Since 2007, African swine fever (ASF) has posed a serious threat to the European swine industry. In Poland, the numbers of reported outbreaks in pigs and affected areas grow every year. In 2018, the ...disease was noted in Western Europe, in Belgium specifically, where several hundred infected wild boars have been detected so far. In 2018, the virus unexpectedly emerged in pig holdings in eastern China, northern Mongolia, Vietnam, and Cambodia, causing worldwide concern about its further spread. Since there is still no vaccine available, the only approach to control the disease is biosecurity. Identification of potential sources of the virus is extremely important in light of its phenomenal survivability. The review summarises the current knowledge about ASFV survivability and resistance to environmental conditions, and discusses the role of indirect contact in spreading the disease.
African swine fever (ASF) is a contagious, notifiable viral disease, which is considered a significant threat not only for European, but also for worldwide pork production, since recently the virus ...emerged within numerous Chinese pig herds. The disease was introduced in Poland in 2014 and up to the end of 2018, 213 outbreaks in pigs and 3347 cases in wild boars have been reported. The presented study describes the whole genome sequencing of seven Polish isolates, collected between 2016 and 2017, using next generation sequencing (NGS) technology. The complete, genomic sequences of these isolates were compared against five other closely related ASFV genomes, annotated in the NCBI database. The obtained sequences were from 189.393 to 189.405 bp long and encoded 187-190 open reading frames (ORFs). The isolates were grouped within genotype II and showed 99.941 to 99.956% nucleotide identity to the Georgia 2007/1 reference strain.
Celem prowadzonych badań było określenie zależności występujących między nasileniem objawów depresji a występowaniem kryzysu ćwierci życia u osób w okresie wschodzącej dorosłości. W prowadzonych ...analizach uwzględniono Kwestionariusz Kryzysu Rozwojowego Pietrova i in. w opracowaniu własnym i Skalę Beznadziejności Becka oraz ankietę personalną. Badanie realizowano onlinie. Przebadano 122 osoby w przedziale wiekowym między 23 - 30 lat, w tym 87,7% kobiet. W zrealizowanych badaniach 20,5% młodych dorosłych doświadczyło kryzysu ćwierćwiecza. U pozostałych 79,5% osób zaobserwowano nasilenie objawów kryzysu w stopniu nie uprawniającym do identyfikacji kryzysu. Dwa czynniki pozwoliły wyjaśnić doświadczanie kryzysu ćwierci życia: afektywne poczucie beznadziejności i poznawcze poczucie beznadziejności. Jeżeli nasilenie afektywnego poczucia beznadziejności wzrośnie o jedną jednostkę, prawdopodobieństwo wystąpienia kryzysu wzrasta 2,37 razy; jeżeli nasilenie poznawczego poczucia beznadziejności wzrośnie o jedną jednostkę, prawdopodobieństwo wystąpienia kryzysu wzrasta 1,61 razy. Wykonane analizy pozwoliły dostrzec różny stopień nasilenia poczucia beznadziejności oraz objawów kryzysu ćwierci życia. Nasilenie negatywnego nastawienia do przyszłości, spostrzeganie jej jako niejasnej, niepewnej, poczucie nieodnalezienia się w rzeczywistości, zwiększało prawdopodobieństwo wystąpienia kryzysu.
The African swine fever epidemic occurred in Poland at the beginning of 2014 and, up to date, the disease has been spreading mainly in the eastern part of the country. Unexpectedly, in November 2019 ...an infected wild boar case was confirmed in Lubuskie voivodship in western Poland. During the following weeks, several dozen African swine fever virus (ASFV)-positive animals were notified in the neighboring area, causing severe concern regarding further spread of the disease to the mostly pig-dense region in Poland, namely, Wielkopolskie voivodship. Moreover, almost a year after, several infected wild boar cases were confirmed for the first time in Germany, just beyond the Polish border, sending out a shock wave through the global pig market. The whole genome sequence of ASFV, isolated from the first case of ASF in western Poland, and three selected viruses from other affected areas, revealed the tandem repeat and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) variations in reference to the Georgia 2007/1 strain. These data, supported by the conventional sequencing of selected genomic regions from a total of 154 virus samples isolated between 2017 and 2020 in Poland, shed a new light on pathogen epidemiology. The sequence variations within the
gene detected in this study showed that cases identified in western Poland might be originating from the so-called southern Warsaw cluster. Moreover, the viruses originating from the northern Warsaw cluster do not possess single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) mutations within the
and
genes, which are specific to all of the other Polish ASFV strains. These results led to a conclusion of their distinct origin. Supporting these results, the nucleotide sequencing of
intergenic region revealed its new, previously undescribed variant, called IGR IV, with an additional three tandem repeats of 10 nucleotides in comparison to the reference sequence of the Georgia 2007/1 strain.
