Smithlist9039

[This corrects the article DOI 10.1007/s10479-022-04523-8.].To be or not to be quarantined? That is the question posed by COVID-19 pandemic to almost every resident in the world. Approximately three months after the first application of the COVID-19 lockdown to residents in 17 Asian, African, European, American, and Oceanian countries, we carried out a cross-national survey of 26,266 residents via online platforms such as Sojump and Prolific to investigate their willingness to quarantine and its influencing factors. Findings show that 1) The willingness to quarantine is low in countries with high long-term orientation; 2) Females are more willing to be quarantined than males; 3) Gender difference on willingness to quarantine is large among people with older age and low education. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed. Understanding how culture and demographics affect people's willingness to quarantine not only provides insight into how to respond to the current pandemic, but also helps the world prepare for future crises.Humans are standouts in their propensity to trade. More specially, the kind of trading found in humans-featuring the exchange of many different goods and services with many different others, for the mutual benefit of all the involved parties-far exceeds anything that is found in any other creature. However, a number of important questions about this propensity remain open. First, it is not clear exactly what makes this propensity so different in the human case from that of other animals. Second, it is not clear why other animals did not acquire this propensity to the extent that humans did. Third, it is not clear what explains the fact that the extent to which humans engage in trade is culturally highly variable. The paper argues that at the heart of the human-animal divergence in this propensity is the particular socio-cultural environment in which humans evolved. This has led them to sometimes, but not always, acquire the cognitive technology (writing, algebra, tallying devices, money, etc.) to support a sophisticated disposition and capacity for reciprocal cooperation, and deep and wide concepts of property and exchange value.We investigate how the lockdown enforcement by French authorities is associated with the resolution of corporate insolvency. In this sense, we make a distinction between four legal procedures, namely the amicable liquidation (out-of-court exit), the judicial liquidation (court-driven exit), the restructuring procedure available to non-defaulted firms, and the restructuring procedure available to defaulted firms. Using a sample of 3488 non-listed and non-financial French firms, our estimates yield three major findings. First, the likelihood of judicial liquidation increased after the lifting of the quarantines compared to the pre-pandemic period. Second, the non-defaulted firms had a higher likelihood to reorganize in court during the second lockdown. Third, the lifting of the first lockdown led to a decrease in the probability of restructuring the assets of defaulted firms. Although the main objective of the lockdown was to limit spread of the virus, its enforcement has not encouraged the use of the out-of-court exit path.Since its outbreak, COVID-19 disease has claimed over one hundred thousand lives in the United States, resulting to multiple and complex nation-wide challenges. In this study, we employ global and local regression models to assess the influence of socio-economic and health conditions on COVID-19 mortality in contiguous USA. For a start, stepwise and exploratory regression models were employed to isolate the main explanatory variables for COVID-19 mortality from the ensemble 33 socio-economic and health parameters between January 1st and 16th of September 2020. Preliminary results showed that only five out of the examined variables (case fatality rate, vulnerable population, poverty, percentage of adults that report no leisure-time physical activity, and percentage of the population with access to places for physical activity) can explain the variability of COVID-19 mortality across the Counties of contiguous USA within the study period. Consequently, we employ three global and two local regression algorithms ttended college was negatively associated with poverty (-0.51), obesity (-0.50) and diabetes (-0.45). Results show that education is crucial to improve socio-economic and health conditions of the Americans. We conclude that investing in people's standard of living would reduce the vulnerability of an entire population.A common problem in public transport systems is bus bunching, characterized by a negative feedback loop between service headways, number of boarding passengers and dwell times. In this study, we examine whether providing real-time crowding information (RTCI) at the stop regarding the two next vehicle departures can stimulate passengers to wait for a less-crowded departure, and thus alleviate the bunching effect. To this end, we leverage on results from own stated-preference survey and develop a boarding choice model. The model accounts for the presence of RTCI and is implemented within dynamic public transport simulation framework. Application to the case-study model of a major bus corridor in Warsaw (Poland) reveals that RTCI can induce a significant probability (30-70%) of intentionally skipping an overcrowded bus and waiting for a later departure instead. This behaviour, in turn, results in significantly lower vehicle headway and load variations, without deteriorations in total waiting utility. Overall, journey experience improves by 6%, and crucially-the prevalence of denial-of-boarding and excessive on-board overcrowding is substantially reduced, by ca. 40%. Results of our study indicate that the willingness to wait induced by RTCI can be a potential demand management strategy in counteracting bunching, with benefits already attainable at limited RTCI response rates.Ride-hailing can potentially provide a variety of benefits to individuals who need to chain several activities together within a single trip chain, relative to other travel modes. Using household travel diary/survey data, the goal of this study is to assess the role ride-hailing currently plays within trip chains. Specifically, the study aims to determine, within trip chains, who uses ride-hailing services, for what trip/activity purposes, and to/from what types of areas, as well as the characteristics of trip chains that involve ride-hailing segments. To meet these objectives, the study estimates a binary logit model using 2017 National Household Travel Survey data, where the dependent variable denotes the inclusion of at least one ride-hailing trip within a trip chain. Similar to the non-trip-chaining ride-hailing literature, this study indicates that trip chains with ride-hailing legs are positively associated with travelers who are younger, live in high-income households, frequently use transit, and reside in high-density areas. However, this study includes novel findings indicating statistically significant relationships between ride-hailing and trip chains that end in healthcare and social/recreational activities. Moreover, trip chains with ride-hailing tend to have fewer stops and longer activity durations than trip chains without ride-hailing. This study also includes nested logit choice models, wherein the dependent variable denotes the primary mode (ride-hailing, transit, personal vehicle, or non-motorized transport) of a trip chain. These model results provide additional insights into the role of ride-hailing within trip chains, as they allow for cross-mode comparisons. The paper discusses the potential transportation planning and policy implications of the model results as well as future research directions.Temperature is one of the ubiquitous signals that control both the development as well as virulence of various microbial species. Therefore their survival is dependent upon initiating appropriate response upon temperature fluctuations. In particular, pathogenic microbes exploit host-temperature sensing mechanisms for triggering the expression of virulence genes. Many studies have revealed that the biomolecules within a cell such as DNA, RNA, lipids and proteins help in sensing change in temperature, thereby acting as thermosensors. This review shall provide an insight into the different mechanisms of thermosensing and how they aid pathogenic microbes in host invasion.

