Not all patients with periodic fevers fit neatly into diagnostic categories. Some can be diagnosed as Still’s disease (based on criteria) while others can be classified as autoinflammatory diseases (AID) and some may be unclassifiable, clinically or genetically.

Today the FDA authorized the updated Omicron subvariant (BA.4 and BA.5) COVID-19 booster shots manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna; with an anticipated ship/start date of early September 2022. The BA.5 subvariant accounts for more than 88% of U.S. infections.

NICE (UK) has systematically reviewed current medical evidence and delivered a set of recommendations with consideration of cost effectiveness.

This week's NEJM has published the efficacy results of a large phase 3 trial of olokizumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody that directly targets IL-6 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

This is in contrast to two other marketed IL-6 inhibitors (sarilumab, tocilizumab) that bind to the IL-6 receptor.

In the United States, where over $300 million is spent annually on intraarticular hyaluronic acid injections, yet another study shows such therapy to be no better than placebo.

A cohort analysis from Toronto suggests that axial psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is distinctly different from axial ankylosing spondylitis (AS) with psoriasis.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from this past week on RheumNow and discusses a case of refractory juvenile dermatomyositis with calcinosis.

JUNIPERA study evaluated secukinumab (SEC) in children with enthesitis-related arthritis (ERA) and juvenile psoriatic arthritis (JPsA) and was found to be safe and effective in patients with active ERA and JPsA who previous failed to respond to conventional therapy.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, FDA approvals, journal articles from the past week on RheumNow; plus viewer questions. This week great hopes for vitamin D, the great unknows of CSA and the great big mess that is the gout.

The ACR has posted a new ACR Clinical Practice Guideline Summary providing recommendations on the use of vaccinations for children and adults with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs).

Tan and Buch have reviewed the approach to difficult to treat rheumatoid arthritis (D2T-RA), with a new EULAR definiation of D2T-RA to foster an approach rationale and concideration of treatment options.

NEJM has published study results showing that vitamin D3 supplementation does not significantly lower fracture risk (vs. placebo) when used in generally healthy adults.

Krill oil supplements in knee osteoarthritis (OA) was shown to be superior to placebo in reducing knee pain, stiffness and function while increasing the omega-3 index.

Litifilimab, a humanized monoclonal antibody against BDCA2, targets the BDCA2 receptor on plasmacytoid dendritic cells. When administered to patients with cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) was shown reducing disease activity in CLE patients.

The janus kinase inhibitor, upadacitinib, has been shown to significantly improve the signs and symptoms of non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-AxSpA), extending the efficacy of UPA beyond classic ankylosing spondylitis.

The Johns Hopkins Hospital has repeated its top rank among US Rheumatology centers - ranking #1 for the 18th year in a row, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2022–23 Best Hospitals list released yesterday.

Management of arthralgias before a certified rheumatoid arthritis (RA) diagnosis is challenging - should one use DMARD therapy before clinically evident synovitis in a preemptive effort to avoid or forestall the diagnosis or damage of RA?

Patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) related to systemic sclerosis continued to see less progression when treated with nintedanib (Ofev) in the pivotal 100-week SENSCIS trial, researchers said.

Mitochondrial constituents and metabolic products may give rise to immune activation; this is especially true for mitochondrial DNA, which can function as damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) leading to inflammasome activation.

Dr. Jack Cush covers the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com. This week we have Insights NAFLD, overdose deaths, septic arthritis, refractory stills, & when MTX doesn’t work.