Negative Growth Rates Research Articles

VALUE CREATION AND PROFITABILITY OF QUICK SERVICE RESTAURANTS IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

The Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) industry makes a significant contribution to the Nigerian economy; providing substantial revenues to government and sizable employment opportunities at the processing and retailing levels. Previous studies in Nigeria scarcely investigated organisational value creation impact on firm performance particularly in the QSR industry. Despite the increasing popularity of “eating out,” Quick Service Restaurants in Nigeria have shown a negative growth rate, with decline in total income, as it has become increasingly difficult to satisfy modern restaurant customers who seek unique experiences that are more than just consuming food. Hence, this study investigated the effect of value creation on profitability of Quick Service Restaurants in Lagos State, Nigeria. Cross-sectional survey research design was adopted. The total population was 414 owners/managers, accountants of Quick Service Restaurants in Lagos State, Nigeria. A well-structured and validated questionnaire was used for data collection. Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficients for the constructs ranged from 0.72 to 0.92. The response rate was 73.2 percent. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that value creation dimensions had significant effect on profitability(Adj. R2 = 0. 395; F(6,296) = 33.801, p< 0.05).The study concluded that value creation had significant effect on profitability of Quick Service Restaurants in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study recommends that Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs) in Lagos State, Nigeria should continue to deploy their resources effectively and efficiently, identify and satisfy the interests of their key stakeholders in order to enhance profitability.

The Origin of Niches and Species in the Bacterial World.

Niches are spaces for the biological units of selection, from cells to complex communities. In a broad sense, “species” are biological units of individuation. Niches do not exist without individual organisms, and every organism has a niche. We use “niche” in the Hutchinsonian sense as an abstraction of a multidimensional environmental space characterized by a variety of conditions, both biotic and abiotic, whose quantitative ranges determine the positive or negative growth rates of the microbial individual, typically a species, but also parts of the communities of species contained in this space. Microbial organisms (“species”) constantly diversify, and such diversification (radiation) depends on the possibility of opening up unexploited or insufficiently exploited niches. Niche exploitation frequently implies “niche construction,” as the colonized niche evolves with time, giving rise to new potential subniches, thereby influencing the selection of a series of new variants in the progeny. The evolution of niches and organisms is the result of reciprocal interacting processes that form a single unified process. Centrifugal microbial diversification expands the limits of the species’ niches while a centripetal or cohesive process occurs simultaneously, mediated by horizontal gene transfers and recombinatorial events, condensing all of the information recovered during the diversifying specialization into “novel organisms” (possible future species), thereby creating a more complex niche, where the selfishness of the new organism(s) establishes a “homeostatic power” limiting the niche’s variation. Once the niche’s full carrying capacity has been reached, reproductive isolation occurs, as no foreign organisms can outcompete the established population/community, thereby facilitating speciation. In the case of individualization-speciation of the microbiota, its contribution to the animal’ gut structure is a type of “niche construction,” the result of crosstalk between the niche (host) and microorganism(s). Lastly, there is a parallelism between the hierarchy of niches and that of microbial individuals. The increasing anthropogenic effects on the biosphere (such as globalization) might reduce the diversity of niches and bacterial individuals, with the potential emergence of highly transmissible multispecialists (which are eventually deleterious) resulting from the homogenization of the microbiosphere, a possibility that should be explored and prevented.

PELATIHAN MENINGKATKAN KINERJA SDM PASCA COVID-19 BAGI SISWA SEKOLAH KEWIRAUSAHAAN BINA AMANAH CORDOVA, DI TANGERANG

The COVID19 pandemic has shocked the world, including in Indonesia. This pandemic has an impact not only on the health sector, with many people exposed and even dying, but also in other sectors, one of which is the economic sector. Low economic growth, in fact there was a recession with a negative growth rate, many companies had to close, workers were laid off, people's incomes tended to decline, and many other changes. The government is also actively involved in regulating this, such as implementing Large Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB), implementing social distancing, even for workers, students and university students, so activities are carried out from home. The impact of all these things has made the Indonesian people more creative in carrying out their daily lives and activities. Including company managers or entrepreneurs or business people, it is necessary to restructure their operational activities and business management. Indonesia needs human resources who are more skilled, more creative, and more able to improve competence and performance than what was done before this panddmi. Thus, each company is expected to be able to manage its business more competitively, both large and SME businesses. The Bina Amanah Cordova School of Entrepreneurship, Tangerang, is one that has also felt the impact of this pandemic. This school is a school dedicated to developing aspiring entrepreneurs. This school produces prospective business people who later they can help the government in increasing its contribution to the economic sector. realize that there is a need for their students and alumni who are already in the SME business to develop the further knowledge and skills needed to manage the challenges faced by any business due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Many students and alumni who are already business people are very aware of this changing situation. They need information, knowledge, related to how to maintain their business in this pandemic era, especially how to increase the competence of business people so that their performance can also increase and this is an effort to maintain the business they run.The Faculty of Economics and Business, Trisakti University through its community service program strives to facilitate the needs faced by students and alumni of the Cordova School of Entrepreneurship. The FEB Usakti Community Service Team (PKM) has conducted training to improve the performance of human resources to remain competitive in a sustainable manner in facing business challenges due to Covid-19, for students and alumni of the Bina Amanah Cordova School of Entrepreneurship, Tangerang. The results of the training evaluation show that students and alumni have been able to significantly improve their performance in increasing competence, especially in terms of how to improve the skills and knowledge needed to survive in running their business (MSME sector), so it can be concluded that the training provided has successfully fulfilled its objectives. .Keywords: Covid-19 epidemic, competence, performance, UMKM

Slow life history leaves endangered snake vulnerable to illegal collecting

Global wildlife trade is a multibillion-dollar industry and a significant driver of vertebrate extinction risk. Yet, few studies have quantified the impact of wild harvesting for the illicit pet trade on populations. Long-lived species, by virtue of their slow life history characteristics, may be unable to sustain even low levels of collecting. Here, we assessed the impact of illegal collecting on populations of endangered broad-headed snakes (Hoplocephalus bungaroides) at gated (protected) and ungated (unprotected) sites. Because broad-headed snakes are long-lived, grow slowly and reproduce infrequently, populations are likely vulnerable to increases in adult mortality. Long-term data revealed that annual survival rates of snakes were significantly lower in the ungated population than the gated population, consistent with the hypothesis of human removal of snakes for the pet trade. Population viability analysis showed that the ungated population has a strongly negative population growth rate and is only prevented from ultimate extinction by dispersal of small numbers of individuals from the gated population. Sensitivity analyses showed that the removal of a small number of adult females was sufficient to impose negative population growth and suggests that threatened species with slow life histories are likely to be especially vulnerable to illegal collecting.

Economic Implications Before and After the Covid-19 Pandemic Progressing Towards a ‘New Normal’

The aim of this study is to understand the economic implications before and during the COVID-19 pandemic to facilitate progression towards a ‘new normal’ society post-pandemic. There is a focus on the Indian economy. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a grave impact on the economy affecting employment systems, where many learned youths have lost their jobs. Education systems have been faced with closures of institutions and decreased funding. Financial Markets have been affected with a negative growth rate in GDP, external trade, the political system, Indian cooperate companies, the agricultural sector, the elderly people in society, women and migrate laborers who have endured the ‘black march’ walking from Southern India to Northern India have all be affected. During the pandemic there has been enormous disruption to society, many disparities have been highlighted and immense economic loss. There have been effects on economic developments, civilization, and human direction. It is paramount to learn from the past pandemics, forming a restructured and sustainable future that society can call ‘normal’. Hence the pandemic has provided an opportunity to create and employ new strategies to aid future economic development by preventing past mistakes. The increase in global digital economy will facilitate informed decisions to be made during COVID-19, and aid towards rebuilding the economy, promoting growth and prosperity in a safe way. It will also enable countries globally to together with resilience to create a ‘new normal’ society.

English

Seawater changing chemistry has consequences on coastal ecosystems and their living resources. Future projections suggest the pH could drop ~0.2-0.3 pH units by the year 2100 under a business-as-usual (BAU) CO2 emission scenario. Marine calcifying organisms such as corals, calcifying algae, crustaceans, mussels, oysters and clams are most likely to be impacted by ocean acidification. The Isognomon alatus (flat tree oyster) is an important species that can be negatively affected by the lowering of seawater pH. Isognomon alatus is an important food source, a substrate for other benthic organisms (e.g., stone crab, Menippe mercenaria) and contribute to nutrients recycling in coastal ecosystems. The study was conducted to test the impacts acidified seawater CO2 on the growth of I. alatus under controlled laboratory conditions as well as field experiment. The Isognomon alatus lost weight and experienced negative growth rates of –0.56 ± 0.36 mg g-1day-1 under average pH values of 7.8 expected by the end of this century compared to a loss of –0.26 ± 0.23 mg g-1day-1 under ambient pH (value 8.1) conditions. In contrast, I. alatus incubated in a field experiment showed a gain in weight and positive growth of 3.30 ± 0.23 mg g-1day-1 despite exposure to pH levels (~7.4) during low tide significantly lower than those experienced in the laboratory. Overall, the results showed concern on the impacts of acidification flat tree oyster (Bivalvia:Isognomonidae). A decline of calcifying bivalves populations can impact coastal ecosystems function and indirectly affect the human beings that depend on them as a food source.    Key words: Ocean acidification, climate change, Isognomonidae, shell dissolution, bivalve's growth, estuarine.

Chronic effects of the strobilurin fungicide azoxystrobin in the leaf shredder Gammarus fossarum (Crustacea; Amphipoda) via two effect pathways

Fungicides pose a risk for crustacean leaf shredders serving as key-stone species for leaf litter breakdown in detritus-based stream ecosystems. However, little is known about the impact of strobilurin fungicides on shredders, even though they are presumed to be the most hazardous fungicide class for aquafauna. Therefore, we assessed the impact of the strobilurin azoxystrobin (AZO) on the survival, energy processing (leaf consumption and feces production), somatic growth (growth rate and molting activity), and energy reserves (neutral lipid fatty and amino acids) of the amphipod crustacean Gammarus fossarum via waterborne exposure and food quality-mediated (through the impact of leaf colonizing aquatic microorganisms) and thus indirect effects using 2 × 2-factorial experiments over 24 days. In a first bioassay with 30 µg AZO/L, waterborne exposure substantially reduced survival, energy processing and affected molting activity of gammarids, while no effects were observed via the dietary pathway. Furthermore, a negative growth rate (indicating a body mass loss in gammarids) was induced by waterborne exposure, which cannot be explained by a loss in neutral lipid fatty and amino acids. These energy reserves were increased indicating a disruption of the energy metabolism in G. fossarum caused by AZO. Contrary to the first bioassay, no waterborne AZO effects were observed during a second experiment with 15 µg AZO/L. However, an altered energy processing was determined in gammarids fed with leaves microbially colonized in the presence of AZO, which was probably caused by fungicide-induced effects on the microbial decomposition efficiency ultimately resulting in a lower food quality. The results of the present study show that diet-related strobilurin effects can occur at concentrations below those inducing waterborne toxicity. However, the latter seems to be more relevant at higher fungicide concentrations.

Revisiting Fiscal Responsibility Norms: A Cross Country Analysis of the Impact of COVID-19

In this paper, we have reviewed the COVID induced shock to the debt and deficit profiles of 10 of the largest economies by size of GDP in 2019 referred to in this paper as the Big-10 economies. There is a sharp upsurge in their government debt-GDP ratios because their policy responses to the COVID induced recession have been large fiscal stimuli based on borrowing. With low and often negative growth rates and high fiscal deficit, the debt-GDP ratios are projected to rise sharply in these economies. As normalcy is restored, these countries may attempt to sharply reduce their borrowing levels relative to GDP. However, we argue that before this is done, individual countries may do well to reassess their sustainability norms whether cast in terms of agreements such as the Maastricht Treaty or country level Fiscal Responsibility Legislations (FRLs) or other similar norms. This revision is called for because of the longer-term trends in these economies of rising money supply, falling nominal interest rates and nominal growth rate. The contribution of this article lies in highlighting that the existing FRL norms have become dated in the European and other similar economies because of significant changes in macro parameters such as the interest rate, the long-term growth rate and the government debt-GDP profiles of these countries as compared to the time when these norms were originally determined. There is thus a need now to re-determine these norms which may be higher than their current levels. Even though, some recent literature suggests that the sustainability benchmarks may have shifted upwards, we argue that the post COVID debt-GDP ratios have exceeded these revised benchmarks by significant margins in the case of a number of the Big-10 economies.

Incidence Tendency Analysis on Type 2 Diabetes in 4 Asian Countries - China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, 1990-2019.

What is already known about this topic?Roughly 80% of the global disease burden caused by diabetes comes from low-and-middle income countries, and 60% of diabetics are located in Asia; 6 of the top 10 countries with the highest prevalence of diabetes are in Asia.What is added by this report?Compared with 1990, the growth rate of the standardized incidence rate of type 2 diabetes in 2019 in China was significantly lower than that of the entire world, while Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand all had a negative growth rate in incidence. A great difference was found by the 5-year growth of the standardized incidence rate of type 2 diabetes from 1990 to 2019 in the 4 selected countries.What are the implications for public health practices?Compared with the measures taken for comprehensive prevention and control of risk factors in Singapore, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in China, Malaysia, and Thailand.

Determinante volatilnosti privredne aktivnosti u Evropi tokom pandemije kovida 19 - stilizovane činjenice

In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, almost all European countries recorded negative rates of economic growth, with relatively large variations from one country to another in terms of the depth of the recession. From the expenditure side, the decline was most pronounced in the segment of personal consumption and investment. Observed by sectors, the largest decline was recorded in transport and tourism, manufacturing industry and construction. This paper analyzes three groups of factors that could have potentially influenced the variation in the depth of the recession in European countries in 2020 - the application of non-pharmacological epidemiological measures, the structure of the economy and the fiscal policy response. The data reveal a relatively strong negative correlation between the GDP growth rate and the share of the tourism sector, as well as a moderate negative correlation between the growth rate and the stringency of epidemiological measures and a moderate positive correlation between the size of direct fiscal stimuli and economic growth. The decline in Serbia's GDP in 2020 was significantly lower than the average decline in EU countries. During most of 2020, Serbia applied looser epidemiological measures, while the share of the tourism sector in Serbia's GDP is significantly smaller, and the contraction in this sector was lower than the European average. Direct fiscal stimuli in Serbia were significantly higher (by 48 percent) than the European average. This may indicate that these three groups of factors could potentially explain the lower decline of the Serbian economy compared to the European average in 2020. To draw final conclusions on this issue, econometric modeling would be required, taking into account the influence of other factors, as well.

Performance Analysis of the Farmer Producer Companies in Western Tamil Nadu, India using Altman’s Z-score

The agriculture sector is undergoing a revolution, owing to several initiatives by Government of India aimed at increasing farmers’ income by 2022-23. These efforts should not be implemented in a traditional manner, but rather with farmers as partners in the process. Farmer producer Companies (FPCs) could serve as a ground-level implementation entity. As a result, FPCs may be at the lead of the economic opportunities that these reforms will generate. The financial viability or health of a Farmer Producer Companies is an important factor because many small and marginal farmers depend on it. Therefore, this study evaluated the financial performance of Farmer Producer Companies of the Western agro-climatic zone of Tamil Nadu utilizing Altman Z’ score model and sustainable growth rate for the period 2015 to 2020. This analysis utilized secondary data gathered from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, India. According to the results, it is concluded that the majority of the sample Farmer Producer Companies are in distress zone and if the present circumstance proceeded, these organizations will be bankrupt, within next two years and all of the companies have negative sustainable growth rate, indicating that they would be unable to operate without external funding. As a result, there is an urgent need to concentrate on these companies in order to ensure their sustainable growth.

AN IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF COVID-19 ON THE SOUTH AFRICAN AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY

The purpose of this article is to provide an impact assessment of Covid-19 on the South African automotive industry. The study is exploratory in nature and employs descriptive quantitative analyses. Monthly time series data (01/2000-01/2021) available from Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) were used for analysis and to achieve the objectives of the study. The results indicate that since the beginning of March 2020, all categories started to show significant contraction, and the worst negative growth was observed in April at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic regulations imposed by the government. Measured in nominal values at current prices and compared on a year-on-year (YOY) basis, the largest negative annual growth rate (contraction) was in used vehicle sales, followed by new vehicle sales, income from sales of accessories, workshop income, fuel sales, and convenient store sales. The overall YOY actual motor trade sales contracted by a massive 84%, and when seasonally adjusted, by 81%. Led by used vehicle sales, the automotive industry was able to recover rather quickly as the restrictions imposed by the government were eased from May 2020 onwards. However, the overall performance of the industry is still in a worse state when compared to the preceding year, 2019. Looking forward, the gradual increase in overall motor trade sales suggests a positive trend of growth.

Does Distribution in Public Spending on Education Matter for Cameroon’s Economic Growth

This paper analyzes the distribution’s effects of public spending on education (PSE) on economic growth in Cameroon. Government spend around 3.5 and 5 times respectively for children of secondary and higher education than primary level and the opportunity cost represents 5.5% of GDP in Cameroon at 2010. PSE are progressive at the level of primary education and regressive in the upper levels. We appreciated the effect of this distribution on growth over the period 1982-2012. Our results reveal that the still high level of inequality in public spending on education leads to negative rates of growth. While the primary school level acts negatively on growth, we find that PSE at high level have positive effects. The combination of various effects of PSE weakens the accumulation of human capital essential in promoting growth. Keywords : Public spending on education (PSE), Education costs, Redistributive effect, Growth. Jel Classification : D63, H52, I22, O55. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-2-04 Publication date: January 31 st 2021

Growth performance of Major Indian cereals: State level analysis

Cereals are the major staple food, covering about 80 percent of the cropped area in India. In this study, the trends and growth in the area, production, and productivity of major cereals in major producing states of India were analyzed by using secondary data for a period of 22 years from 1994-95 to 2015 16. Compound annual growth rate and instability index were worked out which revealed that among total cereals, not only area under fine cereals (Rice and Wheat) has shown tremendous increase but their share has also increased from 68 to 75 percent, whereas on the other hand coarse cereals (Maize, Jowar, and Bajra) area has declined at -1.12 per cent during the study period. Maize had shown a positive growth rate in the area whereas Jowar and Bajra showed a negative growth rate in the study period. The productivity of major cereals in all states increased significantly. Required production to meet the expected demand is possible only through productivity improvement, as the possibility of area expansion under cultivation is almost nil. Hence, there is greater potential to improve the yield of major cereals crops through biotechnology and genetic engineering, and thus improve farmers’ income.

TRADE AND INVESTMENT-LED GROWTH IN SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY (SADC)

The growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) has been below zero within the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region in recent years. Some member states have consistently experienced negative growth rates for an extended period which has contributed to low growth for the region on average. The lack of consensus on the findings in literature requires further research work to be done to guide policymakers on the potential sources of growth. This study examines the contribution of trade and investment on growth in the context of SADC. It applies the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to test relationships in both short and long run using annual data for the period 1994 to 2019. Findings confirm the existence of the trade and investment-led growth hypothesis. There is a short run, long run, and joint causality from both explanatory variables to economic growth. Cointegration between growth, trade, and investment is confirmed. Specifically, an increase in investment spurs growth in both the short and long run. Investment expenditure seems to double the growth potential in the long run. Additionally, the study shows that an increase in trade openness retards growth which is consistent with the Prebisch-Singer hypothesis. Results suggest that policies that focus on the development and improvements in fixed investment, locally, help to drive the growth potential. The improvement of capitalization by manufacturing-oriented firms, as opposed to primary product-oriented firms, is ideal.

Coronavirus and Its Impact on Indian Sectors

The year 2020 started off with a wildfire in Australia, massive swarms of locust invading crops resulting in major crop damage in sub-African subcontinent expanding through Asia now last updated in Rajasthan, India and now a widespread virus known as COVID-19, as the year continued the outcomes of pandemic resulted in year-long effects and causing even more major disruption in economic as well as mortality. With over 4 million infected and 0.2 million deaths all over the world, Coronavirus is affecting the livelihood of people in severe manners. Fear among all of us has led us to low consumptions, minimal travel and surging up demands in healthcare. The ongoing spread of this pandemic has major effects in various sectors and volatility in markets has proven the disruptions caused by this pandemic. Limited supplies of food and strict lockdowns are causing food stocks and resources of the country to deplete at a much rapid rate than ever. It might seem like an opportunity for the healthcare and pharmaceutical sector to boom but the current infrastructure of our country cannot support the burden and currently, the healthcare sector is in twin burden of first having more manpower and equipment as well as shortfall in patients of other origins. Having the country in a state of lockdown has made the travel and tourism sector to a negative growth rate with debt increasing as liabilities in assets. The economic impact and the resolution of governments to work for a solution to this pandemic are commendable but the efforts are still not enough and the pandemic is still tightening its grip all over the world.

CANCER INCIDENCE AND MORTALITY IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS IN PRIMORSKY KRAI FOR THE 2008–2018 PERIOD

Background.Cancer is a leading cause of death in children and adolescents worldwide. The cancer incidence rate in children and adolescents has been on the rise for decades. Climatic, geographic and social factors of the region play an important role for cancer incidence.Objective:to analyze the cancer incidence and mortality rates in children and adolescents of Prymorsky krai.Methods.Cancer incidence rates in Russia for 2008–2018 as well as cancer incidence among children treated at the regional pediatric hematology/oncology center (Vladivostok, Russia) for 2014–2019 were analyzed.Results.No statistically significant differences in the cancer incidence rates for the 2008–2018 period between children and adolescents of Primorsky krai and the russian federation in the whole and the far-eastern federal district were found. In in Primorsky krai, there was a variability in the incidence rate during the analyzed period, a negative average annual growth rate in the group of children under 14 years of age (-0.86 %). For the 2008–2018 period, the cancer mortality rate in children and adolescents of Primorsky krai significantly decreased (from 5.65 ‰ in 2008 to 2.6 ‰ in 2018), with the average annual increase rate in children aged 017 years of -9.17 %. In 2014–2019, the quality of cancer detection improved significantly, and the number of children and adolescents with stage iiiiv cancer reduced.Conclusion.Cancer prevention and early detection can potentially reduce the cancer incidence and mortality rates in children and adolescents in Primorsky krai. Population-based cancer registries are needed for quantifying the burden of cancer in children and adolescents and assessing prevention and control programs.

Dynamics of Area Change in Vegetable Production in Karnataka

Area under production of vegetables is increasing over the years despite the gradual fall in total cultivable area in India. Nonetheless, growth in area is not same for all the vegetables. To the assess growth in area and address its disparity, the present study was carried out for the state of Karnataka for the period 1998-99 to 2017-18. About forty percent increase in area of vegetables has been observed over the period of two decades. Among the vegetables potato, and leafy vegetables recorded negative growth rate. Inequality between districts has also been observed for growth in area under vegetables. Markov chain analysis was employed to obtain transitional probability matrix of area under different vegetables. Projection for area of individual vegetable/vegetable groups for period of eight years has been made by simulating the transition probabilities. Tomato, gourds, cole crops and other vegetables group show positive trend of area over the study period. However, onion and leafy vegetables would have more or less constant area over the projected period. The unbalanced growth within the vegetable group could impact to the economy either by affecting dietary diversity or increasing import dependency for vegetables.

Impact of COVID-19 on GDP of major economies: Application of the artificial neural network forecaster

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused global health impacts, and governments have restricted movements to a certain extent. Such restrictions have led to disruptions in economic activities. In this paper, the GDP figures for the April–June quarter of 2020 for eight countries, namely, the United States, Mexico, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, India, and Japan, are forecasted. Considering that artificial neural network models have higher forecasting accuracy than statistical methods, a multilayer artificial neural network model is developed in this paper. This model splits the dataset into two parts: the first with 80% of the observations and the second with 20%. The model then uses the first part to optimize the forecasting accuracy and then applies the optimized parameters to the second part of the dataset to assess the model performance. A forecasting error of less than 2% is achieved by the model during the testing procedure. The forecasted GDP figures show that the April–June quarter of the current year experienced sharp declines in GDP for all countries. Moreover, the annualized GDP growth is expected to reach double-digit negative growth rates. Such alarming prospects require urgent rescue actions by governments.

Mental health status of Chinese residents during the COVID-19 epidemic

BackgroundTo investigate the mental health status of Chinese residents during the epidemic of COVID-19, as well as to identify the positive and negative factors and regulatory effect of negative cognitive processing bias on mental health.MethodsA total of 60,199 residents in China were surveyed via an internet-based survey containing a general questionnaire, such as the self-rating depression scale, the state anxiety inventory, and the negative cognitive processing bias questionnaire. An ordered multiple logistic regression analysis model was used to analyze the collected data.ResultsThe survey revealed mild, moderate, and severe depressive symptoms in 62.65, 11.33, and 6.14% participants, respectively, and mild, moderate, and severe anxiety symptoms in 33.21, 41.27, and 22.99% participants, respectively. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that factors, such as female gender, being older than 55 years, high school education level, medical staff, marital conflicts, negative attention bias, rumination, and death growth rate, positively affected depression and anxiety symptoms. The good family functionality, democratic working atmosphere, and a myriad of social activities negatively affected the level of depressive and anxiety symptoms.ConclusionChinese residents exhibited a high prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms during the epidemic. Thus, psychological interventions should focus on the vulnerable groups, and cognitive training should focus on reducing the negative cognitive processing bias. This might be an effective way to alleviate the mental stress of the general public during the COVID-19 pandemic.