Vaping Linked to Mental Health Issues – Futurism

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Vaping might not be as unhealthy as smoking cigarettes, but it carries its own long list of physical risks. And now, new research indicates it may be harmful to mental health and sleep patterns, too.

As researchers from England's University of Surrey have found, young adults aged 18-25 who use nicotine vape products were significantly more likely to experience a range of mental health issues than their non-vaping peers, including depression, anxiety, and rumination or dwelling on negative thoughts, as well as sleep issues like insomnia and emotional problems such as loneliness.

Published in the journal Healthcare, this new study surveyed more than 300 university students, about 15 percent of whom did vape and the other 85 percent of whom didn't, using a battery of questionnaires related to mindfulness and emotional regulation, anxiety and depression, rumination, sleep quality, loneliness, self-compassion and, of course, vaping and cigarette usage.

Of the 49 students who were vape users, there were some traits seen across the board, including lower levels of mindfulness, worse sleep quality, and heightened levels of rumination. They tended to be lonelierand have both less compassion for themselves and a much higher tendency of being diurnal or "night owls" than their non-vaping counterparts. Furthermore, the vape group also "reported significantly higher levels of alcohol consumption in terms of units consumed per week," the study notes.

Perhaps the biggest shared characteristic among the vaping group, as Surrey neuroscience lecturer and study co-author Dr. Simon Evans said in the university's press release, was an overwhelming tendency towards anxiety, with a whopping "95.9 percent of users being categorized as having clinical levels of anxiety symptoms."

"In this study, we found a disturbing link between vape use and anxiety symptoms," Evans continued, "and it can become a vicious cycle of using a vape to soothe anxiety but then being unable to sleep, making you feel worse in the long run."

With data from other studies about cigarette smoking suggesting that mindfulness, or the attenuation to one's emotional and mental regulation in the moment, can help with smoking cessation, the good doctor said that there may well be interventions regarding mindfulness and "combating rumination" that "could be useful to reduce vape use amongst young people."

Important to note: this is a type of research where it's very hard to pin down the relationship between correlation and causation. Are the students anxious because they're vaping, or do anxious kids tend to gravitate to vaping for a variety of social and psychological reasons? It's tough to say, and probably complicated.

That said, it's pretty amazing that such a small percentage of the youthful group surveyed for this study vaped at all, suggesting that the kids may be more alright than we give them credit for, relatively speaking.

More on mental health: Scientists Find Link Between ADHD, Depression and Hypersexuality

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Vaping Linked to Mental Health Issues - Futurism

Donald Trump’s ‘miracle drug’ for COVID killed nearly 17000 people, reveals new study – Hindustan Times

A drug promoted by former US President Donald Trump to cure COVID-19 has been linked to nearly 17,000 deaths, according to a new study. During the COVID pandemic, Trump urged Americans to take hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), an anti-malaria medicine that is also often used to cure rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, claiming that he himself had been taking the miracle drug.

After the outbreak of coronavirus, scientists suggested that HCQ could be effective in treating the deadly virus. On March 28, 2020, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug for an emergency use authorisation and started clinical trials.

While one scientist called the HCQ a "magic bullet" against coronavirus, Trump highlighted the "miracle" recovery made by a COVID infected woman after using the drug.

"The nice part is, it's been around for a long time...if things don't go as planned, it's not going to kill anybody," the ex-US president said during a COVID Taskforce briefing. In a tweet on March 21, 2020, he said that "FDA has moved mountains" and that the drug would be put to use "immediately" as an antidote to curb Covid transmission.

However in June 2020, the FDA revoked the emergency use authorisation of the drug as several studies, including one by New England Journal of Medicine, found HCQ had no benefit on COVID and led to significant surge in the risk of death. The FDA revoked the emergency use authorization on June 15, 2020.

A new study conducted by French researchers has found that nearly 17,000 people across six countries may have died after being prescribed hydroxychloroquine while hospitalized with the illness from March to July 2020 during the first wave of COVID. The research published in the February issue of Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy shows that increase in the number of deaths was driven by side effects like heart arrhythmia and muscle weakness.

The countries studied were the US, Turkey, Belgium, France, Spain, and Italy.

The US reported the highest numbers of deaths with 12,739, followed by Spain (1,895 deaths), Italy (1,822 deaths), Belgium (240 deaths), France (199 deaths), and Turkey (95 deaths).

The scientists analysed various studies that tracked hospitalisations due to COVID-19 and exposure to the drug and risk related to it.

The researchers said that the number of deaths could be much higher as their study only looked at only six countries between March and July 2020.

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Donald Trump's 'miracle drug' for COVID killed nearly 17000 people, reveals new study - Hindustan Times

Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken adopts Hi Auto’s voice cloning feature at drive-thru – QSR Web

Guests at select Ohio Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken restaurants will hear the voice of former NFL player Keith Byars as a partnership with AI platform Hi Auto. Photo: Hi Auto

Dec. 13, 2023

Hi Auto, an AI ordering brand, has launched its AI voice-cloning feature for QSRs. It allows restaurants to fully customize voice options into their drive-thru voice AI ordering tech, according to a press release.

Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken, an early adopter of Hi Auto's drive-thru voice AL ordering technology, will launch the new voice cloning feature as a test in select Ohio drive-thru locations. Guests who visit Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken Ohio locations will be greeted with the voice of sports broadcaster and former NFL player Keith Byars. Byars grew up in Ohio and played football at Ohio State. In 2000, he was inducted into the Ohio State Hall of Fame and in 2020 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Byers proceeded to play in the National Football League for 13 seasons, playing for teams including Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots and New York Jets. Currently, Byars hosts "The Keith Byars Show" which can be heard on ESPN 1410 WING-AM in Dayton, Ohio.

"Lee's has been blessed to partner with Hi Auto since December of 2020, utilizing their AI voice recognition technology to help our employees and restaurants through the pandemic. We look forward to implementing their latest innovation to make our customer's drive-thru experience the most unique experience in the Dayton market," Chuck Doran, Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken owner and operator, said in the press release. "We've partnered with Keith Byars since his radio program launched 2018. The integrity, quality and excellence Keith brought to the football field and continues to bring to his broadcasts is what we strive to provide every customer that visits Lee's. This is just one more step in that quest."

"Three years ago, Lee's embarked on a pioneering journey with Hi Auto, leveraging their cutting-edge artificial intelligence for our drive-thru orders, marking a milestone in operational efficiency and customer service," Ryan Weaver, CEO of Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken, said in the press release. "This collaboration not only enhanced our labor efficiency by saving approximately five to six hours daily, but also significantly improved order consistency and upselling conversions."

Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken operates more than 130 restaurants in 12 U.S. states and in Canada.

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Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken adopts Hi Auto's voice cloning feature at drive-thru - QSR Web