It suggested that athletes and bodybuilders on anabolic steroids for gaining muscle mass and strength run a high risk of damage to the kidneys due to long-term and habitual use of steroid products.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Reports of professional athletes who abuse anabolic steroids are increasingly common. Most people know that using steroids is not good for your health, but until now, their effects on the kidneys have not been known. Leal Herlitz, MD (Columbia University Medical Center) and her colleagues recently conducted the first study describing injury to the kidneys following long-term abuse of anabolic steroids. The investigators studied a group of 10 bodybuilders who used steroids for many years and developed protein leakage into the urine and severe reductions in kidney function. Kidney tests revealed that nine of the ten bodybuilders developed a condition called focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a type of scarring within the kidneys. This disease typically occurs when the kidneys are overworked. The kidney damage in the bodybuilders has similarities to that seen in morbidly obese patients, but appears to be even more severe.

This study was conducted in the laboratory of Dr. Vivette D’Agati, MD at Columbia Univeristy Medical Center. Study co-authors include Glen Markowitz, MD, Joshua Schwimmer, MD, Michael Stokes, MD, Cheryl Kunis, MD, Vivette D’Agati, MD, (Columbia University Medical Center); Alton Farris, MD, and Robert Colvin, MD (Massachusetts General Hospital).

This minimally invasive treatment is expected to provide great relief to patients suffering from chronic sinusitis.

FinESS is a treatment form that leads to less pain, bleeding, and recovery time among patients.

From News-Medical.Net:

“San Antonio is a tough environment for people who suffer from allergies and sinusitis. We are thrilled to offer FinESS as a new treatment option for our sinusitis patients whose symptoms persist or return despite antibiotics or nasal steroids, or who are looking for an effective alternate to more invasive surgery,” said Dr. Atkins. “When patients are suffering from facial pain and/or pressure, recurrent sinus infections and sinus headaches, they may be a fit for this new procedure, which can be done on an outpatient basis. I’ve had patients tell me a week after surgery that they haven’t felt this good in years.”

FinESS, unlike the traditional sinus surgeries, is not concerned with the removal of delicate bone and sinus tissue.

This finding was disclosed in a retrospective study of 22 patients conducted by a researcher at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

Marc Chamberlain, M.D., author of the study published in an edition of the journal Cancer remarked that this gliomas therapy stands out as the most promising of all the targeted therapies.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Chamberlain said he expects that patients treated with the drug will have a marked improvement in their quality of life because the use of steroids, a common treatment that has significant side effects, can be greatly reduced or even eliminated.

“While treatment with Avastin does dramatically improve survival time, the time that patients have left is of better quality and less about living with the disease itself,” Chamberlain said. In this study, the patients, ages 24-60, received an infusion of bevacizumab every two weeks for an average of 14.5 cycles (range was two to 39 cycles). Fourteen (64 percent) patients showed a partial response to the medicine as shown on radiographic scans. Two patients had stable disease and six had progressive disease. Progression-free survival ranged from three to 18 months and survival for the entire group of patients was three to 19 months.

Chamberlain, who is also Director of the Neuro-oncology Program at the SCCA and a professor of neurology and neurological surgery at the University Of Washington School Of Medicine, also said that bevacizumab (generic name for Avastin) can prove itself to be the best palliative treatment.

Estrogens are highly effective when it comes to inactivating a tumor-suppressing protein known for preventing many forms of cancer, as per researchers from the Medical College of Georgia.

It was remarked by Limor Raz, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the MCG School of Graduate Studies that the research suggests that estrogen suppresses the tumor-suppressing protein, p53, for stopping the stroke damage.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Ms. Raz found that estrogen can chemically alter p53 and attenuate the cascade, thus leading to reduced stroke damage.

She has been working with Dr. Darrell Brann, chief of developmental neurobiology and associate director of the MCG Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics, and will present her findings today in Colorado at the American Physiological Society conference focusing on the cardiovascular effects of sex steroids and gender.

Global cerebral ischemia, the most common type of ischemic stroke, in which blood flow to the brain is disrupted, was induced, damaging primarily the hippocampal CA1 region of the brain. In this study, a group of female rats were treated with estrogen versus placebo for seven days and estrogen’s effect on p53 signaling was examined.

