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.

Natacha Biset, Wies Kestens, Dominique Detemmerman, Murielle Lona, Güngör Karakaya, Ann Ceuppens, Stéphanie Pochet and Carine De Vriese

Biset, N.; Kestens, W.; Detemmerman, D.; Lona, M.; Karakaya, G.; Ceuppens, A.; Pochet, S.; De Vriese, C. (2022) Analysis of the Consumption of Drugs Prescribed for the Treatment of Asthma in Belgian Children. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 19, 548. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19010548

Abstract: (1) Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in the world among children. The main purpose of this study was to analyze the consumption of asthma medications in order to investigate asthma in children (2–18 years) and the association with health care consumption; (2) a retrospective study using anonymized administrative data for 2013–2018 from the third largest Belgian health insurer was conducted; (3) in 2018, 12.9% of children received at least one asthma medication and 4.4% received at least two packages with a minimum of 30 days between purchases.

Christine Delporte & Muhammad Soyfoo

Delporte C. & Soyfoo M. (2022) Aquaporins: Unexpected actors in autoimmune diseases, Autoimmunity Reviews.

Aquaporins (AQPs), transmembrane proteins allowing the passage of water and sometimes other small solutes and molecules, are involved in autoimmune diseases including neuromyelitis optica, Sjögren’s syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis. Both autoantibodies against AQPs and altered expression and/or trafficking of AQPs in various tissue cell types as well as inflammatory cells are playing key roles in pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases.

Sherihane Bensemmane et al.

Bensemmane, S.; Loayza  Villarroel, K.; Montaño, K.; Louati, E.; Ascarrunz, C.; Rodriguez, P.; Fontaine, V.; Laokri, S. Assessing Barriers Encountered by Women in Cervical Cancer Screening and Follow-Up Care in Urban Bolivia, Cochabamba. Healthcare 2022, 10, 1604. https://doi.org/10.3390/ healthcare10091604

Background: Timely detection of cervical cells infected with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) improves cervical cancer prevention. In Bolivia, actual screening coverage only reaches 33.3% of the target population aged between 25 and 64 years despite free cytology screening. Furthermore, 50% to 80% screened women are lost during follow-up. This study aimed at identifying factors explaining this lack of follow-up care.

Mouctar Sow, Marie-France Raynault & Myriam De Spiegelaere

Sow, M., Raynault, MF. & De Spiegelaere, M. (2022) Associations between socioeconomic status and pregnancy outcomes: a greater magnitude of inequalities in perinatal health in Montreal than in Brussels. BMC Public Health 22, 829. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-13165-1

Background

Comparing health inequalities between countries helps us to highlight some factors specific to each context that contribute to these inequalities, thus contributing to the identification of courses of action likely to reduce them. This paper compares the associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and 1) low birth weight (LBW) and 2) preterm birth, in Brussels and Montreal (in general population, natives-born mothers, and immigrant mothers).

Amélyne Wauters, Julien Tiete, Joana Reis, Isabelle Lambotte, Simone Marchini, and Véronique Delvenne

Wauters A., Tiete J., Reis J.,Lambotte I., Marchini S., and Delvenne V. (2022) Child, adolescent, and parent mental health in general population during a year of COVID‑19 pandemic in Belgium: a cross‑sectional study. Discover Mental Health, vol. 2, issue 1, article 16 (https://doi.org/10.1007/s44192-022-00019-w)

Abstract
Background This study aims to evaluate the mental health status of children, adolescents and their parents during the first year of COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium.
Method Analysis compared results before and during the second national lockdown, which started on November 2nd 2020. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted between May 2020 and April 2021.

Lieven Vandelanotte

Vandelanotte, L. (2022) Constructions of speech and thought representation. WIREs Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1637.

A lot of what humans communicate about concerns cognitive contents of various kinds produced by others or themselves: speech, thought, writing, emotional states, attitudes, hopes, and the like. Languages have developed specialized ways to structure the representation of such contents, especially in various dedicated forms of speech and thought representation. Represented content can also include embodied behavior, such as gesture, whether in cospeech gesture or in sign language.
Silvia Gabarró and Laurence Meurant

Gabarró, S. &  and Meurant, L. (2022) Contrasting signed and spoken languages: towards a renewed perspective on language. Languages in Contrast 22:2 pp.169-194  & pp. 322-360.

For years, the study of spoken languages, on the basis of written and then also oral productions, was the only way to investigate the human language capacity. As an introduction to this first volume of Languages in Contrast devoted to the comparison of spoken and signed languages, we propose to look at the reasons for the late emergence of the consideration of signed languages and multimodality in language studies. Next, the main stages of the history of sign language research are summarized.

