Antimicrobial resistant Escherichia coli prevalence in freshwaters in Belgium and human exposure risk assessment

The objective of this work was to evaluate the antimicrobial resistant (AR) E. coli prevalence in recreational waters in Belgium and to assess the exposure risk for bathers. Nine stations were sampled during the 2021 bathing season. A total of 912 E. coli strains were isolated and tested by the disk diffusion method in accordance with EUCAST recommendations, including Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamase (ESBL) production. AR E. coli were counted at each bathing sites, 24% of strains were resistant to at least one antibiotic and 6% were Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR). A Multiple Antibiotic Resistance (MAR) index was calculated to compare the bathing sites. The Lesse river had the highest MAR index as well as the highest E. coli absolute abundance and the largest number of ESBL-producing E. coli. Conversely, the 3 lakes showed lower E. coli contamination levels and AR rates. A human health risk assessment of exposure to AR E. coli, based on the calculation of measured prevalence, was performed considering four different dose-response model scenarios. The human health risk (Pd) ranged from 10^-9 to 0.183 (children). The exposure probabilities were low, except for scenario 3 (E. coli O157:H7), which is the most severe.

Mapping agricultural use of pesticides to enable research and environmental health actions in Belgium

Given the many public health and environmental impacts associated with the use of pesticides, comprehensive pesticide application data are a high priority for environmental and health professionals, government agencies, and community groups in Wallonia (Belgium). In that context, geographic information system (GIS) approaches for mapping estimates of agricultural pesticide use were developed in the present study. Data on pesticide application rates and high-resolution annual datasets of the geographic distribution of crops were used to complete this analysis in Wallonia over the period 2015-2017. The method was implemented in Python in order to allow easy update and improvements of maps, or to segment maps by individual pesticides, chemical groups of pesticides (e.g. insecticides, herbicides), etc. Linked databases were created to classify, select, and possibly weight AIs according to specific requests and criteria. The results provide a first map of agricultural pesticide use in Wallonia, which depicts the best picture up to now of their geographic distribution. Maps of fungicides, herbicides, and plant growth regulators showed quite similar spatial patterns as the map of the combination of all pesticides. In contrast, the insecticide map showed a specific pattern related almost exclusively to dwarf-tree orchards in some municipalities in northern Wallonia. This research work is a preliminary result on the spatial characterization of agricultural pesticide use in Wallonia and give a valuable basis for research and environmental health actions in Belgium. Forthcoming developments will focus on exposure characterization to agricultural pesticides using GIS models. Using this information, policymakers will able to detect potential priority zones and take action to check and reduce agricultural pesticide loads in the environment.

Using geographically weighted Poisson regression to examine the association between socioeconomic factors and hysterectomy incidence in Wallonia, Belgium

BACKGROUND

Various studies have investigated geographical variations in the incidence of hysterectomy in Western countries and analyzed socioeconomic factors to explain those variations. However, few studies have used spatial analysis to characterize them. Geographically weighted Poisson regression (GWPR) explores the spatially varying impacts of covariates across a study area and focuses attention on local variations. Given the potential of GWPR to guide decision-making, this study aimed to describe the geographical distribution of hysterectomy incidence for benign indications in women older than 15 years old (15+) at the municipal level in Wallonia (southern region of Belgium) and to analyze potential associations with socioeconomic factors ('Education/training', 'Income and purchasing power' and 'Health and care') influencing the use of this surgery.

METHODS

We carried out an ecological study on data for women aged 15+ living in one of the 262 Walloon municipalities who underwent hysterectomies for benign indications between 2012 and 2014. We linked standardized hysterectomy rates to three municipal-level socioeconomic factors ('Education/training', 'Income and purchasing power' and 'Health and care'). Then, a Poisson regression model and a GWPR were applied to study the relationships between hysterectomy incidence and socioeconomic covariates in Wallonia.

RESULTS

The hysterectomy rate varied across the region. The Poisson regression revealed a positive and significant association between the hysterectomy rate and 'Income and purchasing power', and a negative and significant association between hysterectomies and 'Health and care'. The same associations were seen in the GWPR model. The latter demonstrated that the association between hysterectomies and 'Education and training' ranged from negative to positive over the study area.

CONCLUSIONS

Hysterectomy incidence was shown to have nonstationary relationships with socioeconomic factors. These results support the development of targeted interventions for a more appropriate use of this surgery.

[Analysis of comorbidities in hospitalized patients for ischemic stroke and their effects on lethality]

OBJECTIVES

The aim of the study consists of analyzing the comorbidities of acute ischemic stroke and those influencing its hospital lethality.

