Survey of wild boar hunter interactions with pig farming in central Europe.

African swine fever (ASF) is a fatal animal disease without zoonotic potential but greatly impacts human well-being, especially in the most vulnerable human communities. In Europe, ASF concerns mostly the wildlife domain of health. The main vector of the disease is confirmed to be the wild boar, though long-distance jumps of the infection are due to anthropogenic effects. This study aimed to evaluate the potential role of hunting assistant personnel (beaters and carcass handlers) in ASF spread in Hungary. Based on a personal interview survey, we attempted to identify the epidemiological risk caused by hunting activities and the hunting personnel. The interviews with 58 hunting workers confirmed that an extent backyard pig sector (13 pig farmers) and pork production system (31 pork producers) existed within the study region out of the authorities' sight. Two pig farmers did not wear special working clothes for pig caring, seven pork producers disposed of slaughter offal in the settlements periphery, and six persons regularly contacted distant pig farms. The revealed knowledge, attitude, and practice of the questioned pig farmers suggested that this sector would be very vulnerable in an epidemic situation; moreover, backyard farms would cause a great risk for wildboar populations. Considering that the study region is the third poorest region of Hungary, these findings called attention to the high epidemiologic risk of socioeconomic inequality between different regions within the European Union.

Autopsy Features of Fatal Donkey Attack.

Lethal donkey attacks have very rarely been described. The case of a 65-year-old man who was found deceased on a country road with 2 domestic donkeys nearby is, therefore, reported. Examination of the body revealed contusions and lacerations of the face and scalp, a comminuted fracture of the left maxilla, comminuted fracturing of the right radius and ulna and of the left anterior superior iliac spine, a flail chest, and pulmonary contusions. In addition, there were bite marks on the left thigh, right buttock, right axilla/upper arm, and left cheek which corresponded to the dental arcades of the donkeys. Death had resulted from blunt chest trauma due to an attack by 1 or 2 donkeys. Deaths and serious injuries are much more commonly caused by horses; however, this case shows that even domesticated donkeys may also rarely be capable of inflicting significant trauma and so should be approached with circumspection.

Males and females contribute unequally to offspring genetic diversity in the polygynandrous mating system of wild boar.

The maintenance of genetic diversity across generations depends on both the number of reproducing males and females. Variance in reproductive success, multiple paternity and litter size can all affect the relative contributions of male and female parents to genetic variation of progeny. The mating system of the wild boar (Sus scrofa) has been described as polygynous, although evidence of multiple paternity in litters has been found. Using 14 microsatellite markers, we evaluated the contribution of males and females to genetic variation in the next generation in independent wild boar populations from the Iberian Peninsula and Hungary. Genetic contributions of males and females were obtained by distinguishing the paternal and maternal genetic component inherited by the progeny. We found that the paternally inherited genetic component of progeny was more diverse than the maternally inherited component. Simulations showed that this finding might be due to a sampling bias. However, after controlling for the bias by fitting both the genetic diversity in the adult population and the number of reproductive individuals in the models, paternally inherited genotypes remained more diverse than those inherited maternally. Our results suggest new insights into how promiscuous mating systems can help maintain genetic variation.

How immunogenetically different are domestic pigs from wild boars: a perspective from single-nucleotide polymorphisms of 19 immunity-related candidate genes.

The coexistence of wild boars and domestic pigs across Eurasia makes it feasible to conduct comparative genetic or genomic analyses for addressing how genetically different a domestic species is from its wild ancestor. To test whether there are differences in patterns of genetic variability between wild and domestic pigs at immunity-related genes and to detect outlier loci putatively under selection that may underlie differences in immune responses, here we analyzed 54 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of 19 immunity-related candidate genes on 11 autosomes in three pairs of wild boar and domestic pig populations from China, Iberian Peninsula, and Hungary. Our results showed no statistically significant differences in allele frequency and heterozygosity across SNPs between three pairs of wild and domestic populations. This observation was more likely due to the widespread and long-lasting gene flow between wild boars and domestic pigs across Eurasia. In addition, we detected eight coding SNPs from six genes as outliers being under selection consistently by three outlier tests (BayeScan2.1, FDIST2, and Arlequin3.5). Among four non-synonymous outlier SNPs, one from TLR4 gene was identified as being subject to positive (diversifying) selection and three each from CD36, IFNW1, and IL1B genes were suggested as under balancing selection. All of these four non-synonymous variants were predicted as being benign by PolyPhen-2. Our results were supported by other independent lines of evidence for positive selection or balancing selection acting on these four immune genes (CD36, IFNW1, IL1B, and TLR4). Our study showed an example applying a candidate gene approach to identify functionally important mutations (i.e., outlier loci) in wild and domestic pigs for subsequent functional experiments.

Microsatellite markers for identification and parentage analysis in the European wild boar (Sus scrofa).

BACKGROUND: The wild boar (Sus scrofa) is among the most widespread mammal species throughout the old world. Presently, studies concerning microsatellites in domestic pigs and wild boars have been carried out in order to investigate domestication, social behavior and general diversity patterns among either populations or breeds. The purpose of the current study is to develop a robust set of microsatellites markers for parentage analyses and individual identification. FINDINGS: A set of 14 previously reported microsatellites markers have been optimized and tested in three populations from Hungary, Portugal and Spain, in a total of 167 samples. The results indicate high probabilities of exclusion (0.99999), low probability of identity (2.0E(-13) - 2.5E(-9)) and a parentage assignment of 100%. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that this set of markers is a useful and efficient tool for the individual identification and parentage assignment in wild boars.

[Agranular CD4+/CD56+ haematodermic neoplasm (Precursor haematologic neoplasm)]. / Agranularis CD4+/CD56+ haematodermiás daganat (Prekurzor hematológiai daganat).

The agranular CD4+/CD56+ haematodermic neoplasm (so-called blastic NK-cell lymphoma) represents a distinct clinicopathologic entity and it is characterised by its clinical presentation (skin tropism, bone marrow involvement with or without leukemic phase, very poor prognosis) and the common expression of the T helper CD4 as well as the NK cell marker CD56. The authors present an 86 year old male patient with hemorrhagic macules, plaques and hemorrhagic flat nodules mainly on the trunk without any complaints. The skin biopsy revealed an agranular CD4+/CD56+ hematodermic tumor. During the medical check-up and the 18 months long follow-up they did not find any internal involvement including the bone marrow. In their case they revealed the cutaneous form of the hematodermic tumor which is considered to be a new and interesting manifestation of aleukemic leukemia cutis.

[Treatment of acute leukemia in older patients]. / Kezelési lehetóségek idóskori akut leukaemiákban.

The median age of patients with acute leukemia is more than 60 years, and the incidence of the disease increases with age. There are several unfavorable biologic and clinical factors in older patients with acute leukemia, the remission rate and their survival are much worse than in younger adults. The poor performance score and any other concomitant disease and the poor reserve capacity of their bone marrow represent significant difficulties to deliver the proper remission induction and postremission therapy. The poor biologic factors like acute leukemia following myelodysplasia, unfavorable cytogenetic abnormalities and multidrug resistance among elderly patients are more common comparing to younger patients. The authors summarize the international data and attempt to define the proper therapy namely who are candidates for induction and intensive postremission therapy, what is the role of palliative cytostatic treatment or supportive care for these patients.