Early Combined Treatment with Biologic and Conventional DMARDs Could be Effective for Polyarticular Juvenile Arthritis

New research presented this week at ACR Convergence, the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting, found that patients started on early, aggressive treatment with a combination of biologic and conventional disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) achieved clinically inactive disease in children with polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) more frequently compared to other treatment plans 24 months after starting treatment.

Dopamine Surge Reveals How Even for Mice, ‘There’s No Place Like Home’

“There’s no place like home,” has its roots deep in the brain. Using fiber photometry, scientists are the first to show that home evokes a surge of dopamine in mice that mimics the response to a dose of cocaine. The study demonstrates how dopamine rises rapidly in mice moved from a simple recording chamber to their home cage, but less so when they return to a cage not quite like the one they knew.

Genetics Researchers Find Easy Way to Improve Cancer Outcomes

By mining a vast trove of genetic data,researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine are enhancing doctors’ ability to treat cancer, predict patient outcomes and determine which treatments will work best for individual patients. The researchers have identified inherited variations in our genes that affect how well a patient will do after diagnosis and during treatment.