Abbott Laboratories Corporation

Willie J Cowart

Svitlana Y Berezhna

Rene Nieves Alicea

Wenjing Li

Marilou L Coleman

Ema C Olah

Walter G Stonas

Young Ran Kim

The present disclosure includes methods of assessing a histologically stained specimen based on a determined color signature of a region of interest of the specimen. Such assessments may be performed for a variety of purposes including but not limited to assessing the quality of the histological stain, as part of identifying one or more biologically relevant features of the image, as part of differentiating one feature of the image from other features of the image, identifying an anomalous area of the stained specimen, classifying cells of the specimen, etc. Also provided are systems configured for performing the disclosed methods and computer readable medium storing instructions for performing steps of the disclosed methods.

Methods and systems for assessing histological stains

A method for distinguishing erythroblasts from bacteria by automated hematology analyzers, such as, for example, the CELL-DYN&#xae; 4000 automated hematology analyzer and the CELL-DYN&#xae; Sapphire&#x2122; automated hematology analyzer. Bacterial cells scatter light and fluoresce differently than do red blood cells, white blood cells, erythroblast nuclei, and platelets. Signals generated by bacteria are distinguishable from those of erythroblasts because the signals generated by erythroblast nuclei are sufficiently unique that erythroblast nuclei can be distinguished from signals generated by bacteria. Signals generated by platelets, lysed red blood cell ghosts, and other cell debris are blocked by the triple-trigger circuitry of the hematology analyzer, because all of the signals generated by noise are below the AND/OR thresholds. Algorithm(s) in the software of the system detect and count signals generated by bacteria by means of the location and the shape of the signals generated by bacteria and calculate the concentration of bacteria per unit of body fluid. In addition, certain body fluids, such as, for example, synovial fluid, can be pretreated with a viscosity reducing agent for a short period of time to reduce the viscosity of the body fluid prior to analyzing a sample of the body fluid by an automated hematology analyzer.

Method for classifying and counting bacteria in body fluids

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San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Willie J Cowart