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In recent years, there has been a growing interest towards the potential hybridisation of digital and physical spaces, an emerging technology paradigm also known as “phygital”. Enabled by the convergence of virtual/augmented/mixed/extended reality, mobile tools, Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, the growing symbiosis between human spaces and computers is leading to the emergence of mixed physical and digital ecosystems, which will have a transformational impact on people's lives. However, the potential role that phygital systems could play in enhancing mental health and well-being is still under investigation. In this chapter, we introduce the concept of phygital interaction for mental health and present some scenarios of how this emerging paradigm can be used to enhance the prevention, promotion and treatment of mental conditions.

In recent years, there has been a growing interest towards the potential hybridisation of digital and physical spaces, an emerging technology paradigm also known as “phygital”. Enabled by the convergence of virtual/augmented/mixed/extended reality, mobile tools, Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, the growing symbiosis between human spaces and computers is leading to the emergence of mixed physical and digital ecosystems, which will have a transformational impact on people's lives. However, the potential role that phygital systems could play in enhancing mental health and well-being is still under investigation. In this chapter, we introduce the concept of phygital interaction for mental health and present some scenarios of how this emerging paradigm can be used to enhance the prevention, promotion and treatment of mental conditions.

Digital Twins constitute a class of innovative data-intensive network-based computing solutions based on real-time interactive simulations of physical systems—Physical Twins—in multiple domains, representing and predicting the states of complex systems (from bacteria to cities). However, the variety of Digital Twins proposed in literature makes it difficult to shape a general definition for this class of computational tools (possibly merging with phygital systems). On the other hand, this is a sign of the versatility of Digital Twins, in both their own capability to solve heterogeneous problems in real world and to inspire novel approaches to handle the uncertainty in complex systems. Such advantages are also explored in fields like healthcare, especially considering domains of Digital Health and mHealth. Indeed, major efforts in research are pushing the methodological and technological boundaries of biomedical sciences, translational research, and precision medicine. Such efforts should be pursued for implementing Digital Twins helping, for instance, the human-centric optimization of the resources allocation in healthcare settings (hospitals, homes, and cities). This chapter will present the opportunity and the ethical issues of using these systems for foreseeing the future states of a person or a population (a need that certainly was highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic) or a system including a medical device and its user.

Question: What effect does inpatient oncology treatment have on patient quality of life and physical functioning? Does recent weight loss associated with inferior physical functioning in patients admitted for inpatient oncology treatment? What are the implications for physiotherapy practice? Design: Prospective observational cohort study Participants: Thirty-two patients receiving inpatient oncology treatment. Outcome Measures: EORTC-30, SF8, isometric muscle strength, 30 second arm curl, sit to stand and timed up and go. Results: The EORTC-30 and SF-8 physical functioning and fatigue scales as well as timed up and go and sit to stand functional measures showed a trend of weekly decline in performance during inpatient oncology treatment but changes were not statistically different from baseline. Emotional and cognitive functioning and the 30 second arm curl however improved compared to baseline (p = <0.05). Social functioning showed a decline at two weeks compared to baseline (p = <0.05). Bivariate correlation analysis of baseline data showed sit to stand (r = -0.52), isometric knee extension (r = -0.39) and foot dorsiflexion (r = -0.42) strength to be significantly negatively associated with weight loss (p = <0.05). Conclusion: Despite non-significant decline in physical functioning during inpatient oncology treatment, comparison to healthy aged matched normative values showed obvious inferiority in quality of life and physical functioning at time of admission to hospital. Key Practice Points: • Physiotherapy management of patients in the inpatient oncology setting should focus on preventing decline in physical and social functioning. • Patients with greater reported weight loss may be more prone to larger declines in physical functioning in the inpatient oncology setting.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory multisystem disease with articular and extra-articular manifestations. Intracranial manifestations of RA are rare. Purpose of this article is to report on a rarely described leptomeningeal involvement in RA, and on its neuroimaging features, including diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI).