Developing Advanced AI Ecosystems to Enhance Diagnosis and Care for Patients with Depression.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) has a significant impact on the daily lives of those affected. This concept paper presents a project that aims at addressing MDD challenges through innovative therapy systems. The project consists of two use cases: a multimodal neurofeedback (NFB) therapy and an AI-based virtual therapy assistant (VTA). The multimodal NFB integrates EEG and fNIRS to comprehensively assess brain function. The goal is to develop an open-source NFB toolbox for EEG-fNIRS integration, augmented by the VTA for optimized efficacy. The VTA will be able to collect behavioral data, provide personalized feedback and support MDD patients in their daily lives. This project aims to improve depression treatment by bringing together digital therapy, AI and mobile apps to potentially improve outcomes and accessibility for people living with depression.

Alternating current electrophoretic deposition of antibacterial bioactive glass-chitosan composite coatings.

Alternating current (AC) electrophoretic deposition (EPD) was used to produce multifunctional composite coatings combining bioactive glass (BG) particles and chitosan. BG particles of two different sizes were used, i.e., 2 µm and 20-80 nm in average diameter. The parameter optimization and characterization of the coatings was conducted by visual inspection and by adhesion strength tests. The optimized coatings were investigated in terms of their hydroxyapatite (HA) forming ability in simulated body fluid (SBF) for up to 21 days. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy results showed the successful HA formation on the coatings after 21 days. The first investigations were conducted on planar stainless steel sheets. In addition, scaffolds made from a TiAl4V6 alloy were considered to show the feasibility of coating of three dimensional structures by EPD. Because both BG and chitosan are antibacterial materials, the antibacterial properties of the as-produced coatings were investigated using E. coli bacteria cells. It was shown that the BG particle size has a strong influence on the antibacterial properties of the coatings.

Electrophoretic deposition of biological macromolecules, drugs, and cells.

The use of biological entities in biotechnology and the biomedical field is of great interest as the biocompatibility and the functionality of naturally occurring is usually higher compared to other biomaterials, for example, synthetic polymers. Processing of natural biomolecules, including proteins like collagen and also living cells and bacteria, to develop medical devices, bioactive coatings, functionalized implants, tissue scaffolds, or biosensors, is however challenging. Electrophoretic deposition, a technique that takes advantage of the presence of charged particles or molecules in suitable solvents, is a low-temperature process suitable for manipulating a wide range of biomolecules and biological entities preserving their bioactivity, which could be otherwise lost by processing at high temperatures. Another advantage of EPD is the possibility to use aqueous suspensions to process biological entities given that organic solvents also could lead to degradation of biomolecules. This paper gives an overview of the available literature on the application of EPD to process different biomolecules and biological entities, like proteins, bacteria cells, hyaluronic acid, and therapeutic drugs, aiming at using such biomaterials in numerous applications ranging from biosensors to orthopedic implants, tissue scaffolds, and drug delivery devices.