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RheumNow Podcast – Ro, Ro, Ro52 (9.12.2025)

Jack Cush, MD

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com. Are there benefits to diet or vegan diets? What's the effect of menopause on CTD?  Ro52 makes a big entrance with all our ILD coverage this month.

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How to assess ILD in your patients?

Janet Pope, MD, MPH, FRCPC

Have a high index of suspicion in your patients with connective tissue disease (especially systemic sclerosis, inflammatory myositis), and rheumatoid arthritis.

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PAH diagnosis and management in the context of CTD ILD

Aurelie Najm, MD, PhD

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a serious complication of connective tissue disorders. Approximately 25% of patients with PAH have an underlying CTD, making CTD-PAH the second most common cause of PAH. During the session on Management of Lung Complications in CTD at APLAR 2025, Prof. Dinesh Khanna and Masataka Kuwana provided an excellent overview of PAH diagnosis and management strategies the context of CTD-ILD.

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ERS/EULAR guidelines for CTD-related interstitial lung disease

Jack Cush, MD

The European Respiratory Society (ERS) and European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) have published clinical practice guidelines for the evaluation and management of connective tissue diseases (CTD) associated interstitial lung disease (ILD) in two simultaneous publications in the European Respiratory Journal and Annals of Rheumatic Diseases.

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September to Remember (9.5.2025)

Jack Cush, MD

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from RheumNow. This week - unemployment, diagnosing Sjogren's and a lot of ILD.

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Teaching You How to Think… (8.15.2025)

Jack Cush, MD

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, journal reports and press clippings from the past week on RheumNow. Positive results in a Sjogren's trial, to PT or not to PT, and  aphorisms to live by.

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Repurposing & Pipeline (8.8.2025)

Jack Cush, MD

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, reports, pipeline and drug repurposing on this week’s podcast.

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CKD & Osteoporosis Rx Revisited (7.25.2025)

Jack Cush, MD

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, journal and FDA updates from this past week on RheumNow.com.

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Clinical Associations with Anti-RNA Polymerase III Antibodies

Jack Cush, MD

A systematic review of anti-RNA polymerase III antibodies (ARA) in systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients finds ARA positivity in only 9% of SSc patients, but come with a higher risk of many potentially worrisome outcomes.

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NHANES, Numbers, & Risk (7.18.2025)

Jack Cush, MD

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from this past week on RheumNow.com along with interesting case questions from "Ask Cush Anything".

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Italian Systemic sclerosis (SPRING-SIR) registry - 1157/1538 (75%) SSc pts were in menopause, 632 (50%) had pre-menop SSc onset, 130 (14.4%) had early menopause. Post-menop. had more CREST, centromere Abs, ILD & GI Sxs. Pre-menop. had more diffuse Dz & peripheral vasculopathy. https://t.co/Jz2v5CkH0Y
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ERS/EULAR guidelines for CTD-related interstitial lung disease The European Respiratory Society (ERS) and European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) have released clinical practice guidelines for evaluating and managing connective tissue diseases (CTD) https://t.co/2mmxsor4ND
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SPRING-SIR Italian registry of systemic sclerosis: 1917 SSc pts, 56% had GI Sx, assoc w/ longer Dz duration, more severe Dz, diffuse SSc, ILD, digital ulcers, telangiectasias, & tobacco. In 211 very early SSc, 41% GI Sxs (most esophageal), w/ puffy fingers, & dyspnea. https://t.co/l2hStwavuu
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SSc-ILD ABs & LESSONS: 30% of won't progress. Triple negatives (ATA, ACA, ARA) wont progress. Males & diffuse dz > predictive than Abs. Great read on if Abs are biomarkers to predict Rx effect. https://t.co/YcZt4aAvL0 https://t.co/wOknKRfRHf

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Study of 607 systemic sclerosis (SSc) pts finds Pulm arterial HTN (PAH) in 77 (12.7%). While early immunosuppression didnt reduce odds of PAH (OR 0.74, p=0.495), early mycophenolate was protective(OR 0.12; p=0.048). Only HCQ use signif. improved survival (HR 0.04; p= 0.004). https://t.co/DbsJVZ16Zd
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MUC5 mutations not in SSc-ILD. Study of 2363 SSc-ILD, 3526 SSc w/o ILD & 15076 controls. They found no assoc w/ MUC5B promoter variant & SSc-ILD. (Suggesting ILD pathogenic mechanisms differ between RA and SSc) https://t.co/bBq52X0Mwq https://t.co/eu1IpaXGL8

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Retrospective UK study of CPRD dataset (2012-2023) found 22 829 incident CTD Dx (81% F). Over time incidence SLE & Systemic Sclerosis fell, Sjogrens & MCTD stable, & IIM rose 3.23–4.31/100K. IIM had highest mortality (28/1000 py), followed by SSc, SLE, MCTD; lowest SjD (9.7)

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Pipeline of drugs being developed for Scleroderma by these companies - Bayer, Novartis, GSK, Boehringer Ingelheim, Celgene Corp., Johnson & Johnson, Prometic, Cytori arGentis - either as fusion proteins, peptides, small molecule, mAb, Polymern& Gene therapy https://t.co/dWRcQ1a3GU
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Clinical Associations with Anti-RNA Polymerase III Antibodies A systematic review of anti-RNA polymerase III antibodies (ARA) in systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients finds ARA positivity in only 9% of SSc patients, but come with a higher risk of many potentially worrisome https://t.co/p1KVUFPJvN
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US CDC study of age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) from 1990-2020, there were 39,496 deaths related to scleroderma (SSc) & and 5,163 from SSc w/ renal failure. Deaths lower in males (22%) than females w/ renal failure (78%). Mortality rate of SSc w? renal failure was https://t.co/OT3BHt3E85
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