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Background and Objectives: Chest pain is a relatively long-term symptom that commonly occurs in patients who have contracted COVID-19. The reasons for these symptoms remain unclear, with coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD) emerging as a potential factor. This study aimed to assess the presence of CMD in these patients by measuring the angio-derived index of microcirculatory resistance (AMR)., Methods: In this cross-sectional case-control study, patients who had chest pain and a history of COVID-19 infection within the preceding 30 to 60 days were included. The control subjects were patients without COVID-19. Demographic, clinical, and echocardiographic data were recorded. Angiographic images were collected for AMR analysis through an angioplus quantitative flow ratio measurement system. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to match the two groups. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the association between COVID-19 incidence and the increase in AMR (AMR > 285 mmHg*s/m) after correction for other confounders., Results: After PSM, there were 58 patients in each group (the mean age was 66.3 ± 9.04 years, and 55.2% were men). The average time between the onset of COVID-19 infection and patient presentation at the hospital for coronary angiography was 41 ± 9.5 days. Moreover, there was no significant difference in the quantitative flow ratio between the two groups. Patients with COVID-19 had a greater mean AMR (295 vs. 266, p = 0.002). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that COVID-19 (OR = 3.32, 95% CI = 1.50-7.60, p = 0.004) was significantly associated with an increase in AMR., Conclusions: Long-term COVID-19 patients who experience chest pain without evidence of myocardial ischemia exhibit an increase in AMR, and CMD may be one of the reasons for this increase. COVID-19 is an independent risk factor for an increase in AMR., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Patients affected by multiple myeloma (MM) have an increased risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and subsequent coronavirus (20)19 disease (COVID-19)-related death. The changing epidemiological and therapeutic scenarios suggest that there has been an improvement in severity and survival of COVID-19 during the different waves of the pandemic in the general population, but this has not been investigated yet in MM patients. Here we analyzed a large cohort of 1221 patients with MM and confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection observed between February 2020, and August 2022, in the EPICOVIDEHA registry from 132 centers around the world. Median follow-up was 52 days for the entire cohort and 83 days for survivors. Three-hundred and three patients died (24%) and COVID-19 was the primary reason for death of around 89% of them. Overall survival (OS) was significantly higher in vaccinated patients with both stable and active MM versus unvaccinated, while only a trend favoring vaccinated patients was observed in subjects with responsive MM. Vaccinated patients with at least 2 doses showed a better OS than those with one or no vaccine dose. Overall, according to pandemic waves, mortality rate decreased over time from 34% to 10%. In multivariable analysis, age, renal failure, active disease, hospital, and intensive care unit admission, were independently associated with a higher number of deaths, while a neutrophil count above 0.5 × 10 9 /L was found to be protective. This data suggests that MM patients remain at risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection even in the vaccination era, but their clinical outcome, in terms of OS, has progressively improved throughout the different viral phases of the pandemic., (© 2023 The Authors. Hematological Oncology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Telehealth is a growing model of care, greatly accelerated with the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic. Telecare is a synchronous audio-visual or audio-only format of health delivery., Aims: To evaluate the existing literature on telecare within adult gastroenterology subspecialties to determine if outcomes are comparable to traditional in-person consultations and to highlight the Pokapū Network, a local initiative in the Lakes Region of New Zealand, amongst these international findings., Methods: We completed an OVID MEDLINE search using the terms gastroenterology, endoscopy, digestive system, inflammatory bowel disease, functional, hepatology, liver, telemedicine, telehealth, videoconferencing, remote consultation, video clinic and telephone clinic., Results: Patients showed positive attitudes towards telecare and, in several reports, would elect to have telecare consults in the future. Telecare reduces travel time and out-of-pocket costs for patients and the need for patients to take time off work. Generally, patients engaging with telecare show equivalent health outcomes to patients engaging with traditional models of care. Patients from ethnic minority groups or lower socio-economic backgrounds, or who are older, are less likely to complete a 'successful' telecare consult., Conclusion: Telecare is a useful model of care to allow gastroenterology centres to function within the context of COVID-19 isolation and beyond. It has significant benefits for patients who face geographical and financial barriers to accessing healthcare. Telecare models such as the Pokapū Network hold promise in reducing inequities for gastroenterology patients. Such models must be introduced with consideration of digital disparities that exist amongst patients to avoid worsening the digital divide., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Elevated psychological distress, experienced by pregnant women and parents, has been well-documented during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most research focuses on the first 6-months postpartum, with single or limited repeated measures of perinatal distress. The present longitudinal study examined how perinatal distress, experienced over nearly 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, impacted toddler socioemotional development. A sample of 304 participants participated during pregnancy, 6-weeks, 6-months, and 15-months postpartum. Mothers reported their depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms, at each timepoint. Mother-reported toddler socioemotional functioning (using the Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment) was measured at 15-months. Results of structural equation mediation models indicated that (1) higher prenatal distress was associated with elevated postpartum distress, from 6-weeks to 15-months postpartum; (2) associations between prenatal distress and toddler socioemotional problems became nonsignificant after accounting for postpartum distress; and (3) higher prenatal distress was indirectly associated with greater socioemotional problems, and specifically elevated externalizing problems, through higher maternal distress at 6 weeks and 15 months postpartum. Findings suggest that the continued experience of distress during the postpartum period plays an important role in child socioemotional development during the COVID-19 pandemic., (© 2024 The Authors. Infancy published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Congress of Infant Studies.)

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges, particularly for healthcare workers (HCWs). The prolonged struggles exposed the HCWs to a variety of stressors, potentially leading to burnout. Emotional exhaustion is widely recognized as the core component of burnout. This research aims to conceptualize and develop an emotional exhaustion screening questionnaire through literature review, validation, and accuracy testing., Method: A literature review of questionnaires and extraction of items on emotional exhaustion were performed in June 2022. We proceed with the face validity of the items by experts. The items with good content validity ratio and index were selected and reworded to suit the context of HCWs working during the COVID-19 pandemic. A pilot test of the questionnaire was done in the Central University Hospital of Asturias (HUCA) from October to December 2022 with a sample of 148 HCWs from the ORCHESTRA cohort to determine its reliability, convergent validity, and accuracy., Results: Our literature review identified 15 validated questionnaires. After exclusion, 32 items were sent for content validation by experts, yielding five final items that proceeded with the pilot test. Resulting in a Cronbach's alpha-coefficient of .83 for the scale and .78 for dichotomous responses, demonstrating good internal consistency and convergent validity. The result of our accuracy test yielded sensitivity (90.6%) and specificity (91.6%) for the OEEQ scale; and sensitivity (88.7%) and specificity (89.5%) for OEEQ dichotomous responses., Conclusion: This study developed and validated the ORCHESTRA Emotional Exhaustion Questionnaire, demonstrating the questionnaire's clarity, relevance, and comprehensibility in screening emotional exhaustion among HCWs., (© 2023 The Authors. British Journal of Health Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Psychological Society.)

