Effects of Steroids

The use of anabolic steroids in our society has widely grown. According to my anatomy book, these steroids produce an increase in muscle size, which gives advantages to athletes. This increase in muscle can help the athlete overcome certain tasks asked to be done when in contest with other athletes. However, as I know myself, these “roids”, which they are sometimes referred to as, are being taken in stronger doses by these athletes. For example, I know a guy who got distinctively strong in a very short amount of time as a result of this large dose. My concern, however, is not for the strength of the athlete but is for the athlete’s health in the long run. As my book says, these “roids” can cause many side effects, such as liver cancer, increased aggression, and increased risk of heart disease. Therefore, I have researched and found information about one in particular, the Anabolic- Androgenic Steroid (AAS).

            According to the McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School investigators, this long-term use and large dose of AAS could affect a person’s ability to recognize relationships between objects. A research psychiatrist, Harrison Pope, conducted a study consisting of 5 cognitive tests that examined brain functions. These 5 cognitive tests included maintaining attention, speed of processing information, remembering a list of words, and the location of shapes and objects. The results were that many of the long- term users ended up doing worse on the pattern recognition part of the test. Pope and his colleagues have found that this long-term use and large dosage is causing this visuospatial memory. He also says that there has been an increase in this use, which is unfortunate considering the result of visuospatial deficits. With this being said, this is only one steroid. If only one can do this to you, what can the others do?

            In conclusion, athletes taking steroids need to pay attention to the side effects, length of time using the steroid, and the dosage amount of taking the steroid. Steroids were developed for the increase of muscle production, not to constantly destroy your health. If the athletes of our society begin taking these steroids at a younger age, they could lose success at an earlier age as well due to these effects. If our society, such as the guy I know, keeps taking these steroids as if it is not harmful, our athletes or anyone competing could become harmful to not only themselves, but others as well. According to the search I found on AAS, if athletes don’t pay attention to the effects, not only could they harm their health, but also they could harm their memory. AAS is only one of the many steroids in this world, and if this one steroid could cause this much damage, can you imagine what some of the others could do?

 

 

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130319091256.htm

McLean Hospital. “Long-term anabolic-androgenic steroid use may impact visuospatial memory.” ScienceDaily, 14 Dec. 2012. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.

Tortora, Gerard J and Derrickson, Bryan. Principles of Anatomy and Physiology 13th Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2011. 13 Sep. 2013.

 

Cancer Cachexia Affecting Muscles

Muscles are an essential part of the human body that are responsible for many things such as movement, posture, protection of internal organs, and insulation.  The human body does not have the ability to function without this very important tissue.  Therefore, the body needs the ability to repair muscle fibers when they become damaged.  This is done through the process of hyperplasia, cell division of any adult cell. If this process cannot occur, then it becomes a critical emergency for the body (Tortora).  So, what can prevent hyperplasia?

In a study conduct by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, they closely observed the cells used during hyperplasia, satellite cells.  The cells were viewed from a body that contained cancer and from animal models.  During certain types of cancers, substances are released into the blood stream by the tumor or main cancer area.   These substances prevent muscle fibers from repairing themselves which is called cancer cachexia.

Cancer cachexia causes a loss of muscle and body weight which can lead to death.  The article states, that about twenty-five percent of cancer related deaths are due to cancer cachexia. (Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center).  During this process, satellite cells are present and active, but the substances from the tumor prevent the cells from doing their job.  However, there is no known cure for this disorder. So, how does it affect the medical community and world?

The study has helped the medical community and patients understand the process of muscle degeneration during cancer cachexia.  Dr. Guttridge said, that finding the agents that cause cancer cachexia presents possibility of restoring muscle mass and better a person’s quality of life.( Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center). This study is the first one to show that things outside the muscles can affect hyperplasia. In conclusion, this information has placed us in the right direction for the future.

 

Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (2013, October 23). Cancer wasting due in part to tumor factors that block muscle repair, study shows. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 1, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2013/10/131023153742.htm

Tortora G.J. and B. Derrickson. 2012. Principles of Anatomy and Physiology. 13th ed., John Wiley and Sons

Does Running Really Cause Arthritis?

Does Running Really Cause Arthritis?

By: Carly Tyler

Does running cause Arthritis ?  Why wouldn’t it?  Arthritis is painful inflammation and stiffness of the joints..When you run you put all your pressure on your knees, and muscles. It would be easy to believe that running would be bad on your knees. Continuous running is an obvious culprit for causing arthritis to the joints of the legs. You are applying big loads of pressure to your knees which would  eventually degrade its protective cartilage, which would lead to arthritis.

