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RheumNow Podcast – Like Father, Like Daughter (10.29.2021)
Bad things happen when our patients go into the ICU and it's not always due to the disease. Good things happen when we rise from sitting. And guess what? Rheumatologists are setting cardiology straight about hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine. This, and a special recognition of parent-child rheumatologists, along with the news and articles from this week on RheumNow.
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Biologic Use and the Risk of Serious Infection in Psoriasis Patients
National Health Data from France examined biologic use in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis, and found the risk of serious infections (SIE) to be increased with some biologics (infliximab and adalimumab), but not others (etanercept, ustekinumab IL-17 and IL-23 inhibitors or apremila
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BEAT-LUPUS: Sequential Belimumab After Rituximab in SLE
The Annals of Internal Medicine reports that targeting B-cells in refractory systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with sequential belimumab after rituximab may significantly reduce dsDNA antibody titers and lessen the number of future severe flares.
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Rheumatoid Arthritis Thrombotic Risk Influenced by DMARD Choice
RA patients have an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) related to disease activity and inflammation, yet a large real-world study of older RA patients shows methotrexate to be associated with a 2-fold increased VTE risk (compared to hydroxychloroquine).
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Platelet-Rich Plasma Injections Fail in Ankle Osteoarthritis
A controlled trial of intra-articular platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections into the ankle of osteoarthritis (OA) patients failed to improve ankle symptoms and function when compared to placebo injections - yet another trial showing that intraarticular injections are seldom beneficial.
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Pfizer/Lilly Pull Tanezumab Development
Today, Lilly and Pfizer announced their global clinical development of the NGF inhibitor, tanezumab, has been discontinued due to recent negative opinions from the EMA and FDA advisory committee.
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New Hope for NonAlcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
The current issue of the NEJM has two articles on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD also called NASH - nonalcoholic steatohepatitis), one dealing with the prognoses, outcomes and mortality of NAFLD and another prospective and promising interventional trial in NASH patients.
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How Should Patients With Autoimmune Diseases Approach COVID Vaccination?
Healthcare is a personal and individualized relationship between a provider and patient. Each patient is treated according to their particular symptoms and personal health characteristics.
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RheumNow Podcast – Rheumatologist Smoke-Enders (10.22.2021)
Today I have a few questions: Is tramadol really a weak narcotic? Should we really still be doing placebo-controlled trials? What are we going to do about our patients who are smokers? This and more, in this week's review of the news and journal articles.
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Smoking Impairs Methotrexate Efficacy
The Journal of Rheumatology reports that current smoking significantly reduces the clinical efficacy of methotrexate (MTX)-based therapy, as studied in an early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) cohort.
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Stevens-Johnson Syndrome and Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis Insights
Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) are among the most severe drug reactions, as they come with substantial mortality and morbidity. A review of European centers dealing with SJS and TEN shows that despite best treatment practices, the 6-week mortality rate was 21%.
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Heart Failure in RA: Inflammation Matters
Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who had high levels of inflammation at baseline were at increased risk for later heart failure, a large cohort study found.
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