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Published on April 9, 2020 Fiscally sound governments will be able to pump money into their companies unhindered by state aid rules. The EU needs an equity fund to level things up. All great economic crises pose two equally important challenges: they drain the liquidity necessary for the functioning of businesses, large and small, and burn up their equity capital, or a substantial part of it. Of the two, the former is the immediate challenge amid the coronavirus-induced lockdowns. Providing liquidity to companies is the top priority to ensure their survival. Yet this doesn’t guarantee their healing, or their ultimate durability and growth. Equity capital, the stuff that’s needed to invest and thrive, is essential to the second stage of recovery.

The aim of the article is to study both the magnitude and structure of internal labour reserves in the Baltic countries as well as to discuss potential policy measures that might help to activate these reserves. despite the record-high employment rates recently posted by Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, considerable internal labour reserves can still be found in some population groups. Among upper-middle-aged men, low employment might reflect a low incidence of lifelong learning, inadequate digital skills and rapidly deteriorating health condition. Low employment of youth mirrors the low prevalence of apprenticeships. in Lithuania and Latvia, there is also a postponed entry of young women into the labour market. These internal labour reserves total more than 25,000 people in Estonia, 55,000 in Latvia and 85,000 in Lithuania, corresponding to 4–7% of the total employment. The recent outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic may somewhat increase and change the structure of these labour reserves.

Autophagy is an intracellular catabolic process that controls infections both directly and indirectly via its multifaceted effects on the innate and adaptive immune responses. It has been reported that LPS stimulates this cellular process, whereas the effect of IL-36α on autophagy remains largely unknown. We, therefore, investigated how IL-36α modulates the endogenous and LPS-induced autophagy in THP-1 cells. The levels of LC3B-II and autophagic flux were determined by western blotting. The intracellular localization of LC3B was measured by immunofluorescence assay. The activation levels of signaling pathways implicated in autophagy regulation were evaluated by using a phosphokinase array. Our results showed that combined IL-36α and LPS treatment cooperatively increased the levels of LC3B-II and Beclin-1, stimulated the autophagic flux, facilitated intracellular redistribution of LC3B, and increased the average number of autophagosomes per cell. The IL36α/LPS combined treatment increased phosphorylation of STAT5a/b, had minimal effect on the Akt/PRAS40/mTOR pathway, and reduced the levels of phospho-Yes, phospho-FAK, and phospho-WNK1. Thus, this cytokine/PAMP combination triggers pro-autophagic biased signaling by several mechanisms and thus cooperatively stimulates the autophagic cascade. An increased autophagic activity of innate immune cells simultaneously exposed to IL-36α and LPS may play an important role in the pathogenesis of Gram-negative bacterial infections. SARS-CoV-2 can infect and replicate in esophageal cells and enterocytes, leading to direct damage to the intestinal epithelium. The infection decreases the level of angiotensin converting enzyme 2 receptors, thereby altering the composition of the gut microbiota. SARS-CoV-2 elicits a cytokine storm, which contributes to gastrointestinal inflammation. The direct cytopathic effects of SARS-CoV-2, gut dysbiosis, and aberrant immune response result in increased intestinal permeability, which may exacerbate existing symptoms and worsen the prognosis. By exploring the elements of pathogenesis, several therapeutic options have emerged for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, such as biologics and biotherapeutic agents. However, the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in the feces may facilitate the spread of COVID-19 through fecal-oral transmission and contaminate the environment. Thus, gastrointestinal SARS-CoV-2 infection has important epidemiological significance. The development of new therapeutic and preventive options is necessary to treat and restrict the spread of this severe and widespread infection more effectively.

