Blood Tests

Three times a day, SeaWorld Orlando's killer whale trainers brush Tilikum's teeth, just as they always have. But they no longer stand right next to him with a water pick. Instead, they use a 2-foot extension so they can work farther from the 6-ton orca's jaws. The jury-rigged toothbrush is one of the many adjustments SeaWorld has made in the weeks since Tilikum grabbed veteran trainer Dawn Brancheau by her ponytail and drowned her in front of park guests. After the Feb. 24 tragedy, SeaWorld removed Tilikum from daily shows and ordered trainers to keep their distance from the animal, who is twice as big as any other orca at the park.

Representatives of boxers Floyd Mayweather Jr., Shane Mosley and Golden Boy Promotions on Thursday revealed their anti-doping procedures for their May 1 welterweight title fight in Las Vegas. The head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, Travis Tygart , said Mayweather and Mosley will be subjected to random urine and/or blood tests from now "until and after the fight." In addition to urine tests for steroids, blood tests will be implemented to search for such performance-enhancers as human growth hormone, synthetic hemoglobin and blood transfusions, Tygart said.

After three years and at least $450,000 from Major League Baseball and the NFL, scientists are no closer to finding a urine-based test that can reliably detect the banned, brawn-building human growth hormone. Even more troubling is the fact that, despite testers' optimism over last week's news that a single positive blood sample snared a British rugby player for HGH, there are questions about why hundreds of other athletes are suspected of having skirted detection in the same procedure.

A British rugby player's blood sample emerged this week as a landmark case, the first positive result for human growth hormone in testing by a national sporting anti-doping agency. The athlete, Terry Newton, confessed to using the banned substance and Wednesday, after being slapped with a two-year ban from the game, publicly apologized for his "grave error in judgment." Newton's positive test is expected to be followed shortly by others, a source familiar with worldwide doping programs told The Times on Wednesday.

As a combined guarantee of at least $50 million vanishes from what was expected to be the most lucrative bout in boxing history, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao voiced their differences Thursday, a day after the fight was declared to be off by Pacquiao's promoter. Mayweather released a statement pointing to Pacquiao as the one holding up the planned March 13 mega-fight and declaring, "I am ready to fight and sign the contract. Manny needs to stop making excuses, step up and fight."

Researchers have taken a small but potentially significant step toward early detection of ovarian cancer, a deadly disease often diagnosed too late for effective treatment. Various cancer "biomarkers" show up in blood tests long before symptoms occur but aren't accurately predictive until later, when tumors probably have reached an advanced stage, scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle found. The study, published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, was headed by Garnet Anderson and Nicole Urban of the Hutchinson center's Division of Public Health Sciences.

Manny Pacquiao says he is planning to file a defamation lawsuit against Floyd Mayweather Jr ., the fighter's father and Golden Boy Promotions In a statement posted Friday on his website, Pacquiao claims that his character has been damaged and tarnished by accusations he says are untrue. "Enough is enough," Pacquiao said in the statement. "These people, Mayweather Sr., Jr., and Golden Boy Promotions, think it is a joke and a right to accuse someone wrongly of using steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs.

Boxing's tendency to inflame hostility, name-calling and old grudges in contract negotiations is threatening the biggest fight in the sport. Manny Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, told The Times on Wednesday that he's treating the Filipino's verbally-agreed-upon mega-fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. on March 13 as if it's "dead," and added he's instructed his matchmaker to explore other possible fights for Pacquiao. Arum is angered that Mayweather's camp wants Pacquiao to submit to a random blood-testing protocol supervised by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. wants Manny Pacquiao to submit to Olympic-style drug tests, including a blood test within days of their tentatively scheduled March 13 bout, and failing to agree to these terms could threaten the fight, Mayweather's camp said Tuesday. Pacquiao has expressed reluctance to submit to a blood test within 30 days of the proposed world welterweight title fight, which will be staged at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. "As management for Floyd, we're insisting this Olympic-style, random [blood]

The American Cancer Society tried to downplay news reports last week that it was toning down its endorsement of the long-ballyhooed screening tests for breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men. But in a statement, the group acknowledged that the "advantages of screening for some cancers have been overstated." Like a lot of other Americans, my first response was: What about me? Medical authorities have "overpromised" and "exaggerated," in the words of a top Cancer Society official, the benefits of mammograms for women and PSA blood tests for men. The popular tests, it seems, too often result in over-treatment of milder cancers while failing to prevent enough deaths from the most aggressive types.