Steroids Blog

Canakinumab (ACZ885), a new interleukin-1 (IL-1)-beta blocking monoclonal antibody, has been found to be an effective option when it comes to encouraging effectiveness besides being well tolerated by children with sJIA (systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis).

The finding was disclosed in a phase II study presented at PReS 2009, a joint congress with the 2009 Congress of the European League against Rheumatism (EULAR) in Copenhagen, Denmark.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (sJIA) is one of the five major types of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) (along with oligoarticular JIA, polyarticular JIA, enthesitis related arthritis and psoriatic arthritis). sJIA is characterised by arthritis, fever and a salmon-pink rash. Systemic JIA can be challenging to diagnose because the fever and rash come and go. It affects males and females equally, unlike the other two subtypes of JIA. It is the most difficult JIA subtype to be treated. Steroids are the only effective drugs but are associated with severe adverse events including growth failure and osteoporosis.

JIA is regarded as one of the leading chronic inflammatory diseases of childhood affecting approximately 1 in every 1,000 children; sJIA is the most severe subtype of JIA.

Even though asthma is one of the major reasons for admissions to hospitals and a common chronic disease among young children yet 26-45 percent of children face inadequate asthma control, as per a review in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

This review was produced as an initiative of the Canadian Thoracic Society and incorporated the latest scientific information derived from randomized controlled trials since the Canadian Pediatric Asthma Consensus Guidelines were published in 2003.

From Sciencedaily.com:

The review provides key points for distinguishing between transient asthma and chronic asthma in preschoolers and information on managing both types.

For children with intermittent asthma, using inhaled corticosteroids only during attacks does not appear to be effective. Regular therapy with inhaled steroids should be used for children with more severe intermittent or persistent symptoms. Treatment with leukotriene receptor antagonists during the viral season may help to reduce symptoms and visits to health care providers. The possibility of another condition should be considered if children do not respond to optimal therapy.

The authors stated that more research is pending to examine the effectiveness of treatment options in young children.

According to researchers during a systematic review of all studies concerning the SARS epidemic, none of the presently recommended options for the epidemic are effective.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) affects some animals and gets transmitted to the human population because of exotic live animals sold for food. It is caused by a virus known as the SARS coronavirus.

From News-Medical.Net:

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is thought to have first appeared in China in 2002 and spread around the world in 2003, mainly by airline travel and then within hospitals.

It eventually infected more than 8,000 people and killed 774 before it was brought under control.

The infection was caused by a virus previously unseen in people, the SARS coronavirus which affects some animals and it may have spread to people from exotic live animals sold for food.

The virus made people cough and wheeze violently and doctors in desperation tried a variety of treatments.

There are very few drugs which effectively treat viruses, so most of the known antivirals, including drugs that treat AIDS, hepatitis and influenza, were tried.

Following the outbreak, the World Health Organization established an International SARS Treatment Study Group, which recommended a review of SARS treatments, with a particular focus on certain antiviral drugs (ribavirin, lopinavir, and ritonavir), steroids, and proteins called immunoglobulins, which occur naturally in human blood.

According to the team of involved researchers, most of the studies on the use of steroids for reducing inflammation are inconclusive.

Juan Dixon, the former NBA player and Maryland star, was recently defended by his wife in an interview with The Baltimore Sun.

Robyn Dixon, his wife, said that Juan may have tested positive for using an over-the-counter supplement but that use was made in good faith and did not happen intentionally.

Robyn said that Juan has been in the world of professional sports for the last seven years and did not have any idea about a possible banned substance in a supplement.

From Articles.Baltimoresun.com:

Dixon was indefinitely suspended Friday, according to the Spanish team Unicaja, which said he had a positive result for Nandrolone, an anabolic steroid, during a test conducted in Greece. Dixon had played in Greece late last year before joining Unicaja.

Unicaja’s Web site said that the suspension was imposed by Switzerland-based FIBA, the basketball governing body, and would last at least until the issue is resolved.

Robyn Dixon, who lives in the family’s home in Silver Spring with the couple’s two young children, said her husband’s urine sample is to be tested again next Monday.

His wife said she didn’t know which supplement might have triggered the positive. She said the player, Maryland’s career scoring leader, will “go into GNC and see something and say, ‘I’ll try this.’ It’s probably something more to help the muscles repair.”