Human health is dependent on food safety and, therefore, on the health of farm animals. One of the most significant threats in regard to swine diseases is African swine fever (ASF). Infections caused ...by porcine circoviruses (PCVs) represent another important swine disease. Due to the ubiquitous nature of PCV2, it is not surprising that this virus has been detected in ASFV-affected pigs. However, recent data indicate that coinfection of PCV3 and ASFV also occurs. It is still unclear whether PCV infection plays a role in ASFV infection, and that subject requires further analysis. The aim of this study was to assess whether PCV3 and PCV4 are present in the wild boar population in Poland (real-time PCR). The analysis was performed on wild boar samples collected for routine ASF surveillance in Poland, between 2018 and 2021. By extension, the obtained data were compared in regard to ASFV presence in these samples, thus investigating the odds of ASFV infection on the grounds of the PCV carrier state in free-ranging Suidae in Poland. In addition, sequencing of PCV3 and phylogenetic analysis were performed, based on a full genome and a capsid gene. In the current study, we demonstrated the high prevalence of PCV3 in the wild boar population in Poland; meanwhile, PCV4 was not detected. The odds of ASFV infection on the grounds of the PCV3 carrier state in free-ranging Suidae in Poland was more than twice as high. Ten full genome sequences of PCV3 were obtained, all of them belonging to clade 3a. The similarity between them was in the range of 98.78-99.80%.
African swine fever (ASF) causes huge economic losses and is one of most dangerous diseases of pigs. The disease is known for almost 100 years, an effective vaccine or treatment is still unavailable, ...only proper biosecurity measures, including disinfection, are being applied, in order to prevent disease outbreaks. Eight active substances, i.e., formaldehyde, sodium hypochlorite, caustic soda, glutaraldehyde, phenol, benzalkonium chloride, potassium peroxymonosulfate and acetic acid, were tested, in order to confirm their effectiveness against African swine fever virus (ASFV). This specific selection was done based on the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)’s recommendation and previous disinfectant studies on surfaces. The result of our study shows that most of them inactivate the virus, in recommended concentrations. In order to reduce the cytotoxicity of the four substances, Microspin S-400 HR columns were applied, therefore making it possible to demonstrate four logarithms virus titer reduction. Sodium hypochlorite, glutaraldehyde, caustic soda and potassium peroxymonosulfate showed the best ASFV inactivation rates, achieving titer reductions over 5 logs. Despite microfiltration, the virucidal activity of formaldehyde was not assessable, due to its high cytotoxicity. Our results showed that cleaning is particularly important, because removal of the soiling provides improved effectiveness of the tested chemical compounds.
The ternary magnesium hydride NaMgH 3 has been synthesised via reactive milling techniques.The method employed neither a reactive H2 atmosphere nor high pressure sintering or other post-treatment ...processes.The formation of the ternary hydride was studied as a function of milling time and ball:powder ratio.High purity NaMgH 3 powder(orthorhombic space group Pnma,a 5.437(2),b 7.705(5),c 5.477(2) ;Z 4) was prepared in 5 h at high ball:powder ratios and characterised by powder X-ray diffraction(PXD),Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy(SEM/EDX).The products formed sub-micron scale(typically 200-400 nm in size) crystallites that were approximately isotropic in shape.The dehydrogenation behaviour of the ternary hydride was investigated by temperature programmed desorption(TPD).The nanostructured hydride releases hydrogen in two steps with an onset temperature for the first step of 513 K.
(1) Background: To date, there are no studies evaluating the ability of the incoherent optical fluctuation flowmetry (IOFF) method to assess foot tissue perfusion. The aim of this study was to ...evaluate the correlation between perfusion values measured by IOFF and TcPO2 in patients with diabetes-related lower-extremity complications. (2) Methods: This was an observational, cross-sectional, two-center study. Diabetic patients with peripheral artery disease and/or diabetic foot ulcers were studied (n = 27, examinations were carried out on 54 legs). Perfusion in the foot tissues was assessed using TcPO2 (reference standard for this study) and the IOFF method. (3) Results: High correlation coefficients of all perfusion parameters measured by IOFF with TcPO2 (Rs 0.7 to 0.76) were shown. The study demonstrated that the IOFF method allows, with a sensitivity of 85.7% and a specificity of 90.0%, the identification of patients with a critical decrease in TcPO2 < 20 mmHg. (4) Conclusions: The high correlation of IOFF parameters with TcPO2 and the moderately high sensitivity and specificity in detecting patients with severe ischemia of foot tissues shows the promise of the method for assessing a tissue perfusion in patients with diabetes-related lower-extremity complications.
This paper was aimed to characterize clinical signs and pathomorphological lesions in twenty-two pigs, infected intranasally by different doses of African swine fever virus (Pol18_28298_O111), ...isolated during the outbreak in a pig farm that occurred in Eastern Poland throughout 2018. This article also attempts to indicate risk, related to virus load and shedding, and present possible difficulties with proper disease recognition at the farm level. The results revealed that even a very low dose (5 HAU) may initiate the infection. Various forms of the disease (acute, subacute, and chronic), mainly with prodromal clinical signs like fever, apathy, and reduced feed intake were observed. The most frequently observed lesions (82%) were: hyperemia and enlargement of lymph nodes and splenomegaly. The minimal incubation period was estimated at five days post-infection (dpi). Mortality ranged from 80-100%. Two pigs survived the infection. Some viremic animals presented delayed fever. In some cases, the fever was not detectable. Shortly after viremia, the virus was secreted ion the urine, feces, and saliva. The highest levels of virus were found in the internal organs and blood; however in the case of one pig (chronic form), viral DNA was not detected in the spleen, liver, bone marrow, and brain. Veterinary diagnosis may be difficult, and the final results should always be based on laboratory investigations.
Natural killer (NK) cells plays a pivotal role in the control of viral infections, and their function depend on the balance between their activating and inhibitory receptors. The immune dysregulation ...observed in COVID-19 patients was previously associated with downregulation of NK cell numbers and function, yet the mechanism of inhibition of NK cell functions and the interplay between infected cells and NK cells remain largely unknown.
In this study we show that SARS-CoV-2 infection of airway epithelial cells can directly influence NK cell phenotype and functions in the infection microenvironment. NK cells were co-cultured with SARS-CoV-2 infected epithelial cells, in a direct contact with A549
cell line or in a microenvironment of the infection in a 3D ex vivo human airway epithelium (HAE) model and NK cell surface expression of a set of most important receptors (CD16, NKG2D, NKp46, DNAM-1, NKG2C, CD161, NKG2A, TIM-3, TIGIT, and PD-1) was analyzed.
We observed a selective, in both utilized experimental models, significant downregulation the proportion of CD161 (NKR-P1A or KLRB1) expressing NK cells, and its expression level, which was followed by a significant impairment of NK cells cytotoxicity level against K562 cells. What is more, we confirmed that SARS-CoV-2 infection upregulates the expression of the ligand for CD161 receptor, lectin-like transcript 1 (LLT1, CLEC2D or OCIL), on infected epithelial cells. LLT1 protein can be also detected not only in supernatants of SARS-CoV-2 infected A549
cells and HAE basolateral medium, but also in serum of COVID-19 patients. Finally, we proved that soluble LLT1 protein treatment of NK cells significantly reduces
the proportion of CD161+ NK cells,
the ability of NK cells to control SARS-CoV-2 infection in A549
cells and
the production of granzyme B by NK cells and their cytotoxicity capacity, yet not degranulation level.
We propose a novel mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 inhibition of NK cell functions via activation of the LLT1-CD161 axis.
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