Performance-enhancing Drugs In Sport Research Articles

Reduced graphene oxide-based sensor for triamcinolone acetonide detection: Advancements in doping agent surveillance for athletes

The use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports is a major concern for athletes, coaches, and sports organizations. To address this issue, researchers have been developing advanced doping agent surveillance techniques, including the use of sensors for detecting prohibited substances in athletes' samples. The aim of this work was to create Ag nanoparticles and a reduced graphene oxide paste electrode (Ag-rGOPE) that could be used as an electrochemical sensor to measure the amounts of triamcinolone acetonide (TAA) in athlete blood serum samples for the purpose of detecting doping. The combination of Ag nanoparticles on rGO nanosheets was validated by the findings of structural investigations. The potential of Ag-rGOPE as a promising substitute for the analysis of TAA in actual samples was underlined by the electrochemical investigations. Ag-rGOPE was reported to have a sensitivity value of 0.67522 μA/μM, a linear range of 10 to 300 μM, and a limit of detection of 0.005 μM. High electrochemical reactivity, a broad linear range, and a small limit of detection were all characteristics of the Ag-rGOPE toward TAA. With considerable recovery values (above 96.00 %) and acceptable precision (RSD less than 4.37 %), the sensor showed outstanding performance for detecting TAA in serum samples. Overall, Ag-rGOPE demonstrated potential as an electrochemical sensor for measuring TAA levels in athlete serum samples that is both dependable and accurate.

Are You Game – Theoretically? A Critical Discussion of A Game-theory-based Argument in Favour of Banning Doping

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to present and critically discuss a game-theory-based argument in favour of the view that sports organizations ought to ban the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport. After presenting the argument in detail, I try to show that the argument is not convincing. First, the argument cannot be used to argue in favour of WADA’s (World Anti-Doping Agency) current ban on doping, at least if it rests on the assumption, that doping use is always harmful. However, that in itself may not be a problem for adherents of the argument, and they can and should modify the harm assumption to cover only harmful use of doping. Second, even with this modification, it is argued that the harm assumption is flawed, for example, because it is not obvious why we should accept certain harms in sport but not harm to athletes caused by doping. Third, the argument is also flawed because it entails the non-competitive assumption: if all athletes dope, then no competitive advantages are gained by any athletes assumptions. The non-competitive assumption is challenged in view of the observations that doping can have some non-competitive advantages and is, so to speak, not only a positional good and because doping, due to unequal responsiveness, can give some highly responsive athletes a competitive advantage over less responsive athletes.

Doping Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Pharmacists in Dessie, Northeast Ethiopia.

BackgroundDoping includes tampering, possession; trafficking; administration, assisting, encouraging, aiding, conspiring a prohibited substance, and an anti-doping rule violation. Doping in sports is increasing and diversifying involving physiological, mechanical, and pharmacological techniques and becoming a serious public health problem. Pharmacy professionals have a vital role in the fight against doping. This study assessed the knowledge, attitude, and practice of pharmacists on the use of doping agents by sportsmen and women.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional descriptive study was done targeting community pharmacists of Dessie city, Northeast Ethiopia. Structured questionnaires were distributed and collected between April and March of 2018. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Linear regression was used and the level of statistical significance was set at a p-value <0.05.ResultsOf the 61 pharmacy professionals who participated in the study, 46 (75.4%) were males and 15 (24.6%) were females. Only 25 (41.0%) and 13 (21.3%) of the respondents said they watch and play sport regularly, respectively. The majority of the participants, 50 (82%), supported the prohibition of performance-enhancing drugs in sport. The majority of the respondents, 55.7%, agree that pharmacists are a potential source of doping agents. Only 27.9% of them mentioned World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) as the source of information about doping agents. Regarding identifying the WADA status of 13 agents, the average score out of 13 was 4.95, while 80.3% of them scored less than or equal to seven. Factors associated with knowledge of participants were being male (β = 4.48, p= 0.02) and regularly watching sport (β = 2.64, p= 0.01).ConclusionEven though the pharmacists’ low knowledge score revealed that they need further specialized training on doping and anti-doping, majority of them support banning doping substances from sport. Pharmacy curriculum developers should consider incorporating specific topics or courses about doping agents.

A cell-free bioassay for the detection of androgens.