Camille Hoornaert , Stéphanie Pochet, Sophie Lorent

Hoornaert C, Pochet S, Lorent S. (2022) Development and Delphi validation of a Best Possible Medication History form in Eur J Hosp Pharm Epub. doi:10.1136/ ejhpharm-2021-003095

Objective
To develop and validate a standardized Best Possible Medication History (BPMH) form that could be used by clinical pharmacists.
Methods
The draft version was presented to a focus group and was adapted following their comments. A three-rounds e-Delphi method was used to validate content, usability and face validity of the BPMH form. We supplemented the quantitative analysis with a qualitative analysis of comments for each Delphi round.
Results

Corentin Scoubeau, Bruno Bonnechère, Miriam Cnop, Vitalie Faoro, and Malgorzata Klass

Scoubeau, C.; Bonnechère, B.; Cnop, M.; Faoro, V.; Klass, M. (2022) Effectiveness of Whole-Body High-Intensity Interval Training on Health-Related Fitness: A Systematic Review and Meta-AnalysisInt. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 19, 9559. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19159559

Due to its versatility, whole-body high-intensity interval training (WB-HIIT) can be proposed to the general population and patients to improve health-related fitness. However, its effectiveness compared to traditional aerobic continuous or interval trainings has yet to be determined. A search of four electronic databases was conducted. Studies reporting the effects of WB-HIIT on cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), fat mass, fat-free mass, musculoskeletal fitness and metabolic risk factors were included.

Issrae El Mouedden, Catherine Hellemans, Sibyl Anthierens, Nele Roos Michels, and Ann DeSmet

El Mouedden et al. (2022) Exper I.iences of academic and professional burn‑out in medical students and residents during first COVID‑19 lockdown in Belgium: a mixed‑method survey. BMC Medical Education. 22:631.

COVID-19 has presented a substantial burden on students and healthcare staff. This mixed-method, descriptive and correlational study aimed to: 1) describe academic; and 2) professional burnout levels; 3) their associations with working in COVID-19-related care; and 4) with perceived COVID-19 impact on tudies and internships among medical students and residents.

Quentin Rivière, Massimiliano Corso, Madalina Ciortan, Gregoire Noël, Nathalie Verbruggen, and Matthieu Defrance

Rivière, Q. et al. (2022) Exploiting Genomic Features to Improve the Prediction of Transcription Factor-Binding Sites in Plants. Plant and Cell Physiology.

 

The identification of transcription factor (TF) target genes is central in biology. A popular approach is based on thelocation by pattern matching of potential cis-regulatory elements (CREs). During the last few years, tools integrating next-generation sequencing data have been developed to improve the performance of pattern matching. However, such tools have not yet been comprehensively evaluated in plants. Hence, we developed a new streamlined method aiming at predicting CREs and target genes of plant TFs in specific organs or conditions.

Nicolas Dauby and Véronique Flamand

Dauby N and Flamand V (2022) From maternal breath to infant’s cells: Impact of maternal respiratory infections on infants ‘immune responsesFront. Pediatr. 10:1046100. doi: 10.3389/fped.2022.1046100.

In utero exposure to maternally-derived antigens following chronic infection is associated with modulation of infants ‘immune response, differential susceptibility to post-natal infections and immune response toward vaccines. The maternal environment, both internal (microbiota) and external (exposure to environmental microbes) also modulates infant’s immune response but also the clinical phenotype after birth.

Olivier G. Pollé, Antoine Delfosse, Manon Martin,Jacques Louis, Inge Gies, Marieke den Brinker, Nicole Seret, Marie-Christine Lebrethon, Thierry Mouraux, Laurent Gatto & Philippe A. Lysy,

Pollé O.G et al. Glycemic Variability Patterns Strongly Correlate With Partial Remission Status in Children With Newly Diagnosed Type 1 Diabetes. Diabetes Care vol. 45, pp.2360-2368. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc21-2543

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate whether indexes of glycemic variability may overcome residual b-cell secretion estimates in the longitudinal evaluation of partial remission in a cohort of pediatric patients with new-onset type 1 diabetes.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Bruno Bonnechère, Oyéné Kossi, Thierry Adoukonou, Karin Coninx, Annemie Spooren and Peter Feys

Bonnechère B, Kossi O, Adoukonou T, Coninx K, Spooren A and Feys P (2022) Improving public health through the development of local scientific capacity and training in rehabilitation in LMICs: A proof-of-concept of collaborative efforts in Parakou, Benin. Front. Public Health 10:952727. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.952727

The increase in life expectancy is linked, among other factors such as genetic factors, environmental factors, factors of medical conditions, socio-demographic factors, self-management, and access to care, to an increase in non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which puts huge pressure on the health care systems. Cardiovascular diseases are, by far, the most common NCD in low- to middle-income countries (LMICs); among these diseases, stroke is the most frequent (3).

Souleymane Fofana, Cédric Delporte, Rafaèle Calvo Esposito, Moussa Ouédraogo, Pierre Van Antwerpen, Innocent Pierre Guissou, Rasmané Semdé and Véronique Mathieu
Fofana, S.; Delporte, C.; Calvo Esposito, R.; Ouédraogo, M.; Van Antwerpen, P.; Guissou, I.P.; Semdé, R.; Mathieu, V. (2022) In Vitro Antioxidant and Anticancer Properties of Various E. senegalensis Extracts. Molecules, 27, 2583.
https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27082583

Abstract: Although Erythrina senegalensis is a plant widely used in traditional medicine in sub-Saharan Africa, its biological properties have been poorly investigated to date. We first characterized by conventional reactions the composition of several stem bark extracts and evaluated in acellular and cellular assays their pro- or antioxidant properties supported by their high phenolic and flavonoid content, particularly with the methanolic extract.

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