“This part of the brain is extremely important because it is where our memory and learning occur,” Ms. Raz says. “During a stroke, you have all these things happening in your brain, and we’ve found that estrogen treatment is effective in reducing some of the damage.”

The next step will be about identifying the exact reason of this mechanism, as per Ms. Raz.

Professor Roger Byard, the pathologist, issued this warning that appeared in the US-based Journal of Forensic Sciences outlining the highly toxic nature of many herbal substances considered to be safe.

From Sciencedaily.com:

In his paper he cites the case of an epileptic patient on prescription medicine who had also ingested a Chinese herbal preparation and lapsed into a coma. Cushing’s syndrome, a hormonal disorder, has also been linked to the ingestion of steroids and herbal cures mixed together.

Some herbal medicines may also have a variety of effects on standard drugs, according to Professor Byard. St John’s Wort can reduce the effects of warfarin and cause intermenstrual bleeding in women taking the oral contraceptive pill.

Gingko and garlic also increase the risk of bleeding with anticoagulants and certain herbal remedies such as Borage Oil and Evening Primrose Oil lower the seizure threshold in epileptics.

Professor Byard says the American Society of Anesthesiologists has recommended its patients discontinue using herbal medicines at least two weeks before surgery because of the risks of herbal and drug interaction, including an increased chance of hemorrhaging.

Professor Byard said that the safe-considered herbal substances may cause serious illnesses, exacerbate pre-existing health problems or even death when taken in excess or injected rather than ingested.

The finding was revealed during a study in an issue of Pediatrics and highlights a gap in knowledge. It was emphasized by this study that the benefits of steroid treatment for Kawasaki’s disease are good enough to provide relief to the children with this complication.

From News-Medical.Net:

Current guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics state that the evidence for steroid treatment is lacking and recommend the standard treatment for Kawasaki’s, which is aspirin and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG).

“This gap in knowledge led us to examine the benefits of steroids more closely. We looked at research worldwide and were surprised to find eight solid clinical trials showing the value of steroids in significantly reducing heart damage in children with Kawasaki’s disease. Steroids, when combined with aspirin and IVGB, reduced the odds of developing inflammation of the heart blood vessels by half,” said Stephen Aronoff, MD, lead author of the meta-analysis and Temple University School of Medicine professor and chair of pediatrics.

Kawasaki’s disease is one of the leading causes of acquired heart disease in children. The complication is treatable and the symptoms are red eyes, palms and foot soles, and swollen lymph nodes.

The finding was revealed by pediatric oncologists at the Brenner Children’s Hospital, part of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

From News-Medical.Net:

“Steroids are used to treat leukemia and they suppress the immune system,” said Thomas McLean, a pediatric oncologist at Brenner Children’s Hospital. “When a child is exposed to the varicella virus (the virus that causes chicken pox) around the time they are receiving steroid treatment, they are more likely to contract a more severe case of chicken pox.”

McLean and his colleagues studied 697 patients with acute leukemia over a nine-year period. About 16 percent or 110 patients contracted chicken pox. Of those 110 patients, 54 had severe disease, including two deaths. Of the patients whose chicken pox was diagnosed within three weeks of taking steroids, 70 percent had severe infection whereas only 44 percent of those who had not received steroid therapy within three weeks had severe infection. Although the study was limited to patients with leukemia, the findings may apply to other conditions for which steroids are used, McLean said.

“One of the things we need to remember to ask before we prescribe steroid treatment is whether the child has had a recent exposure to chicken pox,” McLean said. “If so, we recommend waiting until the incubation period has passed before beginning steroid therapy.”

It was noted that chicken pox, though mild in nature, can result in fatal complications. It is worth noting here that there were approximately 12,000 deaths from chicken pox on a yearly basis before the discovery of varicella vaccine.

It is believed that COPD is a complication affecting more than 11 million people in the United States alone and a big part of this affected population belongs to the category of past or present-day smokers.

From News-Medical.Net:

Despite the increased pneumonia risk, the team found no clear evidence that the drug therapy also pushes up rates for other steroid-related problems, such as bone fractures, nor was there an increase in deaths.

Senior study investigator and critical care specialist Eddy Fan, M.D., says the results of the analysis should not alarm patients or cause them to stop taking their medications but should spur physicians to screen and monitor their patients to find the lowest possible steroid dose that works, especially in the elderly, people with immune system problems, and people who have had multiple bouts of pneumonia and for whom repeat bacterial infection might be a life-threatening complication.

