Thursday, December 20, 2007
Combining medications often best strategy to battle rheumatoid arthritis
Hope this information can help someone out there.
Source: http://www.news-medical.net/?id=33633
"For patients with rheumatoid arthritis, combining one well-known, lower cost synthetic drug with one of six biologic medications often works best to reduce joint swelling or tenderness, according to a new report funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Researchers reviewed published evidence to compare the benefits and harms of three classes of medications: synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), biologic DMARDs, and corticosteroids. Synthetic DMARDs include hydroxychloroquine, leflunomide, methotrexate and sulfasalazine; biologic DMARDs include abatacept, adalimumab, anakinra, etanercept, infliximab and rituximab; and corticosteroids include drugs such as prednisone.
The report concluded that combining methotrexate, a synthetic DMARD, with one of the biologic DMARDs works better than using methotrexate or a biologic DMARD alone."
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Researching the new type of NSAIDS
£26 million is being invested into the study.
Let me know your thoughts if you have changed from the old type of NSAIDS to the new.
For more info, link here: http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/society/health/26m+arthritis+drugs+trial/1192447
Check out other arthritis links for more research and news regarding arthritis treatments.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
New Study Uncovers Prevalence, Burden of Pediatric Arthritis in U.S.
If you want to read more about the study, you will find it in the December issue of "Arthritis Care & Research."
Link here for more info: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/071205/clw030.html?.v=101
Visit the "Health Directory", one of my 'favourite links' to read more information from around the world.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Tai Chi Aids Pain and Gives Arthritis Relief
Source: http://www.thirdage.com/news/features/922494369-1.html
FOCUS ON MIND AND BODY Today, Tai Chi is practiced as a meditative exercise made up of a series of "forms," or choreographed motions, requiring slow, gentle movement of the arms, legs and torso. Tai Chi practitioners learn to center their attention on their breathing and body movements so that the exercise strengthens their overall mind/body awareness. In a sense, Tai Chi is similar to yoga in that it is also a form of moving meditation, with the goal of achieving mind/body stillness through motion and awareness of breath. In China and in Chinese neighborhoods all over the world, Tai Chi is practiced by young and old alike in city parks in the early morning hours.
According to an Arthritis Foundation spokesperson, "Tai Chi is the basis for one of the Arthritis Foundation's most popular exercise programs, known as the ROM (range of motion) dance." Performed to a soundtrack of peaceful music and a prose poem, the dance combines traditional arthritis exercises with Tai Chi movements.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
U.S. company to resume testing arthritis drug
Article Source: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90782/90880/6310538.html
Drug developer Targeted Genetics Corp. said Monday it will resume the study of an experimental arthritis drug that was halted in July after the unexpected death of a patient.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave the Seattle-based company permission to continue the trial after reviewing information on all 127 patients, including a 36-year-old woman who died a few weeks after receiving the drug.
The woman's family and government scientists have questioned whether a genetically modified virus used when the drug is injected played a role in her death. However, government advisers for the National Institutes of Health said earlier this year that the woman probably died of an unrelated fungal infection.
The company's own investigation reached a similar conclusion earlier this month, noting that only trace amounts of the virus were found in the woman's body.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Fibrin linked to rheumatoid arthritis
Source: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/143267.html
"U.S. researchers say the discovery of a link between a blood clotting protein and rheumatoid arthritis could lead to new therapies for the disabling disease.
Jay Degan, a researcher in Developmental Biology at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, said inflammatory joint disease appears to be driven by the engagement of inflammatory cells with fibrin matrices through a specific integrin receptor, aMB2.
The report, published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, suggests that therapies designed to interrupt the localized interaction of inflammatory cells and fibrin may help arthritis patients.
"Our study establishes that fibrin is a powerful, although context-dependent, determinant of inflammatory joint disease," Degen, the study's lead author, said Friday in a release.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Arthritis causes major problems in the workplace: Study
The study, which tracked 490 people with osteoarthritis (OA) and inflammatory arthritis (IA) for more than four years, reports that, 63 percent of the participants remained employed, but work changes were common.45 percent reduced their work hours due to arthritis; 52 percent switched their type of work; 18 percent weren't able to seek and accept promotions and job transfers; and 41 percent weren't able to take on additional responsibilities."We know that arthritis can result in people having to leave their jobs. This research focuses our attention on the workplace itself and highlights how common a wide range of work transitions are in the lives of people with arthritis," Monique A.M.
Source: http://www.newkerala.com/oct.php?action=fullnews&id=19257
Monday, November 12, 2007
Therapy Reduces Risk Of Heart Attack By 80% In People With Rheumatoid Arthritis, Study Shows
Researchers recently studied the risk of heart attack in patients using a TNF-inhibitor (a drug that blocks cytokines and can reduce pain, morning stiffness and swollen joints in RA), methotrexate (a drug used to treat RA by blocking the metabolism of cells) and other DMARDs (a category of drugs used in many autoimmune disorders to slow down the disease progression) in a large population of patients with RA many of whom were also taking aspirin.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071109203953.htm
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Arthritis is not limited to adults
Ana-Carlin Krueger is an active fourth grader and an excellent big sister to two-month-old Emmie Sinclair.
Krueger, however, has had her share of hard times.
"Yea, I used to have to take pills, and it didn't feel well," she said.
It started with a fever, an upset stomach and a funny walk.
Caroline Krueger, Ana-Carlin's mom, said, "They tested for everything from HIV to Mad Cow Disease and all of these outlandish things they had to rule out."
Source: http://www.wkrn.com/nashville/news/arthritis-not-limited-to-adults/127023.htm
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Manchester Researchers Identify Gene Behind Rheumatoid Arthritis
Professor Jane Worthington and her team at the Arthritis Research Campaign (arc) Epidemiology Unit at the University investigated 9 genetic regions identified earlier this year as potentially harbouring DNA variants determining susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis. Association to one of the variants on chromosome 6 was unequivocally confirmed, reports this week�s Nature Genetics (4 November 2007). Although this variant is not located in a gene, Professor Worthington suggests that it may influence the behaviour of a nearby gene: tumour necrosis factor associated protein (TNFAIP3) as this is a gene that is known to be involved in inflammatory processes.
Source: "http://www.bioresearchonline.com/content/news/article.asp?docid=81e46195-8156-45d6-9c26-9912c772265c&atcc=771+s=773+r=001+l=a&VNETCOOKIE=NO
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Steroids as Treatment for Rheumatoid Arthritis
Two years or more of oral steroid treatment decreases the risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) related lymphoma, according to data presented at EULAR 2007, the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology, in Barcelona, Spain. Furthermore, these effects were found regardless of when in the course of the disease the steroids were first administered. However, these beneficial effects were not observed if the steroids were taken for less than a two year period.
Study author Dr Eva Baecklund of Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden, said of the results, "The pros and cons of corticosteroid treatment in rheumatoid arthritis have been a subject of much debate and long term steroid treatment is often limited as a result of concerns about various side effects. What our data show is a new aspect of steroid treatment.