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Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer disease worldwide with highly fatal. It has accounted for 10% of the global cancer incidence (Bray et al., 2018). In the Netherlands, patients who have undergone treatment and surgery for colorectal cancer typically enter a five-year follow-up phase. During this period, patients often experience long-term health issues. Colorectal cancer not only has physical implications for patients but also significantly affects various aspects of their daily lives, including their social networks and mental health (Arndt et al., 2006). On the other hand, remote patient monitoring (RPM) can enhance efficiency and improve patient care delivery. However, there has been a noticeable lack of research and design focusing on the inclusion of social and mental health monitoring within these systems. According to the World Health Organization, health should include “Physical, Social and Mental” aspects. Therefore it’s important to focus on how to develop remote patient monitoring in these aspects. The project first used a patient community journey map (Jung, 2023) to summarize the experiences of colorectal cancer patients from a large number of posts on an online communication platform and invited medical experts from the Netherlands to a co-creation session to validate the map and explore research directions. The final research question was defined as: How to develop a remote patient monitoring system for patients’ social and daily activity and related emotion when they are away from the hospital? The research question was followed by user research. Patients received diary studies, including finishing a probe based on their activities. Upon completion of the diary studies by the patients, there is a follow-up interview to obtain patients' feedback and sentiments regarding the probe. Subsequently, the insights from the user research act as input during a collaborative designers’ brainstorm session. Finally, these research find, Strategic Product Design | Medisign

Knowing the structure and distribution of microbial communities and the underlying mechanisms shaping microbial geographic patterns is crucial for soil ecology and biogeochemical cycles of elements. Studies have explored the diversity, composition, and distribution of whole microbial communities based on taxonomic (16S rRNA) genes in many habitats. However, it is unclear whether the active microbes characterized by other genetic elements are driven by the same environmental variables and follow similar distribution patterns owing to technical limits on identifying the active functional genes in complex communities. Here, we employed ubiquitous phenanthrene as a model compound and applied DNA-stable isotope probing to investigate the active phenanthrene degraders by 16S rRNA genes and phenanthrene-degrading genes in forest soils. The effects of environmental variables and geographic distance on the diversity and composition of both genetic elements were examined. The diversity and similarity of whole microbial communities was closely linked with the total phenanthrene-degrading genes. However, the abundance and diversity of the active phenanthrene-degrading genes mismatched those of the active 16S rRNA genes, suggesting their distinct responses to environment variables and geographic distance. Geographic distance had a strong effect on the active phenanthrene-degrading community identified by taxonomic genes but not the active phenanthrene-degrading genes. Dispersal and mutation might explain the decoupled biogeographic patterns between the active taxonomic 16S rRNA and phenanthrene-degrading genes. This study provides new insights into the different driving forces for the active functional microbes characterized by various genetic elements, implying the diverse evolutionary mechanisms between functional genetic elements and 16S rRNA genes.

Knowing the structure and distribution of microbial communities and the underlying mechanisms shaping microbial geographic patterns is crucial for soil ecology and biogeochemical cycles of elements. Studies have explored the diversity, composition, and distribution of whole microbial communities based on taxonomic (16S rRNA) genes in many habitats. However, it is unclear whether the active microbes characterized by other genetic elements are driven by the same environmental variables and follow similar distribution patterns owing to technical limits on identifying the active functional genes in complex communities. Here, we employed ubiquitous phenanthrene as a model compound and applied DNA-stable isotope probing to investigate the active phenanthrene degraders by 16S rRNA genes and phenanthrene-degrading genes in forest soils. The effects of environmental variables and geographic distance on the diversity and composition of both genetic elements were examined. The diversity and similarity of whole microbial communities was closely linked with the total phenanthrene-degrading genes. However, the abundance and diversity of the active phenanthrene-degrading genes mismatched those of the active 16S rRNA genes, suggesting their distinct responses to environment variables and geographic distance. Geographic distance had a strong effect on the active phenanthrene-degrading community identified by taxonomic genes but not the active phenanthrene-degrading genes. Dispersal and mutation might explain the decoupled biogeographic patterns between the active taxonomic 16S rRNA and phenanthrene-degrading genes. This study provides new insights into the different driving forces for the active functional microbes characterized by various genetic elements, implying the diverse evolutionary mechanisms between functional genetic elements and 16S rRNA genes.

Bacterial communities of rhizospheric soils play an important role in the tolerance and uptake of metal-tolerant/hyperaccumulating plants to metals, e.g. the Cu-tolerant Elsholtzia splendens native to China. In this work, pyrosequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene was firstly applied to investigate the rhizospheric bacterial community of E. splendens grown at Cu contaminated sites. The 47 phyla including 11 dominant phyla (>1%) in E. splendens rhizosphere were presented. The effects of Cu and other environmental factors (total organic carbon, total nitrogen and pH) on the rhizospheric bacterial community were studied comprehensively. The phyla abundances were affected by the environmental factors to different extent, and we found pH, instead of Cu concentration, influenced UniFrac distance significantly and was identified as the most important environmental factor affecting bacterial community. In addition, the influence of environmental factors on gene profiles was explored according to the predicted metagenomes obtained by PICRUSt (phylogenetic investigation of communities by reconstruction of unobserved states). Our study illustrates a view about Cu-tolerant E. splendens rhizospheric bacterial communities (composition, diversity and gene profiles) and their influencing factors, giving a hand for the understanding on bacterial community is formed and affected in rhizosphere.

Bacterial communities of rhizospheric soils play an important role in the tolerance and uptake of metal-tolerant/hyperaccumulating plants to metals, e.g. the Cu-tolerant Elsholtzia splendens native to China. In this work, pyrosequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene was firstly applied to investigate the rhizospheric bacterial community of E. splendens grown at Cu contaminated sites. The 47 phyla including 11 dominant phyla (>1%) in E. splendens rhizosphere were presented. The effects of Cu and other environmental factors (total organic carbon, total nitrogen and pH) on the rhizospheric bacterial community were studied comprehensively. The phyla abundances were affected by the environmental factors to different extent, and we found pH, instead of Cu concentration, influenced UniFrac distance significantly and was identified as the most important environmental factor affecting bacterial community. In addition, the influence of environmental factors on gene profiles was explored according to the predicted metagenomes obtained by PICRUSt (phylogenetic investigation of communities by reconstruction of unobserved states). Our study illustrates a view about Cu-tolerant E. splendens rhizospheric bacterial communities (composition, diversity and gene profiles) and their influencing factors, giving a hand for the understanding on bacterial community is formed and affected in rhizosphere.