Transformational Leadership, Organizational Innovation, and ESG Performance: Evidence from SMEs in China

ESG is a sustainable development concept that integrates environmental, social, and corporate governance. Most studies on ESG have been conducted based on secondary data from listed companies and have not used questionnaires as a method for analysis. Given this research gap, this paper examines whether transformational leadership influences ESG performance in SMEs, whether organizational innovation mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and ESG performance, and the moderating effect of external social capital on transformational leadership and organizational innovation. Based on higher-order theory, resource-based theory, stakeholder theory, etc., we tested this hypothesis by conducting a regression analysis with a questionnaire collected from SMEs in China. After controlling for firm ownership, firm size, firm industry, and years in business, the results of the study indicate that transformational leadership has a positive effect on ESG performance and that organizational innovation partially mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and corporate ESG performance. Furthermore, external social capital moderates the direct relationship between transformational leadership and organizational innovation and moderates the role of organizational innovation as a mediator between transformational leadership and ESG performance. This study adds to our further understanding of the relationship between transformational leadership and ESG performance in SMEs, expanding the antecedent research on ESG performance and providing a basis for sustainable SME development.

Global control of tuberculosis: current status and future prospects

Tuberculosis is a zoonotic disease that is caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and can infect humans, livestock, and wildlife. It spreads primarily through the respiratory tract and was the leading cause of death due to a single infectious disease before the COVID-19 pandemic. TB is a global public health emergency that has reemerged over the past few decades. Substantial efforts are needed to achieve the goals of the End TB Strategy. The World Health Organization has estimated that approximately 9.9 million people worldwide contracted TB in 2020 and that approximately 140,000 of the 10 million new cases of active TB in 2019 were zoonotic TB. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of new TB diagnoses and reports decreased sharply, from 7.1 million in 2019 to 5.8 million in 2020, returning to 2012 levels far below the approximately 10 million TB cases in 2020. Simultaneously, the global decrease in the absolute number of TB deaths until 2019 was followed by an increase in 2020 in four of the six WHO regions and most of the 30 high-TB-burden countries. Therefore, extensive immediate actions worldwide are required to restore the health system, and innovations are needed to accelerate progress toward a tuberculosis-free world.

Mesophilic Argonaute-based isothermal detection of SARS-CoV-2

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection and its mutations, has spread rapidly all over the world and still requires sensitive detection to distinguish mutations. CRISPR-based diagnosis has been regarded as a next-generation detection method;however, it has some limitations, such as the need for specific recognition sequences and multiple enzymes for multiplex detection. Therefore, research on the exploration and development of novel nucleases helps to promote specific and sensitive diagnoses. Prokaryotic Argonaute (Ago) proteins exert directed nuclease activity that can target any sequence. Recently, thermophilic Agos have been developed as new detection techniques achieving multiplexity for multiple targets using a single enzyme, as well as accurate recognition of single-base differential sequences. In this study, to overcome the requirement for high reaction temperature of thermophilic Ago-based methods, we expanded the mining of mesophilic Agos to achieve CRISPR-like isothermal detection, named mesophilic Ago-based isothermal detection method (MAIDEN). The principle of MAIDEN uses mesophilic Ago cleavage combined with reverse transcription, which can provide single-strand DNA as a substrate and allow cleavage of fluorescence probes to sense SARS-CoV-2 at moderate temperature. We first mined and optimized the mesophilic Ago and the fluorescence reporter system and then selected a compatible reverse transcription reaction. Furthermore, we optimized MAIDEN into a one-step reaction that can detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA at the nanomolar concentration at a constant temperature of 42°C within 60 min. Therefore, MAIDEN shows advantageous portability and easy-to-implement operation, avoiding the possibility of open-lid contamination. Our study was the first attempt to demonstrate that mesophilic Agos can be harnessed as diagnostic tools, and MAIDEN was easily extended to detect other pathogens in a rapid and efficient manner.

Past, Present and Future: The Relationship Between Circular RNA and Immunity.

