A study that found men with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) died from respiratory-related illness nearly three times as often as the general population could provide insight into possible treatment options and lifestyle changes that would help them live longer. The Study Researchers at the Veterans Affairs Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System and University of Nebraska Medical…
CR845—an oral, peripherally selective kappa opioid agonist—is currently in Phase 2 trials for the treatment of pruritus, and acute and chronic pain.1 Eighty patients with hip osteoarthritis (OA) or knee OA were randomized to receive treatment with 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg, 1.0 mg or 5.0 mg CR845 twice daily for two weeks. Safety assessment, pharmacokinetics…
SAN FRANCISCO—The Kveim-Siltzbach skin test for a diagnosis of sarcoidosis was developed in 1941, then popularized in 1961. Since then, the knowledge base about the disease has not expanded much, said Kristin Highland, MD, who has dual appointments at Cleveland Clinic’s Respiratory Institute and Orthopedics and Rheumatology Institute. “We don’t know a whole lot more…
SAN FRANCISCO—As researchers have delved into the genetics behind osteoarthritis (OA), genes that appear to be players in the disease have emerged, but there have also been curveballs thrown, with expectations not always matching up to the genetic realities, an expert said at the 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. The genetic risk of acquiring OA is…
SAN FRANCISCO—The organisms in the gut are remarkably malleable with diet, dangling the possibility that diseases could potentially be affected by the food that people eat, according to an expert here at the 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. Diet Starting with studies of animal feces from zoos and from the wild, in which researchers found that…
SAN FRANCISCO—An athletic 19-year-old male has an episode of rhabdomyolysis, a breakdown of muscle tissue that leads to contents of muscle fiber in the blood, after weight-lifting and basketball drills. But his labs come back normal. He cuts down on his exercise, but has a second episode four months later, then finally sees a rheumatologist…
SAN FRANCISCO—Rheumatologists have to look no further than the American College of Rheumatology guidelines to know that the options for patients with lupus nephritis are sometimes not very appealing. The first-line choices are either mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) plus glucocorticoids or cyclophosphamide (CYC), also with glucocorticoids—and all of their attendant side effects. The problem: evidence, said…
SAN FRANCISCO—A 40-year-old woman shows up in the clinic with scarring alopecia, with an area of hyperpigmentation on the rim of her scalp, extending from just behind the temple to behind her ears. An examination with a dermatoscope shows hyperkeratotic follicular plugging. The case—in this example, the discoid form of cutaneous lupus erythematosus (DLE)—is one…
SAN FRANCISCO—Post-menopausal women with osteoporosis, previously treated with oral bisphosphonates, had greater increases in bone density when taking denosumab compared with zoledronic acid over a year’s time, according to a study presented at the 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. The findings were discussed in the Discovery 2015 plenary session, which focused on new research. In the…
SAN FRANCISCO—Inflammation can be either acute or chronic, and it’s the inflammatory responses that don’t shut down normally, or resolve, that cause tissue damage in rheumatic disease. “Resolution bridges the gap between acute inflammation and adaptive immunity,” said Derek W. Gilroy, PhD, head of the Centre for Clinical Pharmacology and Professor of Immunology at University…