Investigation of potential causes for the development of porcine ear necrosis: different study designs--comparable results?

During the last years two studies for the investigation of the etiology of porcine ear necrosis were carried out at the Clinic for Swine of the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna. In study 1, parameters, which are discussed in this context, were collected by veterinary practitioners by completing specially designed questionnaires in farms with symptoms of the porcine ear necrosis syndrome. In study 2, samples of piglets and feed were collected for laboratory analysis of the most important infectious agents as well as mycotoxins. In the present manuscript, the results of both projects were compared. Even if the selection criteria of both studies differed, the affected age class was comparable (5.5 to ten weeks of life in study 1 and six to ten weeks of life in study 2). The herd-specific prevalence of the porcine ear necrosis syndrome varied considerably with percentages between 2 and 10, respectively, to 100%. The evaluation of questionnaires in study 1 showed that 51% of the farms had problems with cannibalism. Particles of plant material, which were frequently seen on the histologic slides of study 2, could have got into the tissue by chewing the ears of the pen mates or cannibalism. Whereas in study 1 the negative effect of parameters as high pig density, suboptimal climate, missing enrichment material and bad quality of feed and water were considered, in study 2 all these factors were checked at sample collection and ruled out as precursor for cannibalism. In both studies bacterial agents proved to be a crucial co-factor for the expansion of the necroses to deeper tissue layers, whereas viral pathogens were classified less important. In both projects it was not possible to estimate the direct impact of infectious agents and mycotoxins as direct trigger of the necroses as well as their participation as co-factors or precursor in the sense of an immunosuppression or previous damage of blood vessels or tissue.

Bovine viral diarrhea (BVD): from biology to control

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is endemic worldwide. Together with classical swine fever and border disease viruses, it belongs to the genus Pestivirus of the family Flaviviridae. Most infections with BVDV take a transient, acute, course. Only rarely BVDV persists in its hosts. Due to the early time point of infection in utero, persistently infected (PI) animals are immunotolerant to the infecting non-cytopathic BVDV. In such animals the virus may mutate to a cytopathic biotype, causing lethal mucosal disease. In BVD-endemic regions, approximately 1% of the animals are PI. Removal of all PI animals leads to extinction of BVD. This approach to BVD eradication has been vindicated in Scandinavia. Following the same principles, regional and country-wide eradication programs are run in different parts of the world. These programs differ in the way PI animals are detected and in the role of vaccines. The Scandinavian two-step method of detecting PI animals is based on (i) the high level of seroprevalence in herds where PI animals are present and (ii) on testing all animals for virus in such herds. However, the high average herd seroprevalence in Switzerland made it impossible to define a reasonable threshold for virus testing. Therefore, all animals were directly tested for virus in the year 2008 and all newborn calves until the end of 2012, when the PI prevalence had dropped to 0.02%. Vaccination remains prohibited. Since 2013, surveillance for BVD is accomplished by serology. As a unique consequence of eradication, over 7500 viral strains are available to us for genetic studies.

Molecular detection of hepatitis E virus in German domestic pigs

In industrial countries, Hepatitis E virus (HEV) transmission to humans is predominantly assumed to be a zoonotic infection. Recently, it has been demonstrated that about 50% of domestic pigs in Germany carry HEV-specific antibodies. However, further investigations concerning the distribution of HEV in different age groups of German domestic pigs, phylogenetic analyses and the viral load in the porcine liver are still pending. Liver samples of all age groups from herds in a pig-dense region in north-western Germany were investigated for the presence and quantity of HEV RNA and subsequently genotyped. Out of 251 liver samples, 34 contained ORF2-specific RNA, whereas 19 samples were positive using ORF1-specific primers, resulting in an overall detection rate of 13.5% and 7.6%, respectively. Especially nursery pigs and growers were tested positive for viral RNA. Furthermore, determination of the HEV copy numbers revealed high replication levels. Up to 10(9) genome copies per g of liver tissue could be detected suggesting a likely high degree of viral spread to the environment. In the HEV-positive liver samples we found no hints for pathohistological changes reflecting the HEV status.The HEV sequences showed marked diversity but could be assigned to HEV genotype 3 without exception. However, by comparing two different genomic fragments, we found indications for infections with two different HEV variants in domestic pigs. Apart from this, the current study confirms the outcome of our recent serological HEV survey and for the first time gives direct proof of HEV infections in the German domestic pig population.

Öffentliche Finanzen

Das Parlament verschärfte die Bemessungsgrundlagen der Pauschalbesteuerung. – Der Bundesrat bereitete die Unternehmenssteuerreform III vor. – Der Bundesrat legte dem Parlament die Botschaft zum Konsolidierungs- und Aufgabenüberprüfungspaket 2014 vor. – Die Staatsrechnung 2012 schloss mit einem Überschuss von 1,3 Mia. Franken weit besser ab als erwartet. – Der Voranschlag 2013 budgetierte ein Defizit von 450 Mio. Franken.

