GIGA 2021 Annual Report 49 SELECTED PUBLICATIONS Loss of consciousness reduces the stability of brain hubs and the heterogeneity of brain dynamics. López-González A* and Panda R*, Ponce-Alvarez A, Zamora-López G, Escrichs A, Martial C, Thibaut A, Gosseries O, Kringelbach ML, Annen J, Laureys S* and Deco G* (*contributed equally). Commun Biol. 2021 Sep 6;4(1):1037. How hot is the hot zone? Computational modelling clarifies the role of parietal and frontoparietal connectivity during anaesthetic-induced loss of consciousness. Ihalainen R, Gosseries O, de Steen FV, Raimondo F, Panda R, Bonhomme V, Marinazzo D, Bowman H, Laureys S* and Chennu S* (*contributed equally). Neuroimage. 2021 May 1;231:117841. Update on neuroimaging in disorders of consciousness. Sanz LRD, Thibaut A, Edlow BL, Laureys S* and Gosseries O* (*contributed equally). Curr Opin Neurol. 2021 Aug 1;34(4):488-496. Neuroplastic changes mediate motor recovery with implanted peroneal nerve stimulator in individuals with chronic stroke: An open-label multimodal pilot study. Thibaut A, Di Perri C, Heine L, Moissenet F, Chantraine F, Schreiber C, Filipetti P, Martial C, Annen J, Laureys S, Gosseries O. Ann Phys Rehabil Med. 2021 Mar;64(2):101358. Complementary treatment comparison for chronic pain management: A randomized longitudinal study. Bicego A, Monseur J, Collinet A, Donneau AF, Fontaine R, Libbrecht D, Malaise N, Nyssen AS, Raaf M, Rousseaux F, Salamun I, Staquet C, Teuwis S, Tomasella M, Faymonville ME, Vanhaudenhuyse A. PLoS One. 2021 Aug 6;16(8):e0256001. A NEW STUDY CONDUCTED JOINTLY BY THE GIGA CONSCIOUSNESS AND CENTRE CERVEAU (CHU LIEGE) SHOWS THAT HEART BRAIN INTERACTIONS, MEASURED USING ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY (EEG), PROVIDE A NOVEL DIAGNOSTIC AVENUE FOR PATIENTS WITH DISORDERS OF CONSCIOUSNESS. This study, featured in SCIENCE magazine (A SENSE OF SELF Communication between the brain and other organs shapes how we think, remember, and feel - 10 JUN 2021) was part of a collaboration with the Ecole normale superieure (France) and the Human Brain Project and published in Journal of Neuroscience. Our studies at GIGA Consciousness challenge a long history of thinking of bodily regulation as separate from “higher” mental processes. Four centuries ago, René Descartes conceptualized the mind as being separate from the body. But our research offers a different idea of consciousness, as a private act of interoception: Just being present, as the subject of experience. We used EEG to record the patients’ fleeting responses to their own heartbeats. A machine-learning algorithm trained to associate the heartbeat-evoked brain responses with consciousness identified which of the participants had been classified as minimally conscious. Those patients occupy what we call the gray zone of consciousness—an intermittent, flickering awareness that is often hard to detect. Building on these results our team now starts a clinical trial of vagal nerve stimulation to restore awareness in people recovering from coma, this clinical study is directed by Aurore Thibaut and recruits at the internationally renowned Coma Science Group (co-directed by Olivia Gosseries) and Centre Cerveau of CHU Liège (see Transcutaneous Auricular Vagal Nerve Stimulation and Disorders of Consciousness: A Hypothesis for Mechanisms of Action. Briand MM, Gosseries O, Staumont B, Laureys S, Thibaut A. Front Neurol. 2020 Aug 25;11:933.) «We also based our diagnosis on PET imaging of the brain’s metabolism as probe for consciousness. Although these scans are very informative, they can only be acquired in specialized centers,» says co-leading author Jitka Annen (GIGA Consciousness, ULiege). «The next challenge is to translate our findings to clinical applications so that all patients with disorders of consciousness can benefit from better diagnosis using widely available bedside assessment technologies,» concludes co-senior author Steven Laureys, head of GIGA Consciousness research unit and Centre du Cerveau (ULiege, CHU Liege). Neural Responses to Heartbeats Detect Residual Signs of Consciousness during Resting State in Postcomatose Patients. Candia-Rivera D* and Annen J*, Gosseries O, Martial C, Thibaut A, Laureys S* and Tallon-Baudry C* (*contributed equally) J Neurosci. 2021 Jun 16;41(24):5251-5262.
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