Early Pregnancy Diagnosis by Serum Acid Titration in Three Sheep Breeds

[ Objective] Earlier identification of pregnant and non-pregnant animals post mating can greatly improve reproductive efficiency and pregnancy rate and decrease the interval between services. The experiment was conducted to develop a rapid and simple early pregnancy diagnostic method in sheep. [Method] The eady pregnancy diagnosis was conducted with serum acid titration in 1 317 female sheep （Duolang sheep, Cele sheep and Karakul sheep） after 16 -30 d post artificial insemination. [Result] After the serum acid titration, 1 128 pregnant ewes and 189 non-pregnant ewes were detected in the three sheep breeds. Compared with the actual pregnancy detection, the coincidence rate of pregnancy was 89.88% （1 013/1 128） ; the coincidence rate of non-pregnancy was 96.83% （183/189） ; and the total coincidence rate was 90.81% （1 196/1 317）. Chi-square test analysis showed that no significant difference （P 〈 0.05） was found between the three sheep breeds or between any two breeds. [ Conclusion ] This serum acid titration is a simple, convenient and highly accurate method for early pregnancy diagnosis in sheep, which shows highly practical and popularizing value.

Doctors’Dilemma in Auspicious Pulse Diagnosis Represented in Ming-Qing Fiction

Auspicious pulse diagnosis/pregnancy diagnosis in traditional Chinese medicine involves such issues as medical skills,narrative skills,family decency,and ethics.It is an excellent case for the exploration of ethical dilemmas in traditional Chinese medical practice.The early classical medical texts such as Su Wen(Basic Questions)and Ling Shu Jing(Spiritual Pivot Canon)provide a principle-based ethical guide for doctor-patient communication,while popular fiction such as Hong Lou Meng(A Dream of Red Mansions),Yu Mu Xing Xin Bian(Stories:Entertain to Enlighten),and Feng Yue Meng(Courtesans and Opium)in the Ming and Qing dynasties present literary examples for solving ethical dilemmas.This article will analyze these texts from three perspectives.First,the doctors in the text were subject to gender order and other delicate etiquette and customs,therefore were unable to make the diagnosis without embarrassing the patients and jeopardizing family decency.Second,the narrator tends to attribute pregnancy misdiagnosis to three reasons:incomplete patient information,doctors’poor narrative competence,and doctors’corrupted medical ethics.Finally,the Ming-Qing fiction proposes three methods to solve this moral dilemma:clear pulse reading,tactful speech,and taboo challenging.This discussion of moral dilemmas in pregnancy diagnosis in traditional Chinese medical practice can be used as a reference for the localization of narrative medicine.

Comparison of Oestrous Synchronization Response and Pregnancy Rate of Village Cows Following Timed Artificial Insemination in KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo Provinces

The objectives of the current study were to evaluate the estrous response and pregnancy rate following timed artificial insemination (TAI) with frozen-thawed semen in cows. The study was carried out in cows at different villages of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN;n = 160) and Limpopo provinces (L;n = 171). Cows were selected randomly as presented by the farmers, regardless of parity, age, breed and body weight following pregnancy diagnosis. The cows were grouped according to breed type and body condition score (BCS) on a scale of 1-5. Selected cows were inserted a controlled intravaginal drug release (CIDR®) and removed on day 8, followed by administration of prostaglandin. Heat was observed on day 9 with the aid of heat mount detectors (HMD) that were placed on the individual cow’s tail head. Cows on heat were then inseminated twice at 12 hours interval. Pregnancy diagnosis was performed by an ultrasound scanner and rectal palpation 90 days after TAI. Data were analyzed using SAS 2006. Estrous responses were 100% in KZN and 99% in Limpopo. The lowest pregnancy rate was recorded in Brahman and Bonsmara type cows with BCS ≤ 2.5 regardless of province. Interestingly, Nguni type cows with BCS ≤ 2.5 had higher average pregnancy rate of 59.5% in Limpopo and 53.5% in KZN. However, cows with BCS ≥ 3 had better pregnancy rate regardless of breed type and province. In conclusion, village cows can be synchronized successfully and inseminated with frozen-thawed semen. However, pregnancy rates are low in cows with lower body condition. Village Nguni type cows were not affected by body condition scoring as they had higher and similar pregnancy rate as those that had body condition of ≥3.

Influence of oligohydramnios on late pregnancy outcome

Oligohydramnios of late pregnancy is an extremely important signal of a life threatening to the fetus, which severely affect the prognosis of perinatal and makes perinatal mortality rate 5 times higher. [1].As one of the conditions that should be prevented in late pregnany, timely discovery and treatment of oligohydramnios can significantly reduce the perinatal mortality rate and improve the quality ofperinatal [2] We will make a summary on the influence of oligohydramnios in late pregnancy outcome in this article. Normally, amniotic fluid volume increases with the passes of gestational week and the volumes increases to about 800ml during late pregnancy to full-term pregnancy.We call it oligohydramnios when if the volume is less than 300m1.[3].

Birth of healthy children after preimplantation diagnosis of β-thalassemia

Background Clinical programs for preventing β-thalassemia are presently based on prospective carrier screening and prenatal diagnosis. This paper report an achievement of a pregnancy with unaffected embryos using in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET), in combination with preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), for a couple at risk of having children with β-thalassemia. Methods A couple carrying different thalassemia mutations, both a codon 41-42 mutation and the IVS-II-654 mutation, received standard IVF treatment, with intracytoplasmic sperm injection, embryo biopsiy, single cell polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and DNA analysis. Only unaffected or carrier embryos were transferred to the uterine cavity. After confirmation of pregnancy, a prenatal diagnosis was performed. Results Of a total of 13 embryos analyzed for β-globin mutations, PGD indicated that 2 were normal, 3 were affected, and 6 were carriers. Diagnosis could not be made in the other 2 embryos. Three embryos were transferred to the uterus on the third day after oocyte retrieval. Ultrasonography revealed a twin pregnancy with one blighted ovum. The prenatal genetic diagnosis revealed that both fetuses were unaffected, and two healthy boys were born, confirming the results of PGD. Conclusions We developed a single-cell based primer extension preamplification (PEP)-PCR assay for the detection of β-thalassemia mutations. The assays were efficient and accurate at all stages of the procedure, and resulted in the birth of PGD-confirmed β-thalassemia free children in China. PEP was used here in PGD for β-thalassemia.