Re-emergence of rabies in Mazowieckie Voivodeship,Poland, 2021

Due to the oral vaccination of foxes against rabies most of the territory of Poland was freed from rabies of non-flying mammals. In January 2021, rabies was diagnosed in fox in the central part of Mazowieckie Voivodeship where rabies has not been detected since last 17 years. Subsequently, in the following months the rabies virus infection spread southward reaching the voivodeship of Świętokrzyskie in November 2021. Emergency actions were implemented aiming at rapid rabies elimination.     

The production and distribution of IL-6 and TNF-α in subcutaneous adipose tissue and their correlation with serum concentrations in Welsh ponies with equine metabolic syndrome

A main symptom of equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) in ponies is pathological obesity characterized by abnormal accumulation of fat deposits and inflammation. In this study, we analyzed the expression of two pro-inflammatory cytokines, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), in subcutaneous adipose tissue and the correlation with serum concentrations in peripheral blood of Welsh ponies. Based on clinical examination findings, the animals were divided into two groups: ponies affected with EMS (n = 8) and obese ponies (n = 8). The adipose tissue was examined using immunohistochemical analysis while concentrations IL-6 and TNF-α were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). Additionally, histological characterization of the adipose tissue was performed. The results obtained showed that IL-6 expression in adipose tissue biopsies derived from animals with EMS was enhanced while TNF-α levels of both groups were comparable. Compared to the obese ponies, EMS animals also had significantly elevated levels of serum IL-6 and TNF-α. Histological analysis revealed macrophage infiltration and fibrosis in adipose tissue preparations from the EMS group. These data suggest that IL-6 may play a key role in the course of EMS in Welsh ponies. Our findings also demonstrated that analysis of pro-inflammatory cytokines levels in serum may serve as an additional tool for diagnosing EMS.     

The effects of surgically implanted dummy tags on the survival,growth performance,and physiology of pikeperch (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Sander lucioperca</Emphasis>)

The aim of this work was to determine the impact of surgically implanted telemetry transmitters (TTs) on the growth, survival, hematological and biochemical indexes, and wound healing in juvenile pikeperch (Sander lucioperca) (body weight 60–90 g). Two incision suturing methods were used—silk sutures (experiment I—group ST) or tissue adhesive (experiment II—group GT). After tagging, the fish were held in a recirculating system for 35 days. No statistically significant differences were noted in the growth or condition indexes analyzed among the fish tagged with TT compared with those from the control groups (untagged). Substantial individual variability was noted, however, in the parameters examined in both the control and tagged groups. Among the hematological indexes, statistically significant differences were only noted in experiment I. Lower values of mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular hemoglobin were noted in group ST. Among the biochemical parameters, creatinine was statistically significantly threefold lower, magnesium and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels were lower, and ammonia levels were higher in group ST than in the control group. In experiment II, significant differences were only noted for ALP. Tissue adhesive was the superior and more effective method for closing the incision after TT implantation in juvenile pikeperch. This type of suturing facilitated faster healing, and it had less of an impact on juvenile pikeperch welfare.     

Genetic structure and variability of phenological forms in the European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.)

? Microsatellite markers were used to describe the genetic structure and variability of early, intermediate and late phenological forms of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.). Two hundred and seventy individuals from three populations located in southern Poland were divided into three forms according to the phenological criterion — bud burst, and analyzed for allelic variation at five highly polymorphic microsatellite loci.

? Population differentiation was moderate and differed significantly among phenological forms. Average values of F _ST and R _ST decreased across phenological forms and amounted to F _ST values of 0.135, 0.110 and 0.108 and R _ST values of 0.365, 0.231 and 0.098 for early, intermediate and late forms of beech, respectively.

? Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) revealed different genetic structures characteristic of respective phenological forms of beech. The amount of within-population variability increased with the delay of the beginning of vegetation and amounted to 64%, 77% and 90% of total variability, depending on phenological form. A similar trend was found in average pairwise genetic distance between individuals belonging to a given phenological form (11.78, 11.85 and 12.22, from early to late forms).

? Our results demonstrate the importance of late spring frosts as a factor influencing the genetic structure of beech, and as a cause of the decrease in genetic variability as well as the increase in population differentiation proportional to the degree of phenological earliness.

     

Assessing the ability of zebrafish scales to contribute to the short-term homeostatic regulation of [Ca2+] in the extracellular fluid during calcemic challenges

Fisheries Science - The elasmoid scales of fish represent a significant internal reservoir of calcium ions (Ca2+), but little is known about the contribution of these scales to the short-term...     

Role of the maternal effect phenomena in improving water stress tolerance in narrow‐leafed lupine (Lupinus angustifolius)

This paper describes experiments concerning improvement of drought tolerance in narrow‐leafed lupine (Lupinus angustifolius L.) by maternal effects. The first step involved harvesting seeds from plants exposed and not exposed to drought during flowering and seed ripening. The next‐generation plants grown from these seeds were exposed to drought and the effects of this stress on their physiological processes were examined. To find out whether drought applied to parent plants may affect tolerance to this stress in progeny plants such features as plant growth, tissue water content, abscisic acid concentration and yield‐related parameters were assessed. The study revealed that the progeny plants grown from the seeds of drought‐treated plants were more tolerant to this stress than the plants grown from the seeds harvested from optimally watered maternal plants. Drought tolerance was manifested by a reduced concentration of abscisic acid, increased plant height and maintaining high leaf water content. Most importantly, these plants produced significantly higher yield when exposed to drought than the plants grown from the seeds harvested from optimally watered plants.     

