While metaverse is widely discussed, comprehension of its intricacies remains limited to a select few. Conceptually akin to a three-dimensional embodiment of the Internet, the metaverse facilitates simultaneous existence in both physical and virtual domains. Fundamentally, it embodies a visually immersive virtual environment, striving for authenticity, where individuals engage in real-world activities such as commerce, gaming, social interaction, and leisure pursuits. The global pandemic has accelerated digital innovations across diverse sectors. Beyond strides in telehealth, payment systems, remote monitoring, and secure data exchange, substantial advancements have been achieved in artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and blockchain technologies. Nevertheless, the metaverse, in its nascent stage, continues to evolve, harboring significant potential for revolutionizing healthcare. Through integration with the Internet of Medical Devices, quantum computing, and robotics, the metaverse stands poised to redefine healthcare systems, offering enhancements in surgical precision and therapeutic modalities, thus promising profound transformations within the industry.

The placement of an external ventricular drain (EVD) is a critical neurosurgical procedure used to relieve intracranial pressure in patients with conditions such as hydrocephalus, traumatic brain injury, and intracranial hemorrhage. Traditional methods rely heavily on anatomical landmarks and the surgeon\'s experience, which can lead to variability in outcomes and increased risk of complications. Neuronavigation, while available, is infrequently used due to the size, cost, and set-up times associated with these devices. This report explores the use of a headset-based augmented reality (AR) system for guidance during the EVD placement procedure. We describe an AR system that overlays a 3D model of the patient\'s cranial anatomy, derived from preoperative imaging, onto the patient\'s head. This system is a head-mounted display and utilizes a rapid fiducial-less registration to provide the surgeon with visualization of 3D anatomy, and targeted trajectories. The system was used with a 32-year-old patient undergoing EVD placement prior to a cranioplasty. Due to the atypical cranial anatomy and due to prior procedures and midline shift, this relatively high-risk catheter placement was an ideal circumstance for the use of AR guidance during the EVD placement. This report described an early use of AR for EVD placement and represents a substantial advancement in neurosurgical practice, offering enhanced precision, efficiency, and safety. Further large-scale studies are warranted to validate these findings and explore the broader applicability of AR in other neurosurgical procedures.

This review explores the transformative applications of augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) technologies in interventional cardiology. The integration of these cutting-edge systems offers unprecedented potential to enhance visualization, guidance, and outcomes during complex cardiac interventional procedures. This review examines four key domains: (1) medical AR/MR systems and technological foundations; (2) clinical applications across procedures like TAVI, PCI, and electrophysiology mapping; (3) ongoing technology development and validation efforts; and (4) educational and training applications for fostering essential skills. By providing an in-depth analysis of the benefits, challenges, and future directions, this work elucidates the paradigm shift catalyzed by AR and MR in advancing interventional cardiology practices. Through meticulous exploration of technological, clinical, and educational implications, this review underscores the pivotal role of these innovative technologies in optimizing procedural guidance, improving patient outcomes, and driving innovation in cardiovascular care.

In the global context, advancements in technology and science have rendered virtual, augmented, and mixed-reality technologies capable of transforming clinical care and medical environments by offering enhanced features and improved healthcare services. This paper aims to present a mixed reality-based system to control a robotic wheelchair for people with limited mobility. The test group comprised 11 healthy subjects (six male, five female, mean age 35.2 ± 11.7 years). A novel platform that integrates a smart wheelchair and an eye-tracking-enabled head-mounted display was proposed to reduce the cognitive requirements needed for wheelchair movement and control. The approach\'s effectiveness was demonstrated by evaluating our system in realistic scenarios. The demonstration of the proposed AR head-mounted display user interface for controlling a smart wheelchair and the results provided in this paper could highlight the potential of the HoloLens 2-based innovative solutions and bring focus to emerging research topics, such as remote control, cognitive rehabilitation, the implementation of patient autonomy with severe disabilities, and telemedicine.

The introduction of new technologies in current digestive surgical practice is progressively reshaping the operating room, defining the fourth surgical revolution. The implementation of black boxes and control towers aims at streamlining workflow and reducing surgical error by early identification and analysis, while augmented reality and artificial intelligence augment surgeons\' perceptual and technical skills by superimposing three-dimensional models to real-time surgical images. Moreover, the operating room architecture is transitioning toward an integrated digital environment to improve efficiency and, ultimately, patients\' outcomes. This narrative review describes the most recent evidence regarding the role of these technologies in transforming the current digestive surgical practice, underlining their potential benefits and drawbacks in terms of efficiency and patients\' outcomes, as an attempt to foresee the digestive surgical practice of tomorrow.

