The former Wimbledon champion and tennis great, John McEnroe, has unwittingly admitted that he used steroids for a period of six years.

This steroid admission followed a similar admission by Greg Rusedski that he tested positive for the banned steroid, nandrolone.

From News.bbc.co.uk:

“I was being given a form of legal steroid they gave to horses until they decided it was too strong even for them,” said McEnroe.

“I’m not sure some of the strong, anti-inflammatory drugs are that far removed from illegal ones.”

McEnroe added: “People have to become more aware of what they are putting into their bodies.

People are generally administered drugs too readily, McEnroe said.

Tags:  Greg Rusedski, John McEnroe, legal steroid, Nandrolone, steroid, Steroids

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The federal grand jury that is holding investigations in case of Roger Clemens for perjury testified David Segui, who became the latest former major leaguer to testify in Clemens’ case.

When asked to comment about his testimony by the media, Segui declined to have a word while leaving the room of grand jury on the third floor of the federal courthouse in the shadow of the Capitol.

From NYdailynews.com:

Segui, whose 15-season Major League Baseball career included parts of two seasons with the Mets, is the latest former ballplayer dragged into the Clemens investigation. Self-proclaimed steroid guru Jose Canseco appeared before the grand jury on June 3 and told reporters afterward that he testified that he had no evidence that Clemens had used performance-enhancing drugs. Former Yankee pitcher Jason Grimsley met with Butler and other investigators in August of 2009, and former pitcher Pedro Borbon Jr. has also been interviewed by investigators involved in the case.

Brian McNamee, former trainer of Clemens, remarked before former Sen. George Mitchell that he injected steroids and HGH a minimum of 16 times to Roger Clemens, seven-time Cy Young Award winner, a fact that was vehemently denied by Clemens.

Tags:  Brian McNamee, David Segui, HGH, Jose Canseco, performance-enhancing drugs, Roger Clemens, steroid, Steroids

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According to a recently concluded study, treatment for diabetes may be the best option left due to an increased incidence of rejection and reduced incidence of glucose intolerance because of early withdrawal of steroids in patients recently undergoing liver transplantation.

This finding was revealed as part of the first double-blind placebo-controlled study in context to examination of the early steroid withdrawal effects.

From News-Medical.Net:

“Although the incidence of acute rejection in the placebo group was increased, it was easily controlled in most of the cases and did not affect long-term graft histology or survival,” the authors note, adding that the increase may ultimately be acceptable if steroids could be eliminated. However, the main goal of steroid elimination is to reduce metabolic complications and this study showed no difference in cholesterol or hypertension, with a trend toward a decreased incidence of diabetes in the placebo group.

The authors conclude: “Indeed, while there are many arguments in favor of corticosteroid withdrawal beyond 3 months posttransplantation, in terms of safety and efficacy, our study demonstrates that earlier withdrawal at day 14 is not completely safe in terms of rejection, but seems efficient in terms of improvement of glucose tolerability,” which could decrease long-term mortality due to cardiovascular disease.

This study appeared in an issue of Liver Transplantation, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and the International Liver Transplantation Society (ILTS).

Tags:  glucose, steroid, Steroids

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The governing world body of athletics will not be investigating claims and confessions of sabotage and cover-ups disclosed in autobiography of Ben Johnson since the body is not obliged to take any action under its own statue of limitations.

The disgraced Seoul Olympics 100m champion, Johnson, claimed that his drink was spiked with Stanozolol, the banned steroid, just before he was about to leave for a urine test after his Olympic win.

From Dailytelegraph.com.au:

Johnson exclusively told The Daily Telegraph that he had obtained a taped confession from the “mystery man” who drank beer with him in the restricted zone in the Olympic doping control area while Johnson waited to provide a urine sample for drug testers after setting another world record in Seoul.

That man is allegedly former US footballer and now diamond dealer Andre Jackson - a “family friend” of American runner-up Carl Lewis who directly benefited from the Canadian’s disqualification.

Johnson alleges Jackson confessed to him and business associate Di-anne Hudson, a Toronto lawyer, that Jackson spiked Johnson’s drinks with the steroid Stanozolol - and not for the first time. There is no suggestion Lewis ever knew of the plan.

Johnson claims there was enough Stanozolol in his sample “to kill a cow” but he denies using that drug. He does, however, admit to having used an obscure East German designer steroid called Furazobol up until six weeks before the Games.

It is worth noting here that the International Association of Athletics Federations has a self-imposed statute of limitations for eight years in doping cases and this doping incident cannot be investigated as Seoul games ended 21 years ago.

Tags:  Ben Johnson, designer steroid, doping, Furazobol, Olympic doping, Stanozolol, steroid

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The first drug scandal of the Paralympics rocked the Beijing Olympics but things soon start going the right way as “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius created headlines with a thrilling 100m track win.

