Postpartum Disease Research Articles

Description and Treatment Progress of Postpartum Body Pain in Chinese Medicine

Postpartum body pain is one of the common postpartum diseases, the damage to the patient’s physical and mental health can not be ignored. The recognition and treatment of postpartum body pain in traditional Chinese medicine mainly take qi and blood, Zang-fu organs and ying wei as the main points of syndrome differentiation. Its main etiology and pathogenesis are postpartum deficiency of qi and blood, wind-cold and dampness evil invading human body, the dysfunction of each viscera and the disharmony of camp and health. According to the cause, the treatment can be summarized as supplementing qi and blood, harmonizing Yingwei, dispelling wind and dispersing cold, activating collages and relieving pain, regulating zang fu organs and so on. TCM treatment focuses on the holistic view, and its systematic treatment through early intervention, multiple means and multiple approaches has the advantages of high safety, significant efficacy and low recurrence rate. Clinical syndrome differentiation is not limited to one of the above types, but this article can provide treatment ideas for this disease.

Perspective: Can early embryonic losses be reduced in lactating dairy cows?

Perspective: Can early embryonic losses be reduced in lactating dairy cows?

Comparison of prepartum blood parameters in dairy cows with postpartum ketosis and new risk prediction candidates.

Ketosis is a predominant metabolic problem and a risk factor for several postpartum diseases. This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the complete blood count (CBC), plasma biochemistry, and osteocalcin and identify significant prepartum and early postpartum values expressed in ketotic cows. In 135 Holstein Friesian cows, 210 parturitions of 114 primiparous and 96 multiparous cows were examined. According to the plasma concentrations of β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB; ≥ 1.4 mmol/L) or non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA; ≥ 0.7 mmol/L) in the postpartum period, cows were divided into healthy cows (CON) and ketotic cows (KET). Analyses of CBC and biochemistry profiles were performed from -6 to 4 weeks of parturition every 2 weeks (prepartum; BW-5, BW-3, and BW-1, postpartum; BW1 and BW3), and osteocalcin ELISA tests were performed using blood samples from -2 to 2 weeks of parturition (BW-1 and BW1). In primiparous KET (n = 114) before parturition, lower lymphocyte (Lym) in BW-5 and BW-3, lower red blood cell (RBC) in BW-5, higher mean corpuscular volume (MCV) in BW-1, and higher NEFA in BW-3 were significant compared with CON. Primiparous KET showed lower carboxylated osteocalcin (cOC) levels and a significant decrease after parturition. In multiparous KET (n = 96) before parturition, lower neutrophil (Neu) in BW-5, higher hemoglobin (HGB) in BW-5, higher MCV in BW-5 and BW-1, higher MCH in BW-5, lower total cholesterol (TC) in BW-5, higher triglyceride (TG) in BW-3, higher NEFA in BW-1, higher glucose (Glu) in BW-3, lower γ-glutamyl transferase (GGT) in BW-5, lower inorganic phosphate (iP) in BW-3, and higher body condition score (BCS) in BW-5 and BW-3 were significant compared with CON. Multiparous KET showed decreased cOC and uncarboxylated osteocalcin (ucOC) after parturition, which was lower than that in the CON group. The blood parameters expressing different values between CON and KET in prepartum or early postpartum periods are presumed to show individual nutrition and health states, liver function, and overweight status. These parameters could be valuable indicators that can be used to prevent the occurrence of ketosis and improve management practices by recognizing these differences in ketotic cows before calving.

