COVID-19-induced shopping behavioural shifts justifying pandemic as ‘defining moment' for generation Z

Purpose: COVID-19 pandemic endured for more than two years in many countries which caused higher levels of risk, crisis and vulnerability among people. The present study aims at justifying the COVID-19 pandemic as the ‘defining moment' for Z generational cohort (Gen Z) by examining their post-COVID-19 shopping behavioural shifts. Design/methodology/approach: For this purpose, two studies were conducted. Study 1 examined shifts in their shopping priorities from the pre to post-pandemic eras by using mean, standard deviation and difference t-tests. Study 2 investigated the role of the 18 items in their post-COVID-19 online shopping preference and the results were compared with a similar pre-COVID-19 study to identify online shopping behavioural shifts. Findings: The study finds five key post-COVID-19 shopping behavioural shifts among Gen Z consumers. These are ‘an inevitable inner desire for mitigating social isolation, risk and vulnerability', ‘rational purchase decisions based on an in-depth analysis of multiple digital contents related to products/brands', ‘permanent frugality in the shopping habits', ‘conscious and cautious consumption' and ‘the sacrifice of personal grit, idealism and psychology'. Practical implications: Since the post-COVID-19 shopping behavioural shifts have far-reaching implications and long-lasting effects on the psychological processes and mental health of Gen Z, marketers/retailers can use the findings of this study to develop more effective marketing strategies for serving these early-adulthood consumers better. Originality/value: Based on their metamorphic shopping behavioural shifts by comparing their pre-pandemic and post-pandemic responses, the study justifies the severity and devastating effects of the pandemic crisis as the ‘defining moment' for the youths of this COVID-19 generation. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Online shopping can redistribute local tax revenue from urban to rural America

What is the effect of e-commerce on the geographic distribution of local sales tax revenues? Using COVID-19 as a shock to online shopping and hand-collected high-frequency data on local sales tax revenue, we document an important shift in the state and local public finance landscape. As e-commerce increases, a destination basis for remote sales taxes results in higher growth in local sales tax collections in smaller, generally more rural jurisdictions. This increase comes at the expense of larger urban retail centers, which previously enjoyed an origin basis for sales tax collections. As households replace in-person commerce with online shopping, sales taxes no longer accrue to urban centers with large concentrations of retail establishments and instead expand the tax base of smaller jurisdictions. State-level reforms that enforce sales tax compliance generally mitigate the revenue falls in larger jurisdictions and amplify the increases in smaller jurisdictions. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.

A Study on Knowledge and Practice of Covid-19 Biomedical Waste Management among the Health Care Workers of Health Facilities of Rural Ghaziabad

Introduction: Improper waste management has a negative impact on the health of medical professionals, sanitary staff, general public and the environment in general. Objective(s): To assess the Knowledge and Practice regarding COVID-19 biomedical waste management (BMWM) among healthcare workers (HCW) of government health facilities of rural Ghaziabad. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the knowledge and practices regarding Bio-Medical waste, in rural blocks of the district Ghaziabad at C.H.C, P.H.C and Sub-centres. Health care worker (HCW) like Doctor, Nursing Staff, Laboratory technician and Sanitary staff working in the Health care facilities were selected for the Study. A total number of 122 HCW were selected, which included 27 Doctors, 75 Nurse, 06 Lab technician and 14 sanitary staff, using Proportional allocation scheme respectively. Result(s): The Knowledge regarding Biomedical waste management of COVID-19 was 62.2% and practice was 50.8% among the HCW. Multinomial regression between socio-demographic features of HCW and their practice regarding COVID-19 Biomedical waste revealed that the practice was three times better 3.859 (1.378-10.811) in graduate and four times 4.062 (1.030-16.024) in post graduate than diploma holders. Doctors had three time better 3.595 (1.304-9.908) practice of COVID-19 biomedical waste management than nurses. Similarly, the CHC's COVID 19 biomedical waste management practices were more than four time 4.440 (1.482-13.974) better than sub centers. Conclusion(s): Level of knowledge and practice scores were unsatisfactory. Healthcare facilities should provide periodic training and adequate supplies for the waste handlers. Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.

