EPO doping a new saga?

[SwissVan]

Saw a report yesterday in a local newspaper regarding the winter Olympics and russki athletes allegedly ( ) using a mixture of Xenon and Oxygen gas to boost their bodies own EPO production

 

It also has some other fun uses...

Advance the video towards the end for the sound effects

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw8uJ_3yWU8

 

 

 

http://en.europeonli...gas_322184.html

 

"Berlin (dpa) - Russian athletes are alleged to have used xenon gas to increase their performance at the Sochi Winter Olympics and previous Games, according to a Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) television report.

 

The athletes are supposed to have inhaled the gas which academic studies say causes an increase of the hormone erythropoietin (EPO), according to WDR‘s ‘sport inside‘ programme which airs late Monday.

 

In sport it is forbidden to artificially increase the amount of EPO in the body, and using pharmaceutical methods to increase oxygen intake is banned by the World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA).

 

WDR reports that xenon has apparently been used by the Russians for years and that the ministries of sport and defence recommended its use "with the aim of improving the performance of the athletes" and because the gas "is not monitored by the WADA."

 

WADA president Craig Reedie promised to take action quickly.

 

"Our commission which monitors the banned (substance) list will soon take on the issue. The topic of gas will already be addressed at the next meeting after the Olympics," he told WDR.

 

Former WADA president Richard Pound was firm in his view, telling the broadcaster: "Let us realize without doubt that this is doping and it is impossible to say in this process that the rules are not clear."

 

 

http://www.economist...ance-breathe-it

 

Athletic enhancement

 

Breathe it in

 

An obscure gas improves athletes’ performance

 

 

 

XENON is one of the shyest members of the periodic table of the elements. Chemically, it is almost inert, and physically, it makes up only 0.000009% of the atmosphere, so it is not surprising that it was among the last of the naturally occurring elements to be identified, in 1898. Biologically, however, it is not shy at all. In some countries, notably Russia, it is used as an anaesthetic. It is also known to protect body tissues from the effects of low temperatures, lack of oxygen and even physical trauma. In particular, it increases levels of erythropoietin, also known as EPO, a hormone that encourages the formation of red blood cells.

Xenon’s protective and EPO-boosting properties mean it is being investigated as a treatment for babies whose brains have accidentally been starved of oxygen during birth, and of adults who have had heart attacks. But it is also, in Russia, being used as a way to improve athletic performance.

 

 

Xenon works its magic by activating production of a protein called Hif-1 alpha. This acts as a transcription factor: a chemical switch that turns on production of a variety of other proteins, one of which is EPO. Artificially raising levels of EPO, by injecting synthetic versions of the hormone or by taking so-called Hif stabilisers (drugs that discourage the breakdown of Hif-1 alpha), is illegal under the rules of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Other methods of boosting the hormone, however, are permissible—and that fact has not gone unnoticed by the Russian sports authorities. Athletes are allowed to live or train at altitude, or sleep in a low-oxygen tent, in order to stimulate red-cell production. If xenon treatment is merely replicating low-oxygen environments by replacing oxygen with xenon, then its use to enhance athletic performance is permissible.

The use of xenon by athletes certainly has government blessing. A document produced in 2010 by the State Research Institute of the Ministry of Defence sets out guidelines for the administration of the gas to athletes. It advises using it before competitions to correct listlessness and sleep disruption, and afterwards to improve physical recovery. The recommended dose is a 50:50 mixture of xenon and oxygen, inhaled for a few minutes, ideally before going to bed. The gas’s action, the manual states, continues for 48-72 hours, so repeating every few days is a good idea. And for last-minute jitters, a quick hit an hour before the starting gun can help.

The benefits, the manual suggests, include increasing heart and lung capacity, preventing muscle fatigue, boosting testosterone and improving an athlete’s mood. Similar benefits have been noted in papers in Russian scientific journals, and in conference presentations describing tests of xenon on mountain climbers, paddlers, soldiers and pilots.

