In a matter of weeks, the COVID‑19 crisis has totally upended clinical medicine and the practice of rheumatology. Our old ways of seeing patients in person, precepting fellows in clinic or on the consult service, and leading in-person interactive teaching rounds are gone for now and possibly for good. But how can we replace these…
Miller-Archie et al. set out to determine whether dust exposure and PTSD are associated with an increased risk of systemic autoimmune disease in a 9/11-exposed cohort not included in previous studies of members of the Fire Department of New York and whether this association differs between 9/11 responders and community members.
Interstitial lung disease accompanied by anti-melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5 positive dermatomyositis is often rapidly progressive and associated with poor prognosis. In this study, a combined immunosuppressive regimen of high-dose glucocorticoids, tacrolimus and intravenous cyclophosphamide proved more effective than treatment with high-dose glucocorticoids and stepwise addition of an immunosuppressant in a historical control group.
Immunoglobulin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) can cause fibroinflammatory lesions in nearly any organ. Correlation among clinical, serologic, radiologic and pathologic data is required for diagnosis. ACR/EULAR classification criteria for IgG4-RD have now been developed and validated in a large cohort of patients…
Monosodium urate (MSU) crystal formation, deposition and gout flares frequently affect joints that have been damaged or are affected by osteoarthritis. These researchers examined the effects of human cartilage homogenates on MSU crystallization and MSU crystal-induced inflammation…
This study used up-to-date techniques to perform an exhaustive immunologic description of cryoglobulins with regard to characterization and quantification…
Funck-Brentano et al. hypothesized that causal associations for osteoarthritis (OA) may differ by site, and they undertook this study to identify causal risk factors of knee, hip and hand OA.
A new study adds to the evidence that metabolic factors play an important role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In this large, prospective cohort study, Liu et al. found that increased physical activity among women was associated with a reduced risk of RA…
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the most common autoimmune diseases. One hypothesis is that inflammation in the respiratory tract results in autoantibody formation that later leads to disease. Kronzer et al. set out to narrow the knowledge gaps related to the oral-respiratory factors that may mediate RA pathogenesis.
Adding certolizumab pegol to background medication is better than adding a placebo for patients with active nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis, according to a new study…