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Anakinra May Attenuate Stroke Outcomes
The journal Stroke has published a trial wherein the use of subcutaneous IL-1Ra (anakinra) was shown to reduce the peripheral inflammatory response in those with an acute ischemic stroke.
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Chronic Knee Pain Linked to Depression
Chronic pain and depression are intimately linked, but Japanese researchers have found that up to 12% of knee osteoarthritis (OA) may develop depression and that such patients should be screened for depression over time.
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The Consequences and Cure of Hepatitis C
I spent this past week seeing hepatitis C patients with our hepatologists, and being a rheumatologist, I was looking forward to seeing extra-hepatic manifestations of HCV that we read about in text-books - cryoglobulinemic vasculitis, sicca syndrome, porphyria cutanea tarda and many others. I suppose I should not be surprised that the week passed without seeing a single one of these.
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The RheumNow Week in Review - 23 March 2018
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the highlights from the news, journals and major meetings. New announcements and approval from the FDA; novel associations between ANCA vasculitis and thyroid disease; flare rates after arthroplasty; and pregnancy outcomes for men and women.
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Tai Chi Eases Fibromyalgia Pain
The mind-body practice of tai chi was as effective or better than currently recommended aerobic exercise for fibromyalgia, a randomized controlled trial demonstrated.
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Risk of Paternal Exposure to Anti-Rheumatic Drugs
Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism features a review of the effects of paternal use of antirheumatic drugs on pregnancy, specifically addressing the effects of NSAIDs, steroids, DMARDs and biologics on spermatogenesis and the effect on pregnancy outcomes and offspring.
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mTOR Inhibition with Sirolimus Effective in Lupus
Lancet reports that 12 months of sirolimus treatment is associated with improvement in lupus disease activity presumeably by correction of pro-inflammatory T-cell activity.
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Shoe Inserts Disappoint with Plantar Heel Pain
A report from the British Journal of Sports Medicine shows that commonly used drug store shoe inserts or customized orthotics are often ineffective in managing plantar heel pain.
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Novel Approach to Knee Osteoarthritis Pain
Geniculate artery embolization was found to dampen knee pain arising from osteoarthritis, according to interim study results presented at the 2018 annual meeting of the Society of Interventional Radiology.
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Time to Rethink Gout as a Chronic Disease
The current issue of JAMA has a perspective article on Gout’s bad rap as dietary disease rather than the complex, chronic inflammatory disorder that is ineffectively treated in many.
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Using Synovial Tissue Biopsies to Develop Precision Medicine for Rheumatoid Arthritis
Researchers at Northwestern University have used ultrasound-guided tissue biopsy from the joints to analyze the genes of tissue macrophages with the hope that transcriptional profiling of synovial macrophages may be correlated with clinical parameters or drug responsiveness in rheumatoi
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MMWR: Arthritis Prevalence Increases and Varies Widely
MMWR reports that In 2015, the number of adults with arthritis continued to increase; with marked geographic variability in arthritis estimates with gaps in arthritis management.
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Repeat Malignancy Unlikely with Biologic Therapy
Research from the Danish biologics registry shows that the use of a biologic in patients with a history of a primary cancer does not increase the risk of a second malignant neoplasm (SMN) or mortality in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.
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The RheumNow Week in Review - 16 March 2018
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the highlights from the news, journals and major meetings. Bigtime rheumatologic lessons with tales from intestinal crypts, the friendly skies & the hips of hockey players. Also the microbiome and lupus, benefits of ENT findings with GPA and rare risk of opportunistic infections with biologics.
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Opportunistic Infections in RA Rare with Biologics
The British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register for Rheumatoid Arthritis has studied nearly 20,000 patients and observed that there is no substantially different risk of opportunistic infections between different biologics.
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Does Dose Escalation Help in Gout?
Contrary to expectations, dose escalation of allopurinol among patients with gout did not improve survival, a 10-year observational study found.
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Bone Marrow Edema Found in SI Joint of Athletes
New research shows that young elite athletes will not commonly manifest bone marrow edema in the SI joint following activity.
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Plaquenil During Lupus Pregnancy Lessens Flares
A large cohort study of pregnant and non-pregnant women with systemic lupus erythematosus has shown that lupus flares are increased during pregnancy and in the 3 months follwing delivery.
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Limited Utility of Arthroscopic Meniscal Surgery
JAMA Surgery reports that arthroscopic partial meniscectomy (APM) is still one of the most common surgeries performed, despite evidence from large trials (eg, FIDELITY study) showing that APM is no more effective than exercise and physical therapy, especially in adults over age 65 years.
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CARES Study- More CV Deaths with Febuxostat
The CARES study was presented Monday at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Orlando and finds that while the rates of all major cardiovascular (CV) events were comparable between febuxostat or allopurinol, there were more CV deaths with febuxostat.
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