Articles By Jack Cush, MD
Veterans Administration Shuns Marijuana as an Option
Cannabis therapy is legal in 30 states in the US, and soon to be legal in Canada and Great Britian, but the US Veterans Administration continues to reject medical marijuana as a therapeutic option - even in states where it is approved.
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The Fate of Palindromic Rheumatism
Palindromic rheumatism (PR) is an intermittent inflammatory arthropathy with episodes of arthritis and/or periarticular inflammation that wax and wane over time. It is thought that up to one-third of such patients may go on to develop rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
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The RheumNow Week in Review – Lupus in the News (7.27.18)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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Latin American Clinical Practice Guidelines for Lupus
The Annals of Rheumatic Disease have published the recently developed Latin American clinical practice guidelines for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) addressing the best pharmacologic interventions for musculoskeletal, mucocutaneous, kidney, cardiac, pulmonary, neuropsychiatric, hemat
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The Medical History – Pitfalls and Preferences
By recognizing the limitations of memory and patient recall, I tend to focus historic elements that have high predictive value and avoid time consuming worm-holes in history-taking that have low predictive value. This leaves me with more time to listen to the patient.
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Steroids vs. NSAIDs in Treating Acute Gout
Gout, the ancient disease of kings is usually treated with the ancient (and costly) drug colchicine, often without consideration of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAID) or corticosteroids.
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Consensus Guidelines for Methotrexate in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
A consensus panel was convened to develop consensus-based clinical and therapeutic recommendations for the use of methotrexate (MTX) in the management of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) patients.
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Erectile Dysfunction in Gout
The Journal of Rheumatology reports a population-based study demonstrating that gout is associated with an increased risk of developing erectile dysfunction (ED) suggesting that hyperuricemia and inflammation may be independent risk factors for ED.
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Predicting Autoimmune Progression in ANA+ Patients
Positive tests results for antinuclear antibodies (ANAs) are frequently referred to rheumatology despite their poor predictive value, even in individuals who are ‘At Risk’ for autoimmune connective tissue diseases (AI-CTDs).
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Baricitinib Effective in SLE Trial
Dan Wallace and colleagues report in Lancet the results of a phase II study of the selective baricitinib, an oral selective Janus kinase (JAK1 and JAK2) inhibitor, in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, demonstrating the efficacy and safety of JAK1/2 inhibition with baricitinib as a new potential oral therapy for SLE.
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