Background: The leading causes of maternal mortality include respiratory failure, cardiovascular events, infections, and hemorrhages. The use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) as rescue therapy in the peripartum period for cardiopulmonary failure is expanding in critical care medicine., Methods: This retrospective observational study was conducted on a nationwide cohort in Israel. During the 3-year period, between September 1, 2019, and August 31, 2022, all women in the peripartum period who had been supported by ECMO for respiratory or circulatory failure at 10 large Israeli hospitals were identified. Indications for ECMO, maternal and neonatal outcomes, details of ECMO support, and complications were collected., Results: During the 3-year study period, in Israel, there were 540 234 live births, and 28 obstetric patients were supported by ECMO, with an incidence of 5.2 cases per 100 000 or 1 case per 19 000 births (when excluding patients with COVID-19, the incidence will be 2.5 cases per 100 000 births). Of these, 25 were during the postpartum period, of which 16 (64%) were connected in the PPD1, and 3 were during pregnancy. Eighteen patients (64.3%) were supported by V-V ECMO, 9 (32.1%) by V-A ECMO, and one (3.6%) by a VV-A configuration. Hypoxic respiratory failure (ARDS) was the most common indication for ECMO, observed in 21 patients (75%). COVID-19 was the cause of ARDS in 15 (53.7%) patients. The indications for the V-A configuration were cardiomyopathy (3 patients), amniotic fluid embolism (2 patients), sepsis, and pulmonary hypertension. The maternal and fetal survival rates were 89.3% (n = 25) and 100% (n = 28). The average ECMO duration was 17.6 ± 18.6 days and the ICU stay was 29.8 ± 23.8 days. Major bleeding complications requiring surgical intervention were observed in one patient., Conclusions: The incidence of using ECMO in the peripartum period is low. The maternal and neonatal survival rates in patients treated with ECMO are high. These results show that ECMO remains an important treatment option for obstetric patients with respiratory and/or cardiopulmonary failure., (© 2023 International Center for Artificial Organ and Transplantation (ICAOT) and Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Background: To determine if construction and trades workers formerly employed at US Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear weapons sites are at significant risk for occupational diseases, we studied the mortality experience of participants in the Building Trades National Medical Screening Program (BTMed)., Methods: The cohort included 26,922 participants enrolled between 1998 and 2021 and 8367 deaths. Standardized mortality ratios were calculated based on US death rates. Cox models compared construction workers (n = 22,747; 7487 deaths) to two nonconstruction subpopulations: administrative, scientific and security workers (n = 1894; 330 deaths), and all other nonconstruction workers (n = 2218; 550 deaths)., Results: Mortality was elevated for all causes, all cancers, cancers of the trachea, bronchus, lung, kidneys, and lymphatic and hematopoietic system, mesothelioma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asbestosis, transportation injuries, and other injuries, particularly accidental poisonings. There were 167 deaths from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which was lower than expected using US death rates. Overall cause-specific mortality was significantly higher among construction workers than for internal comparison groups., Conclusions: Construction workers employed at DOE sites have a significantly increased risk for occupational illnesses. Apart from COVID-19 deaths, this update: (1) found that mortality among construction workers is significantly elevated compared to the US population and significantly higher than in the internal comparison populations, and (2) confirmed excess risk for these workers for first employment after 1990. Cancer mortality risks are similar to the cancers identified for DOE compensation from radiation exposures. The high lung cancer risk supports the value of early lung cancer detection. Continued medical surveillance is important., (© 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Background & Aims: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) are potential risk factors for severe pneumonia and other infections. Available data on the role of NAFLD/NASH in worsening outcomes for COVID-19 are controversial and might be confounded by comorbidities., Methods: We used the PINC AI™ Healthcare Data Special Release (PHD-SR) to identify patients with COVID-19 (ICD-10) at approximately 900 hospitals in the United States. We performed exact matching (age, gender, and ethnicity) for patients with or without NAFLD/NASH, adjusting for demographics (admission type, region) and comorbidities (e.g., obesity, diabetes) through inverse probability of treatment weighting and then analysed hospitalisation-related outcomes., Results: Among 513 623 patients with SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), we identified 14 667 with NAFLD/NASH who could be matched to 14 667 controls. Mean age was 57.6 (±14.9) years, 50.8% were females and 43.7% were non-Hispanic whites. After matching, baseline characteristics (e.g., age, ethnicity, and gender) and comorbidities (e.g., hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease) were well balanced (standard difference (SD) <.10), except for cirrhosis and malignancies. Patients with COVID-19 and NAFLD/NASH had higher FIB-4 scores, a significantly longer hospital length of stay (LOS) and intensive care LOS than controls (9.4 vs. 8.3 days, and 10.4 vs. 9.3, respectively), even after adjusting for cirrhosis and malignancies. Patients with COVID-19 and NAFLD/NASH also had significantly higher risk of needing invasive mandatory ventilation (IMV) (odds ratio 1.0727; 95% CI 1.0095-1.1400). Other outcomes were similar in both groups., Conclusions: In this large real-world cohort of patients hospitalised for COVID-19 in the United States, NAFLD/NASH were obesity-independent risk factors for complicated disease courses., (© 2023 The Authors. Liver International published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objectives: With widespread vaccination against COVID-19, concerns regarding side effects have been raised. We aim to assess the frequency of otolaryngologic adverse events (AEs) following COVID-19 vaccination as compared with other vaccines in a national database., Study Design: Retrospective analysis of national registry., Methods: The Food and Drug Administration's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database was queried from December 2020 to May 2021 for all COVID-19 vaccination AEs. Complaints were categorized as otolaryngologic and sub stratified into different anatomic components. Reporting odds ratios (ROR) and proportional reporting ratios (PRR) were determined for AEs of clinical significance., Results: The total number of AEs reported from vaccination with the Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Janssen vaccines equaled 1,280,950. Of these, 62,660 (4.9%) were otolaryngologic in nature, with 32.6% associated with the oropharynx/larynx, 18.3% with the nasal cavity/sinuses, 17.1% with the ears/vestibular system, 10.0% with the oral cavity, and 21.9% miscellaneous. Signal ratios reached significance levels for dysgeusia (n = 2124, PRR: 17.33, ROR: 16.36), ageusia (n = 1376, PRR: 2.81, ROR: 2.81), anosmia (n = 983, PRR: 4.01, ROR: 4.01), rhinorrhea (n = 2203, PRR: 2.99, ROR: 3.00), throat tightness (n = 3666, PRR: 4.99, ROR: 5.00), throat irritation (n = 3313, PRR: 4.51, ROR: 4.52), dysphagia (n = 2538, PRR: 2.07, ROR: 2.07), tinnitus (n = 4377, PRR: 3.97, ROR: 3.98), and vertigo (n = 2887, PRR: 3.93, ROR: 3.93). Signal ratios were not significant for facial paralysis, Bell's palsy, anaphylaxis, sinusitis, hearing disability, and ear pain., Conclusions: Although several otolaryngologic symptoms were reported, few were found to be clinically significant. Of note, facial paralysis, Bell's palsy, and anaphylaxis did not meet signal thresholds to be determined significant., Level of Evidence: 4 Laryngoscope, 134:1163-1168, 2024., (© 2023 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.)

Introduction: The administration of illicit drugs by injection is associated with considerable harm, including an increased risk of overdose. The chemical analysis of used syringes can enhance knowledge on injecting drug consumption beyond traditional data sources (self-report surveys). This additional information may be useful during significant global events like the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to examine a snapshot of the drugs injected at the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC) in Sydney, Australia, in 2019-2020., Methods: Used syringes were collected from MSIC across three periods throughout 2019 and 2020 (February 2019, March-April 2020 and June-September 2020). Drug residues were extracted from used syringes using methanol before detection by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The chemical analysis results were compared to self-report data obtained from MSIC clients., Results: Heroin (46-53%), methamphetamine (24-34%) and pharmaceutical opioids (15-27%) were the most common drug residues detected. The chemically detected drugs had declining coherence with the drugs self-reported by MSIC clients across the time periods examined., Discussion and Conclusions: There was no significant change in the drugs injected (heroin, methamphetamine and pharmaceutical opioids) across the three periods collected throughout varying COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. Changes in the frequency of other drugs injected and discrepancies between chemical analysis and self-report were potentially related to regulatory changes, degradation or misinformed sales. Routine chemical analysis of used syringes has provided an alternative information source to promote awareness of current drug trends and aid harm reduction., (© 2023 The Authors. Drug and Alcohol Review published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.)

Annual influenza vaccination is one of the main public health measures able to drastically reduce the burden of this infectious disease. Some evidence suggests 'trained immunity' triggered by influenza vaccine might reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Adjuvanted influenza vaccines are known to induce a broader cross-reactive immunity. No studies investigated the effect of adjuvanted vs. non-adjuvanted influenza vaccines on the risk of symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection. A case-control analysis nested in a cohort of subjects aged ≥65 years and immunized with adjuvanted or non-adjuvanted influenza vaccines was conducted. Although no statistically significant (OR = 0.87; P = .082) difference between the two vaccine types was observed for the 9-month follow-up period, a 17% (OR = 0.83; P = .042) reduction in the odds of COVID-19 was observed for adjuvanted vaccines with a 6-month follow-up. Further evidence is needed, but these results might have implications given the complexity of the upcoming winter seasons, in which the co-occurrence of influenza, SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory infections (e.g., syncytial virus) might be unpredictable., (© 2023 British Pharmacological Society.)

Background: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a patient-centred outcome increasingly used as a secondary outcome in critical care research. It may cover several important dimensions of clinical status in intensive care unit (ICU) patients that arguably elude other more easily quantified outcomes such as mortality. Poor associations with harder outcomes, conflicting data on HRQoL in critically ill compared to the background population, and paradoxical effects on HRQoL and mortality complicate the current operationalisation in critical care trials. This protocol outlines a simulation study that will gauge if the areas under the HRQoL trajectories could be a viable alternative., Methods: We will gauge the behaviour of the proposed HRQoL operationalisation through Monte Carlo simulations, under clinical scenarios that reflect a broad critical care population eligible for inclusion in a large pragmatic trial. We will simulate 15,360 clinical scenarios based on a full factorial design with the following seven simulation parameters: number of patients per arm, relative mortality reduction in the interventional arm, acceleration of HRQoL improvement in the interventional arm, the relative improvement in final HRQoL in the interventional arm, dampening effect of mortality on HRQoL values at discharge from the ICU, proportion of so-called mortality benefiters in the interventional arm and mortality trajectory shape. For each clinical scenario, we will simulate 100,000 two-arm trials with 1:1 randomisation. HRQoL will be sampled fortnightly after ICU discharge. Outcomes will include HRQoL in survivors and all patients at the end of follow-up; mean areas under the HRQoL trajectories in both arms; and mean difference between areas under the HRQoL trajectories and single-sampled HRQoLs at the end of follow-up., Discussion: In the outlined simulation study, we aim to assess whether the area under the HRQoL trajectory curve could be a candidate for reconciling the seemingly paradoxical effects on improved mortality and reduced HRQoL while remaining sensitive to early or accelerated improvement in patient outcomes. The resultant insights will inform subsequent methodological work on prudent collection and statistical analysis of such data from real critically ill patients., (© 2023 The Authors. Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica Foundation.)

The Hong Kong Journal of Emergency Medicine has partnered with international emergency medicine journals to share research studies. One study from the African Journal of Emergency Medicine analyzed factors associated with patients receiving an emergency response but not being transported to the hospital. Another study from the same journal evaluated the quality of telephone-guided bystander CPR. The Annals of Emergency Medicine discussed the potential lives saved with fully automated external defibrillators (AEDs) for sudden cardiac death at home. Additionally, a systematic review and meta-analysis published in the same journal found that the use of a bougie was associated with increased success in tracheal intubations. The Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine conducted a study on elder abuse among older adults visiting emergency departments. Another study identified the top five most influential papers on the use of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in cardiac arrest and shock. Another study compared the relationship between respiratory rate and peripheral oxygen saturation in patients with and without COVID-19. Lastly, a consensus study was conducted to establish criteria for the identification and management of acute behavioral disturbance in the UK. [Extracted from the article]

Rationale: COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the practice of Emergency Medicine (EM). Care delivery on the front lines has historically depended upon ostensibly reliable input-output models for staffing, supplies, policies, and therapies. Challenged by the complexity of healthcare during the pandemic, the fallibility of these reductionist models was quickly revealed. Providers and systems quickly had to reconceptualize their dependence on the wider, complex system in which healthcare operates and find adaptive solutions to rapid changes., Aims/method: This papers seeks to review and describe how Systems Thinking and Complexity Theory (ST/CT)-concepts, principles, and tools that can be used to understand and impact our constantly evolving health system-can be applied to better understand and enact change in complex settings such as during COVID-19. Some of these ST/CT are described through the real world example of the Alameda Health System Vaccine Taskforce., Results: ST/CT concepts such as Unintended Consequences, Interrelationships, Emergent Behavior, Feedback Loops, and Path Dependence can help EM providers and planners understand the context in which their system operates. Key principles such as Collaboration, Iterative Learning, and Transformational Leadership can help these actors respond to current and future challenges. The integration of these concepts and principles into the Learning Health System offers a model for tying these key concepts and principles together into an adaptive, cross-sectoral organizational approach., Conclusion: By integrating ST/CT into the practice of EM, we can not only improve our ability to care for patients but also our capacity to understand and strengthen our wider systems of care., (© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The pandemic and the rising living costs have affected teaching and learning practices. These changes have impacted teaching faculty and students alike. This article is an analytical reflection of our experiences of teaching and learning during the omicron wave of the pandemic and rising economic inflation. This paper highlights some of our key observations. The reflective process has challenged some of our preconceptions. It has also helped highlight some questions and contradictions on teaching and learning in this context which may provide a reference for future research., (© 2023 The Authors. European Journal of Dental Education published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The pneumonia outbreak caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection poses a serious threat to people worldwide. Although vaccines have been developed, antiviral drugs are still needed to combat SARS-CoV-2 infection due to the high mutability of the virus. SARS-CoV-2 main protein (M pro ) is a special cysteine protease that is a key enzyme for SARS-CoV-2 replication. It is encoded by peptides and is responsible for processing peptides into functional proteins, making it an important drug target. The paper reviews the structure and peptide-like inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 M pro , also the binding mode and structure-activity relationship between the inhibitors and M pro are introduced in detail. It is hoped that this review can provide ideas and help for the development of anti-coronavirus drugs such as COVID-19, and help to develop broad-spectrum antiviral drug for the treatment of coronavirus diseases as soon as possible., (© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have been widely criticized for being too delayed and indecisive. As a result, the precautionary principle has been endorsed, applauded, and proposed to guide future responses to global public health emergencies. Drawing from controversial issues in response to COVID-19, especially in Vietnam, this paper critically discusses some key ethical and legal issues of employing the precautionary principle in public health emergencies. Engaging with discussions concerning this principle, especially in environmental law where the precautionary principle first appeared as a guiding principle with objective content(s), this paper formulates the precautionary principle as 'in dubio pro salus', which is about advising, justifying and demanding states to proactively prepare for scenarios arising out of any public health emergency. It distinguishes the precautionary principle into moderate and hard versions. A moderate version largely takes a holistic approach and fulfils a series of criteria specified in this paper, while a hard version either permits restrictive measures to be deployed primarily on a hypothetic basis or expresses an instrumental mentality. The hard version should be rejected because of the ethical and legal problems it raises, including risk-risk tradeoffs, internal paradoxes, unjustified causing of fear and unreasonable presupposition. Ultimately, this paper defends the moderate version., (© 2023 The Authors. Bioethics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The global economy has been adversely affected by the COVID‐19 pandemic, leading to setbacks in development progress. Against this backdrop, donor countries have increased their expenditure on medical aid as part of their foreign assistance. As an emerging donor from the developing world, China has also been actively involved in providing medical assistance to other countries since 2020. This paper intends to investigate and elucidate China's motivation to offer medical aid to other countries amid the COVID‐19 pandemic. To this end, it utilizes a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods. Specifically, the Tobit model is employed to conduct regression analyses on China's medical assistance during the pandemic. Additionally, two case studies, namely Chinese aid to Pakistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, are examined to gain insights into the specific motivations driving China's medical aid. The results of this paper indicate that China's motivation for providing medical assistance during COVID‐19 is multifaceted, including self‐interested economic and political‐diplomatic factors rather than purely altruistic motives. Furthermore, the allocation of China's medical aid is significantly influenced by whether the recipient country is involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare systems and health professionals are facing a litany of stressors that have been compounded by the pandemic, and consequently, this has further perpetuated suboptimal mental health and burnout in nursing. The purpose of this paper is to report select findings from a larger, national study exploring gendered experiences of mental health, leave of absence (LOA), and return to work from the perspectives of nurses and key stakeholders. Given the breadth of the data, this paper will focus exclusively on the qualitative results from 53 frontline Canadian nurses who were purposively recruited for their workplace insight. This paper focuses on the substantive theme of "Breaking Point," in which nurses articulated a multiplicity of stress points at the individual, organizational, and societal levels that amplified burnout and accelerated mental health LOA from the workplace. These findings exemplify the complexities that underlie nurses' mental health and burnout and highlight the urgent need for multipronged individual, organizational, and structural interventions. Robust and timely interventions are needed to restore the health of the nursing profession and sustain its future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 pandemic brought about unprecedented changes and uncertainty to the daily lives of youth. The range of adjustment in light of a near‐universal experience of COVID restrictions highlights the importance of identifying factors that may render some individuals more susceptible to heightened levels of anxiety during stressful life events than others. Two risk factors to consider are temperamental behavioral inhibition (BI) and difficulties in emotion regulation (ER). As such, the current paper focused on BI examined prior to COVID, because of its developmental link to anxiety and ER, as difficulties may be associated with differences in anxiety. We examined a neurocognitive marker of ER processes, delta–beta coupling (DBC). The current paper had two goals: (1) to examine BI in relation to COVID‐related worry and social anxiety experienced during the pandemic, and (2) to explore the role of individual differences in early DBC in the relationship between BI and anxiety outcomes 6 months apart during COVID‐19 (n = 86; T1 Mage = 15.95, SD = 1.73; T6 Mage = 16.43, SD = 1.73). We found support for the moderating role of DBC in the relationship between BI levels and social anxiety disorder (SAD) symptom severity during the pandemic. Here, high BI was predictive of increased SAD symptom levels in adolescents with stronger DBC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Disasters is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Disasters is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper asks whether value chain integration increases smallholder resilience during shocks. Using a qualitative research study design and the test case of the 'sugar‐belt' in Zambia, the paper draws on interviews with participants from different stakeholder groups, including household case studies and group discussions. Results show sugarcane value chain integration enhances smallholder livelihood resilience during pandemics through its coordination arrangement, but more could be done. Indirect involvement in, and joint procurement processes of inputs between smallholders and the management company, existing ready and stable access to markets and access to Fairtrade relief funds that point to direct livelihood support proved crucial for strengthening smallholder livelihood resilience during the pandemic. There were COVID‐19‐related adjustments by the management company, which further increased smallholder support. However, in as much as coordination arrangements seemed to have worked well during COVID‐19, smallholder livelihoods remained narrow and risky, raising the need for diversification that could strengthen sustainable resilience. This paper sheds light on how value chains could be organised to enhance pandemic recovery and build livelihood resilience. It helps us to reflect on the '(in)effectiveness' of value chain institutions and the role and importance of smallholder coordination arrangements during pandemics. Ultimately, the result is a contribution to livelihood resilience thinking in value chains—one we hope is appropriate to our conjuncture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The occupation of commercial fishing is recognized as a comparatively stressful and hazardous job characterized by a myriad of risks to health, including high rates of job‐related injury, morbidity, and mortality. Nonetheless, systematic study of fisher health is limited. This paper examines a particularly understudied aspect of illness among fishers: the physical and social contexts, pathways, and potential for adverse disease interactions. The focus of the paper is on a biosocial disease process called syndemics, which increases the health burdens of this population. The paper is presented as an initial testing of the hypothesis that a "lens" of syndemics improves occupational health research and advocacy for commercial fishermen who face a substantial burden of biosocial challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: COVID‐19 necessitated emergency telepractice for student‐led speech‐language therapy clinical practicals in training institutions, with limited preparation and evidence‐based guidelines. Beyond the pandemic, practitioners and university training sites are likely to continue to offer telepractice necessitating thorough preparation for telepractice services underpinned by a comprehensive understanding of the complexities involved in online therapy. Aims: Adopting realist evaluation principles, our aim in this paper was to explore broadly what works and does not work in a set of student‐led telepractice sessions in a diverse, resource‐limited context. The broader goal of this project was to provide evidence‐based support to enhance the efficiency and success of telepractice sessions in student clinical training contexts. Methods & Procedures: We used qualitative observational methods with reflexive thematic analysis to analyse 28 video recordings and 61 observation notes of student‐led paediatric telepractice sessions from a South African university clinic as part of a pilot study. Outcomes & Results: We identified four overarching considerations for student‐led telepractice: (1) additional, specific preparation is required, (2) with greater management of technology and adaptation of tasks, especially during times of poor connectivity; (3) telepractice relies heavily on caregiver input and collaboration; and (4) promoting engagement online, holding a client's attention, building rapport and offering reinforcement are critical skills that are complicated by the lack of face‐to‐face contact. Conclusions & Implications: Our findings indicate that telepractice pedagogy needs to be explicitly taught and students require practical assistance as they learn how to use this service delivery approach effectively. There are some aspects peculiar to telepractice that require unique consideration and planning, especially in contexts where service providers and users may be unfamiliar with this form of service provision. The findings of this pilot study can be used by clinical educators and student clinicians to enhance clinical training opportunities involving telepractice. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on this subject: Many speech‐language therapy (SLT) student clinicians had to transition quickly to telepractice service provision during COVID‐19 with limited existing guidelines and support, especially in contexts where teletherapy is typically non‐existent or difficult to access. Although there is some literature available on experiences of telepractice, there is very little evidence‐based research which explores the mechanics of such sessions in real‐time and which offers practical support to student clinicians and clinical educators engaging in this mode of service delivery. What this study adds: This pilot study examined video‐recorded, student‐led, paediatric, speech‐language teletherapy sessions to understand challenges and considerations involved in using telepractice as a clinical training tool. Findings show that additional preparation for telepractice sessions is required, particularly in contexts of poor digital literacy; students must learn to manage technology, especially when connectivity poses a challenge, and adapt therapy tasks for online work with clients; telepractice relies heavily on caregiver input and collaboration, more so than in in‐person consultations, and this relationship requires careful management; and promoting engagement online, holding a client's attention, building rapport and offering reinforcement are critical yet challenging skills in telepractice. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: Our findings highlight a need to teach telepractice pedagogy explicitly and support students practically in learning how to provide therapy effectively via this mode of service delivery. Observational methods for studying practices in recorded telepractice sessions can be used as part of a reflective approach to clinical training. Using already available data allowed us to unpack the 'messy reality' of clinical training using telepractice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on greenfield investments using a large panel dataset comprising 78 countries and regions at the monthly level from January 2019 to August 2021 (32 months). Particular attention is paid to whether the Belt and Road (BRI), a regional cooperation initiative, contributes to mitigating these shocks. Three indicators are used to measure greenfield investments, i.e., capital inflows, projects and employees. The lockdown measure due to the pandemic is used to conduct a difference‐in‐difference analysis. This paper finds that the pandemic significantly reduces global greenfield investments, while the BRI participants experience a lesser shock than the non‐BRI countries (regions). Robustness checks using the numbers of monthly confirmed cases and deaths also support the role of the initiative in helping the BRI participants to mitigate the negative impact of the pandemic on greenfield investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outside of normality and normal politics is commonly referred to as emergencies, crises and disasters. The paper describes and analyses this normality/emergency imaginary by relating it to questions about order, necessity and contingency. The paper draws upon Sergei Prozorov's work on order and its excess to examine the shift in the United Kingdom pandemic response from recommendations to mandates and regulations in late March 2020. It is argued that the normality/emergency imaginary transposes the more general problem of necessity and contingency into a less complex one, thus providing a solution to questions of order, but that this displaces and eludes the important questions of contingency as a precondition for politics. Specifically, it reduces questions of order and contingency to a choice between normality or emergency where normality is rendered just and emergency measures come to be seen as necessary and un‐political. Indeed, the normality/emergency imaginary, and in particular the assumption that it is analogous to the order/contingency problem, makes it difficult to mount a political critique of emergency measures that does not reproduce and reaffirm the problem that motivates it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Court ethnographies have commonly relied on the physical presence of the ethnographers. This paper explores the opportunities and the challenges of conducting court ethnographies without this physical presence. Specifically, it examines what it means to conduct remote ethnographies of legal processes where neither the ethnographer nor the other hearing participants are physically co‐present. The sudden shift towards remote hearings in fieldwork conducted during the COVID‐19 pandemic presented an opportunity to compare in‐person and remote ethnographic methods. Through a case study of bail hearings in the immigration tribunal in the UK, this paper explores the value and challenges associated with conducting remote ethnographies and asks how they can help to shed light on the impact of absences in legal events. Court ethnographies have commonly relied on the physical presence of the ethnographers. This paper explores the opportunities and the challenges of conducting court ethnographies without this physical presence. Specifically, it examines what it means to conduct remote ethnographies of legal processes where neither the ethnographer nor the other hearing participants are physically co‐present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on an investigation into female academics' experiences of living and working through the COVID‐19 pandemic in the United Kingdom (UK). A diary, diary‐interview method (DDIM) was used to gather qualitative data from 25 participants about their lives during the period March 2020–September 2021 and diary and interview data have since been curated and published in an open access digital archive. The paper argues firstly that in recording and interpreting change over time in the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic, the methodology constitutes a qualitative longitudinal research (QLLR) approach. Secondly, that the method has the capacity to convey temporal disruption and complexity, aligned with notions of crisis as fast, slow and ongoing. Thirdly, that Nixon's theorising of 'slow violence' can be used to frame the impacts of the pandemic as gradual, unseen and banal despite potentially negative implications for female academics' career progression. Finally, the paper argues that gathering this data through DDIM and publishing it in a publicly accessible digital archive represents a necessary form of witness with the potential to be utilised for future interventions. This paper reports on an investigation using a diary, diary‐interview method (DDIM) into female academics' experiences of living and working through the COVID‐19 pandemic in the United Kingdom (UK). The paper argues that DDIM has the capacity to convey temporal disruption and complexity, aligned with notions of crisis as fast, slow and ongoing. Nixon's theorising of 'slow violence' is used to frame a consideration of the pandemic's longer‐term, negative implications for female academics' career progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on a four‐year qualitative study that examines changes to legal processes related to the response to domestic violence in Seattle that began before and continued through the COVID‐19 pandemic, to examine a series of crisis temporalities that were exacerbated by the pandemic and associated lockdowns. In reflecting on the crisis temporalities that mark this research project, I underscore how such crises can also create conditions that lead to long overdue social change. In this case, the modernisation of a court system that for too‐long served as an obstacle to survivors' legal protection and facilitated abusers' ability to engage in slow violence during Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPO) hearings. This paper thus highlights the 'temporal affordances' of longitudinal research that enable analysis to better understand the factors that motivate transition over time, particularly those in traditional institutions like the legal system. This paper draws on a four‐year qualitative study that examines changes to legal processes related to the response to domestic violence in Seattle that began before and continued through the COVID‐19 pandemic, to examine a series of crisis temporalities that were exacerbated by the pandemic and associated lockdowns. In reflecting on the crisis temporalities that mark this research project, I underscore how such crises can also create conditions that lead to long overdue social change. This paper thus highlights the 'temporal affordances' of longitudinal research that enable analysis to better understand the factors that motivate transition over time, particularly those in traditional institutions like the legal system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we assess the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the Australian visual arts sector. We base our analysis on the responses of over 1500 visual artists and arts workers to a survey conducted by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA), the national peak body for the visual and media arts, craft and design sector in September 2021. NAVA employed this online survey to study the relationship between the pandemic and both the incomes and mental health of artists and arts workers. Using regression analysis, we find that there has been a significant impact for both artists and arts workers, with the severity of the impacts varying by gender, age and the availability of state‐based and Australian Government support programmes. Reduced hours and loss of contracted work and commissions due to the pandemic were both related to declines in income and mental health outcomes for artists and for arts workers. Housing stress was associated with a higher likelihood of a significant or extreme mental health impact for artists and arts workers. In addition, artists' incomes and mental health outcomes were impacted when faced with a reduced ability to sell, although some artists were able to increase their online profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper empirically investigates the role of economic cooperation involving trade in coronavirus disease (COVID‐19)‐related essential medical goods—vaccines and their value chains, personal protective equipment, and diagnostic test kits—across 29 Asia and the Pacific economies. The paper incorporates vaccines and their global value chain products trade for the first time in the empirical literature. We further investigate whether trade facilitation, proxied by membership in regional trade agreements (RTAs), can help mitigate any adverse impact on trade in essential medical goods, applying a structural gravity framework. The results confirm that while trade is critical for Asian economies, its nature differs. Low‐income economies are largely dependent on imports, whereas selected middle‐ and high‐income economies are part of two‐way trade and engaged in the low end of the vaccine value chain. We find that the onset of the pandemic has hurt exports of these goods. This adverse effect is found to be lowered for economies engaged in RTAs. This emphasizes the role of governments in committing to RTAs and implementing trade facilitation measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Methods Results Conclusions While suicides in the United States decreased during the COVID‐19 pandemic, statistically significant decreases have been limited to White people throughout a large portion of 2020.This paper outlines possible explanations for racial/ethnic differences in suicidality in the early pandemic phases.We propose both distal (i.e., tele‐mental health usage, internet and technology access, employment protections, and economic security) and proximal (cultural beliefs, coping strategies, clustering, pulling together, and embracing life) factors that may have helped build and foster community and mental wellness. However, this paper argues these factors did not extend, or did not extend as much, to many communities of color.We argue that these disparities are due to the myriad effects of discrimination and systemic racism, encapsulated broadly by the minority stress theory, and provide suggestions for relief and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Understanding social factors that affected how people interpreted the meanings of COVID‐19 measures is important in postpandemic times. This study applies perspectives from research on emotions as one of the possible explanations and focuses on how institutions and their measures are perceived in the context of individual emotional situations. The aim of the study is to understand how parents with joint or shared custody arrangements in Czechia understood COVID‐19–related state interventions and how they dealt with those interventions in their lives. Analysing 16 interviews with these parents, who are considered a potentially vulnerable group, and their interplay with pandemic public policy, the paper suggests the importance of parenting fantasy. The term ‘fantasy’ builds on Illouz's scholarship and reflects individual sense‐making (ideas or practices) based on close and intense personal relationships related to parenting. This paper claims that the existence of this fantasy (in the form of a fulfilled parenting fantasy) or its non‐existence (in the form of a disruption of parenting, called a negative relationship by Illouz) codetermined how these parents dealt with the pandemic measures—whether (and how strongly) they conformed to them or whether they perceived (or used) them as a threat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2020, a market in convalescent blood plasma developed as a potential treatment for COVID‐19. During this time, commercial plasma centres—which collect the blood plasma from paid donors for pharmaceutical production—paid recovered patients as much as US$100 for a donation of blood plasma containing COVID‐19 antibodies, from which they manufactured an experimental treatment. This paper uses the commercial collection of COVID‐19 antibodies found in plasma as an entry point into exploring how racially uneven exposures to disease may produce biovalue. The first section considers the spatial history of antibody‐derived plasma products, using historical research to examine how inmates at predominantly black plantation‐prisons in the US South were valued for antibody production in the 1960s. Against this historical relief, the second section examines the spatiality of antibodies in current practices of the plasma industry, as well as in the plasma industry's response to the COVID‐19 pandemic (even as those efforts eventually failed in clinical trials). If geographical literatures on environmental exposure, as well as on COVID‐19 transmission, discuss exposure as an outcome of racial capitalism, this paper emphasises the productive opportunities that capital can solicit from exposures, especially those that are useful to different forms of biomedicine. By critically scrutinising the practice of ‘sharing immunity’ and attending to its decidedly geographic constitution, we can see how what Ruth Wilson Gilmore calls the ‘death‐dealing logics’ of racial capitalism may also work through the seemingly affirmative practices and communal imaginaries behind the redistribution of antibodies as medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a general framework for conceptualizing triage for intensive care unit admissions in public health emergencies such as the COVID‐19 pandemic. It applies this framework to some of the guidelines issued during the pandemic and addresses some controversial issues, including the role of age, the use of lives or life years, and the relevance of quality of life considerations. The paper defends a view on which triage protocols for public health emergencies should aim to maximize the number of life years saved, may take into account age as a proxy, and should ignore quality of life considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Disparities in the uptake of routine and COVID‐19 vaccinations have been observed in migrant populations, and attributed to issues of mistrust, access and low vaccine confidence. Participatory research approaches and behaviour change theory hold the potential for developing tailored vaccination interventions that address these complex barriers in partnership with communities and should be explored further. Methods: This study used a theory‐informed, community‐based participatory research approach to co‐design a culturally tailored behaviour change intervention aimed at increasing COVID‐19 vaccine uptake among Congolese migrants in London, United Kingdom (2021–2022). It was designed and led by a community‐academic partnership in response to unmet needs in the Congolese community as the COVID‐19 pandemic started. Barriers and facilitators to COVID‐19 vaccination, information and communication preferences, and intervention suggestions were explored through qualitative in‐depth interviews with Congolese migrants, thematically analysed, and mapped to the theoretical domains framework (TDF) and the capability, opportunity, motivation, behaviour model to identify target behaviours and strategies to include in interventions. Interventions were co‐designed and tailored in workshops involving Congolese migrants. Results: Thirty‐two Congolese adult migrants (24 (75%) women, mean 14.3 (SD: 7.5) years in the United Kingdom, mean age 52.6 (SD: 11.0) years) took part in in‐depth interviews and 16 (same sample) took part in co‐design workshops. Fourteen barriers and 10 facilitators to COVID‐19 vaccination were identified; most barrier data related to four TDF domains (beliefs about consequences; emotion; social influences and environmental context and resources), and the behavioural diagnosis concluded interventions should target improving psychological capability, reflective and automatic motivations and social opportunities. Strategies included culturally tailored behaviour change techniques based on education, persuasion, modelling, enablement and environmental restructuring, which resulted in a co‐designed intervention comprising community‐led workshops, plays and posters. Findings and interventions were disseminated through a community celebration event. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates how behavioural theory can be applied to co‐designing tailored interventions with underserved migrant communities through a participatory research paradigm to address a range of health issues and inequalities. Future research should build on this empowering approach, with the goal of developing more sensitive vaccination services and interventions which respond to migrant communities' unique cultural needs and realities. Patient or Public Contribution: Patient and public involvement (PPI) were embedded in the participatory study design and approach, with community members co‐producing all stages of the study and co‐authoring this paper. An independent PPI board (St George's Migrant Health Research Group Patient and Public Involvement Advisory Board) comprising five adult migrants with lived experience of accessing healthcare in the United Kingdom were also consulted at significant points over the course of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses bioethics in the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic. The Introduction (Section 1) highlights that at the field's inception, infectiousness was not front and center. Instead, infectious disease was widely perceived as having been conquered. This made it possible for bioethicists to center values such as individual autonomy, informed consent, and a statist conception of justice. Section 2 urges shifting to values more fitting for the moment the world is in. To find these, it directs attention to the Global South, and in particular, Africa, and to the values of ubuntu, solidarity, dignity, kinship, and humility. The paper concludes (in Section 3) that 21st‐century challenges facing bioethics are increasingly global, and calls on bioethicists themselves to be more globally inclusive in their approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the lifting of COVID‐19 restrictions eventually, the destabilising consequences of the pandemic on migration persist and continue to worsen. Based on in‐depth interviews with 25 Chinese international students, this paper asks what new forms of education transnationality are being introduced by the intersection of digital mobility and physical immobility. Using Henri Lefebvre's (2004) rhythmanalysis, we understand stay‐at‐home international students' sensual and physical experiences as palpable aspects of daily existence that not only constitute transnational lived temporalities but also trigger 'small accidents', leading to potentially larger‐scale temporal changes. By attending to the dynamic interaction between their agency and the external structure, we conclude that situated corporeal and emotional suffering, embodied transitioning strategies, and changes to mobility pathways make up the fabric of the immobile everydayness of the new 'grafted transnationalism'. This paper contributes to the existing scholarship on transnational education by highlighting the dual sense of exclusion that students experience in both corporeal and social time, as well as the multilayered possibilities of reorientation as their way of regaining control of dyssynchronous rhythmic encounters. It also sorts out the implications of lifetime geography on students' differentially distributed vulnerability and susceptibility when facing life course disruptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The aim of this study is to evaluate the nurses' experiences with the Nursing Crisis Meetings and to identify nurses' needs regarding the future governance structure. Design: Qualitative study. Methods: Two focus groups were conducted in February 2022 with participants of the Nursing Crisis Meetings (N = 15). We used thematic analysis to describe themes. Results: We identified five themes: opportunity to speak up, call for nursing leadership, call for control over practice and autonomy, development of a governance infrastructure and development of the professional nurse role. Conclusion: Nurses experienced the Nursing Crisis Meetings to be a positive and empowering infrastructure, which facilitates the unique opportunity to speak up and share experiences and concerns. This new infrastructure is a promising strategy to engage nurses during a pandemic and to build on a professional governance structure. Impact: This paper highlights the need for nurses to speak up and be engaged during the COVID‐19 pandemic and gives a practical example of how to put this infrastructure into practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the adverse reactions to cosmetic implants after COVID-19 vaccination. It provides information on the different types of implants affected and the common symptoms observed. However, the article lacks a thorough analysis of the examined papers and does not include the sample size and quality rating of the studies, which may affect the accuracy and generalizability of the findings. The article also mentions the possibility of asymptomatic COVID-19 developing into a clinical manifestation before or after vaccination, and the importance of genetics in determining the immune system's response to the vaccine. The authors of the article are Amnuay Kleebayoon and Viroj Wiwanitkit. [Extracted from the article]

