Articles By Jack Cush, MD
IL-18 Binding Protein Effective in Adult-Onset Still's Disease
Gabay and colleagues have reported the results of a novel new recombinant human IL-18 binding protein, tadekinig alfa, demonstrating its effectiveness in an open-label dose escalating study in patients with adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD).
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Probenecid Benefits Heart Failure
In animal studies, probenecid was shown to have positive inotropic effects on the cardiomyocyte mediated by transient receptor potential vanilloid 2 activation.
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The RheumNow Week in Review - 23 February 2018
Dr Jack Cush reviews highlights from the past week on RheumNow.com. This week’s video is in two parts; for part Ii, go to https://buff.ly/2BM9MjL
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Oral Anticoagulation Effective Following Hip and Knee Replacement Surgery
Many protocols call for anticoagulation after total hip or total knee arthroplasty to prevent venous thromboembolism (proximal deep-vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism), and some reports have suggested a role for aspiring or direct oral anticoagulants as preventative therapy. The NEJM has reported that oral anticoagulation with rivaroxaban (Xarelto) followed by aspirin to be effective prophylaxis.
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Equal Cardiovascular Risks in Hypertensive Patients Treated with Selective and Nonselective NSAIDS
A Taiwanese study of 55,629 hypertensive patients shows no increased risk of major cardiovascular events comparing outcomes of patients started on COX-2 selective NSAIDs compared with nonselective NSAIDs (including ibuprofen, diclofenac and naproxen).
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Are ANA Tests Unreliable?
Pisetsky and colleagues have reported in the Annals of Rheumatic Disease that ANA tests done on established SLE patients may yield surprisingly disparate results.While ANA negative lupus was a problem of old assays and the loss of ANA positivity may be seen with chronicity or age, most rheumatologists believe that ANA positivity is an absolute requirement for the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus.
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ASCO/NCCN Guidelines for Checkpoint Inhibitor Immune-Related Adverse Events
New guidelines have been developed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) on how to assess and manage of immune checkpoint inhibitor side effects that are often autoimmune in nature.
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Pediatric Use of TNF inhbitors Does Not Increase Malignancy Risk
A study of USA administrative claims data between 2000 to 2014 assessed the risk of cancer with exposure to tumour necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) in pediatric patients and found that TNFi therapy did not significantly increase the risk compared those not receiving TNFi.
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HERO Trial - Hydroxychloroquine Fails in Hand Osteoarthritis
UK researchers have treated 248 patients with moderate to severe hand pain and radiographic osteoarthritis (OA) and demonstrated no benefit after 12 months of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), according to a recent article in Annals of Internal Medicine.
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Calcium and Vitamin D Do Not Increase Cardiac Events/Death
An analysis of the UK Biobank study found no link between calcium/vitamin D supplementation and incident cardiovascular events/deaths in a large prospective study of 475,255 men and women aged 40 to 69 years.
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