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Large-scale retrospective studies allow for identification of disease trends, such as predisposing factors, typical clinical signs, and range of histologic lesions, which cannot be determined in individual case reports. Lesions of the endocrine pancreas of ferrets are extensively reported; however, there are no in-depth investigations of lesions in the exocrine pancreas. This retrospective analysis presents the histologic features, clinical signs, and concurrent diseases of lesions in the exocrine pancreas of ferrets. Seventy-seven lesions were reported and included acinar cell hyperplasia (n = 32), chronic pancreatitis (n = 16), acute pancreatitis (n = 13), acinar cell adenoma (n = 5), acinar cell carcinoma (n = 4), acinar cell atrophy (n = 3), presumptive acinar cell hypoplasia (n = 2), and lymphoma (n = 2). Our results demonstrate that acinar cell hyperplasia and chronic pancreatitis can both cause grossly visible pancreatic nodules. Hyperplasia was not associated with neoplastic transformation. In addition, acinar cell adenoma was slightly more common than carcinoma, which is contrary to most reports of neoplasia in ferrets. Our findings also suggest that acute pancreatitis can be a sequela to pancreatic biopsy and that there may be an association between chronic pancreatitis and diabetes mellitus in ferrets. Finally, zinc toxicosis was found to be an unlikely cause of pancreatitis in these ferrets based on zinc tissue concentration testing in a subset of cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the mid-1970s, groundwater resources in Bermuda have been explored to supplement growing potable water demand on the island. Much of this work has focused on modeling the shape and size of freshwater lenses beneath the island's surface, mainly the Devonshire Lens. Less attention has been paid to how these freshwater lenses interact with surrounding coastal seawater, a process that may grow in importance as sea levels rise. Due to isotopic differences between aquifer water and seawater, these interactions can be tracked using the oxygen isotopic composition of water (δ18Ow) samples collected from coastal and subterranean areas. A pilot study found more temporal variation in coastal seawater δ18Ow along Bermuda's South Shore (the section of the coast closest to the Devonshire Lens) compared to elsewhere around the island and suggested that freshwater was discharging into coastal seawater fromthe Devonshire Lens in significant quantities. However, this study was limited by its small dataset so could not quantify the full spatial and temporal variability of δ18Ow in this area. Here, we present salinity and δ18Ow measurements from seawater samples collected around Bermuda and in wells tapping the Devonshire Lens on timescales ranging from hourly to monthly to better visualize the dynamic interaction between coastal seawater and aquifersourced freshwater. We find tight correlation between salinity and δ18Ow in well waters, indicating a simple linear mixing relationship between seawater and aquifer water in the subsurface. We confirm previous findings of larger variability in δ18Ow along the South Shore compared to elsewhere and relate observed changes to tidal height on hourly to monthly timescales. Surprisingly, South Shore seawater salinity does not vary in accordance with δ18Ow, implying additional mechanisms, such as the addition of salt spray, must be acting to mute salinity changes. These findings also demonstrate the potential in using δ18Ow to study submarine groundwater discharge, as salinity measurements alone did not detect as much variability. As sea levels rise and interactions between ocean and aquifer waters change, coastal and well water δ18Ow measurements may be helpful in tracking these processes, and in particular, changes in aquifer size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]