The synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist (SCRA) market is transnational and the availability of individual SCRAs changes regularly in response to national and international legislative controls. This generates a cyclic pattern and near constant evolution of SCRA compounds. This study reports toxicology‐based and/or seized sample‐based prevalence data relating to SCRA use in prisons from Germany,

The transcriptional activator HIF (hypoxia‐inducible factor) is a vital arbitrator in the performance of cellular responses lacking oxygen supply in aerobic organisms. Since these compounds are capable of enhancing the organism's capacity for molecular oxygen transport, they possess great potential for abuse as a performance‐enhancing agent in sports. A comprehensive study of the metabolic conversion

One of the major challenges of testing drugs of abuse is the detection of highly diluted urine samples. The ingestion of a large amount of fluid can considerably reduce the concentration of substances, possibly resulting in inaccurate drug testing. For detection, determination of urinary creatinine is a widely established procedure. In this study, results from the most popular methods, including photospectrometry

The General European Official Medicines Control Laboratory (OMCL) Network (GEON), co‐ordinated by the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (EDQM), regularly organises market surveillance studies on specific categories of suspected illegal or illegally traded products. These studies are generally based on a combination of retrospective and prospective data collection over a

No abstract is available for this article.

A systematic review was undertaken to evaluate studies on the effects of theophylline and theobromine on exercise performance in normal (healthy) subjects. Theophylline was found to have been studied on eight occasions and theobromine on one, the number of subjects per study ranging from seven to 15. In two exercise investigations, theophylline was superior to placebo at a p < 0.05 level and no different

Erythropoietin (EPO) is a hormone, which stimulates the production of red blood cells. Due to its performance enhancing effect, it is prohibited by the World Anti‐Doping Agency (WADA). In order to reduce the detection window of EPO‐doping, athletes have been applying low doses of recombinant EPO (e.g. < 10 IU/kg body weight, daily or every second day) instead of larger doses twice or more per week

Electronic cigarettes (ECs) are thought to be less harmful than traditional combustible cigarettes and were originally intended to help smokers quit. Over the past two decades, they have especially gained popularity with the younger generation. To date, there are over 7000 unique e‐liquid flavours available and over 400 different e‐cigarette brands. The accuracy of nicotine strength labelling in e‐liquids

Despite the impressive innate physical abilities of horses, camels, greyhounds or pigeons, doping agents might be administered to these animals to improve their performance. To control these illegal practices, anti‐doping analytical methodologies have been developed. This review compiles the analytical methods that have been published for the detection of prohibited substances administered to animals

No abstract is available for this article.

Since 1983, the Manfred‐Donike‐Workshop on Doping Analysis has been annually held in Cologne, Germany, and sadly, this year, the community was to mourn for one of its early and most respected colleagues.1 The meeting's 38th edition was organized February 9–14, 2020, shortly before the COVID‐19 pandemic struck the world with full fury, in anticipation of the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo, Japan

Erythropoietin (EPO) has protective effects in several tissues and could be used for therapeutic purposes, but the doses of EPO that can be beneficial in case of hypoxic–ischemic conditions due to overinduced erythropoiesis could be detrimental in treated patients. Carbamylation of erythropoietin maintains the tissue‐protective effects of EPO but without erythropoietic effects. Carbamylated EPO (CEPO)

Recombinant erythropoietins (rEPOs) are still among the substances endurance athletes use for doping. Detection methods are based on an electrophoretic separation of the proteins followed by a western blot and immunodetection with specific anti‐EPO antibodies. In addition to IEF‐PAGE, the SDS‐PAGE method has been used to differentiate endogenous EPO from rEPOs by their molecular weight (MW). However

The increased potential for gene doping since the introduction of gene therapy presents the need to develop anti‐doping assays. We therefore aimed to develop a quick and simple method for the detection of specifically targeted exogenous doping genes utilizing an in vitro clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats‐CRISPR associated protein 9 (CRISPR‐Cas9) system. A human erythropoietin