Validation and application of reporter gene assays for the determination of estrogenic and androgenic endocrine disruptor activity in sport supplements.

Previously developed estrogen and androgen mammalian reporter gene assays (RGAs) were assessed for their potential use as a quantitative screening method in the detection of estrogenic and androgenic endocrine disruptors (EDs) in sport supplements. The validation of both RGAs coupled with dispersive solid phase extraction (dSPE) was performed in accordance with European Commission Decision EC/2002/6579 for biological screening methods. Decision limits (CCa) and detection capabilities (CCß) were established for both the estrogen and androgen RGAs. All samples were compliant with CCa and CCß in both bioassays. Recovery rates were 96 % for 17ß-estradiol and 115 % for dihydrotestosterone as obtained in their corresponding RGA. Both estrogens and androgens were stable in samples for more than 3 weeks, when stored at -20 °C. Specificity, good repeatability (coefficients of variation (CV), 12–25 %), reproducibility and robustness of both bioassays were also observed. Four different ED modes of action were determined for estrogens and androgens in 53 sport supplements, using the validated RGAs. This study revealed that 89 % of the investigated sport supplements contained estrogenic EDs and 51 % contained androgenic compounds. In conclusion, both bioassays are suitable for sport supplement screening of estrogenic and androgenic EDs.

The anomaly in the candidate microlensing event PA-99-N2

The light curve of PA-99-N2, one of the recently announced microlensing candidates toward M31, shows small deviations from the standard Paczynski form. We explore a number of possible explanations, including correlations with the seeing, the parallax effect, and a binary lens. We find that the observations are consistent with an unresolved red giant branch or asymptotic giant branch star in M31 being microlensed by a binary lens. We find that the best-fit binary lens mass ratio is similar to1.2x10(-2), which is one of the most extreme values found for a binary lens so far. If both the source and lens lie in the M31 disk, then the standard M31 model predicts the probable mass range of the system to be 0.02-3.6 M-circle dot (95% confidence limit). In this scenario, the mass of the secondary component is therefore likely to be below the hydrogen-burning limit. On the other hand, if a compact halo object in M31 is lensing a disk or spheroid source, then the total lens mass is likely to lie between 0.09 and 32 M-circle dot, which is consistent with the primary being a stellar remnant and the secondary being a low-mass star or brown dwarf. The optical depth (or, alternatively, the differential rate) along the line of sight toward the event indicates that a halo lens is more likely than a stellar lens, provided that dark compact objects comprise no less than 15% (or 5%) of halos.

A candidate M31/M32 intergalactic microlensing event

We report the discovery of a microlensing candidate projected 2'54

A short-timescale candidate microlensing event in the point-agape pixel lensing survey of M31

We report the discovery of a short-duration microlensing candidate in the northern field of the POINT-AGAPE pixel lensing survey toward M31. Almost certainly, the source star has been identified on Hubble Space Telescope archival images, allowing us to infer an Einstein crossing time of t(E) = 10.4 days, a maximum magnification of A(max) similar to 18, and a lens-source proper motion mu (rel) > 0.3 mu as day(-1). The event has a projected separation of 8' from the center of M31, beyond the bulk of the stellar lens population. There are three plausible identifications/locations for the lensing object: a massive compact halo object (MACHO) in either M31 or the Milky Way, or a star in the M31 disk. The most probable mass is 0.06 M-. for an M31 MACHO, 0.02 M-. for a Milky Way MACHO, and 0.2 M-. for an M31 stellar lens. While the stellar interpretation is possible, the MACHO interpretation is the most probable for halo fractions above 20%.

Multicamera sport player tracking with Bayesian estimation of measurements

We propose a complete application capable of tracking multiple objects in an environment monitored by multiple cameras. The system has been specially developed to be applied to sport games, and it has been evaluated in a real association-football stadium. Each target is tracked using a local importance-sampling particle filter in each camera, but the final estimation is made by combining information from the other cameras using a modified unscented Kalman filter algorithm. Multicamera integration enables us to compensate for bad measurements or occlusions in some cameras thanks to the other views it offers. The final algorithm results in a more accurate system with a lower failure rate. (C) 2009 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. [DOI: 10.1117/1.3114605]

Doping, sport and the law: time for repeal of prohibition?

This article concerns the legal issues that surround the prohibition of doping in sport. The current policy on the use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) in sport is underpinned by both a paternalistic desire to protect athletes’ health and the long-term integrity or ‘spirit’ of sport. The policy is put into administrative effect globally by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which provides the regulatory and legal framework through which the vast majority of international sports federations harmonise their anti-doping programmes. On outlining briefly both the broad administrative structures of international sport’s various anti-doping mechanisms, and specific legal issues that arise in disciplinary hearings involving athletes accused of doping, this article questions the sustainability of the current ‘zero tolerance’ approach, arguing, by way of analogy to the wider societal debate on the criminalisation of drugs, and as informed by Sunstein and Thaler’s theory of libertarian paternalism, that current policy on anti-doping has failed. Moreover, rather than the extant moral and punitive panic regarding doping in sport, this article, drawing respectively on Seddon’s and Simon’s work on the history of drugs and crime control mentality, contends that, as an alternative, harm reductionist measures should be promoted, including consideration of the medically supervised use of certain PEDs.

The developmental character of cardiac autonomic responses to an acute noxious event in 4- and 8-month-old healthy infants

Heart rate (HR) has been widely studied as a measure of an individual's response to painful stimuli. It remains unclear whether changes in mean HR or the variability of HR are specifically related to the noxious stimulus (i.e. pain). Neither is it well understood how such changes reflect underlying neurologic control mechanisms that produce these responses, or how these mechanisms change during the first year of life. To study the changes in cardiac autonomic modulation that occur with acute pain and with age during early infancy, the relationship between respiratory activity and short-term variations of HR (i.e. respiratory sinus arrhythmia) was quantified in a longitudinal study of term born healthy infants who underwent a finger lance blood collection at 4 months of age (n = 24) and again at 8 months of age (n = 20). Quantitative respiratory activity and HR were obtained during baseline, lance, and recovery periods. Time and frequency domain analyses from 2.2-min epochs of data yielded mean values, spectral measures of low (0.04-0.15 Hz) and high (0.15-0.80 Hz) frequency power (LF and HF), and the LF/HF ratio. To determine sympathetic and parasympathetic cardiac activity, the transfer relation between respiration and HR was used. At both 4 and 8 months, mean HR increased significantly with the noxious event (p > 0.01). There were age-related differences in the pattern of LF, HF, and LF/HF ratio changes. Although these parameters all decreased (p > 0.01) at 4 months, LF and LF/HF increased at 8 months and at 8 months HF remained stable in response to the noxious stimulus. Transfer gain changes with the lance demonstrated a change from predominant vagal baseline to a sympathetic condition at both ages. The primary finding of this study is that a response to an acute noxious stimulus appears to produce an increase in respiratory-related sympathetic HR control and a significant decrease in respiratory-related parasympathetic control at both 4 and 8 months. Furthermore, with increasing age, the sympathetic and parasympathetic changes appear to be less intense, but more sustained.