Workplace Bullying and Intention to Leave: The Mediating Role of Emotional Exhaustion

Bullying at work and its impact on employees' intention to leave are the focus of this study. Specifically, this research aims to determine the link between workplace bullying and emotional exhaustion and the intention to leave. Data were gathered from 234 employees working in the Saif group of Pakistan through questionnaires. The study sample was drawn using the convenience sampling technique. The non-probability sampling technique was used because of the Covid 19 situation;as per government notification, only 50% of the staff was present in the offices. This study used SPSS V. 25 for direct relationships, Hayes model 4 for mediation analysis, and for model fitness, we used CFA (Amos 22). The results show that workplace bullying has a statistically significant and positive impact on the intention to quit and emotional exhaustion plays a significant role in mediating this connection (β=0.38***, SE=0.074, LLCI=0.3077 and ULCI=0.6176). Based on these results, we conclude that workplace bullying is a mayor cause of employees' exhaustion and compels them to depart from an organisation at some point. In light of these results, supervisors or line managers play a vital role in organisational sustainability by retaining skilful employees by making the workplace environment friendly and cooperative in the long run.

Pandemic Information Access Challenges and Expectations about the Post-Covid Era: A Survey of Pakistan Students' Opinion Regarding Academic Libraries' Services and Staff

The purpose of this study was to identify the challenges students faced in accessing the information from academic libraries during COVID and factors that contributed to stress among students during the pandemic. Another purpose of the study was to know the expectations of the students regarding libraries' services and library professionals' competencies in the post-COVID era. A quantitative research approach and survey method was employed to conduct this study. The population of the study was students of public and private sector universities in Pakistan. Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the collected data. Results revealed that lack of digital resources (limited access to the internet and digital devices such as smartphones) and limited information skills found the highest mean score (3.92 and 3.90 respectively) regarding contributing to stress among the students. Similarly, findings confirmed that lack of access to printed material and printers, scanners, recorders, and websites with limited guidelines were the major challenges students faced while accessing the information from academic libraries during the period of a pandemic. Students agreed and expected remote access to information sources, availability of more electronic content, presence of online tutorials regarding the use of information sources and access to institutional repositories from libraries after the COVID era. Respondents also agreed that post-COVID librarians should be good information managers, communicators, problem solvers and internet librarians. The study also shares the implications for practitioners and polisymakers and future research directions for academics and researchers.

Examining Whistleblowing Intention: The Influence of Rationalization on Wrongdoing and Threat of Retaliation

Whistleblowers who expose wrongdoing often face several concerns, pressures, and threats of retaliation before reaching a final decision. Specifically, this study examines the effects of perceived seriousness of wrongdoing (PSW) and perceived threat of retaliation (PTR), as well as the impact of rationalization (RNL), comparing perceived seriousness of wrongdoing, perceived threat of retaliation and whistleblowing intention. Furthermore, this study aims to determine the mediating effect of anticipated regret (AR) on the relationship between perceived seriousness of wrongdoing and whistleblowing intention. We validated our model by analyzing data gathered across three stages from employees in the telecom sector in Pakistan. The key findings of our research may be summarized as follows: (i) individuals’ willingness to ‘blow the whistle’ increases as a result of perceived seriousness of wrongdoing;(ii) whistleblowers are more likely to opt to remain silent if they anticipate a greater threat of retaliation, and (iii) our study establishes a positive connection between perceived seriousness of wrongdoing and whistleblowing intention, indicating that perceived seriousness of wrongdoing enhances people’s willingness to blow the whistle, and whistleblowers are more likely to choose to emerge if the behaviour is more serious in nature;(iv) the data we have uncovered indicates a moderating role of rationalization in regulating the connections between perceived seriousness of wrongdoing, perceived threat of retaliation, and whistleblowing intention;and (v) the findings demonstrate that anticipated regret mediates the connection between perceived seriousness of wrongdoing and the intention to report wrongdoing. Additionally, the results are discussed in terms of their significance for corporate ethics researchers and managers, as well as for end-users who are interested in whistleblowing.

Drug repurposing for SARS-CoV-2 main protease: Molecular docking and molecular dynamics investigations

The current novel corona virus illness (COVID-19) is a developing viral disease that was discovered in 2019. There is currently no viable therapeutic strategy for this illness management. Because traditional medication development and discovery has lagged behind the threat of emerging and re-emerging illnesses like Ebola, MERS-CoV, and, more recently, SARS-CoV-2. Drug developers began to consider drug repurposing (or repositioning) as a viable option to the more traditional drug development method. The goal of drug repurposing is to uncover new uses for an approved or investigational medicine that aren't related to its original use. The main benefits of this strategy are that there is less developmental risk and that it takes less time because the safety and pharmacologic requirements are met. The main protease (Mpro) of corona viruses is one of the well-studied and appealing therapeutic targets. As a result, the current research examines the molecular docking of Mpro (PDB ID: 5R81) conjugated repurposed drugs. 12,432 approved drugs were collected from ChEMBL and drugbank libraries, and docked separately into the receptor grid created on 5R81, using the three phases of molecular docking including high throughput virtual screening (HTVS), standard precision (SP), and extra precision (XP). Based on docking scores and MM-GBSA binding free energy calculation, top three drugs (kanamycin, sulfinalol and carvedilol) were chosen for further analyses for molecular dynamic simulations. Graphical Image 1

Immune response dynamics in COVID-19 patients to SARS-CoV-2 and other human coronaviruses.

