Testing It Up

The introduction of testosterone anabolic steroids in the market resulted to a lot of changes in men. Included in this list of changes are increased endurance, stamina and muscle mass. Because of these so-called positive results, more people abuse the use of these steroidal hormones. This then led to the need of discovering how steroids will be normalized physiologically thus resulting to T/E ratios.

The T/E ratio is used to determine the relative proportion of the testosterone and epitosterone. This is done by measuring the testosterone glucuronide (TG) and epitosterone glucuronide (EG) levels through a man’s urine. The normal levels are set at a 1:1 ratio. The result may somehow be affected if a man has flu at the time the test was conducted. This in turn makes the testosterone levels higher even if the epitosterone is left unaffected.

The T/E ratio utilization led to further studies. Some groups encouraged further testing to see more reliable results in consonance with the doses of testosterone. This is to ensure that the shifting of marker ratios for the EG and TG are determined by other factors.

For full version of this article, please visit “How Steroid Use Changes Testosterone/Epitestosterone Ratio“.

While contraception is not acceptable in other beliefs, others would rather embrace the practice than suffer the consequences of having more children later on. In this regard, family planning is a must for most couples who believe in responsible parenthood. For those who have prepared for pregnancy, the ovulation predictor test is of great help though.

The ovulation predictor test revolves around the principle of giving a forecast for women who want to increase their chances of getting pregnant. The test detects monthly luteinizing hormone or LH peaks. The LH peak is a period when the LH has substantially increased. From here, the ovulation period comes next. During this period when a woman is most fertile, partners should have sexual intercourse.

The ovulation predictor test comes with a kit. A woman has to take her urine sample then place it inside the container. A vertical strip is utilized in order to detect if she is fertile or not.

For full version of this article, please visit “How Does Ovulation Predictor Test Work?“.

This kit however may not apply to all. The results will not be as favorable to women in their forties since this is a period where the LH hormone increases. In this case, ovulation period is not predicted by the test.

Hormonal imbalance, once a condition seen as a problem solely affecting menopausal women, is now a growing concern that afflicts both men and women. The one way by which it can be determined if a person has a hormonal imbalance is by going through hormonal imbalance testing.

Testing for hormonal imbalance has its pros and cons. Among the advantages of testing for hormonal imbalance is that you would know at once whether you are afflicted by it or not. It is not invasive and it can easily tell you indicators about your health and fertility.

However, it also has disadvantages, which include the fact that blood tests can be inaccurate because of many different factors such as stress. Your doctor can also generalize the problem instead of using the results of the test to pinpoint what exactly is causing the hormonal imbalance. Also, hormonal imbalance testing is not exactly cheap.

For full version of this article, please visit “Pros and Cons of Hormone Imbalance Testing“.

Hormonal imbalance is becoming more and more common in younger women. Doctors are still unsure as to how to deal with it and misdiagnosis can lead to various problems with a woman’s overall health, such as heart ailments, infertility and cancer.

There are many possible causes of hormonal imbalance. One such cause is stress, where the body produces too much cortisol and other hormones are secreted to cancel it out. Another cause is an imbalanced diet. Improper exercise also leads to hormonal imbalance, as too much or too little can impede with the production of hormones. Taking hormonal supplements such as birth control pills also puts the body’s hormone balance out of whack.

Certain diseases like cancer and PCOS also create hormonal imbalance in a woman’s body. Some forms of cancer affecting females feed on the body’s hormones. PCOS causes the body to secrete too much androgen. Lastly, environmental toxins can also lead to hormonal imbalance.

For full version of this article, please visit “7 Most Common Causes of Hormonal Imbalance“.

Anabolic steroids are hormones that help induce growth through an increased rate in cell division. The use of anabolic steroids is surprisingly popular among the athletes of ancient Greece. Though the practice was forgotten for most of ancient history after the fall of Greece, the use of anabolic steroids was rediscovered accidentally in Germany in the 1930s. Twenty years later, usage of anabolic steroids gained popularity when it was approved by the FDA.

From the 1960s to the 1980s, there were doubts about whether or not there are any benefits to using anabolic steroids. Tests conducted in 1972 showed that people who took anabolic steroids did not really show any significant changes in their bodies. This, however, was disproved in the 1990s through more controlled tests. At the same time, the US Congress put into place the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990, which classified anabolic steroids as a controlled substance. The Act was modified in 2004.

For full version of this article, please visit “History of Anabolic Steroids – How It Started?“.

Steroids, known for their various street names, come in several types and can have several effects on the body. The steroid types the public would be most familiar with are the female sex hormones in birth control pills, the male sex hormones in androgen-anabolic steroids, and corticosteroids in drugs used to treat diseases.

