As per reported results in the second issue for January of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, a publication of the American Thoracic Society, nitric oxide level in the exhaled breath of an asthmatic patient can portent worsening of asthma symptoms.

It was revealed during the study that this kind of a complicated situation can signify an imminent attack that gets linked with underlying airway inflammation.

From News-Medical.Net:

Johan C. de Jongste, M.D., Ph.D., at the Erasmus University Medical Center-Sophia Children’s Hospital in the Netherlands, and colleagues randomized 151 children from 15 academic centers and hospitals with mild to moderate asthma to a 30-week monitoring course. Families were called every three weeks and reported on the daily symptoms in the prior three weeks. The child’s medication was adjusted accordingly.

The researchers compared the rates of exacerbation, symptoms, use of medications and other endpoints between the last 12 weeks in the two groups. There were no significant differences whether or not FENO had been part of the daily monitoring. However, both groups enjoyed an impressive overall improvement in symptoms, despite a reduction of about 50 percent in inhaled steroid dose, suggesting considerable benefit of frequent monitoring.

“We speculate that daily supervision and frequent phone contacts have produced an improvement that could not be beaten by additional monitoring of FENO, most likely because of a ceiling effect on compliance,” wrote Dr. de Jongste.

It is believed that these study findings can offer great assistance when it comes to monitoring nitric oxide level, especially in children, by evaluating it as a potential method for clinicians to ensure improvements in treatment results.

]]> http://euroasiarnd.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/steroids-chemical-steroids-drugs-steroids-product-steroids-manufacturers-steroids-exporters-steroids-suppliers/ Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:08:09 +0000 euroasiarnd http://euroasiarnd.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/steroids-chemical-steroids-drugs-steroids-product-steroids-manufacturers-steroids-exporters-steroids-suppliers/

A steroid is a terpenoid lipid characterized by its sterane core and additional functional groups. The core is a carbon structure of four fused rings: three cyclohexane rings and one cyclopentane ring. The steroids vary by the functional groups attached to these rings and the oxidation state of the rings.

Based in India, the world’s outsourcing hub popular for its high quality and cost effective services, stable government and English speaking talent pool, Euroasian looks ahead with confidence in serving the very potential market that appears before it.

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Craig – Tonight you can begin to see what winning means.

John – All we’re seeing is what steroids mean.

Craig – Yeah, it means that Juan Gonzalez, Jose Canseco, Rafael Palmeiro, Pudge, A-rod, Julio Franco, and every other latin player to ever suit up for the rangers started the era that is now accepted as a steroid era by apparently everyone but you. Nobody heard your mouth when Manny and Papi were winning, even though the world knew they were on the juice too. Your jealousy is unbecoming of a father of two. Jack Black neck.

John – Hey, Pooh Richardson head…just b/c we never had a convo about Manny and Papi doesn’t mean I wasn’t aware. Nobody’s championships in the past 10 years count. And even though Gino Petralli was on roids, doesn’t mean the Rangers started it all. The difference here, is that Juan, Jose, Raffy – all out of the game. But Manny, Papi, A-rod…all would have you believe an apology makes everything alright…A-rod would have you believe it happened only in 2003, and not last week. Manny clearly doesn’t care…yes, I tested, now I’m suspended, now I’m back, and now I put needle in my arm. Papi’s a liar. And you’re a liar too. Clemens was on ‘em when the Yankees won those titles…Girardi…Giambi…Boggs…Bernie…Rivera…all of ‘em…all roided up…Knoblauch…you name it….the Yankees didn’t win all those titles…they were won by Merck, Pfizer and Bristol Myers Squibb….

Craig – You just gave a treatise on roids yet you do not accept that the titles count in the era. Then you watch the games. You go to hell, hypocrite. Clemens wasn’t on the team when we slapped the Rangers around twice, just Andy and the Rangers beat him. And everyone on those Ranger teams was on the juice. So what’s YOUR excuse for not winning? No roided up pitchers, i guess…and for you to say that Bernie and Rivera were on steroids is absolute sacrilege, and takes so much envy and bitterness that you must be swimming in a green pool every night in your backyard.

John – WHO CARES THAT CLEMENS WASN’T ON TEAM THAT BEAT THE RANGERS…HE WAS ON THEM WHEN THE YANKEES WON AFTER THAT! The bottom line is that the Yankees are cheaters…and I didn’t mention Jeter, did I? THAT was out of respect b/c I don’t think he did. But Paul O’Neill?? No question.

Craig – Every team had multiple abusers – every single team. It renders everything moot and puts everyone on equal footing….when you cried like a patriotic flag-waving woman after McGwire hit 70 and called Sosa, another RANGER, a Mexican Popeye steroid cheat but then said nothing when McGwire was silent at the hearing, I let it go – but not now. Nobody but Clemens and Andy and Knoblauch did it, and it is because they are from TEXAS, where cheaters come from, and I can still give you a copy of Juiced if you want the REAL story. Probably not since it’s all about the RANGERS.

John – Seriously…ok? Seriously…at what point did you come to know that I cried after McGwire hit 70? I just watched like everyone else, but I didn’t have any emotion one way or the other. This is how your arguments go…you just throw random crap out, and hope it sticks. Blaming for this and that. I’m not saying the Rangers weren’t on ‘em…I’m just saying the Yankees are STILL ON THEM…

Craig – And that would be the dumbest statement ever! Who the hell is still on roids?? If anyone is on anything, it is something that cant be detected! And hey, how about those Rangers, who scored at an alarming rate this season with a bunch of no names. You gonna tell me Elvis Andrus is good? He is on the JUICE. Michael Young? He looks like Pierce Brosnan! He is on the JUICE….all of them. And Hicks knew then and he knows now. He is the most cheating owner in sports. The Rangers are a FACTORY for cheating, it has been revealed. There is no way out. i figured since I was at Humperdinks on Greenville when McGwire homered number 62 and at least TWENTY FIVE people started crying, that why not, John probably did too. Then I think it was a couple nights later Sosa hit 61 or something and nobody blinked. Other than me. And the explanation was that he did it second so it wasn’t as meaningful. TYPICAL WHITE MEN. So I just figured you were in on that too…

John – TYPICAL WHITE MEN, HUH…first of all, you racist bastard…I was at my honeymoon in Las Vegas when McGwire hit that ball…Kim was asleep in the room and I was downstairs at the bar – so I didn’t care about anything. Secondly, Michael Young looks like Pierce Brosnan…lord have mercy…unreal. Andrus is on juice…ok.