Risk of retinopathy in women with pregnancy-induced hypertension: a nationwide population-based cohort study of 9-year follow-up after delivery

The retina is potentially associated with several physiological, hormonal, and metabolic changes during pregnancy. The few available epidemiologic studies of ocular changes in pregnancy have mainly concerned retinopathies. Pregnancy-induced hypertension, which leads to ocular manifestations including blurred vision, photopsia, scotoma, and diplopia, might induce reactive changes in the retinal vessels. Although several studies have suggested the existence of pregnancy-induced hypertension-related retinal ocular disease, there are few large cohort studies on this topic. This study aimed to investigate the risk of major retinal diseases including central serous chorioretinopathy, diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusion, retinal artery occlusion, and hypertensive retinopathy in the long-term postpartum stage according to the presence of previous pregnancy-induced hypertension in a large cohort based on the Korean National Health Insurance Database. On the basis of Korean health data, 909,520 patients who delivered from 2012 to 2013 were analyzed. Among them, patients who had previous ocular diseases or hypertension and multiple births were excluded. Finally, 858,057 mothers were assessed for central serous chorioretinopathy (ICD-10: H35.70), diabetic retinopathy (ICD-10: H36.0, E10.31, E10.32, E11.31, E11.32, E12.31, E13.31, E13.32, E14.31, E14.32), retinal vein occlusion (ICD-10: H34.8), retinal artery occlusion (ICD-10: H34.2), and hypertensive retinopathy (ICD-10: H35.02) for 9 years after delivery. Enrolled patients were divided into 2 groups: 10,808 patients with and 847,249 without pregnancy-induced hypertension. The primary outcomes were the incidence of central serous chorioretinopathy, diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusion, retinal artery occlusion, and hypertensive retinopathy 9 years after delivery. Clinical variables were age, parity, cesarean delivery, gestational diabetes mellitus, and postpartum hemorrhage. In addition, pregestational diabetes mellitus, kidney diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, and cardiovascular diseases were adjusted. Postpartum retinal disease during the 9 years after delivery and total retinal diseases showed higher rates in patients with pregnancy-induced hypertension. In detail, the rates of central serous chorioretinopathy (0.3% vs 0.1%), diabetic retinopathy (1.79% vs 0.5%), retinal vein occlusion (0.19% vs 0.1%), and hypertensive retinopathy (0.62% vs 0.05%) were higher than those found in patients without pregnancy-induced hypertension. After adjusting for confounding factors, pregnancy-induced hypertension was associated with development of postpartum retinopathy, with a >2-fold increase (hazard ratio, 2.845; 95% confidence interval, 2.54-3.188). Furthermore, pregnancy-induced hypertension affected the development of central serous chorioretinopathy (hazard ratio, 3.681; 95% confidence interval, 2.667-5.082), diabetic retinopathy (hazard ratio, 2.326; 95% confidence interval, 2.013-2.688), retinal vein occlusion (hazard ratio, 2.241; 95% confidence interval, 1.491-3.368), and hypertensive retinopathy (hazard ratio, 11.392; 95% confidence interval, 8.771-14.796) after delivery. A history of pregnancy-induced hypertension increases the risk of central serous chorioretinopathy, diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusion, and hypertensive retinopathy according to 9-year long-term ophthalmologic follow-up.

Brain MRI Activity During the Year Before Pregnancy Can Predict Long-Term Clinical Worsening in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis (P11-3.018)

