http://medicalxpress.com/arthritis-rheumatism-news/ en-us Medical Xpress provides the latest research news on Arthritis & Rheumatism, Scientists have discovered that fat cells in the knee secrete a protein linked to arthritis, a finding that paves the way for new gene therapies that could offer relief and mobility to millions worldwide. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-discovery-fat-triggers-rheumatoid-arthritis.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Wed, 08 May 2013 08:42:27 EST news287221341 (Medical Xpress)—Scientists from The University of Manchester have identified 14 new genes which could have important consequences for future treatments of childhood arthritis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-discovery-genes-childhood-arthritis-treatment.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Mon, 22 Apr 2013 08:05:34 EST news285836724 Osteoarthritis, which affects at least 20 percent of adults in the United States, leads to deterioration of cartilage, the rubbery tissue that prevents bones from rubbing together. By studying the molecular properties of cartilage, MIT engineers have now discovered how the earliest stages of arthritis make the tissue more susceptible to damage from physical activities such as running or jumping. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-earliest-stages-arthritis-high-impact-worsen.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:02:16 EST news285429716 (Medical Xpress)—Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found that a drug treatment administered at the earliest signs of a rare genetic disease could prevent the condition from developing in later life. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-alkaptonuria-treatment-rare-genetic-disease.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Thu, 04 Apr 2013 06:54:49 EST news284277272 Think new discoveries are the bee's knees? This one is even better—this research out of Rhode Island Hospital is the mice's knees. Researchers have found that adding lubricin, a protein that our bodies naturally produce, to the fluid in our joints may reduce the risk of or even prevent osteoarthritis (OA). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-team-strategy-effectively-osteoarthritis.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Mon, 25 Mar 2013 15:00:22 EST news283435184 (Medical Xpress)—Studying gene activity in tissue removed from injured knees, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that genes related to obesity and aging may contribute to the development of osteoarthritis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-obesity-aging-genes-role-arthritis.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Wed, 20 Mar 2013 06:42:41 EST news282980545 Researchers in Manchester have found a link between several lifestyle factors and pre-existing conditions, including smoking cigarettes and diabetes, and an increased risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-links-lifestyle-rheumatoid-arthritis.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Mon, 18 Mar 2013 10:39:57 EST news282821986 Few things in life are inevitable – death, taxes, and, if you live long enough, osteoarthritis. No treatment will stop or significantly slow the disease, and joint replacement is the only definitive treatment. That may change, however, as researchers such as Dr. Brendan Lee, professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, and his colleagues unravel the effects of a naturally occurring protein called lubricin or Proteoglycans 4 that appears to protect against the age as well as post-injury related changes. A report on their research appears online in the journal Science Translational Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-protein-inevitability-osteoarthritis.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:00:19 EST news282393617 Researchers have determined that fibromyalgia prevalence is 2.1% of the general population in Germany. Results appearing in Arthritis Care & Research, a journal published by Wiley on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), suggest that fibromyalgia is a spectrum disorder rather than a categorical illness. Additionally, a number of fibromyalgia cases in the general population satisfy proposed criteria for physical symptom disorder—the presence of one or more physical symptoms that impair function, which cannot be explained by another clinical or psychiatric illness. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-fibromyalgia-prevalence-percent-german-population.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Tue, 19 Feb 2013 04:10:03 EST news280468302 (HealthDay)—Patients with rheumatoid arthritis who respond to tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) show changes in activity in pain-related areas of the brain before clinical signs of improvement are observed, according to a study published in the February issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-brain-linked-tnf-inhibitor-response.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:30:05 EST news279891715 Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists have demonstrated a new strategy for treating autoimmune disease that successfully blocked the development of rheumatoid arthritis in a mouse model. They say it holds promise for improved treatment of arthritis and other autoimmune disorders in people. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-strategy-rheumatoid-arthritis-mice.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Fri, 08 Feb 2013 12:00:02 EST news279542331 In 2010, researchers from Lund University reported that 60 percent of all anterior cruciate ligament reconstructions could be avoided in favor of rehabilitation. The results made waves around the world, and were met with concerns that the results would not hold up in the long term. A follow-up study that confirms the results have now been published. The risk of osteoarthritis and meniscal surgery is no higher for those treated with physiotherapy alone. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-five-year-follow-up-acl-reconstructions.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Wed, 30 Jan 2013 10:42:51 EST news278764943 Researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery have identified a potential new target for drugs to treat patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a protein known as IRHOM2. The finding could provide an effective and potentially less toxic alternative therapy to tumor necrosis factor-alpha blockers (TNF-blockers), the mainstay of treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, and could help patients who do not respond to this treatment. Efforts to develop drugs that hone in on this new target are underway. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-rheumatoid-arthritis.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Fri, 25 Jan 2013 12:00:04 EST news278334739 Researchers at Rush University Medical Center, in collaboration with researchers at Northwestern University, have identified a molecular mechanism central to the development of osteoarthritis (OA) pain, a finding that could have major implications for future treatment of this often-debilitating condition. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-scientists-home-osteoarthritis-pain.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Thu, 27 Dec 2012 16:29:52 EST news275848184 Rituximab, a drug used to treat cancer and arthritis, may help patients with antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs) who suffer from aPL-related clinical problems that do not respond to anticoagulation, such as cardiac disease and kidney disease, according to a new study by rheumatology researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery. The study appears online ahead of print, in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-rituximab-clinical-problems-tied-antiphospholipid.