Babesia spp. in ticks and wildlife in different habitat types of Slovakia

Background: Babesiosis is an emerging and potentially zoonotic disease caused by tick-borne piroplasmids of the Babesia genus. New genetic variants of piroplasmids with unknown associations to vectors and hosts are recognized. Data on the occurrence of Babesia spp. in ticks and wildlife widen the knowledge on the geographical distribution and circulation of piroplasmids in natural foci. Questing and rodent-attached ticks, rodents, and birds were screened for the presence of Babesia-specific DNA using molecular methods. Spatial and temporal differences of Babesia spp. prevalence in ticks and rodents from two contrasting habitats of Slovakia with sympatric occurrence of Ixodes ricinus and Haemaphysalis concinna ticks and co-infections of Candidatus N. mikurensis and Anaplasma phagocytophilum were investigated. Results: Babesia spp. were detected in 1.5 % and 6.6 % of questing I. ricinus and H. concinna, respectively. Prevalence of Babesia-infected I. ricinus was higher in a natural than an urban/suburban habitat. Phylogenetic analysis showed that Babesia spp. from I. ricinus clustered with Babesia microti, Babesia venatorum, Babesia canis, Babesia capreoli/Babesia divergens, and Babesia odocoilei. Babesia spp. amplified from H. concinna segregated into two monophyletic clades, designated Babesia sp. 1 (Eurasia) and Babesia sp. 2 (Eurasia), each of which represents a yet undescribed novel species. The prevalence of infection in rodents (with Apodemus flavicollis and Myodes glareolus prevailing) with B. microti was 1.3 % in an urban/suburban and 4.2 % in a natural habitat. The majority of infected rodents (81.3 %) were positive for spleen and blood and the remaining for lungs and/or skin. Rodent-attached I. ricinus (accounting for 96.3 %) and H. concinna were infected with B. microti, B. venatorum, B. capreoli/B. divergens, Babesia sp. 1 (Eurasia), and Babesia sp. 2 (Eurasia). All B. microti and B. venatorum isolates were identical to known zoonotic strains from Europe. Less than 1.0 % of Babesia-positive ticks and rodents carried Candidatus N. mikurensis or A. phagocytophilum.Inst. de PatobiologíaFil: Hamsikova, Zuzana. Slovak Academy of Sciences. Institute of Zoology; EslovaquiaFil: Kazimirová, Mária. Slovak Academy of Sciences. Institute of Zoology; EslovaquiaFil: Harustiakova, Danka. Masaryk University. Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Science, Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses; República ChecaFil: Mahrikova, Lenka. Slovak Academy of Sciences. Institute of Zoology; EslovaquiaFil: Slovak, Mirko. Slovak Academy of Sciences. Institute of Zoology; EslovaquiaFil: Berthova, Lenka. Slovak Academy of Sciences. Biomedical Research Center. Institute of Virology; EslovaquiaFil: Kocianova, Elena. Slovak Academy of Sciences. Biomedical Research Center. Institute of Virology; EslovaquiaFil: Schnittger, Leonhard. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Patobiología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Bezpieczeństwo militarne Polski w systemie bezpieczeństwa narodowego

