Hubert I M Claes

KU Leuven | ku leuven · Department of Development and Regeneration

It is still not well understood how the media affect anti-immigrant party voting. In this paper, we argue and demonstrate empirically that mere exposure to immigration- and crime-related news is positively related to the likelihood that a voter casts a vote for an anti-immigrant party. On the basis of a media content analysis (N=20,084 news items)...

This article examines the use of Twitter by politicians during the 2010 Dutch election campaign. It examines which politicians used Twitter, which topics are being discussed and when politicians use Twitter. Furthermore, this article investigates to what extent posting tweets leads to more preferential votes. A content analysis of tweets posted by...

European Union (EU) enlargement evokes strong opposition among its citizens. Meanwhile, EU citizens’ opinions are likely to become increasingly important in determining the future of the European project. Countries aspiring to EU membership must therefore take public opinion in the EU into consideration. What determines public support for EU entry?...

The presence of values in political speeches and how those values are depicted by journalists in the news are important factors contributing towards the formation of public opinion. A content analysis of online news articles from 10 countries spanning a decade was conducted to investigate these factors and how they differ between developed and deve...

The underlying psychological processes that enable framing effects are often described as cognitive. Yet, recent studies suggest that framing effects may also be mediated by emotional response. The role of specific emotions in mediating the framing effect process, however, has yet to be fully empirically investigated. In an experimental survey desi...

Previous research suggests that the news media's reporting about politics in terms of strategy fosters political cynicism. The question remains, however, what individual and contextual factors facilitate or inhibit this effect. In this study, we draw on a unique multimethod and comparative cross-country design, combining a media content analysis (N...

It is an open question why news media cover political campaigns the way they do. Framing elections in terms of conflict or strategy or focusing on horse-race framing and the role media and journalists themselves play in elections is commonplace, but this study investigates the factors that explain the variation in campaign news coverage. The contex...

Do political actors communicate effectively during electoral campaigns? We introduce a novel concept in electoral research, the “perceived effectiveness of political parties' election campaigns.” This evaluation concentrates on the extent to which a party is seen as getting its message across to the voter. Empirical analyses using survey data and a...

Political parties and politicians increasingly use the possibilities of the Internet to communicate interactively with citizens and vice versa. The Internet also offers opportunities for individual politicians to profile themselves. These developments are often said to bring politics closer to citizens, increasing their political engagement in poli...

News about the European Union (EU) looks different in different countries at different points in time. This study investigates explanations for cross-national and over-time variation in news media coverage of EU affairs drawing on large-scale media content analyses of newspapers and television news in the EU-15 (1999), EU-25 (2004) and EU-27 (2009)...

Representative democracy requires that citizens know the facts about political performance, and if more such facts are available in the media, citizens have more opportunity to acquire them. In view of increasing media choice, such an opportunity may vary from one individual media environment to another. However, it remains unclear how differences...

In this article, we analyze political parties' campaign communication during the 2009 European Parliamentary election in 11 countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the UK). We study which types of issues Euroskeptic fringe and Euroskeptic mainstream parties put on their c...

The extent to which democracy functions successfully in the European Union is a hotly debated issue. Some citizens feel that EU democracy functions well as it is, whereas others perceive a democratic deficit. Which factors contribute to this variation in opinion? In this paper, we focus on the effect that the quality of national institutions has on...

Introduction: The HelpED study assessed men with erectile dysfunction (ED) treated with a phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitor and their female partner in a community setting. Aim: To examine agreement in Erection Hardness Score (EHS) in patients and partners; to assess impact of EHS changes on other sexual health outcomes and behaviors. M...

This study examines the supply of political information programming across thirteen European broadcast systems over three decades. The cross-national and crosstemporal design traces the composition and development of political information environments with regard to the amount and placement of news and current affairs programs on the largest public...

Public evaluations of EU performance are not only critical indicators of the EU's output legitimacy, but also shape future support for European integration. For citizens to monitor the political performance of the EU they need relevant facts, yet it is anything but clear that gains in information about EU performance cause change in judgements abou...

Turkey's bid to join the European Union (EU) is more contentious than any previous enlargement of the EU. With the prospect of a predominantly Muslim country joining the Union, religious differences are often argued to be at the heart of public opposition to Turkish membership, whereas economic reasoning seems to dominate arguments in favour. Yet,...

Religion can affect public support for the European Union (EU). However, specifying the circumstances under which religion may become a stronger predictor of EU-support has so far been neglected. This article shows that the media play a role in this process and it is investigated to what extent the presence or absence of references to religious iss...