METHODS

We considered patients from Wallonia aged 25 years or more and admitted to a Belgian hospital for an acute ischemic stroke in 2013 and 2014. The analyzed medico-administrative data are taken from the Minimum Hospital Summary. A factorial correspondence analysis (FCA) was used to demonstrate the comorbidities profiles. A logistic regression was used to analyse the comorbidities influencing hospital lethality by ischemic stroke.

RESULTS

The stroke risk factors vary according to the age. Cardiac problems are more common in older people aged 85 years or more. High blood pressure, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes are more present between 65- and 84-year-olds. Overweight is more present between 55 and 74-year-olds. People who are addicted to alcohol or tobacco are often 65 years or younger. The logistic regression showed that age and heart problems are the risk factors that increase lethality. However there is a lethality diminution in the presence of high blood pressure, hypercholesterolemia, overweight and addiction to alcohol or tobacco.

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrates that medico-administrative databases and factorial statistical methods are perfectly adapted to confirm the ischemic stroke risk factors. This type of study will allow to target with more precision the secondary and tertiary prevention actions of stroke.

Development of a spatial web tool to identify hotspots of environmental burdens in Wallonia (Belgium)

In response to the Walloon Environment and Health Program, the Scientific Institute of Public Services (ISSeP) developed an integrated approach of environmental exposure assessment in the Walloon region, Belgium. The study presents an index-based approach to estimate the multiple environmental burdens at regional level and detailed local resolution. Indicators are based on environmental measurements of pollutants in ambient air and soil, and on stressors for citizens related to noise and radon. These indicators were mapped as proportions to obtain an accurate comparison between spatial units. In order to indicate the need for intervention, environmental indicators are calculated as the proportion of areas where the level of detrimental environmental factors exceeds threshold values from WHO guidelines and Walloon legal threshold values. In parallel, a spatial web tool based on GIS was developed to enable a flexible and weighted combination of the normalized indicators by computing the resulting composite index online. This interactive web tool designed for policy makers and experts eases the spatial analysis of results in order to identify geographic areas where hotspot exposures are a potential risk to human health. The next steps of this work aim to integrate more environmental indicators (stressors and benefits) and some sociodemographic and health indicators in order to detect vulnerable populations. A holistic assessment is essential to inform environmental justice debates and to ensure a health conducive equal environment. Finally, this environmental health tool will support decision makers focus resources and programs to improve the environmental health of Walloons living in areas disproportionately burdened by multiple sources of pollution.

CARBIOSOL: Biological indicators of soil quality and organic carbon in grasslands and croplands in Wallonia, Belgium

The protection of agricultural soil quality is critical to environmental sustainability and requires relevant indicators. Total soil organic carbon (SOC) is of importance for soil quality but its slow dynamic and inherent variability do not allow early detection of changes. The project CARBIOSOL provides a data set from agricultural soils in Wallonia (Southern Belgium), of total SOC, SOC fractions and biological indicators, selected for their relevance as indicators of soil quality. Two land uses (sampled in 2013), five agricultural regions (2015), seasonal variability in croplands (2016) and four management types (2017) were studied. Soil organic carbon content (total, stable fine fraction <20 μm, labile coarse fraction >20 μm), cold and hot water extractable carbon and nitrogen contents, total nitrogen, pH_{KC l} , pH_{H 2O} , potential respiration, microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen, net nitrogen mineralization, metabolic potential of soil bacteria, earthworm density and biomass, and two ecophysiological quotients (metabolic and microbial quotient) were measured for a total of 415 samples. The present data set provides an important contribution for establishing a reference system of soil quality in Wallonia and eventually for large-scale studies through its integration into a global database. Moreover, the present data set could be used to support the interpretation of measurements of fractions of SOC and biological indicators by soil analyses laboratories, which will be useful for farmers and decision makers to evaluate the effect of different management practices. Information contained in this publication or product may be reproduced, in part or in whole, and by any means for personal or public non-commercial uses, without charge or further permission, unless otherwise specified. Users are required to exercise due diligence in ensuring the accuracy of the material reproduced, indicate the complete title of the material produced and refer to this publication (including author names), indicate that the reproduction is a copy/uses official work financed by the SPW-DGO3. Commercial reproduction and distribution is prohibited, except with written permission from SPW-DGO3 and publication authors.

