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The Missing Layer of AGI: From Pattern Alchemy to Coordination Physics
XR-DT: Extended Reality-Enhanced Digital Twin for Agentic Mobile Robots
Simulating Life Paths with Digital Twins: AI-Generated Future Selves Influence Decision-Making and Expand Human Choice
M4-RAG: A Massive-Scale Multilingual Multi-Cultural Multimodal RAG
ToolMind Technical Report: A Large-Scale, Reasoning-Enhanced Tool-Use Dataset
The AI Productivity Index (APEX)
Designing LLM-based Multi-Agent Systems for Software Engineering Tasks: Quality Attributes, Design Patterns and Rationale
Critical Appraisal Tools for Evaluating Artificial Intelligence in Clinical Studies: Scoping Review
Exploring a Digital Health Solution to Collect and Manage Health-Related Needs for Patients Who Undergo Complex Surgery: Mixed Methods Study
AI-driven transfer learning and classical molecular dynamics for strategic therapeutic repurposing and rational design of antiviral peptides targeting monkeypox virus DNA polymerase
Comput Biol Med. 2025 Dec 7;200:111372. doi: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2025.111372. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
The emergence of monkeypox virus (MPXV) as a global health threat has necessitated the rapid identification of novel antiviral therapeutics. Currently, no FDA-approved drugs are specifically designed against the disease. We used an in-house deep learning pharmacophore model for screening a library of 1974 FDA-approved drugs targeting the active site of MPXV DNA polymerase. Three drugs exhibited the strongest binding affinities, outperforming the control drug, Cidofovir diphosphate, and forming stable interactions with key active site residues. Among them, Paromomycin emerged as the most favourable drug, demonstrating stable, persistent, and adaptable interactions in molecular dynamics simulation. In parallel, we developed a novel automated peptide-generating AI pipeline that integrates active-site residues with knowledge-guided amino acid selection to generate and evaluate synthetic peptides. Cysteine-Phenylalanine-Cysteine (CFC), together with a panel of candidates, emerged through rational balancing of physicochemical properties and drug-likeness for accelerated therapeutic discovery. Synthetic peptides were evaluated to further understand the binding efficacies with DNA polymerase. CFC peptide demonstrated strong binding affinity (-8.08 kcal/mol) through stable interactions with key catalytic residues ASP549, ARG634 and LYS661, while MMGBSA analysis confirmed favourable binding energy (-33.02 kcal/mol). Consistent results in MD simulations indicate functional binding without destabilisation. Although ADMET predictions for CFC revealed limitations in permeability and oral bioavailability, its favourable binding profile and reduced predicted toxicity support its potential as a novel antiviral lead.
PMID:41360016 | DOI:10.1016/j.compbiomed.2025.111372
Explainable artificial intelligence and ensemble learning for hepatocellular carcinoma classification: State of the art, performance, and clinical implications
World J Hepatol. 2025 Nov 27;17(11):109494. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v17.i11.109494.
ABSTRACT
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality globally, necessitating advanced diagnostic tools to improve early detection and personalized targeted therapy. This review synthesizes evidence on explainable ensemble learning approaches for HCC classification, emphasizing their integration with clinical workflows and multi-omics data. A systematic analysis [including datasets such as The Cancer Genome Atlas, Gene Expression Omnibus, and the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) datasets] revealed that explainable ensemble learning models achieve high diagnostic accuracy by combining clinical features, serum biomarkers such as alpha-fetoprotein, imaging features such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, and genomic data. For instance, SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP)-based random forests trained on NCBI GSE14520 microarray data (n = 445) achieved 96.53% accuracy, while stacking ensembles applied to the SEER program data (n = 1897) demonstrated an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.779 for mortality prediction. Despite promising results, challenges persist, including the computational costs of SHAP and local interpretable model-agnostic explanations analyses (e.g., TreeSHAP requiring distributed computing for metabolomics datasets) and dataset biases (e.g., SEER's Western population dominance limiting generalizability). Future research must address inter-cohort heterogeneity, standardize explainability metrics, and prioritize lightweight surrogate models for resource-limited settings. This review presents the potential of explainable ensemble learning frameworks to bridge the gap between predictive accuracy and clinical interpretability, though rigorous validation in independent, multi-center cohorts is critical for real-world deployment.
