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Two premature babies were admitted separately to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. One patient, a girl, presented with severe anaemia and thrombocytopaenia, the other, another girl, showed isolated thrombocytopaenia. During both pregnancies, ultrasound showed abnormalities of the placenta. The first patient also had intra-uterine growth restriction. A postpartum pathological examination showed abnormalities of both placentae consistent with placental mesenchymal dysplasia. Placental mesenchymal dysplasia is a rare condition which is associated with intra-uterine growth restriction, intra-uterine mortality, prematurity and Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome. Thrombocytopaenia and anaemia are less commonly described in literature and are caused by micro-angiopathic haemolysis in the placenta. Both children had unrestricted growth and development patterns at one year and 6 months follow-up, respectively.

The incidence of pregnancy complicated by melanoma of the skin, calculated from data of the Netherlands Cancer Registry, is 1 per 10,000 pregnancies. The prognosis of a melanoma is not affected by prior or subsequent pregnancy. A melanoma diagnosed during pregnancy does appear to have a more unfavourable prognosis, due not to a less favourable clinical course, but to a delay in diagnosing melanoma during pregnancy and (or) a less favourable site. When a pregnancy is complicated by malignancy, in case of a melanoma there is a higher risk of placental metastasis compared with other malignancies. In nearly 50% of the cases reported in literature of placental metastasis there was foetal involvement.

A couple consulted the gynaecologist repeatedly because of a primary fertility disorder. When they had desired children for 8 years, no pregnancy had yet occurred. In-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment was started. A few days after the beginning of the hormonal treatment that precedes the IVF procedure, the woman noted a swelling in the right inguinal area for which she consulted the surgeon. This swelling was found to be a metastasis of a melanoma that had been removed from her leg 6 months previously. The gynaecologist was not aware of this case history and the surgeon was not informed of the started IVF treatment. As was found later, this was in accordance with the couple's wishes. The first IVF treatment resulted in a pregnancy that ended with the birth of a healthy boy. The placenta showed melanomatous metastases and the mother died 2 months after the birth of her son.

A farm is described, on which the placenta was retained in approximately forty per cent of the cows and on which selenium deficiency (0.03 +/- 0.010 micrograms/ml) and unduly reduced activity of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in the erythrocytes (65.2 +/- 26.4 u/g Hb) were observed. When 0.5 mg of Se per kg of dry matter of a mixture of concentrated feeds were added, the concentrations of Se and GSH-Px were restored to normal and the symptom consisting in retained placentae disappeared. This incident shows that selenium deficiency occurs in the Netherlands.

A survey is given of vitamin E and selenium deficiency syndromes in farm animals. Some syndromes can be attributed to the exclusive deficiency of one of the above-mentioned feed components. In some cases with practically complete lack of both componentspathological symptoms can be cured by the addition of one of them to the feed in sufficient amount. A synergistic effect of vitamin E and selenium is sometimes found to recur. The most important theory about the functioning of vitamin E is that it acts as an antioxidant. This theory presumes that, in case of a vitamin E deficiency, peroxidation of unsaturated lipids can occur everywhere in the body leading to oxidative chain reactions. The free radicals thus produced might participate in non-specific reactions with functional and structural compounds. Vitamin E is considered able to reduce lipid peroxides or scavenge free radicals from chain reactions. The pros' and cons' of this theory are discussed. The role of vitamin E has further been associated with thenium is part of the enzyme glutathione peroxidase. This enzyme catalyses the reaction of reduced glutathione with peroxides, whereby hydroxy-acids and oxidized glutathione are generated. Most probably the glutathione peroxidase has its antioxidative action in the cytosol, whereas vitamin E is mainly located in the membranes of the cell.

Two cases of bovine mycotic placentitis are reported. The two cows did not show any clinical symptoms before or during premature delivery of two clinically normal calves. In both placentas a severe placentitis accompanied by extensive necrosis and a large number of hyphae was present in two placentas. Aspergillus fumigatus was isolated in one case. The literature on bovine mycotic placentitis is reviewed in the discussion.

Animals showing retained placenta or endometritis are present on a large number of farms. This has become a serious problem, particularly when the animals are housed in cubicles. Effective hygienic procedures at the time of parturition will considerably reduce the incidence of retained placenta or leucorrhoea. Preventive insertion of after-birth capsules into the uterus is inadvisable.