Mounting evidence suggests that humans have a complex and integrated mind-body system. Knee problems may affect the spine and other body parts, but also the mind—and vice versa. This is the wisdom of Ayurveda, the 3,000-year-old traditional medicine from India. A team of researchers from Germany recently undertook a study, titled “Effectiveness of an Ayurveda…
Rheumatology in China is a relatively young discipline, but it has developed exponentially over the past three decades. In this article, we review the history of rheumatology in China and advances in clinical care, research and education in this field. The Founding Father Naizheng Zhang, MD, is widely regarded as the father of rheumatology in…
Uveitis is an inflammation of the uvea, which comprises the iris, ciliary body and choroid. Uveitis can lead to ocular damage and complete visual loss. Noninfectious etiologies for uveitis are the most common in the U.S.1 The estimated incidence of uveitis ranges from 25–52 per 100,000 in adults and five per 100,000 in children. The…
I attended medical school in the 1960s, when Dr. Lawrence Weed reinvented the medical record to organize and leverage the physician’s patient evaluation for clarity and quality of care—what he dubbed “the problem-oriented medical record.”1,2 My internal medicine house officer training at Massachusetts General placed a high value on efficient, effective medical records and communication…
I glanced up from Amanda Wolf’s chart as the emergency department nurse, followed by the lab technician (tech), followed by the electrocardiogram (ECG) tech flowed into cubicle No. 5. John Benner, MD, pulled up a chair to review the case with me at the nursing station. “Here’s what we’ve got. Thirteen-year-old girl with a one-week…
New research identifies how education designed to empower self-care and collaboration among providers, patients and family members can help patients with Sjögren’s syndrome manage their daily challenges and take back their lives…
AMSTERDAM—Just how seldom prednisone is successful at inducing remission in giant cell arteritis (GCA), despite such a long history of use for the disease, is one of the many lessons to emerge from the data in the GiACTA trial, said the principal investigator of the trial, which is the largest ever in GCA and is…
Studies highlighting the large numbers of people affected by knee osteoarthritis (OA) point to what clinicians who treat knee OA have been seeing for the past few decades: a substantial increase in the prevalence of knee OA in the U.S. and globally. Roughly 250 million people are affected by knee OA worldwide, and about 14…
A 36-year-old woman presented at the Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center for a second opinion regarding a diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis (PsA). One year prior to our evaluation, she had developed pain and stiffness in her hands, feet, knees, ankles, elbows and shoulders. She had mild plaque psoriasis of the scalp and base of the neck,…
Pendaar Pooyan was diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) in elementary school. He learned to ask for what he needed: use of a computer in class because of wrist pain and a locker that didn’t require him to bend down so far. And he learned to talk about his disease. This helped make participating for…