Scientific papers

In accordance with its mission to support high level research in Belgium, the University Foundation provides financial support towards the publication in high level international journals of scientific papers which report on research in Belgian research groups. Financial support may be granted to partially cover the costs due by the author for illustrations, for page charges and for article processing fees, and for linguuistic control. 

Because the possible support is restricted to Belgian research groups, the regulations and application procedures are only available in French  and in Dutch.

Articles subsidized by the University Foundation

What follows is a list of articles to which a subsidy was awarded by the University Foundation. The titles are ordered by year of publication and by title.

L. Beckers et al.

Beckers, L. et al. (2024) Alterations in the innate and adaptive immune system in a real-world cohort of multiple sclerosis patients treated with ocrelizumabClinical Immunology 259(2024)109894.

B cell depletion by the anti-CD20 antibody ocrelizumab is effective in relapsing-remitting (RR) and primary progressive (PP) multiple sclerosis (MS). We investigated immunological changes in peripheral blood of a real- world MS cohort after 6 and 12 months of ocrelizumab. All RRMS and most PPMS patients (15/20) showed treatment response. Ocrelizumab not only reduced CD20+ B cells, but also numbers of CD20+T cells. Absolute numbers of monocytes, dendritic cells and CD8+T cells were increased, while CD56hi natural killer cells were reduced after ocrelizumab.

Gloria Yawavi Gbenonsi, Jessica Martini & and Céline Mahieu

Gbenonsi G.Y., Martini J. & Mahieu C. (2024) An analytical framework for breast cancer public policies in Sub-Saharan Africa: results from a comprehensive literature review and an adapted policy Delphi. BMC Public Health, 24:1535 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-18937-5.

Background Breast cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer in women and is a major public health problem worldwide. Despite the lower incidence rates of breast cancer in resource-limited settings, especially sub-Saharan Africa, there is a higher mortality rate compared to high-resource countries where the disease has a higher incidence. This makes breast cancer the second deadliest cancer in African women. These poor results reflect the weakness in public health policies.

Waseem Mushtaq, Marie‑Laure Fauconnier & Caroline de Clerck

Mushtaq W., Fauconnier M.L & & de Clerck C. (2024) Assessment of induced allelopathy in crop‑weed co‑culture with rye‑pigweed model. Scientific Reports, 14, Article number: 10446.

This study evaluates induced allelopathy in a rye-pigweed model driven by rye’s (Secale cereale L.) allelopathic potential as a cover crop and pigweed’s (Amaranthus retroflexus L.) notoriety as a weed. The response of rye towards pigweed’s presence in terms of benzoxazinoids (BXs) provides valuable insight into induced allelopathy for crop improvement. In the 2 week plant stage, pigweed experiences a significant reduction in growth in rye’s presence, implying allelopathic effects. Rye exhibits increased seedling length and BXs upsurge in response to pigweed presence.

Fatemeh Zarei, Yerali Gandica & Luis E. C. Rocha

Zarei F., Gandica V. & Rocha L. (2024) Bursts of communication increase opinion diversity in the temporal Deffuant model, Scientific Reports, 14:2222, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-52458-w.

Human interactions create social networks forming the backbone of societies. Individuals adjust their opinions by exchanging information through social interactions. Two recurrent questions are whether social structures promote opinion polarisation or consensus and whether polarisation can be avoided, particularly on social media. In this paper, we hypothesise that not only network structure but also the timings of social interactions regulate the emergence of opinion clusters.

Sophie Opsomer et al.

Opsomer S. et al.  (2024) Do all roads lead to Rome? An ideal-type study on trajectories of resilience in advanced cancer caregiving. Plos One 19(5): e0303966. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303966.

Objective Studies on resilience in advanced cancer caregiving typically focus on the interplay between resilience-promoting resources and coping strategies that may be associated with resilience. However, no studies have investigated the emergence of trajectories of resilience and distress in individuals confronted with a cancer diagnosis of a loved one.

E. Kowalski, M. Aluwé, B. Ampe, S. Janssens, N. Buys, S. De Smet & S. Millet

Kowalski, E. et al. (2024) Effect of sire type and a by-product based diet on performance and meat quality in growing-finishing pigs. Animal Vol. 18, Issue 3, 101-106.

For many years, pig production has focused on maximizing performance by selecting for maximal muscle growth and feeding diets that allow the animals to express their genetic potential. However, it is unclear whether this selection for muscle deposition has affected the capacity of pigs to cope with by-product based diets, which rely on fat as the primary energy source instead of starches and sugars.

Fabian Beeckman, Andrzej Drozdzecki, Alexa De Knijf, Dominique Audenaert, Tom Beeckman & Hans Motte

Beeckman F. et al. (2024) High-throughput assays to identify archaea-targeting nitrification inhibitorsFrontiers in Plant Science.14:1283047.doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1283047.

Nitrification is a microbial process that converts ammonia (NH3) to nitrite (NO2 -) and then to nitrate (NO3-). The first and rate-limiting step in nitrification is ammonia oxidation, which is conducted by both bacteria and archaea. In agriculture, it is important to control this process as high nitrification rates result in NO3 - leaching, reduced nitrogen (N) availability for the plants and environmental problems such as eutrophication and greenhouse gas emissions.

Martin Taton et al.

