IMAGING DIAGNOSIS—URETHROVAGINAL FISTULA CAUSED BY A MIGRATING GRASS AWN IN THE VAGINA

A young intact female dog was presented with urinary incontinence. Abdominal ultrasound revealed the presence of hyperechoic linear structures within the cranial vagina suggestive of foreign material. A computed tomography (CT) retrograde vaginourethrogram demonstrated the presence of a fistulous tract between the urethra and vagina. A presumptive diagnosis of urethrovaginal fistula due to migration of foreign material was made. The grass awn was removed with vaginoscopic‐guided retrieval. Fourteen days later, surgical repair of the fistula and an ovariohysterectomy were done. This case report emphasizes the usefulness of CT for diagnosis and precise anatomical localization of genitourinary tract fistulas.     

Ferulic acid from aleurone determines the antioxidant potency of wheat grain (Triticum aestivum L.)

Grain is an important source of phytochemicals, which have potent antioxidant capacity. They have been implicated in the beneficial health effect of whole grains in reducing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. The aim of the present study was to identify the most important antioxidant fractions of wheat grain. It was found that the aleurone content of these fractions was highly correlated with the antioxidant capacity of the fractions (r = 0.96, p < 0.0001). Ferulic acid appeared to be the major contributor to the antioxidant capacity in fractions with higher antioxidant capacity. The contribution of protein was rather limited. It was concluded that the antioxidant potency of wheat grain fractions is predominantly determined by aleurone content, which can be attributed to the presence of relatively large amounts of phenolic compounds, primarily ferulic acid.     

A General Approach to Model Movement in (Highly) Fragmented Patch Networks

Landscape heterogeneity can often be represented as a series of discrete habitat or resource patches surrounded by a matrix of non-habitat. Understanding how animals move in such networks of patches is important for many theoretical and applied questions. The probability of going from one patch to another is affected in a non-trivial way by the characteristics and location of other patches in the network. Nearby patches can compete as possible destinations, and a particular patch can be shadowed by neighboring patches. We present a way to account for the effects of the spatial configuration of patches in models of space use where individuals alternate between spending time in a patch and moving to other patches in the network. The approach is based on the original derivation of Ovaskainen and Cornell (J Appl Probab 40:557–580, 2003) for a diffusion model that considered all possible ways in which an individual leaving a particular patch can eventually reach another patch before dying or leaving the patch network. By replacing the theoretical results of Ovaskainen and Cornell by other appropriate functions, we provide generality and thus make their approach useful in contexts where diffusion is not a good approximation of movement. Furthermore, we provide ways to estimate time spent in the non-habitat matrix when going from patch to patch and implement a method to incorporate the effect of the history of previous visits on future patch use. We present an MCMC way to fit these models to data and illustrate the approach with both simulated data and data from sheep moving among seasonally flooded meadows in northern Patagonia.Supplementary materials accompanying this paper appear online.     

Idiopathic hyperaldosteronism in a dog

Idiopathic hyperaldosteronism was diagnosed in an 8-year-old castrated male Yorkshire Terrier, based on increased concentration of plasma aldosterone, hypertension, hypernatremia, decreased natriuresis, hypokalemia, and hyperkaluria. Unilateral adrenalectomy was performed after visualization of a nodule on the right adrenal gland. Hyperplasia of the zona glomerulosa and increased postoperative aldosterone concentrations supported the diagnosis of idiopathic hyperaldosteronism.     

Characterization of herpesviruses isolated from lactating dairy cows with mammary pustular dermatitis.

Herpesviruses serologically indistinguishable from the DN599 strain of bovine herpesvirus were isolated from 2 separate enzootics of mammary pustular dermatitis in lactating Holstein-Friesian cows.     

A whole-genome assembly of Drosophila

We report on the quality of a whole-genome assembly of Drosophila melanogaster and the nature of the computer algorithms that accomplished it. Three independent external data sources essentially agree with and support the assembly's sequence and ordering of contigs across the euchromatic portion of the genome. In addition, there are isolated contigs that we believe represent nonrepetitive pockets within the heterochromatin of the centromeres. Comparison with a previously sequenced 2.9- megabase region indicates that sequencing accuracy within nonrepetitive segments is greater than 99. 99% without manual curation. As such, this initial reconstruction of the Drosophila sequence should be of substantial value to the scientific community.     

Chemical and biological trends associated with acidic atmospheric deposition in the Rhode River watershed and estuary

The Rhode River estuarine/watershed system is a tributary of Chesapeake Bay located on the inner Atlantic Coastal Plain. Its soils are fine sandy loams. Bulk precipitation pH in the spring season declined from 4.95 in 1974 to 3.82 in 1981 and was 4.03 in 1985. The changes in pH of a forested primary stream were more related to changes in bulk precipitation pH than were the changes in pH of agricultural streams, reflecting the importance of other major terrestrial sources of acidity on agricultural systems. Surges in acidity and dissolved total Al concentration in primary (first order) streams reached extremes of pH 3.2 and 300 μg Al L^?1. Higher order streams were observed to have surges in acidity with pH minima below 5.0. Surges in acidity ocurred during accelerated groundwater percolation following storm events and did not coincide with surface runoff or snowmelt. One of the reasons why groundwater is more acidic than surface runoff is that the vegetation exchanges H30 ⁺ for alkaline cations in the soil and translocates these ions to the vegetational canopy. When it rains, subsequently, H₃0⁺ in the precipitation displace some of these alkaline cations from the canopy. The end result is that overland flow during storms is enriched in alkaline cations, while groundwater is enriched in H₃0⁺. Although the source of dissolved Al is dissolution of clay minerals with atomic ratios of Al to silicate of 1:l, 1:2, or 1:3, this ratio in stream water rapidly declined to 1:1200 due to loss of Al. On average, forest drainage was the most acidic, the highest in dissolved Al, and the lowest in Ca. Surges in acidity were most severe from pastureland, and next most severe from cropland. Total fluoride concentrations were high relative to Al from all three land uses. Rhode River spawning runs of Perca flavescens declined drastically from the early 1970s to essentially zero since 1981. Larval bioassays of acidity indicate negligible toxicity to Hyla crucifer, significant toxicity to Perca flavescens and drastic effects on Morone saxatilis at pH 5.0.