Background: The relationships between the postpartum subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA) occurrence and predicted bacterial functions during the periparturient period are still not clear in Holstein cows. Objectives: The present study was performed to investigate the alterations of rumen fermentation, bacterial community structure, and predicted bacterial functional pathways in Holstein cows. Methods: Holstein cows were divided into the SARA (n = 6) or non-SARA (n = 4) groups, depending on whether they developed SARA during the first 2 weeks after parturition.Reticulo-ruminal pH was measured continuously during the study period. Reticulo-ruminal fluid samples were collected 3 weeks prepartum, and 2 and 6 weeks postpartum, and blood samples were collected 3 weeks before, 0, 2, 4 and 6 weeks postpartum. Results: The postpartum decline in 7-day mean reticulo-ruminal pH was more severe and longer-lasting in the SARA group compared with the non-SARA group. Changes in predicted functional pathways were identified in the SARA group. A significant upregulation of pathway “PWY-6383” associated with Mycobacteriaceae species was identified at 3 weeks after parturition in the SARA group. Significantly identified pathways involved in denitrification (DENITRIFICATION-PWY and PWY-7084), detoxification of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (PWY1G-0), and starch degradation (PWY-622) in the SARA group were downregulated. Conclusions The postpartum SARA occurrence is likely related to the predicted functions of rumen bacterial community rather than the alterations of rumen fermentation or fluid bacterial community structure. Therefore, our result suggests the underlying mechanisms, namely functional adaptation of bacterial community, causing postpartum SARA in Holstein cows during the periparturient period.

Objective: Pharmaceutical documents such as the common technical document, package inserts (PIs), and interview forms (IFs) are available at the website of the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency. However, because these documents were created with an emphasis on human readability in paper form, it is difficult to use the information included and interoperate these documents with computers. Using IFs, we will investigate how to structure pharmaceutical documents in the AI era to achieve both human and machine readability.Design/Methods: The IFs of arbitrary selected ten drugs were structured into Resource Description Framework (RDF) according to the Drug Interview Form Description Guidelines 2018 (updated version in 2019). The data were manually extracted from the IFs and entered into a spreadsheet before being converted to RDF by a written script. The PIs were converted to RDF in addition to the IFs. To examine the linkage with external databases, IDs in ChEMBL, which is a manually curated database of bioactive molecules with drug-like properties, were embedded in the RDF.Results: We demonstrated that the conversion of IFs and PIs into RDF makes it possible to easily retrieve the corresponding part of the PIs cited in the IFs. Furthermore, we quickly obtained the relevant data from ChEMBL, demonstrating the feasibility of linking IFs with an external database. Our attempt to RDFization of IFs is expected to encourage the development of web applications for healthcare professionals and the development of datasets for AI development.Conclusion: We could easily interoperate IFs with other pharmaceutical documents and an external database by converting IFs into RDF following the description guidelines. However, problems such as how to deal with items that were not described in the description guidelines were indicated. We hope that discussions will grow based on this effort and that related industries will move toward accomplishing effective use of these documents.

The first case was a 67-year-old woman. She had been given a diagnosis of fulminant myocarditis and received a biventricular assist device as a bridge to recovery. A Nipro ventricular assist device (VAD) was implanted into her left heart. She was also found to have moderate aortic insufficiency before the operation, so she received aortic valve replacement (AVR) with a bioprosthetic valve (CEP Magna Ease 21 mm) at the same time. Her cardiac function recovered gradually. Therefore, a weaning operation was scheduled for three months after the VAD implantation. However, her left ventricle motion was very poor when she was taken off of the extracorporeal circulation after removing the VAD, and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) revealed severe bioprosthetic valve stenosis. When her heart was stopped again and the bioprosthetic valve was observed, the leaflets of the bioprosthetic valve were fused. Commissural fusion of bioprosthetic valve was able to be released using forceps, and the punnus extending under the leaflet was removed. In this way, the function of the bioprosthetic valve was restored. Her cardiac motion became good, and removal from extracorporeal circulation was easily achieved. She left the hospital 100 days after weaning from the VAD. The second case was a 68-year-old woman. She also had fulminant myocarditis. She underwent biventricular assist device implantation and AVR (CEP Magna Ease 19 mm). Her cardiac function recovered, and a weaning operation was scheduled on the 73rd-postoperative day. Preoperative TEE before the weaning of VAD showed severe bioprosthetic valve stenosis. The commissural fusion of the bioprosthetic valve was released and the punnus extending under the leaflet removed at the same time as the VAD was removed. Re-valve replacement was not required. We should therefore consider the possibility of bioprosthetic valve stenosis when VAD implantation and AVR with a bioprosthetic valve are performed at the same time in patients with an extremely reduced cardiac function.