scholarly journals Country-level factors dynamics and ABO/Rh blood groups contribution to COVID-19 mortality

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfonso Monaco ◽  
Ester Pantaleo ◽  
Nicola Amoroso ◽  
Loredana Bellantuono ◽  
Alessandro Stella ◽  
...  

AbstractThe identification of factors associated to COVID-19 mortality is important to design effective containment measures and safeguard at-risk categories. In the last year, several investigations have tried to ascertain key features to predict the COVID-19 mortality tolls in relation to country-specific dynamics and population structure. Most studies focused on the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic observed in the first half of 2020. Numerous studies have reported significant associations between COVID-19 mortality and relevant variables, for instance obesity, healthcare system indicators such as hospital beds density, and bacillus Calmette-Guerin immunization. In this work, we investigated the role of ABO/Rh blood groups at three different stages of the pandemic while accounting for demographic, economic, and health system related confounding factors. Using a machine learning approach, we found that the “B+” blood group frequency is an important factor at all stages of the pandemic, confirming previous findings that blood groups are linked to COVID-19 severity and fatal outcome.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfonso Monaco ◽  
Ester Pantaleo ◽  
Nicola Amoroso ◽  
Loredana Bellantuono ◽  
Alessandro Stella ◽  
...  

Abstract Identifying factors related to COVID-19 mortality is important to deploy effective containment measures and to safeguard categories at risk. In the last months, several investigations have tried to ascertain essential features for predicting the COVID-19 mortality tolls depending on country-specific dynamics and population structure. Most studies focused on the initial outbreak of COVID-19 spanning the first half of 2020. Several variables, including obesity, health system indicators such as hospital bed density, and bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccination have been reported as significantly associated to COVID-19 mortality. Here, we examined in different pandemic stages some of the mentioned associations as well as ABO and Rh blood group indicators, which have also been previously linked to COVID-19 severity and fatal outcome. Using a machine learning approach, we found that the “B+” blood group frequency is an important factor at all stages of the pandemic.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (22) ◽  
pp. 9773
Author(s):  
Michal Biron ◽  
Hilla Peretz ◽  
Keren Turgeman-Lupo

An organization’s capacity to sustain a crisis, and to benefit from work-from-home (WFH) arrangements in routine times, is dependent on its employees’ ability to successfully adjust to WFH conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic, which forced vast numbers of employees worldwide to WFH, provides an unprecedented opportunity to identify factors that facilitate WFH adjustment. Leveraging this opportunity and drawing from theories on person-environment fit and work adjustment, we consider trait optimism as a possible facilitator of WFH adjustment during the pandemic. We further investigate how situational optimism and cultural (country-level) optimism contribute to the relationship between trait optimism and WFH adjustment. Using data from 388 employees in five countries, we find that trait optimism positively relates to WFH adjustment. This relationship is partly mediated by situational expectations regarding health/financial benefits of WFH amid the pandemic. Moreover, trait optimism is more strongly related to WFH adjustment in countries with high (vs. low) cultural optimism. This study addresses the call to investigate whether and how personality traits relate to WFH adjustment. Our findings can improve organizations’ ability to select and train employees who WFH, and to enhance operational resilience to future crises. Managers in global firms can draw from our results to understand how cultural differences affect the ease with which WFH is adopted, and to develop country-specific WFH practices.


2021 ◽  
Vol 224 (2) ◽  
pp. S121-S122
Author(s):  
Ramamurthy Siripuram ◽  
Nathan R. Blue ◽  
Robert M. Silver ◽  
William A. Grobman ◽  
Uma M. Reddy ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Andrea Bizzego ◽  
Giulio Gabrieli ◽  
Marc H. Bornstein ◽  
Kirby Deater-Deckard ◽  
Jennifer E. Lansford ◽  
...  

Child Mortality (CM) is a worldwide concern, annually affecting as many as 6.81% children in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). We used data of the Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS) (N = 275,160) from 27 LMIC and a machine-learning approach to rank 37 distal causes of CM and identify the top 10 causes in terms of predictive potency. Based on the top 10 causes, we identified households with improved conditions. We retrospectively validated the results by investigating the association between variations of CM and variations of the percentage of households with improved conditions at country-level, between the 2005–2007 and the 2013–2017 administrations of the MICS. A unique contribution of our approach is to identify lesser-known distal causes which likely account for better-known proximal causes: notably, the identified distal causes and preventable and treatable through social, educational, and physical interventions. We demonstrate how machine learning can be used to obtain operational information from big dataset to guide interventions and policy makers.


