Ethical Framework for Harnessing the Power of AI in Healthcare and Beyond

In the past decade, the deployment of deep learning (Artificial Intelligence (AI)) methods has become pervasive across a spectrum of real-world applications, often in safety-critical contexts. This comprehensive research article rigorously investigates the ethical dimensions intricately linked to the rapid evolution of AI technologies, with a particular focus on the healthcare domain. Delving deeply, it explores a multitude of facets including transparency, adept data management, human oversight, educational imperatives, and international collaboration within the realm of AI advancement. Central to this article is the proposition of a conscientious AI framework, meticulously crafted to accentuate values of transparency, equity, answerability, and a human-centric orientation. The second contribution of the article is the in-depth and thorough discussion of the limitations inherent to AI systems. It astutely identifies potential biases and the intricate challenges of navigating multifaceted contexts. Lastly, the article unequivocally accentuates the pressing need for globally standardized AI ethics principles and frameworks. Simultaneously, it aptly illustrates the adaptability of the ethical framework proposed herein, positioned skillfully to surmount emergent challenges

Phytochemical and biological screening of Berberis aristata

Background: Berberis aristata occupies significant position as a medicinal plant. Given its clinical applications and the grave concern of weed based crop damage in Pakistan, the plant was investigated for its antimicrobial and allelopathic activities.Methods: Fresh Berberis aristata plant was obtained from Rawalakot and Hajeera (District Poonch) Azad Kashmir. Methanolic extract preparation and phytochemical analysis was done using standard procedures. Antibacterial and antifungal activities of the root, stem and leaf extracts of the plant were assayed against the bacterial strains E. coli, S. typhi, S. aureus, Shigella, Citrobacter, P. vulgaris, Enterobacter, S. pyrogenes, V. cholera and Klebsiella spp. and fungal strains A. niger,Cladosporium, Rhizoctonia, Alternaria, Trichoderma, Penicillium, Curvularia, Paecilomyces andRhizopus using disc diffusion method. Also, the phytoxicity of the extracts was evaluated againstLemna minor and the data was recorded after seven days.Results: Phytochemical screening of the three extracts identified the presence of alkaloids, reducing sugars, steroids, flavonoids, terpenoids, glycosides and saponins while tannins were found to be absent. The leaf extract also showed negative tests for alkaloids and steroids. The extracts significantly inhibited the growth of the employed microbial isolates. The leaf extract, however, was not active against A. niger, Curvularia, Paecilomyces and Rhizopus. For most of the tested strains, the effectiveness of the extracts was much higher than that of Amoxicillin and Fluconazole; the positive controls used for bacterial and fungal cultures, respectively. All the extracts demonstrated 100% phytotoxicity against Lemna minor at 1000 μg/mL while low activity (10-20%) was observed at 10 μg/mL and 100 μg/mL, respectively.Conclusion: The results strongly support the profound ethnobotanical applications of this plant and also demonstrate its potential for use in weed control strategies

Interfacial Tailoring of Polyether Sulfone-Modified Silica Mixed Matrix Membranes for CO2 Separation

In this work, in situ polymerization of modified sol-gel silica in a polyether sulfone matrix is presented to control the interfacial defects in organic-inorganic composite membranes. Polyether sulfone polymer and modified silica are used as organic and inorganic components of mixed matrix membranes (MMM). The membranes were prepared with different loadings (2, 4, 6, and 8 wt.%) of modified and unmodified silica. The synthesized membranes were characterized using Field emission electron scanning microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analyzer, and differential scanning calorimetry. The performance of the membranes was evaluated using a permeation cell set up at a relatively higher-pressure range (5–30 bar). The membranes appear to display ideal morphology with uniform distribution of particles, defect-free structure, and absence of interfacial defects such as voids and particle accumulations. Additionally, the CO(2)/CH(4) selectivity of the membrane increased with the increase in the modified silica content. Further comparison of the performance indicates that PES/modified silica MMMs show a promising feature of commercially attractive membranes. Therefore, tailoring the interfacial morphology of the membrane results in enhanced properties and improved CO(2) separation performance

The nexus between black and digital gold: evidence from US markets.

