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CNS changes in a case of DRPLA associated with dementia and personality changes were observed by CT, MR and SPECT. Brain CT and MR of the patient revealed progressive cortical atrophy which was recognized in parallel with the clinical course of the progression of dementia and personality changes. SPECT using '%odoamphetamine (IMP) disclosed a diffuse low perfusion of the cerebral cortex, especially in the frontal and temporal lobes. These findings suggest that the dementia and personality changes in this case might be concerned with a dysfunction of the cerebral cortex.

ABSTRACT. The objective of this study was to investigate cystic ovarian disease (COD) in commercial Japanese Black cows and to evaluate the efficacy of 7-day insertion of an intravaginal progesterone insert (CIDR) combined with prostaglandin F 2α (PGF 2α ) at CIDR removal. Experiment 1 was conducted to group cysts into 4 patterns based on alteration of plasma progesterone (P 4 ) concentrations on d -7 and d 0 (=CIDR insertion) with 1.0 ng/ml as the cut-off level by ultrasonographic examination of 28 cows with COD that were ≥40 days postpartum and anoestrous after calving. In Experiment 2, a total of 55 cows under the same conditions as in Experiment 1 were utilized, and the same regimen as in Experiment 1 was performed without 7 days of pre-observation before treatment. As a result, 92.9% of CLs on d 21 were highly formed in Experiment 1 and 83.6% were highly formed in Experiment 2. The conception rates within 60 days after CIDR removal were also satisfactory high and were 71.4% and 54.5%, respectively. There were no differences in any overall reproductive parameters between Experiments 1 and 2 (P>0.05). The average days between CIDR removal and conception were 24.4 ± 5.3 and 24.0 ± 6.5 days, respectively (P>0.05); therefore, the conception dates of the cows in Experiment 2 were at least 7 days earlier compared with Experiment 1. In conclusion, treatment with a CIDR and PGF 2α against COD could minimize the risk of incorrect treatment and provide sufficient reproductive performance in Japanese Black cows. KEY WORDS: CIDR, cystic ovarian disease, Japanese Black cattle.J. Vet. Med. Sci. 70(10): 1077-1083, 2008 Cystic Ovarian Disease (COD) is one of the important costly issues for reproductive performance in cattle due to longer infertility as the condition persists [13]. Generally, there are two types of cysts, follicular (FC) and luteal cysts (LC); however, 20% [25] to nearly 70% [31] of cystic ovaries can recover spontaneously. A broad range of treatment strategies against COD have been carried out in the field and reviewed [3,26]. Short-term treatments have been approached from the perspective of manual rupture, administration of products for improvement of liver function or use of exogenous hormones, gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) or estradiol, which is now the most popular strategy for treatment of an FC [3,26]. Exogenous progesterone treatment, either intravaginaly or intramuscularly has also been reported for COD treatment either alone or with GnRH or estradiol [1, 5, 7, 13, 16-17, 28-29, 33]. On the other hand, follicles with luteinized structures or an LC should be treated with PGF 2α if diagnosed properly [26,30].The Controlled Internal Drug Release (CIDR) is one of the valuable devices for solving several reproductive issues in cattle and sheep/goat by providing an artificial luteal phase during its insertion by consecutive delivery of progesterone. CIDR insertion can reduce the LH pulse frequency and induce atresia of cystic follicles and normal estrus can be...

ABSTRACT. Reproductive performance of two types of timed artificial insemination (TAI) protocols with or without intravaginal progesterone insert (CIDR) was investigated in a commercial herd of Holstein heifers. A total of seventy-four heifers with 14.4 months of age were allocated to two groups; Ovsynch (n=44) and estradiol benzoate (EB) used Heatsynch (EB-Heatsynch, n=30), and each group was additionally divided into two subgroups with CIDR insertion from day 0 to 7 (n=36) and without CIDR group (n=38). Blood was collected for progesterone (P 4 ) analysis and ovarian finding was monitored with ultrasonography. Heifers in CIDR-treated group resulted in higher pregnancy rate as compared to No-CIDR-treated group (63.9% vs 21.1%, P<0.01). Heifers with functional corpus luteum (CL) on day 0 resulted in significantly higher pregnancy rate in CIDR-treated group than No-CIDR-treated group (day 0: 67.9% vs 13.0%, P<0.01). CIDR insertion suppressed the intermediate ovulation during the first 7 days and the period from the second GnRH or EB administration to TAI as compared to No-CIDR-treated group (first 7 days: 33.3% vs. 52.6%; P<0.05, before TAI: 11.1% vs. 37.0%; P<0.05). In conclusion, the selected TAI protocols with CIDR provided acceptable pregnancy rate and contributed to the economical improvement by shortening the average age of first calving approximately for 2.5 months as compared to the previous management without TAI protocols.