Can major public health emergencies increase the participation of commercial insurance? Evidence from China.

Background: Public health emergencies have a lasting impact on a country's economic and social development. However, commercial insurance can disperse these negative consequences and reduce risk losses. Method: Based on the Chinese Household Tracking Survey and Peking University Digital Inclusive Finance Index, this study employed a difference-in-differences model to test the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on commercial insurance participation and the impact mechanism. Results: The analysis showed that the outbreak of COVID-19 improved residents' risk perception, risk preference and digital finance and promoted their participation in commercial insurance, commercial endowment insurance, and commercial medical insurance. Conclusion: Major public health emergencies can increase commercial insurance participation, but the promotional effect of commercial insurance on rural and low-income individuals is relatively limited. To tap into potential customers, financial institutions should focus on vulnerable societal groups. This study supplements the relevant literature on the impact of major public health emergencies on commercial insurance participation.

The prevalence of potential pathogens in ballast water and sediments of oceangoing vessels and implications for management.

Ballast water and sediments can serve as prominent vectors for the widespread dispersal of pathogens between geographically distant areas. However, information regarding the diversity and distribution of the bacterial pathogens in ballast water and sediments is highly limited. In this study, using high-throughput sequencing and quantitative PCR, we investigated the composition and abundance of potential pathogens, and their associations with indicator microorganisms. We accordingly detected 48 potential bacterial pathogens in the assessed ballast water and sediments, among which there were significant differences in the compositions and abundances of pathogenic bacterial communities characterizing ballast water and sediments. Rhodococcus erythropolis, Bacteroides vulgatus, and Vibrio campbellii were identified as predominant pathogens in ballast water, whereas Pseudomonas stutzeri, Mycobacterium paragordonae, and Bacillus anthracis predominated in ballast sediments. Bacteroidetes, Vibrio alginolyticus, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, and Escherichia coli were generally detected with median values of 8.54 × 103-1.22 × 107 gene copies (GC)/100 mL and 1.16 × 107-3.97 × 109 GC/100 g in ballast water and sediments, respectively. Notably, the concentrations of Shigella sp., Staphylococcus aureus, and V. alginolyticus were significantly higher in ballast sediments than in the water. In addition, our findings tend to confirm that the indicator species specified by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) might underestimate the pathogen risk in the ballast water and sediments, as these bacteria were unable to predict some potential pathogens assessed in this study. In summary, this study provides a comprehensive insight into the spectrum of the potential pathogens that transferred by ship ballast tanks and emphasizes the need for the implementation of IMO convention on ballast sediment management.

Does digital finance improve the green investment of Chinese listed heavily polluting companies? The perspective of corporate financialization.

While now appears appropriate to assert that digital finance can relieve firms' financing constraints, the picture of whether it can improve enterprises' green investment is much less clear. Using 2011-2019 data for Chinese listed heavily polluting (HP) enterprises, we examine the effects of digital finance on corporate green investment. Results show that digital finance impedes HP firms' green investments, and this finding is robust to various tests, including the instrumental variable approach, exogenous shock, and alternative measures of variables. Additional tests reveal that digital finance increases firms' financial investment, which crowds out green investment. Also, this inhibitory impact varies with firms' geographical location, industry characteristics, and the implementation of the new Environmental Protection Law. The findings of this study provide new perspectives on digital finance by identifying its negative impact on the corporate green environment. We also propose corresponding policy recommendations, including strengthening the regulation and guidance of digital finance development, reducing monopolies in the financial sector, and formulating differentiated environmental policies.

The Association of Predicted Resting Energy Expenditure with Risk of Breast Cancer among Postmenopausal Women in the Women's Health Initiative Cohort.

Obesity and obesity-related metabolic disorders, such as diabetes and chronic inflammation, have been positively associated both with postmenopausal breast cancer and with resting energy expenditure (REE). However, there is limited epidemiologic evidence on the associations between REE and risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazards models to examine the association between predicted REE (calculated using the Ikeda, Livingston, and Mifflin equations) and risk of postmenopausal breast cancer overall and by subtypes, and by level of body fat) among 137,283 postmenopausal women in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI). All predicted REEs were positively associated with risk of invasive breast cancer [HRq5 vs. q1 = 1.69; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.57-1.81; HR = 1.69; 95% CI, 1.57-1.82; and HR = 1.68; 95% CI, 1.56-1.80 for Ikeda, Livingston, and Mifflin, respectively]. These positive associations were observed irrespective of the hormone receptor subtype, grade, and stage of the tumors, but were most pronounced for estrogen receptor-positive/progesterone receptor-positive tumors. After additional adjustment for body mass index (BMI), the associations were mostly attenuated and remained statistically significant for most of the outcomes. We also observed an interaction between the predicted REEs and BMI, with the associations being somewhat stronger among normal weight and overweight women than among obese women (Pinteractions < 0.05). Our findings indicate that relatively high REE is associated with increased risk of invasive breast cancer among postmenopausal women (particularly for the obesity-related tumor subtypes), irrespective of the equation used. Further studies using more objective measures of REE are, however, needed to confirm our findings. PREVENTION RELEVANCE: This study showed that higher resting energy expenditure (REE) was associated with higher postmenopausal breast cancer risk. REE provides energy to support cancer-associated disorders such as obesity and inflammation. Thus, studies on its association with breast cancer can help to improve our understanding of the pathophysiology of breast cancer.

Can environmental information disclosure promote the high-quality development of enterprises? The mediating effect of intellectual capital.

The Chinese government has given a high priority to economic high-quality development (HQD) in recent years. This study empirically examines whether environmental information disclosure (EID) can promote corporate HQD using a sample of 302 Chinese listed companies from 2012 to 2018. The results show that EID has a positive impact on firms' HQD and intellectual capital plays a mediating role in this relationship. The results remain robust and valid after a series of endogenous and robustness tests. This study significantly contributes to the existing EID literature by exploring the integrated effect of EID on corporate HQD through constructing a comprehensive indicator to measure corporate HQD, which includes economic performance, environmental performance, and social performance. The findings of our study also add impetus for enterprises to improve their EID.

Objectively measured sedentary time, physical activity and liver enzyme elevations in US Hispanics/Latinos.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Sedentariness and physical inactiveness are associated with deleterious health outcomes, but their associations with liver enzyme elevations remain uncertain. METHODS: In 10 385 US Hispanics/Latinos from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos, we examined associations of sedentary time and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) measured by accelerometers with liver enzyme elevations. Elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase and γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT) were defined as the highest gender-specific deciles. Prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using weighted Poisson regressions. RESULTS: After adjusting for demographical/socioeconomic factors and MVPA, increasing quartiles of sedentary time were associated with a higher prevalence of elevated ALT (PRs [95% CI] = 1.0, 1.17 [0.92-1.47], 1.21 [0.96, 1.53] and 1.51 [1.13-2.02]; P-trend = .007) and elevated GGT (PRs [95% CI] = 1.0, 1.06 [0.82-1.36], 1.35 [1.06-1.73] and 1.66 [1.27-2.16]; P-trend = .0001). These associations were attenuated but remained significant after further adjustment for cardiometabolic traits including body-mass index, waist-hip-ratio, lipids and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance. In contrast, increasing quartiles of MVPA were associated with a lower prevalence of elevated ALT (PRs [95% CI] =1.0, 0.97 [0.77-1.23], 0.84 [0.66-1.06] and 0.72 [0.54-0.96]; P-trend = .01) after adjusting for demographical/socioeconomic factors and sedentary time, but this association became non-significant after further adjustment for cardiometabolic traits. Notably, the association of sedentary time with GGT elevation was significant both in individuals meeting the US Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (MVPA ≥150 minutes/week) and in those who did not (both P-trend ≤ .003). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that objectively measured sedentary time is independently associated with elevated ALT and GGT in US Hispanics/Latinos.

Empirical Study on the Transparency of Security Risk Information in Chinese Listed Pharmaceutical Enterprises Based on the ANP-DS Method.

Frequent outbreaks of drug safety incidents pose a massive threat to public health and safety, while the transparency of security risk information in medical enterprises is not optimistic. Therefore, this study uses the analytic network process (Dempster-Shafer method) to construct a transparent comprehensive evaluation model for security risk information in listed pharmaceutical enterprises from the perspective of government supervision and listed pharmaceutical enterprises. On the basis of 59,305 data obtained by 303 enterprises listed in the Chinese biomedical sector, this research conducted an empirical study on the transparency of safety risk information in Chinese listed pharmaceutical enterprises. The current study found that the transparency of security risk information in Chinese listed pharmaceutical enterprises is generally between "general" and "relatively good" and tends to be "relatively good." However, administrative punishment information, adverse drug reaction reporting systems, and production processes need continuous improvement.