The immune system has evolved since the birth of humans. However, immune-related diseases have not yet been overcome due to the lack of expected indicators and targeting specificity of current medical technology, subjecting patients to very uncomfortable physical and mental experiences and high medical costs. Therefore, the requirements for treatments with higher specificity and indicative ability are raised. Fortunately, the discovery of and continuous research investigating circular RNAs (circRNAs) represent a promising method among numerous methods. Although circRNAs wear regarded as metabolic wastes when discovered, as a type of noncoding RNA (ncRNA) with a ring structure and wide distribution range in the human body, circRNAs shine brilliantly in medical research by virtue of their special nature and structure-determined functions, such as high stability, wide distribution, high detection sensitivity, acceptable reproducibility and individual differences. Based on research investigating the role of circRNAs in immunity, we systematically discuss the hotspots of the roles of circRNAs in immune-related diseases, including expression profile analyses, potential biomarker research, ncRNA axis/network construction, impacts on phenotypes, therapeutic target seeking, maintenance of nucleic acid stability and protein binding research. In addition, we summarize the current situation of and problems associated with circRNAs in immune research, highlight the applications and prospects of circRNAs in the treatment of immune-related diseases, and provide new insight into future directions and new strategies for laboratory research and clinical applications.

Do the Outbreak of COVID-19 Influence the China Stock Market?

This study aims at the impact outbreak of COVID-19 influence Chinese currency and stock market over the period December 2, 2019, to January 04, 2021. The Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Homoscedastic approach captures the most common stylized fact about index returns (such as multivariate to capture the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchange). Our finding shows the explosive process and risk premium for the Shenzhen stock exchange (SSE) and Shanghai stock exchange (SZSE) index. And the standard deviation depreciation of the Chinese currency during the COVID-19 equivalent to 0.46% improved stock market return by 81% average returns. These results explain that high volatility of index returns is present in the Chinese stock market over the sample period. According to the analysis results, it can be concluded that the number of new cases and the number of recent deaths have a significant effect on the stock market, causing uncertainty in the sustainability. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Problemy Ekorozwoju is the property of Faculty of Environmental Engineering 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 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 . (Copyright applies to all s.)

A Case Series of Olfactory Dysfunction in Imported COVID-19 Patients: A 12-Month Follow-Up Study.

Objective: The scientific community knows little about the long-term influence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on olfactory dysfunction (OD). With the COVID-19 pandemic ongoing worldwide, the risk of imported cases remains high. In China, it is necessary to understand OD in imported cases. Methods: A prospective follow-up design was adopted. A total of 11 self-reported patients with COVID-19 and OD from Xi'an No. 8 Hospital were followed between August 19, 2021, and December 12, 2021. Demographics, clinical characteristics, laboratory and radiological findings, and treatment outcomes were analyzed at admission. We surveyed the patients via telephone for recurrence and sequelae at the 1-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up. Results: Eleven patients with OD were enrolled; of these, 54.5% (6/11) had hyposmia and 45.5% (5/11) had anosmia. 63.6% (7/11) reported OD before or on the day of admission as their initial symptom; of these, 42.9% (3/7) described OD as the only symptom. All patients in the study received combined treatment with traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, and 72.7% (8/11) had partially or fully recovered at discharge. In terms of OD recovery at the 12-month follow-up, 45.5% (5/11) reported at least one sequela, 81.8% (9/11) had recovered completely, 18.2% (2/11) had recovered partially, and there were no recurrent cases. Conclusions: Our data revealed that OD frequently presented as the initial or even the only symptom among imported cases. Most OD improvements occurred in the first 2 weeks after onset, and patients with COVID-19 and OD had favorable treatment outcomes during long-term follow-up. A better understanding of the pathogenesis and appropriate treatment of OD is needed to guide clinicians in the care of these patients.

Intensifier of urban economic resilience: Specialized or diversified agglomeration?

