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Discovery step toward developing treatment for various lung diseasesResearchers at the University of Minnesota have, for the first time, coaxed umbilical cord blood stem cells to differentiate into a type of lung cell.  The cord blood cells differentiated into a type of lung cell called type II alveolar cells. These cells are responsible for secreting surfactant, a substance which allows the air sacs in the lungs to remain open, allowing air to move in and out of the sacs. The cells are also responsible for helping to repair the airway after injury.  "In the future, we may be able to...

BERLIN -- Are you ready to fly the smoky skies? Here's an airline where you won't have to worry about tampering with the lavatory smoke detector. Because not only are you free to light up -- you can even puff away on a Cuban cigar. A German businessman with a pack-and-a-half-a-day habit is behind Smoker's International Airways. He hopes to start flying in March between Dusseldorf, Germany, and Tokyo, using a trio of 747s. Not one will have a no-smoking section. Along with creating a smoker's haven, the plan is to also bring back the golden age of air travel....

Excerpt - LITTLE ROCK - Gov. Mike Huckabee, who successfully pushed for a statewide workplace smoking ban earlier this year, predicted Wednesday that cigarettes eventually won't be sold because of their health risks. "I think the day will come when we probably won't" sell cigarettes, Huckabee said on his monthly call-in radio show. "If cigarettes were introduced to the marketplace today, they wouldn't be sold. They'd never make it because what we didn't know when they were first created, sold and marketed is just how deadly harmful they were." Huckabee was responding to a caller's question of why cigarettes are...

WASHINGTON -- Quietly leaving his post as surgeon general, Dr. Richard Carmona said he would judge himself successful if he had persuaded one student to make good health choices or one mother to stop smoking. Carmona's report condemning secondhand smoke was a hallmark of his tenure as the nation's 17th surgeon general.

Psst! Hey kid! Come over here and jump off this bridge! All the cool kids've done it 'n you're the only one left! It won't hurt, it'll be fun. Anyhow, if ya don't do it, I'm gonna come back 'n bugya, 'n bugya, 'n bugya forever till ya do. With that sort of reasoned discourse in the background, accompanied by taunts of "You smell like an ASHTRAY!", Philadelphia finally jumped on the bandwagon and banned smoking. Well, sorta. They banned it unless you're a bar that agrees not to feed its customers anything healthy, one that's well-off enough to have...

My father's name is Ray, and he is 74. He has had emphysema for years. Last night, he collapsed, and he was nonrepsonsive. The doctor wouldn't say that he had had a stroke, as they are waiting for the results of my dad's CT scan. I'm pretty sure it was a stroke. My dad was having trouble exchanging oxygen, and although he was awake, he was not really there. My dad started smoking when he was 19 in the navy, and quit about 10 years ago. He has had trouble getting around and breathing for some years. This is the...

Over 3.1 million Americans have been diagnosed with emphysema, and its aftermath: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is the fourth-highest cause of death in the US. (The article describes joint US-Israel clinical trials of a new non-invasive approach to treating emphysema) The technique involved injecting the lungs with material described as "biological glue" which completely destroyed the cell connections in the damaged portions and "sealed them up," combined with antibiotics to prevent infection. In the sheep, the damaged lung areas collapsed and scarred, leaving only the healthier, better-functioning parts of the lung intact - the technique essentially reduced the...

What's up in the town of Winthrop, Maine? SMOKERS NOT WELCOME AT WINTHROP BEACH!Winthrop proves smoking is not a health issue at all.  But it's all about CON T R O L!7-16-05 - I was notified of the ridiculous treatment given to one family just because a family member was smoking. A cop approached the family and told them they would have to leave because this was a "no smoking beach."  The family, as you can see, is not "on" the beach, but on the grassy area.  There were no signs stating that the area was smoke free.  The cop told...

Join the FR smokers lounge bump list...click on the logo Welcome Friends, foes and associates to the completely remodeled Free Republic...Smokers' Lounge Here you will find a comfy place to smoke, drink, joke or whatever. We always have a great time, so sit back, relax and...Smoke 'em if you got 'em shsshshsshsshsshssh shsshsshsshsshsshshsshsshsshshsshshsshsshsshssh shsshsshsshsshsshshsshsshsshshsshshsshsshsshssh shsshsshsshsshsshshsshsshsshshssh aaaaa,:`___________________________||`,:'.",`.;'`,:'.',`: <--------Life is good! A very special thank you to Registered for providing us with this fine logo....we will bear it with pride.

