Does Esg Rating Affect Stock Performance of Indian Companies? An Empirical Study

Purpose: The study tries to investigate the influence of the ESG (environmental, social, and governance) ratings on the stock performance of Indian companies. It further compares the stock performance of those companies that are ESG leaders with Design/Methodology/Approach: The current paper is retrieving the ESG data from a third party to look at the impact of the ESG ratings on the performance of Indian stocks. This is the first study to use a calendar-time approach to assess the impact of 621 ESG rating changes on the stock returns of Indian companies from 2017 to 2022. Findings: The study finds that while an improvement in ESG rating has resulted in statistically significant but unpredictably positive abnormal returns of approximately 0.7% per month, a decline in rating is detrimental to stock performance, resulting in statistically significant monthly risk-adjusted returns of nearly -1.7% on average. Originality/Value: This is one of the primary studies that has investigated the outcome of specialized ESG ratings (improved and declining) on the stock return performance of companies in India.

Biomedical waste management during pandemics

For many years, proper biomedical waste (BMW) management in line with the rules was among the overlooked components of health care. Biomedical waste presents a series of environmental contamination. As a result, it must be treated using extreme caution and disposed of properly. There are a few gaps in the handling of biological generated waste, and the coronavirus epidemic has made it very hard. The virus's quick breakout resulted in a massive increase in the amount of biohazardous matter. The COVID-19 epidemic's devastation has altered global waste generation trends, needing special attention. Sudden variations in trash generation and volume need a dynamic response from authorities. This study highlights the problems that the collection and recycling business faces even after a pandemic, as well as the basic possibility to eliminate current framework faults. The study covers specific situations for handling medical waste, polymeric garbage, and recycling bins, which were all major causes of concerns all through this time period. We also go over successful stakeholder involvement and teamwork.The existence of illness sewage treatment in regular effluent created offers significant dangers and liabilities to hygiene workers. Small metal usage is predicted to recover as a result of rising hygiene concerns, particularly from items used for safety precautions and medication. The research further underlines the significance of creating localized, streamlined supply channels to deal with these kinds of situations in the case of unanticipated devastating catastrophes. Despite presenting unique solutions to existing recycling challenges, the paper also presents numerous crucial recommendations to regulators to enable them to cope with any potential outbreaks in a holistic way. © 2023 Author(s).

Learning Behavior and Perspective of Medical Students in India on COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction: Medical colleges in India are opening gradually for resumption of medical education. Assessment of learning behavior and perspectives of students toward COVID-19 pandemic is essential for effective medical education as well as to assess their role in pandemic if need arises. Hence, the present study aims to assess learning behavior and perspective of medical students on COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from September to December 2020 among 392 medical students at various medical colleges of the country. An online self-administered questionnaire was designed to assess learning behavior of medical students about infection prevention and control practices in COVID-19 adopted during the course of pandemic. Snowball sampling method was used for data collection. Results: On assessment of 392 medical students about preventive measures during COVID-19 pandemic, more than 80% of medical students were aware of the importance of facemask, social distancing, frequent hand washing, and use of digital tools such as Aarogya Setu app in surveillance. Majority of students were aware of the symptoms, testing, and treatment protocols along with importance of self-reporting. Most of the students were aware of various sources of getting scientific and relevant information about pandemic. While majority of students were aware of rationale of quarantine, appropriate waste management technique, and post-COVID precautions, there was a lack of knowledge about appropriate disinfection measures. Conclusions: Medical students are an asset to health care;learning behaviors adopted by them can certainly help to assist health-care system in COVID times.

COVID-LiteNet: A lightweight CNN based network for COVID-19 detection using X-ray images

To restrict the virus's transmission in the pandemic and lessen the strain on the healthcare industry, computer-assisted diagnostics for the accurate and speedy diagnosis of coronavirus illness (COVID-19) has become a prerequisite. Compared to other types of imaging and detection, chest X-ray imaging (CXR) provides several advantages. Healthcare practitioners may profit from any technology instrument providing quick and accurate COVID-19 infection detection. COVID-LiteNet is a technique suggested in this paper that combines white balance with Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE) and a convolutional neural network (CNN). White balance is employed as an image pre-processing step in this approach, followed by CLAHE, to improve the visibility of CXR images, and CNN is trained using sparse categorical cross-entropy for image classification tasks and gives the smaller parameters file size, i.e., 2.24 MB. The suggested COVID-LiteNet technique produced better results than vanilla CNN with no pre-processing. The proposed approach outperformed several state-of-the-art methods with a binary classification accuracy of 98.44 percent and a multi-class classification accuracy of 97.50 percent. COVID-LiteNet, the suggested technique, outperformed the competition on various performance parameters. COVID-LiteNet may help radiologists discover COVID-19 patients from CXR pictures by providing thorough model interpretations, cutting diagnostic time significantly. © 2023 IEEE.

Covid19 Impact OnTwelve Sectors Of The Indian Economy

This study aims to investigate the reaction of COVID-19 cases (confirmed, deaths, recovered, & active) on twelve sectors of Indian economy by using sectoral indices of national stock exchange. Daily frequency of COVID-19 case categories was obtained from Worldometer from January 30, 2020 to June 30, 2020 and dataset of daily closing prices of twelve sectoral indices (auto, banks, financial services, fast moving consumer goods, information technology, media, metal, oil & gas, pharmaceutical, public sector banks, private banks, realty sector) was obtained from national stock exchange web portal for the same period as of COVID-19. In this study, the ordinary least square regression was used to study the significance of COVID-19 cases (confirmed, deaths, recovered, & active) on twelve sectoral indices. Empirical evidence suggested no significant impact of COVID-19 cases on daily returns of twelve major sectors represented by sectoral indices except in the case of pharmaceutical sector, where daily growth in number of deaths is impacting daily returns on pharmaceutical sectoral index in a positive way. The twelve sectoral indices went into a downward spiral at the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, but as government and central bank introduced various policy measures, the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on sectoral indices faded away.Copyright © 2020 Ubiquity Press. All rights reserved.

A rare case of Guillain barre syndrome with overlapping cerebral sinus venous thrombosis masquerading as acute psychosis following COVID-19 vaccination

Guillain barre syndrome (GBS) is a rare autoimmune condition that has a prevalence of 1-2 per 100,000 people each year. Cerebral sinus venous thrombosis (CSVT) occurs at a rate of three to four cases per one million individuals annually. Both have variable clinical presentation with significant morbidity. The therapeutic management of CSVT and GBS presents unique challenges due to peculiar relationship and overlap in presentation. Reports suggest that psychosis may result from autoimmune encephalitis after receiving the COVID-19 vaccination. Hereby the reported case is of a female who is 18 years of age presenting with acute psychotic and catatonic symptoms following covid 19 vaccination with weakening of limbs which suspected an underlying organic pathology. Magnetic resonance imaging was normal but magnetic resonance venogram showed transverse and sigmoid sinus thrombosis and later GBS with CSVT after Covid-19 vaccination was diagnosed. The case was chosen to report a rare condition with an atypical

Impact of Lockdown on Autopsy Cases in a Tertiary Medical Centre in Northern India: A Retrospective Analysis

2020 will be remembered not only for the COVID-19 pandemic but also for introducing some entirely new concepts like "lockdown” and "social distancing” which brought the entire world to a standstill. Lockdown approach can have a wide range of implications not just on the economy but also on the physical, mental and social well-being of the people. We investigated the impact of 78 days nationwide lockdown in 2020 on profile of the post-mortem cases being brought for autopsy to the mortuary of King George's Medical University, Lucknow, India. Further 78 days of post lockdown period in 2020 were also included in the study and compared with the corresponding time periods in 2019. A total of 3657 cases were included in the study, 2042 in 2019 and 1615 in 2020. Adjusted odds ratios (aOR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) from logistic regression modeling were used to compare the mortality due to different causes across the four study timeperiods. Deaths due to RTAs were significantly lower in the lockdown period (aOR = 0.59, CI 0.48, 0.73, p<0.001). An increase in deaths due to drowning (aOR = 2.27, CI 1.26, 4.11, p=0.007) and hanging (aOR = 1.56, CI 1.22, 2.18, p=0.008) was detected during the lockdown period compared to 2019 while odds of burn deaths were half (aOR=0.50, 95%CI 0.34, 0.75, p=0.001) during the lockdown period in 2020, compared to the equivalent period in 2019. We have shown significant differences in deaths due to different causes as a result of lockdown. An insight into these mortality patterns during the pandemic could be beneficial in future preparedness for the containment measures. © 2022,Journal of Indian Academy of Forensic Medicine.All Rights Reserved.

