Treatment methodology related with steroid pills can prove to be an effective option for improving survival rate of patients with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells in the bone marrow. This finding was revealed by researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

James Berenson, M.D., lead author of the Southwest Oncology Group sponsored study and Director of the Multiple Myeloma and Bone Metastasis Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said that using prednisone in response to an upfront chemotherapy may be considered as a safe option for prolonging life of patients of multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells in the bone marrow.

From News.Bio-Medicine.Org:

Multiple myeloma occurs when the body makes an abnormally high number of cancerous plasma cells. When healthy, plasma cells help to protect the body from infection and disease by forming antibodies that attack foreign substances. But when the body makes too many plasma cells that all make the same type of antibody, this leads to multiple myeloma, causing damage to bones, severe bone pain, an overabundance of calcium in the blood, anemia, and a weakening of the immune system. Today, most patients with multiple myeloma receive initial treatment with chemotherapy or with high-dose chemotherapy followed by a stem cell transplant and many respond to treatment and achieve remission. However, all patients ultimately relapse with incurable disease, leading physicians to search for ways to prolong remission for as long as possible by using some type of maintenance therapy.

The involved researchers remarked that maintenance of remission and prolonging of life years are facilitated when patients are administered with oral prednisone in the long-term after chemotherapy treatment.

Tags: chemotherapy, multiple myeloma, oral prednisone, Prednisone, steroid, steroid pill treatment, steroid pills

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This year is Olympic year so it’s more interesting than the previous years as far as doping is concerned.

Remember the canny seven Russian track and field athletes who resorted to urine swapping to pass drug tests?

The International Association of the Athletics Federation officials became suspicious when said women athletes were always present for unannounced random tests. The Russians were also very punctual, arriving at testing places even before the IAAF officials got there.

“There were no ‘no shows’,” one official told Reuters. “The Russians were always there.”

So the officials started storing the athletes’ samples. Further investigation revealed that the latest urine samples provided by the athletes did not match the DNA of the stored samples. The Russians were later suspended. The athletes include Tatyana Tomashova, the two-time world 1,500 meters champion; and Yelena Soboleva, the world indoor 1,500 meters champion.

And who wouldn’t remember the Greek athletes who figured prominently in this year’s doping list because of quite a handful of failed dope tests.

In March, eleven of the 14 members of the Greek weightlifting team tested positive for the steroid methyltrienolone in out-of-competition testing in Athens. Then there was champion hurdler Fani Halkia, sprinter Dimitris Regas, and Anastasios Gousis who got banned for testing positive also for methyltrienolone. All Greek athletes were suspended for doping.

In Tour de France four riders, including the third finisher Bernhard Kohl, were suspended for testing positive for CERA, the new generation variant of the blood-boosting drug EPO

There was Marion Jones’ sprint in and out of jail for her use of performance-enhancing drugs and her involvement in a check fraud case. Jones began her six-month jail term March and was released September 5.

The NFL’s diuretic case also was in the news which involved several athletes who blamed the StarCaps weight-loss pill for their failed dope tests. Pat Williams and Kevin Williams of the Vikings were among the players who tested positive for the masking agent bumetanide.

The Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds anabolic steroids cases also dominated the sports scene in 2008 and are expected to remain in the headlines in 2009. The much-awaited Barry Bonds trial will commence March next year

Tags: Barry Bonds, Bernhard Kohl, Bumetanide, CERA, Fani Halkia, Greek athletes, International Association of Athletics Federation, Kevin Williams, Marion Jones, methyltrienolone, most controversial doping cases, NFL, Pat Williams, Roger Clemens, Russian athletes, steroids, Tour de France, Yelena Soboleva

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Sometimes, it’s tough to be Lance Armstrong.

The seven-time Tour de France champion has been on the radar of international drug testers since he announced his comeback in September.

The 37-year-old rider says he’s been drug tested 11 times in the past 18 weeks and two days in the past four days. His most recent test was conducted by officials from the International Cycling Union on Thursday at his Texas home according to AFP.

“UCI control. They flew a guy from Germany for it. That makes a ton of sense,” Armstrong wrote on Twitter, a social networking website.
Twitter allows users to send short messages which are then posted on subscribers’ cell phones and the Internet.

Armstrong even let his Twitter readers know that he was on his way to meet with the drug testers.

“I am back from the shop after riding four hours. I hear the drug testers are waiting at the house. #11,” he wrote.

Armstrong, who plans to resume his cycling career next year, was placed under a six-month probation period by the United States Anti-doping Agency at the beginning of August.

Armstrong needs to pass USADA’s out-of-competition testing pool before his cycling comeback can become official.

News of his return has drawn mixed reviews in cycling circles.

Armstrong’s career has been dogged by doping accusations, prompting him to file several lawsuits in the past years against his detractors to refute the allegations. Most explosive of the accusations was the report published in a French sports newspaper L’Equipe in 2005 which claimed that the six urine samples obtained from Armstrong from his 1999 Tour victory tested positive for the blood booster EPO.

Last month, Armstrong said that should he decide to join the Tour next year he said he fears for his personal safety due to a lot of resentment towards him France caused by negative publicity.

Tags: Armstrong’s comeback, cycling, doping, drug testing, EPO, Lance Armstrong, L’ Equipe, Tour de France, United States Anti-doping Agency

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