UK Athletics

A former discus thrower, Vesteinn Hafsteinsson, tested positive for the steroid nandrolone during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and was suspended for two years.

From Telegraph.co.uk:

UK Athletics says it was Morse’s personal decision to change coaches and insists it is not paying Hafsteinsson for his services.

But Bevan, who competed for Britain in the javelin at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, claims the move to Hafsteinsson was orchestrated by UK Athletics. He cites an email, seen by Telegraph Sport, which was sent to him by UK Athletics head coach Charles van Commenee on Oct 16, 2010.

“We identified a need for greater technical input into Brett’s training and a person who could deliver that to the athlete and his coach in a controlled and monitored environment. The athlete has now chosen to work with this coach,” a spokeswoman for UK Athletics said.

“I would like to say through this medium and the public that logically, we are preparing a lawsuit for defamation against Mr. Alex Ariza,” Hernandez said, his words translated from Spanish.

From Boxingforum.com:

While it is unclear exactly which of Ariza’s comments have sparked Hernandez’ statements, Hernandez has come under scrutiny lately after former BALCO chief Victor Conte revealed through his Twitter account on Monday that Hernandez is the former Angel Heredia.

As the government’s star witness in the infamous BALCO doping cases, Heredia testified before a San Francisco court in May of 2008 that he had sold banned substances—namely EPO, growth hormone and steroids—to Olympic sprinters like Marion Jones.

Conte ended up serving four months in prison for his role in orchestrating the steroid distribution scandal.

However, Hernandez’ ire was not directed at Conte, but rather at Ariza and Pacquiao, the latter of whom will fight Marquez on Nov. 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

“On his behalf, the declarations he has made are very direct. I think they’re very prejudicial not just with respect toward the image of Juan Manuel Marquez, but for mine as his physical trainer,” Hernandez said.

The nutritionist admitted in May 2008 to a San Francisco court that he sold performance enhancing drugs to track stars, including former Olympian Marion Jones.

From Abs-cbnnews.com:

In a conference call with RingTV and other boxing media, Arum said Hernandez and other strength and conditioning coaches have learned their lesson and are now using only legal supplements.

“There was a period of time when people like Victor Conte, and like this guy, Hernandez, dealt in steroids with some major athletes. But that’s old, old news in this sense,” Arum said.

Conte is the nutritionist for world bantamweight champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire, and has spent time in prison for supplying illegal performance-enhancing substances to athletes.

“Most of the intelligent conditioners, like Conte, if you read what he was saying when he was handling Donaire, and this guy (Hernandez) who is now with Marquez, they know that you can achieve all of the benefits you used to achieve with steroids with natural supplements,” Arum said.

“The steroid problem is fading into the past,” Arum said.

Researchers investigated whether the addition of a drug N-acetylcysteine to steroids may possibly improve survival in alcoholic hepatitis patients.

From Medindia.net:

Researchers investigated whether the addition of a drug N-acetylcysteine to steroids could possibly improve survival in these patients. N-acetylcysteine has antioxidant properties and is currently used to protect the liver during acetaminophen (paracetamol) overdosage. It is also used to reduce thickness of mucus secreted in certain lung conditions.

The study was conducted on 174 patients in France. The patients were divided into two groups: One group was given the steroid prednisolone and the second group received prednisolone plus N-acetylcysteine. Prednisolone was administered for 28 days for all patients; patients in the second group also received N-acetylcysteine for the first five days. The patients underwent initial examination, laboratory and other tests. They were followed up for a period of 6 months or till death, whichever was earlier.

The researchers said that it is possible that a larger study with perhaps a longer duration of injectable N-acetylcysteine followed by oral administration could produce contrary results.

The finding was published in a new study that appeared in FASEB Journal.

From Geekosystem.com:

For all those people that have weight-gaining or muscle-growth issues, or for those that would absolutely take steroids if not for the awful side effects, there just may be a future miracle drug for you.

Komarnytsky and colleagues exposed rat skeletal muscle cells to various amounts of homobrassinolide, then measured the protein synthesis in each structure — not exactly a large amount of steps. Along with the discovered increased protein synthesis, the scientists also found decreased protein degradation. The team then gave the rats the homobrassinolide for 24 days via oral intake, and measured the changes in body weight and composition, and food consumption.  Using dual-emission X-ray absorptiometry analysis, the team found an increase in lean body mass in the rats who were administered the oral steroid over the rats who did not take the steroid.

Slavko Komarnytsky, a researcher involved in the work, hopes, “that one day brassinosteroids may provide an effective, natural, and safe alternative for age- and disease-associated muscle loss, or be used to improve endurance and physical performance.”

In the wake of the biggest steroid bust in the area in recent history, high school athletes are now in the spotlight.

From Wdtn.com:

Investigators say they found evidence that many of the performance enhancing drugs were being sold and used by students looking to get bigger, stronger and faster quickly.

“I can honestly say I’ve never seen a high school kid use steroids, but clearly with the things going on in the news, they are being used somewhere,” said Coach Aracri.

He told 2 News he spends a lot of time talking to teens about anabolic steroids and convincing them to stay away from the drugs.

“What we just do with them is show them that you don’t have to dig very deep to see some of the negative side effects on the inside and outside of your body to see why you shouldn’t use steroids,” a local high school football coach Andy Aracri said.

The ring used to work on a business model that implemented techniques such as bonuses and rebates.

From Washingtonpost.com:

A grand jury north of Cincinnati in Warren County indicted 32 people in the operation on charges that include engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, trafficking drugs and drug possession, according to police and prosecutors. Those charged include a bank manager, a financial planner, a delivery truck driver, a professional wrestler, a health club manager and a stay-at-home mom, and most have turned themselves in and are being held in the county jail, said Prosecutor David Fornshell.

Authorities have seized more than $600,000 in steroids, about $300,000 in cash and vehicles, and a number of assault rifles and other firearms, some used for security at the lab and others that appear to be collected.

“It’s pretty amazing the amount of firearms and what this organization was doing, and that is peddling this poison throughout the country,” James Deir, resident agent in charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives office in Cincinnati said.

Cheque Drop or Mibolerone is one of the best drugs to dramatically enhance the levels of aggression and performance in just four to eight weeks. This anabolic steroid is believed to have been discovered by Dan Duchaine and is placed under the category of DEA Schedule III (US) drugs. The steroid has an androgenic/anabolic ratio of 250:590. Not only this, Cheque drops is 5.9 times more potent than testosterone and about 2.6 times more potent than androgens. This clearly suggests why this anabolic steroid is gaining steady popularity in the world of professional sports, especially boxing, body building, and athletics.

One of the best things about Cheque drops is that it can be stacked with almost every anabolic available today. When used in doses of 5-10 mg per day, Cheque drops leads to dramatic muscle, strength, performance, and aggression gains. Since use of this steroid does not lead to estrogenic side effects like fluid retention, gynecomastia, oily skin, and acne, the need for antiestrogens such as Nolvadex and Clomid is nullified. It is however important to seek medical advice before initiating the use of Cheque drops to rule out the possibility of an existing allergy to the drug or any of its active or inactive ingredients.

The research revealed that Homobrassinolide, which is found in the mustard plant, produces an anabolic effect.

From Timesofindia.indiatimes.com:

“We hope that one day brassinosteroids may provide an effective, natural, and safe alternative for age- and disease-associated muscle loss, or be used to improve endurance and physical performance,” Slavko Komarnytsky, a researcher involved in the work from the Plants for Human Health Institute said.

“Because some plants we eat contain these compounds, like mustards, in the future we may be able to breed or engineer these plants for higher brassinosteroid content, thus producing functional foods that can treat or prevent diseases and increase physical performance,” he stated.

Homobrassinolide was also found helpful in increasing appetite and muscle mass along with promoting improvements in the number and size of muscle fibers.

“Since many of the side effects of anabolic steroids are manifested in the skin, dermatologists are in a unique and favorable position to detect their use, if they are aware of such clinical signs,” says Michael J. Scott III, D.O., M.D., clinical associate professor of dermatology, Western University of Health Sciences, and co-director of the Seattle Dermatology Center, Seattle.

From Modernmedicine.com:

Whether administered orally or by injection, anabolic androgenic steroids can cause many side effects in patients who use and/or abuse them. They include a very muscular/athletic build, gynecomastia in males, striae, alopecia, aggravation of an existing case of acne or a new case of acne (including an increase in comedones, sebaceous cysts or cystic acne lesions), rosacea, seborrhea, androgenic alopecia in both males and females and hirsutism (particularly in females).

Other adverse events that can occur outside of the dermatologic field include testicular atrophy, a decreased sperm count and libido. According to Dr. Scott, most of the side effects can revert back to a normal state approximately four to six months after the patient ceases to take the offending steroid. However, some side effects may be permanent.

“Once alerted to this possibility during a dermatological examination, the dermatologist has an excellent opportunity to make users aware of the potential hazards and dangers of taking such drugs.”