A lower incidence of glucose intolerance and a higher incidence of rejection may occur necessitating the need for diabetes treatment, as per a new study on early steroid withdrawal following transplantation of liver.

The results of this study on early steroid withdrawal appeared in an issue of Liver Transplantation, which is the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and the International Liver Transplantation Society (ILTS).

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.

It is worthwhile to note here that this first double-blind placebo-controlled study was initiated for evaluating the effects of early steroid withdrawal so that medical practitioners can have a clear and complete understanding of the subject and be on the same knowledge platform.

Tags: corticosteroid, early steroid elimination, early steroid withdrawal, steroid, steroid elimination

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Some children may face problems while responding to steroid treatment for reducing the occurrence and severity of asthma attacks, as per a new study presented at the American Thoracic Society.

It was remarked by researcher Gregory Sawicki, M.D. of Children’s Hospital in Boston that this study highlighted the fact that not all children react to inhaled corticosteroids in the same manner.

From News-Medical.Net:

“The majority of children with mild asthma are less likely to have symptoms as they get older and may not need to be on daily steroids,” Dr. Sawicki said. “The flip side is that if a child has poor asthma control, the parents and doctor need to make sure the child is adhering to their inhaled steroid treatment. But variation in response to inhaled steroids, as other medications, is well described.”

The data comes from the Child Asthma Management Program Continuation Study (CAMPCS), one of the largest groups of children with mild to moderate asthma in the nation who have been followed over 10 years. “This study gives us a good sense of real-world practice in asthma management,” Dr. Sawicki says. “The children’s care is not directed by anyone in the study; it’s an observation of what goes on when the children’s care is directed by their own physicians.”

Sawicki was of the view that even higher dosages of inhaled steroids may not solve the purpose for controlling asthma in an effective way, a fact that has also been suggested by past studies on asthma treatment.

It is considered that results of this study would prove beneficial in developing and implementing an improved asthma treatment option, especially in cases without any positive results in the past.

Tags: Asthma, asthma treatment, inhaled corticosteroids, Inhaled steroids

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When steroid drugs are added to multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment, the risk of disease activity gets reduced to a considerable extent as per a study presented as a part of the Late-breaking Science Program at the American Academy of Neurology’s 61st Annual Meeting in Seattle.

From Sciencedaily.com:

For the study, people with MS received the steroid drug methylprednisolone in monthly “pulses,” or three doses over three days, in addition to regular weekly treatment with the drug interferon beta-1a. The steroid drug has typically been used only to treat acute MS attacks, not as an ongoing treatment.

The study involved 341 people with relapsing-remitting MS. Half of the participants received both drugs; half received only the interferon drug plus a placebo. The participants were seen every three months during the three-year study for evaluation.

The participants had the disease for an average of three years and had not yet received a disease-modifying drug such as interferon.

Those who received both drugs had 38 percent fewer relapses, or times when the disease is active, than those receiving only the interferon drug. They also improved slightly on a test of MS disability, while the scores for the placebo group decreased slightly.

It was remarked by study author Mads Ravnborg, MD, of the Danish Multiple Sclerosis Research Center at Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark, that results of this study highlight the fact that the two drugs tend to bring synergy in a combination and provide an improved beneficial effect on the disease activity as against use of the MS drug in isolation.

Tags: methylprednisolone, MS drug, multiple sclerosis, steroid, steroid drug

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Bernardino Jimenez was a young child in San Pedro de Macoris who had a great flair for baseball and with big dreams in the eyes.

Years later, he became victim to an agent who injected a mixture of Boldenone by saying that it was legal vitamins. After being signed for a contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks’ training squad in 2008, Bernardino tested positive for Boldenone, anabolic steroid used in horses, which leaded to a suspension of fifty games.

From TimesUnion.com:

Jimenez’s case is just one example of a disturbing trend in this hotbed of baseball talent.

Of the 69 minor leaguers suspended for using banned substances in 2008, nearly two thirds — 42 — came from the Dominican Summer League, a developmental program for Latin American players housed in secluded palm tree-lined campuses owned by big-league teams. This year, 31 of the 71 minor leaguers suspended for using banned substances came from the DSL.