Androgens remain abused performance-enhancing drugs in sports. Technologies based on mass spectrometry can detect all forms of androgens but fail if the androgen represents a novel structure. A bioassay detects androgens based on function rather than structure. To date, there has been limited adoption of cell-based in vitro bioassays as a screening tool for nontargeted androgen detection because they require expert personnel and specialized equipment to perform. We now describe the development of a cell-free version of an androgen in vitro bioassay. Stage 1 involved in vitro transcription/translation reactions (IVTT) using a DNA template encoding an enhancer/androgen response element (ARE) regulatory region upstream of a minimal promoter that drives expression of a reporter protein. The assay detected testosterone across the concentration range of 106.7 to 0.0144 ng/ml (3.7 × 10-7 to 5 × 10-11 M), with an EC50 of 6.63 ng/ml (23 nM). To reduce complexity, Stages 2-4 of development included just in vitro transcription (IVT) reactions, whereby the output was an RNA molecule. Stage 2 involved directly labelling the RNA molecule with fluorophore-labelled nucleotide triphosphates, Stage 3 involved reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the RNA molecule, and Stage 4 utilized an RNA aptamer, Mango II, as its RNA output. The Stage 4 product detected testosterone across the range of 106.7-0.0001 ng/ml (3.7 × 10-7 to 5 × 10-13 M), with an EC50 of 0.04 ng/ml (0.155 nM). Further to this, we show that the Stage 4 product can detect other androgenic molecules. Relative to cell-based bioassays, the Stage 4 product is easy to perform and could be developed into a routine, high-throughput, nontargeted androgen screen.

No standarisation or harmonisation in anti-doping testing frequency

The use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) has undermined the credibility of sports for many years, with cycling and athletics, especially badly hit. The World Anti-Doping Agency has been tasked with...

Influence of Pain Killers on the Urinary Anabolic Steroid Profile.

Anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) are prohibited as performance-enhancing drugs in sports. Among them, testosterone and its precursors are often referred to as "pseudoendogenous" AAS, that is, endogenous steroids that are prohibited when administered exogenously. To detect their misuse, among other methods, the World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited laboratories monitor the steroid profile (concentrations and concentration ratios of endogenous steroids, precursors and metabolites) in urine samples collected from athletes in and out of competition. Alterations in steroid profile markers are used as indicators for misuse of anabolic steroids in sports. Therefore, especially their metabolic pathways with possible interactions are crucial to elucidate. As steroid metabolism is very complex, and many enzymes are involved, certain non-prohibited drugs may influence steroid metabolite excretion. One important group of steroid-metabolizing enzymes is aldo-keto reductases (AKRs). An inhibition of them by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which are neither prohibited nor monitored, but frequently used drugs in sports, was demonstrated in vitro. Thus, this work aims to investigate the influence of NSAID intake on the urinary steroid profile. Kinetic and inhibitory studies were performed using 5α-dihydrotestosterone as substrate. The results obtained from in vitro experiments show that ibuprofen inhibits AKR1C2 and thus influences steroid biotransformation. For in vivo investigations, urine samples prior, during and postadministration of ibuprofen were analyzed using routine methods to monitor the steroid profile. Changes in markers of the steroid profile of volunteers were observed. The combination of in vitro and in vivo results suggests that monitoring of ibuprofen may be useful in doping control analysis. The presented work illustrates the importance to consider co-administration of (non-prohibited) drugs during antidoping analysis. Intake of multiple substances is likely leading to interfering effects. Divergent results in antidoping analysis may therefore be observed and misinterpretation of analytical data may occur. Similar considerations may be appropriate for other fields of forensic applications.

Testing conditional superannuation as an anti-doping policy supplement for safeguarding athlete health and welfare

Given the significant, adverse health implications associated with performance-enhancing drugs in sport, anti-doping policy represents a pivotal intervention for not only protecting sport’s credibility, but also for safeguarding athletes’ health. However, current World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) policy has proven limited in controlling banned doping. This letter reports on a pilot experimental economics study testing ‘conditional superannuation’ as a novel anti-doping policy. A conditional superannuation policy compels athletes to direct a nominal percentage of their sport-related earnings into a managed fund, and only returned to athletes after a period of retirement. Results demonstrate that the policy outperforms existing penalties such as fines and bans. With sport’s hyper-competitive, commercial values, it remains improbable that an elite sports world will ever fully eliminate drugs. Nevertheless, sport needs regulation to help protect athletes from the health costs that arise from uncontrolled substance use. As existing penalty mechanisms appear to be inadequate for controlling sport doping, this letter recommends further research into conditional superannuation as a supplementary anti-doping policy to assist in safeguarding athlete health and welfare by lowering the incentive to utilize banned substances. The policy may also have applications to further domains of health including hospitals, allied health services, and aged care.

