University of Calgary

Novel Indicators for Monitoring Rheumatoid Arthritis Care Quality: A Delphi Consensus Process to Determine Rheumatoid Arthritis-Specific Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions

Objectives Ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs) constitute a set of medical conditions where access to high quality outpatient healthcare services prevents or reduces costly acute care interactions for exacerbations of these diseases. Hospitalizations for ACSCs serve as i...

Understanding the impact of meeting performance measures on the outcomes of joint replacement in rheumatoid arthritis: a population-based study in British Columbia, Canada

Objective Canadian performance measures (PMs) evaluate the quality of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) care; however limited evidence exists linking these process measures to long-term patient outcomes. This research evaluated the impact of meeting PMs in early RA on 10-year risk of tot...

Performance of the 2025 ASAS-Spartan Revised Classification Criteria for Axial Spondyloarthritis in a Canadian Multicenter Inception Cohort with Psoriasis, Uveitis, or Colitis Presenting with Undiagnosed Back Pain

Objectives To test the performance of the 2025 ASAS-SPARTAN Revised Classification Criteria for Axial Spondyloarthritis (axSpA)[1] in a multicenter inception cohort of patients with undiagnosed chronic back pain attending dermatology, ophthalmology, and gastroenterology clinics w...

Exploring Decisional Factors to Include Approaches in a Patient Decision Aid for Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Symptom Management

Objectives Youth with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) experience physical and mental health symptoms that negatively impact their participation in daily life activities. The JIA Option Map is a web-based patient decision aid (PDA) created to facilitate decision-making for JIA...

Moving Equity into Practice: Evaluation of an Online Asynchronous Continuing Medical Education Program for Rheumatology Care

Objectives Persistent health inequities exist in the diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes of rheumatologic diseases among at-risk populations in Canada. Prior research identified barriers and facilitators experienced by at-risk populations in Canada when accessing rheumatology care...

Exploring Training Needs to Facilitate Shared Decision Making in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Symptom Management and the Use of the JIA Option Map

Objectives Our team developed the JIA Option Map, a web-based patient decision aid (PDA) designed to support shared decision-making (SDM) for juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) symptom management. Since training for health care providers (HCP) can enhance SDM and the use of PDAs...

Taming the Fire: Lung Sparing MDA-5 DM and MAS Overlap Successfully Treated with Methylprednisolone, Rituximab, IVIG, Anakinra, and Tofacitinib

Background Anti-melanoma differentiation-associated protein 5 (MDA5) Dermatomyositis (DM) can be refractory to multiple lines of immunosuppression.[1] Here, we present a case of refractory MDA-5 DM with Macrophage Activation Syndrome (MAS) overlap requiring numerous immunosuppres...

An Unusual Case of Infection-Provoked Macrophage Activation Syndrome in Mixed Connective Tissue Disease

Background Compared to systemic lupus erythematosus and adult-onset Still’s disease, mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD) is rarely associated with macrophage activation syndrome (MAS). Viruses, including cytomegalovirus (CMV), may potentiate MAS,[1] often in conjunction with a...

Identifying a Gap in Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome Testing in Young Patients with Thrombotic and Obstetric Events

Objectives Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (APS) is an autoimmune disease characterized by thrombosis and/or certain obstetric complications in the presence of persistent antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL). In previous studies, 17% of patients <50 years old who experienced a...

Identification of Clinical and Radiologic Markers of Disease Presentation in Patients with Scleroderma Related Interstitial Lung Disease (SSc-ILD) in a Cohort from Ontario, Canada

Objectives Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a multisystem autoimmune disease characterized by vasculopathy, inflammation and fibrosis of multiple organs including the skin, lungs, heart, and GI tract.[1] Lung involvement, characterized by interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) and pulmon...

Autoantibody Clusters and SIGLEC1 are Predictive of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Development

Objectives Up to one-third of patients with suspected SLE progress to definite disease, but reliable predictive markers are lacking. Previously, we developed a Lupus Lymphocyte Activation Score (LLAS) based on key cell subsets (transitional B cells, age-associated B cells, plasma...

Hypothalamic recurrent inhibition regulates functional states of stress effector neurons

ABSTRACT Stress triggers rapid and reversible shifts in vital physiological functions from homeostatic operation to emergency response. However, the neural mechanisms regulating such functional stress states remain poorly understood. Here we identify a novel recurrent inhibitory...