“Inhaled corticosteroids are not of equal benefit to all, and what we are seeing is that the treatment may be more harmful and pose a greater risk of harm to some,” says Fan, an instructor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Lead author and pulmonologist M. Brad Drummond, M.D., M.H.S., said the finding is nothing but a reminder for prevention of pneumonia, which can double the risk of death.

Growth hormone does not offer benefits on the same lines as anabolic steroids, which are used by sportsmen for enhancing performance and building muscle mass. It was noted that the use of growth hormone may even lead to health complications such as damage to the heart and blood vessels.

From News-Medical.Net:

“Many of those who abuse anabolic steroids regard growth hormone as the Rolls Royce of doping agents: it is significantly more expensive to use than anabolic steroids. There is, however, no scientific evidence that it increases performance when used alone as a doping agent”, says Dr. Christer Ehrnborg.

Christer Ehrnborg has studied 30 well-trained people living in Göteborg. Twenty of these injected large doses of growth hormone each day for a month, while the other 10 believed that they also were receiving growth hormone but received injections of harmless saline solution instead. Tests of the participants’ physical performance on an exercise cycle showed that the participants receiving growth hormone did not perform better than those receiving saline solution.

“It has been a matter of controversy whether growth hormone actually causes an effect or whether it is a matter involving mass psychology. Both our study and studies carried out by others suggest that taking growth hormone will not make you a better athlete”, says Christer Ehrnborg.

Christer Ehrnborg, who was involved in this dissertation, said that some sportsmen may sense a sudden change in the body (perceived as benefit) after using GH but there is no benefit such as increased muscle mass of GH.

It was remarked by Kenneth Saag, M.D., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and his colleagues, that teriparatide is better than alendronate for promoting improvements in the BMD level at the spine and hip.

From Medpagetoday.com:

“In our study, teriparatide was associated with greater increases in [BMD] at the spine and hip and with significantly fewer new vertebral fractures,” Dr. Saag’s group wrote. But the dropout rate for adverse effects was twice as high for those taking teriparatide.

Only one out of 171 evaluable patients receiving teriparatide had radiographic evidence of a vertebral fracture, while 10 of 165 evaluable patients on alendronate had such fractures (P=0.004).

Nonvertebral fractures occurred at similar rates with the two treatments (5.6% versus 3.7%, P=0.36). BMD in the total hip increased with both drugs, though less dramatically than in the lumbar spine. Teriparatide increased hip BMD by 3.8% while it rose 2.4% in the alendronate group. The advantage for teriparatide was significant (P<0.01). Significantly more patients in the teriparatide group had at least one elevated serum calcium measurement > 10.5 mg/dL (18% versus 5.7%, P<0.001) and there was a tendency toward more patients with at least one measurement > 11 mg/dL (3.8% versus 1%, P=0.06).

Teriparatide is a recombinant peptide drug, based on a portion of the parathyroid hormone protein. Earlier studies had indicated that it leads to increased BMD.

Philip N. Sambrook, M.D., of the University of Sydney, said that teriparatide can be considered as an effective form of treatment and may even be taken as a potential first-line therapy for steroid-Induced osteoporosis as per the findings of Saag and his colleagues.

This complication was previously unrecognized and can happen when steroids are used on a habitual basis.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Reports of professional athletes who abuse anabolic steroids are increasingly common. Most people know that using steroids is not good for your health, but until now, their effects on the kidneys have not been known. Leal Herlitz, MD (Columbia University Medical Center) and her colleagues recently conducted the first study describing injury to the kidneys following long-term abuse of anabolic steroids. The investigators studied a group of 10 bodybuilders who used steroids for many years and developed protein leakage into the urine and severe reductions in kidney function. Kidney tests revealed that nine of the ten bodybuilders developed a condition called focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a type of scarring within the kidneys. This disease typically occurs when the kidneys are overworked. The kidney damage in the bodybuilders has similarities to that seen in morbidly obese patients, but appears to be even more severe.

The study was conducted in the lab of Dr. Vivette D’Agati, MD at Columbia Univeristy Medical Center. Study co-authors included Glen Markowitz, MD, Joshua Schwimmer, MD, Michael Stokes, MD, Cheryl Kunis, MD, Vivette D’Agati, MD, (Columbia University Medical Center); Alton Farris, MD, and Robert Colvin, MD (Massachusetts General Hospital).

