Do you think "vapers" should be treated by employers in the same way as normal smokers or allowed to smoke at their desk?
Or should "vapers" be included in an employer's policy-wide ban from smoking in the workplace, even though their use is not directly covered by the legislation applying to normal smokers?
If the use of e-cigarettes is not unlawful at work, should those employees that use them be treated in the same way as normal smokers and be directed to the designated smoking areas?
Independent of the methodology used to assess airway epithelial cilia length in normal smokers compared to nonsmokers, the results consistently demonstrate that, on average, cilia of normal smokers are 10% shorter than those of normal nonsmokers.
Ciliated cells brushed from the airways of normal nonsmokers and normal smokers were evaluated following cytocentrifugation, air-drying, fixation, and staining.
Our observations demonstrate decrease in mean cilia length in normal smokers, suggesting that the short cilia in the airway epithelium of smokers might exhibit reduced interaction with mucus on the forward stroke.
As part of an ongoing study to assess the effect of smoking on gene expression in the airway epithelium using fiberoptic bronchoscopy and airway brushing to obtain samples of airway epithelium of phenotypic normal smokers and nonsmokers, we noted that the length of cilia on the epithelium of smokers appeared to be shorter than the cilia of nonsmokers.
To confirm that the difference in cilia length was a property of individual cilia, detached cilia were identified on cytospin preparations of air-dried brushed samples from normal nonsmokers and normal smokers and evaluated after indirect immunofluorescence staining of ∃4 tubulin.
Based on models of mucociliary clearance predicting that cilia length must exceed the 6 7 µm airway surface fluid depth to generate force in the mucus layer, we hypothesized that cilia height may be decreased in airway epithelium of normal smokers compared to nonsmokers.
Additionally, we selected a group of normal smokers from the screening trial participants.