Previous research has characterized European news coverage as mainly domestic in focus, hampering the emergence of a European public sphere. This study analyses the European nature of the news coverage of the 2009 European Parliamentary elections. We not only describe the level of Europeanness in news coverage but also propose a compre - hensive mo...

Research on Euroscepticism focuses increasingly on the role of group identities: national identities and attitudes towards multiculturalism. Yet hardly any attention has been paid to the way in which religious intolerance shapes Euroscepticism. We argue that religious intolerance influences not only diffuse Euroscepticism, but also more specificall...

The 2008–2009 worldwide economic crisis serves as a backdrop to this study of the dynamics of citizens’ economic expectations. Economic expectations are identified as crucial for a range of political attitudes. This study is the first to consider how information affects evaluations in times of a severe crisis, as prior research of information effec...

This study was designed to assess the long-term outcome of selected patients with aortic, aortoiliac, and isolated common iliac aneurysms treated with the GORE EXCLUDER® stent-graft. Between December 1998 and June 2010, 121 nonconsecutive patients underwent insertion of a GORE EXCLUDER® stent-graft to treat an aortic (n=80; 66%), aortoiliac (n=25;...

A 30-year-old male soccer player presented three years after arthroscopic right anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) repair with complaints of pain and reduced functionality in the right knee. MR imaging obtained on a 3 Tesla scanner showed some fibro-inflammatory tissue on the anterior aspect of the ACL graft and a fissure centered in the femoral troc...

News framing can exert a strong influence on public opinion. Following a media content analysis, this article investigates the effects of news framing on support for membership of Turkey in the European Union. A first experimental study (n = 304) showed a significant difference in the level of support for Turkish membership between respondents who...

Only few studies have investigated media coverage of one and the same election campaign in a cross-national, comparative perspective. This study takes the 2008 US Presidential election as a case and investigates the way it is covered in eight European countries. We explain differences in visibility, tone and framing by considering country character...

In a previous paper using mediation modeling, the direct and indirect effects of sildenafil on erection maintenance were demonstrated. In an extension of this previous work, the historical psychosocial paradigm of ED, which focuses on performance anxiety, is tested by using mediation modeling to define the relationship of the physiological aspects...

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is defined as the inability to attain and/or maintain penile erection sufficient for satisfactory sexual performance. Although intuitively related, the link between erection hardness and erection maintenance has not been formally established and quantified. To understand the components of erection maintenance through stati...

This paper investigates religiosity in relation to party choice in European Parliament elections. Conventional wisdom tells us that as Europe has secularised, the effect of religion on party choice should also have diminished. Yet, this cross-national and cross-temporal study of religious voting in European elections from 1989 to 2004 paints a more...

A common EU foreign and security policy (CFSP) can be framed by elites and media as a risk or as an opportunity. This article examines the effects of framing in terms of 'risk' and 'opportunity' on public support. Moreover, we examine first whether the effect of framing CFSP as a 'risk for the nation-state' has more impact than 'risk for the EU' fr...

Since the first elections to the European Parliament (EP) in 1979, the institution has grown to become the world’s largest parliamentary debating chamber. In 2009, the EP has representatives from 27 member states in the European Union (EU). Klaus Schönbach was part of the pioneering team of researchers studying the role of the media and communicati...

This multimethodological study focuses on risk-induced electoral mobilization in referendum campaigns. Positive news framing in a referendum campaign can generate a perception of risk among those voters opposing the proposal and stimulate electoral participation to prevent an undesired outcome that would alter a status quo situation. To test this c...

Citizens depend on information from the mass media when forming their opinion about political issues. Studies have shown that news media coverage of the EU can affect general and policy-specific support for European integration. Extant research has focused on individual-level analyses at specific points in time. The present study considers whether...

Support for European integration is a function no longer only of `hard' economic and utilitarian predictors but also of `soft' predictors such as feelings of identity and attitudes towards immigrants. Focusing on the issue of the potential membership of Turkey in the European Union (EU), this study demonstrates that the importance of `soft' predict...

This study examines the effects of generic strategy news, self-referential press news, and “spin” spotlighting publicity coverage on political cynicism, against the backdrop of governance and policy. Drawing on data from two experiments allowing for replication within a single study, the authors demonstrate that exposure to both generic and publici...