Molecular identification and characterization of SARS-Co V-2 from the clinical stool and sewage samples to study waste water-based epidemiology and monitoring circulating virus

The Coronaviridae family's severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-Co V-2) outbreak has infected a large number of the population during the COVID- 19 pandemic. The most prominent mode of virus transmission is considered through respiratory droplets of the infected person. Virus-mediated respiratory infection depends upon the binding between spike protein and the Angiotensinconverting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor expressed in lung alveolar type 2 cells. But some studies reported that gastrointestinal infection is also one of the prominent symptoms of COVID-19 because of the high expression of the ACE2 receptor in absorptive enterocytes of the small intestine. In a country like India, with high population density and due to unhygienic sanitation, it is crucial to understand the potential fecal-oral transmission route of SARS-CoV-2 during infection because of presence of ACE2 in small intestine. Therefore in our study, we aim to trace the potential fecal-oral transmission route of SARS-Co V-2 by examining human stool (collected from hospital settings) and nearby sewage water systems, followed by molecular characterization and viral load kinetics evaluation of SARSCOV- 2. qRT-PCR and NGS sequencing methods were used. The presence of SARS-COV-2 was reported in around 70% of samples (both clinical and environmental), this will help us to establish the epidemiological link between clinical and environmental samples after genomic analysis to alter the circulation of silent SARS Co V2 in the community.

Correction: Management of post-COVID mucormycosis at a tertiary care center in Northern India (The Egyptian Journal of Otolaryngology, (2023), 39, 1, (19), 10.1186/s43163-023-00388-1)

Following the publication of the original article [1], the authors identified that Supreet Singh Nayyar, Rahul Kurkure, Arun Yadav, Jyoti Mishra, Biswajit Das and Shubankar Tiwari were incorrectly assigned to affiliation 3. The authors are assigned to affiliation 2. The original article [1] has been corrected. © 2023 The Author(s).

SARS-CoV-2: Origin, Pathogenesis and Therapeutic Interventions

In December 2019, a novel coronavirus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coron-avirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) rapidly infected a large population in Wuhan city, Hubei province, China. Since then, it has been spread all over the world, causing a pandemic termed as Coronavirus Disease 2019 or COVID-19. It has infected over 32 million people and caused more than nine lakhs ca-sualties worldwide to date. Till now, no specific drug or vaccine has been developed to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2. WHO has announced that maintaining personal hygiene and social distancing are the best available options against COVID-19. Various experimental and re-purposed drugs are being used as preventive and supportive therapy in different parts of the world. Comprehensive information about SARS-CoV-2 is required to develop therapeutic approaches for the prevention of COVID-19. In this article, we have comprehensively reviewed the origin, structure, and infection mechanism of SARS-CoV-2. We have also discussed the pathology of COVID-19, and various therapeutic interventions that are being used for drug development against COVID-19.Copyright © 2021 Bentham Science Publishers.

Spectrum of Indication Kidney Biopsies in Community Acquired Aki

Introduction: Community acquired acute kidney injury (CA-AKI) in low income settings is different from that in the high income settings. Infections, poisoning, toxic envenomations and pregnancy related AKI are common. Kidney biopsy is seldom performed in these patients unless atypical clinical course or features are present. We have established a prospective cohort of patients with CA-AKI at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh in India. We present the spectrum of kidney biopsies in patients who underwent kidney biopsy in this cohort. Method(s): The study is a single centre, prospective, observational cohort study of patients with CA-AKI at PGIMER. Patients aged >12 years and with a diagnosis of CA-AKI are eligible for enrolment. Patients with underlying CKD, urinary tract obstruction, COVID 19, malignancy or heart failure are excluded. Clinical and laboratory data are recorded at baseline. Follow up visits are scheduled at 1 and 4 months after hospital discharge. Kidney biopsies are done only in those patients who have atypical clinical course or features (e.g. persistent kidney dysfunction despite other clinical improvement, strong clinical suspicion of dominant glomerular involvement or interstitial nephritis etc.). We present the spectrum of histopathological diagnoses that were recorded in such patients till date. Result(s): Till now, 646 patients have been included in the cohort. The leading causes of CA-AKI are sepsis (52%), obstetric complications (14%), envenomation (8%), nephrotoxic drugs (6%) and poisons (3%) (figure 1). 18.4% patients had died after CA-AKI. At >=3 months after CA-AKI, 16.3% patients had not recovered completely with persistent eGFR <60 ml/min/1.73m2. 44 patients had undergone kidney biopsy in this cohort. Incomplete recovery, and clinical or diagnostic dilemmas were indications for doing kidney biopsy. The leading clinical diagnoses in this subgroup were sepsis (23%), nephrotoxic drugs (23%), envenomation (9%), obstetric causes (6.8%) and others (25%). Acute interstitial nephritis, acute tubular necrosis and acute cortical necrosis were most common histologic diagnoses (table 1). Combinations of various histologic features were not uncommon. Pigment casts were recorded in 13 patients. 4 patients had acute cortical necrosis, 2 being after post-partum AKI and one each due to acute gastroenteritis and unknown animal bite. Glomerular involvement were recorded in 8 patients (table 1). Thrombotic microangiopathy was present in 4 patients. In this subgroup of patients who underwent kidney biopsy, 3 (7%) had died and 8 (18%) had eGFR <60 ml/min/1.73m2 at >=3 months. Figure 1: Causes of CA-AKI in patients [Formula presented] Table 1: Histologic diagnoses in kidney biopsies in CA-AKI cohort. [Formula presented] Conclusion(s): Acute interstitial nephritis and acute tubular necrosis, alone or in combination with other findings, were the most common histologic diagnoses in indication kidney biopsies in CA-AKI. Adverse outcomes (mortality or progression to CKD) are common after CA-AKI. No conflict of interestCopyright © 2023

Quality function deployment-based framework for the resilient supply chain

The concept of the resilient supply chain has appeared to be one of the essential tools to survive, compete and grow during disturbances and uncertainties. During the current pandemic and the Suez Canal blockage, this concept has once again proven its utility. In this research work, we explore the resilient supply chain's concept, capabilities, and practices. In addition, an attempt is made to quantify the resilient performance of an Indian manufacturing organisation. For this research, we have used a quality function deployment integrated with the weighted sum method approach. This research brings about new insights into the concept of risk management through the resilient supply chain. It also suggests the portfolios of the resilient practices that enable the organisations to be prepared and recover from the major disruptions. Copyright © 2022 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Analysis of Strategies to Tackle the Environmental Impact of the Vaccine Supply Chain: A Fuzzy DEMATEL Approach

To combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the scientific community has progressed from discovering antivirals to the large-scale production of vaccines. Mass vaccination programs to curb the COVID-19 pandemic started in many parts of the world at the beginning of 2021. Mass vaccination aims to exit from health emergencies by vaccinating all the population with the required dose in the shortest possible time. The production rate has been boosted, and many new production facilities have been opened to fulfill worldwide demand. The objective of the vaccination program is to maximize the medical benefit with the lowest cost and equitable distribution of vaccines worldwide. However, the environmental impact of this long-run immunization program has received very little attention. This study explores the environmental impact of the vaccine supply chain (VSC) and analyzes the mitigation strategies to minimize it without affecting the medical, economic, and social benefits of vaccination. The fuzzy DEMATEL technique has been used to prioritize the mitigation techniques and find cause and effect relations among them. The finding of studies shows that the "optimal vial design” is most important, and "vaccine awareness and education” is the most impactful strategy to tackle the environmental impact of VSC. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Impact of Online Teaching on Students' Education and Health in India during the Pandemic of COVID-19

