Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com. Highlighted discussion of implantable stimulators, urine proteomics and gut-immune responses to Prevotella in RA.

Patients with rheumatologic conditions who developed breakthrough COVID-19 infection after vaccination were less likely to suffer long-term symptoms than unvaccinated but otherwise similar patients, researchers said.

Pregnancy in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is fraught with problems of adverse pregnancy outcomes, more pregnancy loss and birth defects. Now a study of SLE pregnancies exposed to belimumab (BEL) shows and expected rate of pregnancy loss but a variable rate of birth defects.

The results of a treat-to-target (T2T) combination therapy trial in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) show that if patients fail to respond initially, then a second, more intensified regimen can turn initial nonresponders into responders.

A prospective cohort study of treatment and pregnancy outcomes in women with RA shows that TNF inhibitor use during pregnancy did not increase the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, but instead led to more positive outcomes such as fewer low-birth-weight deliveries.

Patients taking Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors for rheumatoid arthritis experienced similar cardiovascular outcomes as those using the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blocker adalimumab (Humira), analysis of French national registry data indicated.

Few drugs have been studied well in the treatment of dermatomyositis (DM) and only recently has intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) been granted FDA approval for the treatment of DM, based on this pivotal trial.

Systemic sclerosis is one of the rarest autoimmune diseases, affecting roughly 100,000 people (primarily women) in the U.S. With no licensed treatments available for this subset of scleroderma patients, rheumatology researchers are searching for opportunities to use resources and technology that have proven beneficial in treating other autoimmune and rheumatic diseases.

Hamilton, ON (Oct. 4, 2022) – Patients can recover from orthopedic surgery just as well without using opioid-based painkillers, says a McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) may start in adolescence and extend into adulthood.

Analysis of data from a Czech nationwide registry of psoriatic patients receiving biologic or targeted therapies (BIOREP) has shown a high success rate when switching between specific IL-17 inhibitors.