With increased uncertainty and instability worldwide, how to enhance the urban economy resilience effectively has become one main issue for urban economic development. Based on the measurement of the economic resilience of 241 cities at the prefecture level and above in China using the sensitive index method, we scrutinize the impact of industrial specialization agglomeration and diversification agglomeration on urban economic resilience. Results indicate that, during the impact resistance period, industrial diversification agglomeration, especially related industrial diversification agglomeration, can enhance urban economic resilience, whereas industrial specialization agglomeration has no positive effect. In contrast, during the period of recovery and adjustment, industrial specialization agglomeration can improve urban economic resilience, and industrial diversification agglomeration, especially related industrial diversification agglomeration, has no positive effect. Further analysis indicates that, under the interaction of specialization and diversification agglomerations, the effect of industrial agglomeration on urban economic resilience depends on the type of dual industrial agglomeration, showing remarkable heterogeneity. This study may provide useful references for policy makers concerned with urban resilience.

Design of SARS-CoV-2 PLpro Inhibitors for COVID-19 Antiviral Therapy Leveraging Binding Cooperativity.

Antiviral agents that complement vaccination are urgently needed to end the COVID-19 pandemic. The SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease (PLpro), one of only two essential cysteine proteases that regulate viral replication, also dysregulates host immune sensing by binding and deubiquitination of host protein substrates. PLpro is a promising therapeutic target, albeit challenging owing to featureless P1 and P2 sites recognizing glycine. To overcome this challenge, we leveraged the cooperativity of multiple shallow binding sites on the PLpro surface, yielding novel 2-phenylthiophenes with nanomolar inhibitory potency. New cocrystal structures confirmed that ligand binding induces new interactions with PLpro: by closing of the BL2 loop of PLpro forming a novel "BL2 groove" and by mimicking the binding interaction of ubiquitin with Glu167 of PLpro. Together, this binding cooperativity translates to the most potent PLpro inhibitors reported to date, with slow off-rates, improved binding affinities, and low micromolar antiviral potency in SARS-CoV-2-infected human cells.

The prognostic value of the SOFA score in patients with COVID-19: A retrospective, observational study.

ABSTRACT: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can lead to serious illness and death, and thus, it is particularly important to predict the severity and prognosis of COVID-19. The Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score has been used to predict the clinical outcomes of patients with multiple organ failure requiring intensive care. Therefore, we retrospectively analyzed the clinical characteristics, risk factors, and relationship between the SOFA score and the prognosis of COVID-19 patients.We retrospectively included all patients ≥18 years old who were diagnosed with COVID-19 in the laboratory continuously admitted to Jingzhou Central Hospital from January 16, 2020 to March 23, 2020. The demographic, clinical manifestations, complications, laboratory results, and clinical outcomes of patients infected with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 were collected and analyzed. Clinical variables were compared between patients with mild and severe COVID-19. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify the risk factors for severe COVID-19. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to analyze risk factors for hospital-related death. Survival analysis was performed by the Kaplan-Meier method, and survival differences were assessed by the log-rank test. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of the SOFA score in different situations were drawn, and the area under the ROC curve was calculated.A total of 117 patients with confirmed diagnoses of COVID-19 were retrospectively analyzed, of which 108 patients were discharged and 9 patients died. The median age of the patients was 50.0 years old (interquartile range [IQR], 35.5-62.0). 63 patients had comorbidities, of which hypertension (27.4%) was the most frequent comorbidities, followed by diabetes (8.5%), stroke (4.3%), coronary heart disease (3.4%), and chronic liver disease (3.4%). The most common symptoms upon admission were fever (82.9%) and dry cough (70.1%). Regression analysis showed that high SOFA scores, advanced age, and hypertension were associated with severe COVID-19. The median SOFA score of all patients was 2 (IQR, 1-3). Patients with severe COVID-19 exhibited a significantly higher SOFA score than patients with mild COVID-19 (3 [IQR, 2-4] vs 1 [IQR, 0-1]; P  < .001). The SOFA score can better identify severe COVID-19, with an odds ratio of 5.851 (95% CI: 3.044-11.245; P < .001). The area under the ROC curve (AUC) was used to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the SOFA score in predicting severe COVID-19 (cutoff value = 2; AUC = 0.908 [95% CI: 0.857-0.960]; sensitivity: 85.20%; specificity: 80.40%) and the risk of death in COVID-19 patients (cutoff value = 5; AUC = 0.995 [95% CI: 0.985-1.000]; sensitivity: 100.00%; specificity: 95.40%). Regarding the 60-day mortality rates of patients in the 2 groups classified by the optimal cutoff value of the SOFA score (5), patients in the high SOFA score group (SOFA score ≥5) had a significantly greater risk of death than those in the low SOFA score group (SOFA score < 5).The SOFA score could be used to evaluate the severity and 60-day mortality of COVID-19. The SOFA score may be an independent risk factor for in-hospital death.

