Arthritis & Rheumatology News and Research

Latest Arthritis & Rheumatology News and Research

Top-line results from Amgen’s Aranesp Phase 3 trial on heart failure and anemia

Amgen today announced top-line results of the Phase 3 Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa) RED-HF (Reduction of Events With Darbepoetin Alfa in Heart Failure) Trial.

17 Jan 2013

SPECT-CT improves preop foot diagnosis

Research demonstrates the usefulness of radionuclide bone scans with single photon-emission computed tomography and computed tomography for the assessment of patients awaiting foot or angle surgery.

16 Jan 2013

Knee cartilage repair success with new biomaterial

In a small study, researchers reported increased healthy tissue growth after surgical repair of damaged cartilage if they put a “hydrogel” scaffolding into the wound to support and nourish the healing process. The squishy hydrogel material was implanted in 15 patients during standard microfracture surgery, in which tiny holes are punched in a bone near the injured cartilage. The holes stimulate patients’ own specialized stem cells to emerge from bone marrow and grow new cartilage atop the bone.

15 Jan 2013

Arterial versus venous graft debate continues

Researchers say that there is no significant reduction in angiographic graft failure with arterial grafts compared with saphenous vein grafts in revascularization of the right coronary system.

15 Jan 2013

NSAID–antihypertensive combinations may risk kidney damage

Physicians should be aware that treating patients with a combination of antihypertensives along with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may cause kidney damage, say researchers.

14 Jan 2013

Obesity not linked to bipolar disorder course

Obesity is not significantly associated with psychiatric disease course in patients with bipolar disorder (BD), Canadian researchers report.

14 Jan 2013

U.S. trails 16 other affluent countries in life expectancy, health status

It's no news that the U.S. has lower life expectancy and higher infant mortality than most high-income countries. But a magisterial new report says Americans are actually less healthy across their entire life spans than citizens of 16 other wealthy nations.

11 Jan 2013

UCSF teams to study new ways to reduce childhood mortality and disease in developing nations

Two UCSF teams have received a total of $16 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to study new ways to significantly reduce childhood mortality and disease in developing nations.

11 Jan 2013

Mothers with high PUFA levels during pregnancy have fatter children

Southampton researchers have demonstrated that mothers who have higher levels of n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), which are found in cooking oils and nuts, during pregnancy have fatter children.

11 Jan 2013

H. pylori may protect against stroke and some cancers

A new study by NYU School of Medicine researchers reveals that an especially virulent strain of the gut bacterium Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) isn't implicated in the overall death rate of the U.S. population, and may even protect against stroke and some cancers.

10 Jan 2013

Lifting the burden of vascular disease

African-American men could improve their vascular health by lifting weights, researchers say.

8 Jan 2013

Shoulder complaint linked to diabetes diagnosis

Study findings confirm suspicions that patients with diabetes have an increased risk for adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder.

7 Jan 2013

Real life experience of defibrillators lives up to clinical trial expectations

There is no significant difference in survival between clinical trial patients who receive an implantable cardioverter and clinical registry patients who receive a primary prevention ICD, researchers suggest.

7 Jan 2013

Root of socioeconomic impact on hypertension pinpointed

People who earn a low wage have a greater risk for hypertension than their counterparts with a higher income, especially women and those aged 25–44 years, research suggests.

7 Jan 2013

Researchers identify four new genetic regions associated with Behcet's disease

Researchers have identified four new regions on the human genome associated with Behcet's disease, a painful and potentially dangerous condition found predominantly in people with ancestors along the Silk Road.

7 Jan 2013

Biogen Idec files rFIXFc BLA with FDA for treatment of hemophilia B

Today Biogen Idec announced the company recently submitted a Biologics License Application (BLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the marketing approval of recombinant factor IX Fc fusion protein (rFIXFc) for the treatment of hemophilia B.

7 Jan 2013

EPIRUS’ BOW-015 achieves bioequivalence to Remicade in a single dose comparator trial

EPIRUS Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., formerly known as fourteen22 Inc, announced that its lead asset, BOW-015, achieved bioequivalence to Remicade in a single dose comparator trial.

3 Jan 2013

Crofelemer receives FDA approval for treatment of HIV associated diarrhea

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Limited announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration has provided Marketing approval to its partner in US, Salix Pharmaceuticals Limited, for Crofelemer 125 mg delayed-release tablets for the symptomatic relief of non-infectious diarrhea in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/ acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) on anti-retroviral therapy (ART).

2 Jan 2013

Small numbers of ANA- and RP-negative patients with systemic sclerosis

There exists a very small subgroup of patients with systemic sclerosis who lack circulating antinuclear antibodies and who do not have Raynaud's phenomenon, research shows.

31 Dec 2012

Weight gain after adolescence has repercussions for hypertension

Individuals who gain weight in adulthood as well as those who are overweight in adolescence and adulthood are at increased risk for hypertension, research suggests.

31 Dec 2012