Neuroendoscopic lavage for intraventricular hemorrhage in a preterm neonate: a case report

Intraventricular hemorrhage is a common bleeding complication among preterm infants; however, there is still no treatment of choice. We present the case of a 31-week-old preterm newborn male patient with a history ofbilateral pneumothorax who was diagnosed with hydrocephalus at 12 days of age with subsequent etiological confirmation of grade IV intraventricular hemorrhage by cerebral ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging.It was decided to treat post-hemorrhagic hydrocephalus surgically by means of neuroendoscopic lavage with ventriculocisternostomy of the third ventricle and choroid plexus coagulation. The patient did not present the need for subsequent interventions or postoperative complications. Neuroendoscopy has emerged as a new technique for the definitive treatment of intraventricular hemorrhage in preterm infants; however, it has not yet been standardized. The present case reports the successful treatment of post-hemorrhagic hydrocephalus in a premature neonate bymeans of neuroendoscopic lavage.La hemorragia intraventricular es una complicación de sangrado común entre los neonatos pretérmino; sin embargo, no existe aún un tratamiento de elección. Se presenta el caso de un paciente varón neonato pretérmino de 31semanas con antecedente de neumotórax bilateral que a los 12 días de nacido es diagnosticado de hidrocefalia conposterior confirmación etiológica de hemorragia intraventricular de grado IV por ecografía y resonancia magnética cerebral. Se decidió tratar la hidrocefalia post-hemorrágica quirúrgicamente mediante lavado neuroendoscópico con ventriculocisternostomía del tercer ventrículo y coagulación de plexos coroideos. El paciente no presentó necesidad de intervenciones posteriores ni complicaciones postoperatorias. La neuroendoscopía ha surgido como una nueva técnica para el tratamiento definitivo de la hemorragia intraventricular en neonatos pretérmino; sin embargo, aún no ha sido estandarizada. El presente caso reporta el tratamiento de la hidrocefalia post-hemorrágicaen un neonato prematuro mediante lavado neuroendoscópico

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data