And you FIGURED I cried along with typical whitey? So you took time out of your Humperdinks drinking to think what I might be doing? Man, you’re just plain, old fashioned racist…By the way, MR. I ONLY DEAL WITH FACTS…you might want to check out the stats one more time, because all that was talked about this season was “what happened to the rangers’ offense”…and their hitting coach is now with the cubs…but yeah, they scored at an alarming rate. Lies…once again. But I’m always prepared for it. Adam and Eve fist.

Craig – I cannot read anything beyond the first sentence. By definition, it is impossible for blacks to be racist in the USA. Impossible. Please amend this if you want me to read it by replacing racist with prejudiced based on what has happened to blacks. Lol.

John – Hell no…b/c you have had white men in your life that have treated you pretty damn well, which is proof that those white guys exist, regardless of how rampant racism is. YOU have proof, but yet you still include us with “TYPICAL” WHITES….man screw you, damn shame belt.

Craig – When you understand the definition of racist in the USA, then we can revisit this. Instead of listening to Chris Botti, try A Love Supreme while reading the autobiography of Malcolm X or Slave Narrative by Frederick Douglass with some red wine so you can understand me…until then, you’re just some Ranger fan I know who can’t recognize our singular and exclusive racial banter that I use with no other person in the world. Oh, and duly noted is your condescending tone of how somehow you know I’ve had white men that treated me well. You dont know that!!!

John – This is you to a tee…decide you don’t want to answer to what I’m clearly correct on, and instead move our convo back to the plight of the black man in America. “You know, John, I’m not going to comment on the charge I made about the current Ranger offense, and instead remind you that I am black and because of this, you owe me.” And yes I understand the banter…it’s the primary reason we missed out on radio gold.

Craig – We didn’t miss it. You decided to do your own site REMEMBER? Oh no – they finished 19th in batting! Lol – I figured it was top ten. “AND YOU FIGURED I CRIED ALONG WITH TYPICAL WHITEY?” Man I didn’t think about that at that MOMENT, I was going back in time today. Rod Stewart head!! My apologies. I didn’t know your offense went south…..despite roids.

John – Man, before the World Series starts, both teams need to circle the mound with doctors in front of each one with a cup, and they need to pee right then and there. The series would be reduced to a one on one btw Phil Coke and Cole Hamels.

Steroids have been there for long and they have been utilized by generations and passed over to others. There’s a lot of information on steroids, which has been buried and forgotten by the present generation. This info is very significance and should be valued since it holds the origin and the best suggestion of steroid use.

The general use of Gonadal Steroids may be said to pre-date their identification or any form of isolation. Medical use of the testicle extract can be rated to have begun in the late 19th century and its successive effects on the body’s strength were still under intensive studied. The isolation of the main Gonadal steroids is especially traced back to the late 1930’s, a time when expert like Adolph Butenandt, showed their might by purifying fifteen mg of the Aldosterone Hormone in males from thousands of liters of human pee.

In the late 1930’s it was now known the human testes contained a major and stronger form of androgen than the Aldosterone, and other groups of biological scientists, who were funded by pharmaceutical firms competing in Netherlands, raced to ensure its isolation. This hormone was identified first by Karoly David, Ernest Laqueur and Dingemanse. There was a chemical synthesis of the same testosterone, which was achieved in the late Aug in the same year, when Butenandt published a written paper describing the various methods of testosterone preparation from Cholesterol.
Testosterone propionate is specifically discussed in a written letter to the editor of mag by the name Health mag in the early 1940’s. From the US stats, this is named as the earliest reference known for anabolic steroid use. Some Weightlifting and other weightlifting mags have reported and justified this claim. There are also reported rumors in the history of world war that, German squaddies used to administer anabolic steroids before war all targeting at increasing their strength, stamina and aggression for them to defeat the enemy. The truth of the matter can’t be well justified, but there is a factor of truth. This information builds your base in knowing the origin of steroids and by understanding the roots moving to the remainder of info on misuse and use of the same can follow that lead easily. Ignoring the past about steroids has been one of the major contributors of the present abuse and though this may not be justified it is important to make it white and black all about steroids, from the origin, use and side effects of the same.

Over the past week Mum, Kim and I have settled into a sort of routine. Life’s been a challenge and unfortunately I find myself increasingly in the invalid/patient role and they in a carer/nursing role that is understandably frustrating the hell out of me. Truthfully, I’m very unable to cope with most simple activity so the toughest part of my day is getting up – showering and dressing really take it out of me and I need a lot of help. It is difficult for them to see me suffer so much too.

Medically, I think there have been small daily improvements but they really are gradual. The steroids have improved my general flexibility so for example I am now able to get up out of my seat/bed without assistance etc, but two big side effects happened: Firstly, I am craving chocolate cake like you would not believe! Kim has indulged this so far so I’m surrounded by cakey options and gorging myself. Secondly, I couldn’t sleep at all the night I went on the steroids so I’ve been put on pretty strong sleeping tablets, that luckily haven’t had any weird side effects. The huge pains in my shoulder have become much less frequent. That said, my left arm has been very swollen and my hand gets huge with fluid and all this causes a lot of tightness and pain. This doesn’t seem to be improving much and therefore I’m staying just as restricted as I was. I’m worried that I start radiotherapy in a week but I’m going to struggle to get myself up and about as I’ll need to have a lot of energy to come and go, as well as flexibility to hold my arm in difficult positions for the treatment that right now seems a long way off.

