Applications of the metaverse in medicine and healthcare.

The metaverse is a virtual world that is being developed to allow people to interact with each other and with digital objects in a more immersive way. It involves the convergence of three major technological trends: telepresence, the digital twin, and blockchain. Telepresence is the ability of people to "be together" in a virtual way while not being close to each other.

Research Protocol for an Observational Health Data Analysis on the Adverse Events of Systemic Treatment in Patients with Metastatic Hormone-sensitive Prostate Cancer: Big Data Analytics Using the PIONEER Platform.

Combination therapies in metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC), which include the addition of an androgen receptor signaling inhibitor and/or docetaxel to androgen deprivation therapy, have been a game changer in the management of this disease stage. However, these therapies come with their fair share of toxicities and side effects. The goal of this observational study is to report drug-related adverse events (AEs), which are correlated with systemic combination therapies for mHSPC.

Development and validation of a novel stemness-related prognostic model for neuroblastoma using integrated machine learning and bioinformatics analyses.

Background: Neuroblastoma (NB) is a common solid tumor in children, with a dismal prognosis in high-risk cases. Despite advancements in NB treatment, the clinical need for precise prognostic models remains critical, particularly to address the heterogeneity of cancer stemness which plays a pivotal role in tumor aggressiveness and patient outcomes. By utilizing machine learning (ML) techniques, we aimed to explore the cancer stemness features in NB and identify stemness-related hub genes for future investigation and potential targeted therapy.

Resource recovery using enriched purple phototrophic bacteria in an outdoor flat plate photobioreactor: Suspended vs. attached growth.

Purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) can produce single-cell protein from wastewater at high yields. Growing in a biofilm vs suspended can improve product quality and consistency. This study compares suspended and attached growths of enriched PPB cultures in an outdoor flat plate photobioreactor treating poultry-processing wastewater.

Literature analysis of artificial intelligence in biomedicine.

Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines, using machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL) and neural networks (NNs). AI enables machines to learn from experience and perform human-like tasks. The field of AI research has been developing fast over the past five to ten years, due to the rise of 'big data' and increasing computing power.

From big data to better patient outcomes.

Among medical specialties, laboratory medicine is the largest producer of structured data and must play a crucial role for the efficient and safe implementation of big data and artificial intelligence in healthcare. The area of personalized therapies and precision medicine has now arrived, with huge data sets not only used for experimental and research approaches, but also in the "". Analysis of real world data requires development of legal, procedural and technical infrastructure.

Expanding mechanistic models to represent purple phototrophic bacteria enriched cultures growing outdoors.

The economic feasibility of purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) for resource recovery relies on using enriched-mixed cultures and sunlight. This work presents an extended Photo-Anaerobic Model (ePAnM), considering: (i) the diverse metabolic capabilities of PPB, (ii) microbial clades interacting with PPB, and (iii) varying environmental conditions. Key kinetic and stoichiometric parameters were either determined experimentally (with dedicated tests), calculated, or gathered from literature.

Light attenuation in enriched purple phototrophic bacteria cultures: Implications for modelling and reactor design.

Light attenuation in enriched purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) cultures has not been studied, and its understanding is critical for proper process modelling and reactor design, especially for scaled systems. This work evaluated the effect of different biomass concentrations, reactor configurations, wastewater matrices, and growth conditions, on the attenuation extent of near infra-red (NIR) and ultraviolet-visible (UV-VIS) light spectra. The results show that increased biomass concentrations lead to higher light attenuation, and that PPB absorb both VIS and NIR wavelengths, with both fractions of the spectrum being equally absorbed at biomass concentrations above 1,000 g COD·m.

Method development for PPB culture screening, pigment analysis with UPLC-UV-HRMS vs. spectrophotometric methods, and spectral decomposition-based analysis.

PPB carotenoids are usually measured through spectrophotometric analysis, measuring total carotenoids (TCs) which has low accuracy and cannot identify individual carotenoids or isomers. Here, we developed an ultra-performance liquid chromatography method with ultraviolet and high-resolution mass spectrometry detection (UPLC-UV-HRMS) to quantify neurosporene, lycopene, and bacteriochlorophyll a contents in PPB cultures. The method exhibited satisfactory recoveries for individual pigments (between 82.

Creating value from purple phototrophic bacteria via single-cell protein production.

Mixed culture purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) is a rapidly emerging technology for resource recovery from wastewaters. PPB biomass can be used as single-cell protein, with a high protein content complemented by value-added components (e.g.

Outdoor demonstration-scale flat plate photobioreactor for resource recovery with purple phototrophic bacteria.

To make purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB)-based technologies a reality for resource recovery, research must be demonstrated outdoors, using scaled reactors. In this study, a 10 m long PPB-enriched flat plate photobioreactor (FPPBR) with a volume of 0.95 m was operated for 253 days, fed with poultry processing wastewater.

Data Science in Healthcare: COVID-19 and Beyond.

Data science is an interdisciplinary field that applies numerous techniques, such as machine learning (ML), neural networks (NN) and artificial intelligence (AI), to create value, based on extracting knowledge and insights from available 'big' data [...

Naturally illuminated photobioreactors for resource recovery from piggery and chicken-processing wastewaters utilising purple phototrophic bacteria.

Resource recovery from wastewater, preferably as high value products, has become an integral part of modern wastewater treatment. This work presents the potential to produce single cell protein (SCP) from pre-settled piggery wastewater (PWW) and meat chicken processing wastewater (CWW), utilising anaerobic purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB). PPB were grown as biofilm in outdoors 60 L, 80 L and 100 L flat-plate reactors, operated in sequential batch mode.

Purple phototrophic bacteria are outcompeted by aerobic heterotrophs in the presence of oxygen.

There is an ongoing debate around the effect of microaerobic/aerobic conditions on the wastewater treatment performance and stability of enriched purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) cultures. It is well known that oxygen-induced oxidative conditions inhibit the synthesis of light harvesting complexes, required for photoheterotrophy. However, in applied research, several publications have reported efficient wastewater treatment at high dissolved oxygen (DO) levels.

Purple phototrophic bacteria granules under high and low upflow velocities.

The application of granular biomass has enabled energy efficient, high-rate wastewater treatment systems. While initially designed for high-strength wastewater treatment, granular systems can also play a major role in resource recovery. This study focused on the formation of purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) granular biomass during synthetic wastewater treatment.

Autotrophic sulfide removal by mixed culture purple phototrophic bacteria.

Current HS treatment methods for sour gases require considerable amounts of chemicals and energy, or in case of biological treatment, unwanted diluents such as oxygen or nitrogen may be introduced. In order to reduce those requirements, the viability of an anaerobic biological HS removal process using purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) was investigated in this study. PPB can use sunlight, and centrate as nutrient source, thus potentially reducing energy and chemical requirements.

Application of purple phototrophic bacteria in a biofilm photobioreactor for single cell protein production: Biofilm vs suspended growth.

Single cell protein (SCP), has been proposed as alternative to effectively upgrade and recycle organics and nutrients from wastewater. Biomass recovery is a critical issue, and recovery as a biofilm is effective in comparison with sedimentation of suspended biomass. This study aims to determine the applicability of purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) biofilm on infra-red irradiated, submerged surfaces for the treatment of pre-settled red meat processing wastewater, and SCP generation.

Purple phototrophic bacteria for resource recovery: Challenges and opportunities.

Sustainable development is driving a rapid focus shift in the wastewater and organic waste treatment sectors, from a "removal and disposal" approach towards the recovery and reuse of water, energy and materials (e.g. carbon or nutrients).