The Impact and Mechanism of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Corporate Financing: Evidence from Listed Companies in China

The unexpected emergence of COVID-19 has placed businesses throughout the globe under considerable financial hardship, and financial constraints are a significant barrier to business expansion, particularly in developing countries with insufficient credit markets. Using yearly data for Chinese listed businesses from 367 cities, we examine the impact of COVID-19 on financial restrictions and the corresponding mechanisms of action by using a difference-in-differences (DID) methodology. We discover that COVID-19 leads to a significant increase of 0.117 in the KZ index of listed firms, i.e., an increase in financing constraints, and this result is consistent with various robustness tests. We also show that COVID-19 considerably lowers a company's capacity to obtain external financing by increasing debt costs and deterring commercial credit. The pandemic significantly reduced the company's commercial credit by 0.008 and increased debt costs by 0.2%. Moreover, the data demonstrate variation across industries, business ownership, and firm scale. Our findings indicate that decreasing information asymmetries facilitate successful adaptation to and recovery from external shocks. Our analysis suggests that governments should promulgate policies that are conducive to corporate financing to help companies maintain development during the outbreak of the epidemic and ensure economic sustainability.

International survey on fear and childbirth experience in pregnancy and the postpartum period during the COVID-19 pandemic: study protocol

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruptions around the world. Adding to the existing stress surrounding pregnancy and childbirth, the threat of infection and social isolation policies may negatively impact pregnant women and new mothers. Literature on the effect of COVID-19 on fear during pregnancy and childbirth experience is limited. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the global population, it is important to understand how it has impacted pregnant women and new mothers’ experiences worldwide to inform perinatal care and interventions.Methods and analysisThis multicountry study involving China and Canada targets to recruit 1000 pregnant women and new mothers who gave birth since 2020 in each participating country. Participants will be recruited online in the local language through mothers’ groups, antenatal and postnatal clinics and hospital wards. All questionnaires will be completed online. Participants’ level of fear, depression and childbirth experience will be assessed along with other sociodemographic, medical and COVID-related measures. Regression models will be used to compare the outcomes among the participating countries.Ethics and disseminationThe study has been reviewed and approved by the institutional review boards of the participating countries. Findings will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals and academic conferences. Results from this study may guide the formulation of future health guidelines and policies in the face of a pandemic.

Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporter 3 is an IFN-stimulated Gene that Facilitates Viral Genome Release (preprint)

An increasing body of evidence emphasizes the role of metabolic reprogramming in immune cells to fight off infections. However, little is known about the regulation of metabolite transporters that facilitate and support metabolic demands. In this study, we found that equilibrative nucleoside transporter 3 (ENT3) expression is part of the innate immune response, and is rapidly upregulated upon bacterial and viral infection. The transcription of ENT3 is directly under the regulation of IFN-induced signaling, positioning this metabolite transporter as an Interferon-stimulated gene (ISG). Moreover, we unveil that several viruses, including SARS-CoV2, require ENT3 to facilitate their entry into the cytoplasm. The removal or suppression of ENT3 expression is sufficient to significantly decrease viral replication in vitro and in vivo.

Self-directed Learning Predicts Online Learning Engagement in Higher Education Mediated by Perceived Value of Knowing Learning Goals

Online education has made it possible to implement the “classes suspended but learning continues” policy during the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the intangible sense of the online educational setting requires self-directed learning (SDL) and may force students to know the goals of learning that may impact their engagement. To understand the effect, based on situated expectancy-value theory, this study considered SDL as attitude and approach and constructed a research model to explore the mediating power of perceived value of knowing learning goals (PVKLG) related to participants’ online learning engagement during the COVID-19 lockdown. Data were collected from 497 higher education students in China. After the confirmatory factor analysis with structural equation modeling, the results reported that SDL attitude and approach positively predicted learning engagement mediated by PVKLG. The results suggest that only when students have a high level of PVKLG will they be able to regulate their learning process through the two types of SDL and enhance their engagement in online learning contexts during the COVID-19 lockdown.

A network analysis of cross-occupational skill transferability for the hospitality industry

PurposeThis paper aims to examine transferable skills and viable career transition pathways for hospitality and tourism workers. Future career prospects are discussed, along with the importance of reskilling for low-wage hospitality workers.Design/methodology/approachA network analysis is conducted to model skill relationships between the hospitality industry and other industries such as health-care and information technology. Multiple data are used in the analysis, including data from the US Department of Labor Occupational Information Network (O*NET), wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and job computerization data (Frey and Osborne, 2017).FindingsAlthough hospitality workers have lower than average skills scores when compared to workers from other career clusters included in the analysis, they possess essential soft skills that are valuable in other industries. Therefore, improving hospitality workers’ existing soft skills may help them enhance their cross-sector mobility, which may allow them to obtain jobs with a lower likelihood of computerization.Practical implicationsThe findings shed light on workforce development theories and practice in the hospitality industry by quantitatively analyzing cross-sector skill correlations. Sharpening transferable soft skills will be essential to enhancing hospitality workers’ career development opportunities.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that specifically examines the skill taxonomy for the hospitality industry and identifies its connection with other in-demand career clusters.

Model Construction of Enterprise Financial Early Warning Based on Quantum FOA-SVR

The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 has a great impact on human life security and global economic development. To deal with the rampant pandemic, many countries have taken strict control measures, including restricting gathering in public places and stopping the production of enterprises;as a result, many enterprises suffered great challenges in survival and development during the pandemic. In order to help enterprises monitor their own financial situation and realize their healthy development under the pandemic, this paper constructs an Enterprise Financial Early Warning Model, in which Quantum Rotation Gate is used to optimize four algorithms, namely, Fruit Fly Optimization Algorithm (QFOA), Bee Colony Optimization Algorithm (QABC), Particle Swarm Optimization (QPSO), and Ant Colony Optimization (QACO). The results show that the ability of the prediction model can be greatly improved by using the Quantum Rotation Gate to optimize these four algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Scientific Programming is the property of Hindawi Limited 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 abstract 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 abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Persistent lymphopenia after diagnosis of COVID-19 predicts acute respiratory distress syndrome: A retrospective cohort study

Background: Lymphopenia is a marker of immunosuppression after severe coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) which is characterized by acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). This study aimed to evaluate the relationships between persistent lymphopenia and ARDS. Methods: A retrospective cohort study of 125 patients with COVID-19 admitted to government-designated treatment center between 14 January 2020, and 20 March 2020 was conducted. We recorded all complete blood cell counts during the day 0th, 3rd, and 7th following the diagnosis of COVID-19. Patients were grouped based on the depression of the lymphocyte cell count, their return, or their failure to normal. The primary outcome was the occurrence of ARDS, and secondary outcomes included developing vital organ dysfunction and hospital lengths of stay. Results: 17.6% (22/125) patients developed ARDS. The lymphocyte counts with ARDS and non-ARDS were 0.94 × 109/L, 1.20 × 109/L at admission, respectively (p = 0.02). On the 3rd and 7th day, the median of lymphocyte count in ARDS was significantly lower than that of non-ARDS. Multivariable logistic regression, which was adjusting for potentially confounding factors (including age, comorbidities, and APACHE II score), showed that persistent lymphopenia within the 7th day was independently associated with ARDS (OR, 3.94 [95% CI, 1.26–12.33, p = 0.018). Further, patients with persistent lymphopenia had longer hospital lengths of stay (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The results showed persistent lymphopenia predicted ARDS after COVID-19. Further studies are needed to investigate whether immunostimulation of lymphocytes within 1 week can reduce ARDS occurrence in patients with COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of European Journal of Inflammation (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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 abstract 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 abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Role of Computer Remote Monitoring Technology for Nursing Care in Elderly Breast Cancer Complications.

Geriatric patients undergoing mastectomy have a weakened organism and slow recovery of gastrointestinal function after surgery, which may lead to various complications, affect the absorption of intestinal nutrients, and prolong the healing rate of wounds. Therefore, it is necessary to find an effective nursing program to promote the recovery of gastrointestinal function and prevent postoperative complications in elderly patients undergoing mastectomy. With the continuous development and advancement of computer and communication technologies, telecare is gaining more and more attention and has become an important part of medical information technology construction. Falls endanger the elderly and other special populations, especially after a sudden but unassisted fall, which may be life-threatening. Timely fall detection and rescue can win valuable time for treatment and rescue, which is very important to protect users' health and improve medical monitoring. In order to provide better medical care to the elderly population and reduce the harm caused by falls, this paper will focus on the fall problem of the elderly in telecare. In order to facilitate the detection of falls of the elderly, we design an Android sensor-based data acquisition scheme, using the built-in acceleration sensor in the Android system to collect the human acceleration information, and through the JMS middleware technology, the collected data are transmitted to MATLAB for analysis and processing in real time. This paper preprocesses and synthesizes the collected human body data and visualizes the acceleration changes of various typical daily activities of the human body and breast cancer, then extracts the relevant data features according to the synthesized SVM curve, constructs a pattern recognition algorithm using the extracted features, and verifies the effectiveness of the pattern recognition algorithm through experiments.

Mechanism and practice of COVID-19 complicated with sepsis treated by reinforcing healthy qi to eliminate pathogenic factors and truncation and reversal

To discuss the scientific basis of "reinforcing healthy qi to eliminate pathogenic factors. truncation and reversal- in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) complicated with sep-sis. An inflammatory response caused by novel coronavirus infection was the most important pathological basis in COVID-19 patients, especially in the advanced stage. the critical patients often died of sepsis. Chinese medicine had potential advantages in the treatment of sepsis, among which the basic treatment principle of COVID-19 was to reinforcing healthy qi to eliminate pathogenic factors. The truncation and re-versal therapy was proposed by famous traditional Chinese medicine professor JIANG Chun-hua, and used by Qihuang scholar professor FANG Bang-jiang in the treatment of sepsis. with good effort. There-fore, we suggested that patients with COVID-19 complicated with sepsis should be treated with the therapy of "reinforcing healthy qi to eliminate pathogenic factors, truncation and reversal- in the early stage, and large-scale clinical research should be carried out to furtherly verify its effect.

