Predictors of seroconversion after coronavirus disease 2019 vaccination.

BACKGROUND: Vaccine nonresponse during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has considerable individual and societal risks. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical characteristics of patients with lack of seroconversion after vaccination against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). METHODS: Demographic and clinical data were collected from 805 patients who had validated antibody assays against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein at least 14 days after completion of their COVID-19 vaccination. Clinical characteristics from patients with a negative (< 0.4 U/mL) antibody response were assessed and summarized. RESULTS: A total of 622 (77.3%) patients attained seroconversion as defined by a titer of greater than or equal to 0.4 U/mL, whereas 183 out of 805 (22.7%) patients exhibited no seroconversion after vaccination against SARS-CoV-2. Univariately, older age (P = .02) and male sex were associated with a lower likelihood of seroconversion (P = .003). Therapy with immunosuppressive drugs was noted in 93 (50.8%) of seronegative patients with most (n = 83/93, 89.2%) receiving ongoing immunosuppressive therapy at the time of vaccination. Among the 134 (73.2%) seronegative patients with immunodeficiency, 110 (82.1%) had primary immunodeficiency. Cancer (n = 128, 69.9%), B cell depletion therapy (n = 90/115, 78.3%), and immunosuppressant steroid use (n = 71/93 on immunosuppressants, 76.3%) were the other common characteristics among the vaccine nonresponders. More importantly, our study did not evaluate the actual efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination. CONCLUSION: Vaccine responses vary by age and sex, with men showing lower rates of seroconversion as compared with women. Primary immunodeficiency along with active malignancy and ongoing immunosuppression with steroids or B cell depletion therapy appeared to be the most common characteristics for those with a lack of vaccine seroconversion after COVID-19 vaccination.

French amateur football clubs’ finance and revenue volatility: the determinants of demand shocks

The article addresses financial troubles in French amateur football clubs and their origins. Previous literature has demonstrated that–in particular in French football–club bankruptcies are triggered by demand shocks. The present research intends highlighting the determinants of demand shocks on those clubs playing French amateur football top two tiers with a longitudinal analysis (2009/2010-2019/2020). Various exogenous elements that influence club demand (i.e. revenues) are taken on board, namely, macroeconomic variables, such as the variation of GDP growth rate between two football seasons, a dummy for the Covid-19 sanitary crisis, and a sport dummy for the effect of the French national team winning the 2018 male football World Cup. The latter is used to check a potential trickle-down effect on amateur elite football. None of these variables do explain demand shocks except if the heterogeneity of clubs’ economic models is taken into account. The determinants of shock demands appear to be clubs’ strategic orientations (towards win maximization vs. a stable economic organization). © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

The economic shock of Covid-19 on French amateur football

The spread of Coronavirus (Covid-19) has put an earlier end on professional and amateur football championships. The article aims at highlighting whether the instant and violent shock of this crisis has affected the financing model of amateur football clubs by comparing their accounts before the crisis and at the end of the current season. Government's measures to support sport activity are taken on board to check how much clubs have resorted to them.

French men's professional basketball under the economic shock of the Covid-19

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the economic effects of Covid-19 on French men's professional basketball club championships. Three research questions are raised: What are the characteristics of the economic model of French men's professional basketball? Has this economic model changed over the 2008/2009 to 2018/2019 period? What are the economic effects of the Covid-19 crisis on the finance of French men's professional basketball clubs? Design/methodology/approach: Relying on a privileged access to the financial data of professional clubs in the two top-tier divisions (456 observations: 222 in Pro A/Jeep Elite and 234 in Pro B), this research focuses on economic models of French men's professional basketball clubs. The breakdown of revenues, expenses and financial performance is examined over the 2008/2009 to 2018/2019 period. The short-term economic effects of Covid-19 are measured over the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 seasons. Findings: The Covid-19 crisis, at least in the short term (2019/2020 season), has affected revenues and expenses. With the closedown of the championship, two out of three main revenue sources have significantly decreased, while two main expense sources have decreased as well. The net incomes of Jeep Elite and Pro B clubs are in the black contrasting with the 2018/2019 season (pre-Covid) owing to clubs having benefited from governmental and federal measures and a stronger support from local authorities and their shareholders. Practical implications: Given the financial difficulties that clubs would have faced without governmental support, the federation and leagues would be well advised to develop a real crisis management competence within professional clubs. Owners of French professional men’s basketball clubs must increasingly adopt product diversification strategies to be better prepared for future crises. Originality/value: Recent research on the economic effects of Covid-19 has focused on professional and amateur football. To the best of our knowledge, one does not avail detailed research on the potential effects of a health crisis fought with containment measures on professional basketball clubs. French professional basketball deserves to be studied because it has the third largest professional league revenue (behind football and rugby) and it is the second most practiced sport in France. Its sources of finance, which are different from those witnessed in football and rugby, also make it an appropriate subject for study. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Amateur football under the economic shock of the COVID-19 crisis in France

The spread of Coronavirus (Covid-19) has put an earlier end on professional and amateur football championships. The article aims at highlighting whether the instant and violent shock of this crisis has affected the financing model of amateur football clubs by comparing their accounts before the crisis and at the end of the current season. Government's measures to support sport activity are taken on board to check how much clubs have resorted to them.

Economic Models of French Amateur Soccer Clubs. From One Crisis to the Other: Which Transformation?

This article presents economic models at work in French amateur soccer clubs playing National 1 and National 2 tiers. Teams’ sporting performance and clubs’ financial results as well as their revenue and expenditure statistical distribution are analysed by means of Principal Component Analysis. Then a k-means methodology is implemented in view to defining archetypical clusters that characterise French amateur soccer clubs during the 2008-2020 period. The latter span of time opens a window of opportunity for understanding transformations in club economic models since the subprime crisis and up to current global economic recession triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic. Following the club taxonomy, a comparative static analysis shows that more amateur soccer clubs are in more satisficing financial shape at the dawn of the sanitary crisis than when they have been facing the subprime crisis. The so-called “virtuous modesty” cluster includes a greater number of clubs in 2019/20 than in 2008/09. © 2021 Global Alliance of Marketing & Management Associations (GAMMA).

Theeconomicshock of Covid-19 on Frenchamateur football

The spread of Coronavirus (Covid-19) has put an earlier end on professional and amateur football championships. The article aims at highlighting whether the instant and violent shock of this crisis has affected the financing model of amateur football clubs by comparing their accounts before the crisis and at the end of the current season. Government's measures to support sport activity are taken on board to check how much clubs have resorted to them. © 2020 Boeck Universite. All rights reserved.