All News
Placebo Works Best in Combination
Analysis of two large clinical trial datasets shows that placebo response rates in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of patients with rheumatoid arthritis are better when the patient continued background methotrexate (MTX).
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New Updated GRAPPA Psoriatic Arthritis Recommendations
The GRAPPA (Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis) treatment recommendations have been updated and the 2021 evidence-based guidance is rich in treatment recommendations based on the key disease "domains" - peripheral arthritis, axial disease, enthesitis, dactylitis, skin and nail psoriasis; with new PsA related domains uveitis and inflammatory bowel disease.
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Gabapentin Implicated in Overdose Deaths
Recent FDA and MMWR warnings suggest that gabapentin was present and implicated in almost 10% of US overdose deaths between 2019 and 2020. This CDC report also stated that gabapentin was the cause of the death in half of these cases.
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HCQ for RA: Not a Great Idea?
Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) appeared less safe from a cardiovascular standpoint than methotrexate in older patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), analysis of Medicare data indicated.
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Are You Wasting Money on Supplements or Vitamins?
The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has updated its recommendations regarding the efficacy of supplements or multivitamins for reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mortality in the general adult population.
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Inferior IL-17 Inhibitor Responses in Psoriatic Women
Pooled data from two large ixekizumab (IXE) trials show that male patients had greater clinical responses than did female patients with psoriatic arthritis are largely unexplored. Reasons for this differential treatment responses to an interleukin-17A inhibitor (IXE) between male and female patients is unexplained.
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Podcast on Podcasting (6.24.22)
A tutorial on podcasting - what works and what does not, 7 keys to podcast success, who and what is it for, and more!
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Bimekizumab Safety in Psoriasis Patients
A pooled analyses of data from eight, phase 2 and 3 randomized clinical trials shows bimekizumab, a dual IL-17A/F inhibitor, to be effective in plaque psoriasis and was well tolerated aside from an increased incidence of mild to moderate oral candidiasis.
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COVID-19 Death is Dependent on Age and Type I IFN Autoantibodies
A study in PNAS of has shown that autoantibodies against type I interferons (IFNs) are strong predictors of death from COVID-19.
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Does Sunlight Trigger Lupus?
Whether exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun can cause new-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) wasn't settled by data from a large, long-running epidemiologic study, but the trends indicated that it could.
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Modest Benefits of Diet on Arthritis
A EULAR taskforce systematically reviewd the literature on the effects of diet and lifestyle behaviors in rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs), and found little evidence suggesting dietary factors can substantially affect the outcomes in people with RMDs.
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Burnout Threatens the Rheumatology Workforce Conundrum
There is a shortage of rheumatologists in Canada and the recent 2020 Canadian Rheumatology Association (CRA) Workforce and Wellness study shows that the shortage may be compounded by rheumatologist burnout, especially among young and female physicians.
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CC Genotype and Thiopurine Toxicity
Annals of Internal Medicine reports that thiopurine toxcicity risk is associated with the "CC" genotype and that azathioprine discontinuation was associated with hematopoietic toxicity and lower thiopurine doses.
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What Happened to Kawasaki Disease During COVID-19?
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a new COVID-related syndrome in children, the "Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children" (MIS), was described as being similar to but distinctly different than childhood Kawasaki's disease (KD). A new epidemiologic report shows that while MIS-C cases rose, KD cases fell and remained low during the period of masking and school closure.
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Two Week Twitter (6.17.2022)
Dr. Jack Cush does a 2-week review of RheumNow Tweets on news and journal citations worth noting, along with some opinions on Telehealth, manpower, monkeypox and the price of drugs.
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Flares Not Increased Following Recombinant Zoster Vaccine Injections
Insurance claims analysis has shown that the use of the (CDC recommended) recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV) for prevention of herpes zoster was highly used in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases and was safe, as higher rates of arthritis flares were not evident.
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Improved Pregnancy Outcomes in SLE (2010–2020)
A retrospective cohort study has shown that outcomes in pregnant systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients has significantly improved in the last decade, but there still is a high risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes (APO).
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ACR Applauds FTC Decision to Investigate PBM's
The American College of Rheumatology applauds the Federal Trade Commission’s decision to investigate the business practices of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which continue to increase PBM profit margins while placing the burden of skyrocketing drug costs on America’s most vulnerable patients,
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What do our lupus patients think about treat-to-target?
In SLE, two targets that are increasingly used are the DORIS 2021 Remission and the Lupus Low Disease Activity (LLDAS). T2T is more likely to be successful if the treating clinicians and the patients set the treatment goals together. What do our patients think about T2T and do they have any say/concern?
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