Rothschild and Stiglitz (1976) argued that people signal their risk profile through their insurance demand, i.e. individuals with a high risk profile would buy insurance as much as they can, while ...people who are not going to buy any insurance are the ones with a lower risk profile. This issue is commonly known as adverse selection. Even if their prediction seems to work quite well in a lot of different markets, Cutler et al. (2008) proved that there exist some insurance markets in United States in which the expected result is completely different. In the wake of this study, we provide empirical evidences that there are some European insurance markets in which the low risk profile agents are the ones who buy more insurance.
COVID-19 vaccination has been extended to include children aged 5-11 years. This cross-sectional survey evaluated parental COVID-19 vaccine willingness and hesitancy, and associated factors, for ...their children aged 5-11 years with chronic conditions. A telephone survey was conducted from 14 December 2021 to 4 January 2022. The questionnaire assessed participants' socio-demographic and health-related information, attitudes towards COVID-19 infection, hesitancy, by using the PACV-5 (Parent Attitudes About Childhood Vaccines Survey Tool), and sources of information. A total of 430 answers were collected anonymously. Respondents with no cohabitant who had been infected by SARS-CoV-2 and having been vaccinated against COVID-19 had a higher concern about the severity of COVID-19. The parents' perceived risk that the child could be infected by SARS-CoV-2 was higher in those more concerned about the severity of COVID-19, with an older child, and who had at least one cohabitant positive for COVID-19. Only 38.8% parents were willing to vaccinate their children against COVID-19. Parents who did not need additional information, those with higher education, those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, those whose child was older, who had received information on this vaccination from physicians, with higher self-reported concern about the severity of COVID-19, and who had a higher perceived risk that their child could be infected by SARS-CoV-2, expressed a greater willingness to vaccinate their child. Overall, 26.3% were high-hesitant, with a PACV-5 score ≥ 7. Respondents who did not get the COVID-19 vaccine, were less educated, with a lower concern about severity of COVID-19, and with a lower perceived risk that their child could be infected by SARS-CoV-2, were more likely to be high-hesitant. New policies and educational programs regarding COVID-19 vaccination for children with chronic conditions are needed to reduce hesitancy and increase vaccination uptake.
This cross-sectional study, conducted in Naples (Italy) between 16 November and 6 December 2021, explored the willingness to receive the booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine among a random sample ...selected from the list of those who had completed a primary vaccination series at the immunization center of a teaching hospital in Naples and the associated factors. Females had a significantly higher perceived risk of getting the SARS-CoV-2 infection, whereas those not-having a cohabitant were less worried. 85.7% were willing to receive the booster dose. Those older respondents who perceived a better health status after the primary vaccination series, who have friends/family members who were diagnosed with COVID-19, who had received information from official government organizations, and those who did not need information would be willing to get the booster dose. 24.7% was hesitant with a Vaccine Hesitancy Scale (VHS) score ≥ 25. Respondents who self-rated a lower health status after the primary vaccination series, who did not have friends/family members who were diagnosed with COVID-19, who had not received information from official government organizations, and who needed information were hesitant. Information and communication regarding the benefits and efficacy of the booster dose are needed in order to control the pandemic.
The objectives of the survey were to explore any changes in the adherence to the three main COVID-19 preventive measures (social distancing, washing hands, wearing face-masks) among 795 individuals ...who received the COVID-19 vaccine booster dose in Italy and to identify the predictors associated. The concern of contracting COVID-19 before the vaccination, after the primary COVID-19 vaccine series, and after the booster dose resulted with a mean value of 7.7, 4.6, and 4.2, respectively. Females, those who had a lower mean self-perceived health status, who perceived COVID-19 as a very serious health problem, who decided to receive the booster dose because they perceived to be at risk of getting COVID-19, and who expressed interest in acquiring more information regarding the COVID-19 vaccine booster dose were more likely to report a higher concern of contracting COVID-19 after the booster dose. Over two-thirds were willing to respect the three main COVID-19 preventive measures following the booster dose. The multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that those who had used all three main preventive measures before and after the second or single dose were less likely to perceive COVID-19 as a serious illness. Those who had used them irregularly were less likely to have used official government organizations and scientific journals as sources of information. This survey provided an understanding regarding the adherence to COVID-19 preventive measures that may help to target policy interventions needed to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2.