<h3>Objective:</h3> The aim of the study was to evaluate the correlation between Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) activity in the year before pregnancy and the long-term clinical meaningful worsening in Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). <h3>Background:</h3> While fewer Multiple Sclerosis (MS) relapses occur during pregnancy, relapse risk increases in the early post-partum period. We showed in a previous study a correlation between an active-MRI pre-conception and the early post-partum disease activity as evidenced by MRI activity and relapses. Increased post-partum disease activity may predict a poor long-term prognosis. <h3>Design/Methods:</h3> An observational retrospective case–control study included 141 pregnancies in 99 females with MS. Statistical analyses were used to evaluate the correlation between MRI-activity in the year pre-pregnancy and post-partum clinical worsening during 5-years follow-up. Clustered logistic regression was used to investigate the predictors of 5-years clinical meaningful worsening in EDSS (lt-EDSS). <h3>Results:</h3> We found a significant correlation for an active-MRI pre-pregnancy and lt-EDSS (p=0.0006). EDSS pre-pregnancy and lt-EDSS also significantly correlated (p=0.043). Using a multivariate model, we predicted which females won’t experience long-term clinical deterioration by a stable-MRI pre-pregnancy (89.6% specificity; p=0.012). <h3>Conclusions:</h3> An active-MRI pre-conception is a strong predictor of lt-EDSS and higher annual relapse-rate (ARR) during the follow-up period, regardless of whether the female had clinical evidence of disease activity prior to conception and delivery. Optimizing disease control and achieving both clinical and imaging stability pre-conception and post-delivery may reduce the risk of long-term clinical deterioration. <b>Disclosure:</b> Mr. Zveik has nothing to disclose. Miss Kahila has nothing to disclose. Dr. Levin has nothing to disclose. Mr. Rechtman has nothing to disclose. Ms. Haham has nothing to disclose. Adi Vaknin-Dembinsky has nothing to disclose.

Association of precalving serum NEFA concentrations with postpartum diseases and reproductive performance in multiparous Holstein cows: Cut-off values.

High concentrations of NEFA relative to a defined reference or 'cut-point' values before calving can predict the risk of specific or collective periparturient disease events. A field-based cohort study was conducted to evaluate the value and critical points of serum nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA) at the precalving time to predict the occurrence of postpartum diseases and reproductive performance in dairy cows. Blood samples were taken from 521 high-yielding dairy cows at 1 week (±3days) before calving and NEFA levels were measured. Health and reproduction information of each cow includes dystocia, retained placenta, milk fever, metritis, mastitis, pregnancy in the first insemination and pregnancy in the first two inseminations, and culling in the first 60 days of lactation and milk production. Our results show that there are significant relationships between precalving NEFA with the probability of pregnancy at the first and the first two inseminations after calving. The cows that had NEFA concentrations less than 0.5mmol/L at the last week of pregnancy were 3.51 and 3.15 times more likely to be pregnant at first insemination and the first two inseminations, respectively. Also, our results showed that there are significant relationships between precalving NEFA concentration and the likelihood of dystocia and milk fever. The probability of dystocia and milk fever occurrence were 2.56 and 1.91 times greater in those cows that had NEFA concentrations more than 0.3mmol/L, respectively. The present results indicated that Increasing NEFA during the prepartum period could adversely affect the reproductive efficiency of dairy cows.

Impact of sensor data pre-processing strategies and selection of machine learning algorithm on the prediction of metritis events in dairy cattle

With all the sensor data currently generated at high frequency in dairy farms, there is potential for earlier diagnosis of postpartum diseases compared with traditional monitoring methodologies. Our objectives were 1) to compare the impact of sensor data pre-processing on classifier performance by using multiple time windows before a given metritis event, while considering other cow-level factors and farm-scheduled activities; 2) to compare the performance of random forest (RF), k-nearest neighbors (k-NN), and support vector machine (SVM) classifiers at different decision thresholds using different number of past observations (time-lags) for the detection of behavioral patterns associated with changes in metritis scores; and 3) to compare classifier performance between each one of the five behaviors registered every hour by an ear-tag 3-axis accelerometer (CowManager, Agis Autimatisering, Harmelen, Netherlands). A total of 239 metritis events were created by comparing metritis scores between two consecutive clinical evaluations from cows that were retrospectively selected from a dataset containing sensor data and health information during the first 21 days postpartum from June 2014 to May 2017. Hourly sensor data classified by the accelerometer as either ruminating, eating, not active (including both standing or lying), and two different levels of activity (active and high activity) behaviors corresponding to the 3 days before each metritis event were aggregated every 24-, 12-, 6-, and 3-hour time windows. Multiple time-lags were also used to determine the optimal number of past observations needed for optimal classification. Similarly, different decision thresholds were compared in terms of model performance. Depending on the classifier, algorithm hyperparameters were optimized using grid search (RF, k-NN, SVM) and random search (RF). All behaviors changed throughout the study period and showed distinct daily patterns. From the three algorithms, RF had the highest F1 score followed by k-NN and SVM. Furthermore, sensor data aggregated every 6- or 12-h time windows had the best model performance at multiple time-lags. We concluded that the data from the first 3 days post-partum should be discarded when studying metritis, and either one of the five behaviors measured with CowManager could be used when predicting metritis when sensor data were aggregated every 6- or 12-hour time windows, and using time-lags corresponding to 2–3 days before a given event, depending on the time window used. This study shows how to maximize sensor data in their potential for disease prediction, enhancing the performance of algorithms used in machine learning.