COVID-19 serological test must have high sensitivity as well as specificity to rule out cross-reactivity with common coronaviruses (HCoVs). We have developed a quantitative multiplex test, measuring antibodies against spike (S) proteins of SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and common human coronavirus strains (229E, NL63, OC43, HKU1), and nucleocapsid (N) protein of SARS-CoV viruses. Receptor binding domain of S protein of SARS-CoV-2 (S-RBD), and N protein, demonstrated sensitivity (94% and 92.5%, respectively) in COVID-19 patients (n = 53), with 98% specificity in non-COVID-19 respiratory-disease (n = 98), and healthy-controls (n = 129). Anti S-RBD and N antibodies appeared five to ten days post-onset of symptoms, peaking at approximately four weeks. The appearance of IgG and IgM coincided while IgG subtypes, IgG1 and IgG3 appeared soon after the total IgG; IgG2 and IgG4 remained undetectable. Several inflammatory cytokines/chemokines were found to be elevated in many COVID-19 patients (e.g., Eotaxin, Gro-α, CXCL-10 (IP-10), RANTES (CCL5), IL-2Rα, MCP-1, and SCGF-b); CXCL-10 was elevated in all. In contrast to antibody titers, levels of CXCL-10 decreased with the improvement in patient health suggesting it as a candidate for disease resolution. Importantly, anti-N antibodies appear before S-RBD and differentiate between vaccinated and infected people-current vaccines (and several in the pipeline) are S protein-based.

A comprehensive review on clinical and mechanistic pathophysiological aspects of COVID-19 Malady: How far have we come?

Since its outbreak in 2019, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become a pandemic, affecting more than 52 million people and causing more than 1 million mortalities globally till date. Current research reveals a wide array of disease manifestations and behaviors encompassing multiple organ systems in body and immense systemic inflammation, which have been summarized in this review. Data from a number of scientific reviews, research articles, case series, observational studies, and case reports were retrieved by utilizing online search engines such as Cochrane, PubMed, and Scopus from December 2019 to November 2020. The data for prevalence of signs and symptoms, underlying disease mechanisms and comorbidities were analyzed using SPSS version 25. This review will discuss a wide range of COVID-19 clinical presentations recorded till date, and the current understanding of both the underlying general as well as system specific pathophysiologic, and pathogenetic pathways. These include direct viral penetration into host cells through ACE2 receptors, induction of inflammosomes and immune response through viral proteins, and the initiation of system-wide inflammation and cytokine production. Moreover, peripheral organ damage and underlying comorbid diseases which can lead to short term and long term, reversible and irreversible damage to the body have also been studied. We concluded that underlying comorbidities and their pathological effects on the body contributed immensely and determine the resultant disease severity and mortality of the patients. Presently there is no drug approved for treatment of COVID-19, however multiple vaccines are now in use and research for more is underway.

Turning over a new leaf: Vape shop closings, openings and transitions in six U.S. Metropolitan statistical areas.

This study characterizes vape shop closings, openings, and changes in product mix in six U.S. metropolitan statistical areas with different tobacco and marijuana policies. With concern for higher rates of marijuana use among those who vape nicotine, the presence of marijuana-related terms in store names was also assessed. A census of stores that were classified online as vape shops/stores or vaporizer stores were telephoned in April-May 2018 (n = 739) and July-September 2019 (n = 919) to verify whether vape products and other tobacco products (OTP) were sold. We computed the percent of stores that closed, opened, and started/stopped selling OTP. Multilevel models tested whether these events varied by store type and by neighborhood demographics. Within 16 months, 11.5% of 739 stores had closed and 29.8% of 919 stores at follow-up had opened. Closings were more likely among vape-only than vape + OTP stores (AOR = 2.51, 95% CI = 1.47,4.29); vape-only stores were less likely to open (AOR = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.34,0.62). Regardless of store type, the odds of a store opening increased as the proportion of non-Hispanic/Latino White residents in the census tract increased (AOR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.18,1.85). Overall, 2.0% of stores (vape-only and vape + OTP) had marijuana-related names at baseline and 3.5% at follow-up. The observed change (1.6% to 5.8%) was greatest in Oklahoma City, where the state legalized medical marijuana between baseline and follow-up. More stores were opening than closing in six U.S. metropolitan statistical areas before statewide sales restrictions on flavored tobacco and COVID-19. Uniform licensing is recommended to define vape shops and track their location and sales practices.

COVID-19: Current Developments and Further Opportunities in Drug Delivery and Therapeutics.

SARS-CoV-2 has affected people from all age groups, races and ethnicities. Given that many infected individuals are asymptomatic, they transmit the disease to others unknowingly, which has resulted in the spread of infection at an alarming rate. This review aims to provide an overview of the pathophysiology, preventive measures to reduce the disease spread, therapies currently in use, an update on vaccine development and opportunities for vaccine delivery. The World Health Organization has advised several precautions including social distancing, hand washing and the use of PPE including gloves and face masks for minimizing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection. At present, several antiviral therapies previously approved for other infections are being repositioned to study their efficacy against SARS-CoV-2. In addition, some medicines (i.e., remdesivir, chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine) have received emergency use authorisation from the FDA. Plasma therapy has also been authorised for emergency use for the treatment of COVID-19 on a smaller scale. However, no vaccine has been approved so far against this virus. Nevertheless, several potential vaccine targets have been reported, and development of different types of vaccines including DNA, mRNA, viral vector, inactivated, subunit and vaccine-like particles is in process. It is concluded that a suitable candidate delivered through an advanced drug delivery approach would effectively boost the immune system against this coronavirus.