The FDA is strengthening its warning that canagliflozin and dapagliflozin may increase the risk for acute kidney injury in some patients. Also, the FDA has issued a warning that patients should not exceed recommended doses of loperamide due to increased risks of serious cardiac events…
Ethical issues that arise in the average rheumatology practice and in clinical research are often straightforward. The AMA Code of Medical Ethics and the Office Practice and Procedures Manual offer useful information.1 In research, the Protocol and Investigators Agreement spells out who you can enroll and how the trial must be conducted. But still—even when…
The benefits of exercise therapy for individuals with knee osteoarthritis (OA) are well known. The ACR strongly recommends both aquatic exercise and land-based aerobic and resistance exercise for managing knee OA.1 A recent Cochrane systematic review and meta-analysis concluded that high-quality evidence supports the use of exercise to reduce pain and improve physical function and…
With the evolution and advancement of technology, it was only a matter of time before such changes affected the medical industry. Although the concept of telemedicine dates back more than 50 years, emphasis on cost-effective quality healthcare coupled with technological advancements has caused a resurgence of telemedicine in recent years. What constitutes telemedicine largely depends…
Baseball is a great sport. It’s fascinating to watch the evolving duel between pitcher and batter. As the former employs their remarkably powerful and versatile rotator cuff and forearm flexor muscles to hurl blazing pitches, the latter engages their exceptionally honed hand–eye neural link to make contact with the ball. Baseball is the ultimate summertime…
Attracting medical residents to rheumatology has been difficult. However, Eli Miloslavsky, MD, believes enhancing the teaching skills of rheumatology fellows, enabling them to push through barriers on the ward and leverage teachable moments with residents, may improve patient care and influence a resident’s choice of subspecialty…
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—The White House announced on Wednesday measures aimed at advancing President Barack Obama’s precision medicine initiative, including plans to speed the development of tests used to identify genetic mutations and guide medical treatment. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it planned to issue a proposal to create performance standards to guide development of…
The year 2015 brought an end to the much-maligned Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR), sometimes known as the “doc fix.” The SGR established limits on Medicare reimbursement for physicians, and each year, physicians and those lobbying on their behalf were forced to stave off drastic cuts to their payments. “The SGR was Congress’s attempt to control…
CHICAGO—When it comes to treating patients with rheumatic diseases who are in the intensive care unit (ICU), there are so many complications and considerations that few rules exist as a guide. But Paul Dellaripa, MD, associate professor at Harvard Medical School, said at the ACR’s State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium that there are basic steps a rheumatologist…
The serine-threonine protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) enzyme is critical for regulatory T cells to function—without it, they don’t have the ability to suppress effector T cells and can’t protect against autoimmunity, according to new research published in Nature Immunology. Researchers found that conditional knockout mice—in which PP2A expression is knocked out only in regulatory T cells—developed…