The Prevalence and Characteristics of Performance-Enhancing Drug Use Among Bodybuilding Athletes in the South of Iran, Bushehr

Background: Several reports have implied progressive increase of performance-enhancing drug (PED) use among Iranian athletes. More importantly, most of the previous research in the Iranian population had mainly focused on the anabolic steroid abuse, and ignored other agents. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and characteristics of PED use among bodybuilding athletes in Bushehr, south of Iran. Methods: Four hundred and fifty three male bodybuilding athletes were recruited from Bushehr gyms between February and May of 2015. Men were eligible to participate in the survey if they had regularly participated in the strength-training exercise (minimum of 1 year and 4 hour/week). Data were collected via a face-to-face interview. The survey consisted of three separate parts including demographic data, exercise pattern and PED use. Results: According to this study, 234 (51.7%) of bodybuilding athletes had used PEDs. The PED users reported an average of 3.80 � 4.52 agents’ use in their programs and they had used PEDs for the average of 3.24 � 3.99 years. The most prevalent agents which had been abused by the athletes were anabolic steroids (used by 185 athletes (79.4% of athletes). Furthermore, 110 (47%) of athletes reported stimulant agents’ use during their routines. The most prevalent motivation for using PEDs was increasing muscle mass that was reported by 164 (70.1%) of PED users. In addition, sexual and dermatologic effects were the most prevalent adverse effects reported by the PED user athletes (114 (49.4%) and 103 (44.2%), respectively). Conclusions: This study showed the high rate of PED use among recreational and professional Iranian bodybuilding athletes that can expose them to the serious side effects of these agents

Vibrational properties of SrVO2 H with large spin-phonon coupling

The antiferromagnetic transition metal oxyhydride SrVO2H is distinguished by its stoichiometric composition and an ordered arrangement of H atoms. The tetragonal structure is related to the cubic perovskite and consists of alternating layers of VO2 and SrH. d2 V(III) attains a sixfold coordination by four O and two H atoms. The latter are arranged in a trans fashion, which produces H-V-H chains along the tetragonal axis. Here, we investigate the vibrational properties of SrVO2H by inelastic neutron scattering and infrared spectroscopy combined with phonon calculations based on density functional theory. The H-based vibrational modes divide into a degenerate bending motion perpendicular to the H-V-H chain direction and a highly dispersed stretching motion along the H-V-H chain direction. The bending motion, with a vibrational frequency of approximately 800 cm-1, is split into two components separated by about 50 cm-1, owing to the doubled unit cell from the antiferromagnetic structure. Interestingly, spin-phonon coupling stiffens the H-based modes by 50-100cm-1 although super-exchange coupling via H is very small. Frequency shifts of the same order of magnitude also occur for V-O modes. It is inferred that SrVO2H displays the hitherto largest recognized coupling between magnetism and phonons in a material

How do major roads affect Barn Owls? Distributin, space use, food source and mortality

Road network expansion is known as one of the main factors responsible for the decline of Barn Owl (Tyto alba) populations in Europe, although the full causes of this decline are still poorly understood. In this context we evaluated several issues related to Barn Owl\u2019s ecology, in Southern Portugal, when interacting with major roads: (a) the effect of highway distance on owl\u2019s occurrence pattern, (b) the behavioral in the vicinity of major roads, (c) the role of road verges as an attraction factor due to prey abundance, and (d) owls\u2019 spatial and temporal patterns of road mortality. To assess species occurrence (presence/absence) we broadcasted Barn Owl adult calls in 122 sites at several distances from major roads and detected 47 individuals. From the set of environmental and road-related variables tested using logistic regression, only the distance to the highway showed a significant positive influence on Barn Owl presence (\u3b2= 0.995; p<0.05). Space use patterns and road crossing rates were investigated on the basis of seven radio-tagged individuals (4 &42, 3 &40), captured in their nests located close to the highway (<5 km). The crossing rate was low (one road crossing per 34.19 hours of radio-tracking). Of the tracked individuals only four (3 &42, 1 &40) had sample sizes strong enough to provide robust estimates of home-range size (Fixed Kernel Density Estimator 95%) and just a peripheral overlap between homeranges (ranging from 2.61 km2 to 9.37 km2) and the highway was observed. The overall abundance of small mammals, assessed through live-trapping, was significantly higher in highway verges (n=248) than in the two other dominant land uses (cork oak woodlands (n=35), and croplands (n=64), suggesting that road verges could be a suitable habitat for hunting. Between 2004 and 2007, 373 road-kills were detected in 314 km of national roads surveyed (0.30 Barn Owls kills.km-1.year-1). A higher number of casualties was registered in fall and winter months when the dispersion of juveniles occurs, while lower mortality frequencies were detected in the end of summer and early spring, corresponding to hatching and fledgling periods. Mortality hotspots revealed to be strongly related with altitude (\u3b2 =-0.026; p<0.05), eucalyptus or pine forest cover (\u3b2 =-0.001; p<0.05) and percentage of cropland areas crossed by the road (\u3b2 =0.332; p<0.05). Although major roads do not seem to act as effective barriers to Barn Owls\u2019 movements, their occurrence pattern is significantly affected by this linear structure. Moreover, the potential attraction effect due to higher prey density in the highway verges does not seem to have an effect in the foraging behavior of adults

The Changing Landscape for Stroke\ua0Prevention in AF: Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2

Background GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a prospective, global registry program describing antithrombotic treatment patterns in patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation at risk of stroke. Phase 2 began when dabigatran, the first non\u2013vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), became available. Objectives This study sought to describe phase 2 baseline data and compare these with the pre-NOAC era collected during phase&nbsp;1. Methods During phase 2, 15,641 consenting patients were enrolled (November 2011 to December 2014); 15,092 were eligible. This pre-specified cross-sectional analysis describes eligible patients\u2019 baseline characteristics. Atrial fibrillation&nbsp;disease characteristics, medical outcomes, and concomitant diseases and medications were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Of the total patients, 45.5% were female; median age was 71 (interquartile range: 64, 78) years. Patients were from Europe (47.1%), North America (22.5%), Asia (20.3%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East/Africa (4.0%). Most had high stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc [Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age&nbsp; 6575 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke, Vascular disease, Age 65 to 74 years, Sex category] score&nbsp; 652; 86.1%); 13.9% had moderate risk (CHA2DS2-VASc&nbsp;= 1). Overall, 79.9% received oral anticoagulants, of whom 47.6% received NOAC and 32.3% vitamin K antagonists (VKA); 12.1% received antiplatelet agents; 7.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. For comparison, the proportion of phase 1 patients (of N&nbsp;= 1,063 all eligible) prescribed VKA was 32.8%, acetylsalicylic acid 41.7%, and no therapy 20.2%. In Europe in phase 2, treatment with NOAC was more common than VKA (52.3% and 37.8%, respectively); 6.0% of patients received antiplatelet treatment; and 3.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. In North America, 52.1%, 26.2%, and 14.0% of patients received NOAC, VKA, and antiplatelet drugs, respectively; 7.5% received no antithrombotic treatment. NOAC use was less common in Asia (27.7%), where 27.5% of patients received VKA, 25.0% antiplatelet drugs, and 19.8% no antithrombotic treatment. Conclusions The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in&nbsp;Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in&nbsp;Asia&nbsp;and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701