Amnesia

• Untreated, sleep apnea can contribute to a number of serious health conditions, including heart disease, memory loss, depression, and headaches.
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• With the countless studies available today on the effects of tobacco use, we should have no trouble convincing ourselves and others of how harmful it is.
• The cells that make up our tissues, organs and body systems are sensitive to the effects of external toxic agents, many of which can be found in tobacco.
• Many smokers not only accept this, but also ignore the serious danger it poses to the people around them.

Initial effects in the mouth and pharynx

• When tobacco smoke enters our body, the first cells to receive it are in the mouth, nose and throat.
• These effects on the immune system are also linked to a higher likelihood of developing cancer.
• We also cannot forget that tobacco smoke robs us of our sense of taste and smell, leaving an almost continuous bitter taste in the mouth.

Lung damage

• Furthermore, due to the direct damage caused by tobacco on the tissue that maintains the structure of the lungs, the bronchi and bronchioles become blocked, generating symptoms similar to suffocation.
• As if that were not enough, people with COPD are also more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, and lung cancer.

Black tar and macrophages

• We can cast our minds back to the previous image of my father’s pipe, black and sticky with tar.
• It so happens that the lungs are rich in macrophages – special cells that play a key role in our immune systems by reacting to attacks, producing inflammatory responses.
• These cells end up ingesting the tar from tobacco, and they eventually die loaded with this substance which builds up and gives a smoker’s lungs their characteristic blackened appearance.

Nicotine’s effects on neurons: dependence and addiction

• As with any other compound that stimulates neurotransmitter receptors, permanent stimulation desensitises neurons.
• This means that the neurons reduce the number of receptors, or change their sensitivity to the stimulant.
• This desensitisation process can lead not only to nicotine dependence, but also to other diseases such as memory loss.

Guillermo López Lluch is a member of the Spanish Society of Cell Biology, the Spanish Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the Spanish Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology, the Society for Free Radical Research and the International Coenzyme Q10 Association. The research carried out by the author is financed by public funds from the Spanish Government or the Autonomous Government of Andalusia.

• A new study, published in PLOS One, suggests that the prevalence of dementia in India is higher than previously thought.
• Dementia is considered a major neurocognitive disorder, while mild cognitive impairment, a common early stage of dementia, a minor neurocognitive disorder.
• The study results showed that nearly one-sixth (17.6%) of people over 59 in India have a mild neurocognitive disorder, while 7.2% have a major neurocognitive disorder.
• Mild cognitive impairment and dementia are commonly based on performance on cognitive tests and whether cognitive changes affect everyday activities.
• For mild cognitive impairment, people will have mild cognitive changes, but they do not affect their everyday activities.

Shortcomings

• Despite cognition and everyday activity being key to dementia diagnostics worldwide, they have significant shortcomings, in particular for assessments in developing countries, such as India.
• For the current study, nearly half of their participants had either no formal education or were illiterate.
• But what else can we do to determine if someone is either at risk or has dementia?
• Read more:
  Playing a musical instrument or singing in a choir may boost your brain – new study

Michael Hornberger does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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