Effects of spatial planning on future flood risks in urban environments

Urban development may increase the risk of future floods because of local changes in hydrological conditions and an increase in flood exposure that arises from an increasing population and expanding infrastructure within flood-prone zones. Existing urban land use change models generally consider the expansion process and do not consider the densification of existing urban areas. In this paper, we simulate 24 possible urbanization scenarios in Wallonia region (Belgium) until 2100. These scenarios are generated using an agent-based model that considers urban expansion and densification as well as development restrictions in flood-prone zones. The extents of inundation and water depths for each scenario are determined by the WOLF 2D hydraulic model for steady floods corresponding to return periods of 25, 50, and 100 years. Our results show that future flood damages and their spatial distributions vary remarkably from one urbanization scenario to another. A spatial planning policy oriented towards strict development control in flood-prone zones leads to a substantial mitigation of the increased flood damage. By contrast, a spatial planning policy exclusively oriented to infill development with no development restrictions in flood-prone zones would be the most detrimental in terms of exposure to flood risk. Our study enables the identification of the most sensitive locations for flood damage related to urban development, which can help in the design of more resilient spatial planning strategies and localize zones with high levels of flood risk for each scenario.

The Structure of Prejudice and Its Relation to Party Preferences in Belgium: Flanders and Wallonia Compared

We test two assumptions of the generalized prejudice literature. First, that the structure of generalized prejudice (i.e. how prejudices are interrelated) is dependent on the intergroup context. Second, that different types of prejudice have similar political consequences and run via the generalized prejudice component. We perform these tests in the two main regions of Belgium - Flanders and Wallonia - and investigate the influence of differences in the history of immigration, experience of the linguistic and autonomy conflict, and the separate party system and political discourse (i.e. the societal and intergroup context) on these premises. We make use of the Belgian Election Panel (BEP) data that included measures of prejudice toward multiple target groups (immigrants, Flemings, Walloons, homosexuals, and Jews) and voting propensities for the main political parties. Our results show that, regardless of the differences in intergroup experiences, the structure of prejudice is identical in Flanders and Wallonia. Flemings are, however, more tolerant toward homosexuals and immigrants than Walloons. The political context and the set of potential political outlets does play an important moderating role in the translation of prejudices to party preferences: While negative attitudes toward the other regional group seem to divide the electorate in Flanders, it does not affect voting intentions in Wallonia. Anti-immigrant prejudice is crucial in both regions, but affects voters in different ways at the right-side of the political spectrum.

Short-term effects of air pollution on hospitalization for acute myocardial infarction: age effect on lag pattern

The aim of the present study is to analyse the age effect on the lag patterns of relative risk of hospitalization for acute myocardial infarction and NO₂, PM₁₀ and O₃. Daily hospitalizations for AMI during the period 2008-2011 were extracted from administrative data. Analyses were performed using the quasi-Poisson regression model adjusted for seasonality, long-term trend, day of the week and temperature. We observed very different patterns depending on age. For NO₂ and PM₁₀, the younger group (25-54 years) shows a more delayed effect in comparison with the two older age groups (55-64 and ≥ 65 years). Overall, the associations between NO₂ and AMI are higher compared to PM₁₀. There are no associations between O₃ and AMI. This study indicates that age plays a major role in the lag pattern. Younger people have delayed effects, but they are nevertheless sensitive to air pollution.

FORMIDABEL: The Belgian Ants Database

FORMIDABEL is a database of Belgian Ants containing more than 27.000 occurrence records. These records originate from collections, field sampling and literature. The database gives information on 76 native and 9 introduced ant species found in Belgium. The collection records originated mainly from the ants collection in Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), the 'Gaspar' Ants collection in Gembloux and the zoological collection of the University of Liège (ULG). The oldest occurrences date back from May 1866, the most recent refer to August 2012. FORMIDABEL is a work in progress and the database is updated twice a year. THE LATEST VERSION OF THE DATASET IS PUBLICLY AND FREELY ACCESSIBLE THROUGH THIS URL: http://ipt.biodiversity.be/resource.do?r=formidabel. The dataset is also retrievable via the GBIF data portal through this link: http://data.gbif.org/datasets/resource/14697 A dedicated geo-portal, developed by the Belgian Biodiversity Platform is accessible at: http://www.formicidae-atlas.be

PURPOSE

FORMIDABEL is a joint cooperation of the Flemish ants working group "Polyergus" (http://formicidae.be) and the Wallonian ants working group "FourmisWalBru" (http://fourmiswalbru.be). The original database was created in 2002 in the context of the preliminary red data book of Flemish Ants (Dekoninck et al. 2003). Later, in 2005, data from the Southern part of Belgium; Wallonia and Brussels were added. In 2012 this dataset was again updated for the creation of the first Belgian Ants Atlas (Figure 1) (Dekoninck et al. 2012). The main purpose of this atlas was to generate maps for all outdoor-living ant species in Belgium using an overlay of the standard Belgian ecoregions. By using this overlay for most species, we can discern a clear and often restricted distribution pattern in Belgium, mainly based on vegetation and soil types.