The University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (German: Veterinärmedizinische Universität Wien - in short: VUW) was founded in 1767 as the world's third school for veterinary medicine (after Lyon and Alfort) by Milan's Ludovico Scotti, originally named k. k. Pferde-Curen- und Operationsschule (literally, "Imperial-Royal School for the Cure and Surgery of Horses"). Today, it has c. 2,800 students and c. 600 employees..
BACKGROUND: The COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 98/58/EC (1) states that animal owners and care takers must ensure that animals under their care are not subjected to unnecessary pain, suffering and injury. Until now, rendering plants as a potential ‘exit’ in animal production have been largely ignored as a potential assessment site for animal welfare monitoring. The aim of the present work was to provide an overview of welfare-related lesions commonly found in pigs at rendering plants. Data collection was carried out in Austrian and German rendering plants and focussed on lesions that were expected to be recognizable for any pig farmer. RESULTS: In the Austrian study, 20.8% of all pigs delivered to a rendering plant showed lesions potentially associated with substantial pain and/or suffering. In Germany, 16.0% of examined pigs (sample A) may have been exposed to substantial pain and/or suffering. Most common lesions were biting wounds, ulcerative skin lesions and swellings. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the results it must be assumed that a considerable number of pigs experienced substantial pain and/or suffering prior to death. External examinations focusing on potentially welfare-relevant lesions carried out at rendering plants could be helpful in identifying farms at high risk of non-compliance with the Animal Welfare Act.
BACKGROUND:Prostate cancer ranks as the second most frequently diagnosed cancer in men worldwide. Recent research highlights the crucial roles IL6ST-mediated signaling pathways play in the development and progression of various cancers, particularly through hyperactivated STAT3 signaling. However, the molecular programs mediated by IL6ST/STAT3 in prostate cancer are poorly understood. METHODS:To investigate the role of IL6ST signaling, we constitutively activated IL6ST signaling in the prostate epithelium of a Pten-deficient prostate cancer mouse model in vivo and examined IL6ST expression in large cohorts of prostate cancer patients. We complemented these data with in-depth transcriptomic and multiplex histopathological analyses. RESULTS:Genetic cell-autonomous activation of the IL6ST receptor in prostate epithelial cells triggers active STAT3 signaling and significantly reduces tumor growth in vivo. Mechanistically, genetic activation of IL6ST signaling mediates senescence via the STAT3/ARF/p53 axis and recruitment of cytotoxic T-cells, ultimately impeding tumor progression. In prostate cancer patients, high IL6ST mRNA expression levels correlate with better recurrence-free survival, increased senescence signals and a transition from an immune-cold to an immune-hot tumor. CONCLUSIONS:Our findings demonstrate a context-dependent role of IL6ST/STAT3 in carcinogenesis and a tumor-suppressive function in prostate cancer development by inducing senescence and immune cell attraction. We challenge the prevailing concept of blocking IL6ST/STAT3 signaling as a functional prostate cancer treatment and instead propose cell-autonomous IL6ST activation as a novel therapeutic strategy.
Avian haemosporidians are single-celled eukaryotic parasites of vertebrates that require dipteran vectors for transmission. The genera Plasmodium, Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon currently comprise over 5000 parasite lineages based on a 478-bp section of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, which is the standard DNA barcode for avian haemosporidians. The mitochondrial genomes of apicomplexan parasites are highly condensed, with a length of approximately 6000 bp, containing three coding genes (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I, cytochrome c oxidase subunit III and cytochrome b) and dispersed fragments of the small and large ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. Since the mitochondrial genomes are relatively conserved, they are valuable markers for studying the phylogenetic relationships between haemosporidian parasites. However, until recently, mitochondrial genomes were unavailable for parasites of the Haemoproteus nisi and Leucocytozoon toddi species groups, which are exclusive to accipitriform raptors and strongly diverged from other Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon parasites. We screened 171 accipitriform raptors from Austria and Germany using new primers targeting the cytochrome b gene of a previously neglected L. toddi clade. We also developed a new primer assay that enables the amplification and sequencing of the complete mitochondrial genomes of haemosporidian parasites. This process involved long-range PCRs with lineage-specific primers placed within the cytochrome b gene, followed by five nested PCRs targeting conserved sequence regions. Screening the accipitriform raptors revealed 10 new L. toddi group lineages. We sequenced 18 mitochondrial genomes belonging to five H. nisi group, nine L. toddi group, and two other Leucocytozoon lineages. Phylogenetic analyses based on mt genome sequences placed the L. toddi lineages within the genus Leucocytozoon, but the results did not support a monophyly of the genus Haemoproteus. The new nested PCR approach with lineage-specific primers used for the long-range PCRs described herein successfully enabled the sequencing of the complete mitochondrial genomes, even in samples with mixed infections. The mitochondrial genomes of the H. nisi and L. toddi group lineages are highly valuable for resolving the phylogenetic relationships of the order Haemosporida since these parasites belong to clades distinct from other Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon parasites.
