Anti-Rheumatic Rx

"Don't You Know Who I am?" (5.17.2024)

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Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the past 2 weeks. This week's question: can we prevent gout, ILD or psoriasis?

Antacids can Diminish Bone Density

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Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), a specific class of antacid drugs, are among the most widely used medications of all. They are frequently prescribed to many groups of patients, including those with rheumatism. PPIs are used to prevent the stomach problems that can arise from taking certain

Consensus Statements on Vitamin D

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The “Controversies in Vitamin D” International Conference has published their proceedings on vitamin D metabolism, assessment, actions, and supplementation. Interestingly, optimal levels of 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D) are still being debated. 

Varying recommendations by society

Risk Factors for Hydroxychloroquine Retinopathy

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A long-term hydroxychloroquine users study found that 2.7% developed retinopathy, and identified risk factors as  increasing age, female sex, chronic kidney disease stage 3+ and tamoxifen use.

This Kaiser Permanente cohort study of 4677 patients initiating hydroxychloroquine, and

RECIPE Study: Non-opioid Analgesics following Total Hip Arthroplasty

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Patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty using a combination of paracetamol, ibuprofen, and dexamethasone, had optimal responses with the lowest morphine consumption, and fewer adverse events.

Pharmacologic Efficacy in Still's Disease

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Imaging-Only Diagnosis of Giant Cell Arteritis Is Feasible

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Positive findings with color Doppler ultrasound were enough to diagnose giant cell arteritis (GCA) accurately without need for confirmation with temporal artery biopsy (TAB), a prospective study indicated.

Out of 165 older patients in whom GCA was strongly suspected, 73 (44%) had the

Featured BSR Abstracts (5.2.2024)

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Dr. Jack Cush muses on the news, journal reports, FDA announcements and the 2024 BSR abstracts just released.

Lower Limb Muscle Mass Influences Osteoarthritis Risk

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The Rotterdam study shows that weight-bearing recreational physical activity caused more incident knee osteoarthritis (KOA), but mainly when there was low muscle mass. KOA risk is traditionally linked to either obesity or injury. This study assesses whether muscle mass may influence

Methotrexate Does Not Increase ILD Risk in Dermatomyositis

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A cohort analysis of dermatomyositis (DM) patients starting immunomodulators finds that methotrexate use was not associated with an increased risk of interstitial lung disease (ILD).

ILD affects ~23% of DM patients and the oft used MTX is has a low risk of pneumonitis and pulmonary

Systemic Inflammation and Mortality in RA-ILD

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Analysis of the German RABBIT registry shows that systemic inflammation, more so than disease activity, strongly influences all-cause mortality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and prevalent interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD).

RA-ILD patients from the biologics register Rheumatoid

Biomarker Predictors of Osteoarthritis

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Science Advances has reported that Duke University researchers have validated a biomarkers of osteoarthritis that may be identified 2 years before the appearance of radiographic OA.  Six peptides (biomarker) demonstrated an AUC 77% probability of successfully predicting knee

ARCTIC Rewind: Can You Taper DMARDs with Remission?

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In an open-label, randomized, non-inferiority trial, rheumatoid arthritis patients in remission were subject to tapering of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), and while maintenance of remission was seen in some, many DMARD tapering patients did flare and were unable to maintain

TLR Antagonist in Lupus

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An investigational Toll-like receptor (TLR) antagonist was effective in reducing biomarkers and clinical symptoms of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in a pilot trial, evidence that the innate immune system may hold the key to lupus pathophysiology.

Rheum Chapter Notes (4.26.2024)

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Dr. Jack Cush reviews this past week’s news and journal articles from RheumNow.com.

Predicting Infection in Lupus Nephritis

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Machine learning (ML) models were applied to 3 cohorts of lupus nephritis (LN) patients and established algorithms to predict co-infection in LN. 

This study analyzed 111 non-infected LN patients, 72 infected LN patients, and 206 healthy controls (HCs), looking at patient

Predicting CKD Outcomes in Lupus Nephritis

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An observational cohort study suggests that proteinuria levels in lupus nephritis (LN) patients did not predict their histologic class.

A multicentre observational study of patients with biopsy-proven LN; either proliferative (PLN) or membranous (MLN) lupus nephritis were compared regarding

Self Acupressure in Knee Osteoarthritis

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A clinical trial has shown that self-administered acupressure (SAA) is effective in relieving knee osteoarthritis (KOA) patients.

Canary in a Coal Mine (4.19.2024)

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Dr. Jack Cush reviews regulatory reports, news and novel journal articles - this week focusing on Sjogren's, ILD, Gout and Uveitis.

SGLT2 Inhibitors Lowers Gout Risks in Type 2 Diabetes

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A population-based cohort has demonstrated that sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) use in gout patients is superior to sulfonylurea therapy in lowering the risk of incident gout and recurrent flares among patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D).