ACR CONVERGENCE 2020—In a year like no other, the 2020 virtual ACR Convergence was a meeting like no other. Nonetheless, the meeting introduced a healthy mix of clinical insights and take-home pearls, according to panelists in the meeting’s closing session, Bright Future: Discovery & Growth. In this session, panelists discussed some of the biggest news…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Magnesium-based micromotors showed promise as a delivery system for hydrogen therapy to inflamed joints in an experimental model of rheumatoid arthritis, researchers say. Hydrogen gas has been shown to neutralize overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can degrade cartilage and bone and activate inflammatory cytokines, according to Dr. Yingfeng Tu of…
Research from Ellingwood et al. examines how often patients diagnosed with early RA experience episodic joint inflammation and describes characteristics that may result in RA development.
(Reuters Health)—Many pregnant women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may achieve low disease activity in the third trimester with a modern treatment regimen that includes anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) medications, a recent study suggests. Researchers examined data on 309 patients with RA who were pregnant or trying to conceive and who were treated with modern treat-to-target…
In this study, Fatima et al. analyzed how well the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) disability index predicts future all-cause mortality in patients with early RA (i.e., with a symptom duration of less than one year). A total of 1,724 patients with early RA were included. The researchers found that a higher HAQ score and Disease Activity Score at one year were significantly associated with all-cause mortality.
A proposed biomarker may improve the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Writing in Arthritis & Rheumatology, researchers at Pleasanton, Calif.-based Roche Sequencing Solutions and the University of Toronto say their biomarker, constructed by profiling a comprehensive set of antibodies via high-density peptide array, has high specificity and sensitivity for RA, compared with commercially available assays.1…
Recent evidence on how anti-citrullinated protein antibodies, anti-modified protein autoantibodies and rheumatoid factor activity overlap in RA demonstrate new ideas for diagnostics and pathophysiology.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of death in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Patients with RA have a 1.5 times increased risk for heart attack compared with the general population. Although the treatment of RA has advanced significantly, the ability to prevent cardiovascular events hasn’t followed. A study in Arthritis Care & Research…
Neutrophils, often hailed as guardians against infections, are maligned when it comes to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) due to their role in both the initial stage and disease progression. A new multicenter work, “A Neutrophil Activation Biomarker Panel in Prognosis and Monitoring of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis,” seeks to expand the literature on this topic.1 The…
Through the development of a multidisciplinary musculoskeletal institute, we have created a model that facilitates coordination of care of complex patients between medical and surgical subspecialists, physical therapists, dieticians and social workers. A case is presented to demonstrate the improved care experience for both patients and providers and to share our learnings more broadly. The…