What are anabolic steroids?

Anabolic steroids are drugs that are mostly synthesized from the male reproduction hormone - testosterone. They have been banned by most sports ruling bodies, including the International Olympic Committee, because of dangers linked to abuse and the potential for an unfair competitive advantage.

Their precise effect on the human body is still a matter of scientific debate and more long-term research studies are needed to determine the associated risks.  Anabolic steroids are controlled substances in the USA, UK, Canada and parts of Asia and can be taken in tablet form or injected via syringe.

One thing for sure is that they have made a huge splash as of late in the mainstream news and it is a real eye-opener for those in major sports.

Corruption and poor oversight have undermined South Africa’s fight against HIV/ Aids, a new report says .  The authors, the Institute of Security Studies and Transparency International, say there has been a “potentially lethal cocktail of mismanagement”.

They blame South Africa’s president for questioning the link between HIV and Aids and say his stance has had an impact on the whole health system.  South Africa has the highest incidence of Aids in the world.  The report, titled A Lethal Cocktail, says 30% of the population is infected.

Politicisation of the disease has created numerous channels for abuse and is undermining attempts to counter it, the report says.  The authors conclude that it has become difficult to disentangle corruption from mismanagement and system failure as the root causes of the poor response to Aids.

Much of the responsibility is laid at the door of President Thabo Mbeki, whose well-known questioning of the link between the HIV virus and Aids has resulted in activists labelling him an “Aids denialist”.  The report says that his stand has had an impact throughout the health system, creating numerous channels for abuse.

The authors cite an example of a doctor dismissed for allowing a rape charity to use a disused hospital, because they were distributing anti-retroviral drugs.  Over-all it is a bad report for all of South Africa and brings up some glaring problems.

This past year has been a real rollercoaster for me and my goal of weight loss. I was going to the gym on a regular basis but was not able to lose any weight. The truth is that I know my diet was the culprit because I have two young kids and we tend to have fast food 2 or 3 times a week. There is also a lot of fatty snacks around the house and even though I buy them for the ‘kids’ I always break-down and find myself munching on them late at night.

Here is what I did to drop 10 pounds over the course of two months and have kept it off so far (6 months later):

I was going to the gym two and sometimes three times per week and riding the stationary bike for 35 minutes and working out for half an hour with weights once a week. Since that level of exercise combined with my current diet kept me stabilized but unable to lose weight I added 1 extra workout a week and made sure to stuff the fridge with a lot of tasty fruit and low fat yogurt and low-fat pretzels for snacking. In just two months I lost 10 pounds and probably also added a couple of pounds of muscle. Most importantly I feel great and now have the confidence that I can lose more weight and eventually get down to my targeted weight goal.

I guess the moral of my story is that sometimes small changes can have enormous effects over the long-term and losing weight does not always involve a strict weight loss diet but can be achieved by making common sense decisions combined with healthy eating and exercise choices.

According to a survey published on Nov. 1 in the journal Health Affairs, one-third of U.S. adults believe that the U.S. health-care system has to be rebuilt completely—double the percentage who want a dramatic overhaul in the six other nations whose residents took part in the survey. The U.S. ranked dead last on the question whether more than minor system changes were needed.

The nonpartisan New York City-based Commonwealth Fund, which studies health-care issues, interviewed 12,000 adults in Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Britain, Australia, and the U.S. this spring to get a handle on actual patient experiences and perceptions. The results paint a damning picture of user satisfaction with the American health-care system and could provide fodder in a Presidential campaign where health care is expected to play a major role (BusinessWeek.com, 9/17/07). All the countries in the survey except the U.S. have universal health coverage, and the percentage of GDP the U.S. spends on medical care is about twice as high as the other six.

Despite their country’s higher spending, U.S. patients were the only ones to report serious problems paying bills (19%). Plus, 30% of patients paid $1,000 or more out-of-pocket over the past year, while the percentage of patients laying out that much in the other six ranged from 4% (Britain) to 19% (Australia). Nearly two out of five U.S. adults and 42% of those with chronic illnesses skipped medications or did not see a doctor when sick because of cost. Those rates are much higher in the U.S. than in any other country.

“The U.S. often stands out [in the survey] for negative care experiences,” says lead author Cathy Schoen, Commonwealth Fund senior vice-president. In a Commonwealth study released last year, the U.S. received low grades (BusinessWeek.com, 9/21/06) in outcomes, quality of care, access to care, and efficiency, compared with other industrialized nations.

According to Schoen, the more negative or costly the experience, the more negative the overall perception of the health-care system. Dissatisfaction with the U.S. system crosses socioeconomic lines, too. Both high- and low-income respondents had similarly negative views of the U.S. health-care system, Schoen notes.

Though they’re not happy with aspects of the system, U.S. residents are about as confident as those of other nations that they would get high-quality care and the best drugs and medical technology. The Netherlands consistently scored higher in all three categories. Still, U.S. patients can’t count on speedy access to care; 51% said they could not get an appointment (BusinessWeek.com, 6/22/07) the same or the next day when they were sick. Only Canada scored worse, with 64% saying they had to wait.

Once in the health-care system, 32% of U.S. patients suffered medical mistakes, the highest rate of the seven nations. That could be because the U.S. ranked last when it came to their doctors having access to their medical records at the time of an office visit.  I saw the movie Sicko so this survey comes as no suprise to me.  I am glad I am a Canadian.

Teenagers who feel relaxed after their first drags on a cigarette are most likely to become addicted to smoking, a sign that some people’s brains are more susceptible to nicotine, researchers have discovered.  This is bad news in the fight for teenage smokers.

While peer pressure and other factors may lead young people to try smoking, it is the brain’s response to that first dose of nicotine that likely most determines who gets addicted, according to DiFranza’s report published in Pediatrics, the journal of the American  Experiencing a feeling of relaxation in response to the first cigarette was the strongest predictor of addiction, the study found.

The study said one theory suggests nicotine suppresses pathways in the brain that generate the feeling of craving, which is experienced as relaxation. That in turn creates a craving for nicotine when the drug is absent.

Over the four years of the study between 2002 and 2006, 11 interviews were conducted with each of 1,000 teenagers attending public schools in six Massachusetts communities.  Of the 217 who tried smoking during the study, nearly one-third reported feeling relaxed after inhaling for the first time, and two-thirds of them became addicted to smoking.

Overall, 83 of the 217 participants who tried cigarettes became smokers.  Other risk factors for addiction among first-time smokers was a depressed mood, a novelty-seeking personality, and familiarity with “Joe Camel,” the animated character used to advertise Reynolds American Inc’s Camel brand, the study said.  “The Joe Camel campaign was discontinued in August of 1997 as our subjects entered 2nd grade (around age 7), suggesting that the deleterious effects of cigarette advertising persist long after the exposure,” the study said.

Among the traits that protected students from becoming addicted were being involved in extracurricular activities which is not surpising because they are probably more rounded individuals which inturn would help them make better life choices.