Pharmacological Effects of Methotrexate and Infliximab in a Rats Model of Diet-Induced Dyslipidemia and Beta-3 Overexpression on Endothelial Cells.

Background: Hyperlipidemia and inflammation are critical components in the pathophysiology of endothelial disorder, which can lead to vascular complications. Our study aimed to evaluate the effects of immunomodulatory therapy (methotrexate and infliximab) in a diet-induced hyperlipidemia rat model.

Methods: Sprague-Dawley (wild type (WT), male, = 32) rats were divided into four groups: one group fed with standard diet (SD), one group fed with high lipid diet (HLD), and two groups that received HLD and drug treatment (methotrexate (Mtx) or infliximab (Ifx)).

Exogenous Jaagsiekte Sheep Retrovirus type 2 (exJSRV2) related to ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA) in Romania: prevalence, anatomical forms, pathological description, immunophenotyping and virus identification.

Background: Ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA) is a neoplastic disease caused by exogenous Jaagsiekte Sheep Retrovirus (exJSRV). The prevalence of JSRV-related OPA in Eastern European countries, including Romania is unknown. We aimed to investigate: the prevalence and morphological features of OPA (classical and atypical forms) in the Transylvania region (Romania), the immunophenotype of the pulmonary tumors and their relationships with exJSRV infection.

Author Correction: Hotspots of recent hybridization between pigs and wild boars in Europe.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Geographical origin and species differentiation of Transylvanian cheese. Comparative study of isotopic and elemental profiling vs. DNA results.

The present study proposed the cheese differentiation, according to geographical production area and with respect to species (cow, sheep) of two traditional cheese specialties, (salty and ripened), produced in Transylvania, Romania. For this purpose, the elemental profile and carbon isotopic ratios (C/C) of cheese and extracted casein were corroborated through statistic supervised techniques to get the best discrimination markers. The manganese content, along with Rare Earth Elements (REE) concentrations, proved to be very powerful predictors, for the traditional salted cheese mainly, due to the direct influence of the local salted water.

Hotspots of recent hybridization between pigs and wild boars in Europe.

After a strong demographic decline before World War II, wild boar populations are expanding and the species is now the second-most abundant ungulate in Europe. This increase raises concerns due to wild boar impact on crops and natural ecosystems and as potential vector of diseases. Additionally, wild boar can hybridize with domestic pigs, which could increase health risks and alter wild boar adaptive potential.

Differential distribution of Y-chromosome haplotypes in Swiss and Southern European goat breeds.

The analysis of Y-chromosome variation has provided valuable clues about the paternal history of domestic animal populations. The main goal of the current work was to characterize Y-chromosome diversity in 31 goat populations from Central Eastern (Switzerland and Romania) and Southern Europe (Spain and Italy) as well as in reference populations from Africa and the Near East. Towards this end, we have genotyped seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), mapping to the SRY, ZFY, AMELY and DDX3Y Y-linked loci, in 275 bucks from 31 populations.

Identification of an intronic regulatory mutation at the buffalo αS1-casein gene that triggers the skipping of exon 6.

The characterization of casein polymorphism is an essential step in order to understand the genetic basis of milk quality in dairy ruminants. In this work, we report the identification of a regulatory mutation at the buffalo αs1-casein (CSN1S1) gene that alters the normal processing of the primary transcript. Sequencing of CSN1S1 cDNA from individuals harbouring this new variant revealed that its most distinctive feature is the loss of exon 6 that encodes eight amino acids between positions 35-42 of mature protein.

A high throughput genotyping approach reveals distinctive autosomal genetic signatures for European and Near Eastern wild boar.

The lack of a Near Eastern genetic signature in modern European porcine breeds indicates that, although domestic pigs from the Fertile Crescent entered Europe during the Neolithic, they were completely replaced by their European counterparts in a short window of time. Whilst the absence of such genetic signature has been convincingly demonstrated at the mitochondrial level, variation at the autosomal genomes of European and Near Eastern Sus scrofa has not been compared yet. Herewith, we have explored the genetic relationships among 43 wild boar from Europe (N = 21), Near East (N = 19) and Korea (N = 3), and 40 Iberian (N = 16), Canarian (N = 4) and Mangalitza (N = 20) pigs by using a high throughput SNP genotyping platform.