CHARACTERISATION OF AVIAN PASTEURELLA MULTOCIDA STRAINS WITH PCR-RFLP ANALYSIS OF THE ompH GENE

The 16 somatic serotype type strains and 60 field isolates of Pasteurella multocida, representing various avian species and geographic regions in Hungary, were characterised by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis of the ompH gene with DraI restriction endonuclease. The type strains yielded eight different (I–VIII) profiles. Strains whose PCR fragment was uncut by DraI (profile IV) could be differentiated with HindIII and PvuII restriction endonucleases. Five of the eight PCR-RFLP profiles (I, III, V, VI and VII) were detected among the field strains. Only a correlation of limited strength was found between the classical somatic serotypes and the PCR-RFLP profiles. However, the results confirmed that molecular methods could confidently distinguish serotype A:1 strains from the other serotypes. Moreover, the specific relationship between somatic serotypes and PCR-RFLP types among isolates from turkey raises the possibility of the existence of host-specific clones within the P. multocida population

Assessing the role of Pasteurella multocida putative adhesion factors in fowl cholera

Fowl cholera caused by Pasteurella multocida is a contagious disease that affects most of the avian species and leads to significant economic losses in domestic poultry breeding worldwide. The course of infection can be either acute or chronic. In acute infections, the clinical signs are often restricted only to the observation of sudden death. In chronic infections, the spectrum of clinical signs is rather wide, and it may affect the limb joints, the comb, the oviduct, the respiratory tract, the wattles, and the subcutaneous tissue of the head. Diverse virulence traits could explain the different clinical outcomes of the infection. All bacterial infection begins with the process of colonization. Thus, adhesion to mucosal epithelial cells is an important virulence attribute of bacterial pathogens. This ability depends on the expression of adhesive molecules or structures, called adhesins. The aim of our study was to detect and characterise the putative adhesins of P. multocida, like fimA (fimbriae), hsf-1, -2 (autotransporter adhesins), pfhA (filamentous haemagglutinin), tadD (nonspecific tight adherence secretion system, secretin protein), and ptfA (subunit of type 4 fimbriae). Fifty-two field strains of P. multocida were involved in the study isolated from different avian hosts representing both forms of infection and, and type strains of somatic serotype 1, 3, and 4 were used for reference. The fimA and hsf-2 were present in all strains, but the occurrence of other genes (hsf-1, pfhA, and tadD) showed great variety. Eight combinations of virulence genes could be detected within the tested population. Notably, the tadD gene was observed hardly in any other strains than A:1 serotype which were mostly responsible for acute from of the disease and could be characterized with A allele type of ptfA as well. This result revealed that the tad locus-bearing widespread colonization island was not frequent among the avian P. multocida strains as it predicted from the published genome sequence data (originating mainly from mammals)

Flagellin typing of Bordetella bronchiseptica strains originating from different host species

Bordetella bronchiseptica is a widespread Gram-negative pathogen occurring in different mammal species. It is known to play a role in the aetiology of infectious atrophic rhinitis of swine, canine kennel cough, respiratory syndromes of cats, rabbits and guinea pigs, and sporadic human cases have also been reported. In this study, ninety-three B. bronchiseptica strains were examined from a broad range of host species and different geographical regions using restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of polymerase chain reaction products of flaA to reveal the possible host-specificity of the flagellin. Eight types (A-H) of flaA were identified, including five newly described ones (D-H). All but one of the twenty11 two B. bronchiseptica strains from swine showed type B fragment pattern. The eighteen Hungarian isolates of canine origin were uniform (type A) while in other countries type B and D were also present in dogs. The sequence and phylogenetic analysis of 36 representative strains of flaA types revealed four clusters. These clusters correlated with flaA PCR-RFLP types and host species, especially in pigs and dogs. The revealed diversity of the strains isolated from human cases indicated possible zoonotic transmissions from various animal sources

Movement Pattern Recognition in Physical Rehabilitation - Cognitive Motivation-based IT Method and Algorithms

In this paper, a solution is presented to support both existing and future movement rehabilitation applications. The presented method combines the advantages of human-computer interaction-based movement therapy, with the cognitive property of intelligent decision-making systems. With this solution, therapy could be fully adapted to the needs of the patients and conditions while maintaining a sense of success in them, thereby motivating them. In our modern digital age, the development of HCI interfaces walks together with the growth of users’ needs. The available technologies have limitations, which can reduce the effectiveness of modern input devices, such as the Kinect sensor or any other similar sensors. In this article, multiple newly developed and modified methods are introduced with the aim to overcome these limitations. These methods can fully adapt the movement pattern recognition to the users' skills. The main goals are to apply this method in movement rehabilitation, where the supervisor, a therapist can personalize the rehabilitation exercises due to the Distance Vector-based Gesture Recognition (DVGR), Reference Distance-based Synchronous/Asynchronous Movement Recognition (RDSMR/RDAMR) and the Real-Time Adaptive Movement Pattern Classification (RAMPC) methods

A new occurrence of a classic "Árpád-type" mollusc fauna from the Upper Miocene of Kozármisleny, southern Hungary

A classic but very rare “Árpád-type”mollusc assemblage, representing the endemic fauna of the Late Miocene–Early Pliocene Lake Pannon, was discovered in Kozármisleny (near Pécs, southern Hungary). The fossils were collected from silt layers deposited in the shallow sublittoral zone of Lake Pannon, exposed in an 8–10 m high road cut. The assemblage contained some very rare species, including the type species of the genus Lymnocardium, L. haueri (M. HÖRNES). Palynological investigations from the same layers failed to yield age-diagnostic dinofl agellates, and pointed to a brackish – freshwater depositional environment and warm temperate climate

