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Abstract Background Gastric wall edema has not been reported as a complication of acute pancreatitis in dogs. Objective To describe the ultrasonographic features of gastric wall thickening in dogs with acute pancreatitis. Animals Fourteen dogs with ultrasonographic evidence and clinical diagnosis of acute pancreatitis, with ultrasonographic evidence of increased gastric wall thickness (>5 mm). Methods A retrospective search in the medical records from 2014 to 2016 was performed to identify dogs that had ultrasonographic evidence of acute pancreatitis, that had increased thickness of the gastric wall and that were diagnosed with acute pancreatitis clinically. The gastric wall changes such as thickness, layering appearance, echogenicity, distribution of lesions, and perigastric changes were recorded. Serial ultrasonographic examination and histopathological findings were recorded if available. Results Mean gastric wall thickness was 9.9 ± 4.0 mm (SD). A complete loss of wall layering was observed in 2 dogs. Thickening of the submucosal layer was observed in 12 dogs, and 5 of them had concurrent muscularis layer thickening. The echogenicity of thickened submucosal layer was intermediate hyperechoic. Lacy appearances were present within the thickened submucosal layer in 7 dogs and in the muscularis layer of 1 dog. Thickening was focal in 12 dogs and adjacent to the diseased pancreas. Subsequent resolution of gastric wall thickening was observed in 3 dogs (range 3‐28 days) via follow‐up ultrasound. One dog underwent necropsy, and gastric wall edema was confirmed histopathologically. Conclusions and Clinical Importance Findings indicated that gastric wall thickening presumably because of edema could be a complication of acute pancreatitis.

Mycobacterium avium subsp paratuberculosis (Map), the causative agent of Johne's disease, has a robust ability to survive in the environment. However, the ability of Map to migrate through soil to drainage tiles or ground water, leave the farm, and leak into local watersheds is inadequately documented. In order to assess the ability of Map to leach through soil, two laboratory experiments were conducted. In the first study, 8 columns (30 cm long each) of a sandy loam soil were treated with pure cultures of Map. Two soil moisture levels and two Map concentrations were used. The columns were leached with 500 mL of water once a week for three weeks, the leachate was collected, and detection analysis was conducted. In the second experiment, manure from Map negative cows (control) and Map high shedder cows (treatment) were deposited on 8 similar columns and the columns were leached with 500 mL of water once a week for four weeks. Map detection and numeration in leachate samples were done with RT-PCR and culture techniques, respectively. Using RT-PCR, Map could be detected in the leachates in both experiments for several weeks but could only be recovered using culture techniques in experiment one. Combined, these experiments indicate the potential for Map to move through soil as a result of rainfall or irrigation following application.

An efficient algorithm for wave scattering from two-dimensional lossy rough surfaces is proposed. It entails the use of a single magnetic field integral equation (SMFIE) in conjunction with a multilevel sparse-matrix canonical-grid (MSMCG) method. The Rao-Wilton-Glisson (RWG) triangular discretization is adopted to better model the rough surface than the pulse basis functions used in the well-established SMCG method. Using the SMFIE formulation, only one unknown per interior edge of the triangular mesh approximating the rough surface is required, and the iterative solution to the moment equation converges more rapidly than that of the conventional coupled equations for dielectric rough surfaces. The MSMCG method extends the applicability of the SMCG method to rougher surfaces. Parallel implementation of the proposed method enables us to model dielectric surfaces up to a few thousand square wavelengths. Simulation results are presented as bistatic scattering coefficients for Gaussian randomly rough surfaces. Index Terms--Multilevel sparse-matrix canonical-grid method (MSMCG), Rao-Wilton-Glisson (RWG) triangular basis, rough surface scattering, single magnetic field integral equation (SMFIE).

