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New ACR 2025 Guidelines for Non-Renal Lupus
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MedPage Today
Written by Lisa Sammaritano, MD, of the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, and a committee of nearly 50 other experts, the new guideline also stipulates that corticosteroids are OK for gaining symptom control in newly diagnosed patients and when flares erupt, but the duration should be kept as short as possible.
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The Interview (11.7.2025)
I've done thousands of interviews; mostly for medical school admissions or medical and research employment. They’re all the same. I'm looking for the “right one” and the interviewee is somewhere between apprehension, uncertainty and hope. From all this experience I’ve developed my own perspective on interviews and interviewing that has been amended in the digital/virtual era.
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Ianalumab Shows Phase 3 Success in Sjögren’s: Is It Clinically Meaningful?
On the final day of ACR25, late-breaking abstract #24 drew particular attention, presenting results from the first positive Phase 3 trials of a potential systemic treatment for a disease that has long lacked one.
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There is a growing burden of #OA among middle-aged adults, rising by 123.7%, from 11.8 million in 1990 to 26.4 million in 2021. 56.5% of incident cases & 38% of prevalent cases occur in middle-aged group (70% higher than the elderly (>60 years) population). Highest in hi-income. https://t.co/JVpZ96qe0E
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
20-40% of Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is associated with other autoimmune diseases - lead by autoimmune thyroiditis, type 1 DM, ulcerative colitis, Crohn disease, & celiac (but less so for RA, PBC, SLE, Sjögren syndrome, vitiligo). AIH Dx Abs include ANA, ASMA, LKM1. https://t.co/I3ZPHiRgqZ
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Sjogren’s disease: two drugs with positive trials Sjogren’s disease: two drugs with positive trials
After several failures of therapies in Phase 3 trials of Sjogren’s disease (SjD) over many years, all hope is not lost! At #ACR25, not one but two drugs presented their efficacy https://t.co/kTTdZnVUtj
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
RETREAT study was a 12 wk RCT of Tai Chi in 178 knee OA pts Rx w/ online OA info vs same plus free web based tai chi video program. Tai Chi group had signif improved knee pain (−2.7 v -1.2); (−12 v −6.9) & achieved a minimal pain & function (73% v 47%); and Its free! https://t.co/WLzQ9YHrcu
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Off the Shelf: CAR-T
Dr. Akhil Sood reports on abstract 0663 (iPSC-Derived Off-the-Shelf anti-CD19 CAR T cells Deliver Improved Clinical Outcomes in Lupus with Reduced or No Conditioning Chemotherapy) presented at#ACR25.
https://t.co/mj4b5cCInC https://t.co/s34atFCMlx
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AI in Fellow Recruitment: A New Dawn in Medical Education?
Drs. Mrinalini Dey and Bharat Kumar abstract 2174 (Using Natural Language Processing to Identify Character Strengths in Rheumatology Fellowship Candidate Applications: A Feasibility Study) presented at #ACR25. https://t.co/gGx4zZlfAm
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Beyond the Breakthrough: Equity and Access in CAR-T Cell Therapy for RA
At #ACR25, abstract 1039, "Global Cost-Effectiveness and Equity in CAR-T Cell Therapy for Rheumatoid Arthritis," highlights the critical economic and ethical dimensions of CAR-T cell therapy in autoimmune https://t.co/Rci0dL7THj
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“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." – Charles Darwin
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Are we putting the CAR-T before the horse?
CAR T-cells have been a revolutionary development in rheumatology. We have seen a population of patients with severe refractory autoimmune conditions almost overnight presented with the prospect of not just improvement, but of a cure. https://t.co/gF9FXjAZ7F
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B Cell Depletion: Check the Lymph Node
Dr. Akhil Sood reports on abstract 2695 (B-cell depletion and lymphoid follicle disruption upon different B-cell depleting agents) presented at #ACR25.
https://t.co/bvZMGWNzfe https://t.co/dB6iQlgoYx
Links:
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900,000 vs 9
It takes about 900,000 minutes to become a board-certified dermatologist. At that point, you might be very skilled and well-informed.
It takes less than nine minutes to make your patient feel seen, understood and reassured.
If you skip the 9 minutes, you wasted the https://t.co/o7BaWjS4HB
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IL-23 Blockade Goes Oral
A new player is entering the IL-23 arena — and it’s a tablet! Icotrokinra (ICO), a first-in-class peptide that binds and blocks the interleukin-23 receptor (IL-23R), is showing encouraging efficacy and safety across a range of psoriasis (PSO) and https://t.co/7awBk16ZrQ
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Stopping therapy in GCA
At #ACR25 we saw the SELECT-GCA extension data presented in the first plenary session, looking at the second year after the 52 week original study, comparing upadacitinib versus placebo in GCA. In this second year, patients in remission on upadacitinib https://t.co/GaYNWr3Sjq
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Weight Loss as a Therapeutic Goal in PsA
PsA is a complex inflammatory disease often complicated by obesity, which not only worsens disease activity but also impairs treatment response. At #ACR25, 3 compelling studies spanning pharmacologic, lifestyle, and longitudinal https://t.co/Q6IFGn5zCI
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IgG4: Rare, but new treatments on the horizon
IgG4 is a rare autoimmune disease with excessive IgG4 immunoglobulins that can affect multiple organs yielding plasma cell deposition (inflammation) and fibrosis.
https://t.co/v07Kp5tQXg https://t.co/rIvOF0mrM1
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Do Patients with Rheumatic Diseases 'Weather' the Storm?
Dr. Janet Pope reports on abstract 0164 (Online Patient Survey on the Impact of Extreme Weather Events on Autoimmune and Rheumatic Diseases) presented at #acr25.
https://t.co/rY3T6tWsgu https://t.co/vdgT2DB5lH
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Upadacitinib: revisiting safety data in RA and GCA
For the last several years, conversations about JAK inhibitors have often started and ended with safety. The shadow cast by ORAL Surveillance has made clinicians more cautious and regulators more restrictive. Yet in practice, https://t.co/6Wes2npkFd
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