Effects of the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic on implied stock market volatility: International evidence using a google trend measure.

This paper investigates the relationship between investors' attention, as measured by Google search queries, and equity implied volatility during the COVID-19 outbreak. Recent studies show that search investors' behavior data is an extremely abundant repository of predictive data, and investor-limited attention increases when the uncertainty level is high. Our study using data from thirteen countries across the globe during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (January-April 2020) examines whether the search "topic and terms" for the pandemic affect market participants' expectations about future realized volatility. With the panic and uncertainty about COVID-19, our empirical findings show that increased internet searches during the pandemic caused the information to flow into the financial markets at a faster rate and thus resulting in higher implied volatility directly and via the stock return-risk relation. More specifically for the latter, the leverage effect in the VIX becomes stronger as Google search queries intensify. Both the direct and indirect effects on implied volatility, highlight a risk-aversion channel that operates during the pandemic. We also find that these effects are stronger in Europe than in the rest of the world. Moreover, in a panel vector autoregression framework, we show that a positive shock on stock returns may soothe COVID-related Google searches in Europe. Our findings suggest that Google-based attention to COVID-19 leads to elevated risk aversion in stock markets.

Criticality of a regional airport development to mitigate covid-19 economic effects.

The current COVID-19 crisis is having major impact on businesses across the world. This Insight focusses on investment in transport infrastructure as one of the key tools to enforce employment, businesses afloat and to maintain the productive capacity of the economy as well as maintain, and possibly increase, the attractiveness as business location. The challenges associated with the delivery and operation of complex transport infrastructure projects in today's marketplace have been well documented in recent years. Decision making in planning and management of new transport infrastructure projects is complicated due to the different stakeholders involved in decision process, especially for restricted economic conditions and financing assumptions, where the project business plan performance is strongly related to regional development prospects. The paper provides an evaluation framework based on an ex-ante assessment framework of a new airport economic impact concentration to business ecosystem on one hand and the diversity of economic impact to business ecosystem on the other in the post COVID-19 era. The approach is essential to provide key messages to national governments, decision makers and stakeholders regarding the contribution of an airport investment towards regional economic development in terms of contribution to business ecosystem after COVID-19 pandemic. The case study adopted to illustrate the application of this methodology is a new regional airport with high seasonal traffic characteristics on the island of Crete in Greece, one of the most attractive tourist destinations in South-east Mediterranean.

Flight-to-quality between global stock and bond markets in the COVID era.

We investigate the impact of the recent COVID-19 pandemic on the time-varying correlation between stock and bond returns. Using daily data on bond and stock returns for ten countries, covering Europe, Asia, US and Australia regions, we identify flight-to-quality episodes during the COVID-19 global pandemic crisis employing both a panel data specification and a wavelet analysis. Our empirical results demonstrate that flights occur simultaneously across countries and are not country-specific events. This finding suggests that the two largest asset classes offered diversification to investors during the recent crisis, when they actually needed it the most.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection and Hip and Knee Arthroplasty.

BACKGROUND: Modern management of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection has afforded patients longevity while increasing the burden of arthroplasty procedures because of the increased risk of osteonecrosis, fragility fractures, and degenerative joint disease. Early publications on hip and knee arthroplasty in HIV-positive patients reported a high risk of complications, although some more recent publications demonstrated acceptable outcomes. Despite the widespread nature of the HIV pandemic, there is a paucity of literature addressing outcomes following joint arthroplasty in infected patients. We pooled available studies to obtain the best evidence regarding the safety of total hip and knee arthroplasty procedures in HIV-positive patients. The studies identified were heterogeneous, precluding a meta-analysis. However, we performed a review of the literature focusing on complications and outcomes. METHODS: Twenty-one published English-language articles involving 6,516,186 joints were identified by a systematic review as suitable for inclusion in the study. The articles were analyzed for complication and prosthesis survivorship rates and relative risks. RESULTS: An overall complication rate of 3.3% was found across the 19 articles that provided such data. HIV-positive patients had a significantly elevated risk of periprosthetic joint infection, at 7.6%, compared with HIV-negative patients, at 3.3% (relative risk = 2.28, 95% confidence interval = 2.14 to 2.43). Eleven articles were suitable for analysis of prosthesis survivorship, and survivorship rates did not differ significantly between HIV-positive and negative patients. CONCLUSIONS: Total hip and total knee arthroplasty appear to be safe procedures with acceptable outcomes in HIV-positive patients. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Beneficial effects of switching from beta-blockers to nebivolol on the erectile function of hypertensive patients.

AIM: To investigate the effect of substituting beta-blockers with nebivolol on the erectile function of patients suffering from essential hypertension. METHODS: Forty-four young and middle-aged men (31-65 years) with essential hypertension visited our outpatient clinic and took beta-blocker treatment (atenolol, metoprolol or bisoprolol) for more than 6 months. All the patients completed a questionnaire regarding erectile function (International Index for Erectile Function). Patients were then switched to an equipotent dose of nebivolol for 3 months and, at the end of this time period, filled out the same questionnaire. RESULTS: Twenty-nine out of the 44 (65.9%) patients who took beta-blockers (atenolol, metoprolol or bisoprolol) had exhibited erectile dysfunction (ED). Their systolic and diastolic blood pressure did not change significantly with the treatment switch. In 20 out of these 29 (69%) patients, a significant improvement in the erectile function score was exhibited after 3 months of nebivolol administration, and in 11 of these 20 patients, erectile function was normalized. CONCLUSION: Nebivolol seems to have a beneficial effect on ED (possibly due to increased nitric oxide availability); however, further prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled studies are needed to confirm the beneficial effects of nebivolol.

Factors affecting the increased prevalence of erectile dysfunction in Greek hypertensive compared with normotensive subjects.

Arterial hypertension is considered a risk factor for erectile dysfunction. The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of erectile dysfunction in hypertensive compared with normotensive individuals of similar demographic characteristics in Greece. Furthermore, the effect of age, hypertension severity, hypertension duration, and antihypertension medication on erectile function of these subjects was investigated. The study population consisted of 634 consecutive young and middle-aged men (31-65 years) that visited our outpatient clinic. From them, 358 patients had arterial hypertension and 276 were normotensive. Erectile dysfunction was evaluated with the International Index for Erectile Function questionnaire. Erectile dysfunction was found in 35.2% of patients with essential hypertension compared with 14.1% of normotensive subjects (chi(2) = 35.92, P < .001). Patients with essential hypertension had more severe erectile dysfunction than their normotensive counterparts (chi(2) = 17.1, P < .001). Hypertension duration, hypertension severity, antihypertension medication, and age were positively correlated with erectile dysfunction. The prevalence of erectile dysfunction is higher in patients with essential hypertension compared with normotensive subjects of similar demographic characteristics. Erectile dysfunction is related to age in both groups, whereas duration and severity of hypertension as well as antihypertension drugs affect erectile function of hypertensive patients. Erectile dysfunction affects patient quality of life, underlining the need for vigorous research of this condition and appropriate management.