Any dopes in Vancouver?

If you're like me, I mention the concept of blood doping when covering the life cycle of red blood cells (RBCs) and the homeostatic mechanisms that regulate the population numbers of RBCs.

In 2008 and 2009,  beginning around the time of the Beijing Olympics, I wrote a series of articles on doping in this blog and an extended version at The A&P Professor website.

I recently updated that extended doping article with a link to a recent news story from the Canadian Press service regarding the possibility of doping with the experimental anemia drug Hematide.

The doping issue is a great way to tie an unfortunately unending series of "real life" high-profile cases to the concepts of blood physiology.

Check out my Doping article, which includes several resources from major anti-doping agencies plus hints for incorporating doping issues in your A&P course.

You may also be interested in the PBS video Doping for Gold, which chronicles doping in a generation of European athletes. In the 1970s, female East German athletes came from nowhere to dominate international sport. Behind their success lay a secret, state-sponsored doping program that distributed untested steroids to athletes as young as 12. Many of these girls had no knowledge that they were being doped, and now, their damaged bodies and psyches deal with the cruelty of a government that pursued international glory at the expense of its most acclaimed citizens.

Placebo doping?

Here's another twist on doping in athletes . . .

. . . recall that in previous blog posts I explored several types of doping: blood doping, drug doping, genetic doping, and so on. In a recent article on the placebo effect that I read in Scientific American Mind I learned about a new kind of doping . . . that is legal, apparently.

Morphine is on the banned list for athletic doping. An advantage of using morphine would be to reduce pain during an intense athletic event--pain that could reduce performance. According to a sidebar in the article, studies show that if an athlete is given morphine during training (which is legal), then abstains long enough for the morphine to clear the system, then takes a saline injection (placebo) on the day of competition, the athlete experiences reduced pain.

If this turns out to work consistently, with many different athletes, I wonder if use of drugs during training will be banned.

For more on doping, see my article at The A&P Professor website.

Here's the article on placebos:

Placebo Effect: A Cure in the Mind
Maj-Britt Niemi
Scientific American Mind online, February 2009

Here's the research behind the "doping" by placebo concept:

Opioid-Mediated Placebo Responses Boost Pain Endurance and Physical Performance: Is It Doping in Sport Competitions?
F. Benedetti, et al.
The Journal of Neuroscience, October 31, 2007, 27(44):11934-11939; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3330-07.2007

Doping. Again.

Most of us mention the concept of doping in our A&P courses because it's an ever present issue in our society and therefore a good way to help students apply their knowledge of human structure and function to practical scenarios.  As I've mentioned in previous posts, in Olympic years it becomes an even more potent way to draw students interest into the world of human A&P.

Once again, we're hearing doping stories in the news.  On the heels of continuing scandals in the sport of cycling, we are now hearing reports of doping in Olympic athletes.

As many longtime readers of this blog know, besides several blog articles, I have a resource page on doping for A&P teachers at my companion website The A&P Professor.

There is also a recent article in The Scientist outlining advances in detection of doping in athletes.  This article is not only informative for personal enjoyment of the current Olympic games--because we'll all be more knowledgeable--but it's a great resource to prepare for the student questions we'll be getting soon.  And in the near future.

Want to know more?

Anti-Doping Research Gets Creative: Scientists work hard to keep up with ever-evolving performance enhancement techniques that go undetected by existing tests.
Sabrina RichardsThe Scientist Online July 26, 2012
[Comprehensive, easy-to-follow article on the latest in anti-doping strategies. Might be good assigned reading for your course.]
my-ap.us/SXKHU0

Kevin's blog articles on doping
 . . . and how to use doping to illustrate A&P in your classroom
my-ap.us/aa3AjM

Resource page on doping at The A&P Professor website
my-ap.us/942vMZ

Latest in blood doping

The subject of blood doping has come up a few times in this blog.  Recently, we heard the latest in the Floyd Landis blood doping story . . . now, after years of vigorous (and costly) denials, cycling champion Landis has now admitted that he DID dope to prepare for competitions.

Landis states the he used EPO (erythropoietin) to increase his hematocrit to improve performance during cycling events.(EPO is pictured here.)

He has also stated that Lance Armstrong, another champion cyclist, gave him EPO and discussed his own blood doping experiences with Landis.  Armstrong denies these claims.

