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Priorities for NIAMS Research Funding
Dr. Steven Katz describes how NIAMS sets priorities for investing congressionally-appropriated funds.
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More On ICD-10
Dr. Marty Bergman (see prior article) writes to remind rheumatologists that the October 1 deadline is for the date of service. If you see the patient on September 30th, but don't bill it until October 4th, you need to use ICD-9 codes.
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Patients Unaware that Smoking Worsens IBD
Smoking is a well-known inciting or exacerbating factor in many inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
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Long-Term Safety of Rituximab
Rituximab has been used for years with good efficacy, but with several safety concerns. Van Vollenhoven and colleagues have published the cumulative clinical trial safety experience of RTX wherein 3595 patients 1–20 (average - 4) courses over 11 years [14,816 patient-years (PY)].
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Rheumatologists are Not Always Aligned with 2012 ACR Gout Guidelines
A cross-sectional survey of 309 Brazilan rheumatologists was performed to assess their compliance with the 2012 ACR guidelines on gout.
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Alemtuzumab Effective in Behcet's Syndrome
Behcet's disease is difficult to treat and often has an over-reliance on corticosteroid use. Alemtuzumab (previously known as Campath-1H) has been studed in patients with Behcet's.
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NSAIDs and the Risk of Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Your patient with Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis has a musculoskeletal problem that needs treatment. You consider a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, but are reminded that “NSAIDs are to be avoided as these drugs will worsen inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)”.
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Osteoarthritis Update August 2015
Different Phenotypes for Osteoarthritis of the Foot. Osteoarthritis is often characterized as either a symmetric polyarticular (often involving DIPs, PIPs and CMC1), asymmetric oligoarticular or monarticular (knee or hip OA), but OA may also affect the foot.
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Specialty Society Guidelines Must Evolve to Improve
The current JAMA issue examines the process and potential flaws of society clinical practice guidelines -a timely commentary as we await the 2015 ACR RA treatment guidelines first presented at the 2014 ACR meeting in Boston and slated for upcoming publication in Arthritis & Rheumatology
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Osteoporosis Affects One-Quarter US Women Over 65 Years
The CDC has released data from the NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) analysis of 2005-2010 data regarding the population frequency of osteoporosis and osteopenia.
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Hypothyroidism is Increased in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients
In a study that compared seropositive (RF+, CCP+) and seronegative RA with healthy participants, the frequency of thyroid antibodies was assessed.
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Psoriasis Patients Satisfied with Biologics
A recent study published in the journal Patient Preference and Adherence examined insured patients from the Optum Research Database who had moderate to severe plaque psoriasis and queried them about their satisfaction with therapy.
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DSB: Managing Methotrexate Toxicity
Methotrexate was first introduced in 1955 for leukemia and in 1986 became FDA approved for the treatment of adults with severe, active, rheumatoid arthritis or children with active polyarticular-course juvenile RA.
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NIH Study Shows 11.2% of Americans in Pain
Using statistics gathered by the NIH in 2012, the National Health Interview Survey of 8781 adults showed self-reported chronic pain affects 25.3 million adults, or 11.2% of the populatoin.
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Rituximab Induced Neutropenia
In reviewing submitted abstracts for the 2014 ACR meeting, I was surprised by several abstracts focusing on neutropenia in patients receiving rituximab.
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Electronic Health Records Gets Low Scores Among Physicians
A recent survey by AmericanEHR Partners and the AMA of 940 physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners showed most physicians are dissatisfied with their EHR systems.
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Testosterone Therapy Yields No Cardiovascular Harm
Are the benefits of androgen supplementation in older men overstated? Might the risks be understated?
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Metformin May Improve Netosis Driven Lupus Activity
Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are first line defense tools used to trap microbial pathogens.
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Statins Improve CV risk in RA
Since publication of the Jupiter trial that showed statin effects may include the lowering of C-reactive protein levels and inflammation, there have been several efforts to study the adjunctive effects of statins in rheumatoid arthritis treatment.
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International Psoriasis Council Publishes its Research Priorities
The British Journal of Dermatology has published online the results of an International Psoriasis Council (IPC) survey identifying 21 psoriasis research priorities. The results will also appear in a future print edition of the journal.
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