Here’s what I hope can be accomplished by this blog: to bring true stories of wine from our community forward for all to share. After my first blog, I received a note from one of my favorite people: Professor Frank Wollheim from Lund University and giant in the profession.

The prevention of Herpes zoster infections can be challenging in patients receiving immunosuppressives or biologic therapies.  Dr. Artie Kavanugh reviews a new, potential advance in vaccination for shingles.

Can We Do Better than FAERS? Brian Overstreet (of Adverseevents.com) has written on MedPageToday.com about the current state of adverse event reporting. He notes there are long-standing, acknowledged limitations to the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS), also known as the MEDWATCH system. This methodology is based on voluntary reporting by multiple sources – patients, physicians, drug companies, etc.

The FASSCINATE study presented at EULAR 2015 was instrumental in tocilizumab (TCZ) getting a nod from the FDA to develop TCZ for scleroderma. “This Breakthrough Therapy Designation underscores the unmet need in systemic sclerosis and the potential of Actemra to help patients with this debilitating autoimmune disorder, ” said Dr. Sandra Horning, chief medical officer and head of Global Product Development.

JAMA reports that investigators from the University of Wisconsin in Madison studied the impact of vitamin D supplements on 230 women who were at least five years past menopause but no older than 75, and without osteoporosis at the start of the study.

An outbreak of Legionnaires' disease has killed four people and sickened 65 in the Bronx section of New York City since July 10, according to New York City health officials. This Legionnaires' outbreak is now more than five times the number of cases recorded in the last outbreak, in which 12 people in the Bronx fell ill in December 2014.

CDC has released the findings of its 2013 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), with 5 questions addressing different forms of disability - vision, cognition, mobility, self-care, and independent living. Overall, 22.2% of U.S. adults (53,316,677 persons) reported any disability.

Little is known about what happens when NSAIDs are used in patients with chronic kidned disease (CKD), especially those with hypertension. Using health insurance claims data from Taiwan, Hsu and coworkers examined the risk of CKD in 31976 patient not on NSAIDs, or those taking NSAIDS for more or less than 90 days (Citation source http://buff.ly/1Mwq7re).

Rheumatoid arthritis not only affects the joints but can also increase risk for cardiovascular disease. The mechanism of the increased risk of cardiovascular disease in rheumatoid arthritis remains uncertain. Studies characterizing the relationship between LDL cholesterol and CVD are few and often confusing.

Targeting B cells in systemic lupus erythematosus, the prototypic autoimmune disorder, has long been an attractive target for researchers. Despite negative trials with rituximab and the limited success of belimumab, efforts to inhibit B cell activity have continued.

I had just finished going over the prognosis and treatment plan with my newly diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis patient. I asked if she had any questions for me. She did. 

Using claims data from 36,965 patients in an Indiana database, researchers found women (OR 1.86) and non-black patients (OR 1.52) were more likely to be treated (p<0.001) for osteoporosis. Patients with public (versus commercial) insurance (OR 0.86, p<0.001) or chronic comorbidities (ORs about 0.7–0.9, p<0.001) were less likely to be treated for osteoporosis.

Using a metagenome-wide association study (MGWAS) of fecal, dental and salivary samples from rheumatoid arthritis and healthy controls, Zhang et al showed that gut and oral microbiomes are highly concordant and that in RA there is a distinct dysbiosis with less Haemophilus spp. (correlated with autoantibiodies) and more Lactobacillus (that correlated with disease activity). The dysbiosis was partly normalized with treatment.

Morning stiffness? An oft-asked question, but does it have reliable discriminatory value? While this was once the hallmark feature of inflammatory arthritis and has been included as a rheumatoid arthritis criteria back to the days of Steinbrocker, it is no longer apart of the ACR/EULAR criteria for RA.

Placebos are necessary to determine the “true effect” of any medical intervention. As such, they have become the cornerstone of evidence-based medicine, randomized controlled clinical trials and novel drug development.