B Cell Depleters (2.21.2025)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com
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AI-assisted diagnosis for immunological disease
EurekAlert!
A novel machine learning framework – Mal-ID – can decipher an individual’s immune system’s record of past infections and diseases, according to a new study, providing a powerful tool with the potential for diagnosing autoimmune disorders, viral infections, and vaccine responses with precision
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Growing Physician Enthusiasm for AI in Healthcare
The AMA has just published the results of a U.S. Physician survey and shown MD attitudes have positively shifted regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare.
The AMA defines AI has having a wide range of potential use cases in healthcare, including but not limited to
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Valentine RNL 2025 Review (2.14.2025)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlights from RheumNow Live 2025 held in Dallas, TX on Feb. 8-9, 2025.
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ACR Commends Legislation Addressing Harmful Medicare Payment Cuts to Physicians
The ACR applauded the bipartisan introduction of the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act of 2025, legislation to fully offset the harmful 2.8% cut in the Medicare Physician Fee… https://t.co/UqBbAyHLm0 https://t.co/3DJN7ojMHl
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
#AI can help with Value Based Care…a year in remission for RA will save a lot of money. @RADoctor @rheumnow #RNL2025 https://t.co/rUpeMrDHZf
TheDaoIndex @KDAO2011( View Tweet )
Drug Naming Games (2.7.2025)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, regulatory and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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ACR Commends Legislation Addressing Harmful Medicare Payment Cuts to Physicians
ACR
The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) applauded the bipartisan introduction of the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act of 2025, legislation to fully offset the harmful 2.8% cut in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS). The bill, led by Representatives Greg Murphy
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Is Rheumatoid Arthritis Becoming Milder?
A 24 year, prospective study analyzing very early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in three consecutive eras suggests that RA has evolved since 2005, demonstrating less seropositivity, inflammation, and erosions but is characterized by more comorbidity, smoking and corticosteroid use.
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How did Rheumatology go from being the happiest specialist to now being 5th from the bottom at 65%? Top heavy happiness seems to be influenced by income? what do you think?
Allergy 94%
Pathology 88%
Dermatology 87% ....
Rheum 67%
Internal med 66%... https://t.co/YTKMElL868 https://t.co/RnsIVYWBFo
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
Recent Excess Mortality in Young Adults
JAMA has published a University of Minnesota cross-sectional study showing early adult (ages 25-44) mortality in the U.S. has risen substantially between 2011 to 2019 and 2020 to 2023. The largest portion of 2023 excess mortality was driven by drug poisoning, but many other external and
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Young Males and Future Risk of MSK and Chronic Diseases
A large cohort of 18-year-old Swedish males were followed longitudinally for cardiovascular, respiratory, and musculoskeletal outcomes. They found that high body mass index (BMI) and smoking in youth were linked to the studied diseases later
ACR Applauds Second Round of Medicare Drug Price Negotiations
ACR
The American College of Rheumatology applauded the announcement of additional drugs subject to pricing negotiations with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. This second round includes nintedanib (Ofev) and apremilast (Otezla), which are used to treat common and rare rheumatologic
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Adalimumab Withdrawal in Uveitis Patients
Adalimumab is an effective treatment for JIA-associated uveitis and has been FDA approved for such use - but for how long and can the drug be withdrawn? An adalimumab (ADA) withdrawal trial has shown recurrence of uveitis, arthritis, or both, when the disease was previously controlled on ADA.
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Weak Data (1.24.2025)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from RheumNow.com, and features Dr. Charity Dean, the Keynote speaker at RheumNow Live 2025, and why she is an inspiration.
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Getting to Remission - Without Biologics
Analysis of data from two early rheumatoid arthritis (ERA) cohorts shows remission in RA is primarily seen in those who do not require biologic DMARDs (bDMARDs), while those needing bDMARDs are less apt to achieve remission.
Do Rheumatologists Follow 2020 ACR Guidelines on Gout?
Schlessinger and colleagues report that US Rheumatologists generally adhere to and agree with the 2020 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Guideline for the Management of Gout, although knowledge gaps and practice variance exists.
A total of 201 US
ACR: Congress Fails to Reform PBMs, Mitigate Medicare Cuts
ACR
The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) commended the limited extension of key Medicare telehealth coverage provisions but also expressed disappointment that Members of Congress have failed to pass measures to bring transparency to pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) practices, address flawed
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Screening for Osteoporosis to Prevent Fractures - USPSTF Recommendations
The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has done a systematic review on osteoporosis screening to prevent fractures and put forth its recent recommendations. These recommendations pertain to adults 40 years or older with no known diagnosis of osteoporosis or history of fragility
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Alive in 2025 (1.10.2025)
Dr. Jack Cush brings in the new year with a review of the latest from RheumNow.com
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GLP-1 Agonists Alleviate Knee Osteoarthritis
In October, the NEJM published a randomized clinical trial demonstrating the efficacy of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1ra) in patients with obesity and knee osteoarthritis.
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Does Colchicine Lower Gout Mortality Risk?
Data from a large UK database finds that gout patients starting urate-lowering therapy (ULT) will benefit from added colchicine prophylaxis by having fewer cardiovascular events.
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Prevalence of Autoimmune Diseases in the United States
An epidemiologic assessment of the prevalence of autoimmune diseases in the United States (US) finds that nearly 5% of the population has an autoimmune disorder, twice as many in women compared to men.
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ICYMI: VITAL Info on Autoimmune Disease (2.9.2024)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com. Highlights are summarized by three songs: "Stairway to Heaven", "You're No Good", and "How Long (has this been going on)".
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Best of 2024: BSR Guidelines for Systemic Sclerosis Management
The British Society for Rheumatology has updated its 2015 guidelines for the management of patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) based on published evidence, systematic literature review and expert opinion.
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The advantage to patient care without the crutch of an EHR. What do you do?
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