Rheumatology News

Thursday, April 05, 2007 More Evidence Points Toward Safety of Anti-TNF Drugs During Pregnancy
Three recent case reports add to an accumulating body of evidence that the TNF-blockers are safe during pregnancy, but one new report is far from the final word on the issue...

Tuesday, February 06, 2007 New RA Vaccine Targets Regulatory T-Cells
A pilot clinical trial of a new RA vaccine derived from autologous synovial T-cells shows proof-of-principle that inducing CD4+ regulatory T-cells can improve clinical and laboratory parameters in RA patients...

Thursday, December 14, 2006 Transcranial Electrostim Reduces Pain, Confirms Fibromyalgia as a Central Pain Syndrome
Noninvasive transcranial direct current stimulation can relieve fibromyalgia pain, pilot study shows...

Thursday, December 07, 2006 Leaning Back Might Help the Desk-Bound Dodge Back Pain
A positional MRI study of sitting postures and intervertebral disk morphology suggests that leaning back a bit rather than sitting up straight or slouching can greatly reduce strain on the lumbar spine and cut the risk of chronic back pain...

Monday, November 20, 2006 Pregabalin Offers Durable Pain Relief in Fibromyalgia
The anticonvulsant pregabalin may offer extended pain relief to fibromyalgia patients... Crofford LJ, et al. Presented at: ACR 2006 Meeting.

Monday, November 13, 2006 Shortfall of Academic Rheumatologists May Jeopardize Specialty's Future
ACR President Mary K. Crow, MD, calls for solutions to help academic medical centers  recruit and retain talented rheumatologists... Presented at: ACR 2006 Meeting.

Monday, November 13, 2006 Rheumatologists Urged to Remember Global Health Concerns
Rheumatologists must pay attention to the current global health crisis and aid in the efforts to bring life-saving tools to the developing world, urged Tadataka Yamada, MD, executive director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Global Health Program in Seattle, WA... Presented at: ACR 2006 Meeting.

Thursday, November 02, 2006 Disappointing Results in Study of Stem Cells for Cartilage Repair
Hopes that adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) might be used to create chondrocytes for patching cartilage had a setback when researchers found that culturing them in the usual  chondrogenic medium did not produce tissues capable of becoming stable articular cartilage in vivo...

Thursday, October 26, 2006 New Study Casts Doubt on Metabolic Dysfunction in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
A new study comparing response to exercise in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia (FM) finds exercise more difficult in CFS/FM patients than in those with CFS alone, but casts doubt on metabolic explanations for CFS…Cook DB, et al. Arthritis Rheum. 2006;54:3351–3362.

Monday, August 14, 2006 Lower IL-4, IL-10 Levels Seen as Possible Basis for Fibromyalgia Test
New research showing that patients with chronic  widespread pain have significantly lower levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokines Interleukin (IL)-4  and IL-10 may help doctors develop a cytokine expression profile that can aid in the diagnosis of fibromyalgia. Üçeyler, N, et al. Arthritis Rheum. 2006;54:2656-2664