Rheumatology News & Articles

1 Retrospective analysis of the clinical course of patients treated for polymyalgia Open Access Rheumatology: Research and Reviews, May 2, 2013
Do–Nguyen D et al. – polymyalgia rheumatica is a chronic inflammatory rheumatic condition, for which the mainstay of treatment is corticosteroids. Here, the authors review the clinical course of treated patients initially presenting with polymyalgic symptoms. The excellent response rate to corticosteroid therapy is well established in the literature, but in this research, remission rates were comparatively low during the 12–month study period. The current value of disease–modifying ...

2 Polymyalgia rheumatica: diagnosis, prescribing, and monitoring in general practice British Journal of General Practice, April 29, 2013
Helliwell T et al. - This study aims to investigate the diagnostic processes, management, and monitoring of patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) in UK primary care. The management of PMR in general practice could be optimised. Identified areas for improvement include clear documentation of a process of exclusion of other diagnoses, and prophylaxis for potential treatment complications, including osteoporosis and gastric symptoms.

3 Progranulin antibodies in autoimmune diseases Journal of Autoimmunity , February 18, 2013
Thurner L et al. - Systemic vasculitides constitute a heterogeneous group of diseases. In order to detect autoantibodies in systemic vasculitides, the authors screened protein macroarrays of human cDNA expression libraries with sera from patients with ANCA-associated and ANCA-negative primary systemic vasculitides. This approach led to the identification of antibodies against progranulin, a 88 kDA secreted glycoprotein with strong anti-inflammatory activity in the ...

4 Rheumatoid arthritis in the elderly: recent advances in understanding the pathogenesis, risk factors, comorbidities and risk-benefit of treatments Aging Health, April 8, 2013
Woodworth T et al. - Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) increases in incidence and prevalence with age, with a peak in the sixth decade of life. Elderly onset RA (EORA) may be genetically different from younger onset RA, and with immune dysfunction associated with aging, environmental factors may also influence EORA onset. Taking into account comorbidities, treat-to-target strategies with nonbiologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs and biologics can be applied with an ...

5 Giant cell arteritis associated with chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection Rheumatismo, April 1, 2013
Giardina A et al. - Giant cell arteritis is an inflammatory vasculopathy that preferentially affects medium-sized and large arteries. A viral cause has been suspected but not confirmed in polymyalgia rheumatica and giant-cell arteritis. The authors report the case of a 81-year-old female who suffered from chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection and developed giant cell temporal arteritis.