10 Ways Rheumatoid Arthritis Could’ve Killed Glenn Frey

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I was truly stunned Monday when it was announced that Glenn Frey, from the Eagles, had died as a result of complications from his rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis and pneumonia.

Methotrexate Nonadherence is Common

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Researchers from Belgium studied patient adherence to MTX (given orally or via injection) in 129 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients over a 16-week period using an electronic monitoring system and two validated adherence questionnaires.

French Cannibinoid Phase I Study Gone Wrong

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Six volunteers were admitted to the University Hospital of Rennes in France last week after partaking in the Phase I trial of a new medication meant to treat mood disorders such as anxiety.

DSB Reports & Updates - January 2016

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Comparative Harmful Risks with Targeted Immunomodulators. Desai et al did a systematic review of the literature, findings of 10 head-to-head RCTs and 51 observational studies.

MRI Bone Marrow Lesions Predict Worse Outcomes in Osteoarthritis

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Medical Research Council study shows MRI lesions may predict which patients will have more rapidly progressing osteoarthritis. 

Mosquito Born Zika Virus Affects Caribbean and Latin America

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a travel advisory for individuals traveling to the Caribbean and Latin America where infection with Zika virus has been prevalent.

FDA Approves Cosentyx for Ankylosing Spondylitis and Psoriatic Arthritis

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Cosentyx (secukinumab) was approved by the FDA on 15 January, 2016 for patients with active ankyosing spondylitis (AS) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA).

BSR Issues DMARD Prescribing Guidelines for Pregnancy

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Treatment paradigms for managing pregnancy in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have been challenged in recent years with the introduction of new agents and reclassification of drug safety during pregnancy by the FDA.

Steroid Over-Prescribing Persists in RA

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Almost half of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the UK receive glucocorticoids from primary care physicians, and of those who are prescribed glucocorticoids, more than half receive more than 10 mg a day.

Ominous Outcomes for Lupus Nephritis

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Hanly and coworkers have reported the results of a large lupus cohort study involving 1827 patients. SLE patients were enrolled early in their disease (0.5 years) and were followed for a mean of 4.6 years.

ACP Backs New CDC Guideline for Opioids and Chronic Pain

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Wayne J Riley, MD, MPH, MBA, MACP, president of the American College of Physicians (ACP) sent a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reacting to its Draft Guideline for the Use of Opioids for Chronic Pain.

The Price of Drugs Continues to Increase

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Drug prices increased an average of 10% in 2015 (after a 13.5% increase in 2014) and includes big name drugs from major pharmaceutical companies.

Lesinurad augments uric acid lowering effect in allopurinol non-responders

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As the never-ending battle with refractory gout continues, the need for more safe and effective treatments remains. Often, steady remission and target urate levels are not achieved with allopurinol alone.

Seropositivity Increases Risk of Rheumatoid Mortality

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Three European registries analyzed their cohorts for outcomes that may be related to seropositivity for anticitrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA), rheumatoid factor (RF) and anticarbamylated protein (anti-CarP) antibodies.

Prescribing Rules

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If you are responsible for the outcome and welfare of patients – you need prescribing rules.

If you are supervising others or responsible for the training of those learning rheumatology – you need prescribing rules.

Combination or Monotherapy Tocilizumab in Rheumatoid Arthritis

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Several rheumatoid arthritis studies have shown that tocilizumab (TCZ) may be as effective as monotherapy when compared to combination therapy (methotrexate plu

Cochrane Reviews Low Back Pain and Exercise

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A new Cochrane Review published today shows that targeting exercises to muscles that support and control the spine offers another strategy to reduce pain and disability caused by lower back pain.

Game-Changers 2015: Refining Treatment in Arthritis

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Widening experience with JAK inhibition for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and tapering medications among RA patients in remission, along with the success of secukinumab for psoriatic arthritis (PsA), were the most important advances in rheumatology in 2015, according to specialists responding toMedPa

The Global Prevalence of Spondyloarthritis

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SpA is a common disease, but with large variation in reported prevalence estimates, partly explained by differences in demographical and methodological characteristics. 

Increasing Hospitalization Rates for Shingles in Lupus

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An administrative claims study of lupus patients drawn from the United States National Inpatient Sample between 2000 to 2011, studied hospitalization rates related to bacteremia, pneumonia, opportunistic fungal infection, herpes zoster, cytomegalovirus, or pneumocystis pneumonia (P