Publications by authors named "Willems P"

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  • Drought in China has worsened recently, with 78.4% of the country experiencing increasing drought severity, particularly since 2000.
  • The analysis identified precipitation and temperature as the main factors influencing drought, accounting for 45.7% and 30.8% impact on drought trends across China, respectively.
  • The study concludes that warmer temperatures are significantly driving drought changes, highlighting regional differences in how various factors contribute to drought conditions.
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  • An opportunistic pathogen caused an 18-month outbreak in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in Antwerp, Belgium, affecting 61 neonates, with ten confirmed infections resulting in serious conditions, including one fatal case.
  • The risk of acquiring the infection was significantly higher in neonates nursing in incubators, highlighted by statistical analysis (OR: 2.99; p < 0.05).
  • Whole genome sequencing revealed multiple clusters and the importance of ongoing surveillance and specific infection control measures in NICUs to prevent similar outbreaks in the future.
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Background: In the general population the prevalence of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is 2-3%. There is growing awareness of how AIS affects the quality of life of patients. However, the extent of the societal burden AIS poses remains poorly understood.

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Unlabelled: This nationwide multidisciplinary survey found dissatisfaction among physicians with current osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture care, revealing significant disparities in diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up practices. Issues include poor communication and differing guidelines. Improving interdisciplinary collaboration and standardized care strategies is essential for better patient outcomes.

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Background: Global warming and climate change are threats to the world. Warmer temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns alter water availability and increase the occurrence of extreme weather events. South America and the Andes are vulnerable regions to climate change due to inequity and the uneven distribution of resources.

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  • Scientists found that existing tools for analyzing single-cell data couldn't handle big data very well.
  • They created a new tool called scywalker that makes it easier to analyze long-read sequencing data from single cells or nuclei.
  • Scywalker can do many tasks in one go, like checking data quality and identifying different cell types, and it's available for anyone to use online.
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Evolutionary and functional adaptations of morphology and postural tone of the spine and trunk are intrinsically shaped by the field of gravity in which humans move. Gravity also significantly impacts the timing and levels of neuromuscular activation, particularly in foot-support interactions. During step-to-step transitions, the centre of mass velocity must be redirected from downwards to upwards.

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Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne intracellular bacterial model pathogen. Protective immunity against Listeria depends on an effective CD8 T cell response, but very few T cell epitopes are known in mice as a common animal infection model for listeriosis. To identify epitopes, we screened for Listeria immunopeptides presented in the spleen of infected mice by mass spectrometry-based immunopeptidomics.

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State-of-the-art mass spectrometers combined with modern bioinformatics algorithms for peptide-to-spectrum matching (PSM) with robust statistical scoring allow for more variable features (i.e., post-translational modifications) being reliably identified from (tandem-) mass spectrometry data, often without the need for biochemical enrichment.

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In laboratory settings, human locomotion encounters minimal opposition from air resistance. However, moving in nature often requires overcoming airflow. Here, the drag force exerted on the body by different headwind or tailwind speeds (between 0 and 15 m·s) was measured during walking at 1.

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  • Blue and Green Infrastructures (BGIs) are natural systems that help manage rainwater to prevent floods and droughts.
  • Researchers created a model to understand how these systems work together in cities, using different methods to simulate how water moves and is stored.
  • Testing this model on a university campus in Belgium, they found that using a mix of BGIs, like green roofs and rainwater tanks, can greatly reduce water runoff and help keep water available during dry times.
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  • This study investigates the causes of ongoing pain in patients after posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) surgery by using F-fluoride PET/CT scans and patient-reported outcomes.
  • A total of 36 patients were examined, and those who reported pain had abnormal PET scan results around pedicle screws and facet joints, while CT scans showed no significant differences.
  • The results suggest that PET/CT scans are more effective in correlating with patient symptoms than CT scans alone, highlighting changes in bone metabolism that indicate recovery or potential issues post-surgery.
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An ever-increasing amount of data on a person's daily functioning is being collected, which holds information to revolutionize person-centered healthcare. However, the full potential of data on daily functioning cannot yet be exploited as it is mostly stored in an unstructured and inaccessible manner. The integration of these data, and thereby expedited knowledge discovery, is possible by the introduction of functionomics as a complementary 'omics' initiative, embracing the advances in data science.

