Historically, women’s salaries have lagged behind their male colleagues. Women are less likely to achieve leadership roles or be full professors at academic institutions.
According to the CDC, between 4300 and 9700 children under the age of 16 are diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis each year - the cause of which is unknown.
Behcet's disease is difficult to manage, especially if the goal is to avoid corticosteroids. It's often been included as an autoinflammatory disorder, many of which are IL-1 responsive, and there are case reports of improvement especially for neurologic or ocular disease when IL-1 inhibition has been tried.
Gout is the most common inflammatory arthritis affecting adults and, probably, one of the most underestimated.
Several studies have suggested that lithium chloride exhibits significant chondroprotective effects on cartilage degradation (in animal models) in response to inflammatory cytokines. This report by Thompson and coworkers studied Wistar rats treated with a 9 month diet of lithium or control and demonstrated that lithium fed rats did not have any increase in arthritis.
It is estimated that Lyme disease affects nearly 30,000 per year in the USA. While it is is still a disorder of the Northeast and upper Midwest, there are more areas also considered to be high risk.
Overall, 17 states have high-risk counties. High-risk zones encompass nearly all of Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire and more than half of Maine and Vermont.
The British Medical Journal reports that the combined use of NSAIDs and anti-depressants were associate with higher rates of intracranial bleeding within 30 days of initiation (Citation source http://buff.ly/1gF3uEJ).
FDA Scours the Internet for Safety Signals. A Bloomberg News report shows how the FDA is using Google or Yahoo keyword searches to identify new safety signals or drug interactions, often more than a year before they were brought to light by the FDA based on prior methodologies dependant on cumulative literature reports, pharmacovigilance and voluntary Medwatch reporting.
The Journal of Clinical Investigation has written a tribute noting the sad passing of Dr. Norman Talal on April 24, 2015.
Dr. Talal was an eminent researcher and clinician known for his research and education on Sjogren’s syndrome.
His career touched numerous medical institutions, including Columbia Presbyterian in NY, UCSF and UT San Antonio where he was chairman of the Rheumatology division for years.
A systematic review of treatments used in autoimmune chronic uveitis after failure of DMARDs and at least one TNF inhibitor identified few patients (12 children and 34 adults), and few trials examining rituximab (3), abatacept (3), tocilizumab (3), and 1 each with alemtuzumab and anakinra.
Inefficient peer-to-peer physician communication has eroded integrated care and compromised patient outcomes and safety. Picking up the smart phone and use of technology may help to close these gaps.
The MedWatch June 2015 safety labeling changes were published yesterday, and updated the warnings for Xeljanz (tofacitinib). "The risk of herpes zoster is increased in patients treated with Xeljanz and appears to be higher in patients treated with Xeljanz in Japan."
Many rheumatologists need to go through the recertification process. The ABIM handling of this "requirement" has generated heated discussions over what appears to be an expensive, onerous, and irrelevant effort.
Committees at academic institutions that make decisions on research and clinical trials may be conflicted, as nearly one-third of IRB members have some ties to the pharmaceutical industry. This amount has not changed in the last decade, despite greater awareness and transparency about conflicts of interest amongst physicians (Citation source http://buff.ly/1gAzZUz).
On Friday, July 10th, the U.S. House voted overwhelmingly to streamline the approval process of prescription drugs and medical devices by the FDA.
