[Social media-Chances and risks for rheumatology]. / Social Media ­ Chancen und Risiken für die Rheumatologie.

The use of social media and social networks has increased significantly in recent years. They are becoming progressively more important as information channels in private and professional contexts. Also, in medicine, social media are already being used in a variety of ways. For example, professional societies and patient interest groups are being increasingly represented in social networks. The broad use and wide audience of these networks offer new opportunities for the field of rheumatology. This review article provides an overview of the characteristics of some major social media platforms and systematically analyses the existing publications in the context of rheumatology. Furthermore, advantages, but also potential risks that may arise due to social media use are being addressed.

[VEXAS syndrome]. / VEXAS-Syndrom.

The VEXAS syndrome is a recently identified autoinflammatory systemic disease. The acronym VEXAS stands for Vacuoles, E1 enzyme, X­linked, Autoinflammatory, Somatic. The disease is due to an acquired somatic mutation of the UBA1 gene, which encodes for the E­1 enzyme, which in turn is responsible for the ubiquitination of proteins. Due to its location on the X chromosome, the disease predominantly affects men (in the second half of life). The patients present with a plethora of inflammatory clinical symptoms, often with overlap of hematologic, dermatologic, and rheumatologic syndromes. In particular, the presence of cytoplasmic vacuoles in the bone marrow is characteristic. In this article we report the clinical case of a VEXAS patient and give an overview of the pathophysiology, clinical symptoms and diagnostics of the disease.