ACR Urges Alaska and Montana to Strengthen Rheumatology Care The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) is calling on Alaska and Montana to seize the opportunity to address critical gaps in rheumatology care by accessing funding from the Rural Health Transformation Program https://t.co/exHRCORcCG

Review of cancer-associated myositis (CAM) & assoc myositis-specific or myositis-associated autoantibodies. 2017 meta-analysis 5 studies & 4538 pts w/ DM or PM, the cancer risk (SIR) for DM = 4.66, but PM = 1.75. Cancer risk ^^ w/ Low serum KL-6, TIF1γ, NXP2, HMGCR Abs https://t.co/xsOt4wPIXB

High cancer risk in myositis patients linked to autoantibodies- TIFF1g, NXP2, HMGCR. https://t.co/CECO78ESHi

Interstitial lung disease is a group of conditions that cause inflammation and scarring in the lungs. This JAMA Patient Page describes types and causes of interstitial lung disease as well as its diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. https://t.co/WELKKR0SX7 https://t.co/ykzR16ja3L

Anti-MDA5 DM is assoc w/ rapidly progr ILD & mortality risk. 26 MD5+ DM pts (age 56.6 yrs; 7/26 male) Sxs: Gottrón’s (81%), ILD (73%), periungual erythema (69%), heliotrope (61%), V-sign (42%), arthritis (42%), weakness (38%), mechanic’s (35%), Raynaud’s (19%). 7/19 RP-ILD died https://t.co/ugbmKlXsBp

JAMA: Cognitive functional therapy (CFT) is effective in control of chronic low back pain. Study of 500 LBP pts Rx w/ usual care, CFT, or CFT with biofeedback over 3 mos. F/U of ~ 300 pts found that the benefits extended up to 3 years after the intervention. https://t.co/dLv53M7Xkp

LIVE September 9th, 7PM EST Join Drs. Sindhu Johnson, Anna-Maria Hoffmann-Vold, Scott Matson & Jack Cush, Moderator, as they review ACR & EULAR #ILD guidelines. Where are we now? Where are we going? Don’t miss it! https://t.co/PVo0dbQLCn #Rheumatology #ILD https://t.co/gp1qfeEt3S

Long-term Lab Monitoring in RA is Inefficient Annals of Internal Medicine has published a retrospective study of long-term routine laboratory toxicity monitoring (lt-RLTM) in patients receiving disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) therapy showing that most very abnormal https://t.co/hytyH1qqED

Might systemic autoimmune Dz related anti-protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5). ELISA study of 33 SSc, 87 RA, & 31 controls. Vs controls, anti-PRMT5 Abs seen in SSc (48% vs 0; AUC 0.9) & RA (15% vs 0; AUC 0.768). PRMT5 Abs signif assoc w/ ILD & ANA positivity. https://t.co/svjjtQQsIY

MUC5 mutations not in SSc-ILD. Study of 2363 SSc-ILD, 3526 SSc w/o ILD & 15076 controls. They found no assoc w/ MUC5B promoter variant & SSc-ILD. (Suggesting ILD pathogenic mechanisms differ between RA and SSc) https://t.co/bBq52X0Mwq https://t.co/eu1IpaXGL8

Wait! FDA approved the Chikungunya Virus Vaccine 2 yrs ago, but just pulled the vaccine, Ixchiq, citing serious safety concerns (specifically CBER reports of >20 serious adverse events, including 21 hospitalizations, 3 deaths, w/ 1 fatality directly linked to vaccine-derived https://t.co/aaC38VX7rF

Recombinant zoster vaccine effective in #SLE without flare. Retrospective Medicare & commercial claims data on pts given 2 RZV doses, matched 1:4 to unVAX. 3592 pts F?u ~1.5 yrs. Vax effectiveness 70% in Medicare; 54% commercial. SLE flare rates HR 0.91& 0.94. https://t.co/WCBOQhb4Ad