ABSTRACT & RÉSUMÉ & ZUSAMMENFASSUNG : Dark clouds over the EU-Africa Summit 2021 in view of Brexit and Corona ---- Every three years, the AU-EU summit reunites African and EU leaders to outline the future direction of cooperation. The 6th summit had been to reaffirm and renew the partnership between the two blocks already in October 2020, but it was pushed back to the first quarter of 2021 or even later due to COVID-19 crisis. Besides, Brussels had to deal with its own post-Brexit situation and its repercussions on EU-Africa relations, excluding the UK. African states, for their part, wanted to renegotiate the EU-Africa partnership and to balance it with new promising Post-Brexit visions of the British premier Johnson about increased economic ties with the African Angloshere. China and other global players compete with the EU and its member states in the new scramble for African resources. Given that Africa is increasingly courted by other partners it could be inclined to successively limit its relations with the EU and see it as a mere provider of aid and security against Islamic terrorism. This trend was reinforced by the fact that the new EU-Africa strategy still hasn't been approved by EU member states. And a timely replacement of the Cotonou Agreement, which expires in November 2021, is open to question. ___________________________________________________________________________ RÉSUMÉ : Tous les trois ans, le sommet UA-UE réunit les dirigeants africains et européens pour définir l'orientation future de la coopération. Le 6e sommet devait réaffirmer et renouveler le partenariat entre les deux blocs déjà en octobre 2020, mais il a été repoussé au premier trimestre 2021, ou même plus tard, en raison de la crise du COVID-19. En outre, Bruxelles a dû faire face à sa propre situation post-Brexit, compte tenu l'exclusion du Royaume-Uni, et à ses répercussions sur les relations UE-Afrique. Les États africains, pour leur part, souhaitaient renégocier le partenariat UE-Afrique, et l'équilibrer avec les nouvelles visions post-Brexit prometteuses du Premier ministre britannique Johnson sur le renforcement des liens économiques avec l'Anglosphère africaine. La Chine et d'autres acteurs mondiaux sont en concurrence avec l'UE et ses États membre dans la nouvelle ruée vers les ressources africaines. Étant donné que l'Afrique est de plus en plus courtisée par d'autres partenaires, elle pourrait être encline à limiter successivement ses relations avec l'UE et à la considérer comme un simple fournisseur d'aide et de sécurité contre le terrorisme islamique. Cette tendance a été renforcée par le fait que la nouvelle stratégie UE-Afrique n'a toujours pas été approuvée par les États membres de l'UE. Et un remplacement opportun de l'accord de Cotonou, qui expire en novembre 2021, est sujet à caution. _____________________________________________________________________ ZUSAMMENFASSUNG : Alle drei Jahre bringt der AU-EU Gipfel afrikanische und EU-Staats- und Regierungschefs zusammen, um die künftige Richtung der Zusammenarbeit zu skizzieren. Der 6. Gipfel hatte sich zum Ziel gesetzt, die Partnerschaft zwischen den beiden Blöcken bereits im Oktober 2020 zu bekräftigen und zu erneuern, er wurde jedoch aufgrund der COVID-19-Krise auf das erste Quartal 2021 verschoben. Davon unabhängig mußte sich Brüssel erst einmal über seine eigene Situation nach dem Brexit und dessen Auswirkungen auf die Beziehungen zwischen der EU und Afrika klar werden. Die afrikanischen Staaten ihrerseits wollen die Partnerschaft zwischen der EU und Afrika neu verhandeln und sie mit den vielversprechenden Visionen des britischen Premierministers Boris Johnson über verstärkte wirtschaftliche Beziehungen zur afrikanischen Anglosphäre in Einklang bringen. Zudem konkurrieren China und andere Global Player mit der EU und ihren Mitgliedstaaten im Kampf um afrikanische Ressourcen. Angesichts der Tatsache, daß Afrika zunehmend von anderen Partnern umworben wird, könnten seine Führer dazu neigen, ihre Beziehungen zur EU sukzessive einzuschränken und die EU auf ihre Funktion als Anbieter von Hilfe und Sicherheit gegen den islamischen Terrorismus zu begrenzen. Dieser Trend wird noch dadurch verstärkt, daß eine gemeinsame EU-Afrika-Strategie von den EU-Mitgliedstaaten noch nicht einmal verabschiedet wurde. Selbst der rechtzeitige Ersatz des Cotonou-Abkommens, das im November 2021 ausläuft, ist fraglich.