In the context of the debate on cryptocurrencies as the 'digital gold', this study explores the nexus between the Bitcoin and US oil returns by employing a rich set of parametric and non-parametric approaches. We examine the dependence structure of the US oil market and Bitcoin through Clayton copulas, normal copulas, and Gumbel copulas. Copulas help us to test the volatility of these dependence structures through left-tailed, right-tailed or normal distributions. We collected daily data from 5 February 2014 to 24 January 2019 on Bitcoin prices and oil prices. The data on bitcoin prices were extracted from coinmarketcap.com. The US oil prices were collected from the Federal Reserve Economic Data source. Maximum pseudo-likelihood estimation was applied to the dataset and showed that the US oil returns and Bitcoin are highly vulnerable to tail risks. The multiplier bootstrap-based goodness-of-fit test as well as Kendal plots also suggest left-tail dependence, and this adds to the robustness of the results. The stationary bootstrap test for the partial cross-quantilogram indicates which quantile in the left tail has a statistically significant relationship between Bitcoin and US oil returns. The study has crucial implications in terms of portfolio diversification using cryptocurrencies and oil-based hedging instruments

Surgical Outcome of Open Carpal Tunnel Release Using Global Symptom Severity Score

Objective:  Purpose of conducting this study was to evaluate the surgical outcome of open carpal tunnel release using Global Symptom Severity score (GSS) in our local setting. Material and Methods:  This prospective analytical study was conducted in the Neurosurgery Department Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar. We operated consecutive 105 Carpal tunnel syndrome cases over a period of 2 years via open carpal tunnel release (OCTR) method. All of these cases were surgically indicated. All patients were evaluated preoperatively with clinical assessment and NCS. Cases were operated under local anesthesia as a day case surgery. Patients were evaluated at 3 months follow-up visit using global symptom severity score (GSS) and compared with pre operative GSS. The paired sample test was applied to obtain p value. Results:  Total 105 patients were operated during study period. 72 (69%) patients were women and 33 (31%) were men. The mean age of patients was 41 years. 70 (66.66%) procedures were done for the right hand and 35 (33.33%) were performed for left hand. Pre-op Mean GSS score was 27 ± 2.5 which decreased to 2.1 ± 0.43 postoperatively (P < 0.005). Conclusion:  Carpal tunnel syndrome is more commonly affecting the dominant hand of middle aged females. Open carpal tunnel release procedure is the safe and effective treatment for this compressive neuropathy

Antioxidant, haemolytic activities and GC-MS profiling of Carissa carandas roots

The antioxidant potential of the plant Carissa carandas roots extracted with different polarity based solvents was assessed. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by the measurement of total phenolic contents (TPC), total flavonoid contents (TFC), reducing power, DPPH radical scavenging, IC50 and antioxidant activity in linoleic acid system. The plant material contained the TPC (1.79-4.35 GAE mg/g of dry extract), TFC (1.91-3.76 CE mg/g of dry extract), DPPH radical scavenging activity, IC50 (12.53-84.82 %) and % inhibition of peroxidation in linoleic acid (41.0-89.21 %) system respectively. Furthermore the antioxidant effectiveness of extracts was assessed using corn oil (CO) as the oxidation substrate. The oxidative alterations were evaluated by the measurement of conjugated diene (CD), conjugated triene (CT), p-anisidine, free fatty acid (FFA) and peroxide values (PV). The cytotoxicity of  the plant extracts were assessed against human red blood cells (RBCs) and the % lysis was found to be in the range of 1.01-6.10 %. The GC-MS analysis of n-hexane extract was also profiled.  It was concluded that extracts of plant roots may be used as potential source of antioxidant agents in food industries

Risk modelling of ESG (environmental, social, and governance), healthcare, and financial sectors

Climate change poses enormous ecological, socio-economic, health, and financial challenges. A novel extreme value theory is employed in this study to model the risk to environmental, social, and governance (ESG), healthcare, and financial sectors and assess their downside risk, extreme systemic risk, and extreme spillover risk. We use a rich set of global daily data of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) from 1 July 1999 to 30 June 2022 in the case of healthcare and financial sectors and from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2022 in the case of ESG sector. We find that the financial sector is the riskiest when we consider the tail index, tail quantile, and tail expected shortfall. However, the ESG sector exhibits the highest tail risk in the extreme environment when we consider a shock in the form of an ETF drop of 25% or 50%. The ESG sector poses the highest extreme systemic risk when a shock comes from China. Finally, we find that ESG and healthcare sectors have lower extreme spillover risk (contagion risk) compared to the financial sector. Our study seeks to provide valuable insights for developing sustainable economic, business, and financial strategies. To achieve this, we conduct a comprehensive risk assessment of the ESG, healthcare, and financial sectors, employing an innovative approach to risk modelling in response to ecological challenges

Synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymer for removal of Congo red

