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Purpose To define blood status of folate, vitamin B12, vitamin B6, homocysteine, and major one-carbon metabolism-related polymorphisms in healthy, males and females blood donors, aged 18–65 years were evaluated. General characteristics and lifestyle factors were also investigated. Methods An explorative cross-sectional study design was used to evaluate a sample of blood donors attending the Unit of Transfusion Medicine of the Verona University Hospital, Italy. From April 2016 to May 2018, 499 subjects were enrolled (255 men, 244 women of whom 155 of childbearing age). Major clinical characteristics including lifestyle and dietary habits, B vitamins and homocysteine were analyzed. The MTHFR 677 C>T, cSHMT 1420 C>T, DHFR 19 bp ins/del, RFC1 80 G>A polymorphisms were also determined. Results Mean plasma concentrations of folate, vitamin B12, vitamin B6 and homocysteine were 14.2 nmol/L (95% CI 13.7–14.8), 271.9 pmol/L (95% CI 262.6–281.5), 51.0 nmol/L (95% CI 48.7–53.4) and 13.5 µmol/L (95% CI 13.1–14.0), respectively. Plasma folate, was adequate (> 15 nmol/L) in 44.7% of all subjects, 39.0% of males and 42.5% of women 350 pmol/L) in 25.1% of all subjects and in 20.3% of men ≥ 45 years. The rare allele frequencies were 0.21 for MTHFR 677TT, 0.11 for cSHMT 1420TT, 0.18 for DHFR 19 bp del/del, 0.20 for RFC1 80AA, and a gene–nutrient interaction was confirmed for folate concentrations according to MTHFR 677C>T and DHFR 19 bp del/del. Conclusion An Italian sample of healthy blood donors shows that an adequate concentration of plasma folate and vitamin B12 is reached only in a limited percentage of subjects, thus encouraging consideration for specific public health strategies.

Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) infects many avian species and leads to significant economic losses in the poultry industry. Transmission of this pathogen occurs both horizontally and vertically, and strategies to avoid the spread of MG rely on vaccination and the application of biosecurity measures to maintain breeder groups as pathogen-free. Two live attenuated MG vaccine strains are licensed in Italy: 6/85 and ts-11. After their introduction, the implementation of adequate genotyping tools became necessary to distinguish between field and vaccine strains and to guarantee proper infection monitoring activity. In this study, 40 Italian MG isolates collected between 2010&ndash, 2019 from both vaccinated and unvaccinated farms were genotyped using gene-targeted sequencing (GTS) of the cythadesin gene mgc2 and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) based on six housekeeping genes. The discriminatory power of GTS typing ensures 6/85-like strain identification, but the technique does not allow the identification ts-11 strains, conversely, MLST differentiates both vaccine strains, describing more detailed interrelation structures. Our study describes MG genetic scenario within a mixed farming context. In conclusion, the use of adequate typing methods is essential to understand the evolutionary dynamics of MG strains in a particular area and to conduct epidemiological investigations in the avian population.