Analytical aspects in doping control: challenges and perspectives

Since the first anti-doping tests in the 1960s, the analytical aspects of the testing remain challenging. The evolution of the analytical process in doping control is discussed in this paper with a particular emphasis on separation techniques, such as gas chromatography and liquid chromatography. These approaches are improving in parallel with the requirements of increasing sensitivity and selectivity for detecting prohibited substances in biological samples from athletes. Moreover, fast analyses are mandatory to deal with the growing number of doping control samples and the short response time required during particular sport events. Recent developments in mass spectrometry and the expansion of accurate mass determination has improved anti-doping strategies with the possibility of using elemental composition and isotope patterns for structural identification. These techniques must be able to distinguish equivocally between negative and suspicious samples with no false-negative or false-positive results. Therefore, high degree of reliability must be reached for the identification of major metabolites corresponding to suspected analytes. Along with current trends in pharmaceutical industry the analysis of proteins and peptides remains an important issue in doping control. Sophisticated analytical tools are still mandatory to improve their distinction from endogenous analogs. Finally, indirect approaches will be discussed in the context of anti-doping, in which recent advances are aimed to examine the biological response of a doping agent in a holistic way.     

Mobilization of Artists and Understanding of the Political Field: Struggles Around the Contract Work System

For the last 20 years, many mobilizations related to the contract work system that is subsidized by the general unemployment insurance system have occurred in various French artistic fields, mainly in the performing arts. They are characterized by an intense politicization which can be explained by the role of the state in these fields. On the one hand, state intervention suspends the rules of the market economy. On the other hand, the state is one of the main users of the unemployment insurance system which externalizes labor costs. Politicization is also based on the limited resources of the mobilized groups. Thus, these groups promote permanent media coverage of their fights in order to force the political leaders to speak out in their support. Politicization has also led these groups to try to destroy the political capital of some Ministers of Culture. In conclusion, the present work emphasizes that the artists’ demand for the state, which relies on the will to increase aesthetic autonomy, may eventually lead to the opposite situation, the artists becoming dependent on political constraints they do not master.     

Sexual Identities and Protesting Among College Students: Exploring Political Distinctiveness Mediation Factors

This study examines the links between sexual identity and participation in political protests. Among a sample of college students (N?=?2175), we determined that sexual minority students were three times more likely to join a protest than heterosexual students. “Political distinctiveness” theories are used to explain this sexual identity gap in protesting. Following a series of path analyses, we conclude that marital status, exposure to discrimination (as a victim or observer), connections to LGB communities, participation in political groups, and liberal identities mediate the sexuality difference in protesting. Conversely, measures of educational attainment, exposure to multicultural classes, and internalized homophobia were not mediators.

     

Belgium

European Journal of Political Research -