Congo red (CR) is an anionic azo dye widely used in many industries including pharmaceutical, textile, food and paint industries. The disposal of huge amount of CR into the various streams of water has posed a great threat to both human and aquatic life. Therefore, it has become an important aspect of industries to remove CR from diferent water sources. Molecular imprinting technology is a very slective method to remove various target pollutant from environment. In this study a precipitation polymerization was employed for the efective and selective removal of CR from contaminated aqueous media. A series of congo red molecularly imprinted polymers (CR-MIPs) of uniform size and shape was developed by changing the mole ratio of the components. The optimum ratio (0.1:4: 20, template, functional monomer and cross-linking monomer respectively) for CR1-MIP from synthesized polymers was able to rebind about 99.63% of CR at the optimum conditions of adsorption parameters (contact time 210 min, polymer dosage 0.5 g, concentration 20 ppm and pH 7). The synthesized polymers were characterized by various techniques such as Fourier Infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), energydispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and Brumauer–Emmett–Teller (BET). The

Optimizing the Air Conditioning Layouts of an Indoor Built Environment:Towards the Energy and Environmental Benefits of a Clean Room

Reducing energy consumption in buildings has received intensified research impetus since the introduction of the decarbonization goals set in the Paris agreement. Many domestic and specialized applications require clean rooms (indoor built environments) for safe and clean operation. Energy efficiency in clean room spaces depends on maintaining livable or required conditions such as temperature, humidity, and particle concentration with minimal use of energy and new carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. In the literature, parameters such as temperature, relative humidity, particle concentrations, and CO2 emissions are not able to be properly controlled in clean room systems. The designed system in the literature involves high energy consumption and high economic costs. All these factors add novelty to this research, which was a significant research gap in previous studies. This clean room is directly linked to environmental parameters such as ambient temperature, relative humidity, etc. The clean room is also related directly to the building and infrastructure in such a way that there are certain regulatory requirements for designing a clean room. For designing and constructing the controlled environment in a clean room, the English (EN) documents, ISO 9000, and various other standards allow for clean rooms for different types of products. In this research, the designed control configurations properly control the system. Additionally, this system is energy efficient, with positive environmental aspects regarding CO2 emissions. Three control configurations were designed in this research, option A, option B, and option C, and three parameters are controlled in the study. These parameters are room temperature, relative humidity, and CO2 emissions (outside the room). CO2 emissions are controlled outside the room (in the environment). In the last research phase, a comparative analysis of these three control configurations was performed to find an energy-efficient system with fewer CO2 emissions. Control configuration B (option B) provides reliable results regarding an energy-efficient system and fewer CO2 emissions emitted to the environment. In this study, an optimized configuration for the air conditioning system was developed for a clean room (volume 185.6 m3) with a required temperature of 23 °C, relative humidity of 40%, and a particle size of less than 0.3 μm. Three different design configurations were analyzed using TRNSYS simulation software. The minimization of energy use and CO2 emissions were the objective functions. Energy loads were calculated for each of the configurations by varying the fixed air change per hour and the minimum outdoor air flow rate. The results of a whole year simulation run for control configurations A, B, and show that, on the one hand, the ambient weather conditions of temperature and relative humidity (RH) is varied throughout year and, on the other hand, the clean room temperature was maintain at exactly 23 °C, which is the required set point temperature, for all the three configurations (A, B, and C). Furthermore, the clean room relative humidity was maintained at 36% for configuration A, below the 40% which was the set point for clean room relative humidity, and at 40% for configurations B and C. Configuration B exhibited the minimum energy use (7300 kWh), at a fixed air change per hour value of 20 and a minimum outdoor air flow rate of 150 L/s, with the least amount of CO2 emissions, offering an overall 25% improvement over configurations A and C

Template‑assisted synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymers for the removal of methyl red from aqueous media

This study entails the synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) with good selectivity coefcients for azo dye as a potential sorbent material to extract azo dye from polluted aqueous media. A series of MIPs for methyl red (MR) as a template, were synthesized by changing the molar ratio of functional monomers, via precipitation polymerization format of non-covalent approach. Water-soluble functional monomer; acrylic acid (AA) was used to weave the frame work of polymers while ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) was utilized as crosslinking monomer. The impact of different experimental parameters, such as mole ratio of monomer (functional) to crosslinking monomer on the molecular recognition was investigated. The highly effcient and selective MR-MIP was used for the removal of spiked MR dye from different water samples. The selected imprinted polymer, MR1-MIP was able to selectively remove the MR molecules from aqueous media. A significant amount of dye was removed by MR1-MIP from the river water samples with a high degree of removal efficiency i.e. 92.25%. The imprinting factor of 3.75 for MR1-MIP indicated that the high selectivity in terms of adsorption for MR. A minimum loss of only ~3.35% in the removal efficiency within ten sequential cycles of adsorption–desorption study evidenced that MR-MIPs could be used as the most cost effective and best sorbent for the removal of MR from polluted water. Furthermore, the structural properties of MR-MIPs were characterized by FTIR and EDX, whereas TGA, SEM and BET were used to describe the thermal, morphological and surface structures of the particles, respectively