Despite all this worry and pain, I did manage to enjoy much of my weekend. I made it a target of mine that I would buy charity christmas cards so Kim and I managed to make it to Marlborough for the 20 minutes it took to get the cards which was a little accomplishment. Now I can sit and write them when I’m stuck at home! On Friday night we watched ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’on DVD that was pretty good. On Saturday night Kim’s friend Darren came to stay and Kim made a huge Spag Bol. After X-Factor Kim and Darren played x-box whilst I holed up on the sofa watching ‘The Dark Knight’. On Sunday my sister and her boyfriend came for Sunday Roast and hung out for the afternoon. Kim and I managed another DVD in the evening – ‘Apocolypto’. So, whilst I’m pretty sedentry and have to break up all activity with pain management, I am managing to do some normal socialising and relaxation too.

Mum’s been home in Perth for the weekend but arrives back here tonight so I’m looking forward to seeing her again. Kim has done a terrific job of hosting all our guests this weekend but he did run around like a blue arsed fly all the time and hardly got any R&R let alone any work done. Mum being here gives him a bit of a break too: It’s a difficult balance though as we don’t want to over-advance our demands on her either. I’m hoping I will have enough energy to do a few small fun things with her this week – perhaps going out for dinner one night or to a couple of shops one day.

These guys would kick sand in your face, if their legs could actually make a kicking action like normal people’s.

Enjoy. Or throw up. Whatever.

Tits you can rest your chin on. Impressive.

You know that warning sign at the garage airhose: “Not for inflating bicycle tyres or inflatable toys”? Well, it says nothing about shoving it into your belly button and seeing what happens.

Half man, half over-stuffed sausage.

I don’t know what you’re looking for. The steroids got rid of those ages ago.

On November 19, 1998, Kenneth Starr, accompanied by his combover, appears before the House Judiciary Committee to present evidence against President Bill Clinton, a man with much thicker hair.

San Francisco Giants’ right fielder Barry Bonds (pictured here doing his best Serena Williams impression) won his record 4th consecutive MVP award (7th overall) on November 19, 2004. Cheaters do win.

James Garfield, 20th president of the United States, was born on November 19, 1831. Not really the most popular guy to hold office, but definitely a bald one.

There were many speculations after UFC Champion Brock Lesnar was reported to be ill. Some speculated that it was due to steroids use. However, this mysterious illness has now been named.

White said during the post UFC 105 press conference last Saturday that Lesnar would be out of UFC indefinitely.

Lesnar was already suffering from mononucleosis. According to UFC president Dana White, he was also suffering from an intestinal infection caused by a certain bacteria. As to what caused this infection, it remains unknown.

White added that he is flying to see Lesnar. Despite the current diagnosis, he was encouraging the UFC champion to visit Mayo Clinic in Minnesota to seek further diagnosis and treatment.

Lesnar was supposed to meet challenger Shane Carwin during the UFC 106 event last Saturday. However, because of Lesnar’s health issues, it was cancelled.

Their fight, which was scheduled on January 2, has been forcibly cancelled by UFC as well.

During the press conference last Saturday, White refuses to make a statement as to whether Lesnar’s condition could potentially end his career. White said it still have to depend on the severity of his illness.

From MMA Junkie:

UFC president Dana White today told the Associated Press that Lesnar is currently suffering from a bacterial infection in his intestinal track in addition to the mononucleosis that has recently plagued him.

]]> http://rafaelmartel.com/2009/11/18/manny-pacquiao-tembelekeeee-cheaty-trampy-paulie-malignaggi-hints-that-manny-pacquiao-might-be-on-something/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:52:32 +0000 Rafael Martel http://rafaelmartel.com/2009/11/18/manny-pacquiao-tembelekeeee-cheaty-trampy-paulie-malignaggi-hints-that-manny-pacquiao-might-be-on-something/

Paulie Malignaggi hints that Manny Pacquiao might be on something

Paulie Malignaggi: “ I think there is something up with Manny Pacquiao. I am not going to get into it. I think people will understand what I am saying. Full blown welterweights don’t take those type of punches from Miguel Cotto the way he took them with total disregard for his power nor do they hurt him with every punch they hit him with. These are full blown welterweights I am talking about. This guy is coming up in weight and doing all these things. There is something up with this guy but that’s as far as I am going to go into it. Floyd Mayweather (Senior) has gotten into it a little bit. There have been other fighters who have mentioned it. I am not going to get into no controversy. I am going to leave it at that. There is something that seriously makes me feel weird about Manny Pacquiao. I am going to leave it at that.”

So we were standing in line in the Calgary airport a couple of years ago, right before spring training, and Joe turned to me and said, out of the blue and apropos of nothing, “Barry Bonds is terrible.”

“Excuse me?”

“Bonds is terrible,” he repeated.  “He shouldn’t play anymore.  He’s really terrible.”

I decided to challenge his logic with clever, Socratic queries.  “What do you mean, you crazy little dude?” I said.  “Didn’t Bonds hit, like forty-five homers last year?  Didn’t he break Aaron’s career record?”

“He hit twenty-eight!  You think that’s good?”

I know better than to dispute his numbers.  If Joe said that Barry Bonds hit twenty-eight for the Giants last year, then he hit twenty-eight.  When he wasn’t snowboarding in Canada, he was poring over 2007 statistics in The Sporting News, and his grasp of numbers is astounding.  He will often interrupt a meal by asking me if I know how many career doubles Stan Musial had, or what Ted Williams hit in 1946.  I never do know, but he does.  

“Bonds took steroids!  He cheated!”

And there is that word again, steroids, that pops up nearly every time we talk baseball these days, but never popped up when I talked baseball with my dad, or he with his.  Joe has obviously been worrying about this; he’d like to know why Bonds was allowed to break Aaron’s hallowed record while on the juice, and I can’t answer him.

Personally, I would love to find out one day that Barry Bonds gained all of that muscle and bat speed through an uncannily successful regimen of weight-lifting and protein shakes.  I’d also love to find out one day that there really is an Easter Bunny, and he has evidence to prove that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.  Bonds’ drug use was so obvious that my seven-year old knew it.  Joe, in fact, still believes in the Easter Bunny, but he doesn’t believe Barry Bonds.

“People think that Bonds took steroids,” I offered.  “He himself has said that he never did.  It hasn’t yet been proven that he took steroids.  Until it has been proven, we consider Barry Bonds to be innocent.”  In defending Barry Bonds, who has been the poster boy for steroid use in the major leagues for the last seven years and is perhaps the least likeable baseball superstar in the history of the game (Ty Cobb, rolling over in his grave, sighs with relief), I feel like a public defender who has been assigned the case of the guy who stabbed his mother-in-law thirty-two times at the wedding, with the knife from the cake in broad daylight in the middle of the reception, and I’m supposed to vigorously defend his innocence.

But who am I kidding?  Bonds was named in the Mitchell Report, and there have been whole books written about the Bay Area laboratory that supplied him with his PEDs.  Even my son knows and acknowledges this.

Joe gave me a piteous look, as if I was the biggest dope in both Canada and the U.S.  “Everybody knows that he took them,” he said scornfully.  “How could he say he never took them?”

I meekly offered that maybe Bonds didn’t know what he was taking.  Maybe he thought it was something else they were giving him.  Or maybe he just believed that it was okay to take them then. 

Joe didn’t buy it.  “Well, he shouldn’t play anymore,” he said, adding with a 7-year old’s absolute sense of right and wrong, “He’s a cheater.  As far as I’m concerned, the home-run record still belongs to Hank Aaron.”

Tell it to Bud Selig.

The first thing one must discuss when the topic of steroids and RA comes up is that there is a big difference between anabolic and corticosteroids. The former are associated with muscle mass gain popularized by illegal use in athletes. The later are connected with metabolism and immunity. Now that we’ve cleared up that little issue, we can delve into the use of steroids in the treatment of RA.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/denn/

Corticosteroids are powerful anti-inflammatory medicines and they are regularly used for all sorts of inflammatory problems. The most common forms of administration in RA patients are joint site injections and oral pills. But this effectiveness of fighting inflammation comes with side effects. The most common side effects of corticosteroid use include the following:

• Elevated pressure in the eyes (glaucoma)
• Fluid retention, causing swelling in your lower legs
• Increased blood pressure
• Mood swings
• Weight gain, with fat deposits in your abdomen, face and the back of your neck
• Cataracts
• High blood sugar, which can trigger or worsen diabetes
• Increased risk of infections
• Loss of calcium from bones, which can lead to osteoporosis and fractures
• Menstrual irregularities
• Suppressed adrenal gland hormone production
• Thin skin, easy bruising and slower wound healing [i]

Other side effects I would like to add to this list are difficulty sleeping and redness of the skin. For joint injections, patients will often overuse the joint because it feels so good resulting in further damage to tissue. There are probably other side effects and I hope readers chime in with their stories. This long list of side effects is why I categorize steroids as the Nuclear Weapon against RA. While they do an excellent job of fighting the enemies of RA-inflammation-they impact the entire body.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/scfiasco/

Most RA patients have experienced the famous Medrol Dose Pack. This handy package starts with 6 pills the first day and ends with one pill on day six. The first time I was prescribed Medrol was a weekend when I had a terrible reaction to methotrextate. My doctor pulled me off methotrexate and immediately put me on a dose pack in an effort knock down the RA symptoms until I could get into his office to begin Enbrel. The dose pack really helped me feel better until Enbrel started working. But because of the side effects, I try to avoid them as much as possible.

This was not my first experience with corticosteroids. Five years ago, before even being formally diagnosed with RA, a major case of iritis (inflammation of the eye) hit both eyes. It finally took a visit to an Ophthalmologist to figure out what was happening. He immediately prescribed regular doses of prednisone eye drops. They started out every two hours (all night long) and eventually tapered off over the next month. One interesting side note…this episode was the first sign of RA. The Ophthalmologist started asking me strange questions about joint problems and told me that iritis in both eyes simultaneously is an indicator of autoimmune disorders. No blood tests were run and I quickly forgot about it until other symptoms cropped up later. 

Just like superpower countries, a stockpile of corticosteroids remains stashed away just in case things get out of hand and the inflammation enemy strikes with a vengeance. Currently though, there seems to be détente between the enemy and my body. Other medicines seem to be doing the trick. But my finger remains ready to push the button releasing a nuclear war if needed.

(Interview between Fox’s Glenn Beck, the Daily Kos’s Markos Moutilsas, and Teresa Quanranta

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m a very very humble man. A simple clown really, but I want what’s best for my country because… because I love it so much, and every day they’re trying, bit by bit to take it away. Everyday, in ways both great and small. Sometimes it’s the federal government trying to make sure people don’t go bankrupt when they contract a life threatening illnes, and sometimes it’s a story like this. I promised you that I would be ever vigilant about all the threats to the American way of life, and I’m working to uphold that promise with a calm, reasoned discussion of…” FOX host Glenn Beck sniffled a bit. “… of the recent steroids scandal that’s all over the media. Joining me today is Teresa Quaranta, representing New Frontier Wrestling. Teresa, I have to say that I’m concerned about this. I… I don’t think our fathers… our brave founding fathers… would have ever imagined anything like what we saw from a man claiming to stand for Justice in this country.”

“Are you OK, man?”

“Teresa, you sounds like you’ve got bull testicles in the back of your neck! Shut up!”

“.”

“Also here is Markos Moulitsas-Zuniga, foreign liberal blogging communist, basically the scum of the earth and the sworn enemy of God, freedom, and western civilization as a whole. Say hello, Mr. Moulitsas-Zuniga.”

“Always happy to be here, Glenn.”

“Teresa: justify this.”

“Uhm… they were chewable Flinstones Vitamins? I don’t think there’s anything crazy in ‘em, except for the purple ones, one time I was at a party and ate nothing but the purple ones and when I woke up I was in St. Paul Minnesota hanging upside down from a flagpole wearing nothing but a -”

“YOU’RE A BARBARIAN,” Markos couldn’t take anymore, apparently.

“Because I… psychologically slash physically damage people for money?”

“Well, there is that, but mostly it’s because you help sell Big Dairy’s slime to the uninformed masses. Aren’t you ashamed to induce people to slurp down caffineated crap down their gullets? Cows were tortured for that milk. Are you so weak, that you just can’t live without the fruits of the suffering of others? Meat, cheese, eggs, milk, dairy, fish, poultry, and let’s not get started on the use of animal byproducts! Bone jewelry? Leather bags. I hate the way you live! Look at me, Teresa. Take a look. I’m living proof that you can be strong, healthy, and a winner, through an animal-free diet. I’m the only decent human being in this studio, because I’m the only true vegan here tonight!”

Beck and Quaranta both sat there in silence for a moment, and finally Beck scratched his head.

“Look, this is another example of government interference destroying the free market. If we knocked down those regulations and gave Captain Justice some TAX CUTZ for those roids, he would have bought more of them. He would have gotten bigger and stronger. He would have sold more tickets to NFW shows all across the country and he would have stopped more crime! There’s nothing I love than bodyslamming poor people who try and forcibly take things from people who have money. Captain Justice is like a superpowered guardian of the economic status quo, so why do you, a noted Canadian -”

“Uh, Glenn I don’t think my home country is -”

“NOTED CANADIAN, why do you hate the free market? It says FREE right there in the title.”

“I just think that if he was using steroids, it would reduce his longevity and make him a less happy person. That would probably make justice less just for everyone.”

“Well, I think justice should be strong, should be angry, and should beat the hell out of foreigners, minorities, homosexuals, and women, and you’re all four in one overgrown package, in fact, so’s Zuniga.”

“.”

“The idea that he should have to call a press conference and apologize to the public, when his only crime is working to be the very best, fills me with a deep sense of sorrow. Cap, if you’re watching this, don’t bow down to the media elite! You represent America, and America NEVER apologizes! Now get out there, stomp the stuffing out of Varga and this lesbian -”

“!!”

“- and grab your spot atop the tag team mountain, looking down from your mighty perch downwards at both of the teams you beat along the way!”

“Captain Justice is a witless tool of the capitalist system, and Teresa Quaranta isn’t much better. You’re all the worst. I’m gonna blog about you two SO HARD when we’re off air.”

“Every day that passes that doesn’t see CAPTAIN JUSTICE as winner of the Bunkhouse Stampede, is like a little flame licking at the feet of liberty. And everytime Teresa Quaranta gives an exhaustive explanation for why the person she’s fighting is mentally retarded, it’s like pouring gasoline on that flame.”

Beck took a keg of gas. “IS THAT WHAT YOU PEOPLE WANT? LIBERTY TO DIE IN A HOT GAS FIRE? Because China WILL collect the insurance money!”

“Glenn, please don’t-”
“GET OFF MY PHOOOOONE -” “Burn, facist, burn!”

There’s a huge commotion off set.

*TWHACK*

“AAAAAARGHHHH!”

*THWACK*

“AAAAAARGHHHH!”

“WATCH OUT! IT’S A ROIDED UP WRESTLER GOING BERSERK!”

Markos: “Oh my God. Captain Justice is here.”

A security guard falls backwards through the door and lands on teh floor. Markos runs back and forth on the set like a headless chicken. But…it’s not Captain Justice who comes through the door. It’s the ‘Six Foot Demolition Machine in a Short Skirt’ Dawn McGill. Another security guard tries to get in her way. She swings her leg back and brings it up with great force, her 4″ stilettos connecting squarely on the guard’s scrotum. In an instant, his face turns pale white. The guard tips over and lies on the floor gasping for breath.

Guard: “Mommy.”

Markos: “You’re not Captain Justice! You’re…you’re…”

Beck: “I know who this is. She’s from that…that…political wrestling federation.”

Markos: “PCW? Political Championship Wrestling?”

Beck: “Yeah. They make fun of people like you and me, Markos. They make fun of ideological warriors standing up for what they believe……and making tons of money along the way.”

Markos: “Why that’s…Unamerican!”

Beck: “Indeed. (to McGill) Why don’t you go back to your roided up geeky friends at PCW and *choke* hey…urk…uh…”

McGill smiles and walks Beck over to the news set. Markos runs in behind her and jumps on her back. He starts pounding on the back of her neck.

Markos: “Let him go! Let him go!”

Dawn makes a slight movement back and then jerks forward. Markos loses his grip and starts to slide down. Dawn bends her left leg at the knee and catches Markos in the groin with her 4″ stiletto. He immediately covers himself and his jaw is gaping wide open as the pain shot through his body.

McGill lifts Beck up and power bombs him through the news desk. The set literally explodes upon impact with Beck in the middle of the wreckage.

McGill turns to Markos who’s now lying on the floor writhing in excruciating discomfort. Then she looks right into the camera.

Dawn: “Oh…and for the record…these…(she points to her muscles)…are real. And for that matter, so are these…(she points to her breasts). Just thought I’d point that out. Fox News will be back in a few…”

…steeerrroooiiidss fllyyyyyyy!

If you favorite baseball player was suspended for using steroids, would you feel cheated? Violated? Let down? Ashamed? My favorite football player just did and to be honest I’m fine with it.

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/chiefs/story/1575739.html

IDS Sports and FDA notified consumers that five of the IDS’s dietary supplement products (Bromodrol, Dual Action Grow Tabs, Grow Tabs, Mass Tabs, and Ripped Tabs TR) contain the following undeclared substances, which FDA considers to be steroids: “Madol,” “Turinabol,” “Superdrol,” and/or “Androstenedione.”

Acute liver injury is known to be a possible harmful effect of using steroid-containing products. In addition, steroids may cause other serious long-term adverse health consequences in men, women, and children. These include shrinkage of the testes and male infertility, masculinization of women, breast enlargement in males, short stature in children, a higher predilection to misuse other drugs and alcohol, adverse effects on blood lipid levels, and increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and death.

The recalled products were distributed in either black boxes containing blister packs of 60 capsules or white bottles with black labels containing 30 or 60 capsules.

Customers who have any of the products in their possession should stop using them immediately and contact their physician if they have experienced any problems that may be related to using the products.

CLICK HERE to read the MedWatch safety summary, including a link to the Press Release.

Usain Bolt. No more appropriate name could there be for the fastest man on the planet, with the possible exception of Flashy McSpeed. The Lightning Bolt. The slickest, coolest, quickest cat on the block. From the preening and posing – done with a boyish glee and bravado suitable to someone who genuinely is the best and knows it – to the globally-recognised lightning-strike celebration, Usain Bolt has every star quality in spades. Not only that, but he is a winner, and everyone loves a winner. Everyone loves watching someone outdo themselves, exceed expectation time and again, win not just easily but in mind-blowing fashion.

In Dublin Airport, on 20th August 2009, I sat in a bar waiting for a flight to Edinburgh and watched, admired and applauded as the world record for 200m was smashed by the brightest star in the athletics galaxy. The Berlin crowd went wild, everyone in our bar moved a little closer to the screen to check and recheck that time. 19.19 seconds. “Sweet Jesus!” “Incredible” and the wonderfully understated and unnecessary “Fuck, that’s fast.”

Athletics has had a rough time of it of late. Doping scandals are not quite as rife as they were during the horror years of the 80s and early 90s, when the likes of Ben Johnson and his 1988 Olympic 100m co-finalists were almost all disgraced, Flo-Jo’s superhuman times and early retirement left more than a whiff of suspicion around her greatness, and the Iron Curtain nations spewed out wave after wave of specially-created, steroid-filled robots. Yet they are still there, and still claim the high-profile names.

One such name is Marion Jones, an athlete universally admired at her peak for her enduring spirit, undeniable talent and apparent “clean-ness”. My granny – a huge fan of Jones – and I were surely not alone when Marion was found to be a cheat and forced to hand over her Olympic medals from Sydney. We had watched those games and marvelled at this engaging and gifted young woman who had carried all before her in a 5-medal haul. She was a shining beacon for fair play, or so we all thought. Then, in 2005, she was brought into disrepute along with the likes of Kelli White and Tim Montgomery in the course of the BALCO investigation, finally confessing to taking performance-enhancing drugs prior to the Olympics in 2000. She forfeited all results dating back to September of that year.

BALCO played a massive role in the continuing sorry tale of athletics cheats. Nowadays, many people watch athletics with a certain cynicism. Any athlete who displays great muscle mass, a sudden burst of form or an unprecedented success are sneered at with suspicion. Certainly, the scenes in the Cube at Beijing 2008 left many feeling cold and hollow, as China swept to gold medals left, right and centre, especially in the women’s events, some achieved by swimmers heretofore ranked beyond the top-20 in their discipline and by phenomenal margins. Witness again the furore surrounding Caster Semenya at the World Championships only a few short months ago, and it seems no champion is safe from the finger of suspicion and the taint of rumour.

Except, possibly, Usain Bolt. When a champion is JUST THAT GOOD, he is even more heavily scrutinised than those who have come before. He cannot go anywhere without being heavily drug tested; there is too much riding on him. With athletics on the ropes, Bolt is the Messiah viewed by all who love the sport as its saving grace. Here is a charismatic character, a surprisingly articulate and down-to-Earth speaker, and a superhuman runner. He is as Sea The Stars is to flat racing – the pinnacle of athleticism thus far, the greatest that has yet to be seen. He strolls past high quality fields which, in any other era, would be breaking records of their own. He is, quite simply, the perfect sprinter, with a long, easy stride and more gears than a spare-part shop.

So Usain Bolt CANNOT be a cheat. It is too important for athletics that he is a freak of nature (in the nicest possible way!) and nothing more. People who don’t always watch athletics will often watch the Olympics. It is rare that the World Championships would garner even half that attention, yet there were millions glued to the races featuring Bolt, both in that airport bar and around the world. He is the hottest ticket in town, the biggest draw the sport knows and the most vital part of an uncertain future. People WANT him to win, because they want to be able to say “I saw Bolt”. And they want him to be clean, because they want to be able to say “I saw Bolt, and he was the best, beyond doubt”.

If Bolt is clean, he will be remembered as a god by all who saw him, just as golfers remember Nicklaus or Hogan and will remember Woods, just as footballers remember Pelé or Maradonna and will remember Kaka, just as rugby players remember Willie John or Campese and will remember O’Driscoll. If he is clean, athletics will grow again, with new trust invested in its biggest names and a new generation of competitors all inspired to compete in one of the world’s oldest sporting traditions with a spirit of fair play on which the Olympics were founded. If he is clean, he will have single-handedly saved a dying sport, and a great sport.

If Bolt is a cheat…well, maybe it’s time for the majority of competitors to give up the game, because there will never be any joy in competing against peers you can no longer trust in front of dwindling crowds who, quite frankly, no longer care.

“In many ways, I root for him,” wrote the NYT’s Doug Glanville about Alex Rodriguez after the World Series.  I have to say to my surprise that I feel the same way.  A-Rod not only has the greatest baseball skills of anyone around, and always has, but a confluence of life’s events also give him the chance to do some things off the field that no player has done.

To wit, that means really getting out front on the steroids issue and telling our kids, “This was wrong and you shouldn’t do it.”  Shouldn’t take drugs to play a game better; shouldn’t take risks with your health just to make a few more bucks; shouldn’t cheat to get ahead.  All of those things that we want to hear from ballplayers.

Why should A-Rod do this?  Because he has the greatest pedestal of anyone to do this.  And he seemed genuinely regretful of his brush with PEDs when he came clean with Peter Gammons (but only after his name was leaked from the list of 104 players who failed the 2003 drug test).  He has way more money than anyone needs, and so won’t jeopardize his playing career by commenting publicly on steroids; he certainly can’t be disliked by his fellow players any more than he already is.  And because I think he can find a great deal of personal redemption in being the player who comes out front on this issue.  That, as well as homers and run production, could be his lasting legacy to the game.

My reasons are partly selfish: I watched A-Rod play as a youngster in Seattle, and always thought he was a marvel.  He handled pressures that most players don’t have.  I wanted my son Joe to admire him, too, but Joe always was wary of A-Rod, even before the PED revelations emerged.  When it came out last spring that A-Rod had been named, Joe just looked at me and said, “I told you that he used steroids.”

