Adherence to ETN/MTX is Greater Than Triple DMARD Therapy

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Rheumatoid management hinges on choosing your best therapies first.

Right Knee Pain - What's Your Dx?

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A 36 year-old white male butcher has right knee pain for 3 weeks. He noted a similar episode 5 years earlier and admits to a traumatic fall on that knee years ago. He denies fever, redness, warmth, other joints or other past medical problems. He only takes OTC ibuprofen prn. 

Australia Allows Pharmacy Substitution with Biosimilars Without Notice

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Biosimilars are copies of the biologic medicines used to treat inflammatory and immunologic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and cancer- potentially at lower costs.

Chikungunya Infection in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

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Inflammatory Ocular Disease in US Veterans

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A retrospective review of 1285 US male veterans showed the prevalence of inflammatory eye disease to be 2%. Uveitis was most common (most being anterior uveitis), followed by keratitis, scleritis, episcleritis, and acute ischemic optic neuropathy.

The History of Citrullination

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1998 marked the introduction of citrulline as a unique target in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis. The hallmark article by Schellekens et al in the Journal of Clinical Investigation has since been cited over 500 times.  Dr.

NICE Judges Apremilast Less Cost Effective than TNF Inhibitors

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The National Institute for Heath and Care Excellence has turned down Otezla for coverage under the U.K. healthcare system for psoriatic arthritis.

High Lupus Flare and Complication Rates in Lupus Pregnancy

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An incident cohort study from Denmark showed that 84 SLE pregnancies resulted in 62 live births.  Lupus disease activity strongly influenced maternal complications seen in half and fetal complications were observed in one-third of cases.

Conservative Equals Surgical Management of Lumbar Spinal Stenosis

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A randomized controlled trial of compared the outcomes of  surgical decompression or physical therapy in 169 lumbar spinal stenosis patients.  After two years, intention-to-treat analyses revealed no difference between groups.

Psoriatic Arthritis Occurs in 10-15% of Psoriasis Patients

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Estimates on the prevalence of psoriatic arthritis among psoriasis patients has varied widely, ranging from 5-40%.  A systematic review of the literature shows that prevalence of undiagnosed PsA was 15.5% when all studies were considered and 10.1% when only epidemiological studies were consi

Brain Natriuretic Peptide Measurement in Rheumatoid Arthritis

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Cardiovascular (CV) risk and adverse cardiac outcomes are common in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). It has been presumed that chronic systemic inflammation has a deleterious effect on the myocardium and vasculature, thereby leading to higher rates of MI, CHF and CV death.

Intraarticular Hip Injection of Ketorolac Equals Steroid Responses

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Using ultrasound guided intraarticular injection of the hip, 98 OA of the hip patients were randomized to receive IA ketorolac or triamcinolone. At, 1, 3, and 6 mos pain scale and Harris hip scores were improved equally in both groups with no statistical differences.

Thiazide Diuretics May Reduce Osteoporotic Fracture Risk

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A large Swedish cohort study of hypertensive men and women presented at the 25th Scientific Meeting of the European Society of Hypertension, identitied a protective effect on osteoporotic fractures among current users of thiazide diuretic drugs independent of blood pressure level.  This retr

Targeting Autoantibodies in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

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Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis carries a high mortality rate and can be a management challenge. Moreover, exacerbations of IPF may be fatal. A multicenter uncontrolled study examined the utility of targeting autoantibody production with revealed surprising results.

Frequency of Infliximab Infusion Reactions

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A Canadian registry shows that in community-based infusion clinics, infusion reactions to IFX are uncommon and mild to moderate in nature.

Benefits of Arthroscopic Surgery Questioned

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A systematic review of the benefits and harms of arthroscopic knee surgery involving partial meniscectomy for middle-aged and older adults with knee pain and degenerative knee disease was recenttly published in BMJ. They found inconsequential benefits 3-6 months after surgery, but

Common HIPAA Mistakes in Practice

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This review details nine of the most common compliance missteps physicians are making regarding protected health information (PHI). These errors may result in legal trouble, but are avoidable. These include:

DSB: EULAR 2015 Safety Reports

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Biologic Use Curtails Sepsis Events. An analysis of the German biologics register, RABBIT, examined the effect of current biologic therapy on future risk of sepsis (#OP0161).

FDA News; Undeclared Dexamethasone Containing OTC Products

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The FDA has issued public warnings that 4 over-the-counter products promoted for pain relief contain potentially harmful, undeclared dexamethasone. The supplements are Asihuri Plus Forte, Ginseng She Lian Wan, Jianbu Huqian Wan, and Saurean Fong Sep Lin.

Gastroenterologists Use OTC Meds for GERD or Constipation

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When gastroenterologists responded to a nationwide survey regarding their management of GERD and contipation, half of the 830 gastroenterology respondents (23% response rate) prescribed for their patients OTC proton-pump inhibitors (PPI), 13% recommended an OTC histamine-2&nbs