Patterns of Legitimation in Hybrid Transnational Regimes: The Controversy Surrounding the Lex Sportiva

This article addresses concerns that the growth in global governance may be bringing with it a decline in the significance of democratic sources of political legitimacy. One approach in evaluating such concerns is to ask whether the respective patterns of legitimation for private and public authority differ or whether they refer to a similar set of normative standards. Private transnational governance regimes provide useful contexts in which to assess the presumed democratic erosion. They seem, almost of themselves, to make the case for such a decline: in them regulatory authority is exercised by non-state actors who, by their very nature, lack the kind of authorization afforded by the democratic procedures that legitimize state-based regulation; in addition, they are intrinsically linked to the notion of politics as a form of problem-solving rather than as the exercise of power. Given these characteristics, when governance arrangements of this kind are subjected to criticism, one would expect justificatory responses to relate primarily to performance, with normative criteria such as fundamental individual rights and the imperative for democratic procedure playing only a minor role. On the basis of a qualitative content analysis, the study tests three ideal-type patterns of legitimation for plausibility. The case selected for examination is the recent controversy surrounding the hybrid governance regime that operates to prevent the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport. The debate offers the possibility of a ‘nutshell’ comparison of the respective patterns of legitimation used in criticizing and justifying state and non-state regulatory authority. This comparison yields two findings. The first is that the values used to appraise the state-based components of the sporting world’s hybrid regulatory regime do not differ systematically from those used to appraise the private elements: contestation and justification in both cases are founded on normative criteria relating to fundamental individual rights and democratic procedure and not just on performance-related considerations. The second finding is that justificatory grounds of the first type do not appear to be diminishing in importance vis-à-vis those of the second.

Point: the quest for clean competition in sports: are we the dopes?

A 2011 Q&A article published in Clinical Chemistry (1) covered the recent state of affairs and the outlook for future efforts to combat the use of illicit or performance-enhancing drugs in sports (i.e., doping). The interviewees in that article made several poignant admissions: that the rate of detection for doping is <100% (and maybe far less), that deterrent measures need to be stronger yet fair, and that future additions to the pharmacopoeia of doping agents will seriously challenge our ability to provide reliable and comprehensive testing. Given these challenges, it may be time for our society to reconsider the purpose of antidoping testing, and for those of us in the clinical chemistry community to question whether we should be doing this testing at all. One of the most important principles of laboratory testing is the statistical concept implied by the Bayes theorem: the likelihood of a finding being true is related to the pretest probability of truth times the likelihood ratio associated with the test. Thus, in the case of a drug test, if it is tremendously unlikely that the subject is using the drug, a positive drug test result is most likely a false positive. Conversely, if a subject is highly likely to be using a drug, a negative drug test result is most likely a false negative. Consider, for example, a hypothetical screening population in which 90% of athletes use a banned substance. Bayesian analysis tells us that, even if the test used for the banned substance is 95% sensitive and 95% specific for detection, more than 32% of the negative tests are false negatives. Because antidoping testing is often designed to afford higher specificity at the cost of lower sensitivity to lower the probability of false-positive results, and because athletes are known to actively evade detection, the …

Steroids and doping in sports: a reference handbook

Emphasizing the controversy over performance-enhancing drugs in sports today, this book examines all aspects of steroid use on the human body across history, from ancient China and India to modern-day professional athletics. The use of performance-enhancing drug use in sports is never out of the news, whether it's cycling, baseball, Olympic sports, or mixed martial arts. Interestingly, the use of steroids to boost human performance stretches back to ancient times. Written by a former professor of chemistry, Steroids and Doping in Sports: A Reference Handbook provides not only information about all aspects of performance-enhancing drugs in sport, but also supplies a thorough, scientific background about the drugs themselves-the chemistry and biology of steroids, what scientists have learned about these substances, and the specific ways in which they affect the human body. The author documents the cat-and-mouse actions of the athletes and those who supply them with performance-enhancing drugs to push the envelope, and of the sport and athletic groups-such as the NCAA and the International Cycling Union-that try to monitor and control such drug use. The work also includes a chapter containing snapshot profiles of many individuals involved in steroid use scandals and organizations with an interest in topics related to steroid abuse. * Provides an extensive history on the use of performance enhancing drugs in athletics and sports, as well as in everyday life, from ancient civilizations to the present day * Spotlights the current controversy regarding whether steroids should be permitted in sports competition * Presents an in-depth discussion of potential health and psychological effects of steroid use, and identifies the pro and con arguments concerning steroid use in sports, athletics, and other settings * Derives information from source documents on laws and court cases as well as reports on steroid use

Performance-enhancing drugs in sports and the role of doctor: are there guidelines?