Chemistry as a whole is divided into three levels. The macroscopic level describes real, observable phenomena of the material world. The submicroscopic level focuses on particles. The representative level includes pictorial and symbolic representations to visualize substance in its nature. Students often have problems separating these levels and conceptually transfer each of the three levels to the other. Therefore, teachers need to use chemical terminology correctly when teaching the substance-particle concept. Augmented Reality (AR) connects real and virtual world. The observer physically moves in a real environment that integrates virtual elements. The AR technology has great potential for learning in the subject chemistry, especially when it comes to making the \"invisible\" visible and illustrating scientific phenomena at particle level. The simultaneous presentation should avoid split-attention and offers new possibilities to interactively deal with (M)ER. The question arises whether AR has a positive effect on the use of technical language and the associated understanding of the concept of dealing with (M)ER at the substance and particle levels. With an AR app on the tablet and the AR glasses, the chemical processes of a real experiment are represented by AR visualizations. Therefore, the AR app was piloted. This study captured the chemistry handling with (M)ER of chemistry teachers (N = 30) using a pre-post survey. The participating preservice teachers are described below. Each test includes five tasks elaborated by thinking aloud. The thinking-aloud protocols to acquire the use of the chemical terminology are evaluated in MAXQDA.

There is a huge unmet need for eye care with more than a hundred million people living without basic eye care services and facilities. There is an exigency to deploy adequate resources in terms of manpower and equipment to address this. The usage of smart devices in optometry and eye care practice has been gaining momentum for last half a decade, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and technological advancements in telemedicine. These smart devices will help facilitate remote monitoring of important visual functions, ocular signs and symptoms, thus providing better eye care services and facilities and promoting outreach services. Smart devices in optometry exist in the form of gadgets that can be worn in the wrist, and spectacle-mounted or head-mounted devices. On the other hand, with the ubiquitous nature of smartphones, a large number of smartphone applications have been developed and tested for advanced optometry and primary eye care practice, which may potentially reduce the burden of inadequate resources and the unmet need for eye care. This article aims to give an overview of the current trends and future perspectives on the application of such smart devices in optometric practice.

International bootcamps are important for providing access to advanced education and training to physicians around the world. In countries where resources are scarce, the opportunity to be exposed to advanced training and the latest technologies is limited. We set out to evaluate the educational value of integrating augmented reality (AR) into the curriculum of a global neurosurgery bootcamp. AR was integrated into this year\'s neurosurgical bootcamp in Hanoi, Vietnam, organized by the Foundation for International Education in Neurological Surgery (FIENS). Participants had not experienced this technology before a surgical adjunct. A study was conducted to evaluate how AR impacts the surgical approach to a cranial tumor for boot camp participants with limited neurosurgical experience. Without the use of AR, the majority of participants (66%) chose the incorrect surgical approach to a frontal tumor. However, after using AR to visualize the lesion in 3D, all participants chose the correct surgical approach. Additionally, participants were more precise when planning with AR as the distance from the skull insertion point to the tumor was significantly shorter with AR than without AR. This study demonstrated the potential of AR to improve the education and enhance the experience trainees have at international bootcamps. Importantly, it is our hope that industry involvement in these global initiatives continues to grow as it is critical for trainees in developing countries to be exposed to common as well as emerging medical technologies.

Educators are witnessing the unfolding of the era of artificial intelligence, raising the question of how to transfer the benefits of yesterday\'s pedagogy to the future of education. An interactive digital mind map of infectious diseases was developed for second-year medical students (n = 865). Analysis of user engagement showed global distribution with 498 QR scans on a single day. Student responses (n = 79, 9.1% response rate) indicated positive feedback on the resources of Extremely Satisfied (range 65-75%, n = 59-51). The findings of the study support further expansion of MedMicroMaps to cross-platform interfaces with adaptations for diverse audiences within allied health fields.
UNASSIGNED: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-024-02047-3.

UNASSIGNED: Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are innovative technologies that can serve as effective tools for creating health interventions by altering psychological distance. Based on construal level theory and the reality-virtuality continuum, we designed, tested, and compared VR and AR campaigns to encourage proactive measures against COVID-19.
UNASSIGNED: 143 participants were randomly assigned to one of three messages: VR, AR, and a CDC video, and completed surveys before, immediately, and one week following message exposure.
UNASSIGNED: VR and AR increased preventive intentions and behaviors against COVID-19 both in the short and long run. VR was particularly effective as it also increased risk perceptions, more preventive intentions in the short term, and more preventive behaviors, including social distancing and mask wearing, in the long term. VR was more efficient than AR in enhancing risk perceptions and preventive intentions right after being exposed to the messages as well as promoting behaviors such as avoiding crowds, maintaining social distance from others, and wearing a mask in indoor public areas one week later. Moreover, among the three conditions, VR was the only intervention that generated actual behavior change after one week, which indicated potential long-term advantages of VR compared to other mediums. VR decreased social, spatial, and hypothetical distances to a greater degree than AR. VR was more effective than video. However, AR was not more persuasive than video.
UNASSIGNED: Insights gained from the findings extend beyond the pandemic phase, offering practical applications for employing VR and AR technologies in health campaigns.