Articles By Jack Cush, MD
A Family History of Arthritis?
Using data from the population based All of Us (AoU) Research Program, a self reported history of arthritis and related conditions was associated with an increased risk for arthritis, osteoporosis, and carpal tunnel syndrome.
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Predictors of Pregnancy Outcomes in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
A systematic review of preconception predictors of pregnancy outcomes in women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) highlighted lupus nephritis, chronic hypertension, SLE disease activity and secondary antiphospholipid syndrome as predictors of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Pregnancies in women with SLE have historically been described as challenging, both because of the risk of disease flare and of adverse pregnancy outcomes.
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Pulse Steroids with Tocilizumab in Giant Cell Arteritis
A pilot study assessed pulse methoprednisolone with weekly subcutaneous tocilizumab (TCZ) in patients with large vessel-GCA (LV-GCA) and showed that a sizeable minority will relapse after the TCZ is discontinued.
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Sequential Belimumab and Rituximab in SLE
Could disease control in active systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients be improved by the sequential use of subcutaneous belimumab (BEL) and intravenous rituximab (RTX)? A double blind trial has shown that sequential BEL and RTX was not superior to BEL alone in SLE.
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ACR Applauds Lower Negotiated Prices for Common Arthritis Drugs
The American College of Rheumatology praised the recent announcement from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that their initial drug pricing negotiations have reduced costs for select medications, including significantly lower prices for Enbrel and Stelara, which are frequently used to treat rheumatic diseases.
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Higher Cancer Rates (8.16.2024)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com, noting his concerns about diet, cancer, ILD, death and dosing challenges.
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ASLeap: Higher Dose Secukinumab in Ankylosing Spondylitis
Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients not responding to usual dosing with secukinumab (150 mg) after 16 weeks were dose escalated to secukinumab (SEC) 300 mg, but failed to show improvement by week 52.
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Hispanic Patients With Dermatomyositis
JAMA Dermatology has published a review of dermatomyositis (DM), focusing on similar and different manifestations of DM. DM affects all races, but it has been suggested that racial and ethnic minority patients may have more severe disease and a different autoantibody profile. This analysis characterizes the clinical features and outcomes of DM in Hispanic and non-Hispanic patients.
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Less Mortality with GLP-1 Agonists in Rheumatic Patients
A recent article in PLOS ONE has shown that treatment of type 2 diabetes with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1-RAs) was associated with a significant lowering of risk of all-cause mortality and major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases and type 2 diabetes.
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Anti-CD40 Therapy in Sjögren's Disease
Sjögren's disease is a chronic autoimmune condition without a clear effective therapy - DMARD or biologic. The TWINSS study has demonstrated the safety and efficacy of iscalimab, a monoclonal antibody against CD40, in a phase 2 randomized clinical trial of active Sjögren's disease (SD).
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