Wydział HumanistycznyPowszechnie uważa się, że na straży bezpieczeństwa militarnego państwa stoją jedynie Siły Zbrojne RP. Tymczasem są one w zapewnianiu tego bezpieczeństwa istotnym, ale nie jedynym czynnikiem. Aby takie bezpieczeństwo istniało, konieczne są stosowne układy międzynarodowe, które gwarantują wzmocnienie Sił Zbrojnych RP zarówno w działaniach na terytorium własnego państwa, jak i poza nim. Na wstępie analizie poddano składowe bezpieczeństwa narodowego RP. Wyspecyfikowano jego pojęcie i istotę oraz sklasyfikowano system bezpieczeństwa narodowego i instytucje odpowiedzialne za poszczególne jego podsystemy. Na tym tle zaprezentowano współczesne obszary bezpieczeństwa militarnego w Polsce. Omówiono kwestie pojęciowe odnoszące się do bezpieczeństwa militarnego, środowiska bezpieczeństwa, jego funkcjonowania w ramach bezpieczeństwa narodowego, kryteriów oceny funkcjonowania bezpieczeństwa militarnego i istotnych aspektów funkcjonowania Sił Zbrojnych RP w tych aspektach. Ponadto, w pracy przedstawiono koncepcję funkcjonowania bezpieczeństwa militarnego w Polsce. Odniesiono się w niej do potencjalnego środowiska operacji militarnych, przeciwnika, pola walki i operacji militarnych, misji, zadań i zdolności operacyjnych, struktur organizacyjnych, zasobów osobowych, szkolenia i szkolnictwa wojskowego oraz techniki wojskowej i technologii pola walki. Wszystkie rozdziały zakończono wnioskami, zasadnie rozbudowanymi, ze względu na ogrom problematyki, jaką obejmują treści rozdziałów.It is commonly believed that on our country's military security stand only on Polish Armed Forces. However, the armed forces play very important aspect in it but are not the only one factor of the security. For such security to exist, it is required to establish international treaties that guarantee the strengthening of the Polish Armed Forces in both the operations within our own country and beyond. At the beginning the components of the national security of Poland were analyzed. There were also specified the concept and its essence, and classified national security systems and instructions responsible for each of its sub-system. On this background, contemporary military security areas in Poland were presented. The paperwork also discussed the conceptual issues relating to military security, environmental security, its operation within national security, performance evaluation criteria of military security and relevant aspects of the Polish Armed Forces in these respects. In addition, the paper presents the concept of military security operation in Poland. It also refers to the environment for potential military operations, the enemy, the battlefield and military operations, missions, objectives and operational capabilities, organizational structures, staffing, training and military education, military equipment and technology battlefield. All sections were completed with conclusions, reasonably expanded due to the enormity of the problems, which include the contents of the chapters

Court costumes of the Heian period based on the analysis of the novel Genji Monogatari

Opierając się na tekstach literackich okresu Heian, praca opisuje wybrane zagadnienia związane ze strojami dworskimi epoki, oraz analizuje ich obecność w powieści Genji Monogatari. Celem pracy jest wskazanie znaczącej roli pełnionej przez stroje na dworze cesarskim.Rozdział pierwszy opisuje najważniejsze rodzaje i elementy strojów damskich oraz męskich, a także zagadnienia związane z pozyskiwaniem, nazewnictwem oraz wykorzystaniem tradycyjnych kolorów japońskich. W drugim rozdziale wprowadzone zostają wykorzystane źródła literackie, a następnie przedstawione dwie główne role pełnione przez szatę na dworze Heian: wyraz dobrego smaku i społecznego usytuowania osoby – na podstawie wybranych postaci kobiecych – oraz odzwierciedlenie rangi dworskiej – na przykładzie postaci Yūgiriego. Ostatni rozdział przekrojowo podejmuje temat obecności szaty dworskiej na przestrzeni życia arystokraty, poczynając od porodu i ceremonii wejścia w dorosłość, poprzez rolę szaty w miłości i małżeństwie, a kończąc na strojach żałobnych oraz mnisich.Based on literary texts of the Heian period, the paper describes selected issues related to court costumes of the era, and analyses their presence in the novel Genji Monogatari. The aim of the work is to indicate the significant role played by costumes at the imperial court.The first chapter describes the most important types and elements of women's and men's costumes, as well as issues related to the sourcing, naming and use of traditional Japanese colours. The second chapter introduces the literary sources used and then presents the two main roles played by robes at the Heian court: the expression of good taste and social positioning of a person - on the basis of selected female characters - and the reflection of court rank - on the example of Yūgiri. The last chapter takes up the topic of the presence of court robes in the life of an aristocrat, starting with childbirth and the ceremony of entering adulthood, through the significance of robes in love and marriage, and ending with mourning attire and monk's clothes

