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Practical management of rheumatic immune-related adverse events with immune checkpoint inhibitors
Joint Bone Spine has published a full read review of the management of immune-related adverse events (irAEs) in patients receiving Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) for cancer.
Subclinical Synovitis Among Psoriasis Patients
A systematic review shows that imaging can be used to detect subclinical synovitis among patients with psoriasis and may identify individuals at risk for future psoriatic arthritis.
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Clinical Associations with Anti-RNA Polymerase III Antibodies
A systematic review of anti-RNA polymerase III antibodies (ARA) in systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients finds ARA positivity in only 9% of SSc patients, but come with a higher risk of many potentially worrisome outcomes.
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Emapalumab Approved for MAS in Still’s
On June 27th, 2025, the FDA approved emapalumab for macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) in known or suspected Still’s disease (including both adult-onset Still’s disease (AOSD) and systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA)) with inadequate response or intolerance to glucocorticoids.
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Clinical Associations with Anti-RNA Polymerase III Antibodies
A systematic review of anti-RNA polymerase III antibodies (ARA) in systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients finds ARA positivity in only 9% of SSc patients, but come with a higher risk of many potentially worrisome https://t.co/p1KVUFPJvN
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
US CDC study of age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) from 1990-2020, there were 39,496 deaths related to scleroderma (SSc) & and 5,163 from SSc w/ renal failure. Deaths lower in males (22%) than females w/ renal failure (78%). Mortality rate of SSc w? renal failure was https://t.co/OT3BHt3E85
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Congrats to Barbara Anne Eberhard, MD, she has been awarded with the James T. Cassidy Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). For her dedication to research/leadership in pediatric rheumatology. She is at Northwell Health’s Cohen Children’s Medical Center & Feinstein https://t.co/USGajXCMLD
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40 kids w/ Psoriasis compared to 40 juvenile PsA pts. Those w/ jPsA were more likely to be:
- Obese/overweight (80 vs 17.5%)
- passive smoking (37.5 vs (25%)
- Signif higher ESR and CRP (P < 0.001)
- Nail PsO (65 vs 22%) https://t.co/3uBHnxZYC2 https://t.co/rW48EQta2s
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RA Lung Disease Portends Poor Outcomes
A retrospective Harvard affiliates study shows that rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with lung disease have higher mortality, especially respiratory and infection-related mortality than those without lung disease (LD). https://t.co/13h2u26ecb
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Pesticides and Rheumatoid Arthritis?
Women exposed to pesticides through farm work or as farmers' wives face increased risk for developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a new analysis of Agricultural Health Study (AHS) data indicated.
https://t.co/ISddKbnxMY https://t.co/E5tpX5D70X
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Diminishing trend in serious infections assoc w/ TNFi use in inflammatory arthritis over the years. ICEBIO study 1387 Rx w/ 1st TNFi 2003–2018 (vs 6936 comparators. Over tme the SI rate dropped 52% (IRR 0.48; 0.25–0.94), but not for controls (Abx use stable) https://t.co/jDsKlCrd0p
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New ICD-10 Diagnostic Code -- R76.81 -- for ’At-Risk RA’ (AKA Clinically suspect arthralgia or Pre-clinical RA); this applies to pts w/ abnormal RF or ACPA without having RA. Thanks to Dr. Kevin D. Deane for leading this effort. https://t.co/14I6RCZrXb https://t.co/YxTwPB0YDQ
Links:
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PMR & GCA not assoc w/ increased mortality, Norway study of 274 isolated PMR (mean age 72 yrs) & 63 GCA (age 72 yrs) pts. After mean F/U 13.7 yrs 96% were deceased. Standardized mortality ratio was Not incr for PMR (0.97)or GCA (1.10), but men w/ PMR had , lower all-cause https://t.co/Mgq920awbD
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FDA has accepted BLA for BAT2506, a biosimilar of Simponi (golimumab) for all approved doses, formulations, & indications of reference product, with a request for interchangeability (BsUFA: May 16, 2026) https://t.co/kVFAz9ltlr https://t.co/LqdzsXlqER
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Fibrosis in IgG4-related disease due to the overexpression of early growth response-1 (EGR-1) by Epithelial cells that facilitates tissue fibrosis https://t.co/PBMqjr0MVV https://t.co/d9b7k2zwYE https://t.co/25aIjIrYm3
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NHANES, Numbers, & Risk (7.18.2025)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from this past week on RheumNow along with interesting case questions from "Ask Cush Anything".
https://t.co/6DYqAS2rwq https://t.co/7kChNUOx35
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Retrospective review of 457 Autoimmune liver disease pts found 42.5% with Polyautoimmunity. Predictors included ANA positivity (78 vs 47%), ANA titers, dsDNA (12 vs 2%), RF+ (25 vs 9%), disease duration, low albumin, high ESRs. https://t.co/Socl6XWU9a https://t.co/8qomVBh3KP
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Osteoarthritis (OA) degenerative or inflammatory? 296 pts w/ Knee OA (age 63 yrs, 2/3 had poor oral hygien, K&L grade 2, pain >40). Periodontitis in 62.5% & signif assoc w/ Xray K&L grade 4 (OR 5.39), poor oral hygiene (OR 34), dental visits (OR 8.54), brushing time (OR 21.9) https://t.co/xXIr2qxtt4
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La Paz study of 903 RA pts; 136 (14.5%) were D2T-RA, 96 for inefficacy. They define early vs Late D2T-RA=44.5 mos, & differed>> Early D2T-RA (1/3) pts more likely to have anxiety or depression (76% v 0), higher CRP @6mos, & time to develop D2TRA (35 vs 70 mos) https://t.co/KFG68y9Uq5
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Zasocitinib (Tyk2 Inhibitor) Efficacy in Psoriatic Arthritis
A highly selective, tyrosine kinase 2 inhibitor zasocitinib (TAK-279), was studied in a phase 2b trial and found to be effective and safe patients with active psoriatic arthritis (PsA).
https://t.co/HB0eVLLAh6 https://t.co/5Kqopaw6wL
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