Prevalence of Depression and its associated factors during COVID-19 pandemic in adult population of Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh

Background: COVID-19 pandemic started in India on 30th January 2020. A nationwide lockdown was enforced from 24th March onwards, and most citizens were confined to their homes causing many psychosocial problems. Objective(s): To find the prevalence of depression and its associated factors during COVID-19 pandemic. Method(s): A community based crosssectional study, conducted among the adult population of urban Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. Information was collected using a predesigned questionnaire with a sample size of 396 consenting individuals. Result(s): Of the 396 participants, 99 (25%) had depression;with mild, moderate, and severe depression found in 20.45%, 3.53% and 1% individuals, respectively. Females were affected more than males (32.1% vs 18.2%). Prevalence of depression was 50% among individuals living alone, 34.7% among unemployed people, and 30% among individuals whose income was reduced during the lockdown period. Individuals who were quarantined due to positive/suspected COVID-19 infection had a 45.5% prevalence of depression. Individuals who were divorced or separated, had an increased prevalence of depression [OR 9.2, (95% CI 1.2-73.7)]. People who practiced meditation during the lockdown period had lesser prevalence of depression [OR 2.87, (95% CI 1.1-7.7)] than those who did not. Conclusion(s): The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major psycho-social impact on people. The findings from this study can help identify vulnerable individuals and prevent and/or reduce the morbidity of depression in future, both in India and other parts of the world. Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.

Sustaining circular economy practices in supply chains during a global disruption

PurposeCircular economy (CE) practices are critical to achieving sustainable development goals. However, the recent global disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted sustainable practices. The literature shows a significant research gap in analyzing factors that sustain CE practices in supply chains during a global disruption. This study fills the research gap by developing a mix-method approach to analyze factors for sustaining CE practices during a global disruption.Design/methodology/approachTo fulfill the objectives of this study, the list of factors that sustain CE practices was first identified by conducting a literature review and finalized through an expert opinion survey. The survey finalized 18 different factors for sustaining CE practices. The finalized factors were further analyzed using the grey decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method. The quantitative analysis confirmed the priority of the factors and their cause-and-effect relationships.FindingsThe results revealed that continued stakeholder pressure, retention of CE and sustainability culture, continued implementation of cleaner technology, feedback system and ongoing CE training for resilience issues are the top five factors that sustain CE practices during a global disruption. The study also revealed ten factors as belonging to the cause group and eight to the effect group.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature by exploring factors for sustaining CE practices during a global disruption. Moreover, the study's findings are important in real-life situations, as decision-makers can use the findings to formulate strategies for sustaining CE practices during future global disruptions.

Prevalence of Depression and its associated factors during COVID-19 pandemic in adult population of Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh

Background: COVID-19 pandemic started in India on 30th January 2020. A nationwide lockdown was enforced from 24th March onwards, and most citizens were confined to their homes causing many psychosocial problems. Objective(s): To find the prevalence of depression and its associated factors during COVID-19 pandemic. Method(s): A community based cross-sectional study, conducted among the adult population of urban Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. Information was collected using a predesigned questionnaire with a sample size of 396 consenting individuals. Result(s): Of the 396 participants, 99 (25%) had depression;with mild, moderate, and severe depression found in 20.45%, 3.53% and 1% individuals, respectively. Females were affected more than males (32.1% vs 18.2%). Prevalence of depression was 50% among individuals living alone, 34.7% among unemployed people, and 30% among individuals whose income was reduced during the lockdown period. Individuals who were quarantined due to positive/suspected COVID-19 infection had a 45.5% prevalence of depression. Individuals who were divorced or separated, had an increased prevalence of depression [OR 9.2, (95% CI 1.2-73.7)]. People who practiced meditation during the lockdown period had lesser prevalence of depression [OR 2.87, (95% CI 1.1-7.7)] than those who did not. Conclusion(s): The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major psycho-social impact on people. The findings from this study can help identify vulnerable individuals and prevent and/or reduce the morbidity of depression in future, both in India and other parts of the world. Copyright © 2022, Anka Publishers. All rights reserved.

Stem Cells and COVID-19

Stem Cells and COVID-19 presents up-to-date knowledge on the effect of hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cells to combat SARS-CoV-2 infection in its diagnosis, treatment and prevention. In addition, the book critically discusses challenges, highlighting outstanding questions and future perspectives. Written by global experts in the field for both pre-clinical and clinical practitioners, this comprehensive book delves into how stem cells have a strong potential in developing better diagnostic, treatment and preventive strategies in SARS-CoV-2 infection. Both hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cells are critical to better understand the response of immune system to coronavirus infection in both healthy and co-morbid conditions in the development of effective vaccines and immunotherapies. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Characteristics and immunobiology of COVID-19

COVID-19 (coronavirus disease-2019) has been identified as a serious respiratory infection by the SARS-CoV2 virus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), was first reported in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China in December 2019. World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID 19 as a pandemic on March 11, 2020 considering the exponential spread and unmanageable mortality. It continues currently as the utmost urgent/critical ailment of global public health. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has not only affected global health scenarios but also has heavily burdened the economic, financial, political, educational, and other dimensions of humanity across the world. Monitoring the COVID 19 pathology reveals a potential respiratory infection followed by severe pneumonia like clinical observations with greater chances of microvascular injuries and multiorgan failures in worse scenario. The preexisting comorbidities including type II diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, and older age are other major aggravating factors. Rather than other flu viruses, the intricate interplay of SARS-CoV2 virus with the immune system underlies the pathological manifestations in both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. This chapter highlights the role of heterogenous immune cell population, cytokine storm, immune cell activation, and potential signaling pathways associated with COVID 19 infection that are greatly appreciated to evolve novel translational therapeutic interventions. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

IoT Enabled Smart Aiport System to Avoid Covid-19

Today's generation wants everything easier, faster and automatic. During this corona pandemic, health and safety of each and every individual, either who is traveling through flights or working at an airport is a big issue. Usually, when we go to an airport, we go through many checks, and before boarding the flight, the security check-in, our luggage bags are counted and tagged by the person working at the counter of the airport. The luggage bags are put on the conveyor belt and the person working at the counter has to count the luggage bags by himself, he has to stick the tags on the luggage bags. None of the airports provides the facility of automatic counting of the luggage bags and sticking tags on them. And during this COVID-19 pandemic, we should avoid touching maximum things. This research paper provides a new technique for the same and that in a smart way. In this research, we are providing a novel approach to create an automatic system which will help to make the airport a smart one with IOT sensors and devices. Smart Airport also provides the counting of the luggage bags, tagging of the luggage bags, checking the presence of metallic objects in the luggage bags in a single embedded system. This approach will help the human society in maintaining social distancing and help them to save their time. © 2021 IEEE.

E-CONSULTS FOR OUTPATIENT GASTROENTEROLOGY REFERRALS IMPROVE PATIENT OUTCOMES, DECREASE PATIENT WAIT TIMES, AND DECREASE RESOURCE UTILIZATION