In a paper that appeared in an issue of the journal Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, the researchers noted that dramatic results can be attained with a fat-soluble form of vitamin B1, benfotiamene.

Presently, the complication is treated with antibiotics or steroid eye drops.

From Sciencedaily.com:

“Benfotiamene strongly suppresses this eye-damaging condition and the biochemical markers we associate with it,” said UTMB associate professor Kota V. Ramana, senior author of the study. “We’re optimistic that this simple supplementation with vitamin B1 has great potential as a new therapy for this widespread eye disease.”

The researchers’ data shows benfotiamene works by suppressing the activation of a crucial signaling molecule called NF-kappa B, which is normally triggered by the stress caused by infection. Shutting down NF-kappa B, they said, prevents the runaway production of inflammatory proteins that generates uveitis.

Benfotiamene’s low cost, rapid absorption by the body and lack of negative side effects make it an ideal candidate for uveitis prevention, according to Ramana.

Benfotiamene is better than thiamine, which was suggested by clinical trials in this regard, and offers benefits such as improvements in terms of diabetic polyneuropathy in patients, as per Ramana.

This finding was noted in a new study that was published in an issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP).

The involved researchers noted that COPD patients on corticosteroids within 30 days from hospital discharge displayed a 25 percent reduced all-cause mortality rate and those using steroids paired with beta-agonists displayed a fall in cardiovascular-related deaths by 38 percent.

From News-Medical.Net:

Researchers also found a 23 percent reduced risk of death when comparing the effects of inhaled steroids with bronchodilators in patients in the 65+ group. In all cases, the most significant results were found when inhaled corticosteroids were administered within the first 30 days following hospital discharge.

“Our results indicate that the effect of inhaled corticosteroids is relatively short-term and that those currently using it are relatively better protected, ” said Dr. Macie. “Inhaled corticosteroids should be prescribed as soon as clinically indicated. By treating COPD with inhaled corticosteroids, we have the potential to reduce the effect and prolong life.”

“The findings from this study are intriguing for clinicians and point to the need for further research to define the role and mechanisms of the effect of inhaled corticosteroids on both cardiovascular and respiratory mortality,” said W. Michael Alberts, MD, FCCP, President of the ACCP.

Author Christine Macie, MD, FCCP, Cambridge Hospital, Ontario, Canada, remarked that COPD often remains an underrated lung ailment that has associated lung disease.

Rituximab

This finding was revealed in a recent study.

Raymond S. Douglas, M.D., Ph.D., an oculoplastics specialist who recently joined the faculty of the U-M Kellogg Eye Center, noted on the drug potential in the online October issue of Ophthalmology.

From News-Medical.Net:

In the current study, Douglas observed improvement among the patients, four of whom were women, as early as four weeks following the first infusion of rituximab. Researchers also observed that the positive results were sustained 4 to 6 months after treatment.

“Treatment of the inflammatory component of Graves’ eye disease has not advanced appreciably over several decades,” says Douglas. High-dose steroids, sometimes in combination with orbital radiation, are still the first line treatment. But, says Douglas, “These are imperfect options because inflammation often recurs when the treatment ends.” He is hopeful that rituximab can offer sustained improvement. Douglas observes that the results from a small case series must be viewed with some caution. But given the substantial benefits for patients treated with rituximab, he sees good reason to proceed with a large-scale clinical trial to test this promising new drug.

The study suggested that rituximab can easily be termed as an effective treatment option for treating patients suffering from the most severe forms of Graves’ eye disease.

This admission has once again reaffirmed the fact that there is a relationship between steroids and sports. It is believed that baseball fans would find it difficult to forget the steroid tales that were once related to their favorite stars.

From Freep.com:

“I hope you all can accept this,” McGwire said. “Let’s all move on from this. Baseball is great right now, baseball is better.”

McGwire, the new Cardinals hitting coach, is getting support from his boss, manager Tony La Russa, and St. Louis‘ best player, Albert Pujols.

