During a fascinating gout session on October 21, Hyon Choi presented an important paper (abstract 874) which used data from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study to try to understand the rapid increase in the incidence of gout in recent decades.

During medical training, we were taught about rare diseases that are unlikely to be encountered, but there is a reason why our professors even mention these diseases. It is not just for our board exams; the lectures are for us to recognize the features of the disease when the rare patient comes across our exam table.

We are diving head first into flu season and we need to prepare ourselves. Last year we now know that 80,000 Americans died from influenza. I was happy to see the abstract presented in today’s plenary session by Colmegna et al about efficacy of high dose influenza vaccine in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (#837). This study was a randomized, modified double-blind, active-controlled trial carried out in adults with RA.