The Role of Leukotriene B4 in Cow Metritis.

Metritis is a common postpartum disease in dairy cows. As a mast cell (MC) mediator, leukotriene B4 (LTB4) is the strongest phagocyte chemokine. It is important in inflammation for the recruitment of immune cells to resist infection. This study investigated the effect of LTB4 in metritis. Twenty Holstein cows 3 to 6 years old and at 6 to 10 days postpartum were selected, ten of which with postpartum metritis were the experimental group, and the other ten of which as healthy cows were the control group. The levels of LTB4, substance P (SP) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) were measured by ELISA, the expression of LTB4 receptor 2 (BLT2), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 mRNA was measured by qPCR, and collagens I and IV were detected by immunohistochemical staining. Concentrations of SP and LTB4 were significantly higher, but those of VIP were significantly lower in the experimental group than those in the control group. The expression of BLT2, MMP-2 and MMP-9 mRNA was significantly higher in the experimental group than that in the control group. The expression of collagen Ⅰ and collagen Ⅳ was significantly lower in the experimental group than that in the control group. In metritis, SP promotes the activation of MC and the synthesis and release of LTB4. Leukotriene B4 chemotactic immune cells promote the high expression of collagenase, which accelerated the hydrolysis of collagen, while the inhibitory effect of VIP on MC was weakened. This may further aggravate the damage to uterine tissue.

Telehealth Systems for Midwifery Care Management during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

Background: Intrinsic features of COVID-19 disease, including the severity of the virus transmission and mortality rates, make it difficult to provide obstetric care to pregnant women. In this regard, telemedicine can provide comprehensive midwifery care relying on new technologies, such as virtual clinic, telehealth, tele-monitoring, m-Health, wearable sensors, and the internet of medical things. The objective of this study is to identify the application and requirements of a telehealth system for midwifery care.&#x0D; Methods: We conducted a literature search from 2019/12/1 to 2022/10/1 using the following electronic scientific databases: Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar. We carried out hand searches from the reference lists of retrieved studies of journals.&#x0D; Results: We showed that, during COVID-19 pandemic, prenatal care via telehealth increased and telehealth is a good strategy for prenatal and post-partum disease managements. Mental health services are also feasible via telehealth. These new technologies also reduce the risks associated with interpersonal contacts in COVID-19 pandemic.&#x0D; Conclusion: With the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth became the norm. The future of medical services will be built around this technology and that is a great opportunity to move toward a great evolution.

Thyroid storm in a postpartum and uncontrolled graves' disease patient: the challenges of accurate and multidisciplinary disease management

