Passive smoking may up snoring risk in kids
New York, July 8 : Parents who smoke at home exposing their children to passive tobacco inhalation may increase the risk of developing habitual snoring in kids, according to a study.
The findings showed that children are at a two per cent higher risk of snoring for every cigarette smoke in home daily.
Children born to fathers who smoke were at a 45 per cent higher risk of snoring than unexposed children. While mothers who smoke increase the risk of developing habitual snoring in their kids by nearly 90 per cent.
Those exposed to prenatal smoke were almost twice as likely to develop habitual snoring.
"Some parents may think snoring in kids is benign or even cute. But snoring is often the first step towards developing sleep apnoea and has been linked to high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease," Lucy Popova, a researcher at Georgia State University was quoted as saying to the Daily Mail.
Sleep apnoea is a serious disorder characterized by regular pausing in breathing while sleeping.
Published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, the study examined data from 24 existing studies that included nearly 88,000 children.
The team found that the younger a child is, the more susceptible he or she is to developing the habit of snoring.
"Quitting tobacco use entirely is the best way to preserve your own health and the health of your children," said Sophie Balk from Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New York, US.
However the study was not able to show how smoking was associated with higher risk of developing habitual snoring among children.
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
