Kurt Ullman has been a freelance writer for more than 30 years and has written more than 600 articles for both professional and consumer audiences. He holds an A.A.S. in nursing, a Master's in Health Administration, and a B.S. degree in public administration with a minor in mass communications media. Other experience includes eight years as a registered nurse and six years of full-time writing and editing work in newspapers, radio, television and magazines. He is a two-time winner of the Apex Award for Writing Excellence, has received numerous Merit National Health Information Awards and was awarded the Media Orthopaedic Reporting Excellence Award.
Toll-like receptors play an important role in host defense. TLR-7 recognizes viral ssRNA, but also plays a role in the development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Genetic ablation of a similar receptor, TLR-9, results in opposite effects, with severe disease and kidney involvement. The mechanism of how this works remains unknown. Anna-Marie Fairhurst, PhD, from… [Read More]
Psoriatic arthritis (PsA), scleroderma and lupus often require management input from both rheumatologists and dermatologists. Usually patients see the two specialists separately. Combining both in a single rheumatology/dermatology clinic appointment can improve outcomes and increase both provider and patient satisfaction. “Physicians talk about tearing down silos of care, where each specialist focuses on their part… [Read More]
Interstitial lung disease (ILD) can be associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with significant morbidity and mortality. An article in The Journal of Rheumatology focused on calculating the prevalence, incidence, mortality and costs to the healthcare system of RA-related ILD (RA-ILD).1 “RA is the most common of connective tissue diseases encountered by rheumatologists—affecting about 1% of… [Read More]
Research in type I interferon (IFN) driven mouse models of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) suggests the microbiome may play a role in the development of autoimmunity. Additionally, changes in diet may induce protective effects in the gut.1 “Microbes in the gut worsen a lupus model related to the interferon pathway,” says Martin A. Kriegel, MD,… [Read More]
Rheumatologists prescribe rituximab for induction and maintenance treatment for anti-neutrophil cytoplasm antibody (ANCA) associated vasculitides (AAV). Maintenance treatment typically employs fixed-schedule dosing, but in the recent maintenance of remission using rituximab in systemic ANCA-associated vasculitis II (MAINRITSAN2) trial, researchers from the French Vasculitis Study Group examined whether individually tailored maintenance dosing might work better. “The… [Read More]
Missed appointments have long been a problem for rheumatology practices. A recent poll from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) found no-shows were the single biggest challenge reported by practice leaders, with 44% of respondents citing the issue.1 If a patient does not come to the office when scheduled, it starts a cascade of events… [Read More]
Currently, treatment options for patients with peripheral spondyloarthritis, which includes psoriatic arthritis and non-psoriatic types, are limited. Philippe Carron, MD, Department of Rheumatology, Ghent University Hospital, Belgium, says, “One of the problems we encounter in the daily management of peripheral spondyloarthritis is that we have no other therapeutic options in patients refractory to NSAIDs [non-steroidal… [Read More]
Recent studies point to a relationship between scleroderma and autoantibodies (e.g., anti-RNA polymerase III or anti-RNPC3), and an increased cancer risk within a short interval of scleroderma onset. Mechanistic studies provide further evidence that cancer may trigger scleroderma in patients with these autoantibodies. However, many questions remain unanswered. A study in the Annals of the… [Read More]
A study published in Annals of Internal Medicine in December 2017 looked at trends in lupus mortality over a 46-year period. The researchers say they set out to close some knowledge gaps. “There [was] a knowledge gap relating to the large differences we see in death rates from one study to another, which could have… [Read More]
Evidence is accumulating that the microbiome may be an important part of the pathogenesis of many autoimmune diseases. Two recently published articles report on how translocation of the gut bacterium Enterococcus gallinarum drives autoimmunity in mice and humans, and on the role of other commensal bacteria in triggering immune responses—specifically to the autoantigen Ro60, which… [Read More]