This paper examines the impact of China's "Zero‐Covid" policy on subnational cross‐region export performance during 2019–2021. Using monthly export data at the product‐destination level for China's 31 provinces and municipality cities, we find that new infections in a region have a significantly negative effect on the region's export growth, particularly for non‐processing exports and industries with low dependence on remote working and products that are more substitutable and used mostly in the downstream of supply chains. However, restrictions on people inflows have no significant effect. The severity of the pandemic in export destinations is negatively correlated with China's export growth, suggesting an important demand‐side reason for China's export downturn during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issue Addressed: The COVID‐19 pandemic bears many similarities to other disasters such as bushfires, earthquakes and floods. It also has distinctive features including its prolonged and recurrent nature and the social isolation induced by pandemic responses. Existing conceptual frameworks previously applied to the study of disaster, such as the Recovery Capitals Framework (RCF), may be useful in understanding experiences of the COVID‐19 pandemic and in guiding agencies and governments tasked with supporting communities. Methods: This paper presents an analysis of interviews conducted with residents of the Australian state of Victoria in 2020–2021. The RCF was used to analyse how participant experiences and well‐being were influenced by seven forms of capital—social, human, natural, financial, built, cultural and political—with particular focus on the interactions between these capitals. Results: Social capital featured most prominently in participants' accounts, yet the analysis revealed important interactions between social and other capitals that shaped their pandemic experiences. The RCF supported a strengths‐based and holistic analysis while also revealing how inequities and challenges were compounded in some cases. Conclusions: Findings can be leveraged to develop effective and innovative strategies to support well‐being and disrupt patterns of compounding inequity. Applying the RCF in the context of COVID‐19 can help to link pandemic research with research from a wide range of disasters. So What?: In an increasingly complex global landscape of cascading and intersecting disasters including pandemics, flexible and nuanced conceptual approaches such as the RCF can generate valuable insights with practical implications for health promotion efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The novel coronavirus (COVID‐19) situation provides new insights into how macroeconomic shocks affect investors' processing of firm disclosures. This study focuses on the market reactions to mandatory firm disclosures, that is, earnings announcements and the unique practice of monthly sales disclosure in the Taiwanese stock market, and seeks to provide evidence that timely sales information attracts more incremental investor attention than earnings news after a sudden shock. This study finds decreased (increased) market reaction to earnings news (monthly sales news) during the turmoil period of the stock market than during the pre‐ and post‐turmoil periods. I further explore the effects of stock market conditions on the market reaction to the firm disclosures. I observe that a shrinking market leads to lesser (greater) investors' attention on earnings news (monthly sales news) than a soaring market does. These results imply that the market demand on the earnings or monthly sales news depends on investors' relative risk aversion. In addition, this study provides evidence that the trade‐off between the market reaction to earnings and monthly sales news seems to be temporary, however, the market reaction to the news had not returned to pre‐crisis levels during the sample period of this study. This paper shows that the increased decision usefulness of timely monthly sales information may supplement the decreased decision usefulness of earnings news during a negative macroeconomic event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines spatial heterogeneity in the impacts of the early days of the COVID‐19 pandemic on urban household incomes in Ethiopia and Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Combining new panel household surveys with spatial data, the fixed‐effects regression analysis for Ethiopia finds that households in large and densely populated towns were more likely to lose their labour incomes in the early phase of the pandemic and afterwards than other households. Disadvantaged groups, such as females, low‐skilled, self‐employed and poor, particularly suffered in those towns. In Kinshasa, labour income‐mobility elasticities are higher among workers—particularly female and low‐skilled workers—who live in areas that are located farther from the city core area. The between‐ and within‐city evidence from two Sub‐Saharan African countries points to the spatial heterogeneity of COVID‐19 impacts, implying the critical role of mobility and accessibility in urban agglomerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital technology is reshaping workplaces by enabling spatial separation of offices, known as telework, or remote intelligence (RI) and by facilitating automation of service sector tasks via artificial intelligence (AI). This paper is the first attempt to empirically investigate whether AI and RI are complements or substitutes in the service sector. It uses a worker‐level panel of surveys collected from around 10,000 workers from pre‐COVID‐19 pandemic to late 2022. We find preliminary evidence that suggests that AI and RI are complements rather than substitutes. The evidence comes first from the positive correlation of investments in AI‐promoting and RI‐promoting software at the firm and worker level, and second from the positive correlation of workers' expectations regarding telework and software automation. The evidence is far from definitive but suggests that the complement‐substitution question is a fruitful line for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An agency's self‐portrayal can help to protect its jurisdictional turf and strengthen its reputational uniqueness. While prior reputational studies have shown that agencies are attentive to the media and political principals, they have not assessed how inter‐agency dynamics might shape their public outreach and message. This paper argues that if multiple public agencies are confronted with a shared salient issue, such as the Covid‐19 pandemic, they engage in 'issue segmentation': mindful of each other's distinct jurisdictional and reputational profiles, their communication centers around sub‐issues that do not overlap with core missions of other agencies. We assess this expectation via a study of Twitter communication of 38 European Union agencies related to Covid‐19. Using an automated thematic analysis of tweets, we show that agencies engage in issue segmentation and focus on unique sub‐issues. The findings contribute to a better understanding of public outreach of agencies in times of crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In this paper, we develop a fully parametric quantile regression model based on the generalised three‐parameter beta (GB3) distribution. Beta regression models are primarily used to model rates and proportions. However, these models are usually specified in terms of a conditional mean. Therefore, they may be inadequate if the observed response variable follows an asymmetrical distribution. In addition, beta regression models do not consider the effect of the covariates across the spectrum of the dependent variable, which is possible through the conditional quantile approach. In order to introduce the proposed GB3 regression model, we first reparameterise the GB3 distribution by inserting a quantile parameter, and then we develop the new proposed quantile model. We also propose a simple interpretation of the predictor–response relationship in terms of percentage increases/decreases of the quantile. A Monte Carlo study is carried out for evaluating the performance of the maximum likelihood estimates and the choice of the link functions. Finally, a real COVID‐19 dataset from Chile is analysed and discussed to illustrate the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]