Recent News

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Portugese single center study of primary Sjögren’s dz shows early damage is assoc w/ 12-14X incr risk of lymphoma. 208 pts (F/U 14_ yrs) Damage seen in 79% & 85%. Mortality linked to age but not damage. 17 (8%) had lymphoma. Early damage incr lymphoma (HR 14.5 or HR https://t.co/g62KtjDuWg
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Novel Imaging of Skin Disease in Scleroderma

MedPage Today

An emerging technique called spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) proved its mettle for evaluating skin fibrosis in systemic sclerosis (SSc), also called scleroderma, in an early clinical study.

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Cryptococcus is rare, but twice as likely with JAK inhibitors. Retrospective TriNetX analysis of RA pts (>30k/grp) starting JAKi vs TNFi; JAKi vs non-TNFi; & TNFi vs non-TNF. Crypto seen in <0.2% in all groups; but signif higher HR for JAKi (HR 2.2 & 2.15) https://t.co/fJeKwDZABL
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REVEAL study enrolled 418 early microscopic polyangiitis pts - High baseline (Pre-Rx) neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR > 10) was assoc w/ signif higer Dz activity (BVAS), alveolar hemorrhage, poor renal function, reduced survival & higher infection-related mortality (P = https://t.co/vXuRwXP9gc
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Polish study compared comorbidities #s in incident RA & PsA. RA pts were older at dx (61 vs 44 yrs) & may drive higher rates in RA. 23/3 comorbidities (74%) were signif more prevalent in RA, including HTN (18 v 12%), ischemic HD (11 v 6%), cerebrovascular dz (4 vs 2%) https://t.co/l0RW6bVVHd
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No difference in MACE risk betw TNFi vs JAKi in 6174 RA pts. Korean claims data compared TNFi (n 5,152) vs JAKi (n 1,022) initiators. MACE risk was 4.1 & 3.6/1000PYs w/ TNFi vs JAKi, respectively. MACE risk did not differ significantly between JAKi and TNFi (adj HR 0.636; 0.283, https://t.co/035WSUQAhJ
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Open Evidence study of 952 008 US clinicians (556K MDs), submitted 271 million AI clinical queries over 2.5 yrs study period. MDs submitted ~371 queries/mo - 33% for Rx & 14% fo Dx. Highest use w/ young MD, oncology, hematology, Int medicine, & family medicine https://t.co/FGErefxWD5
article

Joint Disease in SLE Reconsidered

Jack Cush, MD

A new Frontiers in Immunology review from Ong, Wincup and colleagues, shows that lupus arthropathy is not a single uniform entity and it is biologically under-studied and clinically mismeasured, Moreover, the biology of lupus arthritis may shed light on choosing the best therapy for MSK manifestations of SLE.

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Should You Use Low Dose Naltrexone? A recent review of 105 studies and 15 randomized controlled trials of LDN found that, across a range of disorders (chronic pain, autoimmune and neuroimmune disorders, gastrointestinal disease, dermatological conditions, post-infectious https://t.co/lmjJoGlFAZ
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Lancet: A Public Health Policy Call Out for Osteoarthritis In honor of World Arthritis Day (Oct. 12th), The Lancet has published a public Health Policy report is to "outline a globally relevant roadmap to address the osteoarthritis identity problem, focusing on health policy https://t.co/XTRDJnOEGn
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@RheumNow
Placebo beats probiotics in PsA. And nearly 90% of well-controlled RA patients may be able to cut their targeted therapy dose in half. Dr. Jack Cush breaks down the findings worth a closer look in this week's RheumNow podcast, Troubles with ‘Gut Feelings’. Probiotics in PsA: https://t.co/Aqy4HxGHbU
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Yale researchers propose repurposing the epilepsy drug, lacosamide, to treat osteoarthritis. In animal models, delivered as a hydrogel conjugate IA, improved cartilage repair, slowed deterioration, & reduced pain. Chosen as it blocks Sodium channels, esp Nav1.7 involved in pain https://t.co/ERJ2xPEyzl

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From the Blog

rheumthought

Treatment for Obesity and Inflammation, but at what Cost?

Jonathan Kay, MD
Kay RT cover still

The costs of GLP-1 agonists must come down in order to make these treatments available to the people who need them - including many people with rheumatologic diseases. 

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Podcasts

  • Troubles with ‘Gut Feelings’
  • Don’t Hold the JAK (10.9.2026)
  • PsA Beyond the Joints: Rheum, Derm, and Gastro Perspectives
  • Remission – Believe it or Not (10.2.2026)
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Therapeutic Updates

Clinical dilemmas in axSpA and PsA

Sponsored by UCB
UCB October RX Update
Explore some of the challenges rheumatologists face in clinical practice, including expert perspectives from UCB's Annual International Immunology Summit.
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PsA Beyond the Joints: Rheum, Derm, and Gastro Perspectives

Sponsored by AbbVie Medical Affairs + Health Impact
AbbVie October RX Update
Dr. Saakshi Khattri hosts dermatologist Dr. Ahmad Amin and gastroenterologist Dr. Joshua Steinberg to discuss multidisciplinary care in PsA and other immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. Learn how signals in the skin and gut may prompt the need for collaboration across specialties to support better patient outcomes that extend beyond the joints.
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Obesity – Inflammation – PsA

Sponsored by Lilly Medical Affairs
Lilly October
Learn about the inflammatory intersection between Psoriatic Arthritis and Obesity, and why adiposity is more than a comorbidity.
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