There is little data in India on the use of performance enhancing drugs in sports. But personal and incidental information shows that their use is far more extensive than is believed. This use occurs beyond the arena of high-level competitive sports. Even if the guidelines of the national and world anti-doping agencies were to become effective, they would not impact the larger environment where such drug use appears to be extensive. Which ethical guidelines advise the sports medical practitioner in prescribing medicines and training regimes for the athlete? Of particular concern is the role of paediatricians since training for sports or physical fitness is increasingly a youth phenomenon. The following is a discussion note, prompted by personal and anecdotal experience.

A Comparison of Attitudes Toward Cognitive Enhancement and Legalized Doping in Sport in a Community Sample of Australian Adults

Background: This article compares public attitudes toward the use of prescription drugs for cognitive enhancement with the use of performance enhancing drugs in sport. We explore attitudes toward the acceptability of both practices; the extent to which familiarity with cognitive enhancement is related to its perceived acceptability; and relationships between the acceptability of cognitive enhancement and legalized doping in sport. Methods: A survey was administered through a computer-assisted telephone interviewing system to members of the Australian general public aged 18–101 years in the state of Queensland. Results: Of 1,265 participants, 7% agreed that cognitive enhancement is acceptable; 2.4% of the total sample said they had taken prescription drugs to enhance their concentration or alertness in the absence of a diagnosed disorder, and a further 8% said they knew someone who had done so. These participants were twice as likely to think cognitive enhancement was acceptable. Only 3.6% of participants agreed that people who play professional sport should be allowed to use performance-enhancing drugs if they wanted to. Participants who found cognitive enhancement acceptable were 9.5 times more likely to agree with legalized doping. Conclusions: Policies that facilitated the use of prescription drugs by healthy people for cognitive enhancement or permitted performance-enhancing drugs in sport would be at odds with the attitudes of the vast majority of our participants. Furthermore, our findings do not support media claims that the use of prescription drugs for cognitive enhancement is widespread in all sectors of society.

Should Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Sport be Legalized under Medical Supervision?

This review examines the question of whether performance-enhancing drugs should be permitted in sport under the control of physicians, and evaluates the expected outcomes of such a scenario. Such a change in regulation would need to be tightly controlled because of the risks involved. The results of legalizing performance-enhancing drugs in competitive sport would be either unhelpful or negative, and the unwanted aspects of doping control would not disappear. Athletes, including children and adolescents who wanted to pursue competitive sports, would be forced to take additional, avoidable health risks. The 'natural lottery' of athletic talents would be compensated for only partially by use of performance-enhancing agents. It would also be complemented by another 'natural lottery' of variable responses to doping measures, combined with the inventiveness of doping doctors. There would be no gain in 'justice' (i.e. fairer results that reflected efforts made) for athletes as a result of legalizing doping. Legalization would not reduce restrictions on athletes' freedom; the control effort would remain the same, if not increased. Extremely complicated international regulations would have to be adopted. The game of the 'tortoise and the hare' between doping athletes and inspectors would remain because prohibited but not identifiable practices could still provide additional benefits from use of permissible drugs. Audience mistrust, particularly toward athletes who achieved outstanding feats, would remain because it would still be possible that these athletes were reliant on illegal doping practices. Doping entails exposing the athletes to avoidable risks that do not need to be taken to increase the appeal of a sport. Most importantly, the function of sport as a role model would definitely be damaged. It is not necessary to clarify the question of what constitutes the 'spirit of sport' and whether this may be changed. From a practical point of view, a legalization of performance-enhancing drugs in sport should not be considered for the simple reason that it has no advantages but many disadvantages.

