Some female athletes may end up paying a big price for making use of oral contraception in the form of lowered strength gains from resistance exercise.

Exercise physiologist Chang Woock Lee and his colleagues at Texas A&M University at the Experimental Biology meeting in New Orleans identified birth control pills as a major suspect behind some women not able to garner the same benefits as others from exercises such as lifting weights or working against tension bands.

From Sciencenews.org:

In an earlier study, Lee’s group noted that many young female athletes reported using oral contraception. These pills have been specifically formulated to alter a woman’s steroid-hormone levels. Since certain steroids can affect how efficiently the body bulks up and gains muscle, Lee wondered whether these pills might also limit strength gains.

So, three times a week for 10 weeks, the researchers had 73 young women (18 to 34 years old) complete 13 different exercises. The regimen was intense, working muscles throughout the body. None of the recruits had been regularly working out beforehand. But they sure were now. Each had to complete her resistance training against weights that were individually tailored to work her muscles at 75 percent of their maximum strength.

It was remarked that women administered with oral contraceptives containing medium- or highly androgenic progestins were able to achieve less than a 0.5 percent gain in muscle mass over 10 weeks.

Tags:  birth control pills, muscle mass, oral contraception, resistance exercise, resistance training, Steroids

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A natural defense mechanism against heart disease could possibly be switched on by steroids sold as health supplements, as per researchers at the University of Leeds.

A previously-unknown ion channel in human blood vessels was identified by biologists at the University of Leeds that can be useful in inhibiting the production of proteins (cytokines) that drive the initial stages of heart disease.

From News-Medical.Net:

They found that this protective effect can be triggered by pregnenolone sulphate - a molecule that is part of a family of ‘fountain-of-youth’ steroids. These steroids are so-called because of their apparent ability to improve energy, vision and memory.

Importantly, collaborative studies with surgeons at Leeds General infirmary have shown that this defence mechanism can be switched on in diseased blood vessels as well as in healthy vessels.

So-called ‘fountain of youth’ steroids are made naturally in the body, but levels decline rapidly with age. This has led to a market in synthetically made steroids that are promoted for their health benefits, such as pregnenolone and DHEA. Pregnenolone sulphate is in the same family of steroids but it is not sold as a health supplement.

“The effect that we have seen is really quite exciting and also unexpected,” said Professor David Beech, who led the study. “However, we are absolutely not endorsing any claims made by manufacturers of any health supplements. Evidence from human trials is needed first.”

It was suggested by the research that expected benefits ‘fountain of youth’ steroids could be much greater if complemented with cholesterol-reducing drugs and healthy lifestyle strategies such as diet and exercise.

Tags:  fountain of youth steroids, health supplement, health supplements, Steroids

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Researchers from the UT Southwestern Medical Center have found that an immune-system protein already used for treating health complications such as multiple sclerosis, hepatitis C and a variety of cancers could be of use to provide relief to patients afflicted with asthma.

The findings suggest that interferon could be a readily available and valuable therapy for treating asthmatic patients.

From Sciencedaily.com:

“This finding is incredibly important, because humans are being treated with interferon for a variety of diseases, yet no one has tried treating asthma patients with interferon,” said Dr. J. David Farrar, assistant professor of immunology and molecular biology at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study. “The current therapies for asthma are inhalers and steroids, both of which offer only temporary relief.”

Asthma results in approximately 200,000 pediatric hospitalizations each year, more than for any other childhood disease. About 20 million people have been diagnosed with asthma in the U.S.

In the current study, the researchers showed in isolated human cells that interferon blocks the development of nascent Th2 cells and inhibits cells that already have become Th2 cells by interfering with a regulatory protein called GATA3, a transcription factor Th2 cells express to regulate their function.

The findings are available online and appeared in the July 15 issue of the Journal of Immunology. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and Exxon Mobil Corp.

Tags:  asthma, GATA3, hepatitis C, interferon, multiple sclerosis, Steroids

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Neanderthal man boasted of a rock-hard body including an overdeveloped right arm that could have even made Popeye envious, as per a new scientific report.

Russian Prof. Maria Mednikova told the Discovery News that the Neanderthals had a habit of hunting in the “extreme”.

From NYdailynews.com:

The professor said female Neanderthals were strong, but more evenly muscular in both arms.

Either way, Neanderthals make modern-day humans look wimpy.

Of course, they had some chemical help, it seems.

Mednikova says their strong, thick bone structure was aided by a “markedly androgenic constitution.”

Simply put, the Neanderthal body was brimming with natural steroids.

Genes, a cold climate and an all-meat diet helped contribute to the Neanderthal’s buff body, the scientists believe.

