An Empirical Analysis of the Mediating Role of Fear of COVID-19 Between Telecommuting and Employees Retention

Telecommuting has been found to have a profound effect on employee turnover intention. However, the literature is vague in understanding the mechanism through which telecommuting affects employee retention (ER). Grounded on the conservation of resource (COR) theory and social exchange theory (SET), this study examined the impact of telecommuting on ER and fear of COVID-19 and the subsequent impact of fear of COVID-19 on ER. The study also investigated fear of COVID-19 as a mediating mechanism between telecommuting and ER. Data collected from 307 employees working in nonprofit and nongovernmental organisations in Balochistan, Pakistan was analysed using PLS-SEM. The findings showed that telecommuting was positively related to ER while its relationship was negative and significant with fear of COVID-19. Further analyses showed that fear of COVID-19 was negatively related to ER. The findings further revealed that fear of COVID-19 mediated the influence of telecommuting on ER. The overall results demonstrate the importance of telecommuting in strengthening ER and reducing fear of COVID-19. The study provides a tool for policymakers and management practitioners to set up plans for a situation like COVID-19 in the future. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

The Hindi Version of International Consensus Criteria: A Cross-cultural Adaptation and Validation Study for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis in Post-COVID Patients

Context: Fatigue is the most prominent feature of long COVID. With the increasing burden of long COVID cases post-acute phase of illness after recurrent waves of the pandemic, understanding its pathophysiology is of paramount importance. Such fatigue and post-viral illness could be associated with features of neuroimmune exhaustion and thus be a part of a larger syndrome such as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). Identifying the proportion of patients having ME from those experiencing fatigue would bring us one step closer to understanding the pathophysiology. International consensus criteria (ICC) originally published in English (ICC-E) is a valid and reliable tool for identifying cases of ME. However, a validated Hindi version of ICC-E is not available. Aims: To develop and validate an equivalent version of ICC-E in the native Hindi language (ICC-H) to suit Indian patients and health care workers even at peripheries and to make conducting large scales surveys more feasible. Subjects and methods: Once permission from the ethics board was granted, guidelines given by MAPI Research Trust were followed and ICC-H was developed from ICC-E, in the following steps: (a) translation to Hindi, (b) back translation, (c) comparison between the translated and back-translated version performed by experts, and (d) pre-pilot test in the intended population. The ICC-H was applied to 53 bilingual individuals knowing both Hindi and English. Statistical analysis used: The distribution of Hindi and English questionnaires was analyzed using the Chi-square test and Spearman's correlation coefficient was used for correlation between answers of each question. Results: The score of individual items and its global score was highly correlated with each other (p< 0.001). The scores of individual components and global scores of ICC-H at baseline and original ICC-E after 4 weeks did not differ significantly. Conclusion: This study shows that the ICC-H is a valid and reliable instrument for the assessment of ME. ICC-H can be used for Hindi speaking population for identifying cases of ME. © The Author(s). 2022Open Access This article is distributedunder the terms ofthe Creative Commons Attribution 4.0InternationalLicense (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)

IoT based handheld smart health monitoring system for COVID-19

With the COVID-19 cases on the rise this project seems to effectively provide a cost effective and accurate solution for the diagnosis of the novel coronavirus among the mass public. This research paper presents the design and implementation of an IoT based project that is capable of recording the user’s vitals such as Heart rate, SpO2 and Temperature, all of which serve as important indicators of the novel coronavirus. Once recorded, the sensors then send the data over to the Arduino UNO microcontroller which in turn pushes it to private cloud server using a Wi-Fi module wherein the data can be used for various analysis and visualizations such as scatterplot, histograms and so on. A website then shows the entries made using the microcontroller along with the latest COVID-19 statistics and WHO guidelines that have been provided. The results at the prototype stage look really promising and provide a foundation for the project to be scaled upon on a larger scale since the project helps us to curb the virus by introducing viable monitoring methods which can serve as replacements to the traditional and more expensive alternatives.

Convalescent plasma, cytomegalovirus infection, and persistent leukopenia in COVID-19 recovery phase: What is the link?

Therapies used to tide over acute crisis of COVID-19 infection may lower the immunity, which can lead to secondary infection or a reactivation of latent infection. We report a 75-years-old male patient who had suffered from severe COVID-19 infection three weeks earlier and who had been treated with corticosteroids and convalescent plasma along with other supportive therapies. At time of discharge he had developed leukopenia which worsened at 1-week follow up visit. On 18th day post-discharge, he became very sick and was brought to our hospital with complaints of severe persistent dysphagia. During evaluation he was diagnosed to have an acute cytomegalovirus infection and severe oropharyngeal thrush. Both COVID-19 and cytomegalovirus are known to cause synergistic decrease in T cells and NK cells leading to immunosuppression. The patient made complete recovery with a course of intravenous ganciclovir and fluconazole. Persistent leukopenia in high risk and severely ill cases should give rise to a suspicion of COVID-19 and cytomegalovirus co-infection.

Identifying the Determinant Dimensions of Shopper Convenience for Online Versus Instore Shopping in the Pre and Post CoVID-19 Eras

Background: Shopper convenience is a key determinant of why shoppers choose and buy from a particular retail format - online versus instore. However, there are no systematic studies that assess which dimension of shopper convenience is salient for shoppers in online versus instore shopping instore. Further, to the best of our knowledge no study has investigated whether and how these determinant dimensions of shopper convenience have changed with the advent of COVID-19. Method: In this study, 1324 responses of 172 shoppers using the Myers and Alpert (1968) approach were analyzed to identify the determinant dimensions of convenience for online and instore shopping in the pre-COVID-19 era and test their validity in the context of their actual purchase behavior. Later, the study was replicated with the same shoppers in the post-COVID-19 era. Results: The results of the study show that of the four dimensions of convenience, while shopper assessment of "search" convenience was the most important attribute for both online and instore shopping, and "transaction" convenience the most different between the two retail outlets, the determinant dimensions in both retail outlets were "access" and "possession" convenience with instore shopping holding an advantage in possession" convenience and online shopping holding an advantage in "access" convenience. However, in a replication of the study in the post corona virus era, online shopping outlets were found to have the advantage in both the determinant dimensions of convenience. Conclusion: This study perhaps for the first time show how shopper convenience perceptions have changed in pre and post COVID-19 eras for both instore and online shopping