December Research Round-up- Clinical & Research News - For and about the Physicians and Researchers of Brigham and Women's HospitalDecember Research Round-up- Clinical & Research News - For and about the Physicians and Researchers of Brigham and Women's Hospital

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December Research Round-up

BWH is home to a vibrant research community. This section of Clinical & Research News is dedicated to highlighting prominent and recently published research findings and related news. Share your announcement at BWHClinicalandResearchNews@partners.org

Home Is Where the Heart (Disease) Is


Cheryl Clark

Women who live in the Southeastern and Appalachian regions of the U.S. have higher levels of inflammation and are at greater risk for cardiovascular disease than women who live in other parts of the country, according to a study led by Cheryl R. Clark, MD, ScD, BWH Department of Medicine. Researchers found higher than average levels of inflammation in these regions in a population of women who were chiefly Caucasian and who were employed in health care professions.

"The increased risk of inflammation in the Southeast and Appalachia regions of the U.S. is not completely explained by race or lifestyle behaviors," said Clark. "More research is needed to understand why risks for developing inflammation might be higher for women living in these places."

The study findings are published in the November 2011 issue of the journal PloS ONE. 

Sepsis Signs in Mom's EMR


Karen Puopolo

Doctors may now have help when deciding whether to test a newborn for sepsis. In a study led by Karen M. Puopolo, MD, PhD, BWH Department of Newborn Medicine, researchers used electronic medical records (EMRs) to identify 350 infants born at 34 or more weeks gestation with early-onset bacterial sepsis. After comparing EMRs with those of mothers with healthy babies, researchers found that a baby's risk of becoming infected was associated with a mother's body temperature of greater than 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit, as well as the length of time to rupture of membranes ("water breaking"). Increased risk was also associated with late-preterm or post-term delivery. Giving antibiotics during labor helped decrease risk. The findings led researchers to develop a model to predict sepsis risk in newborns. The model can be generated within the EMR. The resulting "sepsis risk score" may help doctors determine the likelihood of infection and, from this information, decide how to evaluate and manage sepsis.  

The study is published in the Nov. 1, 2011 issue of Pediatrics.

Pinpointing Brain Cancer 


Elizabeth Claus

BWH researchers in the Genetic Epidemiology of Glioma International Consortium (GLIOGENE) have associated glioma (a malignant brain tumor) risk with a region on chromosome 17. After screening thousands of patients diagnosed with glioma in an effort to identify families with two or more living relatives with the disease, researchers collected blood and saliva samples from 75 such families. After analyzing the samples, they found that glioma susceptibility was linked to a region on chromosome 17 called 17q12-21.32. The group now plans to examine this chromosomal area in greater detail in patients with and without a family history of the disease.

"There is still a lot of work to be done, but these findings help us narrow down our focus," said Elizabeth B. Claus, PhD, MD, BWH associate neurosurgeon and one of the study's authors. "It is a suggestive first step in identifying genes and eventually treatments for glioma."

The study is electronically published in the Oct. 28, 2011, issue of Cancer Research.

ICD without OMT?

Although guidelines recommend that patients scheduled for implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) surgery receive optimal medical therapy (OMT) before surgery, almost one out of four patients in the U.S. were not on these therapies at the time of ICD implantation, according to a new study. Researchers looked at the National Cardiovascular Data Registry records of 175,757 patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction (a type of heart failure) undergoing their first ICD implantation. Roughly 25 percent of the patients who were eligible for OMT-blood pressure medications, in this case-were not given the treatment.  

"The results underscore to us that there's significant room for improvement in the quality of care of these patients," said Amy Leigh Miller, MD, PhD, BWH Cardiovascular Division, the study's lead author. "From both a quality-of-care and a cost-effectiveness standpoint, we need to make sure that patients being considered for ICD have received a trial of these medications."

The study will be published in the Jan. 9, 2012 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine

1,300 Patients Participate in OurGenes Study

In its first recruitment year, OurGenes, OurHealth, OurComunity has received 1,300 patient participants. OurGenes is an innovative research initiative that is creating a bank of blood samples and health information to be used for research studies.


Christine Seidman

“OurGenes is a sweeping endeavor,” said Christine Seidman, MD, co-chair of the Center for Human Genetics at the BRI and co-principal investigator of the project. “We are creating the infrastructure that will drive BWH research and medicine for decades to come.”

The project began last year with researchers working to collect a blood sample and health data from patients at six pilot clinics. OurGenes will provide researchers who have IRB approval with access to a unique databank. The project will collect more than 100,000 individual blood samples and health information surveys from BWH patients. This substantial collection will provide researchers with sample sizes large enough to accurately measure the relatively subtle findings common in genetic research.


Elizabeth Karlson

The samples will be linked to the patient’s longitudinal medical record, allowing researchers to access the patient’s phenotype as it changes and run genome wide associated studies (GWAS) with cases and controls. OurGenes patients will also be consented for follow-up contact by interested researchers. “OurGenes has the potential to profoundly impact the future of medicine,” said Elizabeth Karlson, MD, co-chair of the Center for Human Genetics at the BRI and co-principal investigator of OurGenes.

To access this valuable resource, or to use OurGenes infrastructure to recruit samples for your study, visit http://ourgenes.partners.org or call 617-525-4499.