Focus Rheums| ACR Convergence 2024 Previews

An official publication of the ACR and the ARP serving rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals

Non-Celiac Wheat Sensitivity Is an Immune Disorder, Too

Andrew M. Seaman  |  

(Reuters Health)—People who feel ill after eating wheat, but who don’t have celiac disease, may finally have a biological explanation for their symptoms, a new study suggests. Researchers from the U.S. and Italy found that people who claim to have wheat sensitivity do have biological reactions to gluten proteins in wheat, rye and barley. It’s…

Milestones of Rheumatology Education

Arthritis Care & Research  |  

In 2013, a collaboration began to advance the training and assessment of fellows. The result: A uniform set of educational reporting milestones for all internal medicine subspecialties was developed. Key stakeholders were then asked to develop a list of entrustable professional activities (EPAs), a set of responsibilities any specialist should be able to perform, for their subspecialties. The ACR’s Next Accreditation System working group developed 14 EPAs for rheumatology…

Methotrexate with Step-Down Glucocorticoid Remission Induction Works in Early RA

Reuters Staff  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Methotrexate with step-down glucocorticoid remission induction (COBRA Slim) is an effective, safe and feasible initial treatment strategy for patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA), researchers from Belgium report. Patients with early RA should be treated rapidly, intensively and to target, according to current guidelines, they note in a paper online July 18…

Ultrasound May Be Useful for Grading Rotator Cuff Tendinopathy

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Researchers have developed procedures and assessed their efficacy for the use of ultrasound images to measure the inter-rater reliability of the measurement of structural changes in the tendon of patients with supraspinatus tendinopathy. The standardized procedures proved useful in evaluating patients…

Secukinumab Inhibits Structural Joint Damage in Active PsA

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Psoriatic arthritis (PsA), a chronic inflammatory arthritis characterized by structural damage to the joints, has been associated with reduced health-related quality of life, disability and reduced life expectancy. The joint changes in PsA are characterized radiographically by a combination of erosive and proliferative bone changes, including erosive joint destruction, fluffy periostitis and pencil-in-cup deformities. Radiographic…

Healthy Clones: Dolly the Sheep’s Heirs Reach Ripe Old Age

Ben Hirschler  |  

LONDON (Reuters)—The heirs of Dolly the sheep are enjoying a healthy old age, proving cloned animals can live normal lives and offering reassurance to scientists hoping to use cloned cells in medicine. Dolly, cloning’s poster child, was born in Scotland in 1996. She died prematurely in 2003, at age 6, after developing osteoarthritis and a…

EMA Flags Faulty Generic Drug Data, Backs Sales Halt

Reuters Staff  |  

(Reuters)—The European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended suspending sales of some generic drugs after a review found that data collected by a contract research company in India for their approval was unreliable. The EMA’s list included drugs made by some of the top generic drugmakers, including Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Mylan NV and Novartis AG’s Sandoz….