Evaluation of the middle ear in water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) by gross anatomy and cone-beam computed tomography

Background: The purpose of this study was to provide a description of gross middle ear morphology in water buffaloes, augmented with additional data on the osseous structures of middle ear derived from cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). Materials and methods: Skulls of 10 young adult male water buffaloes were used to examine their middle ears. Results: Anatomical features noted included the presence of tympanic cells in the tympanic bulla, the location of malleus head and neck, and all of incus in the dorsal epitympanic recess, the oval tympanic membrane, absence of a prominent notch on the articular surface of malleus, positional variations of the lateral process of malleus relative to the muscular process and muscular process relative to the rostral process of malleus, absence of complete coverage of the articular facet of malleus head by incus body, and presence of the lenticular process of incus. In CBCT images, the osseous part of external acoustic meatus, the petrous part of temporal bone and the details of the ossicles were seen, except for stapes. Conclusions: Although tympanic membrane, malleus and stapes of water buffaloes are similar to those of ox, the incus of water buffaloes is more similar to that of goats. The heaviest ossicles among the ruminants studied belonged to water buffaloes; the mean length of malleus head and neck, total length and width of incus body as well as length of stapes head were greatest in water buffaloes too. The auditory ossicles of water buffaloes show ‘transitional type’ morphological characteristics. These features suggest a relatively wide frequency range of hearing, but not one biased towards especially low or especially high frequencies

An in-vitro study on the accuracy of conventional film optical densitometry and densitometry in radiovisiography system

Nowadays, bone mass estimation, through imaging methods, is widely used in metabolic"ndiseases diagnosis and treatment. One of these methods is called "optical densitometry" which estimates bone density by measuring the intensity of the transmitted light on different parts of a radiographic image. Digital radiography systems act similarly by determining grey levels of the image. The aim of this study is comparing two different methods of optical densitometry and a digital system densitometry known as radiovisiography. 45 samples, containing urografin with three different concentrations, were imaged, by both radiovisiogrphy (RVG) and conventional film systems. To determine the densitometry of films and radiovisiography images, optical densitometry and bone densitometry option of the RVG software, were applied respectively. Data were analyzed and compared for their reliability (repeatability) and correlations with concentration. In RVG densitometry system, the correlation with concentration is moderate (r=0.42) and intra samples and intra group reliability are 97.68% and 88.19%. Moreover, in conventional optical film densitometry, correlation with concentration (r=0.987) is high, intra samples and intra group reliability is high, intra samples and intra group reliability are 99.97% and 99.84%, respectively. According to the results, it is suggested that conventional film optical densitometry is more precise and reliable than RVG densitometry