Relationships of leisure social support and flow with loneliness among nursing home residents during the COVID-19 pandemic: An age-based moderating model.

Identifying predictors of loneliness is important to develop interventions that help older adults residing in nursing homes reduce their loneliness, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, we examined whether leisure social support and flow (also identified as optimal experience) were predictive of loneliness, and whether age moderated the relationship between flow and loneliness. In total, 235 nursing home residents, aged 65 years or older, participated in our study. We conducted in-person surveys to measure their age, leisure social support, flow, and loneliness as well as used multiple linear regression analysis to analyze data. Results indicated that high levels of leisure social support and flow predicted low levels of loneliness. However, age decreased the negative relationship between flow and loneliness. We discuss implications of these results in terms of reducing loneliness, without depending highly on the presence of others, during times of social isolation associated with responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Tuberculosis Patients' Behavior of Seeking Medical Care - China, 2020.

What is already known on this topic? The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted the tuberculosis (TB) service system. However, the impact on TB patients in China remains unknown. What is added by this report? This report firstly addressed the impact of COVID-19 on TB patients in China. About half of TB patients did not revisit the hospital due to personal reasons. The reasons for irregular medication and postponing or cancelling examination after full treatment course were different. What are the implications for public health practice? Health education and risk communication should be strengthened for better TB patient management and treatment adherence, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Pre-Treatment Delays, Detection, and Clinical Characteristics of Tuberculosis Patients in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China.

Background: To contain the pandemic of COVID-19, China has implemented a series of public health interventions that impacted the tuberculosis control substantially, but these impacts may vary greatly depending on the severity of the local COVID-19 epidemic. The impact of COVID-19 on TB control in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region is little known. Methods: Based on the national TB Information Management System (TBIMS), this study accessed the actual impact of COVID-19 on TB by comparing TB notifications, pre-treatment delays, and clinical characteristics of TB cases between 2020 COVID-19 period and 2017-2019 baseline. The data were divided into three periods based on the response started to fight against COVID-19 in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, including the control period (10 weeks before the pandemic), intensive period (10 weeks during the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region lockdown), and regular (10 additional weeks after Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region reopen). Results: TB notification dropped sharply in the first week of the intensive period but took significantly longer to return to the previous level in 2020 compared with the 2017-2019 baseline. Totally, the TB notification rates decreased by more than 60% in the intensive period of COVID-19 compared with the average level of 2017-2019. The sputum smear-positive rate of TB patients diagnosed in intensive period of COVID-19 was significantly higher than that in the corresponding periods of 2017-2019 (P < 0.001). The rate of cavity on X-ray inspection of TB cases diagnosed in the intensive period of COVID-19 was significantly higher than that in period 2 of 2017-2019 (23.5 vs. 15.4%, P = 0.004). The patients' delay in the intensive period was significantly longer than that before the pandemic (P = 0.047). Conclusions: The TB notification in Ningxia was impacted dramatically by the pandemic of COVID-19. To compensate for the large numbers of missed diagnosis as well as delayed diagnosis during the intensive period of COVID-19, an urgent restoration of normal TB services, and further emphasis on enhanced active case finding and scale-up of household contact tracing and screening for TB-related symptoms or manifestation, will be essential.

Psychological stress of university students in the hardest-hit areas at different stages of the COVID-19 epidemic.

BACKGROUND: The outbreak of COVID-19 has caused extremely many serious consequences for the country and the world. In fact, it has seriously affected people's mental health. The purpose of this study is to understand the psychological stress among college students in different stages of epidemics in hard-hit areas such as Hubei. Moreover, to highlight the factors that influencing, their psychological conditions with the emphasis of further corresponding suggestions. METHODS: This study includes self-designed questionnaires in order to assess and analyze the psychological state of over 17,000 college students during the outbreak period in January and home quarantine in February. The questionnaire contains three aspects and six dimensions: pressure responses: stress susceptibility (SS), stress adjustment (SA), risk cognition: cognition of danger (CD), cognition of illness (CI) and stress reactions: emotional responses (ER), somatic responses (SR). This survey was done by an online questionnaire (www.wjx.cn) to investigate the psychological stress information of college students, and analyzed the data by SPSS 22.0 for Windows. RESULTS: Regarding the stress susceptibility, participants were more likely stressed in February than in January. Regarding the stress adjustment, the number of participants requiring pressure regulation or release in the February survey was significantly lower than that the effective in the January survey. The mean of the cognition of danger reduced significantly in February than in January, in other words, participants were highly worried about the epidemic in January than in February. Regarding the cognition of illness, participants in January had a more pessimistic attitude towards the epidemic than those in February. The emotional responses of the participants in February were more severe than those in January, while the somatic responses reduced significantly in February compared with January. Furthermore, females have stronger stress reactions than males. However, the SR doesn't have significant differences between females and males. CONCLUSION: After two surveys in January and February, it was found that the psychological stress of college students in Hubei was significantly different at different stages of the epidemic, where the epidemic developed, the psychological stress of college students become more severe. The psychological stress of the college students in Hubei Province, as a severely affected area, should be paid more attention.

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Therapy for Critically Ill Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients in Wuhan, China: A Retrospective Multicenter Cohort Study.

Currently, little in-depth evidence is known about the application of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. This retrospective multicenter cohort study included patients with COVID-19 at 7 designated hospitals in Wuhan, China. The patients were followed up until June 30, 2020. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify the risk factors associated with unsuccessful ECMO weaning. Propensity score matching was used to match patients who received veno-venous ECMO with those who received invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV)-only therapy. Of 88 patients receiving ECMO therapy, 27 and 61 patients were and were not successfully weaned from ECMO, respectively. Additionally, 15, 15, and 65 patients were further weaned from IMV, discharged from hospital, or died during hospitalization, respectively. In the multivariate logistic regression analysis, a lymphocyte count ≤0.5×109/L and D-dimer concentration >4× the upper limit of normal level at ICU admission, a peak PaCO2 >60 mmHg at 24 h before ECMO initiation, and no tracheotomy performed during the ICU stay were independently associated with lower odds of ECMO weaning. In the propensity score-matched analysis, a mixed-effect Cox model detected a lower hazard ratio for 120-day all-cause mortality after ICU admission during hospitalization in the ECMO group. The presence of lymphocytopenia, higher D-dimer concentrations at ICU admission and hypercapnia before ECMO initiation could help to identify patients with a poor prognosis. Tracheotomy could facilitate weaning from ECMO. ECMO relative to IMV-only therapy was associated with improved outcomes in critically ill COVID-19 patients.