Many studies have showed that if the runner starts off with good knees the risk of arthritis does not increase due to running. Some research has had some people wondering why running can combine high impacts with a low risk for arthritis. So for a new study helpfully entitled, “Why Don’t Most Runners Get Knee Osteoarthritis?” researchers at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and other institutions looked more closely at what happens, biomechanically, when we run and how those actions compare with walking. Walking is usually considered a low-impact activity. So many doctors highly recommend elderly people to walk more.

During the study called, “Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise” the researchers recruited 14 healthy adult recreational runners, half of them women, with no history of knee problems. They had half of these runners walk, and half run.  At the end of this study the researches came to a conclusion that the amount of force moving through the volunteer’s knee over the distances were similar whether they walked or ran. The half that ran generated more  pounding while they took each stride, but they took fewer strides than the half that walked. So over the course, say, a mile or the overall loads on the knees were about the same on each person.

 

Dr. Ross Miller from the University of Maryland who led the previous study that was stated in the article called, “Why Runners Don’t Get Arthritis” said, runners frequently succumb to knee injuries unrelated to arthritis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/25/why-runners-dont-get-knee-arthritis/?_r=0

 

http://www.runnersworld.com/health/does-running-cause-arthritis

 


 

A New Possible Treatment for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

 

                Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a group of muscle-destroying diseases that cause progressive degeneration of skeletal muscle fibers (Tortora and Derrickson 359).This disorder is a sex-linked inheritance. It affects boys more due to them only having one X chromosome, which carries the disorder. According to Gerard Tortora and Bryan Derrickson, this is a serious condition and usually makes walking impossible by time a boy is 12 years old.

                A new treatment shows promise! According to Science Daily and the Children’s National Medical Center, A preclinical study has found that a new oral drug shows early promise for the treatment of DMD. The new drug, VBP15, will decrease inflammation that causes discomfort and strengthen the muscles without having bad side effects. The current medicine now is glucocorticoids. This medicine is rarely given due to the impact it has on your immune system.

                Dr. Hoffman believes this new drug is very promising for treatment of DMD. If this drug is passed to be used, I believe this could really cut down on the amount of male babies who have DMD. It wouldn’t be a difficult treatment. A pill would be taken orally. Edward Connor, MD, CEO, and CMO of ReveraGen Biopharma and Director of Innovation Development at Children’s National say they are optimistic that the new drug will translate well to patients, and they are moving this forward as quickly as possible, but still assuring safety.

 

 

Children’s National Medical Center. “New muscular dystrophy treatment shows promise.” ScienceDaily,

17 Sep. 2013. Web. 1 Nov. 2013.

Tortora, Gerard J., and Derrickson, Bryan. Principles of Anatomy & Phisiology .13th ed.  Hoboken:

                John  Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2011. Print.

Enzyme Inhibition Halts Asthma

 

According to the CDC, 8.5% of Americans suffer with asthma.  It causes over 3,000 deaths and costs over $56 billion annually.  Treatments are mostly steroids which have harmful side effects and are not very effective.  CaMKII enzyme was discovered about 10 years ago and when oxidized hardens heart muscle cells, resulting in heart disease and heart attack.  Inhibition of this enzyme may not only help heart patients, but asthmatics as well.

Researchers with the Carver College of Medicine studied mice that they inhibited CaMKII in the airway muscle cells and epithelial lining cells separately.   The inhibition had no effect in the muscle cells as it did in the heart.  However the lining cells had little oxidation of CaMKII and showed none of the symptoms of asthma.   The mice were also exposed to allergens known to trigger asthma reactions and showed little reaction.  Findings resulted that CaMKII inhibition would be effective in allergy-induced asthma patients.

With such research in enzyme inhibition the possibilities of future treatments could pivot towards a new and interesting medical break-through that patients with asthma could be encouraged about.  Steroidal treatment is harsh on the body and while the asthma is treated, so many other health issues arise over long-term use.  Patients would no longer have to look forward to arising adversities health-wise but a true quality of life treatment.

Works Cited:

http://www. sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130724195950.htm

“Inhibiting CaMKII Enzyme Activity Could Lead to New Therapies for Heart Disease” 2012/ 10.  http://medicalxpress.com/news.htm

Melatonin and Circadian Rhythm

                Melatonin is a hormone that is produced in the pineal gland. When the retina in the eye doesn’t since light, it sends a messenger to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the Hypothalamus in the brain to secrete more melatonin from the pineal gland to help with the circadian rhythm for sleep ( Tortora. Gerard ). When it’s dark our bodies have higher levels of melatonin and when theirs light lower levels are secreted. So, during  lunar phases, when the full moon is in the position that is aligned with the earth, sun, and moon so that the sun light part of the moon is facing earth causing it to be brighter at night have an effect on melatonin?

