Recent News
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.Read Article
Best of 2024: ASLeap: Higher Dose Secukinumab in Ankylosing Spondylitis
Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients not responding to usual dosing with secukinumab (150 mg) after 16 weeks were dose escalated to secukinumab (SEC) 300 mg, but failed to show improvement by week 52.
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Sarcoidosis is biopsy supported not proven”
-Dx is clinical with broad ddx.
-Assess organ involvement in all pts.
-Whole body PET can help assess disease activity (not in CNS disease)
-MR brain with pituitary cuts helpful in CNS sarcoid.
#ACR24 @ACRheum @RheumNow… https://t.co/Ka1cHtFOqj
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow ( View Tweet)
RheumNow Live 2025: Feb 8-9, Dallas, TX! 🔬 Don’t miss top experts on Psoriatic Disease:
➡️ A. Ogdie: Preventing PsA
➡️ A. Kavanaugh: Biologic Therapies
➡️ K. Gordon: Head-to-Head Studies
Register now!
https://t.co/9qnqtpkwpT https://t.co/95TGS56vyA
Links:
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Best of 2024: Lung Cancer in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Interstitial Lung Disease
https://t.co/Sd3H5Tzhtf https://t.co/guXzL5bc6R
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Best of 2024: Analgesic Prescribing in Patients with Inflammatory Arthritis
https://t.co/iQrBVzWaI8 https://t.co/Rx86Q57oEZ
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Bah Humbug Vitamin D (12.20.2024)
https://t.co/Mjuk6buRsX https://t.co/aX8cetkbWc
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Best of 2024: Inadequate Zoster Vaccination in Immunocompromised Patients
A VA study of shows that recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV) vaccination in immunocompromised patients or those receiving immunosuppressive medications is insufficient, given these are high risk individuals.
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Best of 2024: Pain Reduction with Methotrexate in Knee Osteoarthritis
The Annals of Internal Medicine reports that oral, low dose, weekly methotrexate significantly reduced knee osteoarthritis pain, stiffness, and function in a randomized controlled trial.
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If high +ANA and NO #rheumatic #disease
LOOK 👀 at #LIVER
#Autoimmune #hepatitis
And
#alcoholic #liver #dx
#ACRBest #ACR24 @rheumnow abst#0627 https://t.co/0bwfgNnB0e
Links:
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow ( View Tweet)
To Behcet’s or not to Behcet’s?
-Aphtous ulcers have unique features(broad ddx)
-Oral+Genital ulcers=CAP not necessary BD.
-Pathergy test ⬆️specific and not limited to skin!
-Pulmonary arterial aneurysms=almost pathognomonic.
-Do not get confused by HLAs. #ACR24 @RheumNow… https://t.co/3nWgILNVYw
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow ( View Tweet)
A Fibroblast Renaissance
Dr. Andrea Fava at the 2024 ACR Convergence meeting in Washington, DC.
https://t.co/GQXWkqMkIW https://t.co/W6UXT4HCeg
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Tocilizumab Efficacy in Giant Cell Arteritis Phenotypes
A Spanish Collaborative Group study of Tocilizumab (TCZ) in Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) demonstrated high efficacy regardless of the different vascular phenotypes treated.
https://t.co/8wvSy8555Z https://t.co/vaGt1AylBr
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Nailfold video-capillaroscopy (NVC) study of 76 dermatomyositis (DM) pts - 74% had anomalous NVC patterns (diminished density, abnl morphology). NVC abnl pts had more Raynaud's, and cluster 1 were more likely to develop ILD.https://t.co/AsZ9CU2TZU https://t.co/TP1TMqotqi
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow ( View Tweet)
41 "Rhupus" pts were compared to 160 SLE and 709 RA pts. Rhupus pts have a younger onset age than RA (P=0.032), but older than SLE (P=0.008). ~20% initially presented w/ SLE Sxs. Rhupus commonly has ILD, hyperglobulinemia & Lab abnormalities (61%), but seldom renal or CNS dz… https://t.co/m7VL6HHdUN https://t.co/i3knGVQYvj
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Metanalysis of 41 studies, & 5343 AAV pts showed 55% (2890) had infection; 36% w/ severe infxn. This included PJP, aspergillosis, candidiasis, HZ, CMV, etc. Pulmonary most common. Risk factors included older, ESRD, DM, smoking, Renal or lung involvement https://t.co/yHo5BNlbiL https://t.co/R2je32YYGy
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Dr. John Cush @RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Palliative Care in Rheumatology
Dr. Jiha Lee talks with Dr. Shannon Herndon about abstracts 0204 and 1064, presented at the 2024 ACR Convergence meeting in Washington, DC.
https://t.co/fqx8wGLTqI https://t.co/5mwJx3ZN6u
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow ( View Tweet)
95 IBD pts had Magnetic resonance enterography (MRE). While 6/95 (6.3%) developed IBD-arthritis (mean 11 mos), finding Sacroiliitison MRE did not increase this risk. IBD arthritis risk was linked to arthralgia (OR 84) & extraintestinal manifestations (OR 7.4)… https://t.co/NGWGKn75jG https://t.co/IqY6XHWqqy
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Biomarker Study of 171 synovial fluid samples (54 primary OA, 57 RA, 30 Crystal,30 septic arthritis) examined the cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) to IL-8 ratio and found it can differentiate primary OA and inflamm arthritis w/ sensitivity 87% and specificity 89%… https://t.co/UH77DFgAlJ https://t.co/MfXQcl0BhW
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Best of 2024: Prescription Painkiller Misuse in Chronic Pain Patients
https://t.co/AyccRCuAHh https://t.co/RYuvDwHANo
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Abuse of the Safety-Net 340B Drug Programs
Dr. Madelaine Feldman comments on the 340B Drug Pricing Program, a safety-net initiative designed to provide costly therapies to vulnerable populations. She argues that the program has deviated from its original intent, with certain… https://t.co/5rIQHsIeAS https://t.co/rXwQPctHDf
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow ( View Tweet)
From the blog
How would you manage a patient with Overlap (anti-synthetase) syndrome, ILD, polyarthritis and myositis?
Podcasts
Bah Humbug Vitamin D (12.20.2024)-
54K Peptic Ulcers Annually (12.13.2024)
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Don’t Buy Guitars (12.6.2024)
ACR24 IL-17 Topic Panel Advancing Care with IL-17 Pathway Insights
Poster Hall
