Korean native calf mortality: the causes of calf death in a large breeding farm over a 10-year period / 대한수의학회지

Calf losses have an economic impact on larger Korean native cattle (KNC) breeding farms due to replacement, productivity, and marketing. However, little research on KNC calf mortality or causes of calf death on large-scale breeding farms has been conducted. Based on medical records and autopsy findings from the Hanwoo experimental station of the National Institute of Animal Science, calf death records from 2002 to 2011 were used to identify the causes of mortality. Mortality rate of KNC calves was 5.7%. Large differences (1.8~12.6%) in year-specific mortalities were observed. Calf deaths were due to digestive diseases (68.7%), respiratory diseases (20.9%), accidents (6.0%), and other known diseases (2.2%). The main cause of calf death was enteritis followed by pneumonia, rumen indigestion, and intestinal obstruction. The greatest number of calf deaths occurred during the fall followed by summer. These results indicated that enteritis and pneumonia were the main reasons for calf death. However, autopsy findings demonstrated that other factors also caused calf death. This study suggested that seasonal breeding and routine vaccinations are the most important factors for preventing calf death, and improving calf health in high land areas with low temperature.

Classification of acute clinical mastitis on the base of vital signs and complete blood count test in dairy cows / 대한수의학회지

This study was carried out to evaluate the diagnosis of acute clinical mastitis (ACM) which was based on the vital signs and complete blood count (CBC) tests in dairy cows. Twenty eight dairy cows diagnosed with ACM, were selected for the study between Jan 2003 and July 2006 in the National Institute of Animal Science. Based on their vital signs (rectal temperature, depression, rumen contraction and, dehydration status), ACM was divided into three different classes; mild, moderate and severe forms. In addition, ACM cows were subjected to CBC tests for further diagnosis of ACM. Of the 27 dairy cows diagnosed with ACM, 3 cows were determined to have a mild form, while moderate and sever forms were each observed in twelve cows. Among of them, 4 cows died, 5 cows were culled and 18 cows were recovered. In the mild form, all haematological parameters were comparable with normal values. However, leukopenia, due to neutropenia and lymphocytopenia, appeared characteristically in the moderate and severe forms. Using the observation of vital signs in conjunction with CBC tests, the diagnosis of ACM is more accurate, and is helpful in making decisions of whether treatment or culling of dairy cows infected with ACM is most appropriate.

The dairy calf mortality : the causes of calf death during ten years at a large dairy farm in Korea / 대한수의학회지

The objective of this study was to investigate the calf death and analyse the causes of the mortality by based on medical records and autopsy findings during 10 years in a large dairy farm. Total of 1,361 calf born and 146 calf dead during the invested period. Mortality rate was 10.7% and showed the big difference by year-specific mortality from 2.8% (4 calves) to 19.2% (28 calves). The highest rate of mortality was 1 week age (18.5%, 27 calves) and followed by 2 week age (11.6%, 17 calves) and mortality of more old calf tended to be reduced. The death less than 4 weeks and 8 weeks of age of the entire mortality accounted for 41.1% (60/146 calves) and 70.0% (102/146 calves), respectively. Causes of calf death were digestive diseases (53.4%), respiratory diseases (17.1%), musculoskeletal disease (8.2%), and systemic disease (8.2%) in order. Specific causes of calf death was highest in enteritis (43.2%), followed by pneumonia (14.4%), sepsis (8.2%) and fractures (3.4%). Seasonally, most of calf death happened in winter (48.6%) and then fall (21.2%). This results showed that enteritis and pneumonia are the main reason of calf death but other reasons were involved in calf death on the based on autopsy finding. On going research relating factors of calf mortality is needed.

The impact of the duration of retained placenta on postpartum diseases and culling rates in dairy cows / 대한수의학회지

The objective of this study was to evaluate the duration of retained placenta (RP) on postpartum diseases and culling in dairy cows. Data were collected from 456 Holstein cows between 2008 and 2010. RP (> or = 24 h after parturition) and postpartum diseases were diagnosed by farm managers and a veterinarian according to standardized definitions. The overall incidence rate of RP was 14.0%, and the incidence rate of RP with fourth and higher parity was two times that of cows having offspring for the first time. The duration of RP was 2 to 15 days with a mean of 6.8 days, except for cases of fourth and higher parity which had a mean of 10.5 days. A total of 63% of cows with RP had postpartum diseases. Among the cows diagnosed with RP, 23.4% developed metritis, and of those, 35.3% developed endometritis or pyometra. A total of 25% (n = 16) cows with RP were culled within 60 days in milk (DIM) and of those culled, 75% (n = 12) had postpartum diseases. These results suggest that RP increases the risk of postpartum diseases such as metritis and mastitis and is a culling hazard up to 60 DIM.

Metastatic Brain Tumor from Cardiac Chondrosarcoma: A Case Report

Primary chondrosarcoma of the heart and its metastasis to the brain is extremely rare. We describe the case ofa patient who underwent resection of cardiac chon-drosarcoma only to relapse with brain metastasis two yearslater. MR images showed that these metastatic tumors were slightly hypointense relative to the brain onT1-weighted images and hyperintense on T2-weighted images. The masses were highly enhanced. Peritumoraledema appeared less extens ive and the focal cystic portion was seen within the mass, corresponding to myxoid degeneration.

A Case of Fibrolipoma on the Palm

Fibrolipoma is a rare histological variant of lipoma characterized by proliferation of mature fat and fibrous tissue. Most of the benign lipomatous tumors in the palm reported in the literature developed in the nervous tissue, especially the median nerve sheath. We report an unusual form of fibrolipoma on the palm which arose from the subcutaneous tissue or superficial palmar fascia in the palm, not the nerve or tendon sheath. There was no recurrence 3 years after surgical removal was performed.

Sclerosis of hepatic cavernous hemangioma: CT findings and pathologic correlation

We report a case of hepatic cavernous hemangioma with computed tomographic findings of well demarcated nodular lesser attenuation foci within the main low attenuation mass on precontrast scans and non-enhancement of the foci even on the delayed contrast scans. These have been described as one of the atypical findings of cavernous hemangioma earlier in the literature. Surgery proved that sclerosis accounted for the hypodense nodular densities within the hepatic cavernous hemangioma.