“Go talk to Mark, I think he cleared up everything, he closed the doors,” Pujols told reporters at the team’s Winter Warm-Up. “If you want to reopen those doors I know the right guy. Go talk to Mark about it. … There’s 300,000 people that just died in Haiti and you guys just want to concentrate on Mark McGwire. Come on, give me a break.”

The admission by McGwire has also blasted the claims of anti-doping and government officials that have been long in place for curbing the use of anabolic steroids in sports.

The study suggested that health of a patient suffering from pneumonia can be restored easily if steroids are administered in a combination with antibiotics as compared to the use of antibiotics alone.

From News-medical.net:

Adding corticosteroids to traditional antimicrobial therapy might help people with pneumonia recover more quickly than with antibiotics alone, UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists have found.

Unlike the anabolic steroids used to bulk up muscle, corticosteroids are often used to treat inflammation related to infectious diseases, such as bacterial meningitis. Used against other infectious diseases, however, steroid therapy has been shown to be ineffective or even harmful.

In a study available online and in a future issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases, researchers at UT Southwestern show that mice infected with a type of severe bacterial pneumonia and subsequently treated with steroids and antibiotics recovered faster and had far less inflammation in their lungs than mice treated with antibiotics alone.

The study led by Dr. Robert Hardy, Study’s Senior Author & Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, also suggested that steroids are good for treating inflammation of the lungs while antibiotics prove effective for killing the bug.

It was reported that Troy, Newcastle Waratahs club prop, ordered two separate types of steroid drugs (21 packets of testosterone-1 a mixture of Androstenes in February 2006 and 100 capsules of DHEA 200 containing 200 mg dehydropepiandrosterone per capsule in August 2006).

The Australian Rugby Union cleared him at the initial stage because the intercepted drugs were not proven to what the packaging revealed and were not collected from the customs in person.

From Brisbanetimes.com.au:

Troy had told ASADA: ”I acknowledge that I may have been naive to order [over the internet] but did so in good faith with no intention of using any prohibited substance. However at no time did I have possession of such items due to them being seized by Australian Customs.”

However the International Rugby Board appealed against the decision of the ARU and asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport to decide the matter.

This week the CAS ruled Troy had committed an anti-doping violation by using or attempting to use a prohibited substance. The CAS found that Troy had searched the internet for products, deliberately ordered products believing they contained testosterone and DHEA and that he intended to use those substances personally for ”recovery and meal replacement”.

The CAS said it was not essential that the substances were in fact proven to be prohibited substances.

Troy was banned until May 5, 2011 from playing sports on the accusations of ordering steroids.

The incident is expected to influence other sports drugs tribunal hearings that involve non-analytical evidence.

The finding is believed to provide invaluable insight to understand as to why steroids work along with creating novel avenues for new therapies.

The findings of this study are published online and expected to appear in the September 2009 issue of Nature Cell Biology.

From News-Medical.Net:

Glucocorticoid hormones, which were investigated in this study, are steroid hormones secreted by the adrenal glands that are involved in a large variety of animal and human physiological responses.

Glucocorticoids act through the glucocorticoid receptor, which is expressed in almost every cell in the body and regulates genes controlling development, metabolism, and immune response.

Studies of the glucocorticoid receptor typically assess gene responses after long-term stimulation with synthetic hormones. However, such treatments may not fully replicate the actual situation in living animals because, in addition to being released from the adrenal glands in a 24-hour circadian pattern, these hormones are also released in a pulsing mode, cycling approximately every hour, in what is referred to as ultradian cycling.

In this new study, the researchers demonstrate that ultradian hormone stimulation induces the pulsed expression of genes (known as gene pulsing) over the same period, both in cultured cells and in animal models. Initially, the researchers administered corticosterone, a naturally occurring glucocorticoid hormone in rodents, in a pulsed manner to cultured mouse cells and then observed that the levels of newly synthesized RNA from glucocorticoid receptor-regulated genes tracked precisely with the hormone pulses.

Professor Stafford Lightman, head of the Henry Wellcome Laboratories for Integrative Neuroscience and Endocrinology, at the University of Bristol, remarked that cortisol gets gradually released in pulses in rodents and humans. It was also remarked that the study suggests this hormonal pattern release is important for sound health and providing a novel concept for new drug design.

Dr. Henry Friedman, co-director, Clinical Neuro-Oncology Program, The Brain Tumor Center at Duke, said that Temodar is a significant advancement in battling GBM.

