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.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The Mettler-Toledo 7000RMS analyzer is a bio-fluorescent particle counter (BFPC) used to monitor real-time bioburden results from purified water (PW).
Objective: Validation of the analyzer using 13 microorganisms and a low-intensity, fluorescent, polystyrene bead.
Methods: During the execution of the validation, a laboratory water system that met PW quality standards was connected to the 7000RMS, and a syringe pump was used to introduce various concentrations of microorganisms and fluorescent polystyrene beads to the analyzer.
The transition from traditional growth-based microbial detection methods to continuous bio-fluorescent particle counting methods represents a paradigm shift, because the results will be non-equivalent in terms of microbial counts, and a continuous, rather than periodic, data stream will be available. Bio-fluorescent particle counting technology, a type of rapid microbiological method, uses the detection of the intrinsic fluorescence of microbial cells to enumerate bioburden levels in air or water samples, continuously. The reported unit is commonly referred to as an autofluorescence unit, which is not dependent upon growth, as is the traditional method.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrecise control of thermophysical properties of liquids through tailor-made design of the liquid molecular structure is a goal that, if achieved, could have significant positive impacts on machine design, performance and durability. In this work we show how the breakdown of the Green-Kubo relations down to the atomic level in molecular dynamics simulation can give useful insight into the mechanisms of thermal conduction. Using a group of five small alcohols as a case study, we demonstrate how combining this level of insight with differential-structure analysis reveals the competition for conduction between carbon and hydroxyl group atoms, and show how this competition contributes to the change in thermal conductivity observed in experiment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Process and Environmental Monitoring Methods Working Group, composed of members from industry and instrument manufacturers, met with the FDA Emerging Technology Team to discuss bio-fluorescent particle counting technology, a type of rapid microbiological method. This is a summary of the meeting including submitted questions and answers, and the Process and Environmental Monitoring Methods Working Group's understanding of the FDA Emerging Technology Team's points made.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNational health workforce supply and demand models help predict requirements built on individual annual productivity assumptions. Dual employment rarely is addressed, yet in 2015, about 13.5% of certified physician assistants (PAs) reported two or more clinical positions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The primary purpose of this study is to examine whether use of source data is effective in increasing the number of arterial segments that can be interpreted from maximum intensity projections of lower limb MR angiograms. Correlation between sites of arterial disease and venous contamination was also measured. Interpretation of source data is performed routinely by radiologists, but the value of this has not been well studied with randomized studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Establishing the sagittal jaw relationship is a key component to developing a diagnosis when treating an orthodontic patient. Several measurements, including the Wits Appraisal, ANB angle and nasion perpendicular have been and are currently used by practitioners to diagnose the sagittal jaw relationship. Unfortunately, all of these measurements have their limitations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study assessed factors impacting practice selection among primary care and specialty physician assistants (PAs). Certified PAs randomized by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) (30,000) were surveyed, with 2,020 responses (RR = 6.7%).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdsorption onto carbon nanotube bundles may find use in various applications such as gas preconcentration and separation, and as a result, it is of great interest to study the adsorption properties of such bundles. The adsorption of linear alkanes, with their systematic variation through chain length, is particularly useful to explore the effects of molecular length on adsorption characteristics. We have conducted grand-canonical Monte Carlo simulations of light linear alkanes adsorbing onto closed nanotube bundles to explore these effects in a systematic manner.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Nanosci Nanotechnol
October 2011
With their unique long cylindrical shape, carbon nanotubes may one-day form nozzles for nano-scale printing or flow into a chamber. Since the scale of the flowing molecules is similar to the diameter of the nanotubes, molecular vibration, orientation and density become influenced by the confinement during flow. We have studied the flow of diatomic molecules through carbon nanotube nozzles using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations, in an effort to gain a greater understanding about the fundamental properties of such molecules in such a setting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOsmosis is fundamental to many processes, such as in the function of biological cells and in industrial desalination to obtain clean drinking water. The choice of solute in industrial applications of osmosis is highly important in maximizing efficiency and minimizing costs. The macroscale process of osmosis originates from the nanoscale properties of the solvent, and therefore an understanding of the mechanisms of how these properties determine osmotic strength can be highly useful.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe have studied the competitive entry of potassium and sodium into carbon nanotubes using molecular dynamics simulations. Our results demonstrate how a combination of strong sodium hydration coupled with strong potassium-chlorine interaction leads to enhanced potassium selectivity at certain diameters. We detail the reasons behind this, and show how variation of nanotube diameter can cause a switch to sodium selectivity, or even cause a decrease in overall ion entry despite an increase in diameter.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Anopheles gambiae plant-sugar feeding was thought to be rare and physiologically optional. Unlike adult females, males have no alternative source of energy and soon die with only water, yet they might be competent to inseminate all females within their brief lifespan. This study was designed to detect sugar's effect, if any, on male performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop
June 2008
Introduction: The purpose of this study was to investigate the biomechanical characteristics of a V-bend wire configuration in a free-end system, ie, with 1 end mounted in an orthodontic tube and the other loosely ligated to a bracket. The effects of V-bend position and size, wire dimension, method of ligation, and the inclusion of a second wire in the system were examined.
Methods: Samples of various wire configurations were mounted in a bench testing machine to measure moments and forces at both ends in a standardized configuration resembling a 2-premolar extraction clinical case incorporating a special bracket with a second, frictionless slot.
A novel apolipoprotein, designated ApoN, has been identified in bovine ovarian follicular fluid using chromatographic purification methods, amino acid sequence analysis, molecular biology, and bioinformatics. The apolipoprotein is a hydrophobic 12-kDa protein processed from the C terminus of a 29-kDa precursor expressed in a number of tissues, including the ovary, testis, the anterior chamber of the eye, skeletal muscle, uterus, and liver. Bovine, porcine, and murine ApoN display significant homology at the amino acid level across the entire precursor sequence.
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