The diet of the Eastern Barn Owl Tyto javanica was investigated by examination of two samples of pellets (n = 11 and 39), pellet debris and prey remains from: (1) an occupied nest with fledgling in May 2009, and (2) an Owl's winter roost in August 2009 near Tamworth in the grain belt of New South Wales. The breeding diet consisted, by number, of 91% mammals (90% rodents, including 87% House Mice Mus musculus) and 9% common farmland birds (n = 116 food items). The winter diet consisted of 99% House Mice and 1% bird (n = 188 food items). The fledgling Owl was killed when it failed to flush from its nest hollow as the tree was being felled, during approved clearing of the now Critically Endangered White Box-Yellow Box-Blakely's Red Gum Grassy Woodland and Derived Native Grassland. Given the dependence of the Barn Owl on House Mice, and the ongoing clearing of hollow trees, we note the potential for (a) secondary poisoning of owls by rodenticides, especially during plagues of the invasive House Mouse in the grain belt, and (b) the Barn Owl's long-term decline in abundance in New South Wales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compression index is an effective assessment of primary consolidation settlement of clayey soils, but the process of obtaining compression index is time-consuming and laborious. Thus, in the present study, we developed two classical tree-based techniques: random forest (RF) and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), to predict the compression index of clayey soils. To establish these two models, we collected an available dataset—including 391 consolidation tests for soils—from previously published research. The dataset consists of six physical parameters, including the initial void ratio, natural water content, liquid limit, plastic index, specific gravity, and soil compression index. The first five parameters are the models’ inputs while the compression index is the models’ output. We trained both two tree-based models using 90% of the entire dataset and used the remaining 10% to assess the well-trained models, which is consistent with the published research. Several statistical metrics, such as coefficient of determination (R2), root mean squared error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), are the criteria for assessing the models’ performance. The results show that the RF model has better accuracy in predicting compression index compared with the XGBoost model because it outperforms the XGBoost model both on the training and testing datasets. The performance of the RF model is R2 of 0.928 and 0.818, RMSE of 0.016 and 0.025, MAPE of 7.046% and 10.082%, and MAE of 0.012 and 0.020 on the training and testing datasets, respectively. The sensitivity analysis reveals that the initial void ratio has a significant impact on the compression index of clayey soils.

A technique for monitoring the glucose concentration inblood plasma in the context of diabetes mellitus is discussed. This involves the utilization of the water attenuation by T2 relaxation-Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill pulse sequence method with hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Besides successfully demonstrating theaccuracy of the method in the analysis of blood plasma glucose, application in orange and guava juice were also positively confirmed.

Maintenance of genetic diversity within species is a key objective of biodiversity conservation, and small, isolated populations are particularly vulnerable to genetic erosion. Conservation management actions such as predator removal, captive breeding and reintroduction can facilitate numerical recovery of a population, but species often remain at risk from depleted genetic diversity and inbreeding. We investigated dispersal, genetic bottlenecks and genetic population structuring in the island‐dwelling Lord Howe woodhen, a species that came perilously close to extinction in the 1970s. Analyses of mark‐resighting records and variable genetic markers (single‐nucleotide polymorphisms) collected from the contemporary population and 100‐year‐old museum specimens found strong evidence of restricted dispersal at fine spatial scales, with both the contemporary and historic populations exhibiting strong population structuring between mountain and lowland/slopes sites. Additionally, genetic comparison of the contemporary population and historic specimens demonstrated a decline in genetic diversity over the past century. Specifically for the Lord Howe woodhen, we recommend ongoing genetic monitoring and translocations to increase genetic diversity within the re‐established lowland subpopulation. More generally, our results demonstrate how pronounced genetic erosion can arise in species subject to human persecution and predation by introduced predators, and how genetic fragmentation of natural populations can be present at fine geographical scales (less than hundreds of metres). Moreover, without prior information about genetic structure and subsequent genetic monitoring, conservation management can have unexpected negative consequences for the genetic health of populations. Therefore, genetic monitoring and management early in the recovery of populations is desirable to maximize their adaptive potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]