Wetenschappelijke artikelen

De Universitaire Stichting kan subsidies verlenen om het publiceren te bevorderen van wetenschappelijke artikelen in internationaal gereviewde tijdschriften. De subsidie kan enkel toegekend worden aan werken die aantoonbaar voortkomen uit onderzoek in een Belgische onderzoekseenheid. 

OPGELET:   De aanvragen voor het subsidiëren van de kosten voor het publiceren van wetenschappelijke artikelen dienen te worden ingediend door middel van een "online" systeem. Dit systeem zal zowel voor de aanvragers als voor de administratie van de Universitaire Stichting het werk vergemakkelijken. 

Klik deze link naar het indiensysteem, waar het reglement, een beschrijving van de te volgen procedure en de online indienformulieren beschikbaar zijn. 

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Wetenschappelijke artikelen gesubsidieerd door de Universitaire Stichting

Wat volgt is een lijst van wetenschappelijke artikelen waaraan recent subsidie werd toegekend door de Universitaire Stichting. De artikelen zijn gesorteerd op jaar van uitgave en per titel.

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.

Lou Richelle, Nadine Kacenelenbogen, Charles Kornreich & Margaux Aron

Richelle L. et al. (2024)  Expectations and needs of people with illicit substance use disorders in general practice: a qualitative study in BelgiumBMC Primary Care 25:303.

Background
People who use illicit drugs cumulate medical and psychosocial vulnerabilities, justifying a rounded health approach. Both caregivers and patients can form barriers to accessing care, leading to inadequate care. This study aimed to identify the needs and expectations of such patients in general practice.
Methods

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.

Camille van der Rest et al.

van der Rest C. et al. (2024) Improving the fatigue life of laser powder bed fusion Scalmalloy® by friction stir processing. Materials and Design, August 2024,113193.

A major concern about parts produced by laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) are intrinsic defects or porosities that are difficult to overcome by simply optimizing the process parameters. As these defects and porosities play a crucial role in the mechanical behaviour, especially in fatigue, additive manufactured parts are often subjected to thermo-mechanical post-treatments. To this end, this work proves Friction Stir Processing (FSP) to be an effective post-treatment to drastically reduce the porosity level.

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

Araujo N. 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.

Floris Voorthuijzen, Cedric Stroobandt , Wim Van Criekinge, Tine Goovaerts and Tim De Meyer

Voorthuijzen F., Stroobandt C., Van Criekinge W., Goovaerts T. & De Meyer T.  (2024) Loss-of-Imprinting of HM13 Leads to Poor Prognosis in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma. Biomolecules 14, 936. 

Genomic imprinting refers to the epigenetic silencing of one of both alleles in a parent-oforigin-specific manner, particularly in genes regulating growth and development. Impaired genomic imprinting leading to the activation of the silenced allele, also called canonical loss-of-imprinting (LOI), is considered an early factor in oncogenesis. As LOI studies in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) are limited to IGF2, we performed a genome-wide analysis in 128 kidney normal solid tissue and 240 stage 1 ccRCC samples (TCGA RNA-seq data) to screen for canonical LOI in early oncogenesis.

Claudia Schönborn, Katia Castetbon & Myriam De Spiegelaere

Schönborn C., Castetbon K. & De Spiegelaere M. (2024)  Maternal birthplace and experiences of perinatal healthcare in Belgium:  Evidence from a cross-sectional surveyMidwifery, vol. 138, 104139 & 104172.

Background: Patient experience is an important part of perinatal care quality. Migrant women in high-income countries often report more negative experiences than non-migrants, but evidence in Europe is patchy. In this study, we compared the experiences of two migrant populations with non-migrants, taking into account socioeconomic characteristics.

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