Recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) is frequently abused by athletes as a performance-enhancing drug, despite being prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Although the methods to detect blood doping, including rHuEPO injections, have improved in recent years, they remain imperfect. In a proof-of-principle study, we identified, replicated, and validated the whole blood transcriptional signature of rHuEPO in endurance-trained Caucasian males at sea level (n = 18) and Kenyan endurance runners at moderate altitude (n = 20), all of whom received rHuEPO injections for 4 wk. Transcriptional profiling shows that hundreds of transcripts were altered by rHuEPO in both cohorts. The main regulated expression pattern, observed in all participants, was characterized by a "rebound" effect with a profound upregulation during rHuEPO and a subsequent downregulation up to 4 wk postadministration. The functions of the identified genes were mainly related to the functional and structural properties of the red blood cell. Of the genes identified to be differentially expressed during and post-rHuEPO, we further confirmed a whole blood 34-transcript signature that can distinguish between samples collected pre-, during, and post-rHuEPO administration. By providing biomarkers that can reveal rHuEPO use, our findings represent an advance in the development of new methods for the detection of blood doping.
Four weeks of rHuEpo increased the HGB and HCT of Kenyan endurance runners to a lesser extent than in SCO (~17% vs ~10%, respectively) and these alterations were associated with similar improvements in running performance immediately after the rHuEpo administration (~5%) and 4 weeks after rHuEpo (~3%).
Background: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women and the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. In Ethiopia breast cancer is among the most prevalent cancer and occurs at young age. It usually presents at an advanced stage. Objective: To describe the frequency, stages, histological patterns, staging and grading of breast cancers among Ethiopian women in three Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods: A prospective study of 197 patients who presented to three hospital with breast cancer and underwent surgery from December 2013-December 2015. Tissue were fixed in 10% formalin solution and paraffin embedded. Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) stained slides were prepared in all cases and reviewed and classify according to the WHO. Results: The mean ± SD age of the participants was 44.77 ± 13.6 and the median was 42 years. Most patients were aged less than 50 years (70.6%) at the time of diagnosis. 57.4% were pre-menopausal and 42.6% were postmenopausal. The duration of symptom before presentation ranged from 2 to 48 months with mean ± SD 18.11 ± 13.2 months. Invasive ductal carcinoma was the commonest (79.2%) histologic type of breast cancer. Of all patients, (46.2 %) of patients had grade 2, while (36.5%) of the cases were grade 3 or poorly differentiated tumors. Most patients (70%) presented with advanced stage (III and IV) and more than (90 %) tumor were >2 cm in size. Conclusion: Our study shows breast cancer is a common disease that affects young Ethiopian women, and that there is a significant delay in presentation and advanced stage presentation is a major concern. It should be recognized that breast cancer is a disease with a serious public health implication.
Background Studies have shown that ABO blood group antigens are associated with peptic ulcer disease (PUD). There are limited sources regarding the association of blood groups with PUD patients in Ethiopia. The aim of this study was to assess the association between ABO blood group distribution, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), smoking, alcohol, coffee, and PUD at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional study was undertaken, and a total of 63 endoscopically confirmed PUD patients and 63 healthy controls were screened for ABO blood grouping using the standard slide agglutination reaction. Stool antigens were checked to determine Helicobacter pylori status of PUD patients. Chi-square and logistic regression were used for statistical analysis. Results The ABO blood group distribution of PUD patients was 19.04% (12/63), 19.04% (12/63), 11.11% (7/63), 50.79% (32/63) for blood group A, B, AB, and O, respectively, while among control groups it was 25.39% (16/63), 23.80% (15/63), 12.69% (8/63), and 38.09% (24/63) for blood group A, B, AB, and O, respectively. 34.1% (22/63) of PUD patients had gastric ulcer and 65.9% (41/63) had duodenal ulcer. There was statistically a significant association between sex ( p =0.001), use of NSAIDs ( p =0.001), smoking cigarette ( p =0.014), alcohol consumption ( p =0.028), and PUD. Conclusion Although PUD trended as more prevalent among patients with blood group O than other blood group types their association was not statistically significant.
Background Vegetarian diets adapted for various reasons that may include religious, ethical, and health considerations have reasonable health benefits including weight loss, and favorable metabolic changes. However, studies that assessed health benefits associated with vegan diet practices during the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian (EOC) Lenten fasting remains limited. This study has, therefore, assessed how short-term vegan diet associated with metabolic traits, including weight, body mass index (BMI), circumference, blood pressure, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), through longitudinal cross-sectional study design. Methods Seventy-five subjects (34 females and 41 males) with a mean age of [+SD] 27.3 + 5.8 years (range, 18 and 35) took part in the study. The study followed three assessment sessions: at baseline, during the Lenten (week 7), and 7 weeks after the end of the Lenten (week 14). An automatic chemistry analyzer (Mindray, BE-2000, China) used for lipid profile analysis. We used paired sample t-test in pre and post-performance and repeated measures ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc adjustment between time points. The statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results The EOC fasting with vegan diet induced significantly lower blood pressure, weight, BMI, TC, HDL-C, LDL-C, and TC: HDL-C ratios, during Lenten (that is vegan diet consumption), but a regain noted in these parameters 7-weeks after Lenten (that is omnivore diet). On gender differences, vegan diet associated with significantly lower blood pressure, TC, and LDL-C in females compared with age-matched male counterparts. Some methodological limitations of this study are discussed with particular reference to lack of a randomized control
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