Muscular stomach or gizzard is one of the most important parts of gastrointestinal tract in birds for mechanical and chemical digestion and can vary depending on the bird's eating habits. In the present study, the morphology of muscular stomach in common kestrel, steppe eagle, golden eagle and imperial eagle has been investigated and compared.

In this study, common kestrel (n=4), steppe eagle (n=5), golden eagle (n=4) and imperial eagle (n=6) which died because of broken leg and wing, sent to the faculty of veterinary science at Bu-Ali Sina University of Hamadan. The gizzard samples were fixed in 10% formalin buffer solution and the histological process was carried. Finally, H&E, Masson’s trichrome, Orcein and PAS staining were utilized.

The most important difference between the stomach of steppe, golden, and imperial eagles and common kestrel was the lack of keratinous layer in the surface of stomach in eagles. The histological structure of stomach in imperial eagle was more similar to that of steppe eagle. The differences of the stomach of imperial eagle were due to the presence of a thick muscle layer in several different rows with different directions in comparison with steppe and golden eagles.

It can be concluded that, the structure of muscular stomach in common kestrel was similar to gizzard, while the stomach in three species of eagles did not have a keratinous layer.

The proventriculus is one of the most important parts of digestive tract in birds for mechanical and chemical digestion and can vary depending on the bird's eating habits. In the present study, the morphological and histological structure of proventriculus in common kestrel, steppe eagle, golden eagle and imperial eagle have been investigated and compared. In this study, Proventriculus of common kestrel (n=4), steppe eagle (n=5), golden eagle (n=4) and imperial eagle (n=6) were collected and fixed in 10% formalin buffer solution and the histological process were carried. Finally, H&E, Masson’s trichrome, Orcein and PAS stainings were utilized. Histologically, slight differences were observed between the proventriculus of common kestrel and steppe eagle. Notable differences included a continuous and relatively thicker layer of mucosal muscle in the steppe eagle's proventriculus, and the distinct simple columnar epithelium of the submucosal glands type II ducts. The only notable structural difference in golden eagle was the presence of relatively dense connective tissue of lamina propria and one to three layers of continuous smooth muscle in its structure. The histological structure of imperial eagle's proventriculus had two differences with its structure in common kestrel. Firstly, the lamina propria was composed of relatively dense connective tissue and secondly, the muscle layer was relatively thinner than other species examined in this study, while the serosa layer had a considerable thickness. It can be concluded that the structure of proventriculus was similar in three species of eagles and common kestrel, and the main significant difference was related to the layers of mucosal muscle.

Radiography with contrast media is a diagnostic imaging technique with high-resolution that plays a prominent role in showing the transit time of gastrointestinal system. The purpose of the present research was to evaluate the effects of diphenoxylate and loperamide on the transit time of contrast media from the gastrointestinal in cat. The study was performed on twenty healthy female cat. The cats were divided into four equal groups. The first group (control) was received ketamine with diazepam, 40 min before administration of the contrast media. The second group was received diphenoxylate 0.1 mg/kg, the third group loperamide 0.1 mg/kg, and the fourth group loperamide 0.2 mg/kg, 30 min before administration of contrast media. Tranquilizer drugs were administered to all groups. Then the radiography was performed at times zero, 20, 40 and 60 min, and every hour until reaching the contrast media to colon. All groups that were received drug had a significant difference at the beginning of emptying with control group (p < 0.05). The mean total transit time of the stomach was 52 min for the control group, the diphenoxylate 120, the loperamide 0.1 mg/kg 156 and for the loperamide 0.2 mg/kg 204 min respectively. There was a significant difference between the control and the drug-receiving groups as well as the two groups of diphenoxylate and loperamide 0.2 mg/kg at the time of complete stomach emptying (p < 0.05). In conclusion, it was showed that Loperamide with dosage 0.2 mg/kg had the most delay effect in emptying of the gastrointestinal tract in cat.

Gastric cancer is the fourth most common cause of malignancy death in the world, which also has a high prevalence in Iran. Caspase 3 gene is considered one of the major genes related to gastric cancer. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between rs12108497 polymorphism of Caspase 3 gene. Due to the fundamental role of caspases, we have considered an SNP of Caspase 3 (common to two-way joint execution caspases), which has been proven to be related to various cancers. In this case-control study, 95 patients and 90 healthy subjects were enrolled. The patient status was approved, by endoscopy and pathology, to be gastroduodenal adenocarcinoma. Overall, 5 ml of the peripheral blood was collected from all participants, after obtaining an informed consent. Genomic DNA was extracted using the salting-out method and genotypic polymorphism was investigated using the PCR-RFLP method. The frequency of rs12108497 polymorphism was significantly different between patients with gastric adenocarcinoma and healthy subjects (p = 0.0259). Also, the difference in the distribution of T/T genotype was significant (P = 0.0111) and according to the OR score ((95.1% CI = 1.3539-10.5412) and OR = 3.7778), it is suggested that the T/T genotype increases the risk of disease. Our results confirm the association between the rs12108497 polymorphism of Caspase3 gene and the increased risk of gastric adenocarcinoma in individuals referring to Toba Sari Clinic.