PMID:41358057 | PMC:PMC12679159 | DOI:10.4254/wjh.v17.i11.109494
EIF3M as a pan-cancer biomarker: prognostic significance and immune infiltration association
Front Mol Biosci. 2025 Nov 18;12:1697083. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2025.1697083. eCollection 2025.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: EIF3M, a core subunit of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 3, plays a pivotal role in protein synthesis by regulating the assembly of the 43S initiation complex. However, its biological functions in cancer remain poorly understood. To further investigate the clinical translational value and underlying mechanisms of EIF3M in tumors, this study conducted comprehensive bioinformatic analysis of EIF3M across various tumor types.
METHODS: We utilized publicly available databases to perform a comprehensive bioinformatics analysis of EIF3M's biological roles in oncogenesis, aiming to elucidate its pan-cancer expression patterns and prognostic significance. Furthermore, we conducted an integrative multi-omics analysis incorporating methylation profiling, co-expressed gene networks, targeted miRNA interactions, and tumor immune microenvironment infiltration to decipher the complex regulatory architecture and biological pathways mediated by EIF3M across cancer types. Finally, we used HCC cell lines for in vitro functional validation, determining how EIF3M expression modulates malignant phenotypic behaviors in hepatocellular carcinoma.
RESULTS: EIF3M was overexpressed in multiple cancers and correlated with advanced tumor stage and poor survival. Its dysregulation was primarily driven by gene amplification and regulated by promoter methylation and miRNAs. EIF3M functioned as a hub in cell cycle and transcriptional networks and was linked to an immunosuppressive microenvironment. In hepatocellular carcinoma models, EIF3M modulated tumor proliferation, migration, and activated oncogenic pathways like Wnt/β-catenin.
CONCLUSION: This study reveals that EIF3M expression correlates with immune infiltration and poor prognosis in multiple cancers. In vitro experiments in hepatocellular carcinoma models demonstrated that EIF3M critically regulates malignant cell behaviors. Collectively, our findings highlight EIF3M's value as a promising pan-cancer biomarker worthy of further investigation for its utility in prognosis prediction and as an indicator of immunotherapeutic response.
PMID:41341921 | PMC:PMC12669982 | DOI:10.3389/fmolb.2025.1697083
Detecting Sociodemographic Biases in the Content and Quality of Large Language Model–Generated Nursing Care: Cross-Sectional Simulation Study
Promoting Responsible DeepSeek Deployment in Health Care: Scoping Review Comparing Grey and White Literature
Listening to Patients’ Voices on the Use of AI in Health Care: Cross-Sectional Study
EIF3M as a pan-cancer biomarker: prognostic significance and immune infiltration association
Front Mol Biosci. 2025 Nov 18;12:1697083. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2025.1697083. eCollection 2025.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: EIF3M, a core subunit of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 3, plays a pivotal role in protein synthesis by regulating the assembly of the 43S initiation complex. However, its biological functions in cancer remain poorly understood. To further investigate the clinical translational value and underlying mechanisms of EIF3M in tumors, this study conducted comprehensive bioinformatic analysis of EIF3M across various tumor types.
METHODS: We utilized publicly available databases to perform a comprehensive bioinformatics analysis of EIF3M's biological roles in oncogenesis, aiming to elucidate its pan-cancer expression patterns and prognostic significance. Furthermore, we conducted an integrative multi-omics analysis incorporating methylation profiling, co-expressed gene networks, targeted miRNA interactions, and tumor immune microenvironment infiltration to decipher the complex regulatory architecture and biological pathways mediated by EIF3M across cancer types. Finally, we used HCC cell lines for in vitro functional validation, determining how EIF3M expression modulates malignant phenotypic behaviors in hepatocellular carcinoma.
