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.
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.
Scoubeau, C. et al. (2025) Comparison of body composition, cardiorespiratory, and neuromuscular adaptations induced by three different high intensity training protocols. Physiological Reports https://doi.org/10.14814/phy2.70306.
This study investigated body composition, cardiorespiratory, and neuromuscular adaptations induced by three high intensity trainings easy to fit into daily routine. Thirty-seven adults participated in one of the following 8-week interventions: vigorous intensity continuous training (VICT; 28 min at 70% of peak oxygen uptake [VO2peak]), long interval high intensity interval training (LI-HIIT;6 × 2 min at 85% VO2peak), or short interval HIIT (SI-HIIT; 12 × 30 s at 125% maximal power output).
Defalque C. et al. (2025) Drought and High Temperatures Impact the Plant–Pollinator Interactions in Fagopyrum esculentum. Plants 14, 131. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14010131
As a result of climate change, temperate regions are facing the simultaneous increase in water and heat stress. These changes may affect the interactions between plants and pollinators, which will have an impact on entomophilous crop yields. Here, we investigated the consequences of high temperatures and water stress on plant growth, floral biology, flower-reward production, and insect visitation of five varieties of common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum), an entomophilous crop of growing interest for sustainable agriculture.
De Baetselier, E. et al. (2025) EQUANU: Equality in Societal and Professional Recognition of Nurses—A Cross-Sectional Study on Societal and Professional Recognition of European Nurses. Journal of Nursing Management. Article ID 7466527, 13 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/jonm/7466527.
Background: Despite trends towards greater professionalisation of the nursing profession and an improved public image in certain countries, studies also show that large proportions of the public still do not fully appreciate nurses’ competencies. Mapping differences in the societal and professional recognition of nurses allows for benchmarking among countries.
Asryan, L. & Rots, V.(2024) Exploring Basalt: A Methodological Framework for Analysing Wear Traces on Basalt Tools. J Archaeol Method Theory vol 31, pp. 1954–1983, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-024-09663-8
Basalt is a widely used raw material for tool manufacture at prehistoric sites, but a unified methodology for assessing how hominfins used basalt in prehistory is lacking. A comprehensive experimental investigation of basalt tools is, thus, necessary to establish a reliable methodological framework that can be used to explore the functional properties of archaeological basalt assemblages.
Adant L. et al. (2025) Genetic counseling in veterinary medicine: towards an evidence‑based definition for the small animal practice. BMC Veterinary Research 21:89 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-025-04495-4.
Background In human medicine, questions regarding heritable disorders are dealt with by clinical geneticists and genetic counselors and both the field, their roles and the tools they use are well-defined. Even though the prevalence of diseases is far higher and scientific literature agrees on expectations towards an increased importance, this does not seem to be the case in veterinary medicine. While we hypothesize that there will be an overlap, some characteristics uniquely linked to veterinary medicine might not be covered.
Goethals, S. et al. (2025) Lysine requirement of weaned piglets. Animal 19, 101323, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.animal.2024.101323.
Lysine, often referred to as the ‘first limiting amino acid’ in pig nutrition, plays a pivotal role in growth performance. Variability in lysine requirements arises due to factors such as age, sex and environmental conditions. Optimising pig health and production efficiency and minimising nitrogen excretion require accurate knowledge of estimated lysine requirements accounting for factors such as genetics, feeding practices, scientific advancements, and environmental considerations.
Bos, M. et a. (2025) Objectivising Heritage Assessment with Values: Criteria-Based Grid and Constructivist Approach. Heritage, vol. 8, issue 4, nr 116.
The concept of value seems to have capital importance both in the scientific literature and in various heritage actors’ professional discourse. The actions undertaken to develop the built environment inherited from previous generations seem to depend on thevalue we assign it. In this essay, the concepts of value, assessor, and heritage assessment are discussed. Two historical contexts are compared: the classical axiology of the 19th century based on the Enlightenment search for rationality and the typologies of contemporary values struggling with complexity.
Himschoot L. et al. (2025) et al. Prevalence and clinical correlates of Gardnerella spp., Fannyhessea vaginae, Lactobacillus crispatus and L. iners in pregnant women in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol. 14:1514884. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2024.1514884
Background: Gardnerella is a key pathogen in bacterial vaginosis (BV), but the role of the different Gardnerella species remains unclear. We investigated the role of four Gardnerella species, as well as Fannyhessea vaginae, Lactobacillus crispatus and L. iners in BV.
Corvilain P. et al. (2025) Pushing the boundaries of MEG based on optically pumped magnetometers towards early human life. Imaging Neuroscience, Vol. 3, https://doi.org/10.1162/imag_a_00489.
Characterizing the early development of the human brain is critical from both fundamental and clinical perspectives. However, existing neuroimaging techniques are either not well suited to infants or have limited spatial or temporal resolution. The advent of optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) has revolutionized magnetoencephalography (MEG) by enabling wearable and thus more naturalistic recordings while maintaining excellent sensitivity and spatiotemporal resolution. Nevertheless, its adaptation to studying neural activity in infancy poses several challenges.
De Vlieger D. et al. (2025) Speed-dependent changes in the arm swing during independent walking in individuals after stroke. PLoS ONE 20(1): e0315332. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0315332
Background
Increasing one’s walking speed is an important goal in post-stroke gait rehabilitation. Insufficient arm swing in people post-stroke might limit their ability to propel the body forward and increase walking speed.
Purpose
To investigate the speed-dependent changes (and their contributing factors) in the arm swing of persons post-stroke.
Material and methods
Van Acker J.W.G. et al. (2024) Vertical root fracture detection with conebeam computed tomography in Biodentine™ filled teeth. BMC Oral Health 24:1178, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12903-024-04947-7
Purpose This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of detecting vertical root fractures in Biodentine™-filled teeth using the Promax 3Dmax cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) unit compared to periapical radiographs. It tested hypotheses regarding CBCT’s diagnostic superiority in non-root-filled and Biodentine™-root-filled maxillary central incisors and assessed the impact of smaller field of view and lower intensity settings on detection accuracy.
Beckers, L. et al. (2024) Alterations in the innate and adaptive immune system in a real-world cohort of multiple sclerosis patients treated with ocrelizumab. Clinical 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.
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.
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.
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.