E-mails to FIBA requesting information about Dixon’s case were not immediately returned Sunday night.

It is important to note here that Juan Dixon while testifying in 2005 by a U.S. House committee said that he and other NBA players had succeeded “through hard work and dedication to our dreams, not through the use of steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs.”

Digibind, which is currently recommended by medical practitioners to patients with heart complications, can also be an effective option of treatment for delaying delivery in expectant mothers with severe preeclampsia.

A team of researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston is presently reviewing the drug for this benefit.

From News-Medical.Net:

“Preeclampsia is the No. 1 killer of pregnant women in the world, and there is no cure except delivery,” said Dr. George Saade, chief of maternal–fetal medicine at UTMB. “When it is severe and occurs early in the pregnancy, delivery in order to protect the mother results in a premature baby. That’s why this study is important, because if the medication works, then we can protect the mom while allowing the baby to grow and develop without delivering early.”

The clinical trial will test whether Digibind reverses or prevents the abnormalities that occur with preeclampsia and allows the fetus to remain in the womb longer. This would give doctors more time to administer steroids to prevent respiratory complications in premature births and reduce the need for costly and lengthy neonatal intensive care.

Dr. Nicole Ruddock, the study’s principal investigator and an instructor in UTMB’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said that this treatment option is groundbreaking.

Patients suffering from membranous nephropathy, a disorder of the kidneys, can expect significant relief via administration of Rituximab.

The finding appeared in an issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN).

A systematic review was conducted by Andrew Bomback, MD (University of North Carolina Kidney Center), and his colleagues for examining the beneficial effect of Rituximab was compared against nephropathy.

From News-Medical.Net:

To investigate rituximab’s potential, Andrew Bomback, MD (University of North Carolina Kidney Center), and his colleagues conducted the first systematic review of rituximab use in patients with membranous nephropathy. They collected and analyzed all of the data available on rituximab therapy in this patient population. They found 21 articles to date, all of which were either case reports or case series without controls, meaning that patients taking rituximab were studied for a certain length of time but were not compared with patients not taking the drug.

Dr. Bomback said that studies in the future would be helpful for examining the real value of this finding and the drug must be used only in research settings till then.

According to results of a national survey published in the June issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, more and more teenage girls are using steroids.

The survey noted that usage of steroids among girls is not just limited to those participating in competitive athletics. It was also noted that this was primarily influenced and associated with a cluster of other health-harming behaviors, including smoking and taking diet pills.

From Sciencedaily.com:

In 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 7 percent of ninth-grade girls reported ever using anabolic steroids, according to background information in the article. During the 1990s, three national surveys indicated dramatic increases in the prevalence of teen girls using steroids. Previous analyses of female steroid use have focused on older women and found an association with competitive athletics and bodybuilding.

Diane L. Elliot, M.D., of the Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, and colleagues assessed anabolic steroid use among teen girls using a nationally representative sample of U.S. high schools completed in 2003. A total of 7,544 female students in grades nine through 12 completed the survey, which included questions about sports participation as well as steroids, ecstasy use and other illegal or unhealthy behaviors.

A total of 5.3 percent of the participants reported prior or ongoing steroid use. “Participating in team sports was negatively related to anabolic steroid use, such that those who were members of sports teams were less likely to self-report prior or ongoing anabolic steroid use,” the authors write.

The authors concluded that the findings hinted at important associations among girls who use steroids.

Curtis Wenzlaff, a convicted drug dealer, who claimed to have supplied steroids to Mark McGwire says that he think that the baseball slugger was not completely truthful about his steroid confession while telling the reason of using performance-enhancing drugs in his interview with Bob Costas on the MLB Network on Jan. 11, 2010.

It was remarked by Wenzlaff said while speaking with ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” on Thursday that McGwire’s goal was to use steroids to get “bigger, faster, stronger” for improving his on-field performance.

From MLB.MLB.Com:

McGwire said in his interview with Costas that “in the winter ‘89 into ‘90, I was given a couple weeks worth, tried it, never thought anything of it, just moved on from it.”

