New Patient Resource Available: COPD Today from the American Thoracic Society
A free e-booklet for COPD patients is now available from the American Thoracic Society, thanks to an educational grant from Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc. In it you will find information on COPD diagnosis, treatment, and triggers, asthma and bronchitis, and the latest research presented at the ATS 2016 International Conference. Altogether the booklet runs 8 pages.
Reviewers for the e-booklet included Kevin Wilson, MD, chief of ATS Documents & Patient Education; Marianna Sockrider, MD, DrPH, the ATS associate medical editor for patient education; and Susan Tarlo, MD, asthma content expert.
…Click here to download the e-booklet
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What’s The Difference Between Asthma and COPD?
The medical profession used to teach that the differences between COPD and asthma are these: Asthma is an allergic disease, and COPD is not. Asthma is not related to smoking; COPD is. Asthma involves reversible airway obstruction; COPD airway obstruction is not reversible. Over time, symptoms and spirometry values for asthma patients vary; in contrast, symptoms and spirometry values for COPD patients can show only a slow and steady decline.
A recent study, called the CHAIN study (published recently in the journal Chest), has reached different conclusions. Researchers studied 831 COPD patients and found that 125, or 15%, showed features that might be consistent with asthma. The authors labeled these patients as having asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS, or ACO).
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Please Donate to PERF and Help Keep Our Programs and Research Going
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