Trichinella spiralis in road-killed raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) in western Poland

Trichinellosis is still one of the most important food-borne parasitic zoonoses and is considered as a threat to public health worldwide. The aim of this study was to use genotyping techniques to determine the prevalence of Trichinella species in wild raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) in western Poland. The infection rate in raccoon dogs was 0.8%. All infections were due to T. spiralis

Similar yet different: co-analysis of the genetic diversity and structure of an invasive nematode parasite and its invasive mammalian host

Animal parasitic nematodes can cause serious diseases and their emergence in new areas can be an issue of major concern for biodiversity conservation and human health. Their ability to adapt to new environments and hosts is likely to be affected by their degree of genetic diversity, with gene flow between distinct populations counteracting genetic drift and increasing effective population size. The raccoon roundworm (Baylisascaris procyonis), a gastrointestinal parasite of the raccoon (Procyon lotor), has increased its global geographic range after being translocated with its host. The raccoon has been introduced multiple times to Germany, but not all its populations are infected with the parasite. While fewer introduced individuals may have led to reduced diversity in the parasite, admixture between different founder populations may have counteracted genetic drift and bottlenecks. Here, we analyse the population genetic structure of the roundworm and its raccoon host at the intersection of distinct raccoon populations infected with B. procyonis. We found evidence for two parasite clusters resulting from independent introductions. Both clusters exhibited an extremely low genetic diversity, suggesting small founding populations subjected to inbreeding and genetic drift with no, or very limited, genetic influx from population admixture. Comparison of the population genetic structures of both host and parasite suggested that the parasite spread to an uninfected raccoon founder population. On the other hand, an almost perfect match between cluster boundaries also suggested that the population genetic structure of B. procyonis has remained stable since its introduction, mirroring that of its raccoon host

Legal responses to religious hate crime: identifying critical issues

To what extent should citizens, as a matter of law and policy, be “free” to abuse, ridicule, threaten, defame, mock and insult the religious beliefs, icons, prophets, practices and esteemed figures of believers, even where such attacks contribute to ongoing debate of topics of “public interest” and political controversy? Should the expression of religious views contradicting liberal ideology’s universalistic interpretation of principles of tolerance, pluralism and broadmindedness be legally protected? Or, are issues concerning the “protection of religious sensibilities” essentially particularistic and wholly context dependent in ways that this universalistic ideology, grounded in conceptions of natural/human rights, cannot adequately grasp? Addressing such key questions requires us to surpass purely legalistic and technocratic forms of doctrinal analysis concerned with remedying alleged “gaps” and “anomalies” in a criminal code. In what follows, we question the distinction between vilifying a religious practice and directly inciting hatred of its believers, which is contained in recent legislative initiatives and resulting case law. We compare theoretical, mainly normative arguments given for ‘freedom of expression’ within liberal ideology, with empirical examples which expose the contradictions within, but not the legitimacy of, existing legislation regarding ‘stirring up religious hatred’ and ‘freedom of speech’