Archive for September, 2010

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and FIFA have entered into new drug testing procedures for football players making their presence felt at the highest level.

The doping tests will be targeted at football players classed in three high-risk categories: those sidelined for long periods through injury or suspension, players with Champions League clubs, and international players.

From Guardian.co.uk:

Fifa proposed the targeted testing program to Wada after arguing that team sports like football, where training and playing locations are more predictable, should not be treated like individual sports such as athletics and cycling, where competitors’ plans change at short notice.

It also argued that footballers were entitled to their individual privacy during out-of-season holiday times. Individual testing and whereabouts requirements for players was “inefficient and ineffective,” Fifa said on Tuesday. “Random team testing of elite teams at any time has more of a deterrent effect.” Fifa has also created a specialised anti-doping unit of medical and legal advisers and anti-doping administrators to operate the pilot scheme this year.

It will work with Wada and liaise with national anti-doping organizations and other sports federations. More than 28,000 doping controls were carried out in football in 2007 with 93 samples testing positive. Around 60% of those positives were for recreational drugs and 12 involved anabolic steroids.

New anti-doping rules by FIFA come into force as a pilot project that was initiated after the football governing body objected to players being held to the toughest standards of the new WADA code.

In the world of anabolic steroids and bodybuilding, Fareston is an admired name for reducing side effects of estrogens such as fluid retention and gynecomastia, especially when a steroid cycle is all about use of aromatizable steroids. Let us read more about this miracle drug to gain a complete understanding.

Fareston or Toremifene Citrate can be termed as a SERM (selective estrogen receptor modulator), which is obtained from Triphenylethelyne. It is used by sportsmen on steroids, at the end of a steroid cycle involving aromatizable steroids, to reduce or eliminate the excess formation of estrogens.

It is also admired as an FDA-approved drug for providing relief to patients afflicted with advanced breast cancer. Since it helps in reducing the formation of estrogens, use of this drug can mean significant relief for cancer patients in a short span of time.

The chemical name of Fareston is 2-{p-[(Z)-4-chloro-1,2-diphenyl-1-butenyl]phenoxy}-N,N-dimethylethylamine citrate (1:1) and its molecular formula is C₂₆H₂₈CINO • C₆H₈O₇. The tablets of Fareston has Toremifene citrate as the active ingredient and povidone, sodium starch glycolate, colloidal silicon dioxide, microcrystalline cellulose, lactose, magnesium stearate, and starch as the inactive ingredients.

Fareston promotes stimulation of hepatic metabolism and inhibits specific estrogenic pathways and thereby helps its users to stay away from estrogen side effects. It has an elimination active life of approximately 4-5 days and considered second to none for minimizing the levels of LDL (bad) and Total cholesterol. Fareston also stimulates positive effect on the blood lipids and thus enhances the level of BMD (bone mineral density).

The recommended dose of Fareston is 60 mg per day or as per medical advice. Use of this antiestrogen is not recommended for pregnant or breastfeeding women and Fareston abuse can lead to side effects such as hot flashes, dizziness, vomiting, and nausea.

The currently followed steroid (testosterone) doping tests must be scrapped for international sport as they overlook important ethnic variations in hormone activity, as per a research published ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports Medicine,

It was suggested by the research that a single indiscriminate threshold for picking up steroid abuse in international sport is no fit for the purpose.

From News-medical.net:

Evidence of abuse is determined by the testosterone: epitestosterone ratio, or T:E ratio for short, in the urine. The threshold is set at above four for everyone, and confirmed by chemical analysis (gas chromatography).

To highlight the inadequacy of the current test, the researchers tested the steroid profiles of football players of different ethnicities, after they had deliberately added steroid to their urine samples.

They used gas chromatography, and took account of a variation (polymorphism) in the UGT2B17 gene.

Previous research has indicated that variations in this gene account for some of the differences in the urinary T:E ratio between men of white and Asian ethnic backgrounds. The gene affects metabolism, and therefore the rate at which testosterone is passed out of the body into the urine.

Testosterone and other hormones such as growth hormone are capable of boosting levels of testosterone and considered to be some of the most widely abused performance enhancing drugs in sports as per the WADA.

If you want to make use of anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs such as Testosterone but hesitant due to the risk of estrogen side effects such as gynecomastia and fluid retention, Clomid is one antiestrogen that can help you get rid of all worries and buy steroids and make use of them.

Professional sports, such as bodybuilding and strength athletics, demand unmatched levels of power, dedication, and stamina. These requisites can be attained with anabolic steroids but the risk of excess estrogen formation may be too much for many sportsmen to initiate the use of steroids. However, things are not as difficult as perceived in the first place as long as Clomid is around. This is because this potent antiestrogen can reduce the formation of estrogens to a significant extent and helps in restoring the production of natural testosterone in the body especially after the end of a steroid cycle.

This nonsteroidal, ovulatory stimulant has an active elimination life of approximately 5-7 days and has the chemical name of -[p-(2-chloro-1,2-diphenylvinyl)phenoxy] triethylamine citrate (1:1).

Besides its proving its worth by inhibiting the production of excess estrogens, Clomid is also effective for stimulating the production of luteinizing hormone.

The recommended dose of Clomid is 45-50 mg per day for a period of 5-6 days. It is however important to note that this antiestrogen is not recommended to individuals having an existing allergy to Clomid or its ingredients and is also not recommended to pregnant or breastfeeding women. When used beyond the recommendations, Clomid use can lead to side effects such as cataract, macular edema, retinal hemorrhage, retinal thrombosis, allergic reactions, anxiety, and acne.

The muscle building potential of hormones known as insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are rated by professional sportsmen as exemplary and the Internet is full of scientific papers justifying the effects of IGF on muscle building tissues.

But the issue is that the world of Internet is also bombarded by advertisements that tout the advantages of IGF supplements for bodybuilding.

From News-medical.net:

Like other peptide and protein hormones, IGFs work by binding to receptors on the cells they target. The binding then sets off a cascade of reactions that ultimately direct the cell to do something. You might think that a given hormone, binding to a particular receptor, would always elicit the same response from the cell, but that’s not what happens in the case of IGF and myoblasts (immature cells that develop into muscle tissue).

During muscle formation, the binding of IGF to its receptor can prompt either of two very different responses in myoblasts, said Duan, a professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. Some of the cells are stimulated to divide, while others interpret the very same signal as an order to differentiate (become specialized).

These findings of a research team, which was led by University of Michigan molecular biologist Cunming Duan, were published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Rays manager Joe Maddon said before Thursday’s game against the Tigers that the reason why A-Rod’s 600th career home run didn’t elicited an overwhelming interest compared to the past is because the name of Alex Rodriguez was associated with performance enhancing drugs.

It is believed by some experts that absence of interest by baseball fans in A-Rod’s record is probably due to the fact that Sammy Sosa and Ken Griffey Jr. both reached 600 in the past decade.

From NYdailynews.com:

“Because of all the subplots involved, I think that’s why you’re not getting as much of a build-up,” the Rays manager said before Thursday’s game against the Tigers. “I don’t think that it’s worn off. I think when Jim Thome arrives nearer that point you’re going to see the same kind of previous build-up, I believe, as an example. I think based on the revelations of the last couple years, I think it probably detracts from it a bit.”

Wade Davis, Friday night’s scheduled Rays starter, has allowed two home runs to A-Rod – one on the last day of the 2009 season at Tropicana Field, then another this past May 19 in the Bronx.

It is a greater challenge for A-Rod than it is for others, Davis said.

Anabolic steroids, which are also known as anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS), belong to the family of steroid hormones. Steroids closely resemble testosterone, the male sex hormone, which is required for promoting normal growth and functioning of body organs and parts. Let us read more about anabolic steroids and their benefits to develop a clear insight.

Anabolic steroids were first synthesized, artificially, in the 1930s and were developed primarily for improving physical appearance and enhancing body strength, endurance, and muscle mass, and sporting performance. They were also admired by sportsmen since they help them train for longer periods of time and frequently with unprecedented density.

In addition to that, anabolic steroids especially the testosterone derivatives (testosterone cypionate, testosterone suspension, and testosterone enanthate) have been in great demand for improving the natural production of testosterone after the same has been reduced due to medical reasons or long-term medications.

