Researchers from the radiology department at University of California, Davis Health System have studied the phenomenon of knuckle cracking by simultaneously recording audio and ultrasound imaging from 17 women and 23 men.

Dr. Cush reviews the RheumNow.com highlights in rheumatology for the week ending 19 August 2016.

Tobacco and chronic smoking is a major risk factor for the onset of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and chronic smoking has been linked to severity of disease and lower DMARD response rates.

Watch Dr. Cush review 13 highlights from this week on RheumNow.

SHARE (Single Hub and Access point for pediatric Rheumatology in Europe) is a group established in 2012 to develop and optimize diagnostic and management regimens in Europe for children and young adults with rheumatic diseases.

Warnings of cancer, especially lymphoma, have accompanied the development and promotion of tumor necrosis factor inhbitors (TNFi) in the treatment of RA and other inflammatory disorders.

A EULAR task force of 24 individuals (including 15 rheumatologists) have updated their previous 2006 guidelines for gout. The current update, which includes 11 recommendations, is based on a systematic literature review and a Delphi consensus approach to recommendations.

Highlights from this week on RheumNow.com include:

1. Having #RA in addition to solid cancer (breast, lung, prostate, colon) increases mortality rates by 40-50% in elders https://t.co/aitjusmOai
2. The global market for rheumatoid arthritis therapies was $19.9 billion in 2015, expected to reach $21.3B by 2020 https://t.co/d2Sh5C8y9f
3. Half of doctors never heard of MACRA:Medicare Access & CHIP Reauthorization Act. Starts on Jan 1st! https://t.co/eYgWBWCw6y Blog:https://t.co/sRKZSOFyNV

And more!

There is considerable heterogeneity in "red flags" amongst numerous low back pain (LBP) guidelines worldwide.  A "red flags" denotes a finding, which if present, imparts a significantly high risk of underlying serious spinal pathology with considerable subsequent morbidity or mortality.

Dr Jack Cush reviews this week's highlights from RheumNow.com.

Pregnancy complications of anti-phospholipid syndrome (APS) have included recurrent abortions, spontaneous fetal loss, preeclampsia, and premature birth. The etiopathogenesis of these events has been presumed to be placental thrombosis or infarction.

Rheumatology News has a novel online report about combined rheumatology-dermatology clinics.  In the last several years, there have been a few of these in operation (Boston, Chicago, Rhode Island).

From tofacitinib developmental trials in RA and psoriasis and adherence to T2T in early RA to a rheumatology pearl about dapsone and much more, here are the highlights of what you may have missed on RheumNow.com this week.

Vitamin D certainly plays a pivotal role in bone health and immune function.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlights from this week's rheumatology news on RheumNow.com.

The Food and Drug Administration’s Arthritis Advisory Committee (AAC) yesterday recommended that the Sandoz etanercept (Enbrel) biosimilar (GP-2015) be approved for use in the United States.

Female academic physicians at public medical schools had lower average salaries than their male counterparts, a disparity that was only partly accounted for by age, experience, medical specialty, faculty rank and other factors, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.

The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) has published updated recommendations on the management of fibromyalgia in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (Citation source http://buff.ly/29I7e8C). 

I was truly stunned when it was announced that Glenn Frey, from the Eagles, had died as a result of complications from his rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis and pneumonia.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlights from the news and social media in the past week on RheumNow.com