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ICYMI: Update on Axial SpA at EULAR 2022
This year at EULAR 2022, there were important and interesting topics in Axial Spondyloarthritis (AxSpA). These are my picks of abstracts from the conference.
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What Worries You, Masters You (7.1.2022)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews recent news, regulatory and guideline updates from the past week on RheumNow.com. Studies on methotrexate use, COVID vaccination, Supplements and vitamins, and arthrocentesis despite anticoagulation are discussed.
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Novel Anti-TNF Shines in Rheumatoid Arthritis Trial
A new way of inhibiting tumor necrosis factor (TNF) for treating rheumatoid arthritis showed strong results in a phase II/III clinical trial, researchers said.
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Placebo Works Best in Combination
Analysis of two large clinical trial datasets shows that placebo response rates in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of patients with rheumatoid arthritis are better when the patient continued background methotrexate (MTX).
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New Updated GRAPPA Psoriatic Arthritis Recommendations
The GRAPPA (Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis) treatment recommendations have been updated and the 2021 evidence-based guidance is rich in treatment recommendations based on the key disease "domains" - peripheral arthritis, axial disease, enthesitis, dactylitis, skin and nail psoriasis; with new PsA related domains uveitis and inflammatory bowel disease.
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Gabapentin Implicated in Overdose Deaths
Recent FDA and MMWR warnings suggest that gabapentin was present and implicated in almost 10% of US overdose deaths between 2019 and 2020. This CDC report also stated that gabapentin was the cause of the death in half of these cases.
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HCQ for RA: Not a Great Idea?
Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) appeared less safe from a cardiovascular standpoint than methotrexate in older patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), analysis of Medicare data indicated.
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Are You Wasting Money on Supplements or Vitamins?
The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has updated its recommendations regarding the efficacy of supplements or multivitamins for reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mortality in the general adult population.
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Inferior IL-17 Inhibitor Responses in Psoriatic Women
Pooled data from two large ixekizumab (IXE) trials show that male patients had greater clinical responses than did female patients with psoriatic arthritis are largely unexplored. Reasons for this differential treatment responses to an interleukin-17A inhibitor (IXE) between male and female patients is unexplained.
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Two Week Methotrexate Hold with COVID-19 Vaccination
A cohort study of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients evaluated immunogenicity of COVID vaccination with and without holding methotrexate (MTX) for and 2-weeks and showed better immunogenicity, but more RA flares with the second MTX withdrawal.
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Bimekizumab Safety in Psoriasis Patients
A pooled analyses of data from eight, phase 2 and 3 randomized clinical trials shows bimekizumab, a dual IL-17A/F inhibitor, to be effective in plaque psoriasis and was well tolerated aside from an increased incidence of mild to moderate oral candidiasis.
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Simultaneous Versus Staged Knee Arthoplasty?
Aside from cost, there are significant concerns regarding efficacy and safety outcomes and recovery time. These issues are compounded with the need for bilateral TKR, wherein the patient and surgeon need to decide whether to have both TKRs done simultaneously or staged (single TKR one after another with a recovery period in between).
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COVID-19 Death is Dependent on Age and Type I IFN Autoantibodies
A study in PNAS of has shown that autoantibodies against type I interferons (IFNs) are strong predictors of death from COVID-19.
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Does Sunlight Trigger Lupus?
Whether exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun can cause new-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) wasn't settled by data from a large, long-running epidemiologic study, but the trends indicated that it could.
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Modest Benefits of Diet on Arthritis
A EULAR taskforce systematically reviewd the literature on the effects of diet and lifestyle behaviors in rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs), and found little evidence suggesting dietary factors can substantially affect the outcomes in people with RMDs.
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Burnout Threatens the Rheumatology Workforce Conundrum
There is a shortage of rheumatologists in Canada and the recent 2020 Canadian Rheumatology Association (CRA) Workforce and Wellness study shows that the shortage may be compounded by rheumatologist burnout, especially among young and female physicians.
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CC Genotype and Thiopurine Toxicity
Annals of Internal Medicine reports that thiopurine toxcicity risk is associated with the "CC" genotype and that azathioprine discontinuation was associated with hematopoietic toxicity and lower thiopurine doses.
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What Happened to Kawasaki Disease During COVID-19?
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a new COVID-related syndrome in children, the "Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children" (MIS), was described as being similar to but distinctly different than childhood Kawasaki's disease (KD). A new epidemiologic report shows that while MIS-C cases rose, KD cases fell and remained low during the period of masking and school closure.
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Two Week Twitter (6.17.2022)
Dr. Jack Cush does a 2-week review of RheumNow Tweets on news and journal citations worth noting, along with some opinions on Telehealth, manpower, monkeypox and the price of drugs.
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PsA UPLIFT survey: do rheumatologists and patients agree on treatment goals?
POS0309 at EULAR 2022 highlighted both similarities and differences between our patients and ourselves when it comes to PsA disease and treatment strategies.
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