From News-Medical.Net:

The approval of Temodar for newly diagnosed GBM was based on efficacy and safety data from a landmark Phase III study conducted by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC)(1) in patients with newly diagnosed GBM. These data were published in the March 10, 2005 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.(2) In this multicenter trial of 573 patients, significant improvements in overall survival were observed in patients who were treated with Temodar in combination with radiotherapy. Myelosuppression was the dose-limiting adverse event. The most common adverse events across the cumulative Temodar experience were alopecia, nausea, vomiting, anorexia, headache, and constipation. Forty-nine percent of patients treated with Temodar reported one or more severe or life-threatening events, most commonly fatigue (13%), convulsions (6%), headache (5%) and thrombocytopenia (5%). There may be a higher occurrence of opportunistic infections such as pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) when Temodar is administered during a longer dosing regimen. However, all patients receiving Temodar, particularly patients receiving steroids, should be observed closely for the development of PCP regardless of the regimen.

It was remarked that Temodar has the unique potential of representing an important physicians and patients for fighting against GBM along with the ability to promote the true benefits of chemotherapy in treating this complication.

Calcitriol, which is a form of vitamin D synthesized within the body, reduces growth-factor-induced HASM proliferation in cells that are isolated from asthmatic people and even those unaffected by it.

From Sciencedaily.com:

The experiments were conducted with cells from 12 subjects, and the researchers compared calcitriol with dexmethasone, a corticosteroid prescribed widely for the treatment of asthma. Although, dexmethasone is also a powerful anti-inflammatory agent, the researchers found that it had little effect on HASM growth.

Dr. Damera and his colleagues found calcitriol inhibits HASM in a dose-dependent manner, with a maximum inhibitory effect of 60 percent ± 3 percent at 100nM.

As part of the University of Pennsylvania’s Airway Biology Initiative, the researchers are planning a randomized control trial of calcitriol in patients with severe asthma and expect to have data from the trial in about a year’s time.

Gautam Damera, Ph.D., who will present the research at the American Thoracic Society’s 105th International Conference in San Diego, said that the drug has the unique potential of delivering amazing results due to its anti-inflammatory characteristics.

Diabetic retinopathy can be classified as a condition of diabetes that can result in vision loss and blindness.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Corticosteroids have been shown to interfere with the creation of new blood vessels, possibly by reducing the production of compounds that spur their growth, the authors note. However, steroids are also associated with other eye diseases.

“Use of this intravitreal [injected into the eye] corticosteroid preparation to reduce the likelihood of progression of retinopathy is not warranted at this time because of the increased risk of glaucoma and cataract associated with intravitreal steroid use,” the authors write. “Any treatment to be used routinely to prevent proliferative diabetic retinopathy likely needs to be relatively safe because the condition already can be treated successfully and safely with panretinal photocoagulation. Nevertheless, further investigation with regard to the role of pharmacotherapy for reduction of the incidence of progression of retinopathy appears to be warranted.”

The study was conducted by Neil M. Bressler, M.D., of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, and colleagues in the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network.

The details of this research were published in an issue of Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry.

From News-Medical.Net:

Urine samples were purposely spiked with the newly identified THG and various analyses carried out to determine how the substance could be detected. Although it is not detectable by standard doping control screening, THG was found to be easily detectable by alternate methods. Once detection methods were established, the substance was administered to a baboon both intravenously and intramuscularly, and its excreted urine collected for analysis. It was determined that THG is detectable in urine after both IV and IM administration.

The designer drug identified in this study is different from anabolic steroids previously found in athletes’ urine samples. The Food and Drug Administration has warned that its use could pose health risks, and it cannot be legally marketed without approval.

It was remarked by Catlin that no one will be using this drug from now on as tests to identify have will feature in doping tests. It is worth noting here that THG is detectable in urine after both IV and IM administration.

The study, which was undertaken by Pharmacy Alliance, the Medicines Management Division of UniChem, investigated the inputs of community pharmacists in collaboration with general physicians for meeting the needs of patients with atomic eczema.

