Returns and volatility spillover between agricultural commodities and emerging stock markets: new evidence from COVID-19 and Russian-Ukrainian war

Purpose: This study investigate the return and volatility spillover among agricultural commodities and emerging stock markets during various crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian war. Design/methodology/approach: This return and volatility spillover is estimated using Diebold and Yilmaz (2012, 2014) approach. Findings: The results reveal the weak connectedness between agricultural commodities and emerging stock markets. Corn and sugar are the highest and lowest transmitters, respectively, whereas soya bean and coffee are the largest and smallest recipients of spillover over time. Most equity indices are the net recipient except for India, China, Indonesia, Argentina and Mexico, during the entire sample period. Most commodities are net transmitters of volatility spillover except coffee and soya bean. At the same time, major equity indices are the net recipient of the volatility spillover except for India, Indonesia, China, Argentina, Malaysia and Korea. In addition, the return and volatility spillover increase during various crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian war, but the major increase in spillovers occurs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Practical implications: The empirical results show a weak relationship between agricultural commodities and emerging stock markets which is helpful for investors and portfolio managers in the construction and reallocation of their portfolios under different periods, most notably under COVID-19 and the Russian-Ukrainian war. Originality/value: It is an original paper. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

On the privacy of mental health apps: An empirical investigation and its implications for app development.

An increasing number of mental health services are now offered through mobile health (mHealth) systems, such as in mobile applications (apps). Although there is an unprecedented growth in the adoption of mental health services, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns about data privacy risks due to security breaches are also increasing. Whilst some studies have analyzed mHealth apps from different angles, including security, there is relatively little evidence for data privacy issues that may exist in mHealth apps used for mental health services, whose recipients can be particularly vulnerable. This paper reports an empirical study aimed at systematically identifying and understanding data privacy incorporated in mental health apps. We analyzed 27 top-ranked mental health apps from Google Play Store. Our methodology enabled us to perform an in-depth privacy analysis of the apps, covering static and dynamic analysis, data sharing behaviour, server-side tests, privacy impact assessment requests, and privacy policy evaluation. Furthermore, we mapped the findings to the LINDDUN threat taxonomy, describing how threats manifest on the studied apps. The findings reveal important data privacy issues such as unnecessary permissions, insecure cryptography implementations, and leaks of personal data and credentials in logs and web requests. There is also a high risk of user profiling as the apps' development do not provide foolproof mechanisms against linkability, detectability and identifiability. Data sharing among 3rd-parties and advertisers in the current apps' ecosystem aggravates this situation. Based on the empirical findings of this study, we provide recommendations to be considered by different stakeholders of mHealth apps in general and apps developers in particular. We conclude that while developers ought to be more knowledgeable in considering and addressing privacy issues, users and health professionals can also play a role by demanding privacy-friendly apps. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10664-022-10236-0.

Clinical Characteristics of Novel Coronavirus Disease in the Pediatric Population

Objective: To assess the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 Virus disease in the pediatric population in Pakistan. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Pak Emirates Military Hospital, Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Mar 2020 to Jan 2021. Methodology: All children presenting to the department with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 disease were tested for the virus. Patients who tested positive on the PCR were included in the study. Patients with non-consistent symptoms of COVID-19 and those who tested negative on the PCR were excluded from the study. All clinical data, including the age of the child, the onset of symptoms, the gap between the onset of symptoms and presentation as well as clinical symptoms, were documented on a predefined proforma. Results: A total of 106 patients were enrolled on the study. The mean age of patients was 5.6±2.5 years. The most frequent symptoms were fever (63, 59.6%) and cough (49, 46.2%). There were 3(2.9%) cases with severe or critical illness. The most frequent abnormal laboratory findings were leukopenia (29, 27.4%) and increased creatine kinase (38, 36.0%). Ground-glass opacities were observed in the HRCT chest of 17(65.3%) cases, out of 26 children diagnosed with pneumonia. The majority (70, 66%), had a positive exposure history. 88(83%) cases did not abide by the precautionary measures against the COVID-19 disease. Conclusions: The current study indicates that children usually present with mild symptoms but can present as severe diseases, as observed in this study. © 2022, Army Medical College. All rights reserved.

SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein: Importance in viral infection

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has caused millions of deaths worldwide. Therefore, it is critical to understand the biological basis of SARS-CoV-2 to develop novel approaches to control its spread. The SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) protein is an important diagnostic and potent therapeutic target of the disease, as it is involved in numerous important functions in the viral life cycle. Several studies have explained the structural and functional aspects of the SARS-CoV-2 N protein. This review summarizes the currently available data on the evolutionarily conserved N protein of SARS-CoV-2 by providing detailed information on the structural and multifunctional characteristics of the N protein. © 2022 The Author(s).

