“Man may be the captain of his fate, but he is also the victim of his blood sugar.” —Wilfrid Oakley, MB BChir, an early pioneer in diabetes care Perusing the list of the most notable medical achievements in the 20th century, a reader may conclude that the discovery of insulin should rank in a category…
The Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) held the 2017 OARSI World Congress in Las Vegas, April 27–30. Below, we report on two of the sessions held. Retinoic Acid & Hand Osteoarthritis Retinoic acid is a vitamin A derivative and hormonal signaling molecule with a role in cartilage and skeletal development. Retinoic acid has complex function,…
(Reuters Health)—Oral glucosamine has no more effect than placebo on joint pain, according to a new meta-analysis. The analysis of randomized controlled trials from which data have been made public found that at both three-month and 24-month follow-up points, the supplement had no effect on either hip or knee pain from arthritis. Even sub-groups, such…
A new tool for assessing the risk of developing knee osteoarthritis (OA) may be useful for knee OA education. A recent study found the online risk calculator, OA Risk C, was effective in helping patients better understand their personal risk of developing the disease. It may also motivate some patients to embrace exercise-related behavior changes…
The FDA has approved abatacept to treat adults with active psoriatic arthritis. In clinical trials, the treatment has proved effective in both intravenous and subcutaneous forms…
(Reuters Health)—Participation in some sports, including soccer, wrestling and elite-level long-distance running, may increase the risk of knee osteoarthritis, researchers say. “While the typical athlete is not at a greater risk of knee osteoarthritis, it was interesting to see that certain athletes may be more likely to have knee osteoarthritis later in life, specifically, elite…
A 66-year-old female patient returns to the office complaining of swelling and a burning pain in her right first toe. She rates the pain level at a 9 out of 10. She currently takes an over-the-counter non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), but it has done little to alleviate the pain. This is her second episode this…
CHICAGO—Doruk Erkan, MD, MPH, a rheumatologist at the Hospital for Special Surgery and Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, described recent developments in the field of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) to the rheumatologists gathered for the ACR’s State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium in April. He introduced APS as a “field with limited data and lots of controversies,” although,…
CHICAGO—Caryn A. Libbey, MD, clinical associate professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, described the evolving in our understanding of amyloid at the ACR’s State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium in April. Amyloidosis is a rare disease that is often underdiagnosed and undertreated. “Even though this disease has been around for 150 years, I still consider it…
Highlights from the 2017 EULAR Congress MADRID—Researchers say that whole-body MRI could yield an earlier diagnosis of spondyloarthropathy (SpA) in patients with early inflammatory joint symptoms, according to findings presented in a poster session at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR). The approach could lead to earlier treatment and better outcomes, they say. Investigators…