In the major leagues, where performance-enhancing substances have been a divisive issue for more than a decade, players with Dominican roots have also been at the center of several high-profile drug cases.

Sammy Sosa and Manny Ramirez have been accused in stories by The New York Times of being on a list of more than 100 players alleged to have tested positive during an initial drug survey of MLB players six years ago. David Ortiz has acknowledged the union told him he was on the list, and slugger Alex Rodriguez, following a February report in Sports Illustrated, said he used steroids while with Seattle from 2001-03. Rodriguez said a cousin obtained a substance he knew as “boli” in the Dominican Republic.

This incident is not just one-off case but a regular event with players coming from the Dominican Republic. The lure of fast and easy money leads most of the players coming from this country to take on steroids.

What is ignored by these sportsmen is the possible side effect(s) of steroids, amphetamines, or performance enhancing drugs and they are not reluctant to admit that steroids are still worth the risk.

Tags: amphetamines, anabolic steroid, banned substances, boldenone, legal vitamins, Performance enhancing drugs, steroids

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The National Football League has suspended Joselio Hanson, Philadelphia Eagles cornerback, for four games for violating anti-doping rules of the league.

David Cornwell, Hanson’s lawyer, said that Hanson had tested positive for a diuretic after a National Conference championship game against Arizona last year.

From Google.com:

“The urine specimen that Joselio provided after the game tested positive for a diuretic,” Cornwell said. “Joselio did not use steroids or any other substance that would enhance his performance.”

Cornwell said Hanson used the product because he “felt bloated” after eating a Chinese meal, taking a remedy that turned out to be a diuretic.

Cornwell also denounced the NFL’s inclusion of diuretics on their banned list, saying it shouldn’t be assumed they are used to mask the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

“It is noteworthy that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) recently implemented amendments that eviscerate the misplaced presumption about diuretics embedded in the NFL’s steroid policy and reduce discipline for diuretics to include warnings and, where appropriate, suspension,” Cornwell said.

It seems that the Eagles have once again been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons. This revelation also highlighted the fact that there may be a possibility of a lack of understanding or misunderstanding about steroids and diuretics in sporting events.

Tags: diuretic, diuretics, Joselio Hanson, National Football League, Philadelphia Eagles, steroids, WADA, World Anti-Doping Agency

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According to recent findings appearing in the April 2009 print issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN), rituximab may be highly effective for treating a kidney disorder, membranous nephropathy.

Present treatments for this disorder are limited to steroids, chemotherapeutic agents, and calcineurin inhibitors and all of them have some considerable side effects.

From News-Medical.Net:

The available data suggest that current rituximab dosing achieves a 15% to 20% rate of complete remission and a 35% to 40% rate of partial remission: rates similar to the response rates of current treatments. Importantly, rituximab appears to be well-tolerated with minimal short-term side effects.

Rituximab may have potential for treating membranous nephropathy, but additional studies – in particular, randomized controlled clinical trials – are needed to prove the drug’s value. “Our conclusion is that, at present, rituximab should only be used in research settings,” said Dr. Bomback.

The authors reported no financial disclosures.

Andrew Bomback, MD (University of North Carolina Kidney Center), and his colleagues, completed this study that highlighted the fact that rituximab dosing was able to achieve a 15-20 percent rate of complete remission and 35-40 percent of partial remission.

It is believed that this study on membranous nephropathy would provide a path-breaking treatment option.

Tags: kidney disorder, membranous nephropathy, rituximab, steroids

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Injecting growth hormone (GH) expecting improved physical performance is a complete waste of efforts, as per a new dissertation from the Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University in Sweden. It was revealed that growth hormone does not result in building muscle mass or improving the level of physical performance.

GH does not bring the same dramatic benefits as other anabolic steroids but can result in severe side effects such as damage to the blood vessels and heart.

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 remarked that athletes injecting growth hormones experience immediate effect in the body and are of the view that it will improve physical performance. But, this is not the complete truth as there are no effects of increased muscle mass from the growth hormone as per the conducted experiments.