In one study by Rhaman, the rabbit fish were measured for melatonin during different phases of the moon. During natural light that he defined saying 12 hours of light and 12 non- light, the fish had a steady pattern. In the constant light the levels were lower, and in constant dark fish’s levels were high. When the fish were studied under the moon phases, the new moon had the higher levels of melatonin then the full moon (Rahman, Saydur). In this article, there is a relationship between moon phases and melatonin, just not with the effect of the brightness of the full moon.

No correlation was found in the study The Lunar Cycle: Effects on Human and Animal Behavior and Physiology (Zimeck, M). It studied the myth of increases of reproductions, birth rates, hospital visits, suicides, and car wrecks during a full moon. The full moon doesn’t have effects on human behavior or the increased or decreased melatonin secretions in the body. A shift workers study was conducted on night shift workers and found that given melatonin four hours before a eight hour sleep cycle was effective in promoting adaptation to night work (Sharkey, Eastman). It has been shown that melatonin does phase advance our circadian rhythms four hours before our normal sleeping time (Sharkey, Eastman). To conclude, the extra light at night does not cause human behaviors, but taking melatonin during the day can increase adaptation to sleeping during the day.

 

Citations:

 

Rahman, Saydur. Effects of Moonlight Exposure on Plasma Melatonin Rhythums in the Seagrass

Rabbit Fish, Siganus Canaliculatus. Journal of Biological Rhythums. Vol 19.4. 325-334.

2004

Sharkey, Katherine., Eastman, Charmane., Melatonin Phase Shifts Human Circadian Rhythms in             a Placebo- Controlled Stimulated Night-Work Study. American Journal of Physiology.             2001. July 2013.

Ulcerative Colitis

Ulcerative colitis is a chronic condition of inflammation that affects the innermost lining of the large intestine and rectum.  Symptoms of ulcerative colitis include abdominal pain, bloody stool, and diarrhea that is unresponsive to OTC medications. (1) UC is a progressive disease that has no known cure.  Treatment for UC involves a variety of medications that include anti-inflammatory drugs, immune system suppressors, antibiotics, and anti diarrheal medication.  If drug therapy and life style changes do not relieve the symptoms of UC surgery of the colon and rectum is a potential means of treatment. (1) However, doctors are testing a drug named Tofactitnib that affects the number of proteins in the immune system that causes UC. (2)  It is the newest approach to treating the proteins that make up and suppress the immune response associated with irritable bowel syndrome.

The tested group was 194 patients from around the world that were required to be at least at the age of 18 and diagnosed with UC.  Candidates were required to have undergone previous treatment for their disease. The trial lasted for 8 weeks, and consisted of patients receiving a placebo or 3 mg, 10mg, or 15 mg dose of Tofactitnib twice a day orally.  The results showed that the most effective dose of Tofactinib that increased the remission rate was 15 mg.  Due to the success of this study it has been moved to study the long term effect and maintenance associated with treating UC in phase III trials.  (2)

Tofactinib was originally tested to help relieve the symptoms associated with another inflammatory disease called rheumatoid arthritis.  However, due to efficiency in treating the proteins associated with immune system response it has shown to be a diverse treatment.  Ongoing medical research and differing approaches to treating chronic diseases that have no known cures help relieve the painful symptoms associated with chronic inflammation whether it be in the GI tract or joints.

 

 

  1. Ulcerative Colitis. Mayo Clinic Staff. Oct 20, 2012. Ulcerative Colitis: Definition, Symptoms, & Treatments. Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/ulcerative-colitis/DS0059 .  July 30,2013.
  2. Rex, Douglas K M.D. August 15, 2012. Tofacitinib Effective for Ulcerative Colitis. New England Journal of Medicine 2012 August. Retrieved from http://www.jwatch.org/jg201208150000001/2012/08/15/tofacitinib-effective-ulcerative-colitis. July 30, 2013

Natural Health Remedy for Asthma

Asthma is a respiratory system disease that causes swelling and narrowing of the lungs’ airways which leads to coughing, chest tightness, wheezing and difficulty breathing. Asthma is a type of obstructive lung disease. Asthma affects 3-5% of United States population. Children are more susceptible to asthma. Airways obstruction may be due to smooth muscle spasms in the wall of small bronchi and bronchioles, edema of the mucosa of the airways, increased mucus secretion, and/or damage to the epithelium of the airways. Asthma is treated with variety of medication like inhalers, pills and nebulizers. But latest research shows that natural health remedies are also helpful in treatment of asthma. Such natural health remedies can be use instead of medicines to relieve the symptoms of asthma.