From News-Medical.Net:

The results showed that, following help and advice from a pharmacist, or pharmacy staff:

* Steroid concerns reduced from 68% to 30%

* Poor understanding of atopic eczema fell from 43% to 6%

* The need for lifestyle advice dropped from 51% to 20%

The research also found that:

Community pharmacists identified a total of 1,597 problems. Of these:

* 20% involved steroid concerns

* 15% required lifestyle advice

* 12% of patients had unmet treatment goals

* 11% of patients had poor understanding of atopic eczema

Pharmacist Caroline Tinkler who led the study remarked that it is important for the patients to be appropriately educated about eczema and treatment to derive optimum benefits and relief.

It was suggested that a pharmacist advice can relieve worries of patients who are about to use topical corticosteroids, to a great extent.

This study suggested how certain drugs, already tested as cancer treatment options may reduce the level of tissue inflammation.

From News-Medical.Net:

Professor Chris Haslett, Head of the Queen’s Medical Research Institute at the University of Edinburgh, expects the study to lead to trials of these drugs in human inflammatory diseases. Professors Adriano Rossi and Haslett, who have led this new study with other colleagues from the QMRI, said: “This study offers new hope for patients with severe inflammatory diseases. Specific treatment for such conditions is poor, and the use of steroids is fraught with potential difficulties. We have adopted a different strategy by using non-biological treatments, but this study needs urgently to be translated into trials and we are now seeking major funding to research further how these drugs work.”

It is worthwhile to note here that lab tests have highlighted the fact that CDK inhibitors, like Roscovitine, can significantly minimize the inflammation level in models of rheumatoid arthritis and the fatal ailment called fibrosing alveolitis.

Limor Raz, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the MCG School of Graduate Studies, said that this research clearly suggests that estrogen surpasses P53 after a stroke for curbing the damage.

From News-Medical.Net:

P53, the protein in the mitochondria, or powerhouse, of the cell, is known as “the guardian of the genome” because it regulates the cell cycle and prevents genome mutation. It also can prevent cancer by suppressing tumor growth.

It is known that stressful conditions such as a stroke activate p53, triggering unfavorable changes in the cell. One change is the activation of another protein called PUMA, which signals a cascading effect that destroys the mitochondria and causes cell death, or apoptosis.

Ms. Raz further said that estrogen has the potential to alter p53 chemically besides attenuating the cascade to result in minimized stroke damage.

Raz has been working with Dr. Darrell Brann, chief of developmental neurobiology and associate director of the MCG Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics and presented her findings at the American Physiological Society conference aimed at the cardiovascular effects of sex steroids and gender.

The finding was revealed after detection of the drug candidate Andarine in a product sold via the Internet, which one again highlighted the fact that availability of authentic SARMs draws people to them.

From Sciencedaily.com:

In 2008, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) prohibited the use of SARMs in sports due to their potential for misuse. WADA closely cooperates with pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies, as well as medicine agencies and drug evaluation bodies on the issue of therapeutics being misused in sports. WADA’s preventive approach was validated with the recent finding of a commercially available, non-approved arylpropionamide-derived SARM termed Andarine. This product, declared as green tea extracts and face moisturizer to pass customs, was available on the Internet at a discount price of $100 USD.

To prove that SARMs lacking clinical approval are distributed and potentially misused in sports, Mario Thevis, Ph.D., and colleagues, analyzed the advertised substance using state-of-the-art mass spectrometric approaches with high resolution/high accuracy (tandem) mass spectrometry. “One unit (30 mL) was purchased online and delivered in a box labeled to contain face moisturizer and green tea extract. The sealed bottle did not declare any content and no further documents accompanied package,” said Dr. Thevis.

Mario Thevis, Ph.D., and colleagues, said that SARMs coming with significant anabolic properties are nowadays easily available without sufficient research on their undesirable effects.

This matter was recently addressed at the Conference of Parties to the International Convention against Doping in Sport, held October 26-28, 2009 at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) headquarters in Paris.

The article revealed that about half of high school students (male and female) participate in school sports and the pressure to win often influence young women to come in close proximity to disordered eating behaviors, drug use (tobacco, diet pills, diuretics, laxatives, amphetamines, and anabolic steroids).

From News-Medical.Net:

The researchers found that athletes participating in the ATHENA program reported significantly less ongoing and new use of diet pills, and less use of amphetamines, anabolic steroids, and sport supplements. These athletes also reported more seatbelt use and less new sexual activity. The ATHENA athletes also had positive changes in healthy eating behaviors, and reductions in intent to use diet pills in the future, vomiting to lose weight and tobacco use.

