Emerging Intracellular Electrical Phenomena: Implications for Paradigm Shifts in Biological Chemistry Research

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Summary of the article  The human body depends on electrical charges for many biological processes, including brain activity and nerve impulses. Previously, it was believed that cellular membranes were necessary to create an electrical charge imbalance. However, recent research from Stanford University has shown that a similar electrical imbalance can exist between microdroplets of water and air. Now, researchers from Duke University have discovered that these types of electric fields also exist within and around biological condensates, a type of cellular structure. These structures form compartments inside the cell without needing the physical boundary of a membrane. The researchers discovered that when environmental conditions are right, a previously unknown phenomenon occurs in these biological condensates, which creates a redox reaction that produces tiny amounts of hydrogen peroxide. This discovery could change the way researchers think about biological chemistry and provide a...
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What smoking does to your heart?

 

 Smoking is the leading cause of deaths worldwide. The number of death caused by smoking alone is more than the total deaths caused HIV, illegal drug activity, alcohol intake, automobile injuries, and events involving firearms combined. 



Smoking puts more than 7000 different chemicals into the body of which more than 250 are deadly and more than 60 can cause cancer. Some of these toxic chemicals includes carcinogens  (Acetaldehyde,Aromatic, amines,Arsenic,Benzene,Beryllium ,1,3–Butadiene etc.), Toxic metals(Arsenic, cadmium), Radioactive metals(lead, polonium) and certain poisons like carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, ammonia compounds and nicotine.

Inhalation of these harmful chemicals are capable enough to destroy any part of the body. Though most of the times smoking is linked with the damage of the lungs and it's the fact that smoking does most effect to the lungs but it's effects to the heart and entire cardiovascular system are even more shocking.

The World Health Organization estimates that tobacco use causes more than eight million deaths each year. More specifically, smoking has been linked to 50% of all smoking-related preventable deaths, with atherosclerotic cardiovascular illnesses accounting for 50% of these fatalities (heart attacks and stroke). It is sufficient to say that smoking has a detrimental effect on arteries and vascular disorders.

It's been known to us that smoking could damage the blood vessels and block or narrow the arteries carrying blood which causes instant or long term rise in blood pressure, instant or long term fluctuations in the heart rate, uneven blood flow to heart, lower oxygen supply to the body tissues and increased blood clots inside the veins and arteries.

But a recent study shows something more dangerous that the smoking actively harms the heart itself. The worse people's hearts function, the more they smoke. Positively, when smokers gave up the habit of smoking, "some" of their heart functions did return to normal.

According to research, smoking also results in fatter, weaker heart walls. As a result, smokers' left heart chambers hold less blood and have less capacity to pump blood to other parts of the body. It's never too late to stop smoking because doing so can help the heart recover in some ways.

While this is going on, other studies have linked smoking to an increased risk of heart failure. The heart muscle stops pumping blood throughout the body as effectively as it could during heart failure. The body consequently does not get all the oxygen and nourishment it requires. A weak or stiff heart is typically the cause of this illness. However, experts haven't really dug deep into the relationship between smoking and heart shape or function until recently. The research team examined the relationship between smoking and changes in the structure and function of the heart in individuals without a history of cardiovascular disease, as well as the impact of quitting smoking.

Here's the data provided by  5th Copenhagen city heart study which provides aid to the above statement. These findings are sampled from ESC Congress 2022

3,874 individuals between the ages of 20 and 99 who were healthy at the time of enrolment were included in that dataset. A self-administered survey regarding the participants' individual smoking histories and behaviors was completed by the group. The study also requested that participants estimate their "pack-years," or the total quantity of cigarettes they have smoked over the course of their lifetime. Twenty smokes each day for a whole year's worth of time equals one pack.

All participants also had their hearts ultrasounded (echocardiography), which provided important details on the organ's composition and functionality. The results of echocardiography were then compared between smokers who were currently smoking and non-smokers. Importantly, prior to making those comparisons, researchers were sure to account for a number of variables like age, sex, body mass index, hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, and lung function.

The subjects had a 56-year-old median age, and 43% of them were female. Nearly one in five (18.6%) were active smokers. Another 40.9 percent of the population did not smoke, and 40.5 percent did. Current smokers showed bigger, weaker, and heavier hearts than never-smokers. Furthermore, fewer blood pumps were associated with more pack-years.

"We discovered that current smoking and accumulated pack-years were linked to deteriorating left heart chamber anatomy and function, the most crucial component of the heart. Furthermore, we discovered that during a 10-year period, compared to never smokers and those who quit during that time, individuals who continued smoking grew bigger, heavier, and weaker hearts that were less able to pump blood. According to our research, smoking directly hurts the heart in addition to damaging blood vessels. The researcher says, "The good news is that some of the harm is reversible by giving up.


Risks to the passive smokers


About 34,000 nonsmokers are thought to pass away from heart disease each year as a result of exposure to secondhand smoke. The smoke that smokers exhale is known as secondhand smoke. A lit cigarette, cigar, or pipe's burning end may also emit smoke. Pregnant women, newborns, and young children are all at risk of health problems from smoking exposure. The likelihood of ear infections and asthma in children and newborns exposed to tobacco smoke increases. Additionally, they have a greater risk of Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Smoking and cancer 


Smoking contains more than 70 different types of carcinogens and these carcinogens are responsible for the cancer of different part of the body. Some of the major parts of the body that may caught up by cancer due to smoking are:

  • Blood (acute myeloid leukemia)
  • Oropharynx (includes parts of the throat, tongue, soft palate, and the tonsils) and larynx 
  • Trachea, bronchus, and lung
  • Kidney and ureter
  • Bladder 
  • Cervix
  • Oesophagus 
  • Parts of intestine and stomach 
  • Pancreas
  • Liver

Some of the data related to smoking and health:


--> Smokers pass away on average 10 years earlier than non-smokers.

-->Throughout the world 20% adults smoke tobacco products.

-->Each year, tobacco consumption kills more than 7 million people worldwide. By 2030, diseases associated with tobacco use would claim the lives of more than 8 million people annually if the global smoking pattern remains unchanged.

--> Smoking increases the risk of coronary heart disease and heart strokes by two to four times.

-->Increases the risk of developing lung cancer by 25 times in men and 25.7 times in women.

--> 90% of all the lung cancer deaths are caused by smoking and lung Cancer kills more women compared to breast cancer.

-->About 80% of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD) are brought on by smoking.

-->According to CDC only US spends more than $300 billions only on smoking.
--> According to American lung  Association 



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