Artificial intelligence and medical education: a global mixed-methods study of medical students’ perspectives

Objective: Medical students, as clinicians and healthcare leaders of the future, are key stakeholders in the clinical roll-out of artificial intelligence-driven technologies. The authors aim to provide the first report on the state of artificial intelligence in medical education globally by exploring the perspectives of medical students. Methods: The authors carried out a mixed-methods study of focus groups and surveys with 128 medical students from 48 countries. The study explored knowledge around artificial intelligence as well as what students wished to learn about artificial intelligence and how they wished to learn this. A combined qualitative and quantitative analysis was used. Results: Support for incorporating teaching on artificial intelligence into core curricula was ubiquitous across the globe, but few students had received teaching on artificial intelligence. Students showed knowledge on the applications of artificial intelligence in clinical medicine as well as on artificial intelligence ethics. They were interested in learning about clinical applications, algorithm development, coding and algorithm appraisal. Hackathon-style projects and multidisciplinary education involving computer science students were suggested for incorporation into the curriculum. Conclusions: Medical students from all countries should be provided teaching on artificial intelligence as part of their curriculum to develop skills and knowledge around artificial intelligence to ensure a patient-centred digital future in medicine. This teaching should focus on the applications of artificial intelligence in clinical medicine. Students should also be given the opportunity to be involved in algorithm development. Students in low- and middle-income countries require the foundational technology as well as robust teaching on artificial intelligence to ensure that they can drive innovation in their healthcare settings

Synthesis of 4-phenylazo-1-naphthol and its antifungal activity against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici

This study is based on the synthesis of 4-phenylazo-1-naphthol (C16H12N2O) as an azo coupled dye through coupling reaction of phenyl diazonium salt and α- naphthol in ice-cold chilled water. Azo coupling involved an electrophilic substitution reaction of phenyl diazonium cation with α- naphtholate ion, the coupling partner. The 4-phenylazo-1-naphthol was characterized through fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Antifungal activity of 4-phenyl-azo-1-naphthol was checked against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (FOL), a soil-borne fungal pathogen causing wilt disease in tomato. Eight concentrations ranging from 0.78 to 100 mg mL-1 were tested against the fungus. None of the concentration suppressed the fungal growth. Instead, all the concentrations variably enhanced the fungal biomass over control by 8–28%. This study concludes that the synthesized compound did not possess antifungal potential against FOL

Synthesis of 1-phenylazo-2-naphthol and evaluation of its fungicidal potential against Sclerotium rolfsii

            Many azo compounds are known for their antifungal property. In the present study, synthesis of 1-phenylazo-2-naphthol (C16H12N2O) was carried out as an azo coupled dye through coupling reaction of phenyl diazonium salt and β- naphthol in ice-cold chilled water. The azo coupling preferably occurs at ortho position of the same ring since the charge density get reinforced at this position. The 1-phenylazo-2-naphthol-naphthol was characterized through FTIR. The antifungal activity was tested against a highly problematic soil-borne plant pathogen Sclerotium rolfsii. The compound was dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and mixed with malt extract broth to prepare 6 mL of 100 mg mL-1 growth medium. Its concentrations in the range of 0.78 to 100 mg mL-1 were tested against the fungal pathogen. None of the concentration was found antifungal. In contrast, all the concentrations increased the fungal biomass to variable extents ranging from 0 to 29%. This study concludes that 1-phenylazo-2-naphthol does not possess antifungal property against S. rolfsii

Efficacy and safety of corticosteroids for the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background The role of corticosteroids in the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains uncertain. We conducted an updated meta-analysis to investigate the effectiveness and potential effect modifiers of adjunctive corticosteroids in patients with CAP. Methods The protocol of this meta-analysis was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42022354920). We searched MEDLINE, Embase, the Cochrane Library and trial registers from inception till March 2023 to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating corticosteroids in adult patients with CAP. Our primary outcome was the risk of all-cause mortality within 30 days after randomization (if not reported at day 30, we extracted the outcome closest to 30 days). Risk ratios (RR) and mean differences (MDs) were pooled under a random-effects model. Results Fifteen RCTs (n = 3252 patients) were included in this review. Corticosteroids reduced the risk of all-cause mortality in CAP patients (RR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.53–0.89; high certainty). This significant result was restricted to hydrocortisone therapy and patients with severe CAP. Additionally, younger patients demonstrated a greater reduction in mortality. Corticosteroids reduced the incidence of shock and the need for mechanical ventilation (MV), and decreased the length of hospital and ICU stay (moderate certainty). Conclusions Corticosteroids reduce the risk of all-cause mortality, especially in younger patients receiving hydrocortisone, and probably decrease the need for MV, the incidence of shock, and the length of hospital and ICU stay in patients with CAP. Our findings indicate that patients with CAP, especially severe CAP, will benefit from adjunctive corticosteroid therapy