A case report of human immunodeficiency virus combined with SARS-CoV-2 infection

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an acute respiratory infectious disease caused by a novel coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2) infection, and its spread speed Fast, the crowd is generally susceptible [1]. AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome, AIDS) is caused by human immunodeficiency virus (human immunodeficiency virus).

Clinical Characteristics, Risk Factors and Cardiac Manifestations of Cancer Patients with COVID-19 (preprint)

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been associated with cardiovascular features, which may be deteriorated in cancer patients.Methods: We retrospectively assessed 1,244 COVID-19 patients from February 1st to August 31st (140 cancer and 1104 non-cancer patients). Clinical data and laboratory findings were obtained and compared between cancer and non-cancer groups. Risk factors for in-hospital mortality were identified by multivariable COX regression models.Findings: The median age of cancer group was older than that in non-cancer patients [61 (57-67) vs. 56 (40-68), p < 0.001]. For cancer group, 56% were in severe and critical status, while the proportion was 10% for non-cancer group. Cancer patients had increased levels of leukocyte, neutrophil count and BUN (all p < 0.01), while lymphocyte count was significantly lower (p < 0.001). The most common solid tumor types were gastrointestinal cancer (26%), lung cancer (21%), breast and reproductive cancer (both 19%). There is a rising for cardiac biomarkers, including Pro-BNP, cTnI, MYO, CK-MB, and D-Dimer in COVID-19 cancer population, especially in deceased cancer subjects. The 30-day in hospital mortality in cancer group was dramatically raised than that in non-cancer group (12.9% vs. 4.0%, p<0.01). In multivariable COX regression models, fever, disease severity status, underlying diseases were risk factors for mortality. The Pro-BNP and D-Dimer levels were significantly increased in cancer subjects with cardiovascular disease.Interpretation: COVID-19 cancer patients relate to deteriorating conditions, increased risk of admission to intensive care units and in-hospital mortality. They display severely impaired myocardium, damaged heart function and imbalanced homeostasis of coagulation, which warrants more aggressive treatment. Funding: The current work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation Project of China (Grant No. 81670304) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (NO.2042019kf0058).Declaration of Interests: All authors report no relationship or conflict of interest to disclose.Ethics Approval Statement: This study was approved by the National Health Commission of China and the institutional review board at Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University (Wuhan, China).

Collaborative City Digital Twin For Covid-19 Pandemic: A Federated Learning Solution (preprint)

In this work, we propose a collaborative city digital twin based on FL, a novel paradigm that allowing multiple city DT to share the local strategy and status in a timely manner. In particular, an FL central server manages the local updates of multiple collaborators (city DT), provides a global model which is trained in multiple iterations at different city DT systems, until the model gains the correlations between various response plan and infection trend. That means, a collaborative city DT paradigm based on FL techniques can obtain knowledge and patterns from multiple DTs, and eventually establish a `global view' for city crisis management. Meanwhile, it also helps to improve each city digital twin selves by consolidating other DT's respective data without violating privacy rules. To validate the proposed solution, we take COVID-19 pandemic as a case study. The experimental results on the real dataset with various response plan validate our proposed solution and demonstrate the superior performance.

Virologic and clinical characteristics for prognosis of severe COVID-19: a retrospective observational study in Wuhan, China (preprint)

Background: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has progressed to a pandemic associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. The WHO and the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have issued interim clinical guidance for management of patients with confirmed coronavirus disease (COVID-19), but there is limited data on the virologic and clinical characteristics for prognosis of severe COVID-19. Methods: A total of 50 patients with severe COVID-19 were divided into good and poor recovery groups. The dynamic viral shedding and serological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 were explored. The risk factors associated with poor recovery and lung lesion resolutions were identified. In addition, the potential relationships among the viral shedding, the pro-inflammatory response, and lung lesion evolutions were characterized. Results: A total of 58% of the patients had poor recovery and were more likely to have a prolonged interval of viral shedding. The longest viral shedding was 57 days after symptom onset. Older age, hyperlipemia, hypoproteinemia, corticosteroid therapy, consolidation on chest computed-tomography (CT), and prolonged SARS-CoV-2 IgM positive were all associated with poor recovery. Additionally, the odds of impaired lung lesion resolutions were higher in patients with hypoproteinemia, hyperlipemia, and elevated levels of IL-4 and ferritin. Finally, viral shedding and proinflammatory responses were closely correlated with lung lesion evolutions on chest CT. Conclusions Patients with severe COVID-19 have prolonged SARS-CoV-2 infection and delayed intermittent viral shedding. Older age, hyperlipemia, hypoproteinemia, corticosteroid usage, and prolonged SARS-CoV-2 IgM positive might be utilized as predicative factors for the patients with poor recovery.