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.

Massive gastrointestinal bleeding due to ectopic varix in distal duodenum: a case report.

Duodenal ectopic varices (DEV) are an uncommon etiology of upper gastrointestinal bleeding and are associated with high mortality. Both the diagnosis and management of DEV are challenging. Multiple treatment modalities exist including endoscopic guided management (ligation and sclerotherapy), surgical resection, transvenous obliteration and transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS), but management depends on the underlying vascular anatomy and underlying pathology.

Defining Health in the Era of Value-Based Care: The Six Cs of Health and Healthcare.

Introduction: While healthcare expenditure continues to increase overall health outcomes in the United States continue to be submarginal. The changes we make in our healthcare system need to be informed by a comprehensive and actionable definition of health that can unite patients, healthcare professionals, and policymakers.

Methods: A literature review across multiple disciplines was conducted to assess a broad range of factors associated with health and well-being and based on this literature review a novel definition of health was developed.

Disclosing Huntington's Genetic Testing Results in the Context of Intellectual Disability and Guardianship: Using the Family Illness Narrative to Guide the Flow of Information.

A diagnosis of Huntington's disease has broad social, vocational, reproductive and psychological implications. The ability to accurately diagnose the illness via genetic testing is not new. However, given a persistent lack of robustly effective interventions, it remains an area of ethical concern.

Intravenous melatonin abuse leading to recurrent aortic valve endocarditis: a case report and discussion.

Background: Reports of inappropriate medication use are widespread. There is a growing literature detailing abuse of drugs not typically thought to have high abuse liability. Melatonin is considered to be generally safe and is categorized by the Food and Drug Administration as a nutritional supplement.

Implications of the situated learning model for teaching and learning nursing research.

Situated learning theory is gaining increased attention in the fields of human cognition and learning. The authors discuss the key researchers and basic assumptions of situated learning, and outline implications for the design and development of instruction. The authors describe how they applied the situated model to teaching and learning nursing research, an area identified as problematic for staff, administrators, and educators.