Dr. Jack Cush reviews the journal reports and news from RheumNow.com.
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Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from this past week on RheumNow.com. The podcast covers: best therapies for dactylitis and enthesitis; we have a new knockout for knee pain in OA; and are you on the naughty or nice list when it comes to the new ACR-AF guidelines for arthritis? This and more. Tune in.

In the United Kingdom, NICE has looked to the British Society of Rheumatology (BSR) to develop evidence based guidance on the safe use of biologic DMARDs in patients with inflammatory arthritis.

Two recent studies have examined the effect of starting abatacept upon the risk of serious hospitalized infections or cancer, showing divergent results from claims data analyses.

Rheumatology has a comprehensive overview of methotrexate (MTX) and the risk of lung injury, MTX-related pneumonitis and interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD) with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Past reports suggest the frequence of MTX-pneumonitis to be between 0.3 and 11.6%; recent studies suggest it may be much lower.

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

In the United Kingdom, NICE has looked to the British Society of Rheumatology (BSR) to develop evidence based guidance on the safe use of biologic DMARDs in patients with inflammatory arthritis.

Flares of vasculitis can still be a problem after hepatitis C-related cryoglobulinemic vasculitis patients are cured of their hepatitis C by direct-acting antivirals, as demonstrated by data from four registries presented at ACR 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Rheumatology has a comprehensive overview of methotrexate (MTX) and the risk of lung injury, MTX-related pneumonitis and interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD) with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Past reports suggest the frequence of MTX-pneumonitis to be between 0.3 and 11.6%; recent studies suggest it may be much lower.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a new draft guidance document calling for a boxed warning and delineation of risks with breast implants.

A systematic review of the literature shows that, compared to placebo, the use of non-TNF, interleukin inhibitor biologics may be associated with significantly higher rates of serious infections, opportunistic infections, and cancer.

Intra-articular injections of corticosteroids for relief of the pain of hip or knee osteoarthritis (OA) may have adverse long-term consequences, researchers suggested.

Among patients with systemic rheumatic diseases, the highest incidence of opportunistic infections was seen in those with polymyositis/dermatomyositis (PM/DM), Taiwanese researchers found.

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

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

A prospective trial has shown that 2 weeks of antibiotic therapy is as effective as 4 weeks of antibiotic therapy, with similar outcomes but shorter hospital stays.

FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee met in Silver Spring, Maryland, on March 6 and 22, 2019, to select the influenza viruses for the composition of the influenza vaccine for the 2019-2020 U.S. influenza season.

Dr. Jack Cush reports on the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com, including: how your genetics may shape your microbiome; GERD as a risk factor for TMJ?; how can MDA-5+ dermatomyositis be any worse; new drug happenings; StillsNow.com; and more.

Serologic testing is the principal means of laboratory diagnosis of Lyme disease. Current recommendations include using a sensitive enzyme immunoassay (EIA) or immunofluorescence assay, followed by a western immunoblot assay for specimens yielding positive or equivocal results.

On July 29, 2019, the Food and Drug Administration cleared several Lyme disease serologic assays with new indications for use, allowing for an EIA rather than western immunoblot assay as the second test in a Lyme disease testing algorithm. Thus, serologic assays that utilize a second EIA in place of western immunoblot assay are acceptable alternatives for the serologic diagnosis of Lyme disease.

The SUNSTONE study evaluated the long‐term safety of rituximab in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) previously exposed to ≥1 anti–tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) and showed a stable, but high, rate of serious infections, opportunistic infections and an overall higher mortality rate.