The Effect of Atrophic Rhinitis (AR) on the Weight-gain of Swine

Atrophic rhinitis (AR) is an infectious disease of swine. Besides the most characteristic clinical symptom, nasal turbinate atrophy, it is presumed to result retarded growth rate as well. The present paper gives a brief overview of the scientific literature concerning the correlation between AR and weightgain. Pointing out some of the possible reasons of contradictory results on the topic is also attempted

Molecular analysis of adhesive substances in Pasteurella multocida

Pasteurella multocida is a member of the normal flora of mucosal surfaces and a widely distributed pathogen of many animal species. Molecular bases of pathogenesis and protective immunity against P. multocida infections are far from fully understood. Putative virulence determinants like outer membrane proteins, iron uptake and acquisition proteins, sialidases, toxins and various adhesins may play a part in these mechanisms. Adhesins have a crucial role in mediating colonization and invasion of the host. Thus, their presence on the bacterial surfaces and their morphological variability usually correlate with virulence. The aim of our study was to characterize the molecular diversity of some earlier detected adhesive appendages, like auto transporters (hsf1,2), filamentous haemagglutinin (pfhB1,2) and fimbrial structures (tight adherence macromolecular transport system, type IV pili), in P. multocida strains using with data generated by direct and next generation sequencing. The different types of adhesives have a role in various stages and sites of infection. The filamentous haemagglutinins and autotransporters are essential for initial colonization of trachea while the Tad system and P4T are involved in biofilm initiation and development promoting bacterial persistence in the lower respiratory tract. Lack of proper annotation of most P multocida genomes in the GenBank, the PM70 and multiple alignment (progressiveMauve algorithm) of other genomes (36950, NH06, 3480, X73, P1059) were used as a reference for selection of adequate genes from our assembling genomes. Exception of pfhB2, both of structural and functional genes of the above mentioned structures were detectable in all strains. The functional genes presented allele differentiations in various rates. The supporting of these results comparison of further gene sequences from different strains are needed. Detection and studying of these characteristic sequence variances we obtain useful information about structural changing of adhesins of strains possessing different adhesive features and the results yield targets for prediction of virulence

Distribution of adhesion factors and their impact on the pathogenicity of bovine Pasteurella multocida strains in Bovine Respiratory Disease

Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) is the most common and costly disease affecting beef and dairy cattle industry all over the world. The economic losses are either direct due to lethal cases, or indirect through additional expenses such as the cost of treatment and lower weight gain and decreased carcass value. For those cattle that survive, the presence of pulmonary lesions at slaughter has been associated with significant reduction in daily weight gain. The pathogenesis of BRD is complex, involving a number of viruses, bacteria and stress factors. The stressors, combined with the impact on the immune system and viral infections, allow bacteria to invade the lungs. One of the most frequently isolated bacteriological agents is Pasteurella multocida in these cases. This organism commonly inhabits the pharynx or upper respiratory tract of most cattle. However, it is not considered as normal flora of the lungs. The inhaled bacteria that attached on the mucus of lower respiratory tract successfully using a wide-range of adhesins, under conditions of impaired pulmonary defences, replicate rapidly and cause pneumonia. The aim of our study was to detect and characterise the known putative adhesive factors within the bovine P. multocida population in Hungary. The studied 39 strains were isolated from diseased animals in different cattle herds and they were earlier characterized with traditional microbiological and general molecular methods and divided into subpopulation considered to contain strains of different virulence. The presence of ptfA (subunit of type IV fimbriae), fimA (fimbriae), hsf-1, 2 (autotransporter adhesins), tadD (putative nonspecific tight adherence protein D) and pfhA (filamentous haemagglutinin) genes were detected by PCR. The distribution of virulence factors was compared with the strains’ recorded diagnostic data. The prevalence of the different genes was various. Whereas the fimA was present in all and hsf-2, tadD, ptfA genes in most strains, the occurrence of hsf-1 and pfhA showed variability. Based on these results, seven combinations of the genes could be detected. These profiles well characterized the delineated main subpopulations. Two of them were dominant. The strains with these latter ones varied in possession of gene encoding filamentous haemagglutinin. The presence of pfhA showed significant correlation with diagnostic data. It was associated with pneumonia. For the discrepancy of virulence, the changes in structures of the virulence factors could also be responsible. Thus detailed study of them is recommended. For the additional characterization of the strains we carried out the sequencing of extended genome region included tadD gene. The sequence analysis showed low per cent but characteristic differences between the representative strains. The effect of the changing to the protein structure or function required further investigations

Videoton – a vadásztölténytől a színes televízión át az autó hátsó lámpájáig. Esettanulmány

A 2010-es években járunk. A piaci szereplők megfigyelése szerint a világ autóipara Nyugat-Európából egyre inkább Kelet-Európába helyeződik át. Fontos kérdés az autóipar jövőjét tekintve, hogy ez a tendencia hogyan fog alakulni a továbbiakban. Ez az átmenet milyen hatással lesz egy olyan regionális, vertikálisan integrált vállalatcsoportra, mely több mint 20 éve a világ autóiparának egyik jelentős beszállítója. Megáll-e itt a folyamat vagy tovább megy Kelet felé