Listen to the story from NPR:

Cyclist Floyd Landis Admits Doping, Accuses Armstrong

I have an article on doping at The A&P Professor website that includes a lot of resources, as well as tips on using the topic of doping to engage students in a deeper understanding of human structure and function.

Doping
K. Patton
The A&P Professor, accessed May 21, 2010
[Tips and resources regarding doping for A&P courses.]

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Concept Maps Help Students Find Their Way| TAPP Radio 5

Use concept mapping for student learning and assessment.
Blood doping is a perennial news topic that helps apply central concepts of A&P.

If you cannot see the audio player click here.

(0:48) Blood doping stories related to the 2018 Winter Olympics (or in any context) are effective in helping student students apply and integrate diverse concepts in anatomy and physiology

• Olympic athletes are cheating more often than you think (article concerning current issues in doping)
• Doping topics from The A&P Professor blog (various concepts that apply doping in A&P courses)
• World Doping Agency | WADA (website with various resources, including their official prohibited list)
• Blood Sport: Alex Rodriguez, Biogenesis, and the Quest to End Baseball’s Steroid Era (book)
• Tainted Blood: The Untold Story of the 1984 Olympic Blood Doping Scandal (book)
• Doping, Performance-Enhancing Drugs, and Hormones in Sport: Mechanisms of Action and Methods of Detection | Emerging Issues in Analytical Chemistry (A great acquisition suggestion for your institution’s library)

(6:32) The featured topic is concept mapping and its uses in helps students learn and helping instructors assess learning and diagnose misconceptions and other learning concerns.

• Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning
• Teaching Nursing Using Concept Maps
• Deep Active Learning: Toward Greater Depth in University Education
• Topics in concept mapping for students from The A&P Student blog
• Concept Maps | A How-To for A&P Students (link to this from your course website or syllabus)

Click here to listen to this episode—or access the detailed notes and transcript.

Doping

Most of us mention the concept of doping in our A&P courses because it's an ever present issue in our society and therefore a good way to help students apply their knowledge of human structure and function to practical scenerios. In Olympic years, it becomes an even more potent way to draw students interest into the world of human A&P.

Doping in its broadest sense is adding something to the body. We usually think of it in a more specific sense of adding some sort of enhancer to the body, usually into the bloodstream. It could be extra RBCs (blood doping) or erythropoietin (EPO), both of which increase hematocrit (RBC ratio) and thus expand oxygen-carrying capacity and thereby promote improved athletic endurance. Or it could be synthetic androgens to promote the protein anabolism that enhances muscle development and strength.

Did you know that there is a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) with a mission "to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against doping in sport in all its forms?" Visit The A&P Professor website to find links to their current "code," the "prohibited list," and how to get their FREE DVD about doping in athletics.

The August 2008 issue of Popular Science magazine has an interesting article about trends in athletic doping called Juicing 3.0. For example, it brings up myostatin blockers that can dramatical increase the size and strength of muscle. And of course, the concept of genetic enhancement is discussed.

Besides referring your students to your school's library (assuming they subscribe to Popular Science), probably the easiest way to share the essential content of this article (in the form of gallery of examples) is to link to http://www.popsci.com/scitech/gallery/2008-07/juicing-30 from your course website or in an email.

You could use the linked information as an optional resource for those interested in the topic or as a place to send students who ask questions in class. Another idea is to assign it as an online discussion topic in your online/web-enhanced course. Or it could be the subject of an essay in which students apply their knowledge of A&P and also express their own informed opinions.

For an expanded version of this entry, with more tips, links, and resources, visit The A&P Professor website.

More on Doping

Those dopes!

Just two weeks ago, I ran an article on Doping here in The A&P Professor blog. As we run up to the 2008 Olympic games we're seeing more and more in the news about doping in Olympic athletes.

I told ya so! And here's my next amazing prediction: there will be more!

For example of the recent coverage, see:

The Starting Line: Today's Cavalcade of Doping in The New York Times

Science News ran a great feature article in their August 2, 2008 issue on genetic doping called Finding the Golden Genes. I've just added a link to this article in my own expanded Doping article at The A&P Professor website. And there, you'll find a link to a cool Flash animation of one potential type of gene doping--a great resource for a discussion in your course.

Science News is a great resource for science teachers and although they are a print magazine, much of their content is FREE on the web. See my previous post or go here in The A&P Professor website for more free sources.