TELEUROLOGY: EXPANDING HORIZONS TO INPATIENT ECONSULTS

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Telemedicine use rapidly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the efficacy of telemedicine in the inpatient setting has yet to be addressed. To this end, we measured patient and provider satisfaction with video and faceto- face (FTF) consults for inpatient urology consultations and sought to identify the urologic conditions most suitable for video consults. METHODS: New inpatient urology consults between August 2021-October 2021 were randomized to either video or FTF consult. Patient surveys were administered within 24 hours to assess satisfaction and perceived quality of care during the consult (3-point ordinal Likert scale). Survey results were analyzed using Mann- Whitney U tests. Participating urology attendings completed a survey assessing satisfaction and utility of both consultation mediums (3- point ordinal Likert scale), and suitability of video consults for common urologic consultation conditions (5-point ordinal Likert scale). RESULTS: A total of 48 patients were included;23 (48%) received video consult and 25 (52%) FTF consults. There were no significant differences in age or race between the cohorts. The most common reasons for consultation were acute urinary retention (Video: 5 [22%], FTF: 5 [20%]) and urolithiasis (Video: 5 [25%], FTF: 3 [12%]). Both cohorts agreed that they were overall satisfied with their visit (Video: 22 [95.7%], FTF: 25 [100%];p=0.297), received high-quality care (Video: 22 [95.7%], FTF: 23 [92.0%];p=0.61), and would accept the visit modality again in the future (Video: 21 [91.3%], FTF: 25 [100%];p=0.14). Urologists agreed on the utility of both consultation mediums, including ability to gather complete information (Video: 7 [100%], FTF: 7 [100%]) and manage the patient (Video: 6 [85.7%], FTF: 7 [100%];p=0.71). Physician satisfaction was lower for video consult than FTF (Video: 5 [71.4%], FTF: 7 [100%];p=0.38), and physicians were less likely to agree that video consults were satisfactory compared to FTF visits (4 [57.1%]). The most suitable urologic conditions for video consultation were elevated PSA and urinary retention (4.85±0.38), followed by urinary incontinence and nephrolithiasis (4.71±0.49). The least suitable was scrotal wall swelling (2.71±0.76). CONCLUSIONS: With increasing telemedicine utilization, video consults offer an alternative to FTF rounding that may combat difficulties of urologist shortages. Video consults enable urologists to see a wide variety of inpatient consults without hindering patient satisfaction. However, adoption of this tool will rely on physician preference and competence with video technology.

Lessons from the field: delivering trachoma mass drug administration safely in a COVID-19 context.

The first coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) interim guidance released by the World Health Organization recommended suspension of non-urgent community health interventions, including mass drug administration (MDA) for neglected tropical diseases. However, with no end in sight for the COVID-19 pandemic, it was crucial to find ways to restart MDA while testing measures to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission between health workers, volunteers and communities. Consequently, guidelines were developed for delivering MDA safely in a COVID-19 context and the training and implementation were assessed through an observation checklist. The study also gathered data on the feasibility of using the MDA platform to disseminate COVID-19 health education. The results suggest that delivering MDA safely in a COVID-19 context is possible but revealed significant challenges in using the MDA platform for COVID-19 education.

Milk lactoferrin: A probable immunological agent against sars-cov-2: A review

In current COVID-19 pandemic, when there is no specific antiviral treatment and vaccine is available yet, many nutritional supplements have caught the attention to manage the disease. Lactoferrin is one of a natural nutritional supplement found in the milk of livestock mammals and has immunomodulation property due to its iron withholding ability and capacity to bind to multiple cellular receptors. The antiviral ability of lactoferrin has been evaluated against many viruses including SARS-CoV which is closely related to SARS-CoV-2 (causative agent of COVID-19). Furthermore, lactoferrin also possesses anti-inflammatory efficacy and can inhibit the circulating inflammatory cytokines (e.g. Interferon γ, interleukin (IL-) 1B, IL-6, IL-12) and chemokines (CCL2 and CXCL10) which are reported to be present in higher levels in COVID-19 patients. A particular research about exploring the potential of lactoferrin against SARS-CoV-2 is highly demandable because lactoferrin might prevent the SARS-CoV-2 from infecting the host cells due to its biological activities regarding antiviral immunity. We are hopeful that further research on evaluating the pharmacological effect of lactoferrin against SARS-CoV-2 will signify its role to combat COVID-19. © 2020, University of Basrah, College of Agriculture. All rights reserved.