BRI Briefs
BWH Medical Staff News brings you BRI Briefs to share some of the latest research news coming out of the Biomedical Research Institute (BRI).
Further Evidence Links Genetic Defect to ASDs
Researchers affiliated with the Autism Consortium and the Developmental Genome Anatomy Project (DGAP) – a nationwide research initiative headed by BWH’s Cynthia Morton, PhD, that studies genes critical to human development – report compelling evidence that implicates the neurexin 1 gene (NRXN1) in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). The researchers explain the gene likely interacts with other, still unknown, susceptibility factors for ASDs. These findings appear in the January American Journal of Human Genetics.
Anxiety, Depression and Chronic Rhinosinusitis
Neil Bhattacharyya, MD, FACS, of the Division of Otolaryngology, and Ajay Wasan, MD, MSc, of the Pain Management Center, report in the January Annals of Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology that psychiatric comorbidity does not influence symptom reporting or diagnostic accuracy in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). The researchers conclude that although clinicians should consider associated anxiety and depression during CRS evaluation, psychiatric comorbidity should not bias clinicians in their diagnostic decision making.
Board Certification and Likelihood of Increasing Meds for Elevated BP
Alexander Turchin, MD, MS, and colleagues in the Division of Endocrinology found that primary care physicians who were not recently board certified in Internal Medicine were less likely to increase medications for elevated blood pressure. On average, for every decade since the physician’s last certification by the American Board of Internal Medicine, the frequency of anti-hypertensive treatment intensification decreased by 21 percent. These findings appear in the February Circulation.