The venture capital (VC) industry offers opportunities for investment in early-stage companies where uncertainty is very high. Unfortunately, the tools investors currently have available are not ...robust enough to reduce risk and help them managing uncertainty better. Machine learning data-driven approaches can bridge this gap, as they already do in the hedge fund industry. These approaches are now possible because data from thousands of companies over the world is available through platforms such as Crunchbase. Previous academic efforts have focused only on predicting two classes of exits, i.e., being acquired by other company or offering shares to the public, using only one or a few subsets of explanatory variables. These events are typically related to high returns, but also higher risk, making hard for a venture fund to get repeatable and sustainable returns. On the contrary, we will try to predict more possible outcomes including a subsequent funding round or the closure of the company using a large set of signals. In this way, our approach would provide VC investors with more information to set up a portfolio with lower risk that may eventually achieve higher returns than those based on finding unicorns (i.e., companies with a valuation higher than one billion dollars). We will analyze the performance of several machine learning methods in a dataset of over 120,000 early-stage companies in a realistic setting that tries to predict their progress in a 3-year time window. Results show that machine learning can support venture investors in their decision-making processes to find opportunities and better assessing the risk of potential investments.
Investing in early-stage companies is incredibly hard, especially when no data are available to support the decision process. Venture capitalists often rely on gut feeling or heuristics to reach a ...decision, which is biased and potentially harmful. This work proposes a new data-driven framework to help investors be more effective in selecting companies with a higher probability of success. We built upon existing interdisciplinary research and augmented it with further analysis on more than 600,000 companies over a 20-year timeframe. The resulting framework is therefore a smart checklist of 21 relevant features that may help investors to select the companies more likely to succeed.
Objectives
The aims of this cross-sectional study were to investigate why parents decide to vaccinate, as well as the determinants, their children aged 5–11 years against COVID-19 in Italy.
Methods
...The survey was conducted from January through May 2022. All parents/guardians who came in randomly selected days to immunization centers for the administration of the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to their child were asked to complete a questionnaire about socio-demographic characteristics, attitudes toward COVID-19 infection and vaccination, reason(s) regarding their decision to vaccinate their child, and source(s) of information.
Results
A total of 358 questionnaires were collected. Parent's perception that COVID-19 is a severe illness for the child, assessed using a 10-point Likert scale, was 7.5. The overall mean scores of the risk perception for their child of having the COVID-19 before and after the vaccination were 8.1 and 6.3. A significantly higher parents' level of risk perception for their child of having the COVID-19 after the vaccination has been observed among those not having a university degree, those with the child having at least one chronic medical condition, and those who perceived that COVID-19 is a severe illness for the child. The mean value of respondent trust in the information provided by the pediatricians on a 10-point scale Likert type was 7.6. Female, not having a university degree, higher perception that COVID-19 is a severe disease, not having received information about the vaccination from pediatricians, and needing information had a significantly higher concern of side effects after the vaccination. The most common reasons for vaccinating their children included wanting to protect the child against COVID-19, to attend the school with less risk, to prevent the transmission to family members, and to practice sport and other activities with less risks. Participants with a university degree were more likely to have vaccinated their child for attending the school and practicing sport and other activities with less risks.
Conclusions
More publicity should be promoted among parents of children aged 5–11 years which would increase the coverage rates and thus lower the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and reduce the occurrence of COVID-19.
Pregnant women, especially those with comorbidities, compared to those non-pregnant, have higher risk of developing a severe form of COVID-19. However, COVID-19 vaccine uptake is very low among them.
