Smartphones and diet; COVID-19 and the numbers - reassuring or not, and what about masks?; and do more drugs mean more switching, less persistence, and patient adherence goes up...or down? All this and more news and journal reports in this week's episode.

CARRA (Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance) has compared 3 different treatment strategies for polyarticular JIA to identify the optimal time to biologic regimen.

Patients with dermatomyositis who were positive for a myositis-specific antibody had a much higher incidence of and mortality associated with Pneumocystis jirovecii infection than patients with other antibody-negative idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, Chinese researchers found.

Mease and colleagues have catalogued the current practices assessed in the CORRONA registry, noting that increased DMARD switching and decreased time on a given therapy by US physicians.

Following is a statement from ACR President David Karp, MD, PhD, on JAK inhibitors and FDA drug safety communication.

Among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the strongest risk factors for the development of lymphoma were disease activity and severity, French researchers found.

In a multivariate analysis, having a high Disease Activity Score in 28 joints (DAS28) at baseline conferred twice the risk for lymphoma, with an odds ratio of 2.09 (95% CI 1.41-3.38), according to Gaetane Nocturne, MD, of Hôpital Bicêtre in Ile-de-France, and colleagues.

Analysis of records from the Mass General Brigham healthcare system in the Boston area, shows that breakthrough infections (after receiving SARS-CoV-2 vaccines) in patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs) are not uncommon, and may be severe or fatal.

Wow! I hope you read part I of yesterday's “Greatest Rheumatologist” article.  So many big names and yet, other names and stories that were equally inspirational.

If you read the comments of the part I article you can clearly see several themes emerge.

Who is the greatest rheumatologist? What makes for a great rheum? Is it clinical acumen, scientific achievement, educational prowess or years of unrivaled service or mentoring? Rheumatologists are quite opinionated on this subject and very nostalgic about their mentors and leaders. When I’ve posed this question in small groups, it’s plain to see how moved they become when discussing mentors or peers who influenced them. Thus, I posed this question to many of our leaders and mentors: who do you think of as the greatest rheumatologist?