The world as we have always known it ceased to exist on the eve of the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, what propelled us into a drastic shift regarding both in our private professional lives. This gave rise to one of the most powerful technological tools which saw the light in the earlier 70s but had not been widely being used up till now: “Telecommuting”. Telecommuting is revolutionizing our world in the safest, quickest, and brightest way in every aspects of our lives. So, not only our way of life has changed for the best, but with it came the ugly harsh reality. As we already accustomed to real life, whereby in every society on one end there are always been those people well intentioned who abide by the law hence try to make the society a better place, and on the other end the outlaws who would not stop at anything to make the world go upside down for solely their own selfish interests, so do we have in the new ultra-modern “digital world”. The main difference between the “old normal” and the “new normal” is that criminals are getting harder to get caught as tracking them required well-qualified teams: “cybersecurity” and an incommensurable amount of time to get them down. In this thesis, we will first go through a brief definition of telecommuting, its advantages and inconveniences, what effects COVID-19 had and is still having on the financial, economic structures of the world and where our new normalcy is projecting us to in the nearest future. At the end, we will focus on the dangers usually encountered online and how to decrease those at-tacks intensities with the ever reliable and unfailing support of the cybersecurity teams. Maailma, jonka olemme aina tunteneet lakkasi olemasta COVID-19 pandemian puhkeamisen aattona, mikä pakotti meidät radikaaliin muutokseen sekä yksityis- että työelämässä. Sen suora seuraus on yhden tehokkaimpien teknisten välineiden syntyminen, joka näki valon 70-luvun alussa, mutta vasta nyt aletaan ottaa käyttöön maailmanlaajuisesti: “Etätyö”. Etätyö mullistaa meidän maailmamme ei vaan turvallisimmalla ja nopeimmalla mutta kirkkaimmalla tavalla kaikilta osin, jopa pienemmiltäkin osin. Meidän elämäntapamme on muuttunut parhaaksi mutta sen mukana tuli ruma, ankara todellisuus: “virtuaalielämän sivuvaikutukset” josta tullaan myös puhumaan tässä työssä. Kuten olemme jo tottuneet todellisessa elämässä, jokaisessa yhteyskunnassa on aina hyviä aikomuksia omaavia ihmisiä, jotka noudattavat lakia ja haluavat parantaa maailmaa tekemällä yhteiskunnasta paremman paikan elää. Samasta yhteiskunnasta löydetään myös ns. lainvastaiset, jotka pelkästään, ajavat omaa itsekästä etuaan. Sama tilanne vallitsee myös “digitaalisessa maailmassa”. Tärkein ja merkittävin “vanhan normaalin” ja “uuden normaalin” välinen ero on se, että rikollisten kiinnijäämisen aste (asteikolla: 0–10) on vanhassa normaalissa 5 ja uudessa normaalissa 10. Tämän vuoksi rikollisten jäljittäminen vaatii erittäin päteviä asiantuntijoita: “kyberturvallisuus tiimit” sekä lisäksi huomattavan määrän aikaa rikollisten kiinni saamiseen. Tässä opinnäytetyössä, käydään ensin läpi lyhyt määritelmä etätyöstä, sen eduista ja haitoista, siitä, mitä vaikutuksia COVID-19 oli ja on edelleen aiheuttamassa maailman taloudellisiin rakenteisiin ja mihin meidän uusi normaaliutemme heijastaa meitä lähitulevaisuudessa. Lopuksi keskitytään virtuaalimaailman tuomiin vaaroihin sekä suosituksiin millä keinoilla pystytään lisäämään digitaalisen maailman turvallisuutta kyberturvallisuustiimien avulla.

