The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 273 No 7312 p232
14 August 2004

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Competition for its own sake not enough more
Seen but not heard: how ground squirrels sound the alarm with an ultrasonic whisper more
Men of the henges more

Competition for its own sake not enough

In all manner of sports, the urge to win at any cost has become overwhelming. It is no longer a matter of competing with others with the same training and expertise; competition is not satisfying, and victory alone counts. Having fought the good fight and enjoyed the stimulant of competition, it is seen as failure to come second or third.

The problem now is that no holds are barred when it comes to using pharmacological aids to success. Doping with physiological stimulants is almost de rigeur in international competitions. Hormones such as anabolic steroids, growth hormone and erythropoietin are constantly in the news.

In Nature for 8 July, John Honour of University College London has discussed some of the problems faced in employing analytical methods of detection to establish whether or not an athlete has, either deliberately or inadvertently, taken a forbidden substance before a competitive event. He points out that the World Anti-Doping Agency is asking for a stronger line to be taken against athletes testing positive for a proscribed drug. Yet this involves the difficult situation where a right balance must be achieved between catching the cheats and setting practically impossible standards, as has been found during recent experience with nandrolone. A mere positive or negative result from a drug test is not enough, and the common consumption of nutritional supplements available today created problems.

Although many athletes take nutritional supplements which help to maintain normal blood levels of proteins, aminoacids, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and salts, they have been advised not to do so. A recent analysis of 640 non-hormonal nutritional supplements has revealed low levels of 11 anabolic steroids in 94 products.

Testing today must take account of about 250 drugs, in contrast to the 20 found when testing was first introduced in 1968. Every year the number increases. Precautions have to be taken to ensure that urine samples are not deliberately contaminated.

It is not easy for an athlete to be certain that a medication bought over the counter is free from prohibited substances. Cough medicines containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine are notorious for causing positives in drug tests. Some nutritional supplements may include natural products of uncertain and variable composition, since they are not regulated in the same way as established pharmaceuticals.

An improved approach might be to consider what level of consumption of the substance might be necessary to enhance physical performance and adjust testing thresholds accordingly. Injected nandrolone may remain in the body for months, whereas taken in a supplement it is cleared within 48 hours. Where testosterone is concerned, a prolonged period of observation is necessary, and the same precaution should be observed with nandrolone. Creatine is taken to enhance metabolism and insulin to restore tissue glucose delivery, but, curiously, insulin is at present banned, but not creatine. Tests for a new steroid, tetrahydrogestrinone, have been devised, and new ones for growth hormone and erythropoietin are being developed.

Those who support doping control argue that it acts as a deterrent to cheating. Testing methods will only deter if they are universally believed to be reliable and offer no loopholes. Unfortunately, nandrolone does not meet the criteria.

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Seen but not heard: how ground squirrels sound the alarm with an ultrasonic whisper

We know that bats use ultrasound for echolocation and pursuit of their prey, but otherwise the function of ultrasound in communication in the animal world is generally obscure. The broad range of responses to an ultrasonic signal and the wide variety of contexts in which it may be employed by rodents tend to deepen the mystery.

Studies by zoologists in Manitoba, published in Nature for 29 July, and involving Richardson’s ground squirrel, indicate that special advantages may accompany the adoption of an ultrasonic alarm signal that is highly selective.

Ground-dwelling squirrels warn others of approaching danger by emitting an audible alarm with a frequency of 8kHz. But the researchers found that some squirrels, when exposed to a model predator, also responded with a reaction that was unaccompanied by any audible warning, merely a faint rush of air. Such “whisper” calls contain pure ultrasonic frequencies of about 50kHz, which are normally inaudible. Observed squirrels spent significantly more time in a vigilant state in response to whisper calls than to background noise.

It seems therefore that the function of the squirrels’ ultrasonic call is to warn nearby relatives of potential danger. In addition to being inaudible to many predators of rodents, signals with a frequency exceeding 15kHz attenuate rapidly and are highly directional. Such signals enable the animals to contact nearby kin while remaining undetected by predators outside the limited range of the warning. This has great advantages for survival.

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Men of the henges

Stonehenge is one of those topics that will not go away but remain a matter of controversy. Students of antiquity lament the encroachment of roads and visitor centres. Those who remember the great stones before they were protected against vandals and free from contrasting trivia condemn the essential destruction of their bleak background. At the same time, new aspects of the local human environment are regularly coming to light.

In Science for 25 June is an account of the discovery at nearby Boscombe Down of a grave containing the remains of three men, a teenager and three children. The skulls of the adults had similarities suggesting that the individuals were related. The presence of flint arrowheads suggests also that they were archers. Burial goods include beaker pots, which indicated an Early Bronze Age date of 4,200 to 4,400 years before present.

A link has been presumed between these bowmen and another discovered in 2002 near Amesbury, whose tooth enamel analysis indicated an origin in the Alps. The latest remains are supposed to be from individuals born in the Prescelly mountains of Pembrokeshire, the origin of the famous bluestones of Stonehenge, who presumably accompanied these stones on their sea passage four millennia ago. If these arguments prove correct, they illustrate the remarkable ability of Early Bronze Age humans to undertake taxing long journeys in pursuance of their cultural objectives.

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