Computed Tomographic Angiography of the Pancreas in Cats with Chronic Diabetes Mellitus Compared to Normal Cats

Background

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common endocrinopathy in cats. No known diagnostic test or patient characteristic at the time of diagnosis can predict likely disease course, unlike in people in whom computed tomographic angiography (CTA) is used. No published data exist regarding the CTA appearance of the pancreas in cats with DM, and thus, it is unknown what if any CTA variables should be further assessed for associations with pancreatic endocrine function.

Hypothesis/Objectives

A significant difference in pancreatic attenuation, volume, and size will be identified between normal cats and those with chronic DM on CTA.

Animals

Ten healthy control cats and 15 cats with naturally occurring DM present for >12 months.

Methods

Prospective cross‐sectional study comparing pancreatic attenuation, enhancement pattern, size, volume, pancreatic volume‐to‐body weight ratio (V:BW), pancreatic arterial: portal phase ratio (A:P), time‐to‐arterial enhancement, and time‐to‐peak portal enhancement on CTA between sedated healthy control cats and those with chronic DM.

Results

The pancreas in cats with chronic DM was significantly larger, had higher volume, higher V:BW, and shorter time‐to‐peak portal enhancement on CTA when compared to normal cats.

Conclusions and Clinical Importance

Peak portal enhancement time, pancreatic size, pancreatic volume, and V:BW can be used to differentiate normal sedated cats from those with chronic DM by CTA. These variables warrant further investigation to identify possible associations with endocrine function.     

Effect of tester on combining ability estimates of maize germplasm complexes

Eight maize complexes and varieties representing high and low yield levels were tested for their suitability as top cross testers by comparing the performance of the crosses in relation to the combining ability of the parents estimated by diallel analysis. The discriminating ability of the testers was compared by Schumann and Bradley test. In both cases the results clearly showed that the low performing testers were better and more reliable than the high performing complexes. The utility of per se performance as an indication of general combining ability of the complexes has been discussed.     

Performance of agency-managed and farmer-managed irrigation systems: A comparative case study at Chitwan, Nepal

Management reforms are considered one of the best alternatives in increasing efficiency of the irrigation systems. Transfer of day-to-day operation and maintenance to farmers is not a new concept. However due to lags, even now it is a hot issue in developing countries and Nepal is not an exception. In this context of growing argument about the transfer of management of public irrigation systems to the Water Users' Group, this paper examines the comparative performance of farmer-managed and agency-managed irrigation systems. Khageri Irrigation System in the Chitwan district of Nepal was taken as the study site where complete management transfer has been done in 1996. The situations before and after complete transfer were compared. Intensive case studies of the selected farmers showed that equity in distribution of water and leakage had significantly improved after management transfer. Logit analysis revealed that age and education level of the household head, distance from main canal, leakage of the canal and equity in distribution are significantly related to the satisfaction level of the beneficiary farmers from FMIS compared to AMIS. However, landholding size of the respondent farmer has no significant effect. Similarly results from t-test revealed that rice productivity and overall profits from agriculture has also increased significantly due to irrigation management transfer.     

Genome-wide association study for spot blotch resistance in Afghan wheat germplasm

Spot blotch (SB), caused by Bipolaris sorokiniana, is a devastating disease of wheat globally, especially in South Asia and South America. Understanding the genetics of resistance to SB is important for developing breeding strategies to improve resistance. A panel of 301 genotypes from Afghanistan was phenotyped over two crop seasons using a mixture of virulent B. sorokiniana isolates and genotyped using DArTSeq to obtain genome-wide markers. Fifty genotypes (16.6%) showed disease scores less than the resistant control. Principal component analysis using the genotypic data clustered the genotypes into five different groups. Among models used for genome-wide association mapping, the multilocus mixed model, and fixed and random model circulating probability unification algorithms were most effective in identifying significant marker-trait associations (MTA). Twenty-five MTAs at p ≤ .001 were identified on chromosomes 1A, 1B, 1D, 2B, 2D, 3A, 3B, 4A, 5A, 5B, 6A, 7A, and 7D, indicating the quantitative nature of resistance to SB. Phenotypic variation explained by these markers ranged from 2.0% to 17.7%, and genomic regions on the chromosomes 1D, 2D, 3A, 3B, 4A, 5A, and 5B coincided with loci identified in previous studies. Three single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers on chromosomes 1B (SNP 1113207) and 5A (SNPs 5411867 and 998276) were significant in both crop seasons as well as in the combined analysis across seasons. Marker 5411867 is close to Vrn-A1, shown to be associated with SB in previous studies. Furthermore, among known SB resistance genes, Sb2 on chromosome 5B was predicted to be significant in this panel.