A River Used in Agritourism: the Development Plan of a Vantage Point in the Wieprz River Valley

There are many places in rural Poland that have tourist appeal. Among those that have higher landscape and environmental value are riverside areas, which are especially good for attracting tourists. Unfortunately, a lot of natural areas located in river valleys are overlooked because they lack sufficient promotion, ideas or development concepts that would take advantage of the local attractions. A development concept has been prepared for increasing the potential appeal of an agritourist farm that lies adjacent to a stretch of the Wieprz river valley. The main idea of the plan is to create an eco-friendly spot near the river with an attractive landscape and panoramic views. According to the plan, trails will be marked out and outdoor viewing platforms and steps will be constructed which provide safe and easy tourist access. The plan also provides for recreational benches and lighting to encourage use of the site at night, considerably increasing the overall attractiveness of the tourist area. Efforts were made to take into account all possible environmental and landscape issues within a modern framework of form, technology and setting

Detection of TBEV RNA in Ixodes ricinus ticks in north-eastern Poland

TBEV (Flaviviridae, [i]Flavivirus[/i]) is an etiologic agent of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), the most important arboviral human infection involving the central nervous system. The disease is endemic in a zone extending from central and eastern Europe to Siberia and Japan, and corresponds to the distribution of the ixodid ticks, which act both as the vectors and reservoir of TBEV. Humans acquire infection mainly by the bite of an infected tick. A continuous increase of TBE cases throughout Europe has been observed over a period of 30 years. The objective of this study was a preliminary determination of the infection level of ticks collected in North-Eastern Poland, the endemic area of TBE. Questing [i]Ixodes ricinus [/i]ticks (adults, nymphs and larvae) were collected by flagging the lower vegetation in 55 locations in Poland in 2006-2009. A total of 2075 ticks (676 females, 555 males, 799 nymphs and 45 larvae) were collected and examined for the presence of RNA TBEV by nested RT-PCR. The average number of ticks in one pool was 6.98. The minimum infection rate of ticks with TBEV was estimated in total area as 0.96%. TBEV RNA was detected in all of the investigated developmental stages of ticks. The prevalence of viral infection in ticks is a useful indicator of TBE virus circulation and may be used for risk assessment of the degree of natural focus activity and of the risk to contact TBE in a particular natural habitat

A study on the occurrence of West Nile virus in mosquitoes [Diptera: Culicidae] on the selected areas in Poland

West Nile virus (WNV), the etiologic agent of West Nile Fever (WNF), an emerging infectious disease that lately has been rapidly extending its range of occurrence from Africa to Middle East, and to Asia and Southern Europe. In Europe, cases of isolating WNV from mosquitoes representing four genera have been reported from Romania, Portugal, France, southern Russia and what is the most important, from Poland’s neighbouring countries as the Czech Republic, Slovakia and southern Ukraine. These data, as well as human and equine cases in the Czech Republic and Belarus, support hypothesis that WNV has already been present also in Poland, the more so, specific antibodies were detected in the sera of birds collected at the Kampinos and Bialowieza Primeval Forests and in human from the vicinity of Bialystok. Mosquitoes were collected in 2004–2009 at indoor and outdoor collection sites in districts: Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Mazowieckie, Podlaskie and Warmińsko-Mazurskie. In total 15400 female mosquitoes were collected in the cow sheds and overwintering in the cellars, and from human bait and CO2 traps. Mosquitoes were sorted by the collecting site, species and sex, and placed in pools of not in more than 50 specimens in special mixture of phenol and chaotropic salts and frozen in –20°C. Altogether, 15400 females were examined. Total RNA were extracted according to protocol of A&A Biotechnology. RT reaction was performed with random primers and 217-nucleotide fragment from the NS5 coding sequence was amplified by heminested PCR. PCR products were analysed on 1.5% agarose gel. The predominant species was Culex pipiens, accounting for over 42% of total insects collection. All obtained results were negative. Further investigations are needed