Researchers led by Hiroshi Ohno at the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences (IMS) in Japan have discovered why smoking tobacco helps people suffering from ulcerative colitis, a chronic ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. John Samuels is the Founder/CEO of Wellworth healthcare advisory firm. A cigarette lit on screen once symbolized noir, danger and ...

As both diseases are related to gut inflammation—which is an immune response—and gut immunity depends in part on the types of bacteria in the gut, Ohno and his team at RIKEN IMS set out to investigate ...

Diagram showing the mechanism discovered in the study. Inflammation of the intestines in ulcerative colitis results from an excessive helper Th2 immune response. Smoking leads to aromatic compounds ...