Diseases and Disorders

For Tara Campbell, the onset of her fibromyalgia began slowly with repeated sore throats, fevers and fatigue. By the time she was diagnosed, a year later, she had become so debilitated by flulike symptoms and exhaustion that she often couldn’t get off the couch all day.

“Fall, a year ago, I hit my very, very worst,” said Campbell, 39, of Walnut Creek, Calif. “I felt overall pain to the point…

More than 2 million Americans with Rheumatoid Arthritis are caught in the middle of a debate among physicians over which treatment – medications or hand surgery – will help their ravaged fingers and wrists most.

And a new University of Michigan Health System study finds that entrenched attitudes and lack of communication among Rheumatologists and Hand Surgeons, and a scarcity of data compari…

An autoimmune inflammatory disease that takes a progressive toll on the heart, kidney and liver as well as the joints, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with a high risk of early death.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have discovered that a previously unexplained fatal form of Osteogenesis Imperfecta (a disorder that weakens bones and which may cause frequent fractures) results from a genetic defect in a protein involved in the production of collagen.

The study appears in the December 28, 2006 New England Journal of Medicine.

The affected gene contains t…

A breakthrough in understanding the way atoms move across cell membranes in the human body could pave the way for the development of new treatments for inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Scientists at the University of Leeds have identified a previously unknown natural mechanism that opens ion channels – proteins at the cell surface that act as doorways into and out of cells…

Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia’s Comparative Orthopaedic Laboratory (COL) have developed an in vitro model using small sections of joint capsule and cartilage typically discarded that mimics arthritic joints. This “joint in a test tube” model can be used to investigate causes and mechanisms for the development and progression of arthritis and to screen new treatments such as…

Acupuncture helped relieve symptoms such as pain and depression in women with the chronic pain disorder FIBROMYALGIA, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology.

“Patients not getting enough results from drug therapy should try honest acupuncture,” said lead author Dr. Daniel Feldman, head of rheumatology at the Federal University of Sao Pau…

A family history uncovers a syndrome marked by cartilage prone to ‘Bubbling’ and peeling away from the bone.

While characteristic of osteoarthritis (OA), a degenerative joint disease that affects millions of people worldwide, cartilage erosion and bone abnormalities are also associated with many rare hereditary conditions.

In the October 2005 issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism researcher…

A team of orthopaedic researchers has found definitive, genetic proof of how the most common form of arthritis destroys joint cartilage in nearly 21 million aging Americans, according to a study published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. The findings serve as an important foundation for the design of new treatments for Osteoarthritis (OA), researchers said.

OA gradually destroys …

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have found that women with rheumatoid arthritis may significantly increase their risk of heart attack by approximately two-fold over an extended period of time. The findings appear in the March 11th issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

“We examined the rates of heart attack and rheumatoid arthritis in more than 114…