The majority of emerging infectious diseases originate in animals. Current routine surveillance is focused on known diseases and clinical syndromes, but the increasing likelihood of emerging disease outbreaks shows the critical importance of early detection of unusual illness or circulation of pathogens - prior to human disease manifestation. In this Viewpoint, we focus on one key pillar of preparedness—the need for early warning surveillance at the human, animal, environmental interface. The COVID-19 pandemic has revolutionized the scale of sequencing of pathogen genomes, and the current investments in global genomic surveillance offer great potential for a novel, truly integrated Disease X (with epidemic or pandemic potential) surveillance arm provided we do not make the mistake of developing them solely for the case at hand. Generic tools include metagenomic sequencing as a catch-all technique, rather than detection and sequencing protocols focusing on what we know. Developing agnostic or more targeted metagenomic sequencing to assess unusual disease in humans and animals, combined with random sampling of environmental samples capturing pathogen circulation is technically challenging, but could provide a true early warning system. Rather than rebuilding and reinforcing the pre-existing silo's, a real step forward would be to take the lessons learned and bring in novel essential partnerships in a One Health approach to preparedness.

HMI Probation is committed to reviewing, developing and promoting the evidence base for high-quality probation and youth offending services. Academic Insights are aimed at all those with an interest in the evidence base. We commission leading academics to present their views on specific topics, assisting with informed debate and aiding understanding of what helps and what hinders probation and youth offending services. This report was kindly produced by Dr Coral Sirdifield and Professor Charlie Brooker, highlighting the importance of maximising positive mental health outcomes for people under probation supervision – both for the individuals themselves and in terms of wider societal benefits. While there are various barriers, there are a number of steps that service users, professionals and policy makers can take to help overcome these barriers. There is also a role for researchers in strengthening the evidence base, with a need for investment in research and evaluation linked to potential models of good practice. Most immediately, those working in health and justice need to be aware of the potential for exacerbation of mental health issues due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of recovery planning work, systems need to be in place to ensure that both staff and those being supervised can access appropriate support.

Deep economic crises - the global financial crisis and the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic - have put some strains on and rekindled an older debate about the costs and benefits of central bank Independence. Central banks have been accorded more independence since the 1970s, which has helped bring down and keep inflation low and reduced the risk of fiscal crises. However, as their interventions in the economy with unconventional policies expand further beyond their original mandate, especially those pertaining to financial stability, critics have called for more oversight of their activities. That is because some of the central banks’ newfound responsibilities such as financial stability does not have a precise and unambiguous target or measure, making accountability difficult. The evidence in support of central bank independence remains strong, as highlighted in this brief. However, in light of the expansion of central banks’ power, reforms should aim to institute oversight of the newfound powers.

Purpose – The COVID-19 has brought with it valuable opportunities for the retail sector. Notably, online channels have assumed a key role for businesses that can rely less on physical channels due to the pandemic’s restrictions. Within this context, the study aims to identify the main antecedents leading to the formation of the male and female customers’ continuance intention of using online food delivery services (OFDS) in the restaurant industry. Design/methodology/approach – A web-based self-completion survey and a subsequent structural equation modelling have been employed on a sample of 360 participants. Findings – Findings reveal that perceived healthiness, quarantine procedures, perceived hygiene, perceived ease of app use and attitude significantly influence continuance intention. Moreover, the moderator analysis corroborates that male consumers’ continuance intention is mainly influenced by perceived healthiness, quarantine procedures and perceived hygiene. Conversely, female customers’ continuance intention is predicated on perceived healthiness and attitude. Research limitations/implications – Although the adoption of a sample of young customers (18–29 years) guarantees good research internal validity, findings are not generalizable. Practical implications – The study provides valuable contributions for restaurants related to the (1) creation/management of their own OFDS platforms; (2) selection of the right third-party platforms. Originality/value – The paper is one of the first studies examining the predictors impacting on customers’ OFDS continuance intention in the COVID-19 context by also focusing on gender differences.