The steroids used in body building are androgen-anabolic steroids. They can be taken orally or can be injected. Their anabolic effects promote cell growth while their androgenic effects lead to the development and maintenance of masculine characteristics. However, they can also cause a number of harmful side effects such as elevated blood pressure, increase in bad cholesterol, premature baldness and liver damage.

As thus, if you want to use steroids in body building, you must make sure that you do your research first. Consult with your doctor and have your doctor monitor your steroid use so that it does not harm your health.

For full version of this article, please visit “Common Steroid Pills (Types & Side Effects & Symptoms of Use)“.

Early pregnancy tests or EPTs are the most sensitive pregnancy tests available today. These EPTs allow you to determine whether you are pregnant or not as early as 10 days after ovulation, without having to wait for a missed period.

EPTs work by detecting the presence of the human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) hormone in a woman’s urine. The hCG hormone is secreted by the developing placenta soon after the fertilized egg is implanted in the uterine lining. EPTs can detect hCG levels as low as 20 mIU in a woman’s urine.

An EPT works in two ways. You can collect a sample of your urine and dip the strip in it for a few seconds. You can also hold the strip to your stream while urinating. For more accurate results, you should use your first morning urine sample. Diluting the body with liquids in the course of the day can also dilute the amount of hCG in your urine.

For full version of this article, please visit “How Do EPT Pregnancy Tests Work & Their Accuracy?“.

Laparoscopic testing has long been used to test for endometriosis, but a new less invasive and nonsurgical test has been proven to be just as effective. If the method is approved by the FDA after further study into its effectiveness it may in fact replace laparoscopy. This could be good news for women facing endometriosis as the sooner the disorder is diagnosed the sooner treatment can begin. Normally it takes about 6-10 years to verify if the disorder is present in sufferers, delaying treatment and allowing the effects of the disorder to take root, deteriorating quality of life.

There are some negative aspects to this method however as women who are receiving hormone treatment can’t use it since the endometrial tissue fibers the test looks for may not be present in those who have been using hormones. Biopsy technique is also terribly important to getting the correct results in the method. Overall however the testing could help many women to diagnose and treat the disorder before it can begin to do damage to the body by progressing.

While the majority of factors that affect the inability for couples to conceive can be attributed to female deficiencies, almost 50% can be attributed to either male factors or a combination of factors from both partners. This is still a significant percentage, which is why male infertility still warrants the same attention and study as female infertility.

This month, the Southern Illinois University Medical School in Springfield opened a new fertility and in vitro fertilization center. The center boasts of the ability to provide holistic programs with the intention of finding ways to assist infertile couples. In addition to offering treatment programs designed to address female infertility as well as couples programs, the SIU Fertility and IVF Center also offers expertise in the field of male infertility.

Men who have been diagnosed as the cause of a couple’s inability to conceive have a number of treatment options at the center. These include drug or medicine-based therapy, non-surgical sperm aspiration, therapeutic testicular biopsy, intracytoplasmic sperm injection with IVF and vasectomy reversal.

Fertility medication, while common to women, is not as common or as effective in men. As little as 5% of males who take fertility drugs actually benefit from the therapy. Fertility drugs normally correct hormone imbalance, and it is for the same reason that these drugs are prescribed for men. Depending on the patient’s medical condition – such as unexplained infertility or low sperm count – therapy with gonadotropins, antiestrogen agents, bromocriptine and testosterone may be administered.

Testicular biopsy, while mainly used for diagnostic purposes, can also be used as a treatment method. Its techniques are applied for sperm retrieval to assist in conception.  If the patient prefers a non-invasive method of sperm retrieval, non-surgical sperm aspiration may be used instead. Intracytoplasmic sperm injection, which is used for in vitro fertilization, is the most common procedure used to overcome male infertility.

If you haven’t heard of anti-aging drugs or tried desparately to find more about them, you’re probably too young to have had the experience of gazing in the bathroom mirror in the morning and saying, “damn!” One of the most dreaded moments for most young people is to wake up in the morning and find a shiny grey hair or dreadful dark circles threatening to alter their facial topography!

