Case report: A 78-year-old Caucasian female presented to our outpatient rheumatology clinic with pain in her bilateral shoulders, hands and knees that began suddenly one month earlier. She admitted to stiffness in her hands lasting several hours, and expressed an inability to extend her fingers. She denied fever, rashes, jaw claudication, headache or visual changes….
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Tocilizumab improves remission rates and slows disease progression in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a new randomized controlled trial demonstrates. Tocilizumab was effective both on its own and when combined with methotrexate, Dr. Gerd R. Burmester of Charite Medical University of Berlin and his colleagues found. Tocilizumab, an interleukin-6 (IL-6) blocker,…
NIH Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD, is working to improve funding for research into new treatments for lupus and RA through the Accelerating Medicines Partnership, a coalition of private and public partners identifying and validating promising biological targets for therapeutics…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded the American College of Rheumatology’s (ACR) The Lupus Initiative (TLI) with a five-year grant to support the development of a national, grassroots program targeting primary care providers, persons with undiagnosed Lupus and rheumatology health care providers. The program will have three components: Immediate dissemination of…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—A body mass index (BMI) of less than 28 alone may be a tool to prescreen younger postmenopausal women for osteoporosis, according to a new study. “For young postmenopausal white women aged 50–64, current prescreening modalities identifying candidates for DXA (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) scan … are not performing better than BMI alone,”…
A retrospective study shows that some patients presenting for pediatric rheumatology evaluation test positive for celiac disease—some without showing any gastrointestinal manifestations. Treatment includes a gluten-free diet…
A brief has been filed with the U.S. Supreme Court that, if the court decides to hear the case, could have wide-ranging implications for online medical care and the limits of a physician’s First Amendment right to free speech. Medical Advice Via e-Mail Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Jeff Rowes filed the brief at the…
Musculoskeletal (MSK) ultrasound is a valuable imaging modality for the practicing rheumatologist and provides an efficient tool with high diagnostic value in the evaluation of patients with musculoskeletal complaints. The use of MSK ultrasound has evolved in the U.S. due to the emergence of less-expensive, portable ultrasound units, which provide high-quality gray-scale and power Doppler…
On any Thursday from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., you can find Robert H. Shmerling, MD, playing tag, basketball or even roughhousing with a group of children at Second Step, a transitional living program that offers victims of domestic violence in the Boston area a safe place to live and opportunities to go back to…
Receipt of an unsolicited communication that a sweepstakes award has been won may con some people (especially, but not limited to, those underprivileged or undereducated as to legalities), but can’t fool all of the people all of the time. The names of the organizations and products involved are often marketing tool inventions, which imply special…