Coagulation profiles during and after anabolic androgenic steroid use: data from the HAARLEM study.

Background: Anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) are thought to increase venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk.

Objectives: We investigated whether AAS influence coagulation parameters associated with VTE by assessing their changes during and after AAS use.

Methods: The HAARLEM study enrolled 100 male amateur athletes voluntarily starting an AAS cycle between 2015 and 2018.

Predictors of Ongoing Androgen Abuse. A Prospective 2-year Follow up of 100 Male Androgen Abusers.

Background: The abuse of androgens is common among visitors to fitness centers. Prospective data regarding patterns of androgen abuse and predictors of future use are not well studied.

Methods: This is a 2-year prospective observational cohort study among 100 male androgen abusers.

Anabolic-androgenic steroids: How do they work and what are the risks?

Anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) are a class of hormones that are widely abused for their muscle-building and strength-increasing properties in high, nontherapeutic, dosages. This review provides an up-to-date and comprehensive overview on how these hormones work and what side effects they might elicit. We discuss how AAS are absorbed into the circulation after intramuscular injection or oral ingestion and how they are subsequently transported to the tissues, where they will move into the extravascular compartment and diffuse into their target cells.

Anabolic-androgenic steroid abuse and testicular function in men; recent insights.

The use of illegal androgens by young men is not uncommon. The majority of users take multiple courses of androgens during their lifetime, leading to a high cumulative exposure. An inseparable side effect is suppression of gonadal function.

Anabolic Androgenic Steroids Induce Reversible Left Ventricular Hypertrophy and Cardiac Dysfunction. Echocardiography Results of the HAARLEM Study.

The use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) is not uncommon among strength athletes. Several cross-sectional studies have linked AAS use to heart disease, but a causal role for AAS is not certain and it is unknown whether cardiac changes are reversible. Men of at least 18 years old intending to start an AAS cycle on short notice were included for comprehensive 3D echocardiographic examination before (T), at the end of the cycle (T), and 1 year after inclusion (T) after a recovery period.

Health effects of androgen abuse: a review of the HAARLEM study.

Purpose Of Review: Data on the health effects of androgen abuse are mainly derived from lower level evidence, such as case series and cross-sectional studies. In the last few years a relatively large and prospective cohort initiative, the HAARLEM (health risks of anabolic androgenic steroid use by male amateur athletes) study, made an important contribution to current knowledge.

Recent Findings: The HAARLEM study showed that all androgen abusers experience positive and negative effects, such as an increase in strength and acne and gynecomastia, respectively.

Clinical question: How to manage symptoms of hypogonadism in patients after androgen abuse?

Androgen abuse is relatively common amongst young (amateur) bodybuilders. After cessation, the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis-which has been suppressed by the androgens-needs time to recover. The endogenous testosterone production often recovers within 3 months, however, prolonged or permanent post-androgen abuse hypogonadism (PPAAH) has been described.

Prospective study on blood pressure, lipid metabolism and erythrocytosis during and after androgen abuse.

Androgen abuse is associated with unfavourable changes in blood pressure, lipid metabolism and erythrocytosis. Most knowledge is based on cross-sectional studies sensitive to bias. We assessed the magnitude of these effects and their recovery in a prospective cohort study which included 100 men (≥18 years) performing an androgen cycle.

[Outpatient clinic for users of anabolic androgenic; experiences and practical tools].

In the Netherlands, an estimated 20,000 men abuse illegal androgens. The confrontation with a patient who uses illegal substances can evoke questions and emotions. We advise not to moralize users of anabolic steroids, but to strive for harm reduction by starting a discussion about the pros and cons of androgen abuse, taking into account your assumptions and judgments about this subject.

A 29-year-old Bodybuilder with Liothyronine-induced Thyrotoxic Hypokalaemic Periodic Paralysis.

Unlabelled: We describe a 29-year-old male bodybuilder with recurrent attacks of myalgia and muscle weakness associated with hypokalaemia and thyrotoxicosis due to abuse of liothyronine. The attacks quickly resolved after potassium supplementation and liothyronine cessation. We concluded that the patient had thyrotoxic hypokalaemic periodic paralysis (TPP).

Disruption and recovery of testicular function during and after androgen abuse: the HAARLEM study.

Study Question: What is the speed and extent by which endogenous testosterone production and spermatogenesis recover after androgen abuse?

Summary Answer: Testosterone concentrations normalized within 3 months after discontinuation of androgen abuse in most subjects but recovery of spermatogenesis took longer-approximately 1 year.

What Is Known Already: An estimated 4-6% of amateur strength athletes use androgens. Abuse of supraphysiological doses of androgens completely suppresses endogenous testosterone production and spermatogenesis.

Positive and negative side effects of androgen abuse. The HAARLEM study: A one-year prospective cohort study in 100 men.

An estimated 4-6% of fitness center visitors uses anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS). Reliable data about adverse reactions of AAS are scarce. The HAARLEM study aimed to provide insight into the positive and negative effects of AAS use.

Anabolic androgenic steroid abuse in young males.

This review summarizes 10 years experience with male abusers of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS). The typical user of AAS is male, aged between 20 and 40 and lifting weights. Illegal AAS are cheap and easily obtained via internet or local suppliers.

Baseline characteristics of the HAARLEM study: 100 male amateur athletes using anabolic androgenic steroids.

Background: The use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) is common among visitors of fitness centers. Knowledge about health risks of AAS use is limited due to lack of clinical studies.

Methods: One hundred men, at least 18 years old, intending to start a cycle of AAS were recruited.

Spontaneous haemorrhage of hepatic adenoma in a patient addicted to anabolic steroids.

This case report describes a patient with a nearly fatal spontaneous haemorrhage of a hepatic adenoma that occurred in association with anabolic androgenic steroid (AAS) use. The patient was addicted to AAS and had been using exceptionally high dosages as well as growth hormone. After cessation of AAS use, testosterone replacement therapy was started to prevent post-AAShypogonadism and consequent relapse.

Outpatient clinic for users of anabolic androgenic steroids: an overview.

Background: Anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) are used by approximately 20,000 amateur athletes in the Netherlands. AAS are harmful but data are lacking as to precisely how harmful they are. An outpatient clinic for past and current users of AAS was established in 2011 to acquire more knowledge about the health risks associated with AAS abuse.

Oestrogens are Not Related to Emotional Processing: a Study of Regional Brain Activity in Female-to-Male Transsexuals Under Gonadal Suppression.

Although the prevailing opinion is that emotional processes are influenced by sex hormones, the literature is still inconclusive. The aim of the current study was to examine the effects of gonadal suppression on brain activity during affective picture processing. Twenty-one female-to-male (FtM) transsexuals and 19 control women were recruited and underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning while rating emotional pictures adapted from the International Affective Picture System.

Multiplexing oscillatory biochemical signals.

In recent years it has been increasingly recognized that biochemical signals are not necessarily constant in time and that the temporal dynamics of a signal can be the information carrier. Moreover, it is now well established that the protein signaling network of living cells has a bow-tie structure and that components are often shared between different signaling pathways. Here we show by mathematical modeling that living cells can multiplex a constant and an oscillatory signal: they can transmit these two signals simultaneously through a common signaling pathway, and yet respond to them specifically and reliably.

The Berg-Purcell limit revisited.

Biological systems often have to measure extremely low concentrations of chemicals with high precision. When dealing with such small numbers of molecules, the inevitable randomness of physical transport processes and binding reactions will limit the precision with which measurements can be made. An important question is what the lower bound on the noise would be in such measurements.

Protein logic: a statistical mechanical study of signal integration at the single-molecule level.

Information processing and decision-making is based upon logic operations, which in cellular networks has been well characterized at the level of transcription. In recent years, however, both experimentalists and theorists have begun to appreciate that cellular decision-making can also be performed at the level of a single protein, giving rise to the notion of protein logic. Here we systematically explore protein logic using a well-known statistical mechanical model.

Feed-forward loops and diamond motifs lead to tunable transmission of information in the frequency domain.

Using a Gaussian model, we study the transmission of time-varying biochemical signals through feed-forward motifs and diamond motifs. To this end, we compute the frequency dependence of the gain, the noise, as well as their ratio, the gain-to-noise ratio, which measures how reliably a network transmits signals at different frequencies. We find that both coherent and incoherent feed-forward motifs can either act as low-pass or high-pass filters for information: The frequency dependence of the gain-to-noise ratio increases or decreases with increasing frequency, respectively.

Reliability of frequency and amplitude decoding in gene regulation.

In biochemical signaling, information is often encoded in oscillatory signals. However, the advantages of such a coding strategy over an amplitude-encoding scheme of constant signals remain unclear. Here we study the dynamics of a simple model gene promoter in response to oscillating and constant transcription factor signals.

Lower testosterone levels with luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonist therapy than with surgical castration: new insights attained by mass spectrometry.

Purpose: Androgen deprivation therapy by bilateral orchiectomy (surgical castration) or luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonist therapy (medical castration) is recommended for advanced or metastatic prostate cancer. Both methods aim at reducing serum testosterone concentrations to a castrate level which is currently defined as less than 50 ng/dl. The results of previous studies are based on testosterone immunoassays that have insufficient accuracy in the low range.