A summary of the main themes and findings presented at the ASM Intermountain Branch meeting (2024).

The annual meeting for the Intermountain Branch was held in April 2024 on the campus of Brigham Young University. There were 127 branch members from Utah, Idaho, and Nevada who attended the meeting and were composed of undergraduate students, graduate or medical students, and faculty. This report highlights the diversity of, and the emerging trends in, the research conducted by American Society for Microbiology members in the Intermountain Branch.

High-resolution estimates of social distancing feasibility, mapped for urban areas in sub-Saharan Africa.

Social distancing has been widely-implemented as a public health measure during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite widespread application of social distancing guidance, the feasibility of people adhering to such guidance varies in different settings, influenced by population density, the built environment and a range of socio-economic factors. Social distancing constraints however have only been identified and mapped for limited areas.

Mapping urban physical distancing constraints, sub-Saharan Africa: a case study from Kenya.

With the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, public health measures such as physical distancing were recommended to reduce transmission of the virus causing the disease. However, the same approach in all areas, regardless of context, may lead to measures being of limited effectiveness and having unforeseen negative consequences, such as loss of livelihoods and food insecurity. A prerequisite to planning and implementing effective, context-appropriate measures to slow community transmission is an understanding of any constraints, such as the locations where physical distancing would not be possible.

High-resolution population estimation using household survey data and building footprints.

The national census is an essential data source to support decision-making in many areas of public interest. However, this data may become outdated during the intercensal period, which can stretch up to several decades. In this study, we develop a Bayesian hierarchical model leveraging recent household surveys and building footprints to produce up-to-date population estimates.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Guided Adaptive Brachytherapy for the Treatment of Cervical Cancer and its Impact on Clinical Outcome.

Aims: We implemented magnetic resonance imaging-based image-guided adaptive brachytherapy (IGABT) for the management of cervical cancer at the Northern Centre for Cancer Care in January 2015. The Royal College of Radiologists recommended IGABT as the new standard of care for the management of cervical cancer in the UK in 2009, following earlier publication of recommendations of Groupe European de Curietherapie of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology for three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging-based IGABT. The purpose of this study was to investigate if the introduction of IGABT in the management of cervical cancer at our institute indeed improved the treatment outcomes with a better toxicity profile as compared with conventional brachytherapy (CBT).

Global spatio-temporally harmonised datasets for producing high-resolution gridded population distribution datasets.

Multi-temporal, globally consistent, high-resolution human population datasets provide consistent and comparable population distributions in support of mapping sub-national heterogeneities in health, wealth, and resource access, and monitoring change in these over time. The production of more reliable and spatially detailed population datasets is increasingly necessary due to the importance of improving metrics at sub-national and multi-temporal scales. This is in support of measurement and monitoring of UN Sustainable Development Goals and related agendas.

Spatially disaggregated population estimates in the absence of national population and housing census data.

Population numbers at local levels are fundamental data for many applications, including the delivery and planning of services, election preparation, and response to disasters. In resource-poor settings, recent and reliable demographic data at subnational scales can often be lacking. National population and housing census data can be outdated, inaccurate, or missing key groups or areas, while registry data are generally lacking or incomplete.

Rapid and Near Real-Time Assessments of Population Displacement Using Mobile Phone Data Following Disasters: The 2015 Nepal Earthquake.

Introduction: Sudden impact disasters often result in the displacement of large numbers of people. These movements can occur prior to events, due to early warning messages, or take place post-event due to damages to shelters and livelihoods as well as a result of long-term reconstruction efforts. Displaced populations are especially vulnerable and often in need of support.

Research on child abuse in the U.S. armed forces.

Child maltreatment in the United States has provoked considerable interest in recent years. Child abuse and neglect are prevalent in all parts of American society. Although children of military personnel experience maltreatment, little research has been completed that compares child abuse rates in the military with those for civilian populations.

Quality in practice: setting a standard for the insertion of fistula needles.

Nursing research, involving haemodialysis patients completing mood diaries, conducted at St. James' Hospital in Leeds, has indicated that consecutive problematic haemodialysis sessions can significantly affect a patient psychologically (1,2). In response to these findings a nursing standard was set at the Lincoln Haemodialysis unit, a satellite unit of Leicester General Hospital Department of Nephrology, to identify pain on needle insertion.

Healing after treatment of periodontal intraosseous defects. IV. Effect of a non-resective versus a partially resective approach.

2 regenerative surgical approaches using citric acid conditioning, were compared in the treatment of deep intraosseous periodontal defects. The first approach was non-resective in that no osseous tissue was removed. The second, a partially resective approach, involved reduction of the osseous defect depth by removal of some supporting bone.

Content of care in rural primary health care practices.

The data used in this study was collected by the original MEDEX project in Seattle, Washington. The original use of the data by the project was to measure changes in patient characteristics. The MEDEX-designed data collection system is compared with proposed systems for collecting nationwide ambulatory health care data collection effort is additional evidence that such data can be collected on a large scale, if the physicians and their ancilliary personnel are properly motivated.