Less intensified grazing management with growing fattening bulls

in Animal Research (2006), 55(2, MAR-APR), 105-120

Animal performance, composition and quality of meat from Belgian Blue bulls either fattened indoors (FI) or finished indoors after a previous grazing period were studied during six years. During the ... [more ▼]

Animal performance, composition and quality of meat from Belgian Blue bulls either fattened indoors (FI) or finished indoors after a previous grazing period were studied during six years. During the grazing period, three intensification managements were tested on a permanent pasture conducted as set stocking. The intensification levels were either high (HN:140 kg N(.)ha(-1) with 6 bulls(.)ha(-1)) or moderate with a 33% reduction of nitrogen fertilisation but with the same stocking rate (MN:93 kg N(.)ha(-1), 6 bulls(.)ha(-1)) or low with no nitrogen fertiliser but with a reduced stocking rate (ON, 4 bulls(.)ha(-1)). The levels of intensification did not affect sward characteristics and chemical composition of the grass. The apparent nitrogen efficiency per ha was larger in the ON plot than in the HN and MN plots ( 26 vs. 14%). The average daily gain of bulls during the grazing season was similar in the three groups at 1.0 kg(.)d(-1). The bulls from the FI group were characterised by average daily gains significantly higher than the bulls which were previously grazed and then finished indoors (1.5 vs. 1.2 kg(.)d(-1); P < 0.01). The slaughter weight, the carcass composition, the dressing percentage and most of the meat quality parameters were similar between the treatment groups. The inclusion of a grazing period in the fattening system produced a meat which was darker (lower L*, P < 0.01), more red (higher a*, P < 0.05) and had a higher content of linolenic acid (C18:3 n-3) than that of the animals fattened indoors. [less ▲]

Less vasoocclusive disease after intravenous ersus oral busulfan for autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation : the Belgian pediatric experience

in Belgian Journal of Hematology (2012), 3(2), 34-40

Busulfan is commonly used in preparative conditioning regimens prior to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in children and young adults for malignant and non-malignant disorders. For many years ... [more ▼]

Busulfan is commonly used in preparative conditioning regimens prior to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in children and young adults for malignant and non-malignant disorders. For many years Busulfan was only available in an oral form, resulting in large inter- and intra-patients variability in plasma exposure, associated with higher graft failure rate as well as higher toxicity such as venoocclusive disease. With the development of an intravenous formulation of Busulfan, a more accurate control of both the inter- and intra-patient variability has been provided. The goal of this study was to evaluate the use and efficacy of intravenous Busulfan in comparison with the oral formulation in children undergoing an autologous transplantation after conditioning with Busulfan. Despite the small number of patients, this study confirmed the apparent benefit of intravenous Busulfan in children undergoing an autologous HSCT. The use of a 5-level dose schedule defined by body weight resulted in an efficient engraftment with marked reduction in the incidence of veno-occlusive disease compared with oral Bu. In terms of diseasefree outcome, survival and event-free survival, similar results have been obtained in both groups. The choice of this formulation of Busulfan should therefore be considered. [less ▲]

Lessons from Ontarget

in Acta Clinica Belgica (2008), 63(3), 142-151

The recently published results of the ONTARGET trial shed a new light on the cardiovascular protection of patients at high risk of a cardiovascular event. Despite a number of trials looking at the ... [more ▼]

The recently published results of the ONTARGET trial shed a new light on the cardiovascular protection of patients at high risk of a cardiovascular event. Despite a number of trials looking at the efficacy of Angiotensin Converting Enzyme inhibitors (ACEis) or Angiotensin Receptor Blockers (ARBs) in the prevention of cardiovascvular events in patients with specific high risk profiles, the question of the equivalence of ACEis and ARBs remained unanswered. The ONTARGET trial has shown that telmisartan 80 mg administered for a median duration of 4.5 years to patients at high risk of developing a major cardiovascular event, is equally effective to ramipril 10 mg. In addition, telmisartan was slightly better tolerated. The comparator ramipril has been chosen as it is currently the gold standard ACEi since the results of the HOPE study, in terms of the composite outcome of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction and stroke. Moreover, ONTARGET is the first trial to test the hypothesis of superiority of adding an ARB (telmisartan 80 mg) to an ACEI (ramipril 10 mg) over the ACEi ramipril monotherapy in cardiovascular protection of the same broad range of high-risk patients. Surprisingly, despite a more pronounced blood pressure lowering, the combination of the two agents did not lead to an additional decrease in the number of events, but had significantly more side-effects compared to ramipril monotherapy. ONTARGET is a landmark study, performed according to the highest statistical and clinial standards, providing compelling evidence and clear answers to two important clinical questions. [less ▲]

Lessons from the discovery of leptin: is obesity an endocrine disease?

in Acta Clinica Belgica (1996), 51(6), 371-6

Lessons from the year 2001 Mycosphaerella graminicola epidemic on winter wheat in Belgium

in Mededelingen van de Faculteit Landbouwkundige en Toegepaste Biologische Wetenschappen (Rijksuniversiteit te Gent) (2002, May 07), 67(2), 197-204

Lessons learnt from carotid artery trials

in Acta Chirurgica Belgica (2006), 106(5), 489-499

The objective of the authors is to assess the natural history of carotid artery disease and the role of carotid intervention in preventing ipsilateral stroke. The development of endovascular techniques ... [more ▼]

The objective of the authors is to assess the natural history of carotid artery disease and the role of carotid intervention in preventing ipsilateral stroke. The development of endovascular techniques for correction of carotid artery stenoses made this less invasive technique very popular, with an inherent risk of unregulated overuse by a variety of medical specialists, who are not always well informed on the natural history of carotid artery disease. It re-opened the discussion on the value of carotid endarterectomy for stroke prophylaxis. This ongoing debate offers the opportunity to distil evidence-based guidelines for the management of extracranial carotid artery stenoses. In recent papers, some authors expressed doubts on the validity and general applicability of the results of the pivotal randomised trials of carotid endarterectomy. The excellent results in terms of operative outcome and long term stroke prevention would, according to certain comments, not be attainable in routine practice. Another criticism of carotid endarterectomy is its higher operative morbidity in terms of cranial nerve lesions and myocardial infarctions, compared to endovascular procedures. This consideration is, for some authors, the main reason to espouse carotid artery stenting as a better alternative to carotid endarterectomy. Any evidence supporting this point of view is missing. The supposed equivalence or non-inferiority of carotid artery stenting is purely speculative. The aim of this review paper is to summarize the crude data of carotid surgery trials. The authors aim to answer four questions. For which lesions is carotid endarterectomy most beneficial ? Are the results of randomised carotid surgery trials biased by the selection of patients ? Is operative morbidity, other than stroke, under-estimated ? Is carotid artery stenting safe and efficacious ? An in-depth review with a critical analysis is made of recently published and on-going trials, comparing carotid surgery with percutaneous carotid angioplasty. [less ▲]

Lessons to be learned from varicella-zoster virus

Conference (1995)

Lethal white foal syndrome – Revue de la littérature à partir de 2 cas cliniques

in Proceedings of the Annual meeting of the French Equine Veterinary Association (AVEF) (2002)

La letteratura francese del Medioevo

Book published by Il Mulino (1990)

Lettere. Vita quotidiana e sensibilità religiosa nel Polesine di metà Cinquecento

in Giornale Storico della Letteratura Italiana (2011), CLXXXVIII(622), 310-311