Background: Graves' disease is an immune system disorder that results in the overproduction of thyroid hormones (hyperthyroidism). Although pregnancy hyperthyroidism is a relatively uncommon, thyroid crisis is a medical emergency caused by hyperthyroidism exacerbation with symptoms of organ decompensation in one or more organs. Therefore, managing this disease in pregnant women is critical as well as the safety of using antithyroid drugs for pregnant women and the foetus. Case presentation: A 26-year-old woman presented to the Dr Soetomo General Academic Hospital Surabaya, Indonesia with complaints of shortness of breath that had worsened one hour before the admission as well as sudden fever, diarrheal, anxiety, and decreased consciousness. The patient had hyperthyroidism for three years, and the controls were inconsistent. The patient was diagnosed with P1101 postpartum day 1, thyrotoxicosis due to Graves' disease, thyroid crisis, hypertension, microcytic hypochromic anemia, hypoglycemia, hypoalbuminemia, keratitis, and lagophthalmos. The patient was treated with supportive therapy with an oxygen mask 8 liters per minute (lpm), intravenous fluids, and antipyretic acetaminophen 500 mg every 8 hours. Propylthiouracil 400 mg loading dose followed by maintenance 6x100 mg, 8 drops of Lugol's solution after propylthiouracil administration, intravenous (IV) dexamethasone 2 mg every 6 hours, and oral propranolol 20 mg every 6 hours. The patient was discharged from the hospital after presented favorable improvement. Conclusion: This case demonstrates that the stage of the disease determines the management of Grave's disease during pregnancy, and that multidisciplinary involvement could improve the success and reduce the patient mortality.

Pegbovigrastim use in periparturient embryo-recipient cows: Effects on health and reproduction

The objective of this randomized clinical study was to evaluate the effects of periparturient administration of pegbovigrastim (recombinant bovine granulocyte colony stimulating factor; PEG) on postpartum health and reproductive outcomes in dairy cows carrying transferred embryos. A total of 60 multiparous Jersey cows (second parity n = 21, >second parity n = 39) that were in vitro-fertilized embryo recipients were enrolled. Animals were selected from a commercial herd and assigned to 1 of 2 treatments: (1) PEG (n = 31), which received a subcutaneous injection of 15 mg of PEG 7 d before expected calving and a second dose within 1 h of parturition; or (2) CON, untreated control (n = 29). Parturition was induced pharmacologically in all cows at 280 d of pregnancy with 500 μg of cloprostenol and 25 mg of dexamethasone intramuscularly. Cow health was monitored daily during the periparturient period and included assessment for retained fetal membranes within 24 h after calving and metritis until 20 d in milk. Descriptive statistics were calculated, to determine the incidence of postpartum diseases, causes of culling, and early-lactation reproductive outcomes, including number of inseminations, days to first heat, days to first service, and interval from calving to conception. The Wilcoxon rank sum test was used to assess treatment effects on early-lactation reproductive performance outcomes. The overall incidence of metritis in this cohort of cows was 17.14%. Animals treated with PEG tended to have more cases of metritis (25%) compared with CON (8.8%). Mastitis incidence in PEG was 19.35% compared with CON at 27.59%. These data suggest that in this dairy, with embryo-recipient cows induced to calve at 280 d of pregnancy, the administration of 2 doses of PEG tended to increase postpartum metritis but had no effect on mastitis incidence, culling rate, or early-lactation reproductive outcomes.

Changes in peroxide and antioxidant status during gestation in sows predisposed to postpartum diseases

Industrial pig farms involve intensive use of sows with high genetic potential to produce the highest possible number of viable piglets. Developing against the background of an imbalance of peroxide reactions and antioxidant protection, oxidative stress is the cause of postpartum diseases in sows, which lead to a decrease or cessation of milk secretion, high morbidity and death of newborn piglets. The aim of the work was to study different levels of metabolic status in pregnant sows in the norm and in the event of postpartum endometritis in them. The article presents the studies on the indicators of the antioxidant defense system, nitric oxide and endogenous intoxication in sows during gestation. The study included sows of 3-4 farrowings. The sows were included after farrowing, on the basis of a clinical examination, were divided into two groups: clinically healthy and with signs of postpartum endometritis. On day 38-40 of gestation, the state of physiological oxidative stress was established in sows of both groups. On days 78-81 of gestation, they noted a decrease in the accumulation of proteolysis products and activation of the enzymatic and nonenzymatic components of the antioxidant system. At the same time, in sows with endometritis, compared with healthy animals, an increased content of malondialdehyde, medium molecular weight peptides and medium-weight molecules, reduced activity of catalase, glutathione peroxidase, vitamins A, E, and C were revealed in all periods of the study. They also had a high level of stable nitrogen metabolites involved in the development of oxidative stress and in the mechanisms of antioxidant protection.