In an observational study in men with erectile dysfunction (ED) consulting a general practitioner (GP) or urologist in Belgium, demographics, ED characteristics (including erection hardness score), co-morbidities and treatment expectations were evaluated using a structured questionnaire. In total, 341 GPs and 41 urologists recruited 1492 patients....

In June 2005 the Dutch electorate rejected the EU constitutional treaty in a national referendum. The current study, which focuses on vote choice and the campaign, draws on complementary explanations for referendum voting behavior. We investigated how attitudes towards the EU influenced the intention to vote No ahead of the campaign as well as the...

Support for European integration is a function no longer only of 'hard' economic and utilitarian predictors but also of 'soft' predictors such as feelings of identity and attitudes towards immigrants. Focusing on the issue of the potential member- ship of Turkey in the European Union (EU), this study demon- strates that the importance of 'soft' pre...

Erectile dysfunction following radical prostatectomy remains a frequent problem despite the development of nerve-sparing techniques. This erectile dysfunction is believed to be neurogenic, enhanced by hypoxia-induced structural changes which result in additional veno-occlusive dysfunction. Recently, daily use of intracavernous vasoactive substances...

There is a need for objective and validated measurements of ejaculation latency time and penile sensitivity in men with normal sexual function. We determined 1) the normal range and repeatability of ELT in a laboratory vs at home masturbation and intercourse in normal men, 2) the threshold and repeatability of penile sensitivity on 6 penile surface...

This article analyses the news coverage of the 2004 European parliamentary elections in all 25 member states of the European Union (EU). It provides a unique pan-European overview of the campaign coverage based on an analysis of three national newspapers and two television newscasts in the two weeks leading up to the elections. On average, the elec...

Studies of public support for matters of European integration tend either to neglect or inadequately model the role of the mass media. This study investigates how news media content affects public support for the enlargement of the EU. Other influences on support for integration, such as economic evaluations, anti-immigration sentiment, domestic po...

This multi-methodological study examined the news framing of the 2004 European Union enlargement in terms of risk and opportunity and the effect both frames had on public support for the enlargement. A content analysis showed that EU enlargement was portrayed as a controversial issue, but with an overall balanced tone of coverage. Risk and opportun...

This study investigates the differential effects of exposure and attention to news and of interpersonal communication on change in public opinion under the condition of one-sided or two-sided information flows. Based on Zaller’s theory of public opinion dynamics, for less politically sophisticated individuals, we expected media to influence changes...

This study tests competing hypotheses about public support for European integration and projects referendum voting behaviour. It emphasizes anti-immigration sentiments as a key variable for understanding reluctance about integration. Drawing on survey data, it is shown that anti-immigration sentiments, economic considerations and the evaluation of...

© 2005 – IOS Press and the authors. We outline the competitive television news market in the enlarged European Union (EU) and demonstrate the continued importance of traditional media, in particular television, in the context of proliferation in choice of news sources, including on-line news services. Drawing upon a content analysis of the most wid...

This study is a cross-national comparative content analysis of the coverage of European Union politics in British, Danish, Dutch, French, and German television news. The study identifies key characteristics of the coverage and investigates influences shaping the coverage. In the majority of countries studied, EU politics was marginally represented...

This study investigates how the information environment in the Danish 2000 euro referendum campaign served to crystallize opinion on the issue within the context of a number of other hypothesized influences on the vote, based on previous studies of referendum voting. Our data include a nationally representative two-wave panel survey and a content a...

Previous research tells us little about the ways in which the European Union is portrayed on main evening television news. We therefore content analyzed 11,722 stories broadcast in main evening television news in five EU countries over an 11-month period in 2000. There was an invisible importance to EU news: although the share of the news devoted t...

Three cases of spontaneous, partial, unilateral thrombosis of the corpus cavernosum are described. The patients presented with a painful mass in the perineum without priapism. Diagnosis was made through ultrasound evaluation and magnetic resonance imaging, showing unilateral, partial thrombosis of the corpus cavernosum. Treatment consisted of syste...

Only a few investigators have described the involvement of the perineal muscles in the process of human erection. The aim of this research was to evaluate a re-education program for men with erection problems of different etiologies. Fifty-one patients with erectile dysfunction were treated with pelvic-floor exercises, biofeedback, and electrical s...

This study is a cross‐national comparative investigation of (1) similarities and differences between nominal and thematic public agenda diversity both within and between countries; (2) potential general predictors of the two types of agenda diversity; and (3) the relationship between the agenda diversity of television news and nominal and th...

