Content-state dimensions characterize different types of neuronal markers of consciousness.

Identifying the neuronal markers of consciousness is key to supporting the different scientific theories of consciousness. Neuronal markers of consciousness can be defined to reflect either the brain signatures underlying specific conscious content or those supporting different states of consciousness, two aspects traditionally studied separately. In this paper, we introduce a framework to characterize markers according to their dynamics in both the "state" and "content" dimensions.

Acute encephalopathy in the ICU: a practical approach.

Purpose Of Review: Acute encephalopathy (AE) - which frequently develops in critically ill patients with and without primary brain injury - is defined as an acute process that evolves rapidly and leads to changes in baseline cognitive status, ranging from delirium to coma. The diagnosis, monitoring, and management of AE is challenging. Here, we discuss advances in definitions, diagnostic approaches, therapeutic options, and implications to outcomes of the clinical spectrum of AE in ICU patients without primary brain injury.

Aberrant brain-heart coupling is associated with the severity of post cardiac arrest brain injury.

Objective: To investigate autonomic nervous system activity measured by brain-heart interactions in comatose patients after cardiac arrest in relation to the severity and prognosis of hypoxic-ischemic brain injury.

Methods: Strength and complexity of bidirectional interactions between EEG frequency bands (delta, theta, and alpha) and ECG heart rate variability frequency bands (low frequency, LF and high frequency, HF) were computed using a synthetic data generation model. Primary outcome was the severity of brain injury, assessed by (i) standardized qualitative EEG classification, (ii) somatosensory evoked potentials (N20), and (iii) neuron-specific enolase levels.

Barriers to research findings utilization amongst critical care nurses and allied health professionals: An international survey.

Objectives: To determine the perceived barriers to the implementation of research findings in clinical practice among critical care nurses and allied health professionals.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online questionnaire sent to critical care nurses and allied health professionals in French-speaking countries. The primary objective was the identification and grading of perceived barriers to implementation of research findings into clinical practice, using a previously validated tool (French version of the BARRIERS scale).

PupillOmetry for preDIction of DeliriUM in ICU (PODIUM): protocol for a prospective multicentre cohort study.

Introduction: Delirium is a severe complication that is associated with short-term adverse events, prolonged hospital stay and neurological sequelae in survivors. Automated pupillometry is an easy-to-use device that allows for accurate objective assessment of the pupillary light responses in comatose patients in the intensive care unit (ICU). Whether automated pupillometry might predict delirium in critically ill patients is not known.

Discrepancies in the late auditory potentials of post-anoxic patients: Watch out for focal brain lesions, a pilot retrospective study.

Aims: Late auditory evoked potentials, and notably mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3 responses, can be used as part of the multimodal prognostic evaluation in post-anoxic disorders of consciousness (DOC). MMN response preferentially stems from the temporal cortex and the arcuate fasciculus. Situations with discrepant evaluations, for example MMN absent but P3 present, are frequent and difficult to interpret.

The positive impact of COVID-19 on critical care: from unprecedented challenges to transformative changes, from the perspective of young intensivists.

Over the past 2 years, SARS-CoV-2 infection has resulted in numerous hospitalizations and deaths worldwide. As young intensivists, we have been at the forefront of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and it has been an intense learning experience affecting all aspects of our specialty. Critical care was put forward as a priority and managed to adapt to the influx of patients and the growing demand for beds, financial and material resources, thereby highlighting its flexibility and central role in the healthcare system.

Importance, limits and caveats of the use of "disorders of consciousness" to theorize consciousness.

The clinical and fundamental exploration of patients suffering from disorders of consciousness (DoC) is commonly used by researchers both to test some of their key theoretical predictions and to serve as a unique source of empirical knowledge about possible dissociations between consciousness and cognitive and/or neural processes. For instance, the existence of states of vigilance free of any self-reportable subjective experience [e.g.

In-hospital cardiac arrests admitted alive in intensive care units: Insights from the CubRéa database.

Background: In-hospital cardiac arrest(IHCA) has received little attention compared with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Aim: To address the paucity of data on IHCA patients, we examined key features, variations in mortality and predictors of death among patients admitted in French intensive care units(ICUs) from 1997 to 2015.

Methods: Using the database of the Collège des Utilisateurs de Bases de données en Réanimation(CUB-Réa) that prospectively collects data from ICUs in the greater Paris area, we determined temporal trends in the incidence of IHCA, patients' outcomes, crude and Simplified Acute Physiology Score(SAPS)-II Standardized mortality and predictors of in-ICU mortality.

