Abuse Of Performance-enhancing Drugs Research Articles

Drug Abuse and Socio-Economic Wellbeing of Youth in Moyo District, Uganda

This study explores the relationship between drug abuse and the socio-economic well-being of youths in Moyo District, with a specific focus on recreational, prescription, and performance-enhancing drug abuse. Using a descriptive study design, the research employed both qualitative and quantitative approaches to examine these relationships. A sample of 330 youths was randomly selected from various trading centers within Moyo Subcounty, based on a study population of 2,342 youths as reported by UBOS (2020). Data were collected through a structured questionnaire, and validity and reliability were ensured through expert judgment and pre-testing, with a Content Validity Index (CVI) of 0.85 and a Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.88, respectively. The analysis revealed moderate negative correlations between recreational drug abuse (Pearson r = -0.421) and prescription drug abuse (Pearson r = -0.382) with socioeconomic well-being, indicating that higher levels of drug abuse are associated with lower socio-economic conditions. A weaker but still significant negative correlation was observed between performance-enhancing drug abuse (Pearson r = -0.229) and socio-economic well-being. These findings suggest that drug abuse negatively impacts socioeconomic well-being through factors such as reduced educational attainment, job performance, and financial instability. Based on these findings, the study recommends the implementation of educational programs, life skills training, expanded access to counseling and mental health services, development of targeted rehabilitation programs, improved healthcare access, and integration of drug abuse education into broader health programs. These measures aim to mitigate the negative effects of drug abuse and enhance the overall socio-economic well-being of youths in Moyo District.

Opinion paper: scientific, philosophical and legal consideration of doping in sports.

The term doping is generally used to indicate practices based on the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) or the abuse of medical therapies. Mostly analysed by doctors and officials, doping nevertheless also requires a philosophical consideration to avoid being simplistically portrayed as an isolated practice. To do this, we need to pay attention to the contradictions and paradoxes in the modern approach to doping in sport. In this context, doping is not only relevant to the health of an individual involved in the violation of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) criteria, but it actually represents a double-edged phenomenon containing ethical and legal points of view. Several philosophical items affect the ethics of doping. While, indeed, through a deontological vision it is easy to morally condemn an athlete who takes the decision to turn to doping, the same condemnation becomes difficult when the practice of doping is compared with the strong social demand of winners in every field of life. This point must be considered to prevent doping from becoming accepted as a daily practice to excel at all costs and regarded not only as normal but as a necessity for those participating in sport at both an amateur and professional level. Furthermore, a complete discussion on doping has to consider not only the philosophy of performance-enhancing drug abuse, but also the widespread practice of an inappropriate and excessive intake of certain dietary supplements with the unique and obsessive purpose (similar to doping) of increasing physical or mental performance. Based on the above, the aim of this paper is to provide a critical opinion of the doping problem and its related practices and analyze possible solutions considering issues that go beyond the impact of doping on health and reflect on whether it is right or not that an athlete does all he can to improve his performance.

Microbiomes, metabolic errors and detection of performance enhancing drug abuse.

Microbiomes, metabolic errors and detection of performance enhancing drug abuse.

What Goes into a Medal: Women's Inclusion and Success at the Olympic Games

This paper examines determinants of women's participation and performance in the Olympics. Female inclusion and success are not merely functions of size, wealth, and host advantage, but a more complex process involving the socioeconomic status of women and, more weakly, broad societal attitudes on gender issues. Female labor force participation and educational attainment in particular are tightly correlated with both participation and outcomes, even controlling for per capita income. Female educational attainment is strongly correlated with both the breadth of participation across sporting events and success in those events. Host countries and socialist states also are associated with unusually high levels of participation and medaling by female athletes. Medal performance is affected by large-scale boycotts. Opening competition to professionals may have leveled the playing field for poorer countries. But the historical record for women's medal achievement is utterly distorted by the doping program in the former East Germany, which specifically targeted women. At its peak in the 1970s and 1980s, the program was responsible for 17 percent of the medals awarded to women, equivalent to the medal hauls of the Soviet or American team in 1972, the last Olympics not marred by widespread abuse of performance-enhancing drugs.

The athlete biological passport: ticket to a fair Commonwealth Games.

In summer 2014, the world watched as Glasgow hosted the 2014 Commonwealth Games and athletes pushed the boundaries of human performance. Sport has developed into a multi-billion pound industry leading to the development of a 'win at any cost' mentality in some individuals. The abuse of performance-enhancing drugs has developed into a sophisticated arms race between those unfairly enhancing performance and those wishing to preserve the dignity of sport and the health of the competitors. The challenge for the Commonwealth games organising committee was to ensure that competition remained fair and that athletes were kept safe. The athlete biological passport is a system implemented by the World Anti-Doping Agency directed towards enhancing the identification of those athletes accountable for the misuse of performance-enhancing substances. This article exemplifies which drugs are currently being exploited and how the athlete biological passport has evolved to improve their detection.

Use of performance-enhancing drugs and the Internet

The use of physical performance-enhancing drugs is not limited to professional sports only, but has also been reported as common practice in recreational sports. A significant amount of epidemiological studies have highlighted the collective of fitness center visitors to be a high-risk group for using performance-enhancing drugs. From a sociological perspective, however, the decision to use performance-enhancing drugs (e.g., doping in the context of high-performance sport) is not an individual phenomenon only, but rather a result of social opportunity structures. This research article gives insight into enhancing-related Internet forums, in which the expertise of using and applying substances is passed on step by step. Using selected criminological learning theories, the “doping talk” in these social networks is hermeneutically reanalyzed and the Internet is exposed as a previously under-analyzed option for acquiring knowledge on the use of performance-enhancing drugs. This article shows that users of “doping platforms” are highly informed about doping and this offer of information acts like a knock-on effect to athletes who have so far abstained from doping. Consequently, future prevention models against the abuse of performance-enhancing drugs should consider the subcultural background of the milieu in which the athletes act.

