A bone biopsy procedure for neonatal pigs

Neonatal pigs were used to develop a surgical biopsy procedure to remove bone tissue from the ilium of small animals, with potential application for infants and small children. While the neonatal pig was under general anaesthesia, a scalpel was used to make a punch incision down to the ilium. Then a Craig Biopsy Trephine was used to remove a core sample of the bone. The samples ranged from 5 to 15 mm in length and 2 to 3 mm in diameter, with an average dry weight of 34.4 mg. The samples were adequate for mineral (calcium and zinc) analysis in our laboratory and may be equally suitable for histological or biochemical analyses. Surgical trauma was minimal, which permitted each pig to be biopsied every 7 days for 5 weeks without adverse consequences.     

Immersible probe for continual monitoring of the population density of microorganisms grown in liquid media

A common technique of measuring population density of microorganisms grown in liquid media is to withdraw a sample of the suspension and measure its apparent optical density with a spectrophotometer. The device we describe is capable of continually and automatically monitoring the population density of microorganisms grown in suspension.