Does COVID-19 disrupt competition? Evidence from Iran

Purpose: Following the COVID-19 outbreak, there are concerns whether economies are becoming farther from equality and competency. While this matters to every economy, it is more crucial for developing ones who already suffer from income inequalities and lack of competency. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses an administrative data from the Iran's Social Security Organization (ISSO) that provides insurance to workers entitled to the Labor Law of Iran. The data contain more than 7,000,000 workers. The authors assess heterogeneous impact of the first wave of the pandemic by firms' size and average payment. Findings: The authors' estimation results indicate that, following the initiation of the pandemic, the workers whose corresponding firms are smaller, overall, are more prone to the pandemic and are more likely to submit a request for unemployment benefits. However, the relation is neither homogeneous across sectors nor linear among micro-sized firms. Few sectors indicate a positive relationship between size and likelihood of request submission, including cultural activity, shoemaking and clothing sectors. Besides the size, the authors investigate whether pay grades could explain the probability of becoming unemployed after the pandemic. Results show that workers whose corresponding firms pay less are more likely to submit a request. This is robust within different sectors. Research limitations/implications: The ISSO dataset is not a panel, so the authors cannot employ methods of causal inferences. The authors' results should be seen as correlation;however, due to exogeneity and sharpness of the pandemic the result infers to some degree of causality. The data does not cover the informal sector, so the estimates are at lower boundary. Originality/value: Administrative data on unemployment benefits during COVID-19 show that the pandemic interferes with competition by forcing low-paid workers and small firms to exit the market. This is an alarm for the competition in every economy, specially developing ones. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

The Design and Rationale of a Phase 2b, Randomized, Double-Blinded, and Placebo-Controlled Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of Lomecel-B in Older Adults with Frailty.

BACKGROUND: Frailty in older adults is a rapidly growing unmet medical need. It is an aging-related syndrome characterized by physical decline leading to higher risk of adverse health outcomes. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy of Lomecel-B, an allogeneic medicinal signaling cell (MSC) formulation, in older adults with frailty. DESIGN: This multicenter, randomized, parallel-arm, double-blinded, and placebo-controlled phase 2b trial is designed to evaluate dose-range effects of Lomecel-B for frailty on physical functioning, patient-reported outcomes (PROs), frailty status, and biomarkers. SETTING: Eight enrolling clinical research centers, including the Miami Veterans Affairs Medical Center. PARTICIPANTS: Target enrollment is 150 subjects aged 70-85 years of any race, ethnicity, or gender. Enrollment criteria include a Clinical Frailty Score of 5 ("mild") or 6 ("moderate"), a 6MWT of 200-400 m, and serum tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) ≥2.5 pg/mL. INTERVENTION: A single intravenous infusion of Lomecel-B (25, 50, 100, or 200 million cells) or placebo (N=30/arm). Patients are followed for 365 days for safety, and the efficacy assessments performed at 90, 180, and 270 days. MEASUREMENTS: The primary endpoint is change in 6MWT in the Lomecel-B-treated arms versus placebo at 180 days post-infusion. Secondary and exploratory endpoints include change in: 6MWT and other physical function measures at all time points; PROs; frailty status; cognitive status; and an inflammatory biomarkers panel. A pre-specified sub-study examines vascular/endothelial biomarkers. Safety is evaluated throughout the trial. RESULTS: The trial is conducted under a Food and Drug Administration Investigational New Drug (IND), with Institutional Review Board approval, and monitoring by an NIH-appointed independent Data Safety Monitoring Board. CONCLUSION: This clinical trial investigates the use of a regenerative medicine strategy for frailty in older adults. The results will further the understanding of the potential for Lomecel-B in the geriatric condition of frailty.

The Heterogeneous Effect of COVID-19 on the Gender Gap in Iran

COVID-19 has impacted all human beings, but more severely people with baseline vulnerabilities, and especially women. The impact is even more pronounced in developing countries where gender gap bias is more acute. We use the national data set of the Labor Force Survey, from 2015 to summer 2020, to assess the heterogeneous impacts of the downturn on the employment of women in Iran. Findings show that women have disproportionately exited the labor market, which widens the gender gap in the participation rate. They also show a slower recovery for women compared to men. In contrast, when remaining in the labor market women's working hours are less affected than men's. Overall, our findings show a heterogeneous effect from the pandemic among women regarding their education level, age, and occupational choices.

THE KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES, AND PRACTICE (KAP) OF THE IRANIAN PUBLIC TOWARDS COVID-19: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

InTrodUcTIon: COVID-19 is an extremely contagious disease that has led to a global pandemic. Control of this pandemic requires community awareness and adherence to preventive behaviors. The aim of this review is to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of the Iranian public towards the COVID-19 pandemic. MATerIAL And MeTHods: This review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines. Databases including Magiran, SID, ISC, Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane, ProQuest, Science Direct, and Google Scholar were searched for literature. The searches were conducted in both Farsi and English without any time limit until the end of December 2020. The research question and inclusion and exclusion criteria were designed according to the PICO. For qualifying studies, the NOS checklist was used. We used narrative synthesis for synthesizing the entered studies. resULTs: 138 studies were found during the initial search, of which 13 were systematically reviewed. All studies identified had a cross-sectional design and used researcher-designed tools for data collection. Overall, 11 111 people (4900 men and 6211 women) from the public population of Iran were included. concLUsIons: The majority of Iranians studied had appropriate (KAP) regarding COVID-19 precautions. Policymakers should continue public health education measures. Copyright © 2021 Via Medica.

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) associated with Kawasaki Disease in a three-year-old girl with SARS-CoV-2 infection

Kawasaki Disease (KD) is an acute and restrictive vasculitis. Studies have noted a viral association with the occurrence of this syndrome. This article reports a child with several severe inflammatory syndrome symptoms associated with COVID-19 and KD. The patient, a three-year-old Iranian Kurdish girl without a history of internal diseases and with no history of drug and food allergies, was referred to Imam Hasan hospital three days after diarrhea, nausea, and pain in the inner part of the left thigh. Scattered rashes around the face, neck, and arms during fever were significant. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was positive for COVID-19, but the lung high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) did not show involvement, so the diagnosis of KD associated with viral infection was suggested. In further studies, Wright and 2ME tests, Widal, and purified protein derivative (PPD) tests were declared negative. After intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), the patient's fever continued, but other symptoms improved. Since COVID-19 is a new disease and our understanding of its numerous symptoms is evolving, we recommend physicians to be vigilant about secondary inflammatory syndromes that induce KD;rapid treatment with IVIG and steroids may improve patients' conditions. © 2021. All Rights Reserved.