News
ICYMI: Carpal Tunnel - Steroid injection vs. Night Splinting
A prospective, pragmatic, open-label, randomized trial conducted by the UK National Health Service, studied interventions in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and found no advantage to either CTS corticosteroid injection (CSI) or night splinting (NS) as the initial treatment of CTS.
ICYMI: New Laboratory Insights for the ANA+ Consult
A new study suggests that use of ELISA assays for CXCL-10 and IFN-α can predict which ANA+ individuals may progress to developing a systemic autoimmune rheumatic disease (SARD).
ICYMI: RA Disease Activity and Alcohol Use
Despite its well known toxicities, alcohol is known to be antiinflammatory. The effects of alcohol use in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is less known, but a recent study suggests that alcohol consumption was dose-dependently associated with lower disease activity and higher health-related quality of life in RA patients.
Scleroderma – Thick and Thin (6.30.2023)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, journal articles and regulatory decisions from the past week from RheumNow.com. This week focuses on parodoxical psoriasis, scleroderma outcomes and subsets, and alopecia areata therapy.
Dr. K. Frank Austen (1928-2023)
Rheumatology mourns the loss of a historic leader in the field, Dr. K. Frank Austen, who died at his home in Maine on June 23, 2023, at the age of 95.
Scary Outcomes with Systemic Sclerosis Sine Scleroderma
The hallmark of systemic sclerosis is scleroderma, but less than 10% of SSc patients have sine scleroderma (ssSSc). A EUSTAR database review compared the manifestations and outcomes of ssSSC to limited cutaneous SSc and diffuse cutaneous SSc.
Opioids Ineffective in Acute Lower Back and Neck Pain
EurekAlert!
A randomised controlled trial including 347 participants with lower back or neck pain found there was no benefit of taking opioid pain relievers compared to placebo.
Predictors of Cardiovascular Events in ANCA-Associated Vasculitis
A large, retrospective, multinational study of patients with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) shows they may be at risk for cardiovascular events (CVEs).
Check SSc-ILD Patients on Nintedinib for Malnutrition
MedPage Today
During nintedanib treatment for interstitial lung disease associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc-ILD), clinicians prescribing the drug should be watchful for an unusual, indirect side effect, trial data suggested.
FDA Delays Bimekizumab Decision, Again
Editor's Note: please note the error in the original report has been corrected to read: UCB affirms there are no open information requests from the FDA regarding the BLA for bimekizumab or bimekizumab manufacturing.
Gut Microbiome Alterations in Lupus Patients
EureAlert!
Recurrent bouts of systemic lupus erythematosus, marked by the body’s immune system attack of its own tissues, closely tracked with measurable upticks in growth in the gut of a certain species of bacteria.