...An anonymous questionnaire was administered to randomly selected women 18 years of age that were currently pregnant or had just given birth between September 2021 and May 2022 in the geographic area of Naples. Vaccine hesitancy was assessed using the vaccine hesitancy scale (VHS).
A total of 385 women participated. Women who had not been infected by SARS-CoV-2 and who needed information about vaccination against COVID-19 had a higher perceived risk of being infected with SARS-CoV-2. More than half (54.3%) of the women were very afraid of the potential side effects of the COVID-19 vaccination on the fetus. There was higher concern of the side effects of the vaccine on the fetus among those who did not have a graduate degree, those with high-risk pregnancy, those who had not been infected by SARS-CoV-2, those who were more concerned that they could be infected by SARS-CoV-2, those who did not know that this vaccination was recommended for them, and those trusting mass media/internet/social networks for information. Only 21.3% were vaccinated when pregnant, mostly women with a university degree, those who had been infected by SARS-CoV-2 before pregnancy, those who did not need information, and those who acquired information about the vaccination from gynecologists. Almost three-quarters (71.9%) were willing to receive the vaccination and those more likely were those with a university degree, those who have had at least one relative/cohabitant partner/friend who had been infected by SARS-CoV-2, those who were more concerned that they could be infected by SARS-CoV-2, and those who were not extremely concerned of the side effects of the vaccine on the fetus. A total of 86.4% were highly hesitant. Highly hesitant were respondents who did not get a graduate degree, those less concerned that they could be infected by SARS-CoV-2, and those trusting mass media/internet/social networks for information.
Public health efforts and education campaigns for pregnant women are needed for changing their perception patterns and for supporting gynecologists in promoting the uptake of this vaccination.
Background: This cross-sectional survey aimed to determine the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding vaccinations among schoolteachers in Italy. Methods: Data were collected through an online ...questionnaire from September 2020 to May 2021 from a sample of schoolteachers in the Campania region of southern Italy. Results: Only 27% of the participants had good knowledge about the vaccinations recommended for schoolteachers. Females who had children, who were unsatisfied by their health status, and not needing additional information about vaccinations were more likely to have good knowledge. Moreover, 61.5% perceived that vaccinations are useful in preventing infectious diseases, and 44.5% agreed or strongly agreed that vaccinations should be mandatory for schoolteachers. The results of multivariate logistic regression showed that schoolteachers who perceived that vaccinations are useful in preventing infectious diseases, who considered the recommended vaccinations to be useful to protecting their own and their students’ health, who believed that information received about vaccination was useful, and who needed additional information about vaccinations recommended for schoolteachers, were significantly more likely to agree or strongly agree that vaccinations should be mandatory for schoolteachers. Conclusions: These findings suggest the need for education strategies to ensure that schoolteachers are better informed about vaccinations recommended for their profession.
Ultrasound measurement of the optic nerve sheath diameter (US ONSD) has been proposed as a method to diagnose elevated intracranial pressure (EICP), but the optimal threshold is unclear. The aim of ...this study was to assess the accuracy of US ONSD, as compared to head computed tomography (CT), in detecting EICP of both traumatic and non-traumatic origin. We conducted a prospective, cross-sectional, multicenter study. Patients presenting to the emergency department with a suspect of traumatic or non-traumatic brain injury, referred for an urgent head CT, underwent US ONSD measurement. A US ONSD ≥5.5 mm was considered positive. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and positive and negative likelihood ratios were calculated for three ONSD cut-offs: 5.5 (primary outcome), 5.0, and 6.0 mm. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was also generated and the area under the ROC curve calculated. Ninetynine patients were enrolled. The CT was positive in 15% of cases and the US ONSD was positive in all of these, achieving a sensitivity of 100% 95% confidence interval (CI) 78; 100 and a negative predictive value of 100% (95% CI 79; 100). The CT was negative in 85% of cases, while the US ONSD was positive in 69% of these, achieving a specificity of 19% (95% CI 11; 29) and a positive predictive value of 18% (95% CI 11; 28). The US ONSD, with a 5.5 mm cut-off, might safