Twitter has been an invaluable social media platform for scientists to share research and host discourse among academics and the public. The change of ownership at Twitter has changed how scientists interact with the platform and has led some to worry about its future. This article discusses the current changes at Twitter and what implications these may have for future health research and communication.

Digital technologies have garnered more attention in this epoch of public health emergencies like coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and monkeypox (mpox). Digital twin (DT) is the virtual cybernetic equivalent of a physical object (e.g., a device, a human, a community) used to better understand the complexity of the latter and predict, prevent, monitor, and optimize real-world outcomes. The possible use cases of DT systems in public health ranging from mass vaccination planning to understanding disease transmission patterns have been discussed. Despite potential applications in healthcare, several economic, social, and ethical challenges might hinder the universal implementation of DT. Nevertheless, devising appropriate policies, reinforcing good governance, and launching multinational collaborative efforts ascertain early espousal of DT technology.

X (formerly Twitter), a microblogging social media platform, is being used by scientists and researchers to disseminate their research findings and promote the visibility of their work to the public. Tweets can be posted with text messages, images, hyperlinks, or a combination of these features. Importantly, for the majority of users, the text must be limited to 280 characters. In this perspective, this study aimed to observe if adding an image is able to increase outreach for scientific communication on X. Therefore, the characteristics of tweets posted with the hashtag #SciComm (short for science communication) for a period of one year (28 May 2020 to 28 May 2021) were analyzed with the X analytics tool Symplur Signals. The conducted analysis revealed that when a science communication (#SciComm-containing) tweet is accompanied by an image added by the user, there is on average a 529% increase in the number of retweets, and adding a hyperlink is similarly effective in increasing the number of retweets. However, combining both an image and hyperlink in the same tweet did not yield an additive effect. Hence, for increased visibility, researchers may consider adding images or hyperlinks (e.g., to research publications or popular science articles) while communicating science to the public on X.

Somalia’s healthcare system faces significant challenges, including limited infrastructure, a shortage of healthcare professionals (2.5 physicians per 10,000 people), and geographic disparities in access to care, leading to only 35% of the population having access to basic health services. Despite these, Somalia is embracing digital health technologies to address these challenges and to improve healthcare delivery. Telehealth platforms such as Baano and SomDoctor provide remote consultations and specialized care to overcome geographical barriers. mHealth solutions, including Hello! Caafi, leverages Somalia’s expanding telecommunications network to deliver healthcare information and services. The development of an electronic immunization registry demonstrated the role of digital health records in streamlining health services and improving data accuracy. Despite the potential benefits, challenges persist, including limited and unreliable Internet access (27.6% penetration rate), and the need to ensure data privacy and security. Capacity building and digital literacy enhancement among healthcare providers and populations are crucial. Learning from successful digital health initiatives in African countries that have effectively used digital health technologies for medical supply delivery and for improved healthcare access is essential. The roadmap for Somalia emphasizes government leadership, public-private partnerships, context-specific solutions, and investment in digital infrastructure, capacity building, and data privacy measures. This perspective explores current digital health innovations in Somalia and their potential impact on healthcare access and quality, outlining a roadmap for establishing a sustainable digital health ecosystem.

The aim of this contribution is to analyze and discuss the perturbations of body-onboard medical devices caused by electromagnetic field radiations. This involves their control via electromagnetic compatibility analysis and their protection against such perturbations. The wearable, detachable, and embedded devices are first presented and their monitoring, control, forecasting, and stimulating functions are detailed. The interaction of these devices with field exposures comprising their wireless routines is then analyzed. The perturbations control of onboard devices is investigated through the mathematical solution of governing electromagnetic field equations and their appropriate protection strategies are deliberated. The involved investigations and analyses in the contribution are supported by a literature review.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have transformed global connectivity, offering significant support to underserved populations and small businesses in developing nations. The integration of social media into the ICT landscape has further revolutionized communication and information sharing worldwide. However, despite its widespread adoption, the precise impact of social media on biomedical research remains uncertain. This manuscript seeks to examine the multifaceted roles of social media in healthcare, focusing on its applications in patient care, professional networking, education, organizational promotion, and public health programs. Additionally, it investigates social media’s significance in research, particularly its potential for data collection and analysis. A comprehensive literature review was undertaken to consolidate existing knowledge on social media’s utilization in healthcare and research. Various platforms, including social networking sites and academic networking sites, were assessed, along with their respective applications and consequences. Social media platforms have become essential tools in healthcare, facilitating professional networking, patient education, organizational promotion, and public health initiatives. In the realm of research, social media provides extensive opportunities for data collection, analysis, and collaboration, although challenges persist regarding privacy, data accuracy, and ethical considerations. The pervasive influence of social media in healthcare and research highlights its potential to enhance communication, engagement, and knowledge dissemination. However, careful adherence to ethical guidelines and privacy concerns is essential to maximize its benefits while minimizing risks. As social media continues to evolve, its role in shaping biomedical research and healthcare practices is anticipated to grow, necessitating ongoing exploration and adaptation by stakeholders.

Epithelial dysplasia is a condition characterized by a spectrum of architectural and cytological alterations to the epithelium, resulting from the accumulation of genetic alterations. It is associated with an increased risk of cancer progression in a variety of organs. However, the variability of different grading systems, as well as inter- and intra-examiner variability, gives rise to concerns regarding the reliability of the results. Histopathology represents the gold standard for the diagnosis of epithelial dysplasia. The combination of big data in pathology and artificial intelligence (AI) will facilitate the achievement of accurate diagnoses and treatments, providing objective and efficient methods to integrate and refine diverse morphological, molecular, and multi-omics information. This perspective provides a summary of the existing research and prospects for the application of AI to epithelial dysplasia in multiple organs. A number of studies have been conducted with the aim of developing a grading system and prognostic identification method for epithelial dysplasia in the oral cavity, larynx, esophagus, and stomach. Digital pathology-based AI may prove useful in facilitating the clinical management of epithelial dysplasia in multiple organs. In summary, digital pathology images obtained by scanning hematoxylin & eosin-stained slides, identifying image features, and building AI models using deep learning combined with machine learning algorithms, validated with real-world data from multicenter cohorts could provide AI as a promising clinical application in the future.

As part of the Advancing Science, Practice, Programming, and Policy in Research Translation for Children’s Environmental Health (ASP³IRE) center, machine learning, geographic information systems (GIS), and natural language processing to analyze more than 650 million posts related to children’s environmental health are being used. Using preliminary analyses as examples, this commentary discusses the potential opportunities, benefits, challenges, and limitations of children’s health social media analytics. Social media contains large volumes of contextually rich data that describe children’s health risks and needs, characteristics of homes and childcare locations important to environmental exposures, and parent and childcare provider perceptions, awareness of, and misconceptions about children’s environmental health. Twenty five million unique conversations mentioning children, with likes, views, and replies from more than 33 million X (formerly Twitter) users were identified. Many of these posts can be linked to traditional environmental and health data. However, social media analytics have several challenges and limitations. Challenges include a need for interdisciplinary collaborations, selectivity and sensitivity of analytical methods, the dynamic, evolving communication methods and platform preferences of social media users, and operational policies. Limitations include data availability, generalizability, and self-report bias. Social media analytics has significant potential to contribute to children’s environmental health research and translation.

ChatGPT is one of the promising AI-based language models which has the potential to contribute to pharmacy settings in many aspects. This paper focuses on the possible aspects of pharmacy management where ChatGPT can contribute, the prevalence of its use in Saudi Arabia as a practical insight, case studies showing the potential of ChatGPT in answering health-related enquiries, its benefits, challenges, and future prospects of it. Helping clients, verifying medication, examining for potential reactions to drugs, identifying potential interaction between drugs, providing recommendation for suitable alternative medication therapies, assisting healthcare workers and supporting the search for novel medication are the biggest roles that are cited. The study highlights several benefits of using ChatGPT, including greater medical supervision, fewer drug errors, greater power over existing equipment, and support to study about the medicine sector. However, concerns about security, reliability, privacy, over-reliance on AI, and lack of natural judgement must be addressed by careful implementation under human review. The study also provided insight of practical application of ChatGPT in pharmacy education and possible ways of implementing ChatGPT in getting improved care and optimized operation. The future prospect of ChatGPT is promising but requires increased precision, integration of it into education programs, progressing of patient treatment and interaction, and facilitating novel research abilities. In general, the review suggests that ChatGPT has the potential to improve and modernize pharmacy processes but cautious implementation of this developing AI technology, combined with human knowledge is important to improve healthcare in the pharmaceutical field.

In the United Kingdom (UK), the current prevalence rates of oropharyngeal cancer linked to human papillomavirus (HPV) are 6.29% and 2.04% in men and women, respectively. Over the years, the burden of this disease has increased in the UK, and this is mainly due to the rising prevalence of HPV infection in the UK. Research evidence has shown that over 70% of oropharyngeal cancers in the UK are linked to HPV. Oral sex is the major route of transmission of HPV, and over 63% of UK young adults are found to have a positive history of oral sex practice. However, only a minority of the UK population are aware of HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer; this therefore calls for more public health efforts to increase awareness and knowledge on HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer in the UK. While the use of technology-based, clinic-based, and community-based interventions have been employed to improve public awareness and knowledge on the role of HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer, mobile health (mhealth) interventions have not been seriously explored despite existing robust evidence on the effective roles of mhealth in improving awareness and knowledge in diverse diseases. This article therefore calls for the adoption and use of mhealth interventions in educating the UK’s population on HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer. The use of mhealth interventions in this regard is highly viable as its implementation closely aligns with the country’s National Health Service (NHS) commitment towards the digital transformation of the UK’s healthcare system.

Geographic areas like Argentine Patagonia face significant barriers in the fight against oral cancer due to great distances, extreme weather conditions, and a shortage of specialists. These factors contribute to delayed diagnosis and treatment, adversely affecting patient outcomes. The aim of this study was to describe a pilot project to establish the telemedicine network of Chubut (Argentine Patagonia) for the early diagnosis of oral cancer. This perspective study also aimed to describe the advantages and disadvantages of using this tool in remote areas with limited access to healthcare services. Healthcare professionals, including nurses, dentists, doctors, and healthcare workers, were trained in the early diagnosis of oral cancer and high-risk oral lesions by five specialists in Oral Medicine, who traveled throughout Argentine Patagonia. Additionally, training was provided on the use of smartphones to obtain clinical images and data for remote consultations via telemedicine with a specialized center. Over 2,000 km were traveled, and more than 100 healthcare professionals were trained in six towns and localities in Patagonia, Argentina, encountering various limitations for the use of telemedicine in remote areas, such as connectivity issues. The first telemedicine network of Patagonia for the diagnosis of oral cancer was created and is now operational, receiving teleconsultations and referrals from the professionals trained during the journey. This study highlighted that telemedicine is an important tool to overcome geographical barriers and improve access to medical care, especially in remote areas. It promotes agility and speed in referrals and optimizes the available resources of the health system. Future studies should analyze the impact of telemedicine in decreasing the delay of oral cancer diagnosis in Southern Argentina.

The health sector in Yemen has experienced significant challenges due to prolonged conflict and suboptimal governance, making the development of digital health (DH) crucial. This study highlights the urgent need for the strategic implementation of health interventions in a country where fully functional healthcare facilities, low-income levels, damaged infrastructure, and suboptimal governance limit the effectiveness of traditional interventions. It discusses the prioritized step for advancing DH as a root issue that needs to be addressed first and highlights the importance of effective and efficient management of available resources. The development of telecommunication infrastructure is a fundamental pillar for advancing DH in the country. This comes along with consideration of effective management of the available resources and collaborative efforts among all parties, which are critically important to remove restrictions and constraints relevant to the administrative division and fragmentation of the healthcare system and objectively ensure universal coverage of telecommunications and healthcare services nationwide. By leveraging DH technologies (DHTs), Yemen can overcome these obstacles and revolutionize healthcare delivery. Implementing DHTs and related projects can ensure equitable access to high-quality healthcare services, particularly for impoverished individuals. However, the success of these initiatives relies on a well-established supportive policy and regulatory framework, improved public communication systems, targeted strategies, community engagement, and collaboration between medical service providers and community healthcare workers. Awareness campaigns, workshops, research collaborations, and engagement with international organizations are highly recommended to address challenges and foster the growth and development of DH in Yemen.