A team of scientists has developed a new AI software tool called 'BANKSY' that automatically recognizes the cell types present in a tissue, such as muscle cells, nerve cells and fat cells. Going a step beyond conventional AI tools which can group cells together into clusters if they contain similar molecules, BANKSY also considers how similar the cells' surroundings in the tissue are. A team of scientists from A*STAR's Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) and Bioinformatics Institute (BII) has developed a new AI software tool called "BANKSY" that automatically recognises the cell types present in a tissue, such as muscle cells, nerve cells and fat cells. Going a step beyond conventional AI tools which can group cells together into clusters if they contain similar molecules, BANKSY also considers how similar the cells' surroundings in the tissue are. With BANKSY, researchers would be able to improve their understanding of tissue processes in diverse diseases quicker and more accurately, which can support the development of more effective diagnostics and treatments for cancer, neurological disorders and other diseases. This breakthrough research was published in the article "BANKSY unifies cell typing and tissue domain segmentation for scalable spatial omics data analysis" in Nature Genetics on 27 February 2024. BANKSY is adept at identifying subtly distinct cell groups in spatial molecular profiles generated from tissue samples. Moreover, BANKSY addresses the distinct but related problem of demarcating functionally distinct anatomical regions in tissue sections. For instance, it can distinguish layered structures in the human forebrain. Spatial molecular profiling (Spatial Omics) technologies are powerful microscopes that allow scientists to study tissues in great detail, by revealing the exact locations of individual biological molecules in cells, as well as the arrangement of cells in tissues. This helps them understand how cells come together in tissues to perform their normal physiological functions, and also how they behave (or misbehave) in diseases such as cancer, autism or infectious diseases such as COVID-19. This understanding is essential for more accurate diagnosis and tailored treatment of patients, as well as the discovery of new drugs. BANKSY can help biologists interpret and extract insights from the latest Spatial Omics technologies that have emerged over the past few years. Versatile, accurate, fast and scalable, BANKSY stands out from existing methods at analysing both RNA and protein-based Spatial Omics data. Capable of handling large datasets of over two million cells, BANKSY is 10 to 1,000 times faster than competing methods that were tested, and two to 60 times more scalable. This means that the method can also be applied to other key data-processing steps, such as detecting and removing poor quality areas of the sample, and for merging samples taken from different patients for combined analysis. BANKSY has been independently benchmarked and found to be the best-performing algorithm for spatial omics data by two independent studies, one of which concluded that BANKSY can be a powerful solution for the identification of domains. The other study tested six algorithms and selected BANKSY as the most accurate for their data analysis. Dr Shyam Prabhakar, Senior Group Leader, Laboratory of Systems Biology and Data Analytics and Associate Director, Spatial and Single Cell Systems at A*STAR's GIS, said, "We anticipate that BANKSY will be a game-changing tool that helps to unlock the potential of emerging Spatial Omics technologies. This will hopefully improve our understanding of tissue processes in diverse diseases, allowing us to develop more effective treatments for cancers, neurological disorders and many other pathologies." Professor Liu Jian Jun, Acting Executive Director at A*STAR's GIS, said, "The work on BANKSY advances our strategy of combining high-throughput technologies with scalable, robust AI software for problem-solving and identifying the clues to what can make a difference in the lives of patients." Dr Iain Tan, Senior Consultant, Division of Medical Oncology at National Cancer Centre Singapore and Senior Clinician Scientist at A*STAR's GIS Laboratory of Applied Cancer Genomics, said, "We are using BANKSY to identify the cells that help tumours grow and spread to other parts of the body -- drugs targeting such cells could be a promising direction for cancer treatment."