To support milk production and quality, high-yielding dairy cows are normally fed using mixed-grains from nutritious sources. However, the contamination of those typical feeds often occurs along with the alteration of the season, including temperature and humidity changes. Therefore, the objective of this study was to compare natural biotoxin and other contaminants in mixed-grains of dairy cow's foodstuff between wet and dry seasons of tropical climate zone using untargeted metabolomic approaches. A total of 40 samples of mixed-grains was divided into two groups; wet (WS; 20) and dry (DS; 20) seasons. Furthermore, data revealed that 321 compounds of mixed grain were identified, whereby 152 compounds showed significant difference between dry and wet seasons (P < 0.05). Data revealed the possible important compounds associated with feed/food safety issues, such as biotoxins and toxicants were more pronounced in mixed-grains during wet season. Higher biological compounds and biotoxins such as actinonin and embelin as well as allopumiliotoxin 267 A and aflatoxin were pointed under wet season (P < 0.05), respectively. Toxicants, like dodecylamine, caprolactam, crotetamide, azidamfenicol, and tridemorph showed significantly stronger in WS group compared to their counterparts (P < 0.05). Data suggests that a stronger alteration associated with potential toxin profiles of mixed-grains was noticeable in wet season compared to dry season, which could adversely affect on feed and food safety parameters. The wet season was found to pose a greater risk to feed-food safety compared to the dry season.
Die Schafhaltung in Österreich hat in den letzten Jahren einen Aufschwung erlebt. Lahmheiten stellen ein zentrales Problem in Bezug auf Tierwohl und Wirtschaftlichkeit dar und können durch Managementfaktoren wie Haltungsform, Klauenpflege und Biosicherheitsmaßnahmen beeinflusst werden. Ziel dieser Studie war es, einen Überblick über aktuelle Haltungs- und Gesundheitsmanagementpraktiken zu gewinnen, das Auftreten von Lahmheiten und Klauenerkrankungen zu erfassen und deren mögliche Zusammenhänge mit betrieblichen sowie tierspezifischen Parametern zu untersuchen. Dafür wurden einerseits Fragebögen von den Betriebsleiterinnen und Betriebsleitern ausgefüllt und andererseits auch Betriebsbesuche und Untersuchungen durchgeführt. In den befragten 29 Betrieben konnte kein statistisch signifikanter Zusammenhang zwischen Klauenerkrankungen und Faktoren wie der Betriebsstruktur, der Entmistungsfrequenz, dem Weidemanagement oder der Klauenpflege nachgewiesen werden, wenngleich tendenzielle Zusammenhänge erkennbar waren. Besonders häufiges Entmisten sowie Quarantänemaßnahmen zeigten eine mögliche präventive Wirkung. Die häufigsten Diagnosen waren Moderhinke (6,5 %), Hyperkeratosen (6,5 %) und Erkrankungen der Weißen Linie (5,4 %). Lahmheiten traten bei 21 von 682 Tieren auf, wobei die Moderhinke meist in frühen Stadien beobachtet wurde. Für das Auftreten der Erkrankung zeigten sich keine signifikanten Zusammenhänge mit dem Alter oder der Rasse, jedoch wiesen Böcke eine signifikant höhere Prävalenz als weibliche Tiere auf (p=0,034). Die Ergebnisse unterstreichen die Bedeutung gezielter Managementmaßnahmen zur Prävention von Klauenerkrankungen in der Schafhaltung.
