Latest Conference Articles

Dr. Michael B. Foggs's lecture, "Here Comes the Sun: Vitamin D and Asthma," described the complex metabolic relationships and current knowledge gaps regarding vitamin D and its relationship to asthma.

There is a lot of work involved in producing a successful clinical trial. Even the planning stage alone can take a significant amount of time. But when data is incomplete-especially in longitudinal clinical trials-it can be a real struggle for organizers.

One of the more exciting parts of the conference has been the ability to sit in and listen to highlighted studies that are selected by the ACR. This press conference features Carol Wallace, MD, Seattle Children's Hospital and Research Institute, Seattle, WA, speaking about her study and answering questions from the audience.

With more patients and practitioners expressing interest in non-Western modes of healing and other complementary and alternative forms of medicine, researchers are studying whether traditional Chinese methods like tai chi are effective in treating arthritis and other painful conditions.

Marcus Owen, MD, practices rheumatology and internal medicine in Nashville, TN. In this video, Dr. Joseph Kim talks with Dr. Owen about what he hopes to take away from this year's ACR conference and also speaks about some of the biggest challenges he faces in helping patients understand risk and benefit of medications.

Negotiating a contract for a position in academia, industry, or private practice can be a complex and nerve-wracking process, with many physicians unsure of which questions to ask and which elements of their compensation beyond salary are negotiable.

Although there is some evidence showing treatment with medical marijuana can benefit patients with arthritis, chronic pain, and other conditions, there are also serious concerns over quality control, non-standardized dosing, and other potential safety risks.

During his presentation, Dr. Carlos Camargo reviewed recent studies on the effects of menarche, menopause, and pregnancy on asthma, and described the implications for patients with asthma.

Dr. Leonard B. Bacharier presented a lecture evaluating evidence-based treatments for wheezing and asthma in childhood and adolescence.

Virtually all asthma starts as episodic viral wheeze. Dr. Bush presented results from the Colt-Ashford Study, a community based, all-comers study of 642 babies born.

Dr. Andrew Bush asked his colleagues to consider the possibility that very early airway hyperresponsiveness, not inflammation, initiates asthma.

Transitioning an adolescent or teenager from a pediatric rheumatologist to an adult rheumatologist can be a very delicate and complicated process. With so many pitfalls along the way, it's easy to see why this problem has been occurring more and more. The good news? It's a very "fixable" problem.

With Medicare and Medicaid incentives scheduled to start this year, physicians owe it to their patients and their practices to learn about the requirements to qualify as meaningful users of health care technology.

Professor Anthony Woolf, Consultant Rheumatologist at the Royal Cornwall Hospital and Professor of Rheumatology at the Peninsula Medical School, Truro, UK, posed a very important question in his presentation at ACR on Monday: "How do we get policymakers to take musculoskeletal conditions seriously?"

In this video, Dr. Joseph Kim speaks about his experience at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Conference in Chicago, IL.

All practices should perform self-audits of their medical and billing records to ensure that they are properly documenting care and receiving the maximum allowable reimbursement.

Pets can cause a variety of health problems for those with sensitivities but there are environmental changes that can help, according to Dana Wallace, MD, PA, associate clinical professor, Nova Southeastern University.

Everyone knows the risks of heart disease and cancer due to smoking but researchers are looking at the association between smoking and allergic disease.

The array of bacteria in the gut biome in the first six months of life provides protective benefits for the rest of life, according to Larry Borish, MD, FACAAI, professor of medicine at the University of Virginia.

Researchers using fMRI claim that the unique structural changes observed in the brains of patients with osteoarthritis can be used to predict placebo response.

The growing market for home air fresheners is impacting respiratory health, according to Stanley Fineman, MD, MBA, president-elect of ACAAI, associate clinical professor department of pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta Allergy & Allergy Clinic.

In this interview Joseph Kim, MD, talks with Dr. Kenneth G. Saag about the major highlights of the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting.

James B. Maas, PhD, is a Cornell University professor who knows a heck of a lot about sleep and how it impacts our bodies. But this session focused less on how rheumatology was involved (although Maas did say it was up to rheumatologists to find the proper medication that would not impact their patients' sleep patterns), and more on the general need for a proper night's rest.

Early exposure to animals and infections could decrease the tendency to become allergic, according to Thomas A.E. Platts-Mills, MD, PHD, FACAAI, Asthma and Allergic Disease Center, University of Virginia Medical School.

The incidence of allergic disease has risen 50 percent each decade since the 1960s, according to Phillip Lieberman, MD, FACAAI, Clinical Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics in the Departments of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics (Divisions of Allergy and Immunology) at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine.

During the Ira Finegold Lecture, Thomas B. Casale, MD, FACAAI, professor of medicine at Creghton University School of Medicine, spoke about the role that diet and supplement can have on immune therapy. "For allergies, the immune system could be trained to ignore allergens like pollen and cat dander but still fight bacterial pathogens," he said.

Asthma and allergy patients would benefit from their physician taking a closer look at immunology, said M. Louise Markert, MD, PhD, Associate Professor at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC, during a plenary session at the American College of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology's annual meeting.

HCPLive will be providing live coverage from this year's ACR/ARHP Scientific Meeting starting Sunday, November 6.

HCPLive will be providing live coverage from the 2011 ACAAI Annual Scientific Meeting starting Saturday, November 5.

Julie Parsonnet, MD, discussed well-established links between infectious disease and chronic disease and microorganisms disappearing from the human microbiome.