“The ATHENA curriculum succeeded in most of its prevention and health promotion goals,” the authors write. “Following their sport season, intervention students reported less ongoing and new diet pill use and less new use of athletic-enhancing, body-shaping substances (amphetamines, anabolic steroids, and muscle-building supplements). Experimental participants understood more about the presented topics, had improved self-reported dietary habits, and indicated greater self-efficacy for exercise training,” write the researchers.

The topics in the ATHENA program were gender specific and consisted of information on effective exercise training, drug use, depression prevention, media images of women, and healthy sport nutrition.

These facts have raised the interest of clinicians apart from providing a potential breakthrough for formulating medications and enhance the results of treatment methodologies when it comes to monitoring nitric oxide levels.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Still, in light of these findings, it is clear that FENO monitoring should only be applied to those who stand to gain the most. “There can be no doubt that adding frequent assessments of FENO to management plans of most children and adults with asthma will add unjustifiable costs without providing clinical benefit. Whether there is a role for monitoring FENO to aid management of severe asthma is untested,” wrote Stephen Stick, Ph.D., of the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in Perth, Australia and Peter Franklin, Ph.D., of the Centre for Asthma, Allergy and Respiratory Research at the University of Western Australia in Perth in an editorial that accompanied the article.

“We did not address other possible applications of frequent FENO monitoring, such as prediction of steroid effect. Loss of control, prediction and prevention of exacerbations, and tapering of steroids in symptom-free children who wheezed in the past,” noted Dr. de Jongste. “We think there is good reason to study these potential applications.”

It was remarked by Johan C. de Jongste, M.D., Ph.D., at the Erasmus University Medical Center-Sophia Children’s Hospital in the Netherlands, and colleagues, that there is more than just a reason to go further to study about these potential applications in the near future.

However, what many people forget is the fact that steroids do not pose any harm to the users if used under medical advice and help sportsmen delivers dramatic performance on a continuing basis.

From Entertainment.howstuffworks.com:

Anabolic Steroids

A steroid is a chemical substance derived from cholesterol. The body has several major steroid hormones — cortisol and testosterone in the male, estrogen and progesterone in the female. Catabolic steroids break down tissue, and anabolic steroids build up tissue. Anabolic steroids build muscle and bone mass primarily by stimulating the muscle and bone cells to make new protein.

Athletes use anabolic steroids because they increase muscle strength by encouraging new muscle growth. Anabolic steroids are similar in structure to the male sex hormone, testosterone, so they enhance male reproductive and secondary sex characteristics (testicle development, hair growth, thickening of the vocal cords). They allow the athlete to train harder and longer at any given period.

Anabolic steroids are mostly testosterone (male sex hormone) and its derivatives. Examples of anabolic steroids include:

* Testosterone

* Dihydrotestosterone

* Androstenedione (Andro)

* Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)

* Clostebol

* Nandrolone

It is, however, of great mention that steroid abuse and sub-standard steroids can result in side effects and must be avoided at all stages.

James Guevara, M.D., of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and colleagues said that asthmatic patients treated with steroids have an advantage of scoring higher in lung function tests. It was also remarked by them that the usage of corticosteroids allow patients to make lesser use of inhalers than patients who makes use of cromolyn.

From News-Medical.Net:

“To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review comparing the effects of cromolyn to the gold standard, inhaled steroids,” Guevara said.

The review appears in the current issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Systematic reviews draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials on a topic.

The consensus still leaves room for cromolyn treatment, according to William Storms, M.D., an allergist at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and director of the William Storms Allergy Clinic in Colorado Springs.

“Any expert would agree that inhaled corticosteroids are preferred first-line therapy for treatment of persistent asthma, which requires daily therapy. But we also will agree with the NIH [National Institutes of Health] asthma guidelines, which state that cromolyn and other drugs are alternative therapies,” Storms said.

Cromolyn, or sodium cromoglycate, and inhaled corticosteroids both block the action of certain inflammatory cells in the lungs. Physicians recommend both types of medication for persistent asthma, but individual studies disagree about which type of medication works best, the reviewers found.

Guevara and colleagues said that inhaled corticosteroids are superior to cromolyn irrespective of asthma severity level and also said that the attained results are so decisive that there is no need for any future study on this matter.