Introduction Traditional methods of addressing gastroenterology referrals involve giving the referred patient an in office clinic appointment and waiting until the appointment to make consultant recommendations. In September 2019 (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic), our institution started an e-consult system for gastroenterology referrals where every referral was reviewed by a gastroenterologist and decision was made to direct the patient to telemedicine visit or in office visit. We aim to compare the outcomes of this e-consult system with traditional referral response methods. Methods Retrospective cohort study comparing econsults with traditional methods. We randomly selected 350 referrals from September 2019 through January 2020 to form the e-consult cohort and 350 referrals from January 2018 through May 2019 to form the traditional methods cohort. Outcomes of primary interest were observed for one month after referral. Primary outcome was number of patients with emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations for primary gastroenterology complaints within 30 days of referral. Secondary outcomes included mean time to first consultant recommendations, endoscopies, and in-person appointments. First consultant recommendations are defined as the first instance of recommendations (such as labs, imaging, endoscopy, or verbal instruction to the patient or referring physician) by a gastroenterology provider pertaining to the referring question after initial referral. Results E-consults were associated with significantly fewer ED visits (4% vs 7.7%, P=0.036) and fewer hospitalizations (1.4% vs 4.3%, p=0.023) within 30 days of referral. E-consults resulted in significantly higher proportion referrals receiving consultant recommendations within 30 days (87% vs 39%, P<0.01). Recommendations were also made in significantly less time with e-consults (4.3 vs 42 days, P<0.01). E-consults were also associated with a greater proportion for endoscopy performed within 30 days (17% vs 4%, P<0.01). Endoscopies were able to be performed in significantly less time after referral with e-consults (61 vs 96 days, P<0.01). Conclusions Gastroenterology referrals seen with e-consults were associated with significantly fewer ED visits and hospitalizations within 30 days of referral when compared to traditional methods. E-consults were also associated with dramatically shorter wait time for consultant recommendations and endoscopies as well as decreased need for in-person clinic appointments. (Table Presented) (Table Presented)

The impact of covid-19 on general and dental health

COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019) is a contagious infection caused by novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2). This novel virus was publicly announced as an infectious pathogen by the “Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention” on 8 January 2020. The World Health Organization named COVID-19 a pandemic crisis all over the world on March 11, 2020. Aged people and medically compromised people like patients with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are the vulnerable populations for developing an illness. A guideline has been postulated and described in the form of a journey map to avoid exposure of dental health care professionals to COVID-19. This review provides a comprehensive outlook for the current pandemic situation, its origin, spread, and preventive measures to be utilized in general and in dental practice.

SOT Consensus Statement for the Kidney Transplant Recipient and Living Donor with a Previous Diagnosis of COVID-19

The National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) has previously published transplant-specific guidelines with reference to COVID-19.([1]) The mortality is higher in dialysis patients with COVID-19 (12%-30%) than posttransplant COVID-19 patients (11.3%) and both are higher than the general population (<2%) in India.([2-5]) With the resumption of the kidney transplant program in various parts of India, new issues are expected to occur. There is uncertainty, regarding the safety of performing kidney,([ 6-8]) liver,([9-12]) and lunge([13]) transplantation in a recipient recently recovered from COVID-19. At present, we have limited evidence-based information about safety and feasibility of kidney transplantation from living donors, who have recovered from COVID-19.([4]) Recently, Indian Multi-center cohort studies have reported successful kidney transplantation in recipients from living donors with a previous diagnosis of COVID-19.([15, 16])

TAXING GOODS AND SERVICES IN A DIGITAL ERA

Taxing consumption in the digital economy poses unique challenges for fiscal authorities. Recent institutional reforms, such as states changing remittance rules for the sales and use tax following the Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, were enacted to increase tax revenue collections and create a more neutral tax system. Although these reforms induced more remote vendors to remit taxes on a destination basis, the revenue gains were modest, consistent with most large online vendors remitting taxes prior to the reforms. Instead, following the recent large shock to online shopping from the COVID-19 pandemic, the shift to destination-based taxation has redistributed revenues between large and small local jurisdictions. Increased online shopping raises revenue growth in small jurisdictions while contracting revenues in large jurisdictions. But Wayfair is not the end of the story: technological changes that induce new consumption patterns promise new challenges for fiscal authorities. Critical challenges for the next decades include limiting administrative and compliance costs of enforcing taxes in a digital world, determining filing thresholds, dealing with online marketplaces and facilitators, and taxing the consumption of digital services from two-sided platforms. With respect to digital services, we discuss whether consumption taxes should be imposed on both monetized platforms and nonmonetized platforms, such as social media, and the mechanisms for doing so.

Role of altered fractionation in radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy in management of carcinoma cervix: Time to revisit in the current COVID-19 pandemic

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 as COVID-19 virus has affected the entire world and so to the cancer care and health-care facility. Cancer cervix is one of the common malignancies among women in developing and underdeveloped countries. Various challenges are being faced by patients and health-care providers to deliver optimal treatment under prescribed time frame. Faster delivery of whole treatment is desirable in the current pandemic. Overall treatment time in cancer cervix has prognostic value. Adoption of altered fractionation to delivered external beam radiation therapy could be a method for faster delivery of whole treatment. Altered fractionation such as hyperfractionation (HFX), hypofractionation, and accelerated fraction alone or with HFX has already been experimented for the past three decades. The total duration of treatment has been significantly reduced without addition of much toxicity. Few studies had also highlighted the feasibility of addition of chemotherapy to such fractionation schedule. However, prospective studies are still warranted to generate data to further support its use in the future.

COVID-19 and its financial effects on the dental fraternity and health-care workers: A literature review

In the wake of the current outbreak of novel Covid-19, which is now declared as a ’pandemic’ by the WHO, people around the globe have been dealing with a lot of difficulties. This virus had come into light in December 2019 and since then has only grown exponentially. Amongst the most affected are the ones who have been working extremely hard to eradicate it, which includes the hos-pitals, dental fraternity and the health-care workers. These people are finan-cially burdened due to limited practise. In the case of dentistry, to avoid the spread of the virus, only emergency treatments are being approved, and the rest of the standard procedures have been put on hold. In some cases, as the number of covid cases is rising, many countries are even trying to eliminate the emergency dental procedures to divert the finances towards the treatment of covid suffering patients. What we need to realise is that this is probably not the last time that we are facing such a situation. Instead of going down, we should set up guidelines with appropriate precautionary measures together with the use of standardised PPEs. The government should also establish specific poli-cies to support dental practices and other health-care providers. Together, we can fight this pandemic and come out stronger.

Role of dentist to stop COVID-19: A journey map

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by novel coronavirus resulting in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV). Dentistry is a dynamic profession that includes sophisticated treatment planning and a wide variety of treatment modalities ranging from conventional to advanced therapies. The infection is spread from droplets released during coughing, sneezing by the symptomatic or asymptomatic patient. Dentists are in continuous contact with saliva and blood while treating a COVID-19 positive patient. Universal body substance precautions remain as the front line for reasonable risk reduction. However, when dealing with a contagious agent that is spread by droplet contact, we need to recognize the need to manage our generation of aerosols as a judicious additional measure. For dental practices and hospitals in areas that are (potentially) affected with COVID-19, strict and effective infection control protocols are urgently needed. Journey maps play a useful role in conveying information in such a way, that is memorable, concise, and that creates a picture in a person mind. Till date vaccine against coronavirus is not introduced. Therefore the best option is to prevent exposure. This review aims at discussing the role of dentists in COVID-19, its spread through dental care setting status in India through Journey map.

Coronavirus: Towards controlling of the pandemic-indian scenario

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a communicable infection caused by the novel coronavirus resulting in severe acute respiratory syndrome coron-avirus 2 (SARS-CoV). It was recognized to be a health crisis for the general population of international concern on 30th January 2020 and conceded as a pandemic on 11th March 2020. India is taking various measures to fight this invisible enemy by adopting different strategies and policies. To stop the COVID-19 from spreading, the Home Affairs Ministry and the health ministry, of India, has issued the nCoV 19 guidelines on travel. Screening for COVID-19 by asking questions about any symptoms, recent travel history, and expo-sure. India has been trying to get testing kits available. The government of India has enforced various laws like the social distancing, Janata curfew, strict lockdowns, screening door to door to control the spread of novel coronavirus. In this pandemic, innovative medical treatments are being explored, and a proper vaccine is being hunted to deal with the situation. Infection control measures are necessary to prevent the virus from further spreading and to help control the current situation. Thus, this review illustrates and explains the criteria provided by the government of India to the awareness of the public to prevent the spread of COVID-19. © 2020 Global Research Online. All rights reserved.