The Indonesian Ministry of Health, through the Center for Data and Information Technology, has recently announced the results of the 2023 digital maturity assessment for provincial and district/city health services, hospitals, and health service facilities. Supported by the United States Agency for International Development-The Country Health Information and Data Systems Use, the assessment revealed that 146 provinces and districts/cities who participated scored an average of 2.73 out of 5.00. It also noted "excellent" digital maturity scores and adoption of EMRs from 10 provincial health offices, 10 district/city health offices, and 10 hospitals, who all together scored an average of 4.52. Ministry of Health secretary-general Kunta Wibawa Dasa Nugraha said they hope the results can become "a reflection and evaluative step for health facilities to identify strengths, weaknesses and potential gaps in each health service unit." The ministry started conducting digital maturity assessments of health services in 2022. The Indonesian Ministry of Health also announced recently that it has worked with the local family-run charity Tanoto Foundation to develop digital learning modules to help raise the capacity of about 1.5 million community health workers called Posyandu cadres. The modules are aimed at helping them master 25 basic competencies, including the ability to explain the use of the Buku KIA (Maternal and Child Health) handbooks for parents, provide education on breastfeeding and complementary feeding, and improve their interpersonal communication skills. The Posyandu cadre training modules have been included in the Plataran Sehat platform, a learning management system run by the Ministry of Health. Trials are now being conducted with Posyandu workers in three districts in East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara and West Java provinces, according to Tanoto Foundation Indonesia head Inge Kusuma. Meanwhile, Tanoto is also supporting the integration of the Aplikasi Sehat IndonesiaKu (ASIK) system used by community health workers with the national health management platform Satusehat. The foundation has invested about IDR 16 billion ($1 million) in developing the Posyandu cadre training modules and the Satusehat integration. HealthCare Global Enterprises, one of India's largest cancer care networks, has recently unveiled its mobile application. Developed in collaboration with PwC, Salesforce, Kloudarc, and TCS, the HCG Care app features a range of digital services, including doctor appointment booking, sharing and accessing medical records, virtual consultation with an oncologist, accessing information about customised treatment plans, buying medicines, seeking counselling, nutritional and dietary, and other expert advice, and booking home and rehabilitation care services. Now available on Android and iOS devices, the platform also allows care teams to consolidate patient records and disseminate and analyse individual medical reports to enhance coordination. Doctors can leverage the advanced data analytics of the app to help with their treatment decision-making. The team behind an automated clinical trial-matching platform for cancer patients has been awarded SG$50,000 ($37,000) at the annual innovation challenge of the Duke-National Univesity of Singapore Medical School. Aiming to enhance clinical trial accessibility and simplify referrals, OncoPATH uses a large language model to match patients to the right trials. They are matched according to their diagnosis, stage of cancer, mutational pro sites of disease. The platform has the "potential to improve recruitment, reducing trial duration and overall costs," claims Chua Shi Ling, clinical research coordinator at the National Cancer Centre Singapore. With the award, the OncoPATH team can proceed to further develop and start commercialising their technology.

Philippine state insurer temporarily shuts ransomware-hit IT system The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation has recently reported a cyberattack on its IT system. A news report noted that the attack, which was carried out on the morning of 22 September, was a Medusa ransomware. The state insurer has yet to report which parts of its IT systems have been affected but it is currently probing the extent of the attack while implementing containment measures, such as temporarily shutting breached systems. P hilHealth currently has 65 million active contributors. Revised medical data standards in South Korea enable interoperability The South Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare has revised its health data terminology standards to introduce new standards in data exchange. The newly-renamed Health and Medical Data Terminology and Transmission Standards reflect stipulations on exchanging medical information between IT systems. In the revised standards, the previously classified 14 types of core health information, which include patient information, medical institution information, and hospital visit information, were further broken down into 77 items. These items of core information can now be exchanged based on FHIR standards as transmission technology specifications and computer program codes have also been redefined. Korea Medical Institute enters partnership for AI ECG screening Korea Medical Institute is collaborating with Daewoong Pharmaceutical to promote AI-powered diagnosis of heart conditions. Based on a press statement, they intend to introduce a new system for detecting arrhythmia and heart failure using AI by January next year. The system includes Sears Technology's ECG solution mobiCARE and the AI-based ECG analysis software AiTiA LVSD by Medical AI, which Daewoong Pharmaceutical is delivering to KMI's diagnostic centres. Medical Cobotics Centre opens in India The Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology in Delhi, India has recently opened its new Medical Cobotics Centre (MCC). According to a press release, the MCC, funded by the Department of Science and Technology, will serve as a medical simulation and training facility for doctors, paramedics, technicians, engineers, biomedical researchers, and entrepreneurs. It will also enable medical research and development in healthcare robotics and digital health, acting as a test site for startups' new medical technologies. National Cancer Centre Singapore, Agilent to conduct genomic study on Asian cancers The National Cancer Centre Singapore has inked a research collaboration deal with Agilent Technologies to study the genomic landscape of Asian-prevalent cancers. Over the next two years, the partners will investigate details specific to Asian cancer cohorts using Agilent's Magnis Next-Generation Sequencing Preparation System, which simplifies an assay of multiple genes and complex genetic aberrations. Based on a press statement, they will focus on identifying tumour genomes and utilising genomic data in patient care "to transform clinical trials and diagnostics in oncology."