Anti‐Dope Testing in Sport: The History and the Science

This summer, as the XXX modern Olympic Games and the XIV Summer Paralympic Games were held in London, millions watched magnificent efforts from the best athletes in the world. The ability of the athletes to produce their best personal performances in the spotlight and the pressure of the Olympic Games was a testament to the human spirit. But, because the margin between winning and losing is so small, one imprecisely placed foot or hand, one moment of indecision, one gust of wind at the wrong moment, and the gold medal is gone. Behind the scenes at these Olympics—properly so— was a scientific team performing under great pressure to ensure safe and fair competition by testing urine and blood for traces of performance-enhancing prohibited substances and methods. Their efforts were crucial, because, in partnership with the clean athletes, they support the integrity and the spirit of sport. More than 1000 samples were analyzed within a few days after each event for stimulants, steroids, masking agents, recombinant proteins like erythropoietin and growth hormone (GH), and other substances on the World AntiDoping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List (1). The List of Prohibited Substances and Methods is maintained by a committee of internationally recognized scientists and sport administrators. A revised list is released annually by the WADA. In deciding whether to add a compound or method to the list, the committee considers whether there is potential to enhance performance; a potential health risk for the athlete; or if use of the substance or method violates the spirit of sport. If two of the three criteria are met, the substance is added to the Prohibited List. The inclusion of the word “potential” recognizes that a substance may emerge for which there are no toxicological data. For example, the identification of the “designer” steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) in a drop of fluid in a syringe turned in to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in 2003 illustrates the problem. THG had been developed by Wyeth in the 1960s and taken to clinical trials as a potential anabolic agent, but never brought to market. It was impossible to locate any records from the clinical trials 40 years after the fact. THG had been shown to have anabolic activity (2). There were no publications about toxicological studies, but as a 17 -methyl steroid, comparison to similar structures strongly suggested the potential for some degree of hepatotoxicity. Based on this information, THG was added to the Prohibited List in 2006.

The Analytical Chemistry of Drug Monitoring in Athletes

The detection and deterrence of the abuse of performance-enhancing drugs in sport are important to maintaining a level playing field among athletes and to decreasing the risk to athletes' health. The World Anti-Doping Program consists of six documents, three of which play a role in analytical development: The World Anti-Doping Code, The List of Prohibited Substances and Methods, and The International Standard for Laboratories. Among the classes of prohibited substances, three have given rise to the most recent analytical developments in the field: anabolic agents; peptide and protein hormones; and methods to increase oxygen delivery to the tissues, including recombinant erythropoietin. Methods for anabolic agents, including designer steroids, have been enhanced through the use of liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry and gas chromatography/combustion/isotope-ratio mass spectrometry. Protein and peptide identification and quantification have benefited from advances in liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. Incorporation of techniques such as flow cytometry and isoelectric focusing have supported the detection of blood doping.

Medical Ethics and Performance-Enhancing Drugs

A physician's role in controlling the abuse of performance-enhancing drugs includes educating patients about the harms associated with these drugs and encouraging them to adopt safe and appropriate training programs. Virtual Mentor is a monthly bioethics journal published by the American Medical Association.

Testing for drug abuse

On March 25, 1996, the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) finally cleared Diane Modahl, a British athlete, of all charges of testosterone abuse in sport. That decision followed suspension from competition imposed by the British Athletic Federation (BAF) in August, 1994, on the basis of a doping test in Lisbon, Portugal, conducted in June, 1994; a 4-year ban from athletics after a disciplinary hearing in December, 1994; and her successful appeal before an independent panel of BAF in July, 1995. A urine sample from Modahl showed a 40 to 1 excess of testosterone (T) to epitestosterone (E), and this ratio was said to be proof of testosterone administration. A T/E ratio above six constitutes an offence unless there is evidence that this ratio is due to a physiological or pathological condition. BAF and eventually IAAF dismissed the case because experts for Modahl had convinced them that the analysis of a poorly stored sample was unsatisfactory and the conditions had enabled the generation of testosterone by the action of bacteria on steroids in the sample. The laboratory had refused a further test which, in the opinion of IAAF, would show whether that was the case in Modahl’s sample. Modahl is now seeking compensation for the costs of her defence as well as the loss of earnings. The testing procedures for drug abuse in sport are stringent. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) have decided that the tests will require confirmation whenever possible by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, which defines several chemical features of an abused drug. Drug testing in sporting events is designed to detect and deter abuse of performanceenhancing drugs by competitors. Accredited laboratories conduct nearly 100 000 drug tests world wide at an estimated annual cost of £20 million ($30 million). Just as athletes are preparing for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, USA, the IOC requires competitors to agree to a contract which prohibits them taking any action beyond a court of arbitration for sport if they fail a drug test. Outside sport, drug testing has been introduced by various employers and by schools, and has even been entertained among ballroom dancers. The efficiency of these tests is unknown but recent examples of grave injustices resulting from flawed scientific and forensic evidence bring into question other drug-testing procedures. A false-positive result, as in the Modahl case, can have a cruel impact on the life of anyone found guilty and there may be no rights of appeal. What lessons can we learn from the experience of Diane Modahl?