Importance of the female reproductive tract microbiome and its relationship with the uterine environment for health and productivity in cattle: A review

Once thought to be sterile, the reproductive tract microbiome has been characterized due to the transition from culture-dependent identification of bacteria to culture-independent sequencing methods. The urogenital microbiome was first identified in women through the Human Microbiome Project, which led to research in other species such as the bovine. Previous research focused on uterine bacteria associated with postpartum disease, but next generation sequencing methods identified a normal, healthy bacterial community of the reproductive tract of cows and heifers. Bacterial communities are now understood to differ between the uterus and vagina, and throughout the estrous cycle with changes in hormone dominance. In a healthy state, the bacterial communities largely interact with the uterine environment by assisting in maintaining the proper pH, providing and utilizing nutrients and metabolites, and influencing the immunological responses of the reproductive tract. If the bacterial communities become unbalanced due to an increase in potentially pathogenic bacteria, the health and fertility of the host may be affected. Although the presence of a reproductive tract microbiome has become widely accepted, the existence of a placental microbiome and in utero colonization of the fetus is still a popular debate due to conflicting study results. Currently, researchers are evaluating methods to manipulate the reproductive bacterial communities, such as diet changes and utilizing probiotics, to improve reproductive outcomes. The following review discusses the current understanding of the reproductive tract microbiome, how it differs between humans and cattle, and its relationship with the uterine environment.

Prevention of subclinical forms of hypocalcemia and ketosis in dairy cows

Obtaining livestock products from healthy livestock is the main goal of the entire livestock industry. The intensification of animal husbandry is accompanied by the active introduction of modern technologies for keeping, feeding and exploitation. Against the background of technological stress factors in cattle, there is a decrease in the duration of productive use, which is due to high morbidity against the background of a decrease in the immune response. The economic losses associated with postpartum illness are forcing professionals to make more informed decisions about prevention and treatment.It is for this reason that the purpose of our study was to study the spread of postpartum diseases in highly productive cows and the prevention of metabolic disorders in newborn cows with PS-2, Prevention-N-E and PDE with E-selenium.In the course of the analysis of morbidity, it was revealed that after calving cows, obstetric and gynecological pathologies are most often recorded: mastitis (26.5%), endometritis (24.5%), subinvolution of the uterus (24.15%), retention of the placenta (7.15%), ovarian diseases (17.45%). Against the background of inaccuracies in feeding during the transition period, the animals have a deficiency of calcium, glucose, phosphorus, as well as an excess of reference values in terms of aminotransferase metabolism. Against the background of immunocorrection of the body in cows of 1,2 and 3 experimental groups, an increase in the level of calcium, in contrast to the control, is noted by 0.22 mmol / l - PS-2, 0.27 - Prevention-NE and 0.24 mmol / l - PDE+ E-selenium. Similar dynamics was observed in the level of glucose in the blood of cows of the experimental groups, exceeding the control values by 22-38%.The use of PS-2, Prevention-N-E and PDE with E-selenium made it possible to reduce the risk of latent ketosis and hypocalcemia by 2 times, compared with animals that did not receive prophylaxis.The obtained results of biochemical studies prove the stimulating effect of biological products on the mineral metabolism of the body and the absorption of macronutrients.