Taton M. et al. (2024) HIV-related immune activation attenuates polyfunctional IgG and memory B-cell responses to Tdap immunization during pregnancy. eBioMedicine 104:105179.

Summary Background Maternal pertussis vaccination with Tdap vaccine is recommended to protect newborns from severe postnatal infection. HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) infants have a higher incidence of pertussis infection and may particularly benefit from maternal immunization. The impact of HIV infection on the quality of IgG and memory B cell (MBC) responses to Tdap vaccination in pregnant women (PW) living with HIV (PWH) is unknown.

Marjan De Graef et al.

De Graef  M. et al. (2024) Implementation of Pharmaceutical Technical Assistants on Hospital Wards and Their Impact on Patient Safety and Quality of Care: A Qualitative Study on Nurses’ Experiences and PerceptionsJournal of Nursing Management, Volume 2024, Article ID 7894331, https://doi.org/10.1155/2024/7894331.

To explore nurses’ experiences and perceptions of implementing pharmaceutical technical assistants on hospital wards for medication dispensation.*estudy focuses on implementation, role development, and impact on safety and quality of care, identifying critical success factors and improvement opportunities. Methods. In a qualitative descriptive study, between December 2022 and March 2023, 16 semistructured interviews were carried out with a strati5ed purposive sample of nurses across internal, surgical, and geriatric wards.

Natalia de Souza Araujo, Fernando Ogihara, Pedro Mariano Martins and Maria Cristina Arias

Araujo et al. (2024) Insights from Melipona bicolor hybrid genome assembly: a stingless bee genome with chromosome-level scafold. BMC Genomics 25:171 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-024-10075-x

Background The highly eusocial stingless bees are crucial pollinators of native and agricultural ecosystems. Never theless, genomic studies within this bee tribe remain scarce. We present the genome assembly of the stingless bee Melipona bicolor. This bee is a remarkable exception to the typical single-queen colony structure, since in this spe cies, multiple queens may coexist and share reproductive duties, resulting in genetically diverse colonies with weak kinship connections. As the only known genuinely polygynous bee, M.

Marlies Boeren et al.

Boeren, M. et al. (2024) Lack of functional TCR-epitope interaction is associated with herpes zoster through reduced downstream T cell activation. Cell Reports 43, 114062.

The role of T cell receptor (TCR) diversity in infectious disease susceptibility is not well understood. We use a systems immunology approach on three cohorts of herpes zoster (HZ) patients and controls to investigate whether TCR diversity against varicella-zoster virus (VZV) influences the risk of HZ. We show that CD4+ T cell TCR diversity against VZV glycoprotein E (gE) and immediate early 63 protein (IE63) after 1-week culture is more restricted in HZ patients.

Houtan Ghaffari & Paul Devos

Ghaffari, H. and Devos, P. (2024), On the role of audio frontends in bird species recognition, Ecological Informatics, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2024.102573.

Automatic acoustic monitoring of bird populations and their diversity is in demand for conservation planning. This requirement and recent advances in deep learning have inspired sophisticated species recognizers. However, there are still open challenges in creating reliable monitoring systems of natural habitats. One of many open questions is whether predominantly used audio features like mel-filterbanks are appropriate for such analysis since their design follows human’s perception of the sound, making them susceptible to discarding fine details from other animals’ vocalization.

T. Van Den Berghe et al.

Van Den Berghe T. et al.  (2024)  Predicting cytogenetic risk in multiple  myeloma using conventional whole‑body MRI, spinal dynamic contrast‑enhanced MRI, and spinal diffusion‑weighted imaging  Insights into Imaging 15:106  https://doi.org/10.1186/s13244-024-01672-1

Objectives Cytogenetic abnormalities are predictors of poor prognosis in multiple myeloma (MM). This paper aims to build and validate a multiparametric conventional and functional whole-body MRI-based prediction model for cytogenetic risk classification in newly diagnosed MM.

Babette Demeester, Maïté Verloigne, Sara Willems, Kenji Leta & Emelien Lauwerier

Demeester B., Verloigne M., Willems S., Leta K. & Lauwerier E. (2024) Preventing smoking initiation in adolescents living in vulnerable socioeconomic conditions: Study protocol of the KickAsh!-interventionScandinavian Journal of Public Health DOI: 10.1177/14034948241236232.

Aims: Adolescents living in vulnerable socioeconomic conditions are confronted with tobacco-related health disparities. As school-based interventions appear to be less effective among these youngsters, other approaches are necessary. One promising avenue is youth social work settings that offer sport and recreational activities (SR-settings). SR-settings have been examined as a levering context for health promotion, but evidence regarding smoking prevention is currently lacking.

Sofie Van Nerom, Kobe Buyse, Filip Van Immerseel, Johan Robbens, and Evelyne Delezie

Van Nerom, S. et al (2024) Pulsed electric field (PEF) processing of microalga Chlorella vulgaris and its digestibility in broiler feed. Poultry Science 103:103721 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2024.103721.

Microalgae have potentially beneficial  effects  on  animal  health  and nutritional value when added  to  feed. Crucial  hereby  is that intracellular  bio-active molecules are released in  the intestinal tract. Digestibility of Chlorella vulgaris and its impact on total digestibility of broiler feed is a first step in assessing its characteristics as feed supplement. Different methods could be used to increase the digestibility of the algae.

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