Background: India is facing a pandemic of 'Coronavirus disease-2019' (COVID-19). In the absence of proper medicine and vaccine for the treatment of COVID-19, the Government of India has imposed the country lockdown from 25 March 2020 to avoid chain/community transmission of coronavirus in humans. Consequently, the educational institutes were also closed during the lockdown period and traditional classroom teaching switched to online teaching in India to compensate for the educational losses. Aim(s): This article aims to measure the impact of online teaching on education as well as the health of the students. Methodology: The online survey was conducted on the students to measure the impact of online teaching on their education and health. There are 792 valid responses obtained from the survey. Result(s): According to the survey, online teaching was equally important in all segments of education during the period of a pandemic, but about 30 % of students are not satisfied with the delivery of content through online teaching. The students below 14 years were getting addicted to mobiles and laptops and consequently, they suffered from mental sickness and eye problems due to the screen effect. Conclusion(s): Online teaching has played a vital role during the pandemic, but its consequences can not be ignored. The online classes can not be accessed by each student due to the unavailability of smart-phones, laptops and mobiles network to especially poor families and remote areas. This creates dis-crimination among the students of poor and rich or urban and rural. The students below 14 years are not aware of the screen effect and get addicted to mobile that causes mental and eye problems. Thus, online teaching can not take the position of traditional classroom teaching for a long time and we will need to get back to traditional teaching after a pandemic ends.Copyright © 2021 Bentham Science Publishers.

Recent Advances in Understanding SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Updates on Potential Diagnostic and Therapeutics for COVID-19

A more focused approach is needed to understand the SARS-CoV-2 virulence, structure, and genomics to devise more effective diagnostic and treatment interventions as this virus can evade the immune attack and causes life-threatening complications such as cytokine storm. The spread of the virus is still amplifying and causing thousands of new cases worldwide. It is essential to review current diagnostics and treatment approaches to pave the way to correct or modify our current practices to make more effective interventions against COVID-19. COVID-19 vaccine development has moved at a breakneck pace since the outbreak began, utilizing practically all possible platforms or tactics to ensure the success of vaccines. A total of 42 vaccine candidates have already entered clinical trials, including promising results from numerous vaccine candidates in phase 1 or phase 2 trials. Further, many existing drugs are being explored on broad-spectrum antiviral medications for their use in clinical recovery against COVID-19. The present review attempts to re-examine the SARS-CoV-2 structure, its viral life cycle, clinical symptoms and pathogenesis, mode of transmission, diagnostics, and treatment strategies that may be useful for resorting to more effective approaches for controlling COVID-19. Various antiviral drugs and vaccination strategies with their strengths and weaknesses are also discussed in the paper to augment our understanding of COVID-19 management.Copyright © 2022 Bentham Science Publishers.

Emerging applications of green coconut: A promising lignocellulosic biomass

Waste accumulation is a grave concern and becoming a transboundary challenge for environment. During Covid-19 pandemic, diverse type of waste were collected due to different practices employed in order to fight back the transmission rate of the virus. Covid-19 was proved to be capricious catastrophe of this 20th century and even not completely eradicated from the world. The havoc created by this imperceptible quick witted, pleomorphic deadly virus can't be ignored. Though a number of vaccines have been developed by the scientists but there is a fear of getting this virus again in our life. Medical studies prove that immunity drinks will help to reduce its reoccurrences. Coconut water is widely used among all drinks available globally. Its massive consumption created an incalculable pile of green coconut shells around the different corners of the world. This practice generating enormous problem of space acquisition for the environment. Both the environment and public health will benefit from an evaluation of quantity of coconut waste that is being thrown and its potential to generate value added products. With this context, present article has been planned to study different aspects like, coconut waste generation, its biological properties and environmental hazards associated with its accumulation. Additionally, this review illustrates, green technologies for production of different value added products from coconut waste. © 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.