Letters

THE STEROID GAMES
Your July 9 SCORECARD contained an item about the Steroid Games in which "all the competitors will be on anabolic steroids" because all are recipients of transplanted organs. The steroid drugs used in the Steroid Games, which took place Aug. 3 through Aug. 5 in London, are corticosteroids, not anabolic steroids. Corticosteroids are used in the care of transplant patients to prevent tissue rejection. They are of value for their immunosuppressive properties as well as for being a potent anti-inflammatory medication. Anabolic steroids cannot suppress the immune system nor can they reduce inflammation. Anabolic steroids are on the USOC list of banned drugs, and corticosteroids are subject to certain USOC restrictions: They may be used topically with a doctor's permission, but not by mouth or injection.
S. KATHLEEN HIRTZ, M.D.
Springfield, Ore.

LOOK-ALIKES?
Is it just me, or is Jim Matice, the Young Adult Indoor National Bare-Bow Archery champion (FACES IN THE CROWD, July 16), a dead ringer for Phillie centerfielder Len Dykstra?
CHRIS NAQUIN
Schriever, La.

?Matice looks more like the younger Dykstra, when he was a Met.—ED.