Negative indices in lists in in Python means counting backwards from the end, so [-1] is the last element in the list, [-2] the second to last, and so on.
Now, nlread always returns a list so we must select some element. You could just use the first one, so index 0, but the reason I typically use [-1] instead is that if by chance have run the same script twice or more, you may have saved multiple objects in the file, and most likely you want the latest one.
Also, [ 0 ] typically doesn't show up well in this Forum, it gets interpreted as a bullet point unless you add the extra spaces