Ramifications of varying banking regulations on performance of Islamic Banks

Recent financial crises have highlighted the importance of banking regulations to hedge against the high risk accredited to imbalances in banks' balance sheets. Nonetheless, banking regulations may have adverse effects. On the one hand, they serve as prudential measures that alleviate the effects of crises on the stability of the banking system while on the other hand; they may increase the cost of intermediation and reduce banks' profitability. Implementation of non-suitable regulations such as Islamic banks adopting conventional banks regulations could also impair banks' performance. This paper analyses the linkages between bank regulatory and supervisory structures associated with Basel III's pillars has any significant impact on Islamic banks' performance in Asia and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) using two-step Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM) technique. Findings suggest that regulatory variables are positively significant with Islamic banks' performance in Asian region but not in the GCC

Psicología social y moral de COVID-19 en 69 países

La pandemia de COVID-19 ha afectado a todos los ámbitos de la vida humana, incluido el tejido económico y social de las sociedades. Una de las estrategias centrales para gestionar la salud pública a lo largo de la pandemia ha sido el envío de mensajes persuasivos y el cambio de comportamiento colectivo. Para ayudar a los estudiosos a comprender mejor la psicología social y moral que subyace al comportamiento en materia de salud pública, presentamos un conjunto de datos compuesto por 51.404 individuos de 69 países. Este conjunto de datos se recopiló para el proyecto de la Colaboración Internacional en Psicología Social y Moral de COVID-19 (ICSMP COVID-19). Esta encuesta de ciencias sociales invitó a participantes de todo el mundo a completar una serie de medidas morales y psicológicas y actitudes de salud pública sobre COVID-19 durante una fase temprana de la pandemia de COVID-19 (entre abril y junio de 2020). La encuesta incluía siete grandes categorías de preguntas: Creencias sobre COVID-19 y conductas de cumplimiento; identidad y actitudes sociales; ideología; salud y bienestar; creencias morales y motivación; rasgos de personalidad; y variables demográficas. Presentamos los datos brutos y depurados, junto con todos los materiales de la encuesta, las visualizaciones de los datos y las evaluaciones psicométricas de las variables clave.The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all domains of human life, including the economic and social fabric of societies. One of the central strategies for managing public health throughout the pandemic has been through persuasive messaging and collective behaviour change. To help scholars better understand the social and moral psychology behind public health behaviour, we present a dataset comprising of 51,404 individuals from 69 countries. This dataset was collected for the International Collaboration on Social & Moral Psychology of COVID-19 project (ICSMP COVID-19). This social science survey invited participants around the world to complete a series of moral and psychological measures and public health attitudes about COVID-19 during an early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic (between April and June 2020). The survey included seven broad categories of questions: COVID-19 beliefs and compliance behaviours; identity and social attitudes; ideology; health and well-being; moral beliefs and motivation; personality traits; and demographic variables. We report both raw and cleaned data, along with all survey materials, data visualisations, and psychometric evaluations of key variables

Predicting attitudinal and behavioral responses to COVID-19 pandemic using machine learning

At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 became a global problem. Despite all the efforts to emphasize the relevance of preventive measures, not everyone adhered to them. Thus, learning more about the characteristics determining attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic is crucial to improving future interventions. In this study, we applied machine learning on the multinational data collected by the International Collaboration on the Social and Moral Psychology of COVID-19 (N = 51,404) to test the predictive efficacy of constructs from social, moral, cognitive, and personality psychology, as well as socio-demographic factors, in the attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic. The results point to several valuable insights. Internalized moral identity provided the most consistent predictive contribution—individuals perceiving moral traits as central to their self-concept reported higher adherence to preventive measures. Similar results were found for morality as cooperation, symbolized moral identity, self-control, open-mindedness, and collective narcissism, while the inverse relationship was evident for the endorsement of conspiracy theories. However, we also found a non-neglible variability in the explained variance and predictive contributions with respect to macro-level factors such as the pandemic stage or cultural region. Overall, the results underscore the importance of morality-related and contextual factors in understanding adherence to public health recommendations during the pandemic.Peer reviewe

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic (vol 13, 517, 2022) : National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic (Nature Communications, (2022), 13, 1, (517), 10.1038/s41467-021-27668-9)

Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2022.In this article the author name ‘Agustin Ibanez’ was incorrectly written as ‘Augustin Ibanez’. The original article has been corrected.Peer reviewe

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic.

Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = -0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics