First new lupus drug approved in 56 years.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)  approved Benlysta (belimumab) to treat patients with active, systemic lupus erythematosus who are receiving standard therapy, including corticosteroids, antimalarials, immunosuppressives, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

Prior to Benlysta, FDA last approved drugs to treat lupus, Plaquenil (hydroxychloroquine) and corticosteroids, in 1955. Aspirin was approved to treat lupus in 1948.

A higher proportion of women on a company’s board leads to greater opportunities at the executive level for women, according to new research.   Despite continued gains in low- to mid-level management positions, women still struggle to break through the corporate glass ceiling and attain coveted top-management positions. Today, women account for nearly half of the nation’s overall workforce, but hold only 6 percent of corporate CEO and high-level executive roles. New research from the Kellogg School at Northwestern finds that one key to women’s career advancement may lie in the gender makeup of a company’s corporate board.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) disrupts communication between the brain and other parts of the body.  In the worst cases, it can bring partial or complete paralysis. Researchers don’t yet know what causes this disease or how to cure it, but they’ve been making progress on both fronts.

Symptoms of MS arise most often between the ages of 20 and 40. It often begins with blurred or double vision, color distortion, or even blindness in one eye. It can cause muscle weakness, vision loss, numbness or tingling, and difficulty with coordination and balance. MS can bring many other symptoms as well.

Women who have more than two alcoholic drinks a week — particularly nonlight beer — appear to be at increased risk of developing the skin condition psoriasis.  The cohort study of almost 83,000 nurses — over 1,000 of whom had cases of incident psoriasis — found that among women who consumed 2.3 or more alcoholic drinks per week, the relative risk (the ratio of the risk of disease among those exposed to a risk factor to the risk among those not exposed, in this case a RR >1 indicates that there was a higher risk for psoriasis in the drinking group)  for psoriasis was 1.72 according to Abrar A.