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A Controlled Trial of Yoga Benefits Arthritis Patients
Yoga and stretching appear to be important forms of exercise for patients with fibromyalgia, but their utility has seldom been explored in patients with rheumatoid or osteoarthritis.
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Can Fibromyalgia in Children be Treated Without Medication?
The hallmarks of fibromyalgia -- widespread pain, poor sleep, effort intolerance, fatigue -- are difficult to manage and usually require medication and a multi-modal approach.
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Is Early Use of TNFi in Spondyloarthritis Overkill or a Necessity?
Axial SpA (axSpA) is a chronic inflammatory disease that includes AS and non-radiographic axSpA (nr-axSpA).
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Age and Comorbidity Contribute to Higher Death Risk Following Hip Fracture Surgery
Patients undergoing surgery for a hip fracture appear to have higher death rates than those having elective total hip replacement.
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Funding for Rheumatology Research in Decline
The Rheumatology Research Foundation and Rheumatology News report that research projects funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) dropped by 52% from 2010 to 2014, while the number funded by private foundations fell by 29% over that period.
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Monitoring of Novel Therapies in Rheumatology
The rheumatology therapeutic landscape has changed almost yearly in the last 15 years, with the introduction of at least 16 biologic or novel agents for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), spondyloarthritis (SpA), juvenile arthritis,
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Adalimumab FDA Approved for Hidradenitis Suppurativa
Abbvie announced on 9/10/15 that adalimumab (Humira) has been FDA approved for the treatment of moderate to severe hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) and is now the first and only FDA-approved therapy for adults with HS.
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VEGF121-Fibrin as a Potential Therapy for Skin Ulcers in Systemic Sclerosis
The etiology of systemic sclerosis (SSc) remains unclear, but appears to involve complex pathogenic interactions between the immune system, the vasculature and fibrotic processes.
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FDA Warns of Bone Fracture Risk and Lower BMD with Diabetes Drug
The FDA has strengthened its warnings for the type 2 diabetes drug canagliflozin (Invokana, Invokamet) and the apparent increased risk of bone fractures, and added new information about decreased bone mineral density.
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Antibodies to 14-3-3η Found in Large Vessel Vasculitis
14-3-3η (eta) is a new test that may be useful in diagnosing patients with early rheumatoid arthritis. The test is 77% sensitive and 93% specific for RA and developers have found that antibodies against 14-3-3η may correlate with drug responsiveness.
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Arthritis and Poverty: Chicken or Egg?
The development of arthritis is an underappreciated reason why individuals become impoverished -- a finding that was particularly pronounced for women, an Australian study found.
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JIA Pathogenesis Related to Neutrophils and Epigenetics
Neutrophils are pivotal players in the innate immune response, but are seldom linked to the pathogenesis of inflammatory arthritis, including juvenile idiopathic inflammatory arthritis (JIA).
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High False Negative Rate with PFTs in Scleroderma
Researchers in Zurich studed 102 systemic sclerosis with serial PFTs and high-resolution computed tomography of the chest (HRCT). They found significant interstitial lung disease (ILD) by HRCT in 63 percent.
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Obesity Protects Men from Rheumatoid Arthritis
Researchers from Malmo, Sweden have analyzed data from 383 patients, taken from two population based health surveys with a total of 50,705 participants, and found there is a strong association between a high BMI in men and a lower risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
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Higher Death Rates in Ankylosing Spondylitis
A nationwide study of 8600 ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients from Sweden, compared survival to 40,460 controls between 2006-2012.
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Education of the Fibromyalgia Patient
This week's Daily Download is the fibromyalgia “packet” we give to our patients once they have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia.
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Overuse and Underuse of Osteoporosis Drugs
A population-based sudy 824 post-menopausal women ≥50 years old from Valencia, Spain was studied to estimate the percentage of women eligible for treatment, and the proportion of overuse and underuse of antiosteoporotic treatment according to highly-influentia
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Shingles Vaccine Not Cost-Effective in Those Under 60
The herpes zoster (HZ- shingles) vaccine was FDA approved for use in individuals over age 50 years. However, the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has recommended it only be used in those over age 60 years.
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Drug Safety Reports & FDA Updates – August 2015
Safety reports from literature include long-term safety of rituximab, rituximab-induced neutropenia, tabalumab (Anti-BAFF Mab) results from the ILLUMINATE trial, colchicine toxicity increased in CKD patients, FDA updates and drug labeling changes, and more.
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Serious Infections Increased in Etanercept-Treated Juvenile Arthritis Patients
UK researchers set out to study medically significant infections (MSI) in juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients enrolled in the British Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Rheumatology Etanercept Cohort Study (BSPAR-ETN).
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