Recent research shows that ginger compounds are helpful in relieving inflamed airways much in same way that modern medicines do. Researchers used human airway smooth muscle tissue to test ginger compounds. They produced bronchoconstriction in airway smooth muscle tissue similar to that occurs in asthmatic attack. They gained bronchoconsrtiction by exposing tissue to a CNS neurotransmitter, acetylcholine. Ginger was broken down into three different elements – 6-gingerol, 8-gingerol and 6-shogaol. Then these components were mixed with isoproterenol, a beta agonist medicine use for asthma. Then constricted tissues were treated with isoproterenol alone or with any of three combinations of ginger components.

Results shows that tissues which received the mixture of ginger elements and isoproterenol were more relaxed than those which received isoproterenol alone. Among three components of ginger, 6-shogaol showed the most relaxation of tissue. In further studys, researchers found that all three components of ginger decrease the effect of enzyme phosphodiesterase4D. This enzyme slows down feedback that accelerates relaxation of airway smooth muscle. This finding enables asthma patients to rely less on medications. Patients can treat asthma with ginger elements without any latent side effects of medicines. Ginger can also alleviate nausea, reduce cholesterol and reduce inflammation.

Have Asthma? You Likely Have an Allergy as Well

Epidemics in the United States are typically thought to be something very detrimental such as flues and viruses, but have you thought about asthma as being an epidemic? The number of patients that are diagnosed with asthma is on the rise every year. Researchers say that there is a correlation between having asthma and allergies. Currently in America, it is estimated that there are 26 million cases of asthma and 50 million cases of allergies. They are both serious diseases that can occur at any age in life.

The link between the people with asthma and allergies is being studied. Currently, the results show that 75% of asthmatic individuals between 20-40 years of age and 65% of individuals over the age of 55 have been diagnosed with asthma and have at least one allergy.

In the study there were 2,573 adults who were tested against a panel of 19 allergens that were popular to determine an allergy in an asthmatic individual. The number of children with asthma is higher than that of adults because the adult cases usually are undiagnosed. Normally the adult’s condition is a result of something else that typically occurs with elderly people, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and emphysema.

Further research suggested that poor hygiene increases the chance of infections, climate such as the change in temperature and promoting the growth of various weeds and plants that releases pollen, and under education of the severity and symptoms of asthma can be factors leading to the new epidemic—asthma.

References:

American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI). “Have asthma? You likely have an allergy as well.” ScienceDaily, 2 Apr. 2013. Web. 30 Jul. 2013.

“Asthma and Allergies.” Allergies Health Center. 30 Jul. 2013. <http://www.webmd.com/allergies/guide/asthma-allergies>.

Intractable Tourette’s Syndrome shows response to neurosurgery.

Tourette’s Syndrome (TS) is a chronic neuropsychiatric disorder.  There are no two TS patients with the same set of symptoms that include simple and complex motor and vocal tics.  There are also differences in duration and severity of the tics.  Simple motor tics usually affect only one muscle group and complex motor tics are more abrupt and affect simple movement and coordinated sequences of movement.  Intractable TS patients have many complex motor tics and are found to be harmful to themselves if they are great in severity.

After careful evaluation of TS patients, their outcome of problem severity and resulting impairment, some patients may be candidates for neurosurgical treatment called a bilateral limbic leucotomy.  The surgery entails making lesions in the lower medial quadrants of the frontal lobes in the brain.  One patient showed progress with reduction of symptoms within 2 days of surgery and compulsions disappeared within 6 weeks.  The patient is then no longer a damger to themselves and can live a more normal lifestyle, with much less degree of syndrome symptoms.

With the many neurosurgical advances in the medical world and the new knowledge of the syndrome’s physiology we can see that there are promising outcomes from surgical techniques.  All patients with chronic illnesses need treatment plans with realistic outcomes to meet their basic needs of daily life.  The bilateral limbic leucotomy has now shown that severe Tourette’s symptoms can be alleviated through manipulation of the frontal lobes.  Hopefully this will not be a costly procedure as it evolves to a process performed more often and possibly to help alleviate more minor syndrome patients with further studies.

Works Cited:

http:www.hopskinsmedicine.org/conditions/nervous sytem.html

“The treatment of Guilles de la Tourette syndrome by limbic leucotomy”, M Robertson, M Doran, M Trimble, AJ Lees. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry 1990; 53: 691-694.

Anatomy and Physiology: The Unity of Form and Function, 5th ed: Saladin. McGraw-Hill, New York 2010.