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Trema micranthum (Cannabaceae) has emerged as a promising new source of cannabinoids, including cannabidiol (CBD). Given the substantial medicinal demand for cannabinoids and the regulatory challenges associated with Cannabis sativa due to the presence of Δ 9 -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), this study sought to explore the presence of CBD, THC, and their precursors, Δ 9 -tetrahydrocannabinolic acid A (THCA A) and cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), in various parts of Trema micranthum using UHPLC-HRMS/MS (Orbitrap). Extracts from fruits, leaves, inflorescences, and stems were obtained using a methanol/hexane (9:1, v/v) solvent mixture. UHPLC coupled with an Orbitrap mass spectrometer was employed for cannabinoid identification and quantification, with standard mixtures prepared in methanol. The extracts yielded significant quantities, such as 6.6%/g from leaves and 3%/g from fruits. Cannabinoids were detected in fruits, leaves, and inflorescences, with acidic forms (CBDA and THCA A) present in higher concentrations than their neutral counterparts. Notably, leaves contained 4.43 × 10 -3 µg/g of CBD and 1.05 ×  10 -3 µg/g of THC. These findings, facilitated by high-resolution analytical methods, underscore the potential of Trema micranthum as an alternative source for cannabinoids, guiding future research in this area., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Dietary supplements (DS) are intended for healthy people to maintain or improve their overall health. Its consumption is widespread in large part of the general population and at all levels of athletes. Nevertheless, DS use can also pose health risks to individuals and, in the case of athletes, may lead to adverse analytical findings (AAFs) due to the possibility of DS contamination or adulteration with doping agents banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Although educational initiatives are being performed in Brazil to warn the sports community about inadvertent doping cases, AAFs connected to the DS administration have been increasingly growing. The findings of DS analyzed by the Brazilian Doping Control Laboratory (LBCD), between 2017 and 2022, after Testing Authorities (TAs) analysis requests, showed an alarming number of tainted samples. Diuretics were the most common adulterants found in all supplement types. However, the profile of prohibited substances in manufactured and compounded dietary supplements (MDS and CDS, respectively) were distinct, with stimulants being most prevalent in MDS and anabolic agents in CDS products. Additionally, MDS samples generally presented higher estimated concentrations of banned substances (mg/g) than CDS samples (μg/g). The common practice of DS intake by athletes continues to be of great concern for a doping-free sport, given the high prevalence of prohibited substances detected in the analyzed samples by the LBCD. The current Brazilian scenario reinforces the importance of raising awareness in the sports community of the possible consequences of an unintentional doping case linked to DS use., (© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Higenamine is prohibited in sports as a β 2 -agonist by the World Anti-Doping Agency. As a key component of a great variety of plants, including the Annonaceae family, one aim of this research project was to evaluate whether the ingestion of Annona fruit could lead to higenamine adverse analytical findings. Single-dose administration studies including three Annona species (i.e., Annona muricata, Annona cherimola, and Annona squamosa) were conducted, leading to higenamine findings below the established minimum reporting level (MRL) of 10 ng/mL in urine. In consideration of c max values (7.8 ng/mL) observed for higenamine up to 24 h, a multidose administration study was also conducted, indicating cumulative effects, which can increase the risk of exceeding the applicable MRL doping after Annona fruit ingestion. In this study, however, the MRL was not exceeded at any time point. Further, the major urinary excretion of higenamine in its sulfo-conjugated form was corroborated, its stability in urine was assessed, and in the absence of reference material, higenamine sulfo-conjugates were synthesized and comprehensively characterized, suggesting the predominant presence of higenamine 7-sulfate. In addition, the option to include complementary biomarkers of diet-related higenamine intake into routine doping controls was investigated. A characteristic urinary pattern attributed to isococlaurine, reticuline, and a yet not fully characterized bismethylated higenamine glucuronide was observed after Annona ingestion but not after supplement use, providing a promising dataset of urinary biomarkers, which supports the discrimination between different sources of urinary higenamine detected in sports drug testing programs., (© 2023 The Authors. Drug Testing and Analysis published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The estimation of limits of detection (LOD) for solely qualitative methods in analytical chemistry may prove challenging because all the approaches with which chemists are familiar require some type of numeric data input. The best model to describe the binary response in these methods (detected/not detected) is a logistic model; however, these models are not easily handled by most of the laboratories and generally demand expensive statistical software packages. In this work, the advantages of applying this approach are discussed and its implementation using commercial spreadsheet software is demonstrated. A free online application based on the R environment using shinyapps was developed and its application was validated and discussed with a dataset of 57 different target compounds analyzed in urine according to the requirements of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). This tool allows free, extremely quick, and easy determinations of LOD in qualitative analyses as well as the determination of the probabilities of detection in any given concentration., (© 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The use of androgenic-anabolic steroids (AAS) can be associated with psychiatric symptoms such as insomnia, anxiety and increased aggressiveness. Although dose-dependent effects have been observed in some controlled studies, this association is not always seen in the ecological use of AAS. This study utilized WADA's steroid profile of suspicious use of AAS, urinary detection of AAS metabolites and measurement of sexual hormones to confirm recent use of AAS in a cohort of 103 bodybuilders (75 males, 28 females). The majority of participants (61.2%) presented symptoms of agitation, insomnia, increased aggressiveness or depression in the last 3 months. About one-third of participants presented scores on the HAM-A anxiety scale equivalent to moderate to severe symptoms of anxiety. A minority of participants (12.6%) presented high to moderate scores on the BPQ aggressiveness scale. The majority of participants (73.8%) presented hyperthymic temperament in the BRIEF-TEMPS scale. There was no significant difference in the presence of psychiatric symptoms between males and females and no association between psychiatric symptoms and estimated weekly doses of AAS. A negative association was observed between scores on the BPQ scale (verbal aggression, anger and total score) and the time of AAS use. We discuss differences of AAS use between male and female bodybuilders and the screening of AAS use in the general population. Our findings highlight the importance of mental health awareness among people using AAS., (© 2022 The Authors. Drug Testing and Analysis published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)