Tick-borne encephalitis epidemic in Hungary 1951–2021: The story and lessons learned

The authors analysed epidemiological data of the Hungarian tick-borne encephalitis epidemic from the past seven decades. A total of 911 meningitis serosa cases were described from 1930-1950 s by local hospital physicians, indicating that the virus had been present in the country decades before its official identification in 1952. The virus spread freely in the 1950s–1960s, occupying almost all habitats where ticks occurred in large numbers. The increasing number of cases drove authorities to classify this illness as a notifiable disease in 1977 and to organize the first measures to stop the epidemic. Statistical analysis revealed that the large-scale vaccination launched from the 1990s was responsible for the sharp decrease in the number of human cases from 1997. A significant negative correlation was found between the number of vaccine doses sold and human cases 6 years later. The TBEV endemic area covers 16.57% of the territory and 16.65% of the population of the country. In the last 10 years, 186,000 vaccine doses/year in average were enough to keep the incidence of human TBEV infections between 0.45 and 0.06/100,000 persons. A 20-year-long study found evidence for easing clinical signs in TBEV-infected hospitalized patients. Statistics found a sharp decrease in the number of samples sent for TBEV diagnosis after 1989. Male dominance of patients was characteristic of the epidemics since the 1940s, but now analysis of detailed data from the 1981–2021 period (60.5%–87.5%) proved the statistical significance of this dominance. Obviously, the voluntary vaccination programme was the tool which broke the spread of the epidemic. Widespread public awareness of the disease and the tick vector, probable evolutionary spread of less pathogenic virus strains supplemented with the vaccination campaign led to a negligible level of human TBE cases in Hungary in the last years.     

Genomic prediction for meat and carcass traits in Nellore cattle using a Markov blanket algorithm

This study was carried out to evaluate the advantage of preselecting SNP markers using Markov blanket algorithm regarding the accuracy of genomic prediction for carcass and meat quality traits in Nellore cattle. This study considered 3675, 3680, 3660 and 524 records of rib eye area (REA), back fat thickness (BF), rump fat (RF), and Warner–Bratzler shear force (WBSF), respectively, from the Nellore Brazil Breeding Program. The animals have been genotyped using low-density SNP panel (30 k), and subsequently imputed for arrays with 777 k SNPs. Four Bayesian specifications of genomic regression models, namely Bayes A, Bayes B, Bayes Cπ and Bayesian Ridge Regression methods were compared in terms of prediction accuracy using a five folds cross-validation. Prediction accuracy for REA, BF and RF was all similar using the Bayesian Alphabet models, ranging from 0.75 to 0.95. For WBSF, the predictive ability was higher using Bayes B (0.47) than other methods (0.39 to 0.42). Although the prediction accuracies using Markov blanket of SNP markers were lower than those using all SNPs, for WBSF the relative gain was lower than 13%. With a subset of informative SNPs markers, identified using Markov blanket, probably, is possible to capture a large proportion of the genetic variance for WBSF. The development of low-density and customized arrays using Markov blanket might be cost-effective to perform a genomic selection for this trait, increasing the number of evaluated animals, improving the management decisions based on genomic information and applying genomic selection on a large scale.     

Using midday stem water potential for scheduling deficit irrigation in mid–late maturing peach trees under Mediterranean conditions

Irrigation techniques that reduce water applications are increasingly applied in areas with scarce water resources. In this study, the effect of two regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) strategies on peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch cv. “Catherine”] performance was studied over three growing seasons. The experimental site was located in Murcia (SE Spain), a Mediterranean region. Two RDI strategies (restricting water applications at stage II of fruit development and postharvest) based on stem water potential (Ψ_s) thresholds (?1.5 and ?1.8 MPa during fruit growth and ?1.5 and ?2.0 MPa during postharvest) were compared to a fully irrigated control. Soil water content (θ_v), Ψ_s, gas exchange parameters, vegetative growth, crop load, yield and fruit quality were determined. RDI treatments showed significantly lower values of θ_v and Ψ_s than control trees when irrigation water was restricted, causing reductions in stomatal conductance and photosynthesis rates. Vegetative growth was reduced by RDI, as lower shoot lengths and pruning weights were observed under those treatments when compared to control. However, fruit size and yield were unaffected, and fruit quality was slightly improved by RDI. Water savings from 43 to 65 % were achieved depending on the year and the RDI strategy, and no negative carryover effect was detected during the study period. In conclusion, RDI strategies using Ψ_s thresholds for scheduling irrigation in mid–late maturing peach trees under Mediterranean conditions are viable options to save water without compromising yield and even improving fruit quality.     

Artificial inoculation and susceptibility of Pinus armandii to Dothistroma septosporum

Dothistroma needle blight (DNB) is a serious needle disease of conifers that primarily affects pine species (Pinus spp.). Dothistroma septosporum is one of the DNB pathogens that has a diverse range of host species excluding Pinus armandii. In 15 inoculated P. armandii seedlings, D. septosporum acervuli were observed in 43 infected needles of ten seedlings with a mean disease severity of 1.11% at 25 weeks after inoculations, demonstrating the potential of D. septosporum to cause symptoms on the needles of P. armandii via artificial inoculation. The disease severity of P. armandii was similar to the positive control, Pinus nigra (median 0.75 for P. armandii to 0.70 for P. nigra), thus, P. armandii acts under artificial conditions as a susceptible host species.     

Management strategy influences landscape patterns of high-severity burn patches in the southwestern United States

Landscape Ecology - Spatial patterns of high-severity wildfire in forests affect vegetation recovery pathways, watershed dynamics, and wildlife habitat across landscapes. Yet, less is known about...     

Multivariate analysis of invasive plant species distributions in southern US forests

Landscape Ecology - Invasive plants cause significant impacts in forested areas throughout the world. However, little is known about the relative importance of environmental drivers on the...     

Contrasting edge and pasture matrix effects on ant diversity from fragmented landscapes across multiple spatial scales

Landscape Ecology - Harmful effects of habitat loss and fragmentation can be detected across multiple spatial scales, yet most studies that aim to characterize these effects take place at a single...     

Effects of Cocoa-Derived Polyphenols on Cognitive Function in Humans. Systematic Review and Analysis of Methodological Aspects

Plant Foods for Human Nutrition - The effects of cocoa-derived polyphenols on cognitive functions have been analyzed through numerous studies using different interventions (doses, vehicles, time...     

Comparison of Chemical Composition and Biological Properties of Essential Oils Obtained by Hydrodistillation and Steam Distillation of Laurus nobilis L.

Plant Foods for Human Nutrition - The purpose of this study was to compare the yield, chemical composition, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of essential oils isolated from leaves of Laurus...