Adlige Selbstbehauptung und höfische Repräsentation. Die Freiherren von Strättligen

Die Geschichte der Freiherren von Strättligen als Besitzer von Schloss und Herrschaft Spiez steht beispielhaft für die sozialen, wirtschaftlichen und politischen Umwälzungen, mit denen zahlreiche Adelsgeschlechter im Raum Thunersee und Berner Oberland im 13. und 14. Jahrhundert konfrontiert waren. Zugleich lassen die repräsentative Ausgestaltung ihres Herrschaftssitzes und die Darstellung eines ihrer Angehörigen in der Manesse-Liederhandschrift die reiche Kultur erkennen, welche an den Höfen gepflegt wurde und vom Selbstverständnis des hiesigen Adels zeugt. Das Buch widmet sich den Strategien des Freiherrngeschlechts zur Anpassung an veränderte Bedingungen und fragt nach den vielfältigen Facetten adeliger Kultur im Berner Raum. Dabei liegt ein Akzent auf denjenigen Fragen, die sich im Zusammenhang mit der Szene in der Manesse-Handschrift aus sozial- und kunstgeschichtlicher sowie literatur- und musikwissenschaftlicher Perspektive stellen.

The role of nitric oxide in Listeria encephalitis of ruminants and in rats intracisternally infected with Listeria monocytogenes

Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram-positive facultative intracellular bacteria which infects a wide range of hosts. In ruminants, infection with L. monocytogenes frequently causes encephalitis, which is usually fatal in sheep and goat, while cattle often recover with antibiotic therapy. Since the role of NO in the control of Listeria is controversial, we have studied the expression of iNOS in the brains of cattle, sheep and goats which had succumbed to listeria encephalitis. iNOS was demonstrated in decreasing intensity in the M phi of microabscesses from cattle, sheep and goat. iNOS expression was accompanied by NT in the microabscesses of cattle, but was only present to a low degree in sheep and was absent in goats. This is indirect evidence for differences in the ability to produce NO in the three species. Presence of iNOS and NT were inversely correlated with the numbers of bacteria. While microabscesses of goats contained high amounts of L. monocytogenes they occurred only rarely in cattle. To corroborate our hypothesis that NO is involved in the control of listeria encephalitis a new animal model was developed. Eleven day old infant rats were infected intracisternally with a low dose of L. monocytogenes. This resulted in a transient meningoencephalitis with moderate clinical signs and low mortality. Listeria proliferated strongly in the inflammatory lesions during the first days of infection, reached a peak at day 4 and were eliminated until day 7. The presence of bacteria was closely accompanied by high numbers of iNOS-expressing M phi and the formation of NT. Administration of the iNOS inhibitor L-NIL or the radical scavenger PBN resulted in rapid death of the treated animals. However, the increase in bacterial numbers was one order of magnitude higher for animals treated with PBN compared with L-NIL administration. This shows that NO plays an important role in the control of a brain infection with Listeria, but suggests that reactive oxidants other than NO are also involved. In conclusion, our findings point to a possible involvement of the differences in the ability to express iNOS and subsequent NO production in the different clinical outcome of listeria encephalitis in cattle and small ruminants.

Soziologie des Wettbewerbs. Eine kultur- und wirtschaftssoziologische Analyse der Marktgesellschaft

Das für Gesellschaften ebenso brisante wie zentrale Thema Wettbewerb wurde bislang der Ökonomie respektive der politisch-medialen Rhetorik Überlassen. Soziologische Klassiker (Simmel, Weber, Bourdieu u. a.) bieten Anknüpfungspunkte für eine Wettbewerbssoziologie. Deren Intuitionen aufgreifend besteht die „Soziologie des Wettbewerbs“ aus einer sowohl sozialtheoretisch fundierten als auch empirisch orientierten Feldanalyse. Vier soziale Felder/Märkte und die dort vorfindlichen Praktiken werden analysiert: 1. Bildung (Exzellenzinitiative), 2. Finanzmärkte (Grossbanken), 3. Sport (Doping) und 4. Liebe (Onlinedating). Daraus resultiert eine theoretisch und empirisch fundierte Wettbewerbskritik, die die aktuellen ideologischen Überfrachtungen dekonstruiert und kritisch auf die Auswirkungen bezüglich Subjektpositionen, Leistung und Erfolg sowie auf Mechanismen der Re- und Destabilisierung eingeht. Die Überlegungen münden in ein Nachdenken über die Bedingungen guter Lebensführung in Zeiten einer Wettbewerbsgesellschaft.