2021 ◽  
pp. 097265272110153
Author(s):  
Lan Khanh Chu

This article examines the impact of institutional, financial, and economic development on firms’ access to finance in Latin America and Caribbean region. Based on firm- and country-level data from the World Bank databases, we employ an ordered logit model to understand the direct and moderating role of institutional, financial, and economic development in determining firms’ financial obstacles. The results show that older, larger, facing less competition and regulation burden, foreign owned, and affiliated firms report lower obstacles to finance. Second, better macro-fundamentals help to lessen the level of obstacles substantially. Third, the role of institutions in promoting firms’ inclusive finance is quite different to the role of financial development and economic growth. JEL classification: E02; G10; O16; P48


Blood ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 59 (6) ◽  
pp. 1286-1291 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Ludwig ◽  
W Mayr

Abstract An up-dated survey of the information pertaining to the role of genetic factors in susceptibility to multiple myeloma is attempted. Our own results include the HLA-A, B, and C types in 68 patients, the G1m and Km allotypes in 86 patients, and the frequencies of ABO blood groups in 126 patients with multiple myeloma. The allotype G1m(x) was significantly (p less than 0.05) more frequent in the patient group. Since the results in the literature on a possible HLA association have been inconsistent, all relevant available data were combined for an assessment of 379 patients versus 5041 controls. In this comparatively large patient group, the previously reported increase of HLA-4c (HLA-B5 + B18 + Bw35) complex could be confirmed and identified as a weak (RR = 1.7) but significant (p less than 0.05) association of susceptibility to multiple myeloma with HLA-B5. Evaluation of G1m allotypes in the combined sample of 258 patients and 4550 controls and Km in 179 and 2457, respectively yielded no significant differences.


Author(s):  
Eva Marín ◽  
Maria Carme Sistach ◽  
Jessica Jiménez ◽  
Miguel Clemente ◽  
Guillem Garcia ◽  
...  

AbstractLong-time preservation of manuscripts depends on the stability of their support. One of the most important degradation processes of paper manuscripts containing iron gall ink is the acid hydrolysis of cellulose. The heterogeneity of the distribution of their constituent materials, together with the defined position of ink as a source of degradation agents, makes it difficult to obtain reliable and detailed information about degradation processes. The aim of this study is to contribute to the knowledge of the acid degradation process by looking at the distribution of relevant variables (pH, acidity and alkaline reserve) on real untreated iron gall ink containing manuscripts at different degradation stages. The study discusses the well-known differences between surface and cold extraction pH determination. It corroborates the relationship between pH, acidity and alkalinity and degradation stages, pointing out that acidity values for some manuscripts in apparent good condition are not far from those obtained for degraded manuscripts. The results indicate that in some partially degraded manuscripts, the coexistence of acid areas and areas with an alkaline reserve which do not participate in the neutralization process is possible. The role of water as a solvent for this equilibrium has also been evaluated.


Symmetry ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 890
Author(s):  
Paolo Di Giamberardino ◽  
Rita Caldarella ◽  
Daniela Iacoviello

This paper addresses the problem of describing the spread of COVID-19 by a mathematical model introducing all the possible control actions as prevention (informative campaign, use of masks, social distancing, vaccination) and medication. The model adopted is similar to SEIQR, with the infected patients split into groups of asymptomatic subjects and isolated ones. This distinction is particularly important in the current pandemic, due to the fundamental the role of asymptomatic subjects in the virus diffusion. The influence of the control actions is considered in analysing the model, from the calculus of the equilibrium points to the determination of the reproduction number. This choice is motivated by the fact that the available organised data have been collected since from the end of February 2020, and almost simultaneously containment measures, increasing in typology and effectiveness, have been applied. The characteristics of COVID-19, not fully understood yet, suggest an asymmetric diffusion among countries and among categories of subjects. Referring to the Italian situation, the containment measures, as applied by the population, have been identified, showing their relation with the government's decisions; this allows the study of possible scenarios, comparing the impact of different possible choices.


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