Tags: doping in sports, GH, growth hormone, muscle mass, physical performance

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Asthmatic children and adults can exercise a better control over asthma and breathe deeper, as per a new review of recently concluded studies comparing inhaled corticosteroids and the medicine cromolyn.

James Guevara, M.D., of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and colleagues were of the view that patients suffering from asthma and treated with steroids enjoy an advantage of scoring higher in lung function tests. It was remarked that the use of inhaled corticosteroids help asthmatic 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 further remarked that inhaled corticosteroids are any day better than cromolyn irrespective of the severity level of asthma and said that the obtained results are so decisive that there is need to warrant any further studies on this matter.

Tags: Asthma, corticosteroids, cromolyn, inhaled corticosteroids, inhalers, sodium cromoglycate, steroids, treating asthma

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Treating sportsmen who need surgical repair of massive or recurrent tears of rotator cuff tendons of the shoulder is possible and effective when anabolic steroids come into the picture, as per a new research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This finding appeared in an issue of the American Journal of Sports Medicine and was led by Dr. Spero Karas, assistant professor of orthopedic surgery in UNC’s School of Medicine.

It is common for sportsmen, especially older sportsmen, including golfers and tennis players to suffer from this kind of injuries.

From News-Medical.Net:

Anabolic steroids benefit millions of people a year, said Karas, including those with deficiencies in sex hormones and burn victims who need to build up their metabolism to repair musculoskeletal tissue. They also are FDA-approved for treating anemia for their ability to help the body rebuild blood.

As it’s widely known that anabolic steroids can build muscle mass and strength, Karas said he thought these properties might apply to shoulder tissue and that Banes’ bioartificial tendon might provide the appropriate model for testing.

“In this new study, supraspinatus tendon cells were harvested from my patients during rotator cuff surgery, isolated and then sent to Albert’s lab,” Karas said. “The cells were then grown in his culture media to coalesce and form this experimental tendon model, the bioartificial tendon.”

Prior to applying mechanical strain, the researchers treated some of the developing tissue with the anabolic steroid nandrolone decoanate. The steroid was administered directly into the lab dish via pipette, or dropper.

“We clearly found that when you looked at the bioartificial tendon matrices that were treated with anabolic steroid and then mechanical load or strain, we saw significant increases in their biomechanical properties,” Karas said.

Karas was of the view that anabolic steroids and load works synergistically for improving features of tendon and these study results can prove beneficial for post-surgery healing of tendons that have been torn or retracted for a long time.

Tags: anabolic steroids, bioartificial tendon, nandrolone decoanate, sex hormones, steroids, surgical repair

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There are no additional benefits of adding steroids to the local anesthetics when it comes to treating chronic headache pain, as per a study by neurologists at the Jefferson Headache Center at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.

The study findings were revealed after being collected by looking at 29 men and women with daily headaches of chronic nature. The patients were divided into two groups, one group was administered with GONB (greater occipital nerve block) with lidocaine and bupivicaine alone and the second group was administered with the two drugs with steroids.

From News-Medical.Net:

According to Avi Ashkenazi, M.D., assistant professor of neurology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, greater occipital nerve block (GONB) is a technique to treat acute headaches by locally injecting anesthetics such as lidocaine just under the skin to provide acute pain relief for acute headache attacks and migraines. Such treatments can work quickly, perhaps in seconds or by five to 10 minutes, and its effectiveness could last from hours to two or three days to several weeks. Treatment can be repeated if needed, he notes, and it has few side effects.

There are two ways to block the occipital nerves: by injecting a local anesthetic alone or by adding an anti-inflammatory steroid along with the anesthetic. No data exist whether one is better than the other, but the use of corticosteroids is controversial because of their potential side effects, such as hair loss at the site of injection. He notes that there is no consensus among headache experts about steroid use for headache.

Dr. Ashkenazi and his team are now expected to focus at the next 4 weeks of post-therapy data besides recruiting more patients for trials. It was remarked by Dr. Ashkenazi that there seems to be a possibility that he and his team could find steroids lengthening the anti-inflammatory effects of injections.

Tags: bupivicaine, GONB, greater occipital nerve block, lidocaine, local anesthetics, steroids

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