RESULTS: EIF3M was overexpressed in multiple cancers and correlated with advanced tumor stage and poor survival. Its dysregulation was primarily driven by gene amplification and regulated by promoter methylation and miRNAs. EIF3M functioned as a hub in cell cycle and transcriptional networks and was linked to an immunosuppressive microenvironment. In hepatocellular carcinoma models, EIF3M modulated tumor proliferation, migration, and activated oncogenic pathways like Wnt/β-catenin.
CONCLUSION: This study reveals that EIF3M expression correlates with immune infiltration and poor prognosis in multiple cancers. In vitro experiments in hepatocellular carcinoma models demonstrated that EIF3M critically regulates malignant cell behaviors. Collectively, our findings highlight EIF3M's value as a promising pan-cancer biomarker worthy of further investigation for its utility in prognosis prediction and as an indicator of immunotherapeutic response.
PMID:41341921 | PMC:PMC12669982 | DOI:10.3389/fmolb.2025.1697083
Harnessing human-AI collaboration for an AI roadmap that moves beyond pilots
The past year has marked a turning point in the corporate AI conversation. After a period of eager experimentation, organizations are now confronting a more complex reality: While investment in AI has never been higher, the path from pilot to production remains elusive. Three-quarters of enterprises remain stuck in experimentation mode, despite mounting pressure to convert early tests into operational gains.

“Most organizations can suffer from what we like to call PTSD, or process technology skills and data challenges,” says Shirley Hung, partner at Everest Group. “They have rigid, fragmented workflows that don’t adapt well to change, technology systems that don’t speak to each other, talent that is really immersed in low-value tasks rather than creating high impact. And they are buried in endless streams of information, but no unified fabric to tie it all together.”
The central challenge, then, lies in rethinking how people, processes, and technology work together.
Across industries as different as customer experience and agricultural equipment, the same pattern is emerging: Traditional organizational structures—centralized decision-making, fragmented workflows, data spread across incompatible systems—are proving too rigid to support agentic AI. To unlock value, leaders must rethink how decisions are made, how work is executed, and what humans should uniquely contribute.
“It is very important that humans continue to verify the content. And that is where you’re going to see more energy being put into,” Ryan Peterson, EVP and chief product officer at Concentrix.
Much of the conversation centered on what can be described as the next major unlock: operationalizing human-AI collaboration. Rather than positioning AI as a standalone tool or a “virtual worker,” this approach reframes AI as a system-level capability that augments human judgment, accelerates execution, and reimagines work from end to end. That shift requires organizations to map the value they want to create; design workflows that blend human oversight with AI-driven automation; and build the data, governance, and security foundations that make these systems trustworthy.
“My advice would be to expect some delays because you need to make sure you secure the data,” says Heidi Hough, VP for North America aftermarket at Valmont. “As you think about commercializing or operationalizing any piece of using AI, if you start from ground zero and have governance at the forefront, I think that will help with outcomes.”
Early adopters are already showing what this looks like in practice: starting with low-risk operational use cases, shaping data into tightly scoped enclaves, embedding governance into everyday decision-making, and empowering business leaders, not just technologists, to identify where AI can create measurable impact. The result is a new blueprint for AI maturity grounded in reengineering how modern enterprises operate.
“Optimization is really about doing existing things better, but reimagination is about discovering entirely new things that are worth doing,” says Hung.
This webcast is produced in partnership with Concentrix.
This content was produced by Insights, the custom content arm of MIT Technology Review. It was not written by MIT Technology Review’s editorial staff. It was researched, designed, and written by human writers, editors, analysts, and illustrators. This includes the writing of surveys and collection of data for surveys. AI tools that may have been used were limited to secondary production processes that passed thorough human review.
