Risk Assessment and Recommended Approaches to Optimize Infection Control and Antibiotic Stewardship to Reduce External Ventricular Drain Infection: A Single-Center Study.

An external ventricular drain (EVD) is used to release elevated intracranial pressure by draining cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from the brain's ventricles. The establishment of an EVD is one of the most commonly performed neurosurgical procedures to treat intracranial pressure in patients. Nevertheless, infections are very frequent complications.

Complex Infection-Control Measures with Disinfectant Switch Help the Successful Early Control of Carbapenem-Resistant Outbreak in Intensive Care Unit.

A carbapenem-resistant (CRAB) outbreak in an intensive care unit (ICU) was contained by an improved infection-control measure that included a disinfectant policy. In our retrospective cohort study, we describe the epidemiological investigations and infection-control measures during this outbreak. Descriptive analysis was used to summarize patient demographics, neurological diseases, surgical treatment, underlying diseases, infection, and outcomes.

Co-occurring ripple oscillations facilitate neuronal interactions between cortical locations in humans.

How the human cortex integrates ("binds") information encoded by spatially distributed neurons remains largely unknown. One hypothesis suggests that synchronous bursts of high-frequency oscillations ("ripples") contribute to binding by facilitating integration of neuronal firing across different cortical locations. While studies have demonstrated that ripples modulate local activity in the cortex, it is not known whether their co-occurrence coordinates neural firing across larger distances.