Tobacco females

Compounds Affecting Rq>roduction Compounds that can affect reproductive function include several drugs and occupationally important chemicals such as solvents and pesticides as well as a number of environmentally relevant com-fxrunds. A group of chemical compounds that has received much attention recently is endocrine disrupters, many of which are halogenated hydrocarbons, e.g., PCBs. These are known to induce feminization in fish and other animal species.1.5/ There is intense debate about the significance of these compounds to human health. Tobacco smoke and ethyl alcohol also have major effects on human reproduction, the effects of alcohol being especially important. Table 5.17 lists compounds that may disturb the functions of female and male reproductive functions. 

Recently, Polychronopoulou45 examined tobacco, ethanol, and coffee as risk factors for ovarian cancer in Greek women in a hospital-based case-control study with data collected from 1989 to 1991. Cases were 189 women who were residents of Greater Athens and less than 75 years old with histologically confirmed common malignant epithelial tumors of the ovary. Controls were female residents of Greater Athens, less than 75... 

For those 10 years or older, 43% rural and 28% urban males are regular tobacco users (10.9 and 4.7% for females). Half to two thirds of males are smokers 15-20% of female tobacco users were smokers. Generally, rural areas in India have a 50% higher prevalence of tobacco use compared to urban areas. 

Tobacco use continues to be a major cause of preventable death. Although the number of smokers is gradually decreasing in developed countries, the remaining hard-core smokers are becoming harder to treat. Additionally, the decline has been less pronounced in women than in men (Fiore 1992). Another important concern for society is adolescent smokers. In the USA, in 2006, tobacco use among males above the age of 12 was higher than females (36.4 vs. 23.3%). On the other hand, the rate of... 

Studies on rodents point to similar sex differences, suggesting the involvement of underlying sexual dimorphisms in biology. Females may take a shorter time to become dependent than males, and they make fewer quit attempts and can stay abstinent for shorter periods than males the rate of relapse is higher in females than males (Donny et al. 2000 Perkins 2001 Pogun 2001). Figure 1 summarizes the sex differences observed in tobacco/nicotine addiction. 

Overall, genetic vulnerability to or protection from nicotine/tobacco addiction shows significant sex differences, which may underlie the differences observed in addiction patterns between males and females, ranging from initiation of smoking to success in quitting. 

Prenatal exposure to nicotine impairs auditory and visual attention, and this impairment is gender specific. When smoker or nonsmoker adolescents with or without prenatal exposure to maternal smoking were tested for auditory and visual-selective and divided attention, females exposed to tobacco smoke during adolescence or prenatal development showed reduced performance accuracy. Among males, marked deficits were observed in auditory attention (Jacobsen et al. 2007). 

Tanapat P, Hastings NB, et al (1999) Estrogen stimulates a transient increase in the number of new neurons in the dentate gyrus of the adult female rat. J Neurosci 19(14) 5792-5801 Thun MJ, Henley SJ, et al (2002) Tobacco use and cancer an epidemiologic perspective for geneticists. Oncogene 21(48) 7307-7325... 

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