And the gas appears to have been used in past Olympics. The website of Atom Medical Centre, a Russian medical-xenon producer, cites national honours the company received for its efforts in preparing athletes for the 2004 summer Olympics and the 2006 winter games.

Something the published Russian reports do not go into, however, are measurements of EPO or Hif-1 alpha. Yet animal studies elsewhere have demonstrated xenon’s dramatic effects on both. One such, carried out in 2009 by Mervyn Maze at Imperial College, London, found that exposing mice to a mixture of 70% xenon and 30% oxygen for two hours more than doubled the animals’ EPO levels a day later. Another, by Xiaoqiang Ding of Fudan University in Shanghai, found that Hif-1 alpha levels in mice stayed high for up to 48 hours after treatment. By contrast, mice put in a low-oxygen enclosure saw an EPO increase that lasted less than two hours.

Similar physiological effects may take place in people. In healthy adults, two hours in a low-oxygen chamber raises EPO levels by 50%, and the effect disappears (as in mice) within a few hours. The Russian manual indicates, by contrast, that xenon’s benefits last for days—as might be expected if they were caused by the sort of Hif-1 alpha response seen in mice.

Whether xenon treatment will pass muster if and when WADA scrutinises it remains to be seen—and will no doubt depend on the finer points of the gas’s biological action, many of which are still muddy. In the meantime, sports trainers around the world might be tempted to follow Russia’s example, and reap xenon’s benefits before the regulators catch up.

Edited February 26, 2014 by SwissVan

[amoryns]

So where can we buy xenon

[Garfield2010]

So where can we buy xenon

 

So I will replace my asthma canister with this stuff!!

[andydude]

Do people really believe pro athletes are clean? Or perhaps clean "legally", meaning the new doping methods haven't been discovered yet by anti-doping as was the case of EPO in the 90s?

[SwissVan]

Do people really believe pro athletes are clean? Or perhaps clean "legally", meaning the new doping methods haven't been discovered yet by anti-doping as was the case of EPO in the 90s?

 

Dunno...doesn't matter...like **** it happens

 

I'd love to know how they figured out sucking on this gas would increase epo production and how many other experiments failed...

[Garfield2010]

Do people really believe pro athletes are clean? Or perhaps clean "legally", meaning the new doping methods haven't been discovered yet by anti-doping as was the case of EPO in the 90s?

 

More money is being spent on researching undetectable doping products than actually researching detection methods.

 

With all the new stuff going around we could see a sharp increase in the average speed of the TDF peloton this year.

[CAAD4]

So where can we buy xenon

 

Smack your nearest BM's headlight and suck it out???

[Wayne Booysen]

So where can we buy xenon

 

Cheaper to motor pace!

[SurferChild]

Dunno...doesn't matter...like **** it happens

 

I'd love to know how they figured out sucking on this gas would increase epo production and how many other experiments failed...

This is my questions also... I mean honestly, who sits and thinks up this crap

[Garfield2010]

This is my questions also... I mean honestly, who sits and thinks up this crap

 

Very highly paid doctors......

 

I wonder how much money Dr Ferrari made off US Postal alone.... I mean they flew to Italy for secret training camps with the good docter etc

[ChUkKy]

So where can we buy xenon

 

im sure you can get it from air liquide but doubt they will sell you any

[Tumbleweed]

Richard Pound. No. He's still a Dick to me.

[amoryns]

 

 

Cheaper to motor pace!

With petrol being so expensive I dont know

Edited February 27, 2014 by amoryns

[FondyMig]

Never mind the Russians. I wonder what the Dutch were on....

[rouxtjie]

Never mind the Russians. I wonder what the Dutch were on....

Boerin kaas.....apparently you melt it and sniff it up in one go

[andydude]

Never mind the Russians. I wonder what the Dutch were on....

 

They were on the ice, six days a week, busting their feet... oh wait...