Let us now have a look at some popular anabolic steroids and their mode of administration and optimal dose so that any incidents of steroid abuse can be reduced or eliminated.

It is important to note that benefits of steroids are best experienced when steroids are used in accordance with instructions, dosage guidelines, and safety measures. This is because abuse of anything can have serious repercussions and steroid abuse is no exception. If steroids are used wisely and as per medical advice, the only thing that you can expect from them is BENEFIT.

We hope that this information on anabolic steroids and their benefits helped you in developing a clear insight.

Routine doping tests in future could be put before exam students because of the increasing use of “nootropics” to boost academic performance, as per an article in the Journal of Medical Ethics.

It was, however, remarked by Vince Cakic of the Department of Psychology, University of Sydney that it will be near impossible to ban these drugs despite many dilemmas about the legitimacy of their chemically enhanced academic performance.

From Sciencedaily.com:

“If the current situation in competitive sport is anything to go by, any attempt to prohibit the use of nootropics will probably be difficult or inordinately expensive to police effectively,” he warns.

Nootropics were designed to help people with cognitive problems, such as dementia and attention deficit disorder, but students with a looming deadline have several options: modafinil (Provigil), methylphenidate (Ritalin), and amphetamine (Dexedrine).

The non-medical use of methylphenidate and amphetamine is as high as 25% on some US college campuses, particularly in colleges with more competitive admission criteria, says Mr Cakic.

For boosting memory retention, there’s brahmi, piracetam (Nootropil), donepezil (Aricept) and galantamine (Reminyl). And for a bit more get up and go, there’s selegiline (Deprenyl).

Cakic drew several parallels with competitive sport doping where as much as “95 percent of elite athletes” have made use of performance enhancing drugs.

The star third-baseman for the New York Yankees and baseball’s highest-paid player, Alex Rodriguez, who recently attained the magical figure of 600 career home runs, has been accused of making use of steroids.

The game of baseball seems to have absolutely no respite from accusations of use of steroids and the history seems to be repeating itself.

From News.bbc.co.uk:

Timed to coincide with the opening of Bonds’s trial for perjury in telling a federal grand jury he had never taken steroids, Sports Illustrated broke the story on their website, saying Rodriguez had tested positive in 2003 for both testosterone and for the “designer steroid” primobolan.

The drugs were not banned in baseball at the time, although primobolan has never been authorised even for prescription use in the US.

The testing, which covered all 1,198 major league players, had been agreed with the players’ association to determine the extent of drug use in the game: if more than 5% of the players tested positive, it would trigger the instituting of mandatory random tests in 2004.

Nearly 9%, or 104 players, tested positive, though their identities were supposed to remain secret and no punishments were called for.

Confronted by SI.com reporter Selena Roberts in Miami, Rodriguez passed up the chance to comment on the report. “You’ll have to talk to the union,” he said. “I’m not saying anything.”

A-Rod has remains a style icon and idol for many ever since he entered the world of professional baseball by moving from high school in Miami to the Seattle Mariners.

If you want to gain a competitive edge in the world of professional sports and hesitant to use anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs just because your body is prone to excess estrogen formation, Arimidex is one antiestrogen that can help you to a significant extent.

Arimidex, which is also known as Anastrozole, can be easily termed as an oral aromatase inhibitor that has helped thousands of professional sportsmen on steroids to get rid of excess estrogen formation, particularly at the end of a steroid cycle.

The drug, which is also used to treat breast cancer, in the world of healthcare has the unique ability of reducing the level of estrogens to a considerable extent and restoring the production of natural testosterone after the same has been suppressed by the use of aromatizable anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs during a steroid cycle.

Arimidex is potent enough to inhibit the production of estrogens in the human body and has an active life of approximately 48 hours. Considered as a “rescue drug”, Arimidex does not disappoint its users striving to reap and optimize benefits of steroids but worrying about the formation of estrogens.

The recommended dose of Arimidex is 0.5-1.0 mg per day. Even at this low dose, Arimidex is second to none for reducing estrogens and helping sportsmen attain their long cherished dreams by using anabolic steroids. The doses of Arimidex should not be manipulated at will else this can lead to side effects such as peripheral edema, dyspnea, bone pain, nausea, vomiting, and arthritis.