Neanderthal’s dined on mammoths and deer, among other plant-eating animals.

The scientists based their research on an analysis of Neanderthal arm bone, dating roughly from 100,000 years ago and found in what is now Russia.

These findings appeared in the journal Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia.

Tags:  Neanderthal, Neanderthals, Popeye, 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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A rare but devastating condition, affecting young males, could be effectively treated with steroids. Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the condition, can be treated with corticosteroids and steroid-administered patients can expect to walk for three additional years.

The magnitude of curvature and risk of scoliosis get reduced considerably when daily administration of steroids is made available to Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients, as per Wendy King, a physical therapist in the neurology department at Ohio State University. It was also remarked that calcium supplements and bone mineral density test must be undertaken at intervals of 6-24 months because of implications associated with steroids.

From Medpagetoday.com:

The reason for non-treatment with steroids was invariably parent refusal because of fear of side effects, the researchers said. The average duration of steroid use was 8.04 years.

The study found:

* Boys on steroids were able to walk independently, on average, 3.3 years longer than those who weren’t treated. The difference — from 9.21 years to 12.52 years — was significant at P<0.0001.

* The prevalence of scoliosis in the treated boys was 31%, compared with 91% among those not getting steroids, a difference that was significant at P<0.0001.

* The average scoliotic curve was 11.6 degrees in the treated boys, compared with 33.2 degrees in the untreated boys, which was also significant at P<0.0001.

* On the other hand, 32% of the treated boys had vertebral compression fractures versus none in those not getting steroids, which was significant at P<0.0012.

* The yearly long-bone fracture rate was 0.088 among the treated boys, but only 0.033 in the untreated group, difference by a factor of 2.6, which was significant at P<0.0032.

Several factors probably play a role in the increased rate of long-bone fractures, the researchers said, including prolonged independent walking and increased body weight because of the steroids.

The finding was disclosed in a study supported by the General Clinical Research Center at the Ohio State University and the National Center of Research Resources of NIH.

Tags:  calcium supplements, corticosteroids, duchenne muscular dystrophy, Steroids

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Young children afflicted with chicken pox and administered with steroids are at a high risk of a more severe virus incidence that could lead to death, according to pediatric oncologists at the Brenner Children’s Hospital, a part of the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

The finding is believed to send warning signals to medical practitioners who have been treating their young patients with chicken pox with steroids.

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.”

Though chicken pox is mild in its nature, it can be devastating in rare cases and it is important to note here that there were as many as 12,000 casualties of chicken pox before the varicella vaccine was discovered.

Tags:  chicken pox, steroid therapy, steroid treatment, 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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Approximately 37 million people in the United States alone are suffering from sinusitis and a majority of this population is also suffering from asthma, which is an inflammatory disease of the lungs that is characterized by reversible airway obstruction.

A study was entailed for examining the difference in symptoms that are noticed by asthmatics versus non-asthmatics. The authors of “The Incidence and the Effect of Asthma on Consecutive Patients with Chronic Rhinosinusitis,” were Melanie W. Seybt MD, Kevin C. McMains MD, and Stilianos E. Kountakis MD PhD, all with the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA.

From News-Medical.Net:

A retrospective chart review of 145 adult patients diagnosed with sinusitis at the Medical College of Georgia Rhinology Clinic between January of 2003 and September of 2003 was performed. Data included patient age, gender, presence or absence of asthma, presence of signs and symptoms including allergic rhinitis, nasal polyposis, nasal congestion, headache/facial pain, anosmia/hyposmia, rhinorrhea, and postnasal drip. Other variables evaluated included failure of medical management (prescription drugs) and need for surgical treatment. Patients were designated as asthmatic or non-asthmatic by patient history, use of asthma medications or prior pulmonary function tests.

All patients underwent medical therapy including intranasal steroids, saline nasal spray and irrigations, high-dose guaifenesin and appropriate antibiotic therapy when indicated, before being considered for surgery.

The findings were presented at the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York City, NY.

Tags:  asthma, intranasal steroids, sinusitis, Steroids

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Herbal medicines when administered in large doses, or combined with prescription drugs, or injected can lead to potential fatal conditions, according to a forensic pathologist from the University of Adelaide.

The highly toxic behavior of herbal medicines, most of which were considered to be safe by many, was outlined in a paper by Professor Roger Byard that was published in the US-based Journal of Forensic Sciences.

From News-Medical.Net:

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 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 remarked that people with a habit to combine herbal medicines with standard drugs to optimize efficiency may face devastating results.

Tags:  herbal medicines, prescription drugs, Steroids

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