Canary in a Coal Mine (4.19.2024)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews regulatory reports, news and novel journal articles - this week focusing on Sjogren's, ILD, Gout and Uveitis.
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Lupus Accelerating Breakthroughs Consortium Partners with FDA
EurekAlert!
The Lupus Research Alliance (LRA), founder and administrator of the Lupus Accelerating Breakthroughs Consortium (Lupus ABC), announced today at the Consortium’s first anniversary meeting an expanded partnership with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with the inclusion of the Center
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BSR Guideline on Management of Sjogren’s Syndrome
Sjögren disease (SD) is the most common of all autoimmune disease, yet little is know of its etiology and there are insufficent interventions for those affected with mucosal or systemic manifestations.
The British Society of Rheumatology has updated its 2017 guidelines, with wider
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Biopsy Results in Sjogren's Syndrome
A prospective study from the Netherlands analyzed the comparative value of simultaneous labial and parotid salivary gland biopsies performed in patients with sicca complaints and suspected Sjogren's syndrome (SjD).
Researchers from the University Medical Center Groningen compared
Burnout or Retire (4.12.2024)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from this past week on RheumNow.com. Is it time to worry about burnout and those who are leaving healthcare?
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Epigenetics and Autoimmune Skin Disease
EurekAlert!
The central dogma proposed that genetic information predominantly transfers from DNA to RNA during gene expression to make a functional product protein. This absolute theory has been debunked because of the influence of the environment on how genes are transcribed. According to the human
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7 Updates on Prosthetic Joint Infections
These are excerpts and takeaway summaries from several literature reports addressing the diagnosis and outcomes of prosthetic joint infections (PJI).
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Infection and Rituximab-linked Immunoglobulin Deficiency
A minority of immune-mediated inflammatory disease (IMID) patients treated with rituximab (RTX) are expected to develop and depressed immunoglobulin (Ig) levels. A recent cohort analysis suggests that RTX-induced Ig deficiency was not associated with an increased risk of severe
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Top 10 Pharma R&D Budgets in 2023
Pharma budgets have undergone significant changes coming out of COVID. This year Merck & Co. has knocked Roche from previous years of leading in research and development (R&D) budgets and investments. In 2023 Merck invested a whopping $30 billion in R&D, nearly 51% of their 2023
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Insights on Postinfectious ME/CFS
The medical community is challenged by myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, or ME/CFS - its origins, pathogenesis outcomes and treatment. JAMA has reviewed a recent Nature paper wherein an NIH led team of multidisciplinary experts performed an inpatient study of
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Hidradenitis Suppurativa-Related Autoinflammatory Syndromes
Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a suppurative inflammatory skin disorder that is considered to be autoinflammatory by many. HS includes a specturm of disorders, linked by suppurative (or psoriatic) skin disease and potentially genetics. These HS-related disorders may include
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Depression and RA (3.8.2024)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, journal reports and regulatory approvals from the past week.
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Sinusitis Linked to 40% Heightened Risk of Rheumatic Disease
EurekAlert!
The common inflammatory condition sinusitis is linked to a 40% heightened risk of a subsequent diagnosis of rheumatic disease, particularly in the 5 to 10 years preceding the start of symptoms, finds research published in the open access journal RMD Open.
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EGPA: Benralizumab or Mepolizumab
A multicenter, double-blind, phase 3, randomized, active-controlled trial has shown that Benralizumab (BEN) was noninferior to mepolizumab (MEP) for the induction of remission of patients with relapsing or refractory Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA).
Adults with
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Immunosuppression Increasing (2.23.2024)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the past 2 weeks on RheumNow.com; but begins with a discussion of what constitutes "immunosuppression" and how it applies to our patients.
2021 NHIS Survey data suggests the prevalence of immunosuppression in the USA
CD19 CAR T-Cell Therapy in Autoimmune Disease
The NEJM has published the results of CD19 B cell depletion (by CAR-T cell therapy) in autoimmune disease patients, demonstrating it to be feasible, safe, and efficacious.
The rationale to CD19 CAR-T cell transfer is to reset aberrant autoimmunity via deep depletion of B cells with
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ARIAA Trial: Abatacept Delays the Onset of RA
The ARIAA trial tested the utility of IV abatacept in individuals ACPA+ arthralgia patients with subclinical inflammation and showed abatacept to decrease MRI inflammation, clinical symptoms, and risk of future rheumatoid arthritis (RA) development.
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Curbside Consults (2.16.2024)
Dr. Jack Cush answers audience clinical case questions sent by email or "ask Cush anything". Cases and questions from:
- Dr. William Hong - RA management in the setting of active TB or latent TB (LTBI)
- Dr. Vrishali Dalvi - relapsing polychondritis monitoring
#RNL2024 @RheumNow
Winthrop on Shingrix:
Good data at 10 yrs
Diminished response in immunocompromised (chemo)
Very limited data with autoimmune patients https://t.co/cJitGOWZQt
Eric Dein @ericdeinmd( View Tweet )
SLE: A Mutated Gene and TLR7 Overexpression
EurekAlert!
A group of researchers lead by Min Ae Lee-Kirsch from the Department of Pediatrics, Medical Faculty, TUD Dresden University of Technology (Germany), studied four patients from two families who developed symptoms of SLE in the first years of life. As familial occurrence of SLE in young
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2023 Rheumatology Year in Review
Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlights, advances and hot topics in rheumatology from 2023 and the RheumNow website.
2023 was a year of growth and new horizons while returning to operational and practice standards (in care and education) established before the pandemic.
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2023 Rheumatology Year in Review
Here is my top 10 list (in no particular order) of 2023 advances, game-changers, and developments that changed, or will soon change, rheumatologic practices.
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Best of 2023: New Laboratory Insights for the ANA+ Consult
A new study suggests that use of ELISA assays for CXCL-10 and IFN-α can predict which ANA+ individuals may progress to developing a systemic autoimmune rheumatic disease (SARD).
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RheumNow Podcast – Bill of Rights (12.15.2023)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com. Two major reports on fatigue and fibromyalgia misfired, and "ankylosing spondylitis" is sent to the Rheumatology dead word cemetery.
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Is MTX Safe in the Elderly? (12.1.2023)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews this past week's news and journal reports from RheumNow.com. Good news is that nearly 99% of adult rheumatology positions matched! But the challenge is that 45% of pediatric fellowship programs and 39% of pediatric rheum slots were unfilled in the 2024 NRMP match.
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