Pistorius crossed the line in 11.17sec at the Bird’s Nest National Stadium on a wet night, an event that was also highlighted by Marlon Shirley failing to materialize by collapsing two-thirds into the race.

From Foxsports.com.au:

Earlier a shadow was cast over the Games when it was revealed that Pakistani power lifter Naveed Ahmed Butt, 37, had been given a two-year ban for steroid use.

In the first drugs scandal of the Paralympics, he tested positive for the steroid methandienone metabolites on September 4, two days before the opening ceremony, the International Paralympic Committee said.

“In accordance with the IPC anti-doping code, and after a hearing of the IPC anti-doping committee, the IPC ratified the decision to disqualify Butt,” the committee said in a statement.

A total of 356 tests have been carried out at the Games, both in and out of competition, according to IPC figures until the end of Monday.

At the Athens Games in 2004, 680 doping tests were conducted, resulting in 10 anti-doping rule violations, according to the IPC.

In other news Heath Francis pulled off Australia’s first gold medal in the 200m sprint, winning in world record time in his T46 class.

The one-armed runner finished well clear of the field in a time of 21.74sec over Cyprus silver medallist Antonis Aresti and Cuba’s Ettiam Calderon in third.

Naveed Ahmed Butt, power lifter from Pakistan, was rendered disqualified by the International Paralympic Committee in accordance with the IPC anti-doping code and a hearing of the IPC anti-doping committee.

Tags:  Beijing Olympics, doping, drug scandal, methandienone, Oscar Pistorius, steroid, Steroid use

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According to a research conducted at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center, black asthmatic teens are at an increased risk of developing resistant to steroid-based asthma therapy than their white counterparts.

The study disclosed that black asthmatic teens are also more likely to suffer from high mortality rate and be sick when compared to the white teens.

From News.Bio-Medicine.Org:

“Our results suggest that children with steroid-resistant asthma are more likely to be African-American, to have required treatment with oral steroids at an earlier age and to require larger amounts of oral steroids for only marginal control of their asthma,” said Joseph Spahn, M.D., a pediatric allergist and director of the Immunopharmacology Lab at National Jewish.

Other recent epidemiological studies have shown that blacks with asthma are sicker and have a higher mortality rate than whites with asthma. Doctors at National Jewish now are trying to determine whether blacks have a more vigorous immune response to airway inflammation–which means that higher doses of steroids must be used to control inflammation–or a poor response to steroids secondary to a genetic resistance to the drugs.

“The theory is that with ongoing airway inflammation you get worsening asthma and diminished steroid sensitivity,” Dr. Spahn said.

This study of 164 teen-agers treated at National Jewish also showed that 25 percent of the group was steroid resistant. Children with less than a 15 percent improvement in lung function following a “burst” of inhaled steroids–high doses over seven days–were considered steroid resistant.

“Twenty-five percent of the kids admitted to National Jewish have steroid-resistant asthma, which is much greater than anyone thought,” Dr. Spahn said.

According to Joseph Spahn, M.D., a pediatric allergist and director of the Immunopharmacology Lab at National Jewish, African-American children are at increased risk to develop steroid-resistant asthma.

The study was published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Tags:  asthma, inhaled steroids, oral steroids, steroid

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The use of medications including steroids are not effective when it comes to improving respiratory symptoms or preventing hospitalization among infants suffering with bronchiolitis, as per a study appearing in an issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

Nathan Kuppermann, M.D., a professor of emergency medicine and pediatrics at the University of California, Davis, chair of the PECARN network’s steering committee and the senior investigator of the study, said the study findings truly demonstrate the power of a research network such as Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) in attaining solutions for otherwise difficult-to-answer questions.

From News-Medical.Net:

The study compared hospitalization rates for 600 children between the ages of 2 months and 12 months who visited emergency rooms with moderate-to-severe bronchiolitis. Patients were treated with either a dose of dexamethasone (a glucocorticoid form of steroid medication) or a placebo and evaluated after one hour, and again at four hours. The hospital admission rate for both groups was identical at nearly 40 percent. Both groups improved during treatment, but the placebo group did as well as the group treated with active medication. The study was conducted in the emergency departments at 20 hospitals across the United States between November and April during a three-year period. Bronchiolitis is most common during the winter months.

“We learned that a commonly used treatment doesn’t work,” said Howard M. Corneli, M.D., professor of pediatrics at the University of Utah and the principal investigator on the study. “Now that we’ve demonstrated glucocorticoids aren’t effective in treating bronchiolitis, we can focus our efforts on finding better treatments and better preventive strategies.”

