Vγ9Vδ2 T-cells Are Potent Inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Replication and Represent Effector Phenotypes in Patients With COVID-19.

Vγ9Vδ2 T cells play a key role in the innate immune response to viral infections through butyrophilin 3A (BTN3A). Here, we report blood Vγ9Vδ2 T cells decreased in clinically mild COVID-19 compared to healthy volunteers, and this was maintained up to 28 days and in the recovery period. Terminally differentiated Vγ9Vδ2 T cells tended to be enriched on the day of diagnosis, 28 days after, and during the recovery period.

Physiologic Effects of the Awake Prone Position Combined With High-Flow Nasal Oxygen on Gas Exchange and Work of Breathing in Patients With Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia: A Randomized Crossover Trial.

Unlabelled: To determine the effect of the awake prone position (APP) on gas exchange and the work of breathing in spontaneously breathing patients with COVID-19-associated acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF) supported by high-flow nasal oxygen.

Design: Prospective randomized physiologic crossover multicenter trial.

Settings: Four ICUs in Marseille, France.

The Association of Low CD4 Expression on Monocytes and Low CD8+ T-Cell Count at Hospital Admission Predicts the Need for Mechanical Ventilation in Patients With COVID-19 Pneumonia: A Prospective Monocentric Cohort Study.

Unlabelled: To identify COVID-19-associated immunophenotyping patterns at hospital admission and to determine if some patterns could predict the need for mechanical ventilation (MV).

Design: Prospective observational monocentric cohort study.

Setting: A university-affiliated hospital in Marseille, France.

Avdoralimab (Anti-C5aR1 mAb) Versus Placebo in Patients With Severe COVID-19: Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial (FOR COVID Elimination [FORCE]).

Objectives: Severe COVID-19 is associated with exaggerated complement activation. We assessed the efficacy and safety of avdoralimab (an anti-C5aR1 mAb) in severe COVID-19.

Design: FOR COVID Elimination (FORCE) was a double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Human Stool Preservation Impacts Taxonomic Profiles in 16S Metagenomics Studies.

Microbiotas play critical roles in human health, yet in most cases scientists lack standardized and reproducible methods from collection and preservation of samples, as well as the choice of omic analysis, up to the data processing. To date, stool sample preservation remains a source of technological bias in metagenomic sequencing, despite newly developed storage solutions. Here, we conducted a comparative study of 10 storage methods for human stool over a 14-day period of storage at fluctuating temperatures.

High Mortality of HLH in ICU Regardless Etiology or Treatment.

Adult hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is highly lethal in the ICU. The diagnostic and therapeutic emergency that HLH represents is compounded by its unknown pathophysiological mechanisms. Here, we report on a large cohort of adult HLH in the ICU (ICU-HLH).

An optimized stepwise algorithm combining rapid antigen and RT-qPCR for screening of COVID-19 patients.

Background & Aim: We investigated the combination of rapid antigen detection (RAD) and RT-qPCR assays in a stepwise procedure to optimize the detection of COVID-19.

Methods: From August 2020 to November 2020, 43,399 patients were screened in our laboratory for COVID-19 diagnostic by RT-qPCR using nasopharyngeal swab. Overall, 4,691 of the 43,399 were found to be positive, and 200 were retrieved for RAD testing allowing comparison of diagnostic accuracy between RAD and RT-qPCR.

Preemptive ganciclovir for mechanically ventilated patients with cytomegalovirus reactivation.

Background: The effect of cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation on the length of mechanical ventilation and mortality in immunocompetent ICU patients requiring invasive mechanical ventilation remains controversial. The main objective of this study was to determine whether preemptive intravenous ganciclovir increases the number of ventilator-free days in patients with CMV blood reactivation.

Methods: This double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial involved 19 ICUs in France.

A Granulocytic Signature Identifies COVID-19 and Its Severity.

Background: An unbiased approach to SARS-CoV-2-induced immune dysregulation has not been undertaken so far. We aimed to identify previously unreported immune markers able to discriminate COVID-19 patients from healthy controls and to predict mild and severe disease.

Methods: An observational, prospective, multicentric study was conducted in patients with confirmed mild/moderate (n = 7) and severe (n = 19) COVID-19.

