Interest in viewing the nail capillaries dates to the late 17th century. Later research by Maurice Raynaud and others in the late 19th and early 20th century first established a direct link between the nailfold capillaries and certain medical conditions. Although underutilized in the past, with the advent of modern digital equipment and the validation…
(Reuters Health)—In the rush to approve new medicines, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration often requires drug companies to study possible side effects and alternative doses for medicines once they hit the broader market. A September 20 online analysis in the New England Journal of Medicine concludes that, in many cases, that’s not being done….
As a manifestation of hyperuricemia, inflammatory bullous lesions have rarely been described in the past century. A more classic presentation of hyperuricemia is acute inflammatory gouty arthritis, characterized by the deposition of monosodium urate crystals. Other complications of chronic untreated hyperuricemia may include polyarticular arthritis, tophus formation and possible chronic destructive lesions of the bone,…
The words genetically modified are making people run for the hills these days. Not so when it comes to arthritis care, however. In the lab of one pioneering researcher, genetic engineering is catapulting arthritis treatment years ahead. Farshid Guilak, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Washington University, St. Louis, and…
The AMA House of Delegates (HOD) met in Chicago for its annual meeting June 9–14. More than 530 HOD members were present, with several hundred AMA and association staff and guests. As I am sure you have noted from past issues of ACR@Work, the ACR is in its five-year membership review. The ACR must be…
Romosozumab’s Future Is Uncertain Romosozumab, which has the possible U.S. brand name Evenity, is awaiting approval from the FDA.1 The treatment is an investigational, injectable biologic for treating osteoporosis. It increases bone formation and bone density, reducing a patient’s risk of fractures. The manufacturer no longer expects the FDA to approve the drug this year…
Your home & your health: Does geography impact medicine? Does it matter whether a region is surrounded by large bodies of water, encircled by towering mountain peaks or that its residents share a common ancestry? Consider Switzerland, a nation with a highly developed economy replete with advanced technological and medical infrastructure. Despite these advantages, less…
NSAIDs Increase Myocardial Infarction Risk According a recent meta-analysis of real-world non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use, NSAIDs may increase the risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The analysis used individual patient data meta-analysis of studies from healthcare databases in Canada, Finland and the U.K. to determine the time course for risk of AMI, as well…
Recent research analyzed factors influencing the selection of the first-line biologic medications and the real-life factors that lead to switching from those medications to other biologics in treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The study compared the use of abatacept and tocilizumab with a tumor necrosis factor alpha inhibitor (TNFi).1,2 Participants were enrolled in the Lombardy Rheumatology…
Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD) is a rare, non-Langerhan’s cell histiocytosis characterized by tissue infiltration of CD68-positive and CD1a-negative foamy histiocytes.1 ECD was discovered as a lipid granulomatosis in 1930 by Jakob Erdheim and his pupil, William Chester, and approximately 500 cases have been described to date.1 ECD has a heterogeneous course and prognosis ranging from an…