Social media addiction and emotions during the disaster recovery period-The moderating role of post-COVID timing

Background: Social media addiction, a recently emerged term in medical science, has attracted the attention of researchers because of its significant physical and psychological effects on its users. The issue has attracted more attention during the COVID era because negative emotions (e.g., anxiety and fear) generated from the COVID pandemic may have increased social media addiction. Therefore, the present study investigates the role of negative emotions and social media addiction (SMA) on health problems during and after the COVID lockdown. Methods: A survey was conducted with 2926 participants aged between 25 and 45 years from all eight divisions of Bangladesh. The data collection period was between 2nd September- 13th October, 2020. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was conducted for data analysis by controlling the respondents' working time, leisure time, gender, education, and age. Results: Our study showed that social media addiction and time spent on social media impact health. Interestingly, while anxiety about COVID increased social media addition, fear about COIVD reduced social media addition. Among all considered factors, long working hours contributed most to people's health issues, and its impact on social media addiction and hours was much higher than negative emotions. Furthermore, females were less addicted to social media and faced less health challenges than males. Conclusion: The impacts of negative emotions generated by the COVID disaster on social media addiction and health issues should be reconsidered. Government and employers control people's working time, and stress should be a priority to solve people's social media addiction-related issues. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Turning waste into valuables: In situ deposition of polypyrrole on the obsolete mask for Cr(VI) removal and desalination.

The global mask consumption has been exacerbated because of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Simultaneously, the traditional mask disposal methods (incineration and landfill) have caused serious environmental pollution and waste of resources. Herein, a simple and green mass-production method has been proposed to recycle carbon protective mask (CPM) into the carbon protective mask/polydopamine/polypyrrole (CPM/PDA/PPy) composite by in situ polymerization of PPy. The CPM/PDA/PPy composite was used for the removal of Cr(VI) and salt ions to produce clean water. The synergistic effect of PPy and the CPM improved the removal capability of Cr(VI). The CPM/PDA/PPy composite provided high adsorption capacity (358.68 mg g-1) and economic value (811.42 mg $-1). Consequently, the CPM/PDA/PPy (cathode) was combined with MnO2 (anode) for desalination in CDI cells, demonstrated excellent desalination capacity (26.65 mg g-1) and ultrafast salt adsorption rate (6.96 mg g-1 min-1), which was higher than conventional CDI cells. Our work proposes a new low-carbon strategy to recycle discarded masks and demonstrates their utilization in Cr(VI) removal and seawater desalination.

Social media addiction and emotions during the disaster recovery period-The moderating role of post-COVID timing.

BACKGROUND: Social media addiction, a recently emerged term in medical science, has attracted the attention of researchers because of its significant physical and psychological effects on its users. The issue has attracted more attention during the COVID era because negative emotions (e.g., anxiety and fear) generated from the COVID pandemic may have increased social media addiction. Therefore, the present study investigates the role of negative emotions and social media addiction (SMA) on health problems during and after the COVID lockdown. METHODS: A survey was conducted with 2926 participants aged between 25 and 45 years from all eight divisions of Bangladesh. The data collection period was between 2nd September- 13th October, 2020. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was conducted for data analysis by controlling the respondents' working time, leisure time, gender, education, and age. RESULTS: Our study showed that social media addiction and time spent on social media impact health. Interestingly, while anxiety about COVID increased social media addition, fear about COIVD reduced social media addition. Among all considered factors, long working hours contributed most to people's health issues, and its impact on social media addiction and hours was much higher than negative emotions. Furthermore, females were less addicted to social media and faced less health challenges than males. CONCLUSION: The impacts of negative emotions generated by the COVID disaster on social media addiction and health issues should be reconsidered. Government and employers control people's working time, and stress should be a priority to solve people's social media addiction-related issues.

Preventing a rebound in carbon intensity post-COVID-19 - lessons learned from the change in carbon intensity before and after the 2008 financial crisis.

The carbon emission rebound of the post-2008 financial crisis teaches us a lesson that avoiding a rebound in carbon intensity is key to prevent the carbon emission increase afterward. Although how carbon emission will change the world after the COVID-19 pandemic is unknown, it is urgent to learn from the past and avert or slow down the potential rebound effect. Therefore, this study aims to identify key drivers of carbon intensity changes of 55 sectors, applying the decomposition techniques and the world input-output data. Our results demonstrate that global carbon intensity fluctuates drastically when shocked by the global financial crisis, presenting an inversed-V shape for the period 2008-2011. Industrial carbon emission and gross output vary among different industries, the growth rate of industrial carbon intensity varies from -55.55% to 23.77%. The energy intensity effect and economic structure effect have opposite impacts on carbon intensity decrease, accelerating and hindering the decreasing carbon intensity, respectively. However, the energy mix effect has a minor impact on carbon intensity decrease. The industrial carbon intensity decomposition results show the impact of technological and structural factors are significantly different among industries. Moreover, the impact of energy intensity is slightly stronger than the energy mix. More measures targeting avoiding the rebound in carbon intensity should be developed.

