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.

Starvation-Induced Stress Response Is Critically Impacted by Ceramide Levels in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Our understanding of the cellular mechanisms by which animals regulate their response to starvation is limited, despite the strong relevance of the problem to major human health issues. The L1 diapause of Caenorhabditis elegans, where first-stage larvae arrest in response to a food-less environment, is an excellent system to study this mechanism. We found, through genetic manipulation and lipid analysis, that biosynthesis of ceramide, particularly those with longer fatty acid side chains, critically impacts animal survival during L1 diapause.

Early MRI versus conventional management in the detection of occult scaphoid fractures: what does it really cost? A rural pilot study.

Introduction: To compare the cost-effectiveness and patient impact between acute magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) management and conventional management in the diagnosis of occult scaphoid fractures in a rural setting.

Methods: Consecutive patients presenting to a rural emergency department (ED) with a suspected scaphoid fracture were randomly assigned to either conventional management (6) or acute MRI management (10) (3 patients were excluded from the study analysis). All healthcare costs were compared between the two management groups and potential impacts on the patients' pain, mobility and lifestyle were also measured.

Hydrogel Nanoparticles with Thermally Controlled Drug Release.

Improving the therapeutic efficacy and reducing systemic side effects of drugs is an important aspect in chemotherapy. The strategy presented here is the use of cisplatin loaded, temperature-sensitive, hydrogel nanoparticles (CisPt-NPs) and their ability to deliver and release chemodrugs selectively, based on thermal stimuli. The specially synthesized CisPt-NPs show a temperature-dependent increase of cisplatin release, at neutral pH (as in blood and normal tissue), in both the presence and absence of common metallic ions, as well as at the low pH found in lysosomes, where endocytosed NPs often localize.

Human liver fatty aldehyde dehydrogenase: microsomal localization, purification, and biochemical characterization.

To better understand the genetic disorder Sjogren-Larsson syndrome which is caused by a deficiency of fatty aldehyde dehydrogenase activity, we determined the subcellular localization of the enzyme and investigated its biochemical properties. Using density gradient centrifugation, we found that fatty aldehyde dehydrogenase activity was predominantly localized in the microsomal fraction in human liver. This fatty aldehyde dehydrogenase was solubilized from human liver microsomes and purified by chromatography on columns consisting of omega-aminohexyl-agarose and 5'-AMP-Sepharose 4B.