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BackgroundAt present the Croatian Turopolje pig population comprises about 157 breeding animals. In Austria, 324 Turopolje pigs originating from six Croatian founder animals are registered. Multiple bottlenecks have occurred in this population, one major one rather recently and several more older and moderate ones. In addition, it has been subdivided into three subpopulations, one in Austria and two in Croatia, with restricted gene flow. These specificities explain the delicate situation of this endangered Croatian lard-type pig breed.MethodsIn order to identify candidate breeding animals or gene pools for future conservation breeding programs, we studied the genetic diversity and population structure of this breed using microsatellite data from 197 individuals belonging to five different breeds.ResultsThe genetic diversity of the Turopolje pig is dramatically low with observed heterozygosities values ranging from 0.38 to 0.57. Split into three populations since 1994, two genetic clusters could be identified: one highly conserved Croatian gene pool in Turopoljski Lug and the"Posavina" gene pool mainly present in the Austrian population. The second Croatian subpopulation in Lonjsko Polje in the Posavina region shows a constant gene flow from the Turopoljski Lug animals.ConclusionsOne practical conclusion is that it is necessary to develop a "Posavina" boar line to preserve the "Posavina" gene pool and constitute a corresponding population in Croatia. Animals of the highly inbred herd in Turopoljski Lug should not be crossed with animals of other populations since they represent a specific phenotype-genotype combination. However to increase the genetic diversity of this herd, a program to optimize its sex ratio should be carried out, as was done in the Austrian population where the level of heterozygosity has remained moderate despite its heavy bottleneck in 1994.

Background We aimed to describe the epidemiology of catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs) in onco-hematological neutropenic patients during a 25-year study period, to evaluate the risk factors for Gram-negative bacilli (GNB) CRBSI, as well as rates of inappropriate empirical antibiotic treatments (IEAT) and mortality. Materials/Methods All consecutive episodes of CRBSIs were prospectively collected (1994–2018). Changing epidemiology was evaluated comparing five-year time spans. A multivariate regression model was built to evaluate risk factors for GNB CRBSIs. Results 482 monomicrobial CRBSIs were documented. The proportion of CRBSIs among all BSIs decreased over time from 41.2% to 15.8% (p<0.001). CRBSIs epidemiology has been changing: the rate of GNB increased over time (from 11.9% to 29.4%; p<0.001), as well as the absolute number and rate of multidrug-resistant (MDR) GNB (from 9.5% to 40.0%; p = 0.039). P. aeruginosa increased and comprised up to 40% of all GNB. Independent factors related with GNB-CRBSIs were: longer duration of in-situ catheter (OR 1.007; 95%CI 1.004–1.011), older age (OR 1.016; 95%CI 1.001–1.033), prior antibiotic treatment with penicillins (OR 2.716; 95%CI 1.306–5.403), and current antibiotic treatment with glycopeptides (OR 1.931; 95%CI 1.001–3.306). IEATs were administered to 30.7% of patients, with the highest percentage among MDR P. aeruginosa (76.9%) and S. maltophillia (92.9%). Mortality rate was greater among GNB than GPC-CRBSI (14.4% vs 5.4%; p = 0.002), with mortality increasing over time (from 4.5% to 11.2%; p = 0.003). Conclusion A significant shift towards GNB-CRBSIs was observed. Secondarily, and coinciding with an increasing number of GNB-MDR infections, mortality increased over time.