Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Consumption and marrow extraction in 14th century Oudenaarde (Belgium): a zooarchaeological study of a late medieval cattle assemblage

This study reports on a late medieval collection of faunal remains from a pit in the historical centre of Oudenaarde (Belgium), which was characterized by a peculiar predominance of cattle mandibles. To investigate the human activities leading to the accumulation of this assembla...

Comparative chloroplast genomics of Medicago: codon usage bias, purifying selection, and phylogenomics

Medicago sativa subsp. falcata (yellow-flowered alfalfa) is an essential genetic resource for forage improvement, biofuel production, and sustainable agriculture. Its superior cold tolerance and drought resistance, compared with common alfalfa, make it suitable for cultivation in...

Premedication practices prior to neonatal laryngoscopy: a nationwide observational study in Belgian NICUs

Intubation or less invasive surfactant administration (LISA) in neonates both require laryngoscopy, a stressful and painful procedure. This study aimed to document premedication practices before laryngoscopy in Belgium and explore reasons for absence of premedication. Sub-analysi...

Adiponectin-enriched liver-derived ECM attenuates fibrogenic features of activated hepatic stellate cells in a multicellular 3D model

Abstract Background Adiponectin (ADPN), an adipocytokine expressed in multiple tissues including the liver by quiescent hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) has recognized antifibrotic properties. However, most studies rely on simplified 2D systems that fail to capture the liver microen...

Alpha-galactosylceramide as mRNA vaccine adjuvant modulates cellular immunity against tuberculosis and contributes to antigen-specific lung-associated T cells with a TRM-associated phenotype following prime-pull strategy

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent worldwide, highlighting the need for improved vaccines beyond the limited protection currently provided by the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine. Here we investigated the immunological impact...

Reducing hyperparameter sensitivity in measurement-feedback based Ising machines

Abstract Analog Ising machines have been proposed as heuristic hardware solvers for combinatorial optimization problems, with the potential to outperform conventional approaches, provided that their hyperparameters are carefully tuned. Their temporal evolution is often described...

Norwegian lambic-style acidic beers share key microorganisms and metabolites with Belgian lambic beers, although typical microbial phases are less pronounced

Belgian-style acidic ale beers are gaining interest worldwide. These sour beers comprise the spontaneously fermented Belgian lambic beers and beers that are inspired by them, including American coolship ales. This study identified the microbiota present during Norwegian lambic-st...

Chaperone-inspired nanobodies enable pathway-selective control of Tau self-assembly

Abstract Selective control of pathogenic protein self-assembly remains a major challenge for intrinsically disordered amyloid-forming proteins such as Tau. Here we show that nanobodies originally raised against the chaperone S100B unexpectedly cross-react with Tau as potential pa...

Reactivity of ambident nucleophiles in magnetic fields: A combined conceptual DFT and current-DFT study

The influence of strong external magnetic fields (up to 0.30 B0) on the electronic structure and reactivity of ambident nucleophiles is investigated using the nitrite and thiocyanate anions as prototypical examples. To capture magnetic-field-induced changes in reactivity, current...

Commerce, Cities, and Princes: The Institutional Tradition and the Premodern Low Countries

ABSTRACT This article evaluates the application of New Institutional Economics (NIE) to history (the institutional tradition), focusing on its main theoretical contributions and criticisms. It examines the pitfalls of the institutional tradition and looks at the recent historiogr...

Species specific height diameter relationships of dominant tropical rainforest trees in Kakamega Forest Kenya

Accurate height–diameter (H–DBH) relationships are fundamental for forest inventory, structural assessment, and biomass estimation in tropical forests, where direct measurement of tree height is often time-consuming, costly, and prone to error. Species-specific allometric models...

Ethnography of Singing for Breathing in COPD and ILD: Understanding Group Dynamics and Experiences

Background/Aim A growing body of evidence exists detailing the benefits of singing for lung health programs in improving participants’ breathlessness and quality of life. However, the pandemic prompted a shift to online delivery, and there is limited understanding of how this mod...

Accelerating Electrode Optimization for Alkaline Water Splitting With SECCM And SEM/EDX for a Ni–Co Gradient Alloy

Abstract The growing demand for clean energy storage has driven extensive research into electrocatalysts for alkaline water electrolysis (AWE). In order to bring down the energy cost of the H2 produced by AWE, high-performance electrode materials are needed. Electrodes for this p...

RELATING INSPLITTINGS OF 2-GRAPHS AND OF TEXTILE SYSTEMS

Abstract The graphical operation of insplitting is key to understanding conjugacy of shifts of finite type (SFTs) in both one and two dimensions. In this paper, we consider two approaches to studying two-dimensional (2D) SFTs: textile systems and rank-2 graphs. Nasu’s textile sys...

Vitamin K2 production by Staphylococcus shinii IMDO-S216 is affected by high oxygen exposure

Abstract Microbial production of vitamin K2 (MK-n), particularly MK-7, is of interest because of its health-associated benefits. While oxygen favors vitamin K2 yields in lactic acid bacteria and in the genus Bacillus, less is known about its effects on food-grade staphylococci. S...

Biorefining of whole cotton plant residues for bioethanol production with greenhouse gas emission reduction and social carbon benefits

This study evaluated the potential of cotton-processing residues, including leaves, bolls, linters, and stalks, as feedstocks for bioethanol production using ethanol-based organosolv pretreatment. Biomass samples were pretreated with 65 % (v/v) ethanol at 120, 150, and 180 °C for...

Mental health and substance use in Europe: initial steps towards a common European approach

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Comorbid substance use and other mental health disorders contribute to more than one million years lived with disability in Europe according to the Global Burden of Disease study. They require a comprehensive approach, yet, in Europe, there is considerable va...

Expression diversity of cichlid MHC alleles

Abstract Background Diversification driven by natural selection is a major source of biodiversity. Parasites and pathogens impose important selective pressures on their hosts, contributing to high levels of polymorphism at immunologically relevant genes within and among populatio...

Measurement properties of instruments to measure lower limb functional ability and balance after technology-assisted physical activity interventions in community-dwelling older adults: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses

With the growing evidence of technology-assisted interventions, psychometrically robust instruments are essential for evaluating their outcomes and providing evidence-based clinical decisions. This umbrella review aimed to determine lower-limb functional ability and balance instr...

The gut microbiome in multiple myeloma: from disease evolution to therapeutic modulation

The therapeutic landscape of Multiple Myeloma (MM), the second most common haematological malignancy, has undergone a paradigm shift with the introduction of anti-CD38 targeting monoclonal antibodies, immunomodulatory drugs and B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) targeting Chimeric...