Quantifiable urine glyphosate levels detected in 99% of the French population, with higher values in men, in younger people, and in farmers

France is the first pesticide-consuming country in Europe. Glyphosate is the most used pesticide worldwide and glyphosate is detected in the general population of industrialized countries, with higher levels found in farmers and children. Little data was available concerning exposure in France. Our objective was to determine glyphosate levels in the French general population and to search for an association with seasons, biological features, lifestyle status, dietary habits, and occupational exposure. This study includes 6848 participants recruited between 2018 and 2020. Associated data include age, gender, location, employment status, and dietary information. Glyphosate was quantified by a single laboratory in first-void urine samples using ELISA. Our results support a general contamination of the French population, with glyphosate quantifiable in 99.8% of urine samples with a mean of 1.19 ng/ml + / − 0.84 after adjustment to body mass index (BMI). We confirm higher glyphosate levels in men and children. Our results support glyphosate contamination through food and water intake, as lower glyphosate levels are associated with dominant organic food intake and filtered water. Higher occupational exposure is confirmed in farmers and farmers working in wine-growing environment. Thus, our present results show a general contamination of the French population with glyphosate, and further contribute to the description of a widespread contamination in industrialized countries.

Covid-19 vaccine dialogues increase vaccination intentions and attitudes in a vaccine-hesitant UK population

Recently, Altay et al (2020) showed that five minutes of interaction with a chatbot led to increases in Covid-19 vaccination attitudes and intentions in a randomly sampled French population, compared to a brief control condition. Here we replicate and qualify this effect, whilst attempting to isolate what made the chatbot condition so effective. We reduce the chatbot information to several fact-checked and updated dialogues, and introduce strict controls to isolate the effect of choice of information. We control the amount of information provided, the time spent with the information, the trustworthiness of the information, and the level of interactivity. Like Altay et al, our experiment allowed participants to navigate a branching dialogue by choosing questions of interest, eliciting set answers on aspects of the Covid-19 vaccine. Our control condition used the same questions and answers but removed all elements of participant choice. In this way, our experiment isolated the effect of participant choice of information. We also specifically targeted those who were either against or neutral towards Covid-19 vaccinations, screening-out those with already positive attitudes. Replicating Altay et al, we found a similar size increase in positive attitudes towards vaccination, as well as a similar sized increase in intention to get vaccinated, after engaging with vaccine information. Unlike Altay et al, we found no difference between our conditions: choosing the questions did not increase vaccine attitudes or intentions anymore than our control condition. In common with Altay et al, we also found an effect of time spent with the information, across both conditions, in that those who spent between 4 and 16 minutes (above the median) reading the information were more likely to increase their vaccination attitudes (but not their intentions). These results suggest that the attitudes of the vaccine hesitant are modifiable with exposure to in-depth, trustworthy and engaging dialogues.

French adaptation of a film music stimulus set: Normative emotional ratings of valence and arousal prompted by music excerpts

The aim of this study was to obtain French affective norms for the film music stimulus set (FMSS). This data set consists of a relatively homogeneous series of musical stimuli made up of film music excerpts, known to trigger strong emotion. The 97 musical excerpts were judged by 194 native French participants using a simplified normative procedure in order to assess valence and arousal judgments. This normalization will (1) provide researchers with standardized rated affective music to be used with a French population, (2) enable the investigation of individual listeners’ differing emotional judgments, and (3) explore how cultural differences affect the ratings of musical stimuli. Our results, in line with those obtained in Finland and Spain, demonstrated the FMSS to be robust and interculturally valid within Western Europe. Age, sex, education, and musical training were not found to have any effects on emotional judgments. In conclusion, this study provides the scientific community with a standardized-stimulus set of musical excerpts whose emotional valence and arousal have been validated by a sampling of the French population.

France

For fourteen centuries, French territory was an assemblage of Catholic and monarchical interests; the result is a deep-seated Catholic imprint which endures to this day though more so in some parts of France than in others. After the Revolution, France experimented with various forms of government which promoted a progressive separation between state and religion (meaning the Catholic Church). This was a long, difficult, and at times painful process resulting eventually in a Republic, in which the notion of laïcité became ever more important. Since the 1970s, the French population has become both increasingly indifferent to religion and increasingly diverse. Currently 40 per cent of the population has no religion, and Islam constitutes an important presence in the country. The growth of Islam has provoked a variety of reactions: accommodation, restriction, suspicion, and resentment.

Age, COVID-19-like symptoms and SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity profiles after the first wave of the pandemic in France

Background The interplay between age and symptoms intensity on antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 infection has not been studied in a general population setting. Methods We explored the serologic profile of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies after the first wave of the pandemic, by assessing IgG against the spike protein (ELISA-S), IgG against the nucleocapsid protein (ELISA-NP) and neutralizing antibodies (SN) in 82,126 adults from a French population-based multi-cohort study. Results ELISA-S positivity was increased in 30- to 49-year-old adults (8.5%) compared to other age groups (5.6% in 20- to 29-year-olds, 2.8% in ≥ 50-year-olds). In the 3681 ELISA-S positive participants, ELISA-NP and SN positivity exhibited a U-shaped relationship with age, with a lower rate in 30- to 49-year-old adults, and was strongly associated with COVID-19-like symptoms. Conclusion Our study confirms the independent role of age and symptoms on the serologic profile of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, but the non-linear relationship with age deserves further investigation.

Associations between Perceived Social Eating Norms and Initiation and Maintenance of Changes in Dietary Habits during the First COVID-19 Lockdown in France

Changes in dietary habits of the French population have been reported during the national lockdown that was enforced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigated whether perceived social eating norms were associated with the initiation and maintenance of dietary changes that took place as a result of lockdown. An online study collected information on (1) changes in consumption implemented during the lockdown and the maintenance of these changes, and (2) perceptions about changes in consumption implemented during lockdown by household members, relatives out of home, and the general population. The changes in consumption were classified as foods to increase or to decrease according to French national recommendations. The perception of changes to dietary habits by household members and relatives out of home was related to the changes made by individuals for each of the food categories (all p < 0.05) but not to the perception of changes made the general population. Increased consumption of foods to increase was more likely to be maintained when there was a positive perception of the changes made by household members (p = 0.03). These results highlight the influence of the perception of social eating norms, especially by household members and relatives, on the implementation of dietary changes during lockdown and suggest that social eating norms can have a lasting influence.

Updated norms of the MOS-SF36 in the young French population

Background The SF-36 is a generic quality of life questionnaire, massively translated and widely used to obtain physical and mental health status. However, validation work in the French language was carried out over a generation ago. The objective of this study was to obtain the norms of the SF-36 in the French young population. Method The sample consisted of 1134 non-pre-screened French people aged between 18 and 39 years. Results The internal consistencies of the scales were high and the metrics associated with the factor structure were satisfactory. In general, women presented significantly higher scores than men. Conclusion Our results suggest that the SF-36 remains a reliable tool for studying quality of life in the young French population.