An accurate, high-speed, portable bifunctional electrical detector for COVID-19.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by SARS-CoV-2, has rapidly spread and caused a severe global pandemic. Because no specific drugs are available for COVID-19 and few vaccines are available for SARS-CoV-2, accurate and rapid diagnosis of COVID-19 has been the most crucial measure to control this pandemic. Here, we developed a portable bifunctional electrical detector based on graphene fieldeffect transistors for SARS-CoV-2 through either nucleic acid hybridization or antigen-antibody protein interaction, with ultra-low limits of detection of ~0.1 and ~1 fg mL-1 in phosphate buffer saline, respectively. We validated our method by assessment of RNA extracts from the oropharyngeal swabs of ten COVID-19 patients and eight healthy subjects, and the IgM/IgG antibodies from serum specimens of six COVID-19 patients and three healthy subjects. Here we show that the diagnostic results are in excellent agreement with the findings of polymerase chain reaction-based optical methods; they also exhibit rapid detection speed (~10 min for nucleic acid detection and ~5 min for immunoassay). Therefore, our assay provides an efficient, accurate tool for high-throughput point-of-care testing. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at 10.1007/s40843-020-1577-y.

Psychological Typhoon Eye Effect During the COVID-19 Outbreak.

Background: The COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei, has brought serious consequences to the lives and mental health of people and has induced psychological stress and affected behavior. Methods: This study used self-designed questionnaires and SPSS to analyze the psychological and behavioral responses of people in different regions during the COVID-19 pandemic and to check for the presence of "psychological typhoon eye" (PTE) effects. The questionnaires adopted three measurement subscales, namely, the risk cognitive subscale, stress response subscale, and behavioral response subscale, and these were administered online (www.wjx.cn) to investigate the psychological and behavioral conduct of respondents from three areas that have been affected by COVID-19 to varying degrees. Exploratory factor analysis and principal component analysis were conducted to explore the factorial structure of these subscales, and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to explore the structural validity of the questionnaires. The analysis results were used to build a revised 18-item questionnaire which validity was evaluated via ANOVA and LSD. Results: Results confirm the presence of PTE in the research areas during the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak and highlight some significant differences in the cognition and emotions of the residents in these areas. PTE affected the cognition, emotions, and cognitive and emotional responses of the respondents but did not affect their behavioral responses. Conclusion: The findings underscore the urgency of providing sustainable mental health care services across different areas during the COVID-19 outbreak. The residents of those areas worst hit by the pandemic, who may not have taken the situation seriously, require emotional guidance the most. Meanwhile, the residents of other areas, who showed the most negative psychological reactions to the pandemic, require a sense of security, a timely "disconnection" from negative information, an accurate cognition of stress, and an acceptance of self-responses.

Factors Influencing Mental Health of Medical Workers During the COVID-19 Outbreak.

Background: Since the outbreak of COVID-19, physical and psychological harm has been spreading across the global population alongside the spread of the virus. Currently, the novel coronavirus has spread to most countries in the world, and its impact on the public is also increasing. As a high-risk group in direct contact with the virus, medical workers should be monitored, and their mental health deserves extensive attention. The aim of this study was to explore the mental health of medical workers facing the novel coronavirus and the main factors affecting it. Methods: The present cross-sectional study including 2,100 eligible individuals from 1,050 hospitals in China was conducted through the network platform powered by www.wjx.cn, a platform providing functions equivalent to Amazon Mechanical Turk. We used a self-designed questionnaire to collect demographic information and data on mental states, including gender, age (years), educational level, job rank, body and mind reaction, cognition of risk, and the judgment of the epidemic situation. Independent samples t-tests and one-way (ANOVA) analysis were carried out to compare the differences in the mental reactions according to the demographic and psychological states of the participants. Results: There were 502 males (23.9%) and 1,598 females (76.1%). The participants reported feeling calm (39.1%), tense (63.0%), scared (31.4%), angry (18.8%), sad (49.0%), afraid (34.7%), optimistic (5.1%), impressed (65.0%), and confident (31.1%) during the epidemic. At the same time, the psychological stress responses of medical staff were significantly different according to the levels of exposure in their environments, duration and personal experience. Conclusions: Prolonged exposure to the virus and intense work are detrimental to the mental health of medical care personnel. It is necessary to adjust work conditions and intensity according to workers' mental state flexibly and systematically.