Maybe now, after some new efforts by the Yankees’ third baseman, my kid can turn to me and say, “You know, I think he really means it and is really helping kids make good choices.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Workout Routine By Muscle Mag October 1991.

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MON, WED, FRI

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There seems to be no benefit of adding steroids to local anesthetics for treating daily headaches, as per a study by neurologists at the Jefferson Headache Center at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.

It was remarked by Avi Ashkenazi, M.D., assistant professor of neurology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, that these findings are a result of careful observation of two groups, one of which was on GONB treatment with lidocaine and bupivicaine and second one was on the two drugs with steroids. It was further remarked that both groups displayed almost the same results leading to the suggestion that treatment can be effective without steroids and there is no use of involving 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.

It is expected that Dr. Ashkenazi and his team would be having a close look at the post-therapy data besides recruiting more patients to find if steroids prove effective for lengthening anti-inflammatory effect of the injection.

]]> http://ethicsalarms.com/2009/11/15/player-dementia-and-the-fans-dilemma-is-watching-n-f-l-football-unethical/ Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:25:32 +0000 Jack Marshall http://ethicsalarms.com/2009/11/15/player-dementia-and-the-fans-dilemma-is-watching-n-f-l-football-unethical/ http://resofit.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/steroids-nutritional-supplements-hgh-are-they-addictive/ Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:16:20 +0000 resolutionsblog http://resofit.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/steroids-nutritional-supplements-hgh-are-they-addictive/

The short answer is YES! I’ve been physically and mentally addicted to them for years, even after I stopped using the drugs twenty years ago. Looking back, I was addicted to the feeling they gave me just as much as I was to the seeing the physical benefits from using them.

My cousin Keith died at age 26, almost twenty years ago to this day. Doctors connected his cancer with steroid abuse. Even with Keith on his death bed, we both couldn’t nor wouldn’t acknowledge what the steroids had done to him and what they were doing to me. Addictive? Sadly, not to the people taking them – even to the point of death!

While not steroids or Human Growth Hormone, supplements can have the same addictive effect on the brain. Yes, they, too, can be depended upon so much that they become an obsession and an enabler. Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for supplementation. Our diets today almost demand it; however, too much of a good thing can turn into a bad one.

My other advice: despite popular opinion, more is not better. I justified taking steroids by thinking, “Well, I’m not taking as much as the other people are.” That was denial, plain and simple. Taking more drugs, more whey protein, more vitamins, too much of anything only overwhelms the body and clouds the brain.

I have been clean since 1988, but even now, do I wonder what my life and physical training would be like if I did them again? Absolutely, every day. But I’ve learned that there are other things in life more important than a delusional feeling of grandeur.

Learn more about steriod use in bodybuilding now!

An old Victorian wrought iron sign above the old hospital reads 1829. It’s straight out of a Tim Burton movie. 18fucking29. This doesn’t comfort me one bit. I want to see the names of huge hedgefund managers on my hospitals: Warren Buffett Ward.  The Michael Milken Wing. The Bloomberg Building. Sloan-Kettering. Carnegie Mellon. Big money. This is what I want to see arriving at a hospital. Not FLORENCE FUCKING NIGHTINGALE WAS HERE.

But no, we are in Belsize park, London England, and this Charles Dickens Hospital is all we’ve got.  And so this is where wife, daughter and I, found ourselves this rainy Saturday evening while the rest of England is watching X Factor. Daughter had an asmatic attack that GP was nervous about and so referred us to 1829. And within three hours of our arrival at the The Royal Free Hospital A&E (accident and emergency), daughter had been given oxygen, placed on steroids and x-rayed. Turns out her oxygen levels were in the 60’s when they should really be in the 90’s. Fuck. The good staff of the A&E  then insisted that she spend the night at the hospital. Of course I had flashes of SKIN-EATING viruses roaming around the halls of this antique NHS pile and so I resisted and argued that  we could handle it from here. Dr Ghandi (her actual name), wouldn’t hear of it, and before I could say “call our pediatrician in New York”, we were wheeling daughter on oxygen, along the yellow-y and overheated corridors towards the main lifts. I was interrogating the young nurse who escorted us up. “How is this hospital doing with regards to the “icky” viruses that spread in hospitals?” I ask like the freak that I am.  She says, without a hint of irony, and in a strong northern accent, “Yeah we did pretty well on the last inspection, we got a ‘VERY GOOD”.  All the blood rushes to my toes and  I ask, “Not an EXCELLENT?”  The lift doors open before she can continue the interrogation, and into the pediatric ward we step. The lights were dimmed so that was kinda nice. The rooms were BIKRAM hot. Fuck.  And then we were shown to BED 12. Sandwiched between the window and the very occupied BED 11.

Bed 11 is occupied by a semi-paralysed, retarded boy of 6, who smiled the sweetest smile, but could only make loud sounds to communicate. In bed with him was metres and metres of bunched up xmas lights that change colors. Obviously he gets some comfort from these lights. His weary and exhausted mother who’s first language is Arabic told me in broken english that she”s been sleeping with him in this small hospital cot-bed since Wednesday night, and that they don’t expect to be home until Tuesday. I nervously asked what was wrong with him. (What is daughter sleeping this close to?) The poor boy has digestive problems and chronic reflux.

We settle daughter in and then I rush back to the house to prepare dinner for them. Unlike in a private hospital, there isn’t room service of any kind and the kitchen closes. When I get back to the hospital I walk into the ward and there squeezed onto BED 11 is the retarded boy and his mom and squeezed onto BED 12 is my daughter and wife. And it struck me that here within two feet of each other lies an Arab mother with her sick child, and a Jewish mother with her sick child, and there’s no difference between them. Both just as caring, devoted, anxious, uncomfortable and tired. It really makes you wonder why there can’t be peace in the middle east.

