Criminal liability of legal entities under Belgian law: A high-level overview

The principle that legal entities can be held criminally liable was first introduced into Belgian law in 1999. Some 20 years later, Belgian Parliament reviewed the rules, and adopted a number of significant changes. The present article offers a high-level overview of the currently applicable legal regime

Nlrp6 promotes recovery after peripheral nerve injury independently of inflammasomes

Background: NOD-like receptors (Nlrs) are key regulators of immune responses during infection and autoimmunity. A subset of Nlrs assembles inflammasomes, molecular platforms that are activated in response to endogenous danger and microbial ligands and that control release of interleukin (IL)-1 beta and IL-18. However, their role in response to injury in the nervous system is less understood. Methods: In this study, we investigated the expression profile of major inflammasome components in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and explored the physiological role of different Nlrs upon acute nerve injury in mice. Results: While in basal conditions, predominantly members of NOD-like receptor B (Nlrb) subfamily (NLR family, apoptosis inhibitory proteins (NAIPs)) and Nlrc subfamily (ICE-protease activating factor (IPAF)/NOD) are detected in the sciatic nerve, injury causes a shift towards expression of the Nlrp family. Sterile nerve injury also leads to an increase in expression of the Nlrb subfamily, while bacteria trigger expression of the Nlrc subfamily. Interestingly, loss of Nlrp6 led to strongly impaired nerve function upon nerve crush. Loss of the inflammasome adaptor apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD (ASC) and effector caspase-1 and caspase-11 did not affect sciatic nerve function, suggesting that Nlrp6 contributed to recovery after peripheral nerve injury independently of inflammasomes. In line with this, we did not detect release of mature IL-1 beta upon acute nerve injury despite potent induction of pro-IL-1 beta and inflammasome components Nlrp3 and Nlrp1. However, Nlrp6 deficiency was associated with increased pro-inflammatory extracellular regulated MAP kinase (ERK) signaling, suggesting that hyperinflammation in the absence of Nlrp6 exacerbated peripheral nerve injury. Conclusions: Together, our observations suggest that Nlrp6 contributes to recovery from peripheral nerve injury by dampening inflammatory responses independently of IL-1 beta and inflammasomes

Surveying activity-travel behavior in Flanders: Assessing the impact of the survey design

peer reviewedEver since car ownership and car use started to increase in Western Europe and the USA, transportation planners attempted to model people’s travel behavior. In the context of the Feathers project a dynamic activity-based travel demand framework is developed for Flanders. In this paper, the complete survey design of the data collection effort required for such dynamic activity-based model is discussed. A mixed survey design of using a PDA application on the one hand, and using traditional paper and pencil diaries on the other hand, turns out to be a very suitable way of collecting detailed information about planned and executed activity-travel behavior of households. The results show that no attrition effects are present, not on the number of out-of-home activities reported, nor on the number of trips reported. Moreover the survey mode (PDA versus paper and pencil) has no direct impact on the quantities investigated. Notwithstanding, it is essential for further analysis on the Feathers data to explicitly take into account mode effects because of two reasons. First, the effect of explanatory variables can be influenced by the survey mode. Second, the variance in the estimation of the quantity investigated can differ significantly. Heteroscedatisc linear regression models provide the required framework to explicitly take into account these mode effects

Come fly with us: services provided by the Space Weather Education Centre

The Solar-Terrestrial Centre of Excellence brings together and supports sun-space-earth research and services present at the federal level in Belgium. In 2019, the STCE was a founding member of a European network, PECASUS, that provides space weather services for civil aviation. Our expertise in solar observations and research combined with the experience of our Global Navigation Satellite System and solar particle radiation group proved to be crucial. The STCE also strongly invests in education and training as these are a backbone of quality research and services, and therefore created the Space Weather Education Centre. This centre offers the Space Weather Introductory Course covering the Sun, solar storms, heliosphere, ionosphere, magnetosphere, instruments and methods to observe solar and space weather activity, as well as reading and interpreting our space weather bulletins. This course is taught to future space weather advisory staff, both military and civilian. It is based upon the STCE’s expertise gained through scientific research, involvement in space missions and space weather monitoring, and on its forecasting capabilities. The course is given by qualified staff. In addition to the Space Weather Introductory Course, the STCE has been and remains involved in a wide range of outreach activities, from public lectures, over dedicated classes and workshops at schools, organization of public events like open doors, publications in popular journals and on online media, scientific newsletters and press releases, to the participation in science festivals and the organization of events for the scientific community. In this paper, we present more details of our educational programme, reflect on the methodologies used, and provide an overview of the obtained result

Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of eating disorder patients treated in the specialized residential settings in Belgium

Introduction Epidemiologic information on sociodemographic and clinical characteristics in eating disorders in Western European countries are scarce. Purpose In this study, we report demographic and clinical characteristics of eating disorder (ED) patients undergoing treatment in five specialized ED centers in Flanders (Belgium). Method Data from 642 ED patients were collected by means of a structured questionnaire. Results Data show that 93.8% of patients are female, with an average age of 22.6 years. The largest subgroup in our sample suffers from anorexia nervosa, namely 52.8%. Bulimia nervosa (BN), binge eating disorder (BED) and eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS) account for 17.7%, 10.7% and 18.8% of the sample, respectively. Mean age of onset was 17 years. Mean duration of illness was 5.6 years, but 20.2% of patients had their illness for over 8 years. Anorexia nervosa patients of the restricting type (AN-R) have the shortest duration of illness. BED patients stood out because they were older on average, more often in a relationship and more often in ambulatory treatment. 70% of patients over 20 years old completed higher education, but one-third of this group was unemployed and/or disabled. Remarkably, ED patients grow more up in intact families compared to the general population. Conclusions Epidemiology of ED patients in treatment in Flanders (Belgium) seems to resemble worldwide findings. The long duration of illness, the common evolution towards chronicity and the early work impairment underline the severe personal and societal impact of ED and call to the need for early detection and treatment of these patients

Profiling peripheral nerve macrophages reveals two macrophage subsets with distinct localization, transcriptome and response to injury

The authors identify two subsets of peripheral nerve macrophages residing in the endoneurium and the epineurium and displaying a distinct transcriptome and response to injury. These cells lack the main microglia identity and have a distinct origin. While CNS microglia have been extensively studied, relatively little is known about macrophages populating the peripheral nervous system. Here we performed ontogenic, transcriptomic and spatial characterization of sciatic nerve macrophages (snMacs). Using multiple fate-mapping systems, we show that snMacs do not derive from the early embryonic precursors colonizing the CNS, but originate primarily from late embryonic precursors and become replaced by bone-marrow-derived macrophages over time. Using single-cell transcriptomics, we identified a tissue-specific core signature of snMacs and two spatially separated snMacs: Relm alpha(+)Mgl1(+) snMacs in the epineurium and Relm alpha(-)Mgl1(-) snMacs in the endoneurium. Globally, snMacs lack most of the core signature genes of microglia, with only the endoneurial subset expressing a restricted number of these genes. In response to nerve injury, the two resident snMac populations respond differently. Moreover, and unlike in the CNS, monocyte-derived macrophages that develop during injury can engraft efficiently in the pool of resident peripheral nervous system macrophages