New guidelines and therapeutic updates for the management of lupus nephritis.

Purpose Of Review: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) can be a devastating condition, striking young patients often in their prime reproductive years. Lupus nephritis is a common and serious complication occurring in roughly 50% of SLE cases, indicating a high likelihood of disease progression, morbidity, and mortality. As the early trials of steroid therapy, and later cyclophosphamide (CYC), therapeutic changes had been stagnant.

Systematic review: comparative effectiveness of treatments to prevent fractures in men and women with low bone density or osteoporosis.

Background: Although several agents are available to treat osteoporosis, the relative efficacy and toxicity of these agents when used to prevent fractures has not been well described.

Purpose: To compare the benefits in fracture reduction and the harms from adverse events of various therapies for osteoporosis.

Data Sources: MEDLINE (1966 to November 2007) and other selected databases were searched for English-language studies.

Problems encountered during anti-tumour necrosis factor therapy.

Worldwide, over 400,000 patients have been treated with tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha antagonists for indications that include rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. Since their approval, concerns regarding safety have been raised. There is a risk of re-activation of granulomatous diseases, especially tuberculosis, and measures should be taken for detection and treatment of latent tuberculosis infections.