Rheumatoid Factor

There are endless idioms about blood. It is thicker than water, but one cannot get it from a stone. Truman Capote wrote about the cold version, rock band Foreigner sang about the hot version. When it comes to rheumatic diseases, researchers are out for blood — blood-based biomarkers, that is.

This May, more than 100 fellows and junior faculty members flocked to the 2019 North American Young Rheumatology Investigator Forum held in Destin, Fla., where they presented their original research in oral and poster sessions.

ORLANDO — A line of progression from disease susceptibility to overt rheumatoid arthritis could potentially begin with environmental factors in the lungs, as well as the gingiva, according to a presenter at the 2019 Rheumatology Nurses Society Annual Conference.

ORLANDO — Rheumatology providers should “maintain a high index of suspicion” when diagnosing patients with suspected vasculitis as several under-recognized syndromes mimic this condition, and could worsen after treatment with glucocorticoids, according to a presenter at the Rheumatology Nurses Society Annual Conference.