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The purpose of this study was to determine the link between insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), progesterone (PROG), non-esterified fatty acids (NEFAs), β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), and glucose (GLU) and pregnancy probability after the first artificial insemination (AI) and during the first 100 days in milk (DIM), during the critical transition period. We determined levels of serum IGF-1, PROG, NEFA, BHB, and GLU in Holstein dairy cows via ELISA, using blood samples collected 7 days before parturition (DAP) until 21 days postparturition (DPP). The group was split into cows diagnosed pregnant at 100 DIM (PREG) and those that did not conceive at 100 and 150 DIM (NPREG). Serum IGF-1 and PROG median levels at 7 DAP were significantly higher in PREG vs. NPREG (p = 0.029), the only statistically significant differences across the subgroups. At 7 DAP, IGF-1 levels within the initial group showed a strong negative correlation with PROG (r = −0.693; p = 0.006), while for the PREG subgroup, the IGF-1 levels exhibited a very strong positive correlation with GLU (r = 0.860; p = 0.011) and NEFA (r = 0.872; p = 0.013). IGF-1 and PROG levels detected at 7 DAP may be useful to predict pregnancy at 100 DIM. The positive correlation of NEFA and GLU levels during the transition period demonstrates that the initial group is not in NEB; thus, the NEFA level was not a decisive factor for reproduction success.

General anesthesia produces different degrees of central nervous depression and changes in the peripheral circulation, therefore affecting the patient’s thermoregulatory mechanism. Moreover, the lack of proper, specially designed equipment for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) environment monitoring can represent a challenge for the anesthetist. We examined the temperature variations correlated with different anesthetic protocols in dogs that underwent general anesthesia in order to evaluate changes in rectal and distal extremities temperature, before and after anesthesia. This study was conducted at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Bucharest, on 21 dogs that were divided in 3 groups depending on the anesthetic protocol used. First group (B) received butorphanol (0.2 mg/kg, intravenously IV), second group (BK) had butorphanol (0.2 mg/kg) and a low dose of ketamine (2 mg/kg) IV, and group 3 (BM) was premedicated with butorphanol (0.2 mg/kg) and midazolam (0.2 mg/kg) IV. All patients were induced with propofol i.v. (3.24±0.68), intubated and maintained with isoflurane and oxygen. We determined rectal temperature before and right after the end of anesthesia with a digital thermometer and distal extremities temperature with the use of a thermal imaging camera attached to a smartphone. There was no significant difference between the rectal temperature before and after anesthesia within the 3 groups. Patients in group BK had a significant change in skin temperature at the end of anesthesia in all limbs (from 310C to 29.8 0C, p=0.008 and from 31 0C to 29.70C, p=0.009), respectively). Temperature variations were presented before and at the end of anesthesia, for all the groups especially at skin level. This study revealed that mobile thermal imaging represents a non-invasive technique that is helpful in assessing real time temperature changes in patients undergoing general anesthesia.