In the complex web of interactions between systemic inflammatory response, rheumatic disease and disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), what is the potential for using rheumatologic therapies to treat other medical conditions linked to inflammation? Some medical researchers have looked at cardiac conditions, and others have examined the overlap with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Positive effects…
A 58-year-old African American woman with a past medical history of hypertension (HTN), hyperlipidemia, severe gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis (lcSSc) presented to the emergency department with shortness of breath (SOB) and progressive bilateral lower extremity swelling for three weeks. She denied any chest pain, but endorsed generalized fatigue and dyspnea…
(Reuters Health)—Middle-aged women who get poor quality sleep have elevated levels of inflammatory markers, suggesting their risk for heart disease and other illnesses may be increased, U.S. researchers say. Based on sleep monitoring and blood tests of 295 women, most of whom were past menopause, researchers found those who had trouble falling asleep or who…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Tai chi improves fibromyalgia symptoms at least as effectively as aerobic exercise, according to a new trial. Aerobic exercise is the most commonly recommended non-drug treatment for fibromyalgia, Dr. Chenchen Wang of Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston and her colleagues note in The BMJ, online March 12.1 However, Dr. Wang…
Various drugs are known to cause musculoskeletal symptoms, such as arthralgias, myalgias, drug-induced lupus and serum sickness.1 In the rheumatology world, the most commonly recognized drugs that can cause musculoskeletal symptoms are hydralazine, minocycline, fluoroquinolones and, recently, the dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4) inhibitor class of medications. Although beta blockers also have a noted side effect…
After reviewing a 10-year study, the FDA cautions that prescribing clarithromycin to patients with heart disease increases the risk of heart problems or death…
It’s one thing for a developing country to lack physicians due to a scarcity of training. It’s quite another for such a vacuum to exist because the physicians were executed. In Cambodia in the 1970s, genocide perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge spared few of the educated class. If they were spared, chances were they lost…
In a recent study, upadacitinib proved safe and effective to treat rheumatoid arthritis in patients with inadequate responses to conventional synthetic DMARDs…
Subcutaneous belimumab has been approved in the EU to help treat patients with active autoantibody-positive SLE…
A stroll through downtown Stockholm presents a quintessential picture of an active community, with most people biking or walking as their preferred mode of travel. Yet children in Sweden who live with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)—currently estimated at around 64 of every 100,000—don’t always engage in this active lifestyle.1 Maura Daly Iversen, PT, DPT, SD,…