Fundamental & clinical pharmacology
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Fundam Clin Pharmacol · Oct 2011
ReviewDoping and musculoskeletal system: short-term and long-lasting effects of doping agents.
Doping is a problem that has plagued the world of competition and sports for ages. Even before the dawn of Olympic history in ancient Greece, competitors have looked for artificial means to improve athletic performance. Since ancient times, athletes have attempted to gain an unfair competitive advantage through the use of doping substances. ⋯ Apart from the unethical aspect of doping, as it abrogates fair-play's principle, it is extremely important to consider the hazards it presents to the health and well-being of athletes. The referred negative effects for the athlete's health have to do, on the one hand, by the high doses of the performance-enhancing agents and on the other hand, by the relentless, superhuman strict training that the elite or amateur athletes put their muscles, bones, and joints. The purpose of this article is to highlight the early and the long-lasting consequences of the doping abuse on bone and muscle metabolism.
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Fundam Clin Pharmacol · Oct 2011
Evidence of clonazepam abuse liability: results of the tools developed by the French Centers for Evaluation and Information on Pharmacodependence (CEIP) network.
Recent observations suggest the existence of clonazepam abuse. To determine its importance in France, a quantitative and systematic synthesis of all clonazepam data of several epidemiological tools of the Centers for Evaluation and Information on Pharmacodependence (CEIP) network has been performed in comparison with data on others benzodiazepines (BZD). Data on clonazepam and other BZD have been analysed from different epidemiological tools: OSIAP survey that identifies drugs obtained by means of falsified prescriptions, Observation of Illegal Drugs and Misuse of Psychotropic Medications (OPPIDUM) survey that describes modalities of use and data from regional French health reimbursement system. ⋯ Studies based on data from the French health reimbursed system show that 1.5% of subjects with clonazepam dispensing had a deviant behaviour. Among BZD, clonazepam has the second most important doctor-shopping indicator (3%) after flunitrazepam. All these data provide some arguments in favour of clonazepam abuse liability in real life and the necessity to reinforce its monitoring.
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Fundam Clin Pharmacol · Oct 2011
Effects of florfenicol on LPS-induced nitric oxide and prostaglandin E₂ production in RAW 264.7 macrophages.
Florfenicol, an antibiotic commonly used to treat infections, has previously been shown to modulate lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced early cytokine responses by blocking the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) pathway. In this study, we investigated the effects of florfenicol on nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E₂ (PGE₂) production as well as on inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression in LPS-stimulated murine RAW 264.7 macrophages. We also analysed the effects of florfenicol on mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways. ⋯ However, c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) phosphorylation remained unaffected. Using specific inhibitors of ERK and p38, we found that florfenicol may inhibit NO and PGE₂ mostly through ERK and p38 pathway. These results suggest that florfenicol inhibits NO and PGE₂ production in conjunction with an inhibition of iNOS and COX-2 expression, at least partially via suppression of ERK1/2 and p38 MAPK phosphorylation.