مهدی سخا

Atrial fibrillation is one of the most important cardiac arrhythmias in athletic horses, which can be caused by cardiac valve insufficiency. This study reports the incidence of atrial fibrillation with mitral regurgitation in a Mix-breed athletic horse that showed cardiac murmur, poor performance and exercise intolerance. In a 5-year-old Mix-breed mare clinical examination, electrocardiography, hematological and biochemical serum tests, and echocardiography were performed to identify the causes of cardiac murmur and poor performance. In auscultation, an irregular-irregularity heart rhythm and the 4/6-degree holosystolic murmur with a maximum intensity point in the mitral valve region with trill, were heard. Then, the atrial fibrillation was recorded in base-apex lead electrocardiography. Increased levels of fibrinogen and white blood cells were detected in the hematological tests. Echocardiography showed flail leaflet of mitral valve, left ventricular dilatation, and moderate mitral regurgitation. The fractional shortening (FS) values were decreased that indicating a decrease in myocardial function. In mitral regurgitation, left atrium enlargement is part of the pathophysiological changes to compensate for the cardiac overload, but it will also be a sign of future heart disorders such as atrial fibrillation and even sudden death. Eventually, atrial enlargement with mitral regurgitation, atrial fibrillation and decreased fraction shortening can lead to poor performance and even a negative effect on horse's life expectancy.

Downer cow syndrome refers to cows that become recumbent and fail to rise; this is a major concern in dairy farms worldwide. The syndrome occurs mainly in the early postparturient period and is caused by several diseases. The most common cause of downer cow syndrome is hypocalcemia (milk fever). This study evaluated the serum concentration of macrominerals(Ca, P) in downer dairy cows that they had treated for milk fever. Blood samples were collected from 30 Holstein downer cows that could not rise 15-18 hours after recumbency and after first treatments. Serum concentration of macrominerals (Ca, P) were determined. In this study the 11 downer cows were hypocalcemic with hypophosphatemic. In the 17 downer cows calcium concentration was below 8mg/dl and in the 21 downer cows phosphorus concentration was below 5.5mg/dl. The serum phosphorus concentratio above 6.5 mg/dl observed in the 7 downer cows that the 6 cows had hyperphosphatemia with hypocalcemia. In this study, hypercalcemia was not in any cases but the 23.3% downer cows had hyperphosphatemia

Lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV) is a DNA virus from the genus capripoxvirus. Though the morbidity rate of this virus is different among species, it involves all ages. This disease was limited to sub-Saharan Africa though it gradually spread to other African countries and the Middle East.

This study aimed to evaluate and compare the clinical and epidemiologic indices of the virus in two groups of native and Holstein cattle.

In this research, 1652 native cattle (group 1) and 1798 Holstein cattle (group 2), which were kept in 32 -unvaccinated epidemiologic units, were studied during the field investigation about the disease in Zanjan prov-ince, at first outbreak of LSD. All major symptoms, lesions, morbidity and mortality rates observed were recorded in pre-designed forms. None of the infected cattle in this study were vaccinated.

One hundred percent of the cattle in both groups had skin nodules. The number of nodules in group 1 was significantly fewer than that in group 2 (P≤0.05). Moreover, edema in the legs was observed in 5.88% of group 1 and 37.14% of group 2. Moreover, 11.76% of group 1 and 45.71% of group 2 suffered from pneumonia and respiratory distress. The morbidity rate was 1.03% in group 1 and 1.98% in group 2, showing a significant difference (P≤0.05); while there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of mortality rate.

The results of this study showed that native cows are more resistant to LSDV than Holstein cows.

Lumpy skin disease (LSD) virus, Goat-poxvirus (GPV), and Sheep-poxvirus (SPV) are members of genus capripoxvirus (CaPV) and have close genetic similarity. The use of CaPV-vaccine strains would be useful to protect the cattle against LSD. This study aimed to compare the neutralizing antibody titer of Iranian heterologous sheep pox and goat pox vaccines against LSD in cattle. A total of 100 calves was vaccinated with Gorgan-GPV and Ramyar-SPV vaccines on separate farms. Neutralizing antibody titer and side effects of vaccines were evaluated at days 14, 28, 45, 90, and 180 post-vaccination. The mean of rectal temperature in SPV was higher than GPV and persisted for up to 3 days. Also during the onset time of fever, ocular and nasal discharge were observed, whereas in the GPV and control group no clinical signs were observed. In each vaccinated group, the first detectable antibody titer was after 14 days and rose to peak at 28-45 days post-vaccination, then it decreased in the following days. Although, the mean of the neutralizing index (NI) titer between GPV and SPV was relatively similar and there was no statistically significant difference (p > 0.05) at all days of the experiment, but in GPV the titer appeared slightly higher than SPV and reached to protective level (NI ≥ 1.5) on day 45 post-vaccination. There was a high antibody titer (Log101.07) in the day 180 post-vaccination. The results showed that GPV vaccine because of the induction of the protective level of antibody titer, and persisting within  a long period for up to 180 day post-vaccination, has a good immunogenic response, so is considered a suitable vaccine to control LSD.

Mastitis is a widely occurring and costly disease in the dairy industry. It remains the most common infectious disease in dairy cattle and the most costly disease affecting the dairy industry.The objective of the present study was to compare the electrophoretic patterns of milk serum proteins from cows with sub-clinical mastitis with healthy cows using SDS-PAGE methodand milk amyloid A (MAA)and Haptoglobin (Hp) concentrations for the diagnosis of bovine subclinical mastitis caused by common pathogensin Iranand alsocomparison between clinical accuracy of MAA, albumin, α- lactalbumin, β-lactoglobulin and Immunoglobulin with determination of somatic cell count in the diagnosis of bovine subclinical mastitis.Milk samples from 59 Holstein cows were randomly selected from five commercial dairy herds in Tehran province, Iran. The milk samples were taken from healthy cows and cows with subclinical mastitis. Milk samples were divided into 2 aliquots; one part was sent to microbiological laboratory for somatic cell count and bacterial culture in the ice bag and the other part was sent to the clinical pathology laboratory Milk serum was isolated and used for electrophoretic and other analytical studies, including MAA, total protein, albumin, α- lactalbumin, β-lactoglobulin and Immunoglobulin measurements.SDS-PAGE method was used for fractionation of serum milk proteins.Milk Amyloid A according at a cut-off point of 0.52 mg/l showed 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity and was regarded as the most accurate method in diagnosis of subclinical mastitis, while determination of the β-lactoglobulin had a little diagnostic value (p = 0.015). On the other hand, comparison between electrophoretic patterns of healthy and mastitic serum milk showed that higher molecular weight bands appeared in the milk of mastitic cows in the range of 70-170KDa, while milks from healthy cows did not show any bands in this range. The results of the present study show thatthe SDS-PAGE method can be a helpful test in diagnosis of subclinical mastitis.

This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of subclinical ketosis and relation to periparturient disorders in dairy farm in shahr-e-kord.a total 203 multiparous holstein cows(parity 2-9) were randomly selected from 10 commercial dairy herds.since the likely risk time for occurrence of ketosis is during 2-5 weeks after parturition, the blood samples were taken wk 1 before calving and at wk 2 and 3 after calving.from 3 weeks before calving to 3 months after calving,peripartum diseases informations including milk fever,metritis,mastitis,clinical ketosis,displased abomasum,retained placenta,dystocia,pneumonia and lamemess were gathered in data sheet form.beta-hydroxy butyrate and glucose were measured in serum by using automated analyzer and statistical analysis was performed to investigate the prevalence of ketosis(clinical and subclinical) and related periparturient diseases.in this study,the prevalence of subclinical ketosis,using cut-off 1200mmol/lit of beta-hydroxy butyrate was 0.98 in wk 1 before,9.8 in wk 2 and 13.79 percent in wk 3 after parturition respectively.it was shown that there is a significant correlation between subclinical ketosis and left displacement of abomasum,metritis and mastitis(p<0.05), scparately so that the odds ratio of each disease was 9.74, 4.26 and 6.64 respectively.

Hypocalcaemia is a risk factor for many important diseases such as ketosis, in the lactation period. Hypoglycemiaand hyperketonemia are the main metabolically disturbances in ketosis, which may affect the clinical syndrome. Inmost cases, the severity of clinical syndrome is related to the level of hypoglycaemia. The aim of this study was toevaluate the correlation between subclinical hypocalcaemia and serum glucose at postpartum period in a dairy farmwith 2000 cattle in Tehran province.Blood samples were taken from 1000 cattle; serum glucose and calcium were measured within the frst 12 hours at24 hours and 10 days postpartum.In this study, the prevalence of subclinical hypocalcaemia with the cutting point of 8mg/dl was 37,51 and 7 percent,respectively. For hypoglycaemia with the cutting point of 35mg/dl, the prevalence were 0,1 & 8 percent respectively.Based on statistical tests: hypocalcaemia cases showed decreased in mean level of serum glucose, to compare with thenormal cases )P = 0.017(. Calcium concentration in 10 days postpartum showed correlation with the serum glucoselevel at the same time P= 0/0005.