STATE OF NON-SPECIFIC CELLULAR PROTECTION IN PIGLETS REARED UNDER THE SOWS WHO RECOVERED FROM POSTPARTUM DISEASES

The paper presents the results of studying the state of non-specific cellular protection in piglets in the early postnatal period under conditions of an industrial farming. It has been established that the piglets reared under the sows who had recovered from postpartum diseases differed from the animals reared by clinically healthy sows by a reduced level of stab and segmented neutrophils (day 5), lymphocytes (day 20), monocytes, absorption and induced metabolic activity of neutrophils and increased content of eosinophils in all research periods. The data obtained indicate a weakening of the cellular link of the natural non-specific resistance of piglets reared by the sows who had recovered from postpartum diseases, and a predisposition to the development of inflammatory processes.

НЕСПЕЦИФИЧЕСКАЯ ГУМОРАЛЬНАЯ И КЛЕТОЧНАЯ ЗАЩИТА В РАЗНЫЕ ПЕРИОДЫ РЕПРОДУКТИВНОГО ЦИКЛА У СВИНОМАТОК С ПОСЛЕРОДОВОЙ ПАТОЛОГИЕЙ

The article presents the results of the study on non-specific resistance in sows at different periods of the repro-ductive cycle in the conditions of an industrial pig-breeding complex. It has been established that in the animals that fell ill after farrowing, before insemination and during gestation, the level of humoral and cellular defense is lower than that in clinically healthy sows, indicating a risk of inflammatory processes developing in the reproductive system, which manifest themselves clinically as endometritis and MMA after farrowing. During lactation, sows that had postpartum diseases also had lower nonspecific resistance indicators than clinically healthy animals.

A brief Analysis of the three Postpartum Diseases in synopsis of the Golden Chamber

A brief Analysis of the three Postpartum Diseases in synopsis of the Golden Chamber

Post-partum thyroid disease: differential diagnosis and management.

Post-partum thyroid disease: differential diagnosis and management.

FORMATION OF CELLULAR IMMUNITY IN PIGLETS REARED UNDER THE SOWS THAT HAD EXPERIENCED POSTPARTUM DISEASES

The article presents the results of a study on the state of specific cellular immunity in suckling piglets at an in-dustrial pig breeding farm. In the piglets reared under the sows that had experienced postpartum diseases, cellular immunodeficiency was established at the age of 20 days, caused by insufficient activation of the functioning of the own immune system and characterized by a reduced abandance of relative and absolute lymphocytes, T-lymphocytes, theophylline-resistant and theophylline-sensitive T-cells and B-lymphocytes. The data obtained indicate a slowdown in the formation of specific cellular defense in them, which may have a negative effect on the formation of adaptive immunity during the specific prevention of infectious diseases.

Evaluation of Medical and Economical Efficacy of Some Protocols for Treatment of Postpartum Clinical Endometritis in Holstein Dairy Cows

Endometritis is one of the most common postpartum diseases which affect daily cows. It causes severe economic losses through increasing treatment cost, days open, service per conception and decrement in milk yield. This study was conducted to evaluate medical efficacy and economic profitability of some treatment protocols for clinical Endometritis. Forty cycling Holstein dairy cows suffering from Endometritis were divided equally and treated as follow: Group 1: cows with presence of corpus luteum (CL) on their ovaries which received PGF2-α. Group 2: cows with presence of CL received PGF2-α + cephapirin (Metricure®) (500mg cephapirin) by intrauterine infusion. Group 3: cows without presence of CL were treated with Metricure® only. Group 4: cows without presence of CL received 100 ml of Lugol's Iodine solution (0.5%) intra-uterine infusion.The results showed that Group-2 animals recorded the fewest days to complete cure and days open and the highest conception rate when compared to other groups. Hematological result at 10th day post-treatment, showed that all the treatment protocols significantly decreased total leukocytic count, neuytrophils%, lymphocytes% and monocytes% except Group-1. Also, all the treated groups recorded significant decrease in serum level of C-reactive protein (CRP) and inteleukin-6 (IL-6). Concerning economical aspect, treatment protocol of Group-2 was the best. In general, treatment with cephapirine (Metricure®) is the best choice for treatment of clinical endometritis in cattle either in presence or absence of CL.