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

Our immune system is armed with an array of defenses designed to detect and eliminate harmful threats. One of its most powerful defense mechanisms is the complement system—a group of proteins that patrols our body, ever vigilant for signs of infection or injury.

A Canadian population, retrospective cohort study shows individuals needing hospital-based (emergency department or hospitalization) care for a cannabis use disorder (CUD) were at increased risk of death. 

The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) applauded the bipartisan introduction of the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act of 2025, legislation to fully offset the harmful 2.8% cut in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS).

A 24 year, prospective study analyzing very early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in three consecutive eras suggests that RA has evolved since 2005, demonstrating less seropositivity, inflammation, and erosions but is characterized by more comorbidity, smoking and corticosteroid use.

BMC has published a full read literture review of pharmacological pain management in rheumatoid arthritis, pointing out that the best evidence for pain control comes from the use of DMARDs and treat-to-target strategies.

The British Society for Rheumatology has published its guideline for the management of adult and juvenile onset Sjogren's disease. 

JAMA has published a University of Minnesota cross-sectional study showing early adult (ages 25-44) mortality in the U.S. has risen substantially between 2011 to 2019 and 2020 to 2023. The largest portion of 2023 excess mortality was driven by drug poisoning, but many other external and natural causes exceeded what prior trends would have projected.

A technique now widely used in sports medicine to speed recovery from leg injuries helped reduce symptoms and improve function in people with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee, a randomized trial showed.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com. We also have two call-in cases on "Ask Cush Anything".

Be sure to join in the fun at RNL 2025 next weekend - Gong Show Karaoke; what will you sing?

The American Gastroenterology Association has published its revised clinical practice guidelines for the prevention and treatment of hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation in at-risk patients, particularly those with immune-mediated disease, receiving immunomodulatory therapy and steroids.

The Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology today announced the results of a data analysis from a randomized phase III clinical trial involving patients with stage III colon cancer, which found that adding the drug celecoxib

Some dietary habits are worse than others when it comes to gout risk for women, a large study indicated.

A large Chinese cohort study of patients with infectious sacroiliitis (SI) suggests that CT-guided biopsy of the sacroiliac joint is necessary to properly identify the infectious pathogen leading to SI.