Celgene has announced results from the phase 3 STYLE study, showing apremilast yielding significant improvement in moderate-to-severe scalp psoriasis. STYLE is a phase 3, multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study evaluating the efficacy and safety of apremilast in subjects with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis of the scalp. The study enrolled 303 people who were randomized 2:1 to receive apremilast 30 mg twice daily or placebo for the first 16 weeks.

Some clinical benefits were seen among patients with adult-onset Still's disease treated with tocilizumab (Actemra) in a small clinical trial, but the study's primary endpoint was not met, Japanese researchers reported.

Reuters reports that patients with hip or knee replacements will now be followed for progress using their Apple watches.

Some patients typically contraindicated for prescription nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use may be able to take them with no increased risk of harm, according to a large observational study.

Emergency physician Chris Hahn, MD, doesn't have any trouble conjuring a simple definition of fibromyalgia. "Just think about the most annoying chief complaints you can imagine. That's the diagnostic criteria."

Several new trials suggest that conservative management may be as efficacious as arthroscopic surgery in patients with meniscal tears, thus contributing to the trend of fewer arthroscopic surgeries. A new trial of patients with nonobstructive meniscal tears shows no significant difference in 2 year outcomes between physical therapy and early arthroscopic partial meniscectomy.

Neogi and colleagues have shown that standard doses of allopurinol (300 mg/day) were associated with a 13% lower risk of renal function deterioration in chronic gout patients - thus, allopurinol does not appear to impair renal function over time.

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

Use of wearable activity trackers was associated with increases in the number of daily steps among individuals with rheumatic and musculoskeletal disorders, a meta-analysis found.

Researchers from Germany have studied a large cohort of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients and shown that JIA disease activity scores and laboratory biomarkers could be used to better define the group of JIA patients at high risk of uveitis onset.

The NEJM reports that zolendronic acid was shown to significantly lower the risk of nonvertebral or vertebral fragility fractures in older women with osteopenia. 

Multiple studies have shown that elderly rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients tend to be under-treated and receive DMARD therapies less often than younger RA patients.

Males and females can both be affected by axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA). A recent study shows that while there are some differences and similarities, HLA-B27 and imaging are still pivotal elements for diagnosis of axSpA in both genders.

Only inhibitors of IL-1 (canakinumab) and IL-6 (tocilizumab) are FDA approved for use in children with systemic onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA). Now, long-term data from the extension studies from two phase III studies shows that canakinumab yields long-term improvements with reduced glucocorticoid dosing with no new safety findings with long-term use.

Fernandez and colleagues have shed further light on a significant subset of patients with knee pain - specifically, those with neuropathic like knee pain (NKP) that includes those with knee pain modified by central and peripheral neurologic dysfunction.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news from the past week on RheumNow.com, including news on inappropriate opioids, pre-clinical RA treatment, DMARDs in Gout, the decline of arthroscopy, and a pain in the mouth.

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common adverse event throughout medicine and includes both pulmonary embolism (PE) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT).   The cost of diagnosing a thromboembolic event is approximately $4000 - $5550, while the annual cost of treating one case of VTE is betwe

Researchers at the University of California - Davis have shown that elderly women who had an upper body fracture or multiple fractures had more loss of hip density compared to those who who did not fracture. Systemic bone loss may increase the risk of future fractures. 

Ronald F van Vollenhoven and colleagues have reported in Lancet that ustekinumab (UST), an interleukin-12 and -23 inhibitor, when added to usual therapy in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, was shown to be superior to placebo at improving clinical efficacy and laboratory param