Rheumatology News

• Bone, Joint Infections Treatable With Oral Antibiotics The findings from a randomized, multicenter trial challenge an accepted standard of care, the researchers say.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2019
• Clinical Disease Common With Hereditary Hemochromatosis Genetic Variants As many as 20% of individuals with the HFE p.C282Y genetic variant responsible for most hereditary hemochromatosis type 1 will have disease manifestations, according to results from 22 centers participating in the UK Biobank.
  Reuters Health Information, January 2019
• Blisters Not Required to Diagnose Pemphigoid The presence of blisters is not required to make the diagnosis of pemphigoid, according to a new study of this common cutaneous autoimmune disease.
  Reuters Health Information, January 2019
• Burnout Rises Above 50% in Some Specialties, New Survey Shows Urologists had the highest burnout rates; 20% of all physicians said they have had thoughts of suicide or prefer not to answer.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2019
• Persistent Back Pain Common, but Trajectories Vary The findings from a large longitudinal study argue against the idea that most cases of back pain resolve, authors write.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2019
• J&J Raises U.S. Prices on Around Two Dozen Drugs Johnson & Johnson raised U.S. prices on around two dozen prescription drugs on Thursday, including the psoriasis treatment Stelara (ustekinumab), prostate cancer drug Zytiga (abiraterone) and blood thinner Xarelto (rivaroxaban), all among its top-selling products.
  Reuters Health Information, January 2019
• FDA Advisers Back Febuxostat for Gout Despite Possible CV Risk Febuxostat is appropriate for some patients with gout-related hyperuricemia, the Arthritis Advisory Committee and the Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee said at a joint meeting.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2019
• Hormone Therapy May Protect Against Knee Osteoarthritis Postmenopausal women taking hormone therapy were significantly less likely to develop symptomatic knee osteoarthritis compared with those who did not take hormone therapy, a large study has found.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2019
• Abdominal Fat Linked to Lower Bone Mineral Density in Children Children with high levels of abdominal fat have significantly lower areal bone mineral density (BMD) Z-scores, according to results from a cross-sectional study.
  Reuters Health Information, January 2019
• Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy Doesn't Lower BMD in Adults Gender-affirming hormone treatment (HT) does not weaken bones in adults with long-term use, according to a new study in hundreds of transgender men and women.
  Reuters Health Information, January 2019
• Honoraria, Consulting Linked to Positive RA Trial Results Author financial conflicts of interest were generally not associated with RA RCT results, but honoraria and consulting fees were associated with greater likelihood of positive study outcomes.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2019
• Do You Prescribe Mindfulness to Your Patients? Mindfulness techniques such as yoga and meditation may be helpful in managing both physical and psychological conditions.
  Medscape Reader Polls, January 2019
• Doctors' Kids Absorb a Lot An internist's cancer diagnosis triggers pointed questions from her two young children, who evidently have been overhearing a lot about medicine for years.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2019
• Influential Long-time NIAMS Director Katz Dies at 77 Katz, who led the NIAMS since 1995, is remembered for his contributions to basic science, his willingness to take on thorny NIH management issues, and his exuberant, joyful personality.
  Medscape Medical News, December 2018
• Early-Onset Sjögren's Linked to More Severe Disease Early-onset Sjogren's syndrome may be linked to more severe disease that worsens over time and has specific symptoms at presentation, a study found.
  Medscape Medical News, December 2018
• Most Drug Treatments Fail to Control Long-term OA Pain Most commonly used drugs for osteoarthritis (OA) did not reliably control pain or improve function when used long term, a meta-analysis found.
  Medscape Medical News, December 2018
• Weekly Full-Body Massage Improves Short-term Knee OA Pain Two months of weekly 1-hour Swedish massage significantly improved pain and function in patients with knee osteoarthritis, a randomized trial showed.
  Medscape Medical News, December 2018
• Physicians of the Year 2018: Best and Worst Physicians exemplified the best and worst of their calling in 2018. At their best, they won awards and blew the whistle on an illegal cancer drug scheme. At worst, they abused patients and provided unnecessary treatment for their own gain.
  Medscape News Slideshows, December 2018
• Short-Term PPI Therapy May Not Be Harmful to Bone Short-term proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy has no clinically meaningful effect on bone turnover, a new study suggests.
  Reuters Health Information, December 2018
• Why the Reluctance to Use Biosimilar Insulins for Diabetes? As the US FDA announces that it will soon be changing the way it approves biosimilar insulins, Medscape examines why these cheaper versions of branded products are not more widely used in diabetes.
  Medscape Medical News, December 2018