Radiomics has emerged as a transformative tool in medical imaging, offering the ability to extract complex quantitative features that are generally indiscernible to the human eye. These radiomic features can be interrogated non-invasively on medical imaging. Importantly, in contrast to traditional diagnostic methods reliant on a single, often scalar, measure, radiomics features can form a high-dimensional data space from imaging data suitable for machine learning. Within the framework of artificial intelligence, radiomic features can be harnessed for differentiating healthy from pathological tissue, risk-stratifying patients for benign and malignant fractures, and clinical outcome measures. This review presents an introduction to the methodology underlying radiomics feature selection, reproducibility, feature analysis and model building, assessment of model performance, and open-source libraries for extracting radiomics features from imaging. The review then highlights the application of radiomics in osseous and cartilaginous spinal imaging for identifying osteoporosis and the prediction of fragility vertebral fractures, chronic low back pain and the assessment of intervertebral disc degeneration and herniation, cancer metastatic spine disease and the differentiation of benign vs. malignant lesions and the classification of benign vs. malignant vertebral fractures. Throughout this stage, we endeavor to demonstrate how radiomics can analyze imaging biomarkers to detect subtle structural changes in vertebral bone microarchitecture, assess tissue quality and early-stage fractures, and identify radiomic biomarkers of low back pain chronicity and intervertebral disc heterogeneity that signal degeneration and herniation risk. The review culminates with the presentation of the current limitations and future research directions, including opportunities for integration with multi-omics analysis, highlighting radiomics’ potential for enhanced diagnostic accuracy and more personalized patient care. The application of radiomics in spinal imaging offers a promising avenue for improving non-invasive image early detection, risk stratification, and personalized management of spinal pathology, paving the way for more effective interventions and improved patient outcomes.
Klebsiella pneumoniae (Kp) is a major cause of healthcare-associated and community-onset invasive infections. The emergence of carbapenem-resistant Kp (CRKP), hypervirulent Kp (hvKp), and resistance–hypervirulence convergence has increased the need for rapid tests that provide organism context and clinically interpretable risk information. CRISPR/Cas diagnostics combine programmable sequence recognition with flexible signal generation and can be integrated with isothermal amplification, portable readouts, and multiplex workflows. Available studies support the analytical feasibility of detecting Kp- or Klebsiella pneumoniae species complex (KpSC)-associated organism-context targets, major resistance genes, and hypervirulence-associated markers, but clinical and workflow validation remains limited because many studies use small cohorts, cultured isolates, or spiked matrices. Here, clinically interpretable risk reporting means translating validated molecular findings into bounded categories—organism context, gene-associated resistance risk, hypervirulence-associated risk, and suspected resistance–hypervirulence convergence risk—while stating interpretive limits and appropriate confirmatory actions. We critically evaluate CRISPR/Cas engineering, target selection, multiplexing, specimen-specific workflows, and validation requirements, and propose a conceptual four-layer target-to-report framework for prospective evaluation. CRISPR/Cas-based Kp testing should complement, rather than replace, culture, phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility testing, virulence assessment, and genomic confirmation.
Personalised medicine is an expanding area of medical research, in which patient-specific physiology informs clinical interventions. The personalisation of skeletal-based medical implants through 3D imaging and additive manufacturing (AM) has the potential to improve patient outcomes and reduce the likelihood of implant rejections. Currently, full-body computed tomography (CT) scanners obtain images at the limit of resolution of intricate internal bone architecture such as trabecular bone (Tb), which makes them difficult to map with precision in humans. Therefore, we have proposed the development of a 3D printing workflow which utilises scaled high-resolution micro-CT outputs that maintain bone topography in the final 3D print, specifically the retention of physiologically relevant trabeculae. In this study, we evaluate 3D model generation and rendering parameters that are necessary to maintain anatomical fidelity while ensuring printability. Meshing algorithm, computer-aided design (CAD) rendering tools, and the resulting surface tessellation of ex vivo bone samples were evaluated to identify computational limitations and their impact on downstream fabrication. A proof-of-concept workflow was developed, in which high-resolution micro-CT datasets preserving intact Tb morphology were successfully scaled and translated into anatomically informed 3D-printed models using fused deposition modelling (FDM) and stereolithography (SLA).