It was only later, following the injury-ravaged 1993-94 seasons that McGwire says he once again began using PEDs to recover from injury. McGwire contends that his use from ‘94 on was a low-dose regimen designed solely to return him to health, not to augment his performance.

“I chuckled,” Wenzlaff said when asked his reaction to McGwire’s claim that he took steroids to heal from injury. “If excelling and kicking [butt] on the field is the end result, I guess that’s a healthy, good feeling. But for health, there are other things you can take for health that are anabolic, but it wouldn’t be that type of combination.”

Wenzlaff also said he thinks the combination of drugs he provided McGwire would’ve helped his hand-eye coordination.

“When you implement into what you are doing — for instance, hitting — an individualized, specialized program with muscle growth and explosiveness … while you’re on your drugs, it will improve your hand-eye coordination,” he said.

McGwire, the Cardinals’ newly appointed hitting coach, then reintroduced himself to St. Louis fans during the club’s Winter Warm-Up on Sunday and received a standing ovation.

The revelation by Wenzlaff is believed to hurt image of the baseball slugger, once more for sure.

According to a new research in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, college athletes making use of performance enhancers such as steroids are at an increased risk of abusing alcohol and indulging in substance abuse.

It was found in a study involving 234 male athletes that athletes making use of performance enhancers such as steroids and weight-loss supplements are more likely to go for drugs like marijuana and cocaine than their counterparts not keen to experiment with performance enhancers in the first place.

From Sciencedaily.com:

In their study, the researchers, led by Dr. Jennifer F. Buckman, assistant research professor at the Center of Alcohol Studies, found that nearly one third of the athletes acknowledged using a performance-enhancing substance in the past year. The list included banned substances like steroids, creatine, “Andro,” stimulants and weight-loss aids.

As a group, athletes who used performance-enhancing substances reported higher rates of drug and alcohol use. Seventy percent said they had used marijuana and one third admitted to cocaine use, versus 22 percent and 3 percent of athletes who did not use performance enhancers. They also had higher rates of smoking, binge drinking and prescription-drug misuse.

The results also hint at some reasons for the elevated rates of drug and alcohol use. Athletes who used performance enhancers were more likely than nonusers to be natural sensation seekers — a desire to have new and varied experiences — but they were also more likely to say they used drugs or alcohol specifically to cope with stress and anxiety.

This, Pandina says, suggest that these athletes often see a “utilitarian value” to using recreational drugs. “They are using them to cope with the problems of day-to-day living.”

It was remarked by study co-author Dr. Robert J. Pandina, director of the Center of Alcohol Studies at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey, that the concern is that many athletes are not only using recreational drugs but are also suffering from harmful effects of such drugs.

A protein, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which is necessary for normal growth of blood vessel, has been found to be responsible for the cell overgrowth in polyps’ development characterizing one of the most severe forms of sinusitis. This finding was revealed by a study by researchers from the John Hopkins.

This type of sinusitis is not subtle in nature, as per Jean Kim, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor in the Departments of Otolaryngology and Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Allergy and Asthma Center at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

From News-Medical.Net:

Kim explains that surgery to remove the polyps is one of the most common treatments for this disease. However, nasal and sinus polyps in these patients almost always regrow. “Once the patient has entered the cycle of growing polyps, it’s very hard to get out,” she says. Another common treatment is oral steroids, but these drugs are fraught with many harmful side effects and also only temporarily treat the disease.

She and her Johns Hopkins colleagues have long studied sinusitis, often growing sinus cells isolated from patients in petri dishes. After noticing that cells from patients with polyps typically multiplied faster than cells from normal patients, the researchers speculated that cells from polyp patients might be producing extra amounts of some type of growth factor, a protein that encourages cell growth.

To identify which growth factor might be to blame, the researchers had sinusitis patients with and without polyps rinse their sinus passages with a wash solution, then tested the runoff for the presence of various growth factors. They found that solution from patients with polyps contained high amounts of a substance called vascular endothelial growth factor, or VEGF, a protein important for normal blood vessel growth that also seems to play a key role in a variety of diseases, including cancer. The more VEGF they found in a cell culture, the faster those cells grew.

The findings appeared in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine suggested that there could be development of a future treatment option that will make use of a nasal spray with an anti-VEGF agent in it.