Techno-overload and well-being of French small business owners: identifying the flipside of digital technologies

Technostress is an important by-product of information and communication technologies (ICT). The technostress literature suggests focusing on specific dimensions of technostress, such as techno-overload, which describes when ICT usage demands to work faster and longer. However, only a few studies have dealt with the technostress of small business owners, let alone techno-overload. This is surprising since work overload in general has been identified as an important dimension of job stress for small business owners, and technostress has been identified as an important impediment for workers in general. The aim of the current study is to investigate the effect of techno-overload on well-being outcomes (as a composite measure consisting of physical well-being, mental well-being, sleep quality, burnout, and loneliness) using three data sets of French small business owners. Our results indicate a strong negative correlation between techno-overload and our composite measure of well-being for all three data sets. We interpret our findings for several different disciplines: information systems, small business owners and entrepreneurship, health and well-being, psychology and organization studies. Our data also allow for the identification of contextual effects–the COVID-19 pandemic–since one survey was conducted before, one at the start of, and one during the pandemic. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Lithium salts as a treatment for COVID-19: Pre-clinical outcomes.

INTRODUCTION: Identifying effective drugs for Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is urgently needed. An efficient approach is to evaluate whether existing approved drugs have anti-SARS-CoV-2 effects. The antiviral properties of lithium salts have been studied for many years. Their anti-inflammatory and immune-potentiating effects result from the inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3. AIMS: To obtain pre-clinical evidence on the safety and therapeutic effects of lithium salts in the treatment of COVID-19. RESULTS: Six different concentrations of lithium, ranging 2-12 mmol/L, were evaluated. Lithium inhibited the replication of SARS-CoV-2 virus in a dose-dependent manner with an IC50 value of 4 mmol/L. Lithium-treated wells showed a significantly higher percentage of monolayer conservation than viral control, particularly at concentrations higher than 6 mmol/L, verified through microscopic observation, the neutral red assay, and the determination of N protein in the supernatants of treated wells. Hamsters treated with lithium showed less intense disease with fewer signs. No lithium-related mortality or overt signs of toxicity were observed during the experiment. A trend of decreasing viral load in nasopharyngeal swabs and lungs was observed in treated hamsters compared to controls. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide pre-clinical evidence of the antiviral and immunotherapeutic effects of lithium against SARS-CoV-2, which supports an advance to clinical trials on COVID-19's patients.

The Impact of COVID-19 News and Investor Sentiment in European Stock Pricing, a Regional, Country, and Eco-nomic Sector Review

In the present paper we extended the Fama-French (FF), three-factor model, by including the U.S. VIX and European VSTOXX implied volatility indexes. Also, the Baker, Bloom Davis, Kost, and Re-nault Economic policy (WEUI), pandemics (WPUI) news, and social media (TWITUI) uncertainty in-dex were included. We did this in order to test if, the main Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western European stock markets could be priced with behavioral biases such as investor sentiment. With a bal-anced panel data of 659 European companies from January 2017 to Jun 2021, we found that the WPUI could be used in a regional perspective, along with the VIX and TWITUI factors. In a country-specific perspective, only the inclusion of the TWITUI factor led to better-fitting results in Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and Sweden. Our results suggest that other pandemic news sentiment in-dexes should be developed and used in the main European stock markets and encourage the use of social media investor sentiment proxies in risk and asset-pricing multifactor models © 2022,Revista Portuguesa de Estudos Regionais.All Rights Reserved

Elements of the dynamics of the immune response to sars-cov-2 infection

Introduction: COVID-19 is the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Though most patients present mild or moderate symptoms, 5% develop severe respiratory syndrome. Awareness of the dynamics of the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection is essential for the appropriate management of patients. Objective: Describe the essential elements of the dynamics of the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: A review was conducted of updated literature contained in bibliographic databases. A total 40 publications were consulted. An analysis was performed of the quality and reliability of the papers selected. Data analysis and integration: In the initial stage of the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 there is a predominance of innate defense mechanisms aimed at eliminating the virus and preventing the progress of the disease toward severity. If the immune system fails to eradicate the virus, immune dysregulation will occur and considerable damage will result from tissue inflammation. Immunotherapy should focus on stimulating the first (protective) stage and delete the second. An appropriate immune response is vital in the combat against coronavirus infections. Conclusions: The dynamics of the antiviral response in SARS-CoV-2 patients are essential elements conditioning the severity of the disease. Occurrence of the cytokine storm resulting from immune dysregulation has been cited as the primary cause of the severe respiratory syndrome developing in these patients. Better knowledge about the immunopathogenic mechanisms involved is indispensable to develop highly efficient drugs. © 2021, Editorial Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved.

Lockdown and risk of burnout in SME owners-managers: the impediment exhaustion syndrome

Using the BMS-10 scale (Burnout Measure Short version composed of ten elements) it is shown that its level increased and its composition changed in French SME owners-managers from before to during the Covid-19 pandemic. Seven independent samples of SME owners-managers collected over a period from 2012 to the end of April 2020 (one month after the start of the first lockdown in France) are investigated. Before the pandemic the hierarchy of elements is largely the same with feelings of being tired, of disappointment with people and of exhaustion ("I've had it") as the three most important ones. During the pandemic a new hierarchy appears with feelings of helplessness and being trapped as the two most important elements. This points at an unprecedented form of impediment exhaustion. Two lessons can be drawn. First of all, the governmental and health authorities should be aware of the risk of an increasing burnout for SME owners-managers during the Covid-19 crisis and in particular during lockdown episodes. Secondly, by assuming that a SME owner-manager can be confronted with a situation of incapacity, due to an accident or an illness, pension and health insurance institutions should be alerted about the option to set up novel consultation and support services in order to prevent the deterioration of mental health related to impediment exhaustion. This development seems so severe and so specific that the term impediment exhaustion syndrome is proposed.

COVID-19 news and high volatility episodes in the Mexican stock exchange

In the present work VIX volatility, Economic and trade policy and infectious disease (such as COVID-19) news sentiment indexes. This, to measure their impact in the probability of being in a high volatility episode in the Mexican stock exchange (BMV). With monthly data from January 1996 to August 2020, Markov-Switching models were used to estimate the smoothed high volatility regime probabilities. With these and the market sentiment indexes, logit models were estimated in order to prove that the COVID-19 news uncertainty does not generate high volatility episodes in the BMV. These episodes are a result of a volatility spillover from the U.S. financial markets. © 2020 Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. All rights reserved.

Implications of COVID-19 pandemic for dental care: A perspective for clinical dentists

Introduction: Dental care is going to change dramatically due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the future, it will become more important;resounding and necessary changes will emerge, but it will improve for good. Objective: To know the perspectives of Peruvian clinical dentists on the changes and repercussions that the COVID-19 pandemic has and will have in dental care. Materials and methods: Qualitative study with a phenomenographic approach that used the technique of in-depth interview with clinical dentists in the context of quarantine in April 2020 in Lima (Peru). The interview was carried out digitally and the categories included: role of the dentist, inconveniences in healthcare practice, solutions and strategies in the face of the pandemic, insights from government measures, prevention measures, future dental care, and protocols for care in front of a patient diagnosed with coronavirus. Results: Dentists are clear that both clothing and equipment in the office must be subject to protective measures to protect the patient and health personnel present;this includes that environments must be spaced, spacing patient-patient care. Conclusions: There is great concern among dentists over the sudden closure of dental clinics and the increase of infected people since they are on the first line of contagion when having direct contact with patients. Dental services will have to adapt to the new guidelines and protocols given. The way of dental care will change, prioritizing urgencies and emergencies to lessen the spread of the disease and achieve safer and more adequate care.

Airway management protocol for patients with suspected or diagnosed SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19

In recent days, various protocols have been published for the prevention of transmission of the COVID-19 virus during manipulation of the airway. The article describes a form for airway management that is used in some hospitals in the Boyacá Colombia and Mexico City. This consists of nine phases that describe from the preparation of the medical equipment to be used, as well as the medical personnel that will perform the procedure, to the removal of the endotracheal tube. These phases are: placement of personal protective equipment, preparation, pre-oxygenation, induction, intubation, confirmation, aspiration tube, extubation and removal and disposal of material.