WASHINGTON — In a victory for American cigarette makers, a federal appeals court ruled Friday that the Justice Department cannot seek $280 billion it alleges the tobacco industry earned through fraud. The industry had urged the court late last year to throw out a lower court decision allowing the Justice Department to seek the penalty from the companies for allegedly misleading the public about the dangers of smoking. The federal government brought the lawsuit, now being heard in U.S. District Court, under a civil racketeering statute originally designed to prosecute mobsters. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- One year after kicking its decades-long cigarette sponsorship habit, NASCAR apparently needs a little help staying smoke-free.  Nicorette gum became the first smoking cessation product to enter NASCAR when GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare signed a sponsorship deal Thursday with Chip Ganassi Racing.  Three of its quit-smoking products -- the gum, the NicoDerm CQ patch and Commit lozenges -- will be advertised on the rear decklid of Casey Mears' car for the entire season. Nicorette will also be the primary sponsor on the No. 41 Dodge for one race in a deal estimated to cost the company $3...

Company Fires All Employees Who Smoke Michigan Firm Won't Allow Smoking, Even On Employee's Own Time UPDATED: 7:34 am EST January 25, 2005 LANSING, Mich. -- A Michigan health care company has fired four of its employees for refusing to take a test to determine whether they smoke cigarettes. The company enacted a new policy this month, allowing workers to be fired if they smoke, even if the smoking takes place after-hours, or at home. The founder of Weyco Inc. said the company doesn't want to pay the higher health care costs associated with smoking. An official of the company...

LANSING, Mich.-Four employees of a health care company have been fired for refusing to take a test to determine whether they smoke cigarettes.Weyco Inc., a health benefits administrator based in Okemos, Mich., adopted a policy Jan. 1 that allows employees to be fired if they smoke, even if the smoking happens after business hours at home.

Michigan Firm Won't Allow Smoking, Even On Employee's Own Time LANSING, Mich. -- A Michigan health care company has fired four of its employees for refusing to take a test to determine whether they smoke cigarettes. The company enacted a new policy this month, allowing workers to be fired if they smoke, even if the smoking takes place after-hours, or at home. The founder of Weyco Inc. said the company doesn't want to pay the higher health care costs associated with smoking. An official of the company -- which administers health benefits -- estimated that 18 to 20 of its...

Vatican City, Vatican City, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- An article in a leading Roman Catholic journal signals that the Vatican may join the public health establishment's crusade against cigarette smoking. The latest edition of the scholarly publication Civilta Cattolica, published by the Jesuits and approved by a top aide to Pope John Paul II, says smokers cannot damage their own health and that of others "without moral responsibility." The article by Giuseppe de Rosa stops short of calling smoking a sin, but says lighting up is "not neutral either in social or indeed moral terms." De Rosa's views, and presumably...

Just wanted to share with all my friends here that I lost my mom Thursday night. It was not unexpected as she has been hospitalized for nearly 3 months due to emphyzema, a stroke, and heart attack. I know many prayers have been offered up by folks here, and they are appreciated, and they are answered. I know that my Reedemer lives! What comfort this sweet sentence gives. God is a great God, and His character is Kindness and Mercy, and Goodness. I see that even though it seems the night is dark, He is there!

COMMENTARY For decades, public health advocates have championed harm reduction for people who cannot stop taking health risks — or do not want to. Needle exchange is a classic example. Intravenous drug users get clean needles because, the reasoning goes, contracting and spreading AIDS is worse than making heroin use a little easier. But harm reduction for hard-core smokers is another matter. At issue is a form of smokeless tobacco, a popular Swedish product called snus (rhymes with loose) that satisfies smokers' nicotine addiction with negligible health risks of its own. But to many foes of smoking, it is not...

It is with heartache and tears I inform the rest of the FReeper community of the loss of another one of us. FReeper Max McGarrity passed away peacefully while taking a nap on Monday March 8, 2004. Max and I have been online buddies and real life friends since we first encountered each other on another forum back in 1998. Without Max I would never have found Free Republic when I did. There has been a very long standing joke between Max and me, we "cyber flirted" all the time on such threads as the Smoker's Lounge..... the joke being...

<p>With the closing of Pinstripes Sports Cafe on Dec. 24, some other bar owners in the city are concerned that they will be next.</p> <p>Pinstripes closed as a direct result of the state public places smoking ban, according to Frank Bokoff, who said he was a spokesman for F and J Management, the group that owned and operated the bar and grill.</p>

<p>Johnny Carson, retired king of late-night television, has emphysema, but says it isn't causing any major problems.</p> <p>Carson had just finished playing tennis when he learned of a tabloid report that claimed he is seriously ill.</p> <p>A National Enquirer story that the New York Post cited in Thursday's editions said the 76-year-old Carson had become a virtual recluse aboard his luxury yacht.</p>