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Evaluation of Rheumatic Complaints
Dr. Cush provides a systematic approach to evaluating musculoskeletal and rheumatic complaints in clinical practice.
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Turkey Tryptophan (11.28.2025)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and reports from this past week on RheumNow.com, including reports on FDA resurrections, FM seasonal worsening, and do you fight switch or swap biologics in PsA TNFi nonresponders?
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Vitamin D and Lupus Outcomes (11.21.2025)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from this past week on RheumNow.com.
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A New Disease Activity Score for Antiphospholipid Syndrome?
EurekAlert!
APS is a systemic autoimmune disorder. It is characterised by the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies and a broad spectrum of clinical features, causing obstetric as well as thrombotic, microvascular and non-thrombotic (TMN) symptoms.
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Pulse Steroids and Mycophenolate in Juvenile Dermatomyositis
JAMA Dermatology has published a pilot study demonstrating the safety and efficacy of intermittent intravenous methylprednisolone pulse (IVMP) therapy plus mycophenolate in 28 patients with juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM).
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25-Hydroxyvitamin D levels and Lupus Outcomes
MedPage Today
Lupus patients entering a prospective cohort study with low vitamin D levels faced doubled all-cause mortality risk and tripled risk for major cardiovascular events during follow-up averaging 6 years, researchers said.
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QD Clinic: CAR-T Cell Therapy for Lupus
Philip Mease, MD and Cayla Alexander, DNP, ARNP, Seattle, Washington, discuss the case of a patient with lupus who underwent CAR-T cell therapy for her disease. This QD clinic is presented as part of RheumNow's "Mission: APP Partners in https://t.co/WXWOLupWna
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Vitamin D and Lupus Outcomes (11.21.2025)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from this past week on RheumNow.
https://t.co/M2e4kMi5H7 https://t.co/wEcAjWJSk7
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
25-Hydroxyvitamin D levels and Lupus Outcomes
Lupus patients entering a prospective cohort study with low vitamin D levels faced doubled all-cause mortality risk and tripled risk for major cardiovascular events during follow-up averaging 6 years, researchers said. https://t.co/CYwVy7ls7y
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Lupus Nephritis study of 136 pts followed 121 mos. Median time to wean GC to 7.5 mg/day, 5 mg/day & D/C was 9, 12 & 29 months post-Dx. Predictors of shorter time to D/C= Sustained CR/SLEDAI-2K≤4, membranous LN, & HCQ. Prolonged GC & renal flares increase damage accrual
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Myelodysplastic & chr myelomonocytic leukemia pts rarely get lupus. Review of 19 w/ SLE & 5 w/ CLE; these were older (65 yrs), more male (15M/9F), w/ less renal [10%] & articular [36%] Dz w/ less dsDNA [32%]. Thought to be clonal inflammatory, & not autoinflammatory, process. https://t.co/EAvkJm6GQs
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
25-Hydroxyvitamin D levels and Lupus Outcomes
Lupus patients entering a prospective cohort study with low vitamin D levels faced doubled all-cause mortality risk and tripled risk for major cardiovascular events during follow-up averaging 6 years, researchers said. https://t.co/4nhACulIw0
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Lupus Nephritis study of 136 pts followed 121 mos. Median time to wean GC to 7.5 mg/day, 5 mg/day & D/C was 9, 12 & 29 months post-Dx. Predictors of shorter time to D/C= Sustained CR/SLEDAI-2K≤4, membranous LN, & HCQ. Prolonged GC & renal flares increase damage accrual
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Review of neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) blockers, being developed by J&J, argenx & UCB, showing utility in autoimmune dz as they reduce autoantibodies. FcRn inhibitor market may be worth USD 3.3 billion by 2035. Approved for myasthenia gravis & being developed in Sjögren’s, SLE, https://t.co/mBUla87dK5
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Postmenopausal women on estrogen hormone therapy (HT) had a modest incr risk (HR 1.33; 1.32-1.35; P < .001). of a new autoimmune Dz over next 5-10 yrs (vs those not on HT) TriNetX study of 889,413 HT vs 2,6 mill (not HT) - 6.7% vs 5.3% developed autoimmune dz at 5 yrs. https://t.co/fsi32XIzLe
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+ANA's are common in pregnancy. Study of 2159 Chinese 1st trimester pregnant women found ANAs positivity in 14.7 % (1:100 most common titer; speckled most common pattern). ANA+ assoc w/ smoking, age 30-34 yrs, multiparity, thyroid Dz & hypertension https://t.co/mRQGajVe3g https://t.co/DqE1KC4Kgo
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SLE Prospect. Observational Study of 826 SLE pts over 3 yr for outcomes& IFN signature (IFNGS). 71% were IFNGS-high. IFNGS-high pts were younger. on GC w/ Hi SLEDAI-2K. SLEDAI-2K decreased over time, regardless of IFNGS. By 36mos, 45% had ≥1 flare; higher in IFNGS. https://t.co/CT70CvnOQ9
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Robinson et al has published that Epstein-Barr virus infects and reprograms autoreactive B cells to drive the systemic autoimmune response in SLE https://t.co/vjpvILrJOt https://t.co/JfcycqHvhl
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Beyond malignancy, look out for LICATS with CAR-T
CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy took the centre stage in 2022 where data pertaining to a successful case series of 5 patients with refractory SLE were published by Prof Schett’s group. Since then, this area https://t.co/JbTB033gti
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Putting Steroid Tapering into Practice in SLE
Drs. Yuz Yusof and Ed Vital discuss abstract 1526 (Guidance For Corticosteroid Tapering In Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Results From An International Delphi Consensus Project) presented at #ACR25. https://t.co/nqMyy3qNto
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