News

Varying practitioner beliefs about what makes patients who have fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) “behave” differently from the general population are complicated by a paucity of studies, heterogeneity of the patient population, and other factors.

Gout is the most common inflammatory arthritis. Arthrocentesis and identification of negatively birefringent monosodium urate crystals from aspirate is the gold standard for diagnosis.

With the rising incidence of obesity and an increasing older population, the burden of osteoarthritis (OA) is expected to grow. Understanding of the disease is limited, and there are indications that many patients are receiving suboptimal care.

Hip injuries are common in dancers, runners, and soccer players. Knowledge of the mechanism of injury and the sport can help uncover the diagnosis. Muscular strength testing should be performed on the cardinal movements of the hip joint.

A phase II clinical study began for Galapagos NV's drug candidate GLPG0259, a novel drug being developed for rheumatoid arthritis.

Synovial inflammation in osteoarthritis (OA) is secondary to mechanical damage to the articular cartilage and bone. OA often is said to be a disease of weight-bearing joints, but it is more appropriate to consider them as load-bearing joints. OA is the failure of an organ, the synovial joint.

Physicians who treat athletes with traumatic foot and ankle injuries should know when to order special imaging studies, determine whether injuries can be managed in the office or require referral, and return the athlete to sports activity quickly. For simple ankle sprains, plain x-ray films usually are not indicated; functional rehabilitation is a first-line treatment.

Hepatitis C–related arthropathy is one of the most common extrahepatic manifestations of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Although symptoms can be disabling, the prognosis typically is benign. Patients who have atypical chronic inflammatory arthritis with an unknown cause should be evaluated for HCV infection.

There may be genetic susceptibility factors for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) that act only in men. In about 1% of families with SLE, all the patients with SLE are male and the women universally have positive antinuclear antibodies; also, men with SLE have more children with SLE than do women with SLE.