Introduction: The history of using performance-enhancing substances (PES) is long and it goes back to ancient times. At present, PES are employed at all levels of sport competition, starting from Olympic level contestants to individuals recreationally involved in various sports disciplines.

Purpose: The objective of the study was examining the views on doping in sports in a group of physicians, together with evaluating the frequency of their contacts with this phenomenon, in their professional activities.

Methods: The investigation was carried out using a validated questionnaire developed by the authors. Questionnaire included 34 questions divided into 6 sections. In total, 257 individuals participated in the study. The percentage of answers was 75.81%.

Results: Among the responders, 96.50% believed that using PES by sports competitors represented unethical behavior. 42% participants declared that they met doping problem during their professional career. Almost one-third of the physicians (28.79%) declared that during their work, they consulted patient suffering from adverse side eff ects resulting from using PES.

Conclusions: In Poland, physicians regard using PES as unethical behavior. They believe that a health care system professional should participate in counteracting doping in sports. Physicians — regardless of their specialty — are also exposed to PES-related problems in their professional work. In view of the above facts and the consistently increasing popularity of PES, extending the knowledge in this field among physicians seems to be of importance to allow for their offering better medical services to their patients.

Introduction: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) represents a group of chronic inflamma-tory disorders characterized by dysbiosis and altered short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) level. The association between individual SCFA levels and cytokine levels is unknown.
Objectives: We aimed to determine the fecal SCFA levels in patients with IBD in relation to disease severity and the serum levels of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines.
Patients and Methods: The study included 61 patients with IBD (inactive, 22; active, 39) and 16 controls. Fecal levels of organic acids (acetic, lactic, propionic, butyric, isovaleric, isobutyric, and valeric), serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-10 (IL-10), IL-17, and IL-22, complete blood count and C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured.
Results: Patients with active IBD had reduced butyric, acetic, valeric, and isovaleric acid levels and elevated lactic acid levels in stool. Hemoglobin levels were positively correlated with the levels of acetic and butyric acids ( R = 0.266 and R = 0.346, respectively; P <0.05). In addition, CRP levels were inversely correlated with butyric acid levels ( R = –0.573; P <0.05). Higher serum TNF-α levels were observed in patients with active IBD compared with controls (6.64 pg/ml vs 2.05 pg/ml, P <0.05). No relationship was noted between the SCFA profile and cytokine levels.
Conclusions: The study showed that determination of SCFA levels can be used to evaluate the activity of IBD. The relationship between individual SCFA and cytokine levels seems to be complex and requires further studies.