Hydrogel Formulations to Investigate Lung Cancer Mechanism
Thorac Res Pract. 2025 Dec 1;26(Suppl 1):10-11. doi: 10.4274/ThoracResPract.2025.s004.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Lung cancer remains a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, largely due to late diagnosis and the complexity of the tumor microenvironment (TME).1 A key factor in lung cancer is the extracellular matrix (ECM), a 3D network composed of structural proteins, glycoproteins, proteoglycans, and growth factors that together regulate cell adhesion, proliferation, and signaling. ECM architecture and its changes are closely related to cancer mechanisms.2 Thus, physiological models that recapitulate ECM composition and mechanics are essential. 2D cultures fail to replicate the organization and biochemical and mechanical signals of the TME, whereas microfluidic platforms offer dynamic, 3D cell culture systems hydrogel-integrated.3 A broad range of biomaterials (synthetic, semi-synthetic, natural) is used to recapitulate the dynamics of ECM. Natural hydrogels such as collagen, gelatin methacrylate (GelMA), Matrigel, alginate, fibrin, and decellularized ECM (dECM) are widely used due to their inherent bioactivity and ability to support cell adhesion and proliferation.4 Synthetic hydrogels, such as polyethylene glycol (PEG) and polyacrylamide, provide tunable stiffness and control over matrix composition, while semi-synthetic hybrids (e.g., PEG-GelMA, GelMA-dECM) combine biological cues with structural stability (Figure 1).5.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: Cancer cell lines A549 (adenocarcinoma), H1299 (non-small cell lung cancer), and H460 (large cell carcinoma) are frequently used in cancer modelling. Co-culture systems integrate fibroblasts, endothelial cells, and immune cells (e.g., macrophages) to simulate the TME and study cell-matrix-cell interactions. Patient-derived organoids preserve tumor heterogeneity, genetic mutations, and drug response profiles, representing a personalized in vitro cancer model. Tumor spheroids embedded in hydrogels recapitulate diffusion gradients and are used to evaluate drug penetration and metastasis. Further, they can be integrated into microfluidic platforms or well plates. As a next step, it is important to investigate ECM rheology, determine mechanical structure and cytokine expression levels, and further validate cell-matrix interactions.6,7.
RESULTS: These models have shown that tumor cells embedded in hydrogels exhibit enhanced invasive behavior and increased expression of matrix metalloproteinases (enzymes responsible for ECM degradation and remodeling). From a biomechanical perspective, rheological analyses revealed that cancer-associated hydrogels typically exhibit higher storage modulus than healthy matrices, reflecting a stiffer microenvironment and increased collagen levels.8.
CONCLUSION: Collectively, recent findings underscore the central role of the ECM and hydrogel-based systems in modeling lung cancer progression. The development of tissue-specific, mechanically tunable, and microfluidic-integrated hydrogels has transformed in vitro modeling from static 2D monolayers to dynamic, physiologically relevant 3D systems. Increased stiffness is now recognized as a key regulator of cancer cell fate, governing proliferation, EMT, and metastasis through mechanotransduction pathways such as YAP/TAZ and integrin-FAK signaling.9 Despite significant progress, variability in dECM composition and crosslinking chemistry still challenges reproducibility and bioactivity. Moreover, current hydrogel-based models often lack immune cell components and vascular complexity, limiting their ability to fully emulate the native TME. Future efforts should integrate dECM-based hydrogels with organoid and microfluidic systems, supported by multi-omics profiling, to achieve patient-specific and physiologically relevant lung cancer models.
PMID:41340224 | PMC:PMC12673191 | DOI:10.4274/ThoracResPract.2025.s004
Mixed methods evaluation of a clinical decision support system to reduce variation in healthcare
npj Digital Medicine, Published online: 06 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41746-025-02141-9
Mixed methods evaluation of a clinical decision support system to reduce variation in healthcare