ACR Journals on Air Podcast
Welcome to ACR Journals on Air, the ACR’s newest podcast series featuring interviews, commentary, and analysis on research from our three peer-reviewed journals: Arthritis & Rheumatology, Arthritis Care & Research, and ACR Open Rheumatology. Join us each episode for engaging discussions with authors and independent experts about recently published studies, their implications for clinical care, and how they move the field of rheumatology forward.
Whether it’s an expert analysis of a manuscript or deep dive with an author—our goal is the same—to understand the impact of the science and bring it from the bench to the bedside.
Podcast Host
Victoria Shanmugam, MBBS, MRCP, CCD, has clinical expertise caring for patients with autoimmune diseases, vasculitis, and chronic wounds. She has led several research studies investigating scleroderma, hidradenitis suppurativa, and the interplay of the host immune response and the microbiome in chronic wounds. Dr. Shanmugam is a frequently invited speaker at professional meetings. Her work in wound healing, hidradenitis, and scleroderma has been published in high-impact peer-reviewed journals, such as Arthritis Care and Research, Current Opinion in Rheumatology, International Wound Journal, and Clinical Rheumatology. Connect with Dr. Shanmugam on Twitter (@VickiShanmugam).
Episodes
New episodes will be available twice a month on Tuesdays.
Episode 57 – Opioids and SARDs
Episode 56 – DECT and Gout Remission
Episode 55 – Immunology for the Rheumatologist: The Devil Is in the Details
Episode 54 – The SLEek Study
Episode 53 – Life Events and Autoimmune Disease
Browse previous episodes in the ACR Journals on Air archive.
Episode Show Notes
In this episode, we explore the findings of a groundbreaking study analyzing opioid treatment trends for adults with and without systemic autoimmune and inflammatory rheumatic diseases (SARDs) from 2006 to 2019. The study, based on national data from the United States, sheds light on how individuals with conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and ankylosing spondylitis are impacted by opioid use compared to the general population.
Yinan Huang, MS, PhD – Yinan Huang, MS, PhD, is a health outcome researcher who has extensive experience in observational study designs to address the impacts of treatments on health outcomes with an emphasis on rheumatology. Her research focuses on generating high-quality evidence of medication utilization, effectiveness and safety of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs as well as other high-risk medications such as opioids for rheumatoid arthritis through largescale healthcare datasets (administrative claims and national survey) and systematic reviews approaches.
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This week we're joined by two leading experts in gout remission, Nicola Dalbeth, MBChB, MD, FRACP, FRSNZ, and Dansoa Tabi-Amponsah, PhD, to explore the exciting advances in gout treatment, with a particular focus on Dual-Energy CT (DECT) imaging and its role in achieving gout remission. We dive into how DECT technology is transforming our ability to visualize urate crystals in joints, its implications for patient care, and the potential it holds for long-term gout management and remission.
Nicola Dalbeth, MBChB, MD, FRACP, FRSNZ – Nicola Dalbeth, MBChB, MD, FRACP, FRSNZ, is a rheumatologist at Health New Zealand and Head of the Department of Medicine at the University of Auckland. She leads a research program focusing on the mechanisms, impact, and treatment of gout.
Dansoa Tabi-Amponsah, PhD – Dansoa Tabi-Amponsah, PhD, is a doctoral student at the University of Auckland. Her PhD research focuses on identifying and understanding the predictors of gout remission.
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This week, we have yet another installment in our ongoing immunology series with our guest David S. Pisetsky, MD, PhD, author of Unique Interplay Between Antinuclear Antibodies and Nuclear Molecules in the Pathogenesis of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and ACR Presidential Gold Medalist. Dr. Pisetsky focuses on SLE’s pathogenesis in this study by examining antinuclear antibodies (ANAs) and immunologically active DNA. As we dive deep into his research, we find those all-important details that truly make the difference.
David S. Pisetsky, MD, PhD – David S. Pisetsky, MD, PhD, received his BA from Harvard College magna cum laude in 1967 and his PhD and MD degrees from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1972. He was an intern and resident in Internal Medicine at the Yale-New Haven Hospital from 1973–1975. He joined the faculty of the Duke University Medical Center in 1978 and served as Chief of Rheumatology and Immunology at Duke from 1996–2007.
Dr. Pisetsky has conducted basic and translational research in the field of autoimmunity, focusing on the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and the immunological properties of nuclear macromolecules, including DNA. These studies have provided new insights into the binding properties of anti-DNA antibodies in SLE and normal immunity. He has also explored the performance characteristics of serological assays for the determination of antibodies to DNA and other nuclear molecules. In studies on the properties of autoantigens, he has elucidated the role of microparticles and mitochondria in immune complex formation.
Current research focuses on specificity of anti-DNA antibodies for different conformation of DNA, the categorization of lupus symptomatology and the Type 1 & 2 model of SLE.
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This week ACR Master Joan T. Merrill, MD, joins us to discuss her latest study which endeavored to evaluate the efficacy and safety of upadacitinib and elsubrutinib in those with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Join us for an in-depth analysis of the SLEek Study and its findings regarding the efficacy of these medications and Dr. Merrill’s conclusions.
Joan T. Merrill, MD – Joan T. Merrill, MD, is a Professor of Medicine at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Merrill received her undergraduate degree at Vassar College and completed medical school at Cornell University Medical College in New York. She joined the staff of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in 2001. Dr. Merrill is a Master of the American College of Rheumatology and has received awards for her work studying lupus, including the Edmund Dubois Award and the Evelyn Hess Award. Dr. Merrill is a leader in designing clinical trials for lupus and is a champion of lupus cohorts; she currently runs the Oklahoma Lupus Cohort, which has enrolled hundreds of lupus patients. Dr. Merrill also directed the Biomarkers of Lupus Disease (BOLD) study, which demonstrated the importance of weaning background medications to show the efficacy of new medications in clinical trials for lupus.
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For those with rheumatic disease, everyday challenges can mean an increase in disease flare. However, research is increasingly pointing to the idea that psychosocial stressors could even heighten the risk of developing rheumatic diseases. Christine Parks, MSPH, PhD, looked deeper into this among those with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in her latest study, Life Events, Caregiving, and Risk of Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study.
Christine G. Parks, MSPH, PhD – Christine G. Parks, MSPH, PhD, is an epidemiologist at the National Institute of Environmental Health Science (NIEHS, one of the National Institutes of Health).
For the past 25 years, her research has focused on environmental risk factors for systemic autoimmune diseases, including the role of occupational exposures, such as silica and pesticides, in the development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). She has also conducted studies on potential risk factors earlier on the etiologic pathway, such as the reactivation of latent viral infections (which may contribute to the development of several autoimmune disease), and immune biomarkers, including autoantibodies and leukocyte telomere length. Following her doctoral and post-doctoral research in the Carolina Lupus Study, most of her research has focused on leveraging data on systemic autoimmune diseases collected in prospective ongoing cohort studies, starting with the Women’s Health Initiative. She then designed methods for assessing systemic autoimmune diseases, including case confirmation and validation protocols, in the NIEHS Sister Study and the Agricultural Health Study (a collaboration of the National Cancer Institute and NIEHS).
In the past 15 years she has conducted research in the WHI and these two NIEHS cohorts, including research of perceived and occupational stress and telomere length, and collaborative research on early life factors and systemic autoimmune diseases in the Sister Study. Her current research in the Agricultural Health Study cohort investigates the role of pesticides and other occupational risk factors for systemic autoimmune diseases in farmers and their spouses. She has also led new data collection protocols and linkages to enable evaluation of psychosocial and climate-related stressors in relation to disease risk.
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