Trait and state mindfulness modulate EEG microstates

Here, we aimed to characterized microstate dynamics induced by open-monitoring meditation (OM), which emphasizes a non-reactive stance toward lived experience, while participants were passively exposed to auditory stimuli. We recorded EEG signals from eighteen trained meditators before, during, and after an OM, that we compared to a matched control group at rest. To characterize brain state, we used a multidimensional-based analysis including source localization EEG microstates, phenomenological reports and personality trait questionnaires. We showed that microstate A was negatively correlated with mindfulness trait and decreased in frequency after OM compared to before in meditators. Microstate B was longer and was positively correlated to non-reactivity trait after OM in the meditator group. Microstate C was less frequent and shorter at rest before OM in meditators compared to non-meditators, and decreased in frequency after OM in meditators. Further, the occurrence of microstate C was negatively correlated to non-reactivity trait of meditators. Source localization analysis revealed that the mindfulness trait effect on microstate C at rest was explained by lower activity of the salience network (identified in the anterior cingulate cortex, thalamus and insula), while the mindfulness state effect relied on a strong contribution of (anterior and posterior) cerebellum during OM. While the decreased microstate A occurrence would be related to the mitigation of phonological aspect of thinking processes, the decrease of microstate C occurrence would represent an index of the cognitive defusion enabled by non-reactive monitoring underlying mindfulness meditation, for which the cerebellum appears to play a crucial role.

Aurora Petan, The World Heritage Convention and Romania. Case Study: the Dacian Fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains

Romania has signed the World Heritage Convention in 1990. Its process of implementation was carried out along two decades, but the resulting legal framework does not grant at present the appropriate protection and management of the sites inscribed on the World Heritage List. Moreover, even if steps have been taken towards the implementation of the Convention, the compliance with it is far from being a reality. This study brings forth the fact that in the case of the serial World Heritage Site “Dacian Fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains”, there is a twofold non-compliance with the Convention. First, there is a substantive non-compliance, resulting from the almost complete dereliction of the site: in the last 20 years, there was no management system and 5 of its 6 component parts have been abandoned. Secondly, there is procedural noncompliance, resulting from the fake reporting to the World Heritage Centre, as well as from the omission of some reports. The real situation has recently surfaced, due to the intervention of the civil society, and the World Heritage Centre triggered the reactive monitoring process for this site. At the same time, the possible causes of this non-compliance have been analysed in view of identifying urgent solutions meant to re-establish the balance with respect to the Convention. The main directions of action proposed are the improvement of the legal framework and the adoption of appropriate heritage policies.

Monitoring measles outbreaks using emergency department data in France

Background Measles’ outbreaks still occur in industrialised countries and reactive monitoring of the disease is needed. In France, measles’ monitoring is based on a mandatory notification (MN). Methods In France, for each emergency department (ED) visit, an Electronic ED Abstract (EEDA) is transmitted to the OSCOUR® network included in national Syndromic Surveillance System. EEDA include the diagnosis at discharge using International Classification of Disease (ICD-10). This study aims to evaluate the correlation between the number of measles MN and the number of ED visits related to measles and to calculate the positive predictive value (PPV) of diagnosis at discharge of measles in ED. The study period covered the third wave of the 2008-2011 French outbreak. From 2010 to 2011, we analyzed EEDA transmitted from 32/53 ED of the PACA region and regional measles MN. Using weekly aggregated data, the correlation between the number of measles cases given by both MN and ED sources was assessed (Pearson coefficient). In the 4 ED (2 pediatric) of the teaching hospital of Marseille, electronic medical files coded as measles were reviewed to evaluate the PPV of the diagnosis coded according to the national MN case definition (gold standard). Results 2,949 MN were transmitted and 1,306/1.3 million visits in ED were coded as measles. The peak of the outbreak was reported the same week by EEDA and MN. The correlation between EEDA and MN was strong (0.91; p < 0.001). Hospitalization rate was 20.7% and 21.0% according to EEDA and MN (p = 0.81). Among 363 medical files coded as measles in the 4 ED, 14 cases (3.9%) did not fulfilled the national case definition (PPV: 96.1 [IC95%: 94.2-98.1]), 86 (23.7%) fulfilled criteria for “clinical case” and 263 (72.5%) for “confirmed case". Conclusions Most of the time, ED visits coded as measles fulfilled diagnosis criteria. Our results suggested that EEDA (better reactivity) could be complementary to MN (better completeness) to monitor measles. Key messages Most of the time, ED visits coded as measles fulfilled diagnosis criteria: PPV of coded medical diagnosis in ED for measles is high. Reactivity of ED data monitoring could usefully complete mandatory notification for measles surveillance.

A New UPLC-MS/MS Method Validated for Quantification of Jervine in Rat Plasma and the Study of Its Pharmacokinetics in Rats

The aim of this study was to develop an ultraperformance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method to assess the concentration of jervine in rat plasma and its pharmacokinetics. Diazepam was used as internal standard (IS). The chromatographic separation of jervine and IS was carried out on an UPLC BEH C18 column (2.1 mm × 50 mm, 1.7 μm) with a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min. A mixture of acetonitrile and water (0.1% formic acid) was used as a mobile phase. The UPLC-MS/MS was equipped with an electrospray ionization (ESI), adopting multiple reactive monitoring mode to determine jervine in rat plasma. The retention times of jervine and the internal standard were 1.71 and 2.13 min, respectively. The calibration curve of jervine ranged between 1 and 1000 ng/mL. The lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ) was 1 ng/mL, and the lower limit of determination (LLOD) was 0.2 ng/mL. The accuracy was ±6%; the interday precision and intraday precision were no more than 9%. The recovery was higher than 90.3%, and the matrix effect was lower than 10%. The UPLC-MS/MS method was successfully developed and used for the application of the pharmacokinetic study. The primary pharmacokinetic parameters of jervine in this study were as follows: the AUC(0–∞) was 969.3 ± 277.7 ng/mL·h, the Cmax was 506.6 ± 192.8 ng/mL, the CL/F was 1.7 ± 0.5 L/h/kg, and the t1/2 was 3.4 ± 1.2 h.

Simultaneous determination of pyrrolizidine alkaloids in food supplements of herbal origin using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

A simple and accurate method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of four pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) including echimidine, senecionine, jacobine and intermidine in food supplements of plant origin. The instrumental conditions including the use of TSK-Gel column for the separation and an MS/MS detector in positive ESI source, multi-reactive monitoring (MRM) mode for quantitation were optimized. The method has fully validated and meets the performance requirement of AOAC with good specificity. The linearity varies from 1.0 µg/kg to 40 µg/kg, the LOD was of 0.3 µg/kg; the repeatability and recovery range from 3.6% to 7.5% and 88.7% to 117%, respectively. The method was applied to determine PAs in 90 food supplement samples, of which 26 samples (28.8%) contain PAs.