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Summary: Background: It is unknown if early COVID-19 monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapy can reduce risk of Long COVID. The mAbs amubarvimab/romlusevimab were previously demonstrated to reduce risk of hospitalization/death by 79%. This study assessed the impact of amubarvimab/romlusevimab on late outcomes, including Long COVID. Methods: Non-hospitalized high-risk adults within 10 days of COVID-19 symptom onset enrolled in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2/3 trial of amubarvimab/romlusevimab for COVID-19 treatment. Late symptoms, assessed using a participant-completed symptom diary, were a pre-specified exploratory endpoint. The primary outcome for this analysis was the composite of Long COVID by participant self-report (presence of COVID-19 symptoms as recorded in the diary at week 36) or hospitalization or death by week 36. Inverse probability weighting (IPW) was used to address incomplete outcome ascertainment, giving weighted risk ratios (wRR) comparing amubarvimab/romlusevimab to placebo. Findings: Participants received amubarvimab/romlusevimab (n = 390) or placebo (n = 390) between January and July 2021. Median age was 49 years, 52% were female, 18% Black/African American, 49% Hispanic/Latino, and 9% COVID-19-vaccinated at entry. At week 36, 103 (13%) had incomplete outcome ascertainment, and 66 (17%) on amubarvimab/romlusevimab and 92 (24%) on placebo met the primary outcome (wRR = 0.70, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.53–0.93). The difference was driven by fewer hospitalizations/deaths with amubarvimab/romlusevimab (4%) than placebo (13%). Among 652 participants with available diary responses, 53 (16%) on amubarvimab/romlusevimab and 44 (14%) on placebo reported presence of Long COVID. Interpretation: Amubarvimab/romlusevimab treatment, while highly effective in preventing hospitalizations/deaths, did not reduce risk of Long COVID. Additional interventions are needed to prevent Long COVID. Funding: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health. Amubarvimab and romlusevimab supplied by Brii Biosciences.

Summary: Background: With the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants resistant to monoclonal antibody therapies and limited global access to therapeutics, the evaluation of novel therapeutics to prevent progression to severe COVID-19 remains a critical need. Methods: Safety, clinical and antiviral efficacy of inhaled interferon-β1a (SNG001) were evaluated in a phase II randomized controlled trial on the ACTIV-2/A5401 platform (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04518410). Adult outpatients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection within 10 days of symptom onset were randomized and initiated either orally inhaled nebulized SNG001 given once daily for 14 days (n = 110) or blinded pooled placebo (n = 110) between February 10 and August 18, 2021. Findings: The proportion of participants reporting premature treatment discontinuation was 9% among SNG001 and 13% among placebo participants. There were no differences between participants who received SNG001 or placebo in the primary outcomes of treatment emergent Grade 3 or higher adverse events (3.6% and 8.2%, respectively), time to symptom improvement (median 13 and 9 days, respectively), or proportion with unquantifiable nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 RNA at days 3 (28% [26/93] vs. 39% [37/94], respectively), 7 (65% [60/93] vs. 66% [62/94]) and 14 (91% [86/95] vs. 91% [83/81]). There were fewer hospitalizations with SNG001 (n = 1; 1%) compared with placebo (n = 7; 6%), representing an 86% relative risk reduction (p = 0.07). There were no deaths in either arm. Interpretation: In this trial, SNG001 was safe and associated with a non-statistically significant decrease in hospitalization for COVID-19 pneumonia. Funding: The ACTIV-2 platform study is funded by the NIH. Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number UM1 AI068634, UM1 AI068636 and UM1 AI106701. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Big-data analytics are treated as the future of technology andessential for the retail sector. The technology is especially beneficial for optimising daily operations and supply chain practices. However, there is a wide gap in the related literature in developing and Asian countries on this subject. On the other hand, retailing is one of the fastest-growing industries globally. Therefore, this study is specifically designed to understand the role of big data concerning the organised retail sector of Pakistan. The study’s primary objective is to assess the significance of technology in augmenting assortment strategies. However, the mediation of advanced algorithms and moderation of skilled data scientists are included in the research construct to increase research relevance to the pragmatic world. Results were determined by applying Partial least square structured equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings indicated that big data is a prolific constituent to optimise assortment in the retail sector of Pakistan. However, the technology would not produce the desired results without applying advanced algorithms. This study accentuates the actuality that advanced algorithms are essential to be analysed to use big-data most effectively to retrieve new information. Further studies may also be conducted in devising a comprehensive model which includes all the potent variables associated with store-layout design

Corporate Entrepreneurship (CE) is the form of entrepreneurship which has been experienced by firms for almost the past five decades, but there is a lack of empirical studies on this contemporary concept relating to Pakistan. A few studies have been conducted on CE in private sector organizations however it pertains to a unique significance in the public sector domain which has its own importance in economy and growth. Previous research has also indicated a dearth of CE studies relating to public limited companies in eastern countries. Therefore, the major purpose of this study is to check the impact of Corporate Entrepreneurship in municipal organizations of Karachi, Pakistan. Besides, this study has also incorporated a moderating variable, Organizational Culture, in an attempt to devise a robust model relationship. Nevertheless, due to the limitations of data collection from government employees, especially from municipal corporations, the study has adopted the quota sampling technique and a sample of one hundred respondents was selected. The data was analyzed through SMART-PLS software and results highlighted that the changing organizational dynamics require Corporate Entrepreneurship to be adopted by municipal organizations and it has transpired as a dominant element for the growth and performance of firms.

The present study suggests the use of a fuzzy inference system (FIS) model to assess the leadership skills of secondary school principals. To assess the principals’ leadership skills, teachers’ perceptions of these skills concerning various items are collected by using a five-point Likert scale. Further, these values are categorized into linguistic variables that are used as input in a fuzzy inference system to get an overall principal leadership skills score. The implementation of our model for a secondary school in Pakistan highlighted weaknesses in leadership skills, which may need suitable planning to enhance these skills. This FIS model acts as a device to help the policymakers in judging several components of leadership in those institutes in which they are serving. This study implies that school principals would be more effective if they possess leadership skills. The skills would enable them to turn schools into effective schools

SMEs have been efficiently used as the vehicles for promoting innovation, productivity, and the competitiveness of a country's national economy. Across the globe, SMEs have been playing a distinctive role in achieving the socio-economic objectives such as employment generation, poverty reduction, equalizing the distribution of national wealth, fostering innovation, and nurturing institutional competitiveness. The main objective of this study is to empirically examine the extent to which financial constraints hamper the growth of SMEs in Sindh, Pakistan. To collect the primary data, survey questionnaires were distributed to 100 SMEs from different economic sectors and registered in the Chamber of Commerce Offices in Sindh. Seven (7) critical financial constraints to SMEs were determined through the literature and included in the questionnaire. The data were analyzed through descriptive analysis and correlation techniques. The results show that SMEs in Pakistan are severely constrained by financing, particularly external equity. Financial ecosystem for SMEs in Pakistan is not friendly and one-size fits all rules and regulations may not suffice the financing needs of SMEs in Pakistan. It has been observed that the institutional weaknesses and market failures exacerbate the financial constraints of SMEs. The government, exclusively, should develop specialized banks and funds to cater to the financing needs of SMEs in their various stages of the business cycle. Furthermore, the Credit Guarantee Schemes (CGS) should also be launched to share the risk of Financial Institutions for lending to the SMEs