Smoking Your Life Away

credit: Dawn Endico

"reparing a cigarette vending machine" by semihundido

Yes, I'm wearing my medical hat again, and this time I'm going to talk about smoking.

According to Mayo Clinic**, "more than half the people who keep smoking will die because of it."

"Tobacco smoke contains more than 60 known cancer-causing chemicals and more than 4,800 other harmful substances."

Specifically, smoking is responsible for "nine out 10 of lung cancer cases."

Smoking increases the likelihood of impotence in men, leads to premature aging, causes numerous cancers, makes diabetes and respiratory illnesses more likely, and increases chances of dying of cardiovascular disease.

credit: kalandrakas


According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) report***, tobacco lead to 100 million deaths in the previous century, and could potentially kill over a billion people this century.

According to Canadian Lung Association****, "Tobacco kills about 45,000 Canadians a year. That's more than the total number of deaths from AIDS, car accidents, suicide, murder, fires and accidental poisonings combined."

It's also estimated that second-hand smoke kills "1100 - 7800 Canadians".


**Mayo Clinic: Nicotine dependence

***WHO on smoking

****Canadian Lung Association

Avicenna (Abu Sina)

I was browsing the internet a while ago and I came across an interesting site entitled "Estimated IQs of some of the Greatest Geniuses" **

I noted Avicenna's picture there. Avicenna or Abu Ali Sina was the famous Persian polymath. He was a scientist, mathematician, psychologist, physician, astronomer, philosopher....

According to University of California's Dr. Barbara J. Becker*** Abu Sina's famed Al-Qanun fi't al-Tibb (Canon on Medicine) was used "until 1650 in European universities." The book was completed in 1025! That gives you an idea of the book's astonishing power and influence.

To learn more about Abu Sina you can visit Britannica's website.****

There are many reasons to be proud of being an Iranian. Here's another.


**http://hem.bredband.net/b153434/Index.htm

***https://eee.uci.edu/clients/bjbecker/PlaguesandPeople/lecture5.html

****http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/45755/Avicenna

Water, Water, everywhere!

As with most pictures here, I took this one from flickr.com, from photographer Daniel Greene's collection this time. The caption reads: "After our strenuous kayaking excursion, all Andy & I wanted was water, water, water. No wine or liquor on my birthday, just hydration!"

streets at night

credit: mugley

credit: wwarby (Pierre Vivant's sculpture, Traffic Light Tree in the Docklands, London)

There is something magical about streets at nights. The second picture is more complex, using warning lights as decoration. It makes you wonder what colors mean to you and why.

The Point Reyes Lighthouse

credit: photogirl7

We recently had a beautiful sunny day here, and I thought the picture of a lighthouse and the beautiful blue Pacific Ocean on a sunny day would lift up your spirits too. Enjoy!

Putting up a Wall against Alcohol

credit: Pingu1963
credit: Kessiye

Your drinking habit may be affected by genetics, environment, family, sociocultural factors (e.g. alcohol is part of many social events in Europe, where alcohol consumption is high), religious orientation (e.g. Muslims do not drink alcohol), economy, etc.

Drinking alcohol is harmful and dangerous.

According to World Health Organization:

"Alcohol consumption has health and social consequences via intoxication (drunkenness), dependence (habitual, compulsive and long-term drinking), and other biochemical effects."

"In addition to chronic diseases that may affect drinkers after many years of heavy use, alcohol contributes to traumatic outcomes that kill or disable at a relatively young age, resulting in the loss of many years of life to death or disability...Overall there is a causal relationship between alcohol consumption and more than 60 types of disease and injury."

"Alcohol is estimated to cause about 20-30% worldwide of oesophageal cancer, liver cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, homicide, epilepsy, and motor vehicle accidents."

"Worldwide alcohol causes 1.8 million deaths (3.2% of total) and 58.3 million (4% of total) of Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs)."

"Unintentional injuries alone account for about one third of the 1.8 million deaths, while neuro-psychiatric conditions account for close to 40% of the 58.3 million DALYs."

I obtained the above information from here: http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/facts/alcohol/en/index.html

Go here for much more: http://www.who.int/topics/alcohol_drinking/en/


Alcohol is a significant risk for breast cancer, even a single drink a day*.

credit: Dawn Endico

To give you a more local picture, let's consider alcohol-related death and injury, specifically in Canada.

In 2001, Rehm and colleagues** at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health attributed 4,010 of all deaths (those under age of 70) to alcohol. Keep in mind, they took into account, "the deaths prevented by moderate consumption of alcohol."

credit: shashiBellamkonda

According to their research, 144,143 years of life were lost prematurely only in 2001, due to alcohol. Main causes of death were unintentional injuries, malignant neoplasms (i.e. cancer), and digestive diseases.

*Hamajima N, Hirose K, Tajima K, et al; for the Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer. Alcohol, tobacco and breast cancer — collaborative reanalysis of individual data from 53 epidemiological studies, including 58,515 women with breast cancer and 95,067 women without the disease. Br J Cancer 2002;87:1234-45.

**Rehm J, Patra J, Popova S. Alcohol-attributable mortality and potential years of life lost in Canada 2001: implications for prevention and policy. Addiction 2006;101:373-84.

credit: dubswede

Colors of Autumn

It's several days past the midpoint of the fall season, and I decided to post a picture of this beautiful tree, a Japanese Maple.



credit: Paul Keleher

NHL hockey in Canada

credit: spcbrass


Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, and Vancouver Canucks, all in the Northwest division;

Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, and Toronto Maple Leafs, all in the Northeast division.

These six teams are the pride of Canada, as hockey here is the national sport and brings such warmth and excitement even in the coldest climates in Canada. It is about speed, beautiful goals, even bone-crunching hits, and occasional fights, all part of this electrifying game.

Right now, the Montreal Canadiens (see picture above), a team has been improving over the last couple of years, is ahead of other Canadian teams--and many US teams--with 17 points and 8 wins in the last 10 games.

anthias fish

Credit: JennyHuang

Okay, so today's the 2008 United States presidential election, and I have decided to post a picture of anthias, beautiful coral reef fish.

They are all born females and only when the male of the group dies, a female will take its place and become male.

And this reminds me of elections. Why? Think about it.