An assessment of the concentrations of PCDDs/Fs in contaminated bottom sediments and their sources and ecological risk

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to determine the levels of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and polychlorinated dibenzofuran (PCDD/F), two types of persistent organic pollutant (POP), in an urban retention reservoir located in an industrial zone within a coal-mining region. It also assesses the potential ecological risk of the PCDDs/Fs present in bottom sediments and the relationship between their content and the fraction of organic matter.

Materials and methods

The sediment samples were collected from Rybnik Reservoir, located in the centre of the Rybnik Coal Region, Silesia, one of Poland’s major industrial centres. Seventeen PCDD/F congeners in the surface of the sediments were analysed using high-resolution gas chromatography and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC/HRMS).

Results and discussion

The toxic equivalency (TEQ) of the PCDDs/Fs in the sediments ranged from 1.65 to 32.68 pg TEQ g^?1. PCDDs constituted 59–78% of the total PCDDs/Fs, while the PCDFs accounted for 22–41%. The pattern of PCDD/F congeners in the sediments was dominated by OCDD. However, the second-most prevalent constituents were OCDF and ∑HpCDFs in the low TOC sediment (< 10 g TOC kg^?1), but HpCDD in the rich TOC samples (> 10 g TOC kg^?1). PCDD/F concentrations in the sediment samples were 2- to 38-fold higher than the sediment quality guidelines limit, indicating high ecological risk potential. Although a considerable proportion of PCDDs/Fs in the bottom sediments from the Rybnik Reservoir were derived from combustion processes, they were also obtained via transport, wastewater discharge, high-temperature processes and thermal electricity generation. The PCDD/F concentrations were significantly correlated with all fractions of organic matter; however, the strongest correlation coefficients were found between PCDDs/Fs and humic substances. Besides organic matter, the proportions of silt/clay fractions within sediments played an important role in the transport of PCDDs/Fs in bottom sediments.

Conclusions

The silt/clay fraction of the bottom sediments plays a dominant role in the movement of PCDDs/Fs, while the organic matter fraction affects their sorption. The results indicate that the environmental behaviour of PCDDs/Fs is affected by the quantity and quality of organic matter and the texture of sediments.

     

Potential involvement of rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) metallothioneins in the hydrogen peroxide‐induced regulation of seed vigour

Germination is a crucial process in crop plant life cycle that determines future yield. Hydrogen peroxide plays a significant role in both dormancy release and seed ageing. The potential of the rapeseed metallothioneins (BnMT1‐4) as reactive oxygen species scavengers was investigated. In the presence of H₂O₂, bacterial cells expressing BnMT1‐4 had higher growth rate than control cells. However, such effect was not observed in an oxidative stress oversensitive yap‐1Δ yeast mutant strain expressing BnMT1‐4. Next, it was shown that H₂O₂, up to 100 and 10 mM, promotes rapeseed germination rate and seedling growth, respectively. Moreover, it was demonstrated that in seeds germinating in the presence of H₂O_2, the expression of seed‐specific BnMT4 decreases to a high extent in a dose‐ and time‐dependent manner. It was shown that the decline in BnMT4 mRNA level, accelerated by up to 10 mM H₂O₂ treatment, correlates positively with increased rapeseed germination and early growth, underscoring the plausible role of BnMT4 as a H₂O₂ scavenging protein that level has to be downregulated in conditions where the compound is needed. Finally, it was demonstrated that H₂O₂ could be used as a priming agent of rapeseeds.     

Assessment of 137Cs and 239,240Pu Distribution in Forest Soils of the Opole Anomaly

Distribution of ¹³⁷Cs and ^239,240Pu in the forest soils horizons of the Opole Anomaly was established. Gamma and alpha spectrometry was used for determination of these isotopes. It was found that the ¹³⁷Cs activity was approx. 1,000 times higher than that of ^239,240Pu. The highest activities of both radioisotopes were found close to the boundary region in soil profile where the organic horizon turns into the inorganic one. Cluster analysis did not clearly indicate the group’s existence in data in respect to ¹³⁷Cs and ^239,240Pu activities and organic matter content. Distributions of ¹³⁷Cs and ^239,240Pu in soil horizons were non-normal but similar to each other. These distributions were substantially different from that one for organic matter content. The data were separated into two groups, for organic and inorganic soil horizons, respectively. Data transformation using Box–Cox formula was performed following by standardization. Mutual relationships between variables were investigated using ordinary and robust regression methods. Good correlation between ¹³⁷Cs and ^239,240Pu was found. No significant relationship between organic matter content and radioisotopes activity was asserted.