Early Clinical and Electrophysiological Brain Dysfunction Is Associated With ICU Outcomes in COVID-19 Critically Ill Patients With Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: A Prospective Bicentric Observational Study.

Objectives: Describe the prevalence of acute cerebral dysfunction and assess the prognostic value of an early clinical and electroencephalography (EEG) assessment in ICU COVID-19 patients.

Design: Prospective observational study.

Setting: Two tertiary critical care units in Paris, France, between April and December 2020.

Placental growth factor level in plasma predicts COVID-19 severity and in-hospital mortality.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory disease associated with vascular inflammation and endothelial injury.

Objectives: To correlate circulating angiogenic markers vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A), placental growth factor (PlGF), and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF-2) to in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 adult patients.

Methods: Consecutive ambulatory and hospitalized patients with COVID-19 infection were enrolled.

Multimodal FDG-PET and EEG assessment improves diagnosis and prognostication of disorders of consciousness.

Introduction: Functional brain-imaging techniques have revealed that clinical examination of disorders of consciousness (DoC) can underestimate the conscious level of patients. FDG-PET metabolic index of the best preserved hemisphere (MIBH) has been reported as a promising measure of consciousness but has never been externally validated and compared with other brain-imaging diagnostic procedures such as quantitative EEG.

Methods: FDG-PET, quantitative EEG and cognitive evoked potential using an auditory oddball paradigm were performed in minimally conscious state (MCS) and vegetative state (VS) patient.

Auditory Event-Related "Global Effect" Predicts Recovery of Overt Consciousness.

To explore whether the presence of an event-related potential (ERP) "global effect" (GE+)-that corresponds to a correlate of conscious processing in the local-global auditory task-predicts behaviorally overt consciousness recovery in a large cohort of patients suffering from disorders of consciousness (DOC). We conducted a prospective study on all DOC patients evaluated during the 2009-2018 period. Behavioral examination included Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) scores and bedside high-density EEG recordings.

Circulating Von Willebrand factor and high molecular weight multimers as markers of endothelial injury predict COVID-19 in-hospital mortality.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory disease associated with endotheliitis and microthrombosis.

Objectives: To correlate endothelial dysfunction to in-hospital mortality in a bi-centric cohort of COVID-19 adult patients.

Methods: Consecutive ambulatory and hospitalized patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 were enrolled.

Predictive Factor for COVID-19 Worsening: Insights for High-Sensitivity Troponin and D-Dimer and Correlation With Right Ventricular Afterload.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been associated with cardiovascular complications and coagulation disorders. To explore clinical and biological parameters of COVID-19 patients with hospitalization criteria that could predict referral to intensive care unit (ICU). Analyzing the clinical and biological profiles of COVID-19 patients at admission.

Epidemiology and Predictors of Long-Stays in Medical ICU: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Introduction: Prolonged stays in ICU have been associated with overconsumption of resources but little is known about their epidemiology. We aimed to identify predictors and prognostic factors of extended stays, studying a long-stay population.

Methods: We present a retrospective cohort study between July 2000 and December 2013 comparing patients hospitalized in a medical ICU for ≥30 days (long-stay patients-LSP) with patients hospitalized for <30 days (short-stay patients-SSP).

Brain-scale cortico-cortical functional connectivity in the delta-theta band is a robust signature of conscious states: an intracranial and scalp EEG study.

Long-range cortico-cortical functional connectivity has long been theorized to be necessary for conscious states. In the present work, we estimate long-range cortical connectivity in a series of intracranial and scalp EEG recordings experiments. In the two first experiments intracranial-EEG (iEEG) was recorded during four distinct states within the same individuals: conscious wakefulness (CW), rapid-eye-movement sleep (REM), stable periods of slow-wave sleep (SWS) and deep propofol anaesthesia (PA).

Neurophysiological Correlates of a Single Session of Prefrontal tDCS in Patients with Prolonged Disorders of Consciousness: A Pilot Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Study.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (lDLPFC) was reported to promote the recovery of signs of consciousness in some patients in a minimally conscious state (MCS), but its electrophysiological effects on brain activity remain poorly understood. We aimed to assess behavioral (using the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised; CRS-R) and neurophysiological effects (using high density electroencephalography; hdEEG) of lDLPFC-tDCS in patients with prolonged disorders of consciousness (DOC). In a double-blind, sham-controlled, crossover design, one active and one sham tDCS (2 mA, 20 min) were delivered in a randomized order.