An assessment of the mental health of front-line medical staff involved in the COVID-19 outbreak in Chongqing, China.

In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in December 2019 in China, medical staff went to work across the country to combat widespread infection. When health workers are suddenly faced with such a serious event, it is important to assess their mental health in order to determine whether they can meet the challenge effectively. Herein, Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) was used to assess the psychological problems of 382 front-line medical staff in Chongqing. The average SCL-90 score was low, and no specific mental health problems were found. With the exception of the phobic-anxiety factor, the scores were close to normal values. A single-factor analysis of variance showed that the SCL-90 scores of male and older staff were higher than those of female and younger staff, implying that they were at greater psychological risk. We found that both gender and age have a significant impact on mental health, and our findings suggest that more attention should be given to the mental health of male and older front-line medical staff.

Capsule endoscopy practice during the COVID-19 pandemic: Recommendations from the Capsule Endoscopy Group of the Chinese Society of Digestive Endoscopy.

The Capsule Endoscopy Group of the Chinese Society of Digestive Endoscopy has issued recommendations for capsule endoscopy (CE) practice during the COVID-19 pandemic to standardize workflow, preventive strategies, and management of a CE unit and in so doing, ensure the safety of both medical staff and patients.

Clinical characteristics of imported and second-generation coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in Shaanxi outside Wuhan, China: a multicentre retrospective study.

The mortality of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) differs between countries and regions. This study aimed to clarify the clinical characteristics of imported and second-generation cases in Shaanxi. This study included 134 COVID-19 cases in Shaanxi outside Wuhan. Clinical data were compared between severe and non-severe cases. We further profiled the dynamic laboratory findings of some patients. In total, 34.3% of the 134 patients were severe cases, 11.2% had complications. As of 7 March 2020, 91.8% patients were discharged and one patient (0.7%) died. Age, lymphocyte count, C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, direct bilirubin, lactate dehydrogenase and hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase showed difference between severe and no-severe cases (all P < 0.05). Baseline lymphocyte count was higher in survived patients than in non-survivor case, and it increased as the condition improved, but declined sharply when death occurred. The interleukin-6 (IL-6) level displayed a downtrend in survivors, but rose very high in the death case. Pulmonary fibrosis was found on later chest computed tomography images in 51.5% of the pneumonia cases. Imported and second-generation cases outside Wuhan had a better prognosis than initial cases in Wuhan. Lymphocyte count and IL-6 level could be used for evaluating prognosis. Pulmonary fibrosis as the sequelae of COVID-19 should be taken into account.

Preventing carbon emission retaliatory rebound post-COVID-19 requires expanding free trade and improving energy efficiency.

Existing studies have shown that the COVID-19 pandemic caused a sharp drop in carbon emissions in 2020. A recent example of the impact of sudden extreme events on carbon emissions occurred in the 2008 global financial crisis, in which carbon emissions droped in 2009, but jumped in 2010. This study is aimed to discuss how to prevent the retaliatory growth of carbon emissions post COVID-19 through learning the lessons from analysis of short-term and long-term drivers of carbon emissions. This study explored the short-term (annual) effects (population scale. affluence level, carbon intensity, energy intensity) of changes in carbon emissions by decomposing carbon emissions in the world, different income groups and selected countries before and after the 2008 financial crisis using LMDI technique. In addition, this study explored the long-term effects (energy consumption per capita, energy structure, energy intensity, foreign direct investment, and trade openness) of changes in carbon emissions by decomposing carbon emission in the world and different income groups from 1990 to 2014 using VAR technique. The decomposition results of short-term drivers of carbon emission uncovered that the deterioration in energy efficiency (increase in energy intensity) was the main reason for the retaliatory rebound in carbon emissions post-2008 financial crisis, especially in high-income countries. The decomposition results of long-term drivers of carbon emission uncovered that trade openness contributed to reduce carbon emission in the world and the incomes groups in the long term, although trade openness led to increase in carbon emission in developing countries in the short term. To prevent retaliatory rebound of carbon emissions, what we should learn two lessons from the decomposition of carbon emission: improving energy efficiency, and expanding trade openness. Unfortunately, energy efficiency has been neglected in the economic recovery plans to respond to COVID-19 of various countries, especially developed countries, and worse, trade protectionism is on the rise, especially in developed countries. Therefore, we are pessimistic about preventing a retaliatory rebound in carbon emissions post-COVID-19 for now.