An extensive amount of information is currently available to clinical specialists, ranging from details ofclinical symptoms to various types of biochemical data and outputs of imaging devices. Each type of dataprovides information that must be evaluated and assigned to a particular pathology during the diagnosticprocess. To streamline the diagnostic process in daily routine and avoid misdiagnosis, artificial intelligencemethods (especially computer aided diagnosis and artificial neural networks) can be employed. Theseadaptive learning algorithms can handle diverse types of medical data and integrate them into categorizedoutputs. In this paper, we briefly review and discuss the philosophy, capabilities, and limitations of artificialneural networks in medical diagnosis through selected examples

Nanotechnology is a rapidly growing science of producing and utilizing nano-sized particles that measure in nanometers. These nanomaterials are already having an impact on health care. Now-a-days we are using nanoproducts in various fields. Of these, silver nanoparticles are playing a major role in the field of nanotechnology and nanomedicine.Their unique size-dependent properties make these materials superior and indispensable as they show unusual physical, chemical and biological properties. Silver nanoparticles have potential antimicrobial activity towards many pathogenic microbes. Along with this antimicrobial activity, silver nanoparticles are showing unacceptable toxic effects on human health and the environment. The chronic exposure to silver causes adverse effects such as permanent bluish-grey discoloration of the skin (argyria) and eyes (argyrosis). Besides argyria and argyrosis, exposure to soluble silver compounds may produce other toxic effects like liver and kidney damage, irritation of the eyes, skin, respiratory and intestinal tract and changes to blood cells. This review summarizes the hazardous effects of silver nanoparticles in the environment and theirs toxic effects on human health.

Humic substances as part of humus-soil organic matter-are compounds arising from the physical, chemical and microbiological transformation (humification) of biomolecules. They are important because they constitute the most ubiquitous source of non-living organic material that nature knows. Approximately 80% of the total carbon in terrestrial media and 60% of the carbon dissolved in aquatic media are made up of humic substances. Humic substances have important roles in soil fertility, and are considered to have primal relevance for the stabilization of soil aggregates. They can be divided into three components according to their solubility: humic acids, fulvic acids and humin. Humic acids are the most explored group of humic substances. Beyond their relevance for life these substances have industrial applications in the development of absorbents to be used at the sources of metal-poisoning. Being natural substances, their purification process is cheaper than the synthesis of any other sorbent and, moreover, due to their high operability, they absorb more than the absorbents used to date, such as active charcoals or clays. The specific properties of humic acid products enable their application in industry, agriculture, environmental and biomedicine.

Nano-technology has entered the field of medicine in recent decades and many of the nanomaterials developed have already had a high impact on health care. Among nanomaterials, gold nanoparticles (GNPs) and gold quantum dots (QDs) are receiving significant attention because their unique physical, chemical and biological properties are quite different from the bulk of their counterparts. In this article, after a brief historical overview, the use of gold and nano-gold in medicine is reviewed, analyzed, and discussed. The review particularly deals with the use of GNPs and bio-conjugated GNPs in cancer treatment, drug or gene delivery, DNA detection, biomedical imaging including that of brain activity, enhancement of gene regulation, the detection of toxic metals, immuno-assays, disease detection and diagnostics, therapy and also the toxicity of gold and GNPs, etc. A number of novel applications of GNPs in medicine and perspectives of nano-gold use in medicine are also discussed.

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