Psoriatic arthritis came to be viewed as a distinct disease entity with specific clinical features, genetics and pathophysiology only gradually. One important historic development in this transition was a 1973 paper written by a pair of researchers out of Leeds, England: John M. Moll, BSc, DM, and Verna Wright, MD, FRCP.1 Here we discuss the…
Over the past few years, biosimilars and other new drugs have been introduced to treat rheumatic illnesses. Some of the conditions we treat have numerous drug option; others have few or only off-label options. This series, “Rheumatology Drugs at a Glance,” provides streamlined information on the administration of biologic, biosimilar and other medications used to…
Dozens of rheumatology leaders met with more than 100 politicos on Capitol Hill in mid-May, per the ACR’s annual Advocacy Leadership Conference. Armed with research and advocacy training concerning a handful of important issues, rheumatologists, researchers, government affairs specialists and others met with federal lawmakers, legislative aides and correspondents. The two-day conference, which featured the…
The College’s principal journals have been telling the tale of workforce woe, exploring the reasons for our predicament and potential solutions for the long and short term.1,2 Among the medium-term remedies is increased use of advanced practice clinicians (APCs), as we collectively refer to nurse practitioners and physician assistants in rheumatology practices. Solutions Estimates of…
Sometimes it’s hard to get a song out of your head, especially when you can’t recall all the lyrics and struggle to find the words to fill in the blanks. That’s what happened to me when I started to write this column. A song, probably too dated now for many to find particularly compelling, kept…
Table stakes. It took me a moment to register what they were talking about. I was listening to Pod Save America, a wildly popular podcast put together by some of Barack Obama’s former speechwriters. It is, I imagine, what an MSNBC podcast might sound like if Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes were allowed to swear….
Where can patients obtain more information about their diagnoses and prescription drugs, and answers to the assortment of questions they have about living with a chronic disease once they leave the rheumatologist office? Patient education materials can be found in many places on the internet, but those looking for answers may need a helping hand…
In a recent investigation of Swedish patients, environmental triggers of the immune system are a common factor for patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome…
Little is known about the immunopathogenic relationship between celiac disease and systemic autoimmune diseases, such as primary Sjögren’s syndrome and systemic sclerosis. But new research indicates that screening for celiac disease may benefit patients newly diagnosed with systemic autoimmune diseases, as well as supports the idea that celiac disease may accelerate the development of systemic autoimmune disease…
Antibody-secreting cells are important for the pathophysiology of SLE and RA, but researchers have been unable to determine how these cells are activated. A new technique is able to distinguish between naïve autoreactive B cells and established antibody secreting cells…