Labs/Biomarkers

RheumNow Podcast – Falling or Falling in Love?

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Dr. Jack Cush reviews the best journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.

ARTIC REWIND - Don't Half DMARD Therapy

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The ARTIC-REWIND study examined rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients in remission on conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs) to see if they could "step-down" their csDMARDs theray; but  the study showed that 25% those who went on half-dose experienced disease

Drug Monitoring Ineffective with Infliximab Treatment

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The predictive value of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) while on biologics is debateable; gastroenterology routinely relies on TDM, while rheumatologists do not. A randomized trial compared TDM to no TDM in patients receiving infliximab for chronic immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (

Autoimmune Thyroid Disease in Women

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JAMA has posted an insights article reviewing autoimmune thyroid disease in women. Thyroid autoimmunity has a higher prevalence in women and with increasing age.

Similar to many autoimmune disorders, thyroid disease is more common in women than in men.

Uric Acid: A Major Player in the Metabolic Syndrome

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An open source, free read from the European Journal of Internal Medicine discusses how uric acid has evolved from the toxic cause of gout and nephrolithiasis and evolved, by way of science, into a pleiotropic recidivist in the evolution of obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance, renal disease,

Predictors of Methotrexate Toxicity

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A metanalysis showed that while adverse events (AEs) are common when methotrexate is used in rheumatoid arthritis or inflammatory arthritis patients, serious AEs ranged from 2.1 to 9.5% and drug discontinuations ranged from 6.7% to 15.5%, mostly due to gastrointestinal events. 

Lupus Activity Affects Mortality

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Each one-unit increase on a disease activity score during the first year after enrollment into a systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) cohort was associated with a significant increased risk for death and organ damage during subsequent follow-up, researchers reported.

RheumNow Podcast – Coconspirators: RA and Lung Disease

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Dr. Jack Cush reviews and discusses more than a dozen news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.

RheumNow Podcast – Upadacitinib Wins in PsA (4.2.2021)

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Dr Jack Cush reviews the news and Journal reports and takes "Back Talk" questions from viewers.

Hypertension Unaffected by Urate Lowering Therapy

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Does uric acid contribute to the risk of hypertension (HTN)?  A recent cohort trial shows that allopurinol in young adults does not sufficiently lower blood pressure (BP).

Previous research in a small cohort of obese hypertensive kids showed that urate lowering therapy was assoaciated

RheumNow Podcast – Infection in ANCA-Associated Vasculitis (3.26.2021)

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Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, FDA Denials and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.

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   Analysis of CPRD registry and 15,670 MTX treated pts (46,571 PYs) showed discontinuation for abnormal or severely abnormal labs was 42/1000PY and 6/1,000PY and half that

MDA-5 Antibodies and Juvenile Dermatomyositis

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A multicentre, retrospective study examined MSA profiles (by immunoprecipitation) from 96 juvenile idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (JIIM) at nine pediatric rheumatology centres in Japan. MSA were found in 85 of 96 cases with over 90% of patients having one of the following three MSA types

Weight Loss to Avert Risk of Gout

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Analysis of the NHANES population survey data shows weight gain during adulthood increases the risk of gout and that maintaining normal weight could reduce the overall gout risk by nearly 33%.

Obesity and gout have long been linked, but the the influence of weight changes during

Combo Therapy Boosts Response in Uncontrolled Gout

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The addition of an immunomodulating agent to pegloticase (Krystexxa) among patients with uncontrolled gout significantly improved response rates, a systematic literature review found.

In a cohort of patients whose gout had been refractory to conventional therapy, co-treatment with

NEJM: Interleukin-6 Inhibition in Critically-Ill COVID-19

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The pendulum and jury are wavering with regard to the benefits of interleukin-6 receptor antagonists in COVID-19; the current NEJM reports the results of a study favoring such biologic therapy in in critically ill COVID-19 patients.

RheumNow Podcast – Systemic Sclerosis Pearls (2.19.2021)

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Dr. Jack Cush reviews nearly a dozen news and journal reports from the past 2 weeks on RheumNow.com, including the ACR's new COVID-19 vaccine guidance for patients with rheumatic disease.

High Risk Cancer Profiling with Inflammatory Myositis

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A recent metanalysis of studies suggest you may be able to use certain clinical factors to stratify cancer risk in patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs).

MIRROR Study: Pegloticase With Methotrexate in Uncontrolled Gout

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Botson et al has reported that the combination of methotrexate (MTX) and IV pegloticase is safe and effective in patients with uncontrolled gout.

This exploratory, open-label clinical trial screened 17 patients and treated 14 patients (all men, 49.3 ± 8.7 years) with IV pegloticase with MTX (15

RheumNow Podcast – Rheumatology Burnout (1.29.2021)

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Dr. Jack Cush reviews this past week's journal articles and news features on RheumNow.com. Colchicine, vaccine rollout, risk of RA in endometriosis patients, tREACH trial, lupus nephritis news, rheumatology burnout and more.

Lupus Nephritis Despite Low Level Proteinuria

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Kidney International reports on a series of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, who despite inactive urinary sediment and low level proteinuria, had a high rate of glomerulonephritis (GN) proven by renal biopsy; moreover, the LN was not predicted by laboratory abnormalities.

Urate Lowering Therapy During Acute Gout

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Acute gout has its well defined protocols, and most state that urate lowering therapy (ULT) should be continued; but does ULT affect outcomes in an acute gout attack?

2020 Rheumatology Year in Review

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2020 was historic, memorable and game-changing. Under the cloud of COVID-19, there were many significant and memorable advances and setbacks for the rheumatology world. In our accounting of most read articles for 2020, (not surprisingly) 17/20 were COVID-related. Below, are our top news items

ProDERM Study: IVIG in Dermatomyositis

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The ProDERM study design and outcomes are previewed in Medicine; and as promised the results were revealed at ACR Convergence in November 2020 showing that IVIg is safe, effective and superior to placebo i(PBO) in patients with dermatomyositis (DM).