Exclusive: ACR Convergence 2024| Focus Rheums

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

Guidance

Subcategories:Clinical Criteria/GuidelinesEthicsLegal UpdatesLegislation & AdvocacyMeeting ReportsResearch Rheum

The ACR, ARHP Develop National Research Agenda for 2016–2020

  |  

Since 2005, the ACR’s Committee on Research has been responsible for advancing the research goals of the organization and providing leadership in research and research training in rheumatology via the ACR’s Research Agenda. The ACR Research Agenda is designed to address critical areas of research in rheumatic diseases, including the need for new technology, new…

Research Provides Insight into Impact of Microbiome on Health, Rheumatic Disease

Neha Ohri, MD, & Kristine A. Kuhn, MD, PhD  |  

The microbiome comprises diverse microbial flora, including bacteria, viruses and fungi, that live on mucosal surfaces, predominantly the skin and digestive tract. Microbes evolved billions of years prior to the development of modern Homo sapiens 200,000 years ago; we have always existed with their ubiquitous presence. Despite this, the first microbe was not visualized until…

Opinion: Politics Should Not Trump Science in Medicine

John A. Goldman, MD  |  

I tell my patients there are three types of science: 1) investigative science, which sometimes gets it right; 2) science in the courtroom, which is junk science; and 3) science in Washington, D.C., which is political science. Our decisions are based on art and science; our patients’ medications are brought to market based on science….

Biosimilars Debate Heats up over Cost Savings, Safety Concerns

Biosimilars Debate Heats up over Cost Savings, Safety Concerns

  |  

After years of speculation about potential cost savings and debates on safety, biosimilars are about to step onto the stage of rheumatic disease treatment. On Feb. 9, the Arthritis Advisory Committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) met in Washington, D.C., and recommended the approval of CT-P13, a proposed biosimilar to infliximab (Remicade),…

2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting: Macrophage Polarization and Its Role in Inflammatory Disease

  |  

SAN FRANCISCO—To unravel how out-of-control inflammation begins in rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases, one target for immunologists is the macrophage. Researchers discussed macrophage activation and other key drivers of inflammation at the 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting on Nov. 7. How macrophages behave when recognizing damage-associated molecular pathways (DAMPs) tells us more about why some inflammation doesn’t…

2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting: Genetically Complex Auto-Inflammatory Diseases

  |  

SAN FRANCISCO—Early in his career, Daniel Kastner, MD, PhD, scientific director at the National Human Genome Research Institute, saw a 24-year-old patient with a lifelong history of recurrent fever and severe episodes of arthritis. A colleague told him it was most likely familial Mediterranean fever (FMF). There was little then known about its mechanisms, and…

2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting: Novel Approaches for Intra-Articular Arthritis Therapy

  |  

SAN FRANCISCO—Penetrating the dense extracellular matrix of cartilage is a challenge for administering osteoarthritis drugs, but an answer might lie in the matrix itself—in particular, its electrical charge, researchers reported at the 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. Electrical Affinity Investigators at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found—at least in vitro and in animals—that delivering drugs…