Good Athlete – Bad Athlete? on the ‘Role-Model Argument’ for Banning Performance-Enhancing Drugs

The paper critically discusses a role-model argument (RMA) in favour of banning performance-enhancing drugs in sport. The argument concludes that athletes should be banned from using performance-enhancing drugs because if they are allowed to use such drugs they will encourage, or cause, youngsters who look up to them to use drugs in a way that would be harmful. In Section 2 the structure of the argument and some versions of it are presented. In Section 3 a critical discussion of RMA is presented. It is argued that we should be reluctant to accept the argument as it stands for at least three reasons: (i) it rests on an unsupported empirical claim; (ii) it also makes a false empirical claim; and (iii) the normative premise of the argument is too demanding morally. Further objections to the RMA are also discussed, but argued to be beside the point

Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Sports: How Chemists Catch Users

The “cat-and-mouse game” between those who enable athletes to use performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) and those who try to detect such use provides a wealth of interesting examples for the undergraduate chemistry and biochemistry classroom. In this article, we focus on several commonly used PEDs, including amphetamine, anabolic steroids, erythropoietin (EPO), and human growth hormone. The benefits that athletes get from these PEDs, the analytical detection methods, and their limitations are discussed, along with approaches that athletes have used to try to avoid or circumvent positive tests. The tests for PEDs are timely and appropriate examples of applications of hyphenated mass spectrometry, isoelectric focusing, immunoassays, and gel electrophoresis. Student interest in PED use by athletes is inherently high and almost-weekly headlines keep the topic relevant at all times.

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.

Sport, health and drugs: a critical re-examination of some key issues and problems

One of the major justifications for the ban on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport has been that relating to the protection of the health of athletes. This paper subjects this argument to critical analysis by putting it in the context of the broader relationship between sport and health. More particularly, the paper seeks to unravel some of the complexities of this relationship by an examination of: (i) some aspects of sports sponsorship, particularly with alcohol and tobacco companies; (ii) the health risks associated with elite level sport; and (iii) the widespread and legal use within the sporting context of drugs that can have dangerous side effects. The paper concludes with an examination of some aspects of anti-doping policies within sport and it is suggested that a more imaginative approach to athlete education is needed to prevent the misuse of drugs.

Playing foreign policy games: States, drugs and other Olympian vices

The modern Olympic Games, like their ancient precedents, have been targeted by international powers flexing their foreign policy muscle. Covert efforts to capture the attention of a world audience, while purporting to demonstrate the values of a sound social or economic policy, are well documented. Sport carries undeniable prestige and politicians have been quick to recognize the potential. Association with sporting icons is not a new political ploy. Being photographed with Olympic champions, World Cup winners and record breakers is a less than subtle tactic. But when a nation's sporting youth make consistent statements on the international stage the world takes notice. One such well-documented platform from which elements of foreign policy were presented in the guise of a respectable festival' of sport was the apparent Nazi Party influence on the 1936 Berlin Olympics.1 However the case study highlighted in this essay is the coordinated, clandestine use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport by the Government of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). East German physicians, scientists and coaches collaborated in systematic drug administration to selected athletes, under the sanction of the GDR Ministry for State Security (Stasi). An extraordinary programme of experimentation emerged, in which athletes were prescribed high dose potent medicines without concern for moral or ethical principles.2 Under the pretence of research, thousands of subjects' were implicated in one of the largest pharmacological experiments in history … running for more than three decades.3 The consequences of this era in East German sport and politics were profound and far-reaching. Young, female athletes to whom excessive doses of anabolic androgenic steroids had been administered, suffered long-term, life-threatening consequences. It was not until the unification of Germany in 1989 that official Stasi documents were made public.4 The world of clinical medicine and sport science still reels from the revelations. In this contemporary human experiment, government policy, measured in gold medals, gave scant regard to human suffering and permanent disability.

Drugs, Sport, Anxiety and Foucauldian Governmentality

This paper1 uses concepts of anxiety and Foucauldian governmentality to investigate the ways that the discourses supporting the ban on performance-enhancing drugs in sport have been manipulated and broadened to treat this issue as a public policy and health issue rather than an example of rule violation in sport. Some effects of this expansion include the broadening of drug testing to include testing for recreational drugs, the intrusion of both central governments and scientific experts into the issue and the curtailment of civil liberties for athletes. A further effect has been the perpetration of injustices against athletes under the guise of such injustices being necessary to maintain the integrity of sport.

Should We Allow Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Sport? A Commentary on Noakes' Critique of Savulescu et al.

Should We Allow Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Sport? A Commentary on Noakes' Critique of Savulescu <i>et al.</i>