In Paraguay, incomplete surveillance data resulted in the burden of congenital syphilis being underestimated, which, in turn, led to missed opportunities for infant diagnosis and treatment.

The prevalence of congenital syphilis, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), was estimated for Paraguay using the WHO congenital syphilis estimation tool. This tool was also used to monitor progress towards the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of syphilis.

The burden of syphilis in Paraguay has historically been high its prevalence in pregnant women was estimated to be 3% in 2018.

The incidence rate of congenital syphilis estimated using the WHO tool was around nine times the reported prevalence. Recilisib Akt activator Subsequently, Paraguay (i)provided training to improve diagnosis and case reporting; (ii)strengthened information systems for case monitoring and reporting; and (iii)procured additional rapid dual HIV-syphilis and rapid plasma reagin tests to increase syphilis testing capacity. In addition, the Minid the importance of comprehensive national surveillance systems and accurate data. Ongoing use of the WHO tool can track progress towards the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of syphilis by helping improve syphilis service coverage and national surveillance.

To estimate the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and chronic bronchitis in eight countries in South Asia through a systematic review and meta-analysis.

We searched MEDLINE® Complete, Web of Science, Embase®, Scopus, CINAHL and reference lists of screened studies for research on the prevalence of COPD and chronic bronchitis in South Asian countries published between January 1990 and February 2021. We used standardized diagnostic criteria for definitions of COPD and chronic bronchitis. Two reviewers undertook study screening, full-text review, quality appraisal and data extraction.

Of 1529 studies retrieved, 43 met the inclusion criteria 32 provided data from India; four from Bangladesh; three from Nepal; two from Pakistan; and two from both India and Sri Lanka. Twenty-six studies used standardized diagnostic definitions and 19 were included in the meta-analysis. The estimated pooled prevalence of COPD was 11.1% (95% confidence interval, CI 7.4-14.8%), using the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease fixed criteria and 8.0% (95% CI 5.6-10.4%) using the lower limit of normal criteria. The prevalence of COPD was highest in north India (19.4%) and Bangladesh (13.5%) and in men. The estimated pooled prevalence of chronic bronchitis was 5.0% (95% CI 4.1-6.0%) in India and 3.6% (95% CI 3.1-4.0%) in Pakistan.

Included countries have a high prevalence of COPD although it varied by geographical area and study characteristics. Future research in South Asia should use standardized diagnostic criteria to examine the contribution of setting-specific risk factors to inform prevention and control strategies.

Included countries have a high prevalence of COPD although it varied by geographical area and study characteristics. Future research in South Asia should use standardized diagnostic criteria to examine the contribution of setting-specific risk factors to inform prevention and control strategies.