This study investigates the effects of exposure to strategic news coverage on political cynicism and campaign evaluations using a nationally representative two-wave panel study and a content analysis of the national news media coverage of the 2000 Danish referendum campaign on the introduction of the euro. The study shows (a) voters were generally...

This study investigates the effects of live and non-live reporting on recall and appreciation of political television news. A sample of 161 randomly selected adults participated in an experiment testing the effects of format difference (a live cross-talk between reporters vs a canned field report). Using an authentic experimental news bulletin prod...

A comprehensive framework for analysis of the impact of European integration on political communication needs to take account of developments in four areas: media and political systems, media and political organisations, media content and potential effects, and media audiences and audience characteristics. In this study, the focus is, first, on cha...

This study investigated whether and how journalistic news frames affect readers' thoughts about and recall of two issues. A sample of 187 participants was randomly assigned to one of four experimental framing conditions, which included (a) conflict, (b) human interest, (c) attribution of responsibility, and (d) economic consequences, as well as a c...

To investigate the prevalence, typology, and experience of urinary incontinence, as well as the available therapeutic modalities and information sources among people living at home in Belgium. A representative population sample of 5,269 adults completed a questionnaire in their own homes. There were 2,499 men and 2,770 women aged 30 years and over....

Purpose: Special attention has been focused on the contribution of the ischiocavernosus muscles to intracorporeal pressure during erection. Materials and methods: Length of the ischiocavernosus muscles and corpora cavernosa was studied in 30 cadavers. Results: A biomechanical model for calculating interference of the ischiocavernosus muscles i...

A prospective study was done on 76 patients who underwent surgical correction by corporeal plication of the penile deformity secondary to Peyronie's disease. Nocturnal penile tumescence and rigidity were recorded by RigiScan during three consecutive nights, before and after the operation. A significant number of patients developed erections of bett...

A prospective study was done on 76 patients who underwent surgical correction by corporeal plication of the penile deformity secondary to Peyronie's disease. Nocturnal penile tumescence and rigidity were recorded by RigiScan during three consecutive nights, before and after the operation. A significant number of patients developed erections of bett...

We have studied the histopathology of 87 dorsal penile veins, obtained from patients who underwent a resection of the deep dorsal penile vein because of proven venous leakage. The amount of muscle tissue and of collagenous connective tissue has been numerically quantified. Special attention has been focused on the muscular/collagenization ratio. We...

122 male patients with erection disturbances and proven venous leakage entered a pelvic floor training program. This training program was given in weekly sessions and the patients were guided by trained physiotherapists. A significant improvement was found following the training program. 53.3% were satisfied with the outcome of the training and did...

A patient, in which unsuccessful venous leakage procedure followed by revascularisation of the penis, lead to a hypervascularization of the glans and important oedema of the penis is presented. After embolization of the epigastric artery, these symptoms disappeared and the patient had normal erectile function.

We have studied penile structure in 24 cadaver specimens and 155 patients have been treated for organic impotence by physiotherapy. Special attention has been focused on the closure mechanism of the corpora cavernosa during erection. We have found that the leakage factor of the corpora cavernosa is, among other things, influenced by the ischiocaver...

A group of 150 consecutive male patients with erectile dysfunction and proven venous leakage were randomised either to surgery or to a pelvic floor training programme. The operative procedure consisted of dissection and removal of the deep dorsal vein of the penis and its tributaries or large veins that drain into the internal or external pudendal...

The effect of nitroglycerine patches applied to the penile shaft of impotent subjects was evaluated in a placebo-controlled double-blind study. Nocturnal penile tumescence and rigidity were recorded by RigiScan during three consecutive nights, after application of a nitroglycerine or placebo patch during the second or third night. Although transcut...

Summary— Since 1981, 31 patients have undergone conservative surgery for malignant renal tumours and have been followed up for at least 2 years. The techniques included enucleation or resection (wedge resection or partial nephrectomy). In 10 patients the indications for kidney-sparing surgery were absolute, while in the remainder the conservative s...

Transureteroureterostomy in 17 consecutive cases is reviewed. Our technique of the operation (with retroperitoneal approach) is described. Stenosis of the recipient ureter or other complications did not develop in any of our cases. Based on our experience we continue to regard this procedure as an excellent means of urinary diversion for patients w...

The incidence of urinary tract infection was examined in 181 patients with sterile urine who underwent extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) as outpatients. The incidence of post operative infection was compared in a prospective randomized trial between patients who received a single prophylactic dose of amoxycillin/clavulanate iv and contro...