Anyway, we picnicked on the bed. I served homemade pumpkin pie, Gwyneth’s Tortilla and some curry I had whipped up too. Some Oreo cookies and apples for desert. Daughter was of course behaving like a Diva, complaining the room was too hot for her (they later gave her a fan), and the food was too cold. Anyhow, I left the hospital and I’m now home with Son and about to introduce him to Miranda July’s movie ME YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW. I love seeing all my favorite movies through his fresh, pre-teen eyes. Okay, so there you have it. What a weekend eh ?

By Robert Roy Britt, LiveScience Managing Editor

Popular culture is loaded with myths and half-truths. Most are harmless. But when doctors start believing medical myths, perhaps it’s time to worry.

In the British Medical Journal this week, researchers looked into several common misconceptions, from the belief that a person should drink eight glasses of water per day to the notion that reading in low light ruins your eyesight.

"We got fired up about this because we knew that physicians accepted these beliefs and were passing this information along to their patients," said Dr. Aaron Carroll, assistant professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine. "And these beliefs are frequently cited in the popular media."

And so here they are, so that you can inform your doctor:

Myth: We use only 10 percent of our brains.

Fact: Physicians and comedians alike, including Jerry Seinfeld, love to cite this one. It’s sometimes erroneously credited to Albert Einstein. But MRI scans, PET scans and other imaging studies show no dormant areas of the brain, and even viewing individual neurons or cells reveals no inactive areas, the new paper points out. Metabolic studies of how brain cells process chemicals show no nonfunctioning areas. The myth probably originated with self-improvement hucksters in the early 1900s who wanted to convince people that they had yet not reached their full potential, Carroll figures. It also doesn’t jibe with the fact that our other organs run at full tilt.

Myth: You should drink at least eight glasses of water a day.

Fact: "There is no medical evidence to suggest that you need that much water," said Dr. Rachel Vreeman, a pediatrics research fellow at the university and co-author of the journal article. Vreeman thinks this myth can be traced back to a 1945 recommendation from the Nutrition Council that a person consume the equivalent of 8 glasses (64 ounces) of fluid a day. Over the years, "fluid" turned to water. But fruits and vegetables, plus coffee and other liquids, count.

Myth: Fingernails and hair grow after death.

Fact: Most physicians queried on this one initially thought it was true. Upon further reflection, they realized it’s impossible. Here’s what happens: "As the body’s skin is drying out, soft tissue, especially skin, is retracting," Vreeman said. "The nails appear much more prominent as the skin dries out. The same is true, but less obvious, with hair. As the skin is shrinking back, the hair looks more prominent or sticks up a bit."

Myth: Shaved hair grows back faster, coarser and darker.

Fact: A 1928 clinical trial compared hair growth in shaved patches to growth in non-shaved patches. The hair which replaced the shaved hair was no darker or thicker, and did not grow in faster. More recent studies have confirmed that one. Here’s the deal: When hair first comes in after being shaved, it grows with a blunt edge on top, Carroll and Vreeman explain. Over time, the blunt edge gets worn so it may seem thicker than it actually is. Hair that’s just emerging can be darker too, because it hasn’t been bleached by the sun.

Myth: Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight.

Fact: The researchers found no evidence that reading in dim light causes permanent eye damage. It can cause eye strain and temporarily decreased acuity, which subsides after rest.

Myth: Eating turkey makes you drowsy.

Fact: Even Carroll and Vreeman believed this one until they researched it. The thing is, a chemical in turkey called tryptophan is known to cause drowsiness. But turkey doesn’t contain any more of it than does chicken or beef. This myth is fueled by the fact that turkey is often eaten with a colossal holiday meal, often accompanied by alcohol — both things that will make you sleepy.

Myth: Mobile phones are dangerous in hospitals.

Fact: There are no known cases of death related to this one. Cases of less-serious interference with hospital devices seem to be largely anecdotal, the researchers found. In one real study, mobile phones were found to interfere with 4 percent of devices, but only when the phone was within 3 feet of the device. A more recent study, this year, found no interference in 300 tests in 75 treatment rooms. To the contrary, when doctors use mobile phones, the improved communication means they make fewer mistakes.

"Whenever we talk about this work, doctors at first express disbelief that these things are not true," said Vreeman said. "But after we carefully lay out medical evidence, they are very willing to accept that these beliefs are actually false."

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by Kris Olson
Columnist

Good evening, and welcome to tonight’s performance of “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are in a Persistent Vegetative State.”

As usual, we ask that you please silence your cell phones. For those audience members with a Lady Gaga ringtone, we ask that you go ahead and leave the room altogether. Also, silence your Palm Pilots, Blackberrys, Pocket PCs, iPhones, PSPs, MP3 players, wristwatch alarms, graphing calculators, Gameboys and pacemakers. Please set all phasers to stun.

Remember that the use of flash photography is strictly forbidden as it blinds the performers. In fact, I heard that it was a Nikon D60 that got Stevie Wonder.

Videotaping this event is also prohibited without the expressed written consent of Major League Baseball. … On second thought, the MLB can’t even stop players from using steroids, so record away!

If you’d like to use steroids during the performance, however, be our guest.

Those with noisy children should escort the little twerps to the back of the house where we have psychoanalysts waiting to figure out what the hell is wrong with you people. Honestly – find a babysitter. On a similar note, those audience members nearest death should be seated closest to the exit signs.

Next, due to fake outrage about Robert Mapplethorpe, we are an entirely non-government-funded institution. Therefore, all donations to the theater are 100 percent tax and guilt deductible. Mellow Mushroom coupons do not count.

And now for the moment no one has been waiting for: recognition of our sponsors. Our production is brought to you by The Webb Company: Lexington’s Leader in Tearing Down Historical Buildings to Plant Some Grass; The Big Ass Fan Company: Second Only to McDonald’s in Big Asses; and in part by viewers nothing like you.

Please take note of a few corrections in the program. Instead of thanking his parents, Michael Conning “would like to blame his mom and dad for the nearly 12 years of psychotherapy he had to endure. He would also like to thank Valium.” We apologize for the inconvenience.

A reception in the lobby will follow the show. In the meantime, please sit back and enjoy tonight’s performance of “Little Orphan Annie Get Your Gun.”

Greg Valentino. Proof that OCD can come in so many forms.