Transforming Growth Factor-β1 in predicting early lung fibroproliferation in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Background: Fibroproliferative repair phase of the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is followed by a restitutio ad integrum of lung parenchyma or by an irreversible lung fibrosis and patients' death. Transforming Growth Factor-β1 (TGF-β1) is involved in collagen production and lung repair. We investigated whether alveolar TGF-β1 was associated with the presence of fibroproliferation and the outcome of ARDS patients.

Point-of-Care Versus Central Laboratory Measurements of Hemoglobin, Hematocrit, Glucose, Bicarbonate and Electrolytes: A Prospective Observational Study in Critically Ill Patients.

Introduction: Rapid detection of abnormal biological values using point-of-care (POC) testing allows clinicians to promptly initiate therapy; however, there are concerns regarding the reliability of POC measurements. We investigated the agreement between the latest generation blood gas analyzer and central laboratory measurements of electrolytes, bicarbonate, hemoglobin, hematocrit, and glucose.

Methods: 314 paired samples were collected prospectively from 51 critically ill patients.

Safety and Efficacy of Combined Extracorporeal CO2 Removal and Renal Replacement Therapy in Patients With Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome and Acute Kidney Injury: The Pulmonary and Renal Support in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Study.

Objective: To assess the safety and efficacy of combining extracorporeal CO2 removal with continuous renal replacement therapy in patients presenting with acute respiratory distress syndrome and acute kidney injury.

Design: Prospective human observational study.

Settings: Patients received volume-controlled mechanical ventilation according to the acute respiratory distress syndrome net protocol.

Effect of statin therapy on mortality in patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia: a randomized clinical trial.

Importance: Observational studies have reported that statin use may be associated with improved outcomes of various infections. Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is the most common infection in the intensive care unit (ICU) and is associated with substantial mortality.

Objective: To determine whether statin therapy can decrease day-28 mortality in patients with VAP.

Right ventricular function during high-frequency oscillatory ventilation in adults with acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of mean airway pressure under high-frequency oscillatory ventilation on right ventricular function.

Design: Prospective randomized study.

Setting: Intensive care unit of a tertiary care hospital.

Microbiogical data, but not procalcitonin improve the accuracy of the clinical pulmonary infection score.

Objective: Early and adequate treatment of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is mandatory to improve the outcome. The aim of this study was to evaluate, in medical ICU patients, the respective and combined impact of the Clinical Pulmonary Infection Score (CPIS), broncho-alveolar lavage (BAL) gram staining, endotracheal aspirate and a biomarker (procalcitonin) for the early diagnosis of VAP.

Design: Prospective, observational study

Setting: A medical intensive care unit in a teaching hospital.

Pulmonary capillary blood flow and cardiac output measurement by partial carbon dioxide rebreathing in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome receiving lung protective ventilation.

Background: Partial carbon dioxide rebreathing noninvasively measures the pulmonary capillary blood flow and estimates the cardiac output with the use of a predicted shunt value. It has been reported that the accuracy of the method is decreased in patients with high pulmonary shunt. The aim of this study was to investigate the agreement between partial rebreathing and thermodilution for the determination of pulmonary capillary blood flow and cardiac output in the setting of acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Active cytomegalovirus infection is common in mechanically ventilated medical intensive care unit patients.

Objective: To assess the incidence, risk factors, and outcome of active cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in nonimmunosuppressed intensive care unit (ICU) patients.

Design: Prospective epidemiologic study.

Setting: A medical ICU in a university hospital.

FIO2 and acute respiratory distress syndrome definition during lung protective ventilation.

Objective: PaO2/FIO2 ratio (P/F) is the marker of hypoxemia used in the American-European Consensus Conference on lung injury. A high FIO2 level has been reported to variably alter PaO2/FIO2. We investigated the effect of high FIO2 levels on the course of P/F in lung protective mechanically ventilated patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome.

High-frequency percussive ventilation attenuates lung injury in a rabbit model of gastric juice aspiration.

Objective: To test the effects of high-frequency percussive ventilation (HFPV) compared with high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) and low-volume conventional mechanical ventilation (LVCMV), on lung injury course in a gastric juice aspiration model.

Design: Prospective, randomized, controlled, in-vivo animal study.

Setting: University animal research laboratory.

NH2 terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide plasma level as an early marker of prognosis and cardiac dysfunction in septic shock patients.

Objective: To investigate N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) level as a prognostic factor and a marker of myocardial dysfunction in patients with septic shock.

Design: Prospective observational study.

Setting: Intensive care unit.