BACKGROUND Wild mallards (Anas platyrhychos) are considered one of the primary reservoir species for avian influenza viruses (AIV). Because AIV circulating in wild birds pose an indirect threat to agriculture and human health, understanding the ecology of AIV and developing risk assessments and surveillance systems for prevention of disease is critical. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS In this ...

For many years lizard thermal ecology studies have relied on the use of contact thermometry to obtain internal body temperature (Tb) of the animals. However, with progressing technology, an interest grew in using new, less invasive methods, such as InfraRed (IR) pyrometry and thermography, to infer Tb of reptiles. Nonetheless few studies have tested the reliability of these new tools. The prese...

Objective: Physiological outcomes in patients of cloacal exstrophy are governed primarily by neurological innervation and detrusor histomorphology. An evaluation of the bladder plate histomorphology for the presence of neural elements, collagen fibres and smooth muscle components was done and correlation attempted with detrusor physiology. Methods: From three cases of cloacal exstrophy, full th...

Proventricular dilatation disease (PDD) is a fatal infectious disease of birds that primarily affects psittacine birds. Although a causative agent has not been formally demonstrated, the leading candidate is a novel avian bornavirus (ABV) detected in post-mortem tissue samples of psittacids with PDD from the USA, Israel and, recently, Germany. Here we describe the presence of ABV in a parrot wi...

An 11-year-old female consulted our department with complaints of urinary incontinence and pyuria. She had had a cloacal repair 7 years ago. The radiograph showed four stones in the pelvis. Magnetic resonance imaging showed two diverticula next to the urethra and several low intensity masses in one diverticulum were regarded as stones. Voiding cystourethrography showed normal urinary bladder co...

Chlamydophila psittaci (C. psittaci) infection was evaluated in 77 free-living nestlings of Blue-fronted Amazon parrots (Amazona aestiva) and Hyacinth macaws (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) in the Pantanal of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Tracheal and cloacal swab samples from 32 wild parrot and 45 macaw nestlings were submitted to semi-nested PCR, while serum samples were submitted to complement fi...

Background : Terminal myelocystocele is a rare type of skin-covered lumbosacral mass, which often associated with the OEIS complex, combination Omphalocele, cloacal Exstrophy, Imperforate anus, and Spinal cord abnormalities. Due to its rarity, long-term outcome postoperative course are poorly understood.

gastrointestinal (gi) bleeding in pediatric patients has several causes. vascular malformation of the small bowel is a rare disease leading to pediatric gi bleeding. to our knowledge, few reports describe ultrasound and computed tomography findings of venous malformations involving the small bowel. we present a case of long-segmental and circumferential vascular malformation that led to gi blee...

the teratogenicity of cadmium exposure was studied in virgin nimri rats aged 10-13 weeks. pregnant animals were fed cadmium sulfate equivalent to doses of 1,4 and 7 mg/kg/day of cadmium by oral gavage on the day 7 of gestation. on the day 18 of gestation, fetuses were delivered and examined for external and skeletal malformations. total percent of malformed fetuses in rats treated by different ...