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Background And Purpose: Current follow-up protocols for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) are based on consensus and consist of regular full-spine radiographs to monitor curve progression and surgical complications. Consensus exists to avoid inappropriate use of radiographs in children. It is unknown whether a standard radiologic follow-up (S-FU) approach is necessary or if a patient-empowered follow-up (PE-FU) approach can reduce the number of radiographs without treatment consequences.

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Post-translational modifications (PTMs) greatly increase protein diversity and functionality. To help the plant research community interpret the ever-increasing number of reported PTMs, the Plant PTM Viewer (https://www.psb.

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Unlabelled: We determined the prognostic value of nutritional status for outcome after hip fracture. Nutritional status was a strong independent prognostic factor for clinical outcome and 5-year mortality. Physical function showed incomplete recovery.

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Chronic lower back pain caused by intervertebral disc degeneration and osteoarthritis (OA) are highly prevalent chronic diseases. Although pain management and surgery can alleviate symptoms, no disease-modifying treatments are available. mRNA delivery could halt inflammation and degeneration and induce regeneration by overexpressing anti-inflammatory cytokines or growth factors involved in cartilage regeneration.

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Hydrological drought can have a severe negative impact on aquatic ecosystems and human living standards. Therefore, being able to predict and gain more insights in the spatial variability in drought sensitivity of rivers is of relevance for water managers. The drought sensitivity of a river is in this study represented by four drought metrics, of which three are relative towards the ecological minimal flow.

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Evaluating variability and stability using measures for nonlinear dynamics may provide additional insight into the structure of the locomotor system, reflecting the neuromuscular system's organization of gait. This is in particular of interest when this system is affected by a respiratory disease and it's extrapulmonary manifestations. This study assessed stride-to-stride fluctuations and gait stability in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) during a self-paced, treadmill 6-minute walk test (6MWT) and its association with clinical outcomes.

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A normative gait dataset of 246 healthy adults (122 men / 124 women, range in age 18-91 years, body weight 46.80-116.10 kg, height 1.

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Study Design: Systematic review.

Objective: Examine the clinical evidence for the use of osteobiologics in hybrid surgery (combined anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) and total disc replacement (TDR)) in patients with multilevel cervical degenerative disc disease (DDD).

Methods: PubMed and Embase were searched between January 2000 and August 2020.

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Optimal timing for removal of lumen-apposing metal stents (LAMS) for effective drainage of pancreatic fluid collections (PFC) while minimizing adverse events (AE) is unknown. Outcomes of early (≤ 4 weeks) or delayed (> 4 weeks) LAMS removal on both clinical efficacy and the incidence of AE were assessed. This was a retrospective analysis of a prospectively maintained registry of PFC drainage between November 2016 and September 2021.

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Background: Unintentional falls are common among the elderly and given the expected increase of the aging population, these falls contribute to a high number of admissions to the emergency department. Relatively low-energy trauma mechanisms can lead to serious injuries in the elderly, with contributing factors being comorbidities, medication use and degenerative abnormalities.

Case Presentation: A 94-year-old female suffered an unintentional fall at home.

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When running on a curve, the lower limbs interact with the ground to redirect the trajectory of the centre of mass of the body (CoM). The goal of this paper is to understand how the trajectory of the CoM and the work done to maintain its movements relative to the surroundings (Wcom) are modified as a function of running speed and radius of curvature. Eleven participants ran at different speeds on a straight line and on circular curves with a 6 m and 18 m curvature.

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Background: Adult spinal deformity patients (ASD) experience altered spinal alignment affecting spatiotemporal parameters and joint kinematics. Differences in spinal deformity between patients with symptomatic idiopathic scoliosis (ID-ASD) and patients with "de novo" scoliosis (DN-ASD) may affect gait characteristics differently. This study aims to compare gait characteristics between ID-ASD, DN-ASD, and asymptomatic healthy matched controls.

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