Existing molecular data-storage systems still mainly encode information along one-dimensional chemical sequences or linear molecular coordinates, leaving the spatial addressability of molecular architectures insufficiently explored. Here we report a physical two-dimensional DNA molecular register, termed a spatially addressable molecular breadboard (SAMB), in which digital bits are assigned to predefined molecular coordinates rather than to positions along a one-dimensional sequence. SAMB is built by hierarchical assembly of DNA origami single modules into a globally registered two-dimensional address space. In this register, each data or parity bit is encoded by the presence or absence of streptavidin at a defined coordinate site and read out from local topographic height differences, whereas the fiducial marker (FM) site defines register orientation and coordinate alignment. As a proof of concept, we encode a Petersen graph payload in a 49-coordinate SAMB register and demonstrate in situ atomic force microscopy (AFM) readout, coordinate-based bit calling, and graph reconstruction. We further incorporate three block-wise even-parity positions as proof-of-concept design elements. In a randomly selected test subset of 56 readable SAMB structures, the 45 graph-bit positions yielded a raw graph-bit accuracy of 86.79%, with false-positive and false-negative rates of 7.32% and 25.00%, respectively; the three parity-bit positions, evaluated separately, yielded a raw site-readout accuracy of 82.14%. These results show that DNA nanostructures can serve as physical two-dimensional molecular registers for coordinate-addressed data storage and provide a basis for topography-readable molecular information systems.
ObjectiveTo explore the feasibility of chondrogenic differentiation of rat adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) combined with sodium alginate (NaAlg) hydrogel scaffolds induced by cartilage-derived morphogenetic protein 1 (CDMP-1).MethodsADSCs were isolated and cultured in vitro from rat inguinal fat pads using type I collagenase digestion, centrifugation and adherent culture methods. Flow cytometry was applied for cell identification, and passage 3 ADSCs were used for subsequent experiments. ① Biocompatibility evaluation of materials: ADSCs were co-cultured with NaAlg hydrogel scaffolds. Cell cytoskeleton staining, cell migration assays and cell proliferation tests were performed to assess the biosafety of the scaffolds. ② In vitro chondrogenesis experiment: According to the addition of CDMP-1 and application of three-dimensional NaAlg culture, the cells were divided into four groups: ADSCs group, ADSCs + NaAlg group, CDMP-1 + ADSCs group, and CDMP-1 + ADSCs + NaAlg group. Cell proliferation activity was detected by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) at days 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 after chondrogenic induction. Toluidine blue staining for sulfated glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) and immunohistochemical staining for collagen II (COL-II) were conducted at days 7 and 14 of induction to observe chondrogenic differentiation. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and immunofluorescence staining were adopted to detect the mRNA and protein expression levels of chondrogenic marker genes SOX9, COL2A1 and ACAN at days 7 and 14 after induction.ResultsFlow cytometry results showed that ADSCs were positive for surface antigens CD29, CD44 and CD105, and negative for CD31 and CD45. After chondrogenic induction, the cell proliferation curves of each group presented an approximate “S” shape, and there were statistically significant differences among all groups (P < 0.05). ① Material biosafety and biocompatibility assessment: Phalloidin cytoskeleton staining, scratch assay, Transwell assay, CCK-8 assay and live/dead cell staining verified that NaAlg hydrogel scaffolds exerted no adverse effects on cell morphology, migration capacity or proliferation activity. ② In vitro chondrogenesis experiment: Positive results of toluidine blue staining for sulfated GAGs and immunohistochemical staining for COL-II were observed in all groups at days 7 and 14 of induction, and the expression of GAGs and COL-II was the strongest in the CDMP-1 + ADSCs + NaAlg group. At the same time points, the expression levels of chondrogenic markers SOX9, COL-II and ACAN were significantly higher in CDMP-1-treated groups (CDMP-1 + ADSCs group and CDMP-1 + ADSCs + NaAlg group) than those in the control groups (ADSCs group and ADSCs + NaAlg group). Moreover, the expression of SOX9, COL-II and ACAN in NaAlg hydrogel scaffold culture groups (ADSCs + NaAlg group and CDMP-1 + ADSCs + NaAlg group) was remarkably upregulated compared with that in two-dimensional culture groups (ADSCs group and CDMP-1 + ADSCs group).ConclusionNaAlg hydrogel scaffold possesses favorable biosafety as a cell-carrier scaffold. CDMP-1 can effectively induce chondrogenic differentiation of ADSCs seeded on NaAlg hydrogel scaffolds in vitro. This strategy is expected to provide a novel tissue engineering approach for the repair of cartilage defects.
