The data are clear and disappointing: despite the well-known health benefits, four out of five US adults are not active physically.  JAMA has published the new US Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, so that health professionals and policy makers can promote lifestyle changes and awar

The AURA-LV trial assessed voclosporin, a calcineurin inhibitor in patients with active lupus nephritis (LN) and found that low-dose voclosporin may be successfully added to mycophenolate mofetil and corticosteroids to controll active LN.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news from the past week at RheumNow.com.

CNN has published a recent government report from the Tick-Borne Disease Working Group that suggests the US tick population is growing and may bring with it an increase in tick-related illnesses. 

Frustration may be the word that best characterizes many scleroderma management plans - owing to a lack of trials, lack of agreement and lack of clear guidance on management.

Lancet reports on a new vaccine for Chikungunya fever (MV-CHIK) demonstraing excellent safety, tolerability and good immunogenicity, independent of pre-existing immunity against the vector. MV-CHIK is a promising vaccine for the prevention of chikungunya fever.

Subclinical myocardial inflammation is common among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and is associated with articular disease activity, researchers reported.

The current MMWR reports that arthritis is seen in nearly one-third of adults with prediabetes and that more than half of such patients are obese and not engaged in regular physical activity.

The CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) reports that during 2015–2016 there was a total of 27,394 firearm homicides and 44,955 firearm suicides among US residents, with 12% and 5% of events occuring in children 10–19 years.

Methotrexate has been shown to reduce cardiovascular (CV) deaths in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Given that inflammation underlies the pathogenesis of atherothrombosis, Dr. Paul Ridker and colleagues studied the value of low dose methotrexate (MTX) in preventing cardiovascular events.

JAMA reports on a randomized clinical trial of 202 adults with acute low back pain showing the addition of intensive patient education failed to improve pain outcomes.

Last July, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed new E/M guidelines for office visits with physicians. It issued the final guidelines on November 1, with a few tweaks.

Boston researchers have found that in a large cohort study of patients receiving rituximab (RTX), most were not being monitored for hypogammaglobulinemia, despite the observed significant increase in severe infections and increased mortality in RTX treated patients.

Analysis of the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System data examined the association between statins' musculoskeletal adverse events (MAEs).

New recommendations have been published in the Journal of Athletic Training on the management of patellofemoral pain (PFP).

As Dr. John Stone, MD, MPH recounted in his presentation regarding the new ACR/EULAR Classification Criteria for IgG4-Related Disease (IgG4-RD), only 15 years prior, IgG4-related disease was an unknown entity in the medical community.

JAMA has published a large Canadian claims-based study showing that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use in patients with hypertension, heart failure, or chronic kidney disease was not associated with a significant safety risk - but this only looked at short-term outcomes (7-3

Amidst a new DEA report demonstrating a record number of opioid overdose deaths (n-72,000 or ~ 200 deaths per day), the FDA has approved a newer and far more potent opioid than those that are currently being abused at alarming rates. The new agent is named Dsuvia.

Lancet has published the results of a study showing that ixekizumab (an IL-17A inhibitor) yielded significant clinical benefit and radiographic protection when given to NSAID treated patients with radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (AxSpA).

“Autoimmunity is the Achilles heel of onco-immunotherapy” per Dr. Leonard Calabrese, which leaves a dilemma for rheumatologists.

Onco-immunotherapy induces immune dysregulation to allow patients to develop an immune response to their cancer cells. An unfortunate side effect for patients taking onco-immunotherapy is often autoimmune-like diseases referred to as immune adverse reactions (irAEs). Studies in France and the United States have shown that irAEs can be a good prognostic sign, suggesting these therapies are working. Rheumatology is faced with new problems as onco-immunotherapies may induce new chronic diseases in multiple different forms secondary to the treatment.