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Tue, 20 Nov 2012 09:47:07 EST news272627178 Researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine have developed the first animal model that duplicates the human response in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an important step that may enable scientists to discover better medicines to treat the disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-humanized-mice-advance-rheumatoid-arthritis.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Thu, 04 Oct 2012 10:17:56 EST news268564653 Although there are concerns regarding the potential development of malignancies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis who are receiving treatment with biologic response modifiers (BRMs), pooled results from more than 60 randomized controlled trials did not find a statistically significant increased risk of any type of cancer with use of BRMs for at least 6 months compared with traditional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs or with placebo, according to the results of a meta-analysis published in the September 5 issue of JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-biologic-therapy-rheumatoid-arthritis-significantly.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Tue, 04 Sep 2012 16:00:14 EST news265963819 Duke researchers may have found a promising stem cell therapy for preventing osteoarthritis after a joint injury. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-stem-cells-post-injury-arthritis.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Fri, 10 Aug 2012 10:44:03 EST news263814221 It's not just our DNA that makes us susceptible to disease and influences its impact and outcome. Scientists are beginning to realize more and more that important changes in genes that are unrelated to changes in the DNA sequence itself – a field of study known as epigenetics – are equally influential. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-epigenetics-genes-rheumatoid-arthritis.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Tue, 03 Jul 2012 13:12:14 EST news260539923 (Medical Xpress) -- UK scientists have discovered more genetic regions associated with the cause of osteoarthritis. Researchers from nine institutions across the UK have described the findings as a significant breakthrough in understanding the genetic risk factors that cause the disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-nets-genes-osteoarthritis.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Mon, 02 Jul 2012 19:29:33 EST news260476161 (HealthDay) -- A "medical food" called Limbrel, which doctors prescribe to treat osteoarthritis of the knee, was linked to several cases of liver disease in a small study, but the effects so far seem to be rare and easily reversible. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-arthritis-treatment-linked-liver-problems.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Mon, 18 Jun 2012 17:32:55 EST news259259544 Special echocardiograms show promise for early detection of a potentially deadly complication in rheumatoid arthritis: heart disease, Mayo Clinic research shows. The findings were being presented at The European League Against Rheumatism annual meeting in Berlin. Rheumatoid arthritis patients are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease and it is important to take steps to intervene, but the risk assessment tools physicians commonly use often underestimate the danger. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-ultrasounds-heart-disease-early-rheumatoid.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Wed, 06 Jun 2012 03:42:45 EST news258172938 More than 27 million adults currently suffer from osteoarthritis, which is the most common form of arthritis. In the past, doctors have been unable to diagnose patients with arthritis until they begin to show symptoms, which include joint pain and stiffness. By the time these symptoms are present, it is often too late for preventive and minimally invasive treatment options to be effective. Now, a research team from the University of Missouri's Comparative Orthopaedic Laboratory has found a way to detect and predict arthritis before patients begin suffering from symptoms. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-biomarker-arthritis-earlier-stage.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Tue, 15 May 2012 13:35:22 EST news256307618 Untangling the root cause of rheumatoid arthritis has been a difficult task for immunologists, as decades of research has pointed to multiple culprits in our immune system, with contradictory lines of evidence. Now, researchers at The Wistar Institute announce that it takes a diverse array of regulatory T cells (a specialized subset of white blood cells) to prevent the immune system from generating the tissue-specific inflammation that is a hallmark of the disease. Regulatory T cell diversity, the researchers say, provides a cumulative protective effect against rheumatoid arthritis. When that diversity is not present, it allows the immune system to attack joints. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-regulatory-immune-cell-diversity-tempers.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Tue, 08 May 2012 14:52:26 EST news255707478 (Medical Xpress) -- The same genes that promote healing after cartilage damage also appear to protect against osteoarthritis, a condition caused by years of wear-and-tear on the cartilage between joints, new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-genes-cartilage-arthritis.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Fri, 27 Apr 2012 06:00:55 EST news254725241 The culprit behind a failed hip or knee replacements might be found in the mouth. DNA testing of bacteria from the fluid that lubricates hip and knee joints had bacteria with the same DNA as the plaque from patients with gum disease and in need of a joint replacement. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-joint-failures-potentially-linked-oral.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:38:12 EST news253967876 A genetic pathway previously known for its role in embryonic development and cancer has been identified as a target for systemic sclerosis, or scleroderma, therapy. The finding, discovered by a cross-disciplinary team led by John Varga, MD, John and Nancy Hughes Distinguished Professor of Rheumatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, was recently published in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-genetic-path-scleroderma-patient-biopsies.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Mon, 19 Mar 2012 17:06:02 EST news251395535 What if we could engineer a liver or kidney from a patient's own stem cells? How about helping regenerate tissue damaged by diseases such as osteoporosis and arthritis? A new UCLA study bring scientists a little closer to these possibilities by providing a better understanding how tissue is formed and organized in the body. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-discovery-migrating-cells-implications-tissues.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:33:14 EST news248718743 Researchers at Duke University Medical Center used new tools they developed to analyze knees and hips and discovered that osteoarthritic knee joints are in a constant state of repair, while hip joints are not. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-arthritic-knees-hips-robust-response.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:50:01 EST news248092083 Henry Ford Hospital researchers have identified for the first time two molecules that hold promise as a biomarker for measuring cartilage damage associated with osteoarthritis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-identity-potential-biomarker-osteoarthritis.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Sun, 05 Feb 2012 05:36:53 EST news247642591