The other day, myself and my collegues were discussing various molecular basis of aging as it is one of the most interesting and hot themes of current research. Aging is not a mere phenotypic expression of any genetic program but is a gradually progressive multi-factorial state associated with genetic and non-genetic factors. The rate at which every individual ages is an intricately tuned interplay of various aging and anti-aging forces based on inherent genetic program and various intracellular metabolic effects due to presence of free radicals, Unhealthy diet, lifestyle, smoking, environmental pollution, emotional stability, happiness quotient, physical and mental stress etc. Although many evolutionary theories tend to believe that aging is not likely to be programmed genetically however, various studies demonstrate that aging is genetically modulated. It is pretty logical too. Say, Jack eats a lot of French fries, salty-potato chips and gulp them down with that refreshing cola on almost daily basis. He is bound to have a disproportionate percentage of damaging intracellular free radicals, not to mention the physiological damage high salt and cholesterol rich diet shall do at macroscopic levels. These free radicals are known to damage DNA, particularly mitochondrial DNA which lies in immediate vicinity of respiratory machinary in cellular mitochondrial organelles. So, its up to various DNA Repair genes to maintain DNA integrity and stability thus playing a role in modulating the metabolic processes which are involved in the eventual degradation of DNA and cellular structures. Various genic mutations that significantly decrease mortality have been identified in many model organisms. Indeed, several hundred genes, for instance, Sir2, have been reported to influence longevity in yeast, worms (c.elegans) and drosophila flies. Why just DNA damage, these free radicals or Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) have also been proposed to interact with Reactive Nitrogen Species (RNS) such as nitric oxide thus disrupting protein S-nitrosylation effecting functionality of various proteins involved in many metabolic signaling pathways. As aging is characterized by the progressive loss of function and a diverse array of physical changes over the lifetime of an organism, there has been an ancient universal desire to look good, feel good, and live as long as possible and these are the major areas of focus of current Anti-aging medicine. Some of the major forms of anti-aging medicine are:

1. Hormone therapies: These therapies make use of hormones like Human Grwoth Hormone (HGH), DHEA, testosterone, estrogen, progesterone etc. and claim to enhance the immune system, improve memory & cognitive function, increase sexual energy, improve skin tone & texture, increase muscle mass while reducing body fat and extend life. However, categorical scientific evidence may not be sufficient to support all these claims. Rather, there have been large scale studies that indicated that such therapies may do more harm than good and were making some of the test groups more susceptible to breast cancers. More research is required to investigate precise dose and time dependent effects of such therapies.
2. Supplements: Various antioxidants such as vitamins, glutathione, co-enzyme Q10 etc. are administered under various anti-aging programs. However, there is a strong section of physicians that has a firm conviction in using natural sources of anti-oxidents like lemon, oranges etc. over purified chemicals.
3. Skin resurfacing: There are a lot of ways of doing that. One of them is Botox treatment. Botox is the trade name of botulinum toxin A, a neurotoxin that is used clinically in small quantities to treat strabismus (abnormal alignment of one or both eyes) and facial spasms and other neurological disorders characterized by abnormal muscle contractions. It is also used by cosmetic surgeons to smooth frown lines temporarily. As a milder alternative to Botox treatment, Argireline based creams and lotions are also used quite frequently. Argireline is a synthetic short chain polypeptide (Acetyl Hexapeptide-3) that has been experimentally proved to decrease the visible effects of aging by reducing the deep wrinkles and lines that occur around the forehead and eyes. Plastic surgery also remains an option and although expensive, it has been quite in vogue for sometime now.

Another method that is gaining fast recognition and approval for increasing life span amongst scientific community is Calorie Restriction and Fasting. There has been a substantial amount of significant scientific evidence that supports anti-aging effects of calorie restriction and fasting. Having been born and brought up in a moderately traditional Hindu family, I have been a witness to hundreds of weekly fasts promoted by Hindu mythology so far. Fair maidens go fasting for consecutive 11 mondays believing that this will get them a handsome groom! Wives fasting on a traditional festival called ‘Karva-chauth’ believing that this will add some years to the lives of their husbands. Various Hindu texts are filled up with stories of Yogis (who practise yoga – in a traditional sense) who lived for hundreds of years by eating just fruits and vegetables, that too for just 2-3 days a week! Why just Hindu mythology, in almost every religion there are prescribed fasting-days. Until recently, I was one of those who thought that these are just mythological stories and nothing more but recent high impact scientific publications in reputed journals have put a substantial weigths behind these stories and myths and changed the way I look at them! Some recent data from yeast, worms, flies, and mammals support the idea that calorie restriction is a highly conserved stress response that evolved early in life’s history to increase an organism’s chance of surviving adversity in terms of food scarcity. A 2005 paper in the Journal of Cardiovascular Research analyzes gene expression data and suggests that calorie restriction retards the aging process by reducing endogenous damage and by inducing metabolic shifts associated with specific transcriptional profiles! There are also a number of reports that indicate reduction in oxidative stress upon calorie restriction.

At the end, it appear logical to say that exercising, reducing exposure to cigarette and environmental smoke, eating a balanced, calorie restricted diet, periodic fasting along with a stable work and family enviornment is the best way to add youthful years to your life and no chemical suppliments can match this!