These findings by PECARN provide implications for medical practitioners in treating bronchiolitis, one of the most common causes of infant hospitalization.

Tags:  bronchiolitis, dexamethasone, steroid, steroid medications

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Anabolic steroids are used by sportsmen, especially bodybuilders and strength athletes, to build solid muscles in short time. They are synthetic hormones capable of promoting the processes of protein retention and tissue growth.

But use of steroids can result in side effects when they are abused or of a low quality and these side effects may vary from depression to psychological changes and from increased aggression to infertility.

From Topics.nytimes.com:

Steroids came to weight lifting in Russia during the 1950s, and to America by 1960. By the end of the decade, other elite athletes had discovered the drugs. For nearly two decades, starting in the late 1960s, East German women dominated the international sports stage, aided by an organized system of anabolic steroid use. Despite strong testing procedures, steroid-related scandal has continued to follow the Olympic Games, the Tour de France and major professional sports.

Not all revelations of steroid use are accompanied by outrage. An admitted former user of steroids, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is governor of California. Professional wrestling, where steroid use has been widely documented, has been a ratings leader on cable television for years.

Like every other thing in this world, steroids can have bad effects but only when abused and the best way out is using them under medical guidance and for legal purposes.

Tags:  anabolic steroid, anabolic steroid use, Anabolic steroids, steroid, Steroid use, Steroids

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Recessive mutations in a gene called phospholipase C epsilon or PLCE1 could result in a to a severe, early-onset form of kidney disease and renal failure in children, a previously unknown cause. This finding was disclosed by scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Identification of the mutual gene is of interest to the scientists as PLCE1 affects the development of podocytes that are specialized cells playing a vital role in ability of the kidney when it comes to removing waste products from blood and retaining important blood proteins.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Some types of nephrotic syndrome can be treated with steroids or other drugs, but steroid-resistant forms of the disease as a rule do not respond to treatment. Untreated nephrotic syndrome often causes severe scarring and a condition called focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), which progresses about 50 percent of the time to end-stage kidney disease and renal failure.

PLCE1 is the seventh gene scientists have found to be involved in different types of steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome, and the second gene that is expressed in podocytes — specialized cells with octopus-like tentacles surrounding the glomerulus.

Podocytes are currently under intensive study, because scientists believe they play a vital role in the blood filtration process. Identifying genes and proteins that are active in podocytes will help scientists understand how they work.

“We found that PLCE1 is expressed in developing and mature podocytes,” says Hildebrandt. “Most of the PLCE1 mutations we identified apparently prevented podocytes from developing normally in the embryo, so defects were present at birth. A milder mutation seemed to interfere with repair mechanisms in the glomerulus, so defects didn’t show up until later in life.”

Friedhelm Hildebrandt, M.D., the U-M’s Frederick G L Huetwell Professor for the Cure and Prevention of Birth Defects, remarked that this is the first report of infants with two mutuations in recessive gene for steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome that nevertheless responded to treatment with steroids.

Tags:  kidney disease, mutant gene, steroid, steroid treatment, Steroids

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The use of anabolic steroids by patients suffering kidney diseases may prove to be effective to increase lean muscle mass besides minimizing the fatigue level to a significant extent, as per a new study.

Kidney disease patients tend to experience malnutrition and an accompanying loss of muscle mass and these side effects have been associated in the past with an increased mortality.

From Bio-Medicine.Org:

A team of University of California San Francisco researchers, led by Kirsten L. Johansen, M.D., UCSF assistant professor of medicine, epidemiology & biostatistics, studied a group of patients who were receiving dialysis and were suffering from malnutrition.

In a randomized, double blind trial, 29 patients were given either the anabolic steroid nandrolone decanote or a placebo (dummy medication) for a six-month period. All of the patients were receiving dialysis treatments at San Francisco General Hospital. At the end of the trial, patients receiving the anabolic steroid gained an average of 5.7 pounds more lean body mass than the patients who got the placebo. Also, the patients who received the steroid reported less fatigue and scored better on physical performance tests. The researchers’ results are published in the April 14 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Hemodialysis, the most common form of dialysis in the United States, is a medical procedure employed when a patient’s kidneys cannot properly clean the blood of toxins and waste products. A patient’s blood is removed from the body via a tube inserted in a vein, filtered by a dialysis machine, and then replaced. Typically, this process must be repeated three times a week and takes three to four hours. In some cases, dialysis is considered a “bridge” while the patient is awaiting a kidney transplant - which can be up to a three year wait in the US.

This study was supported by grants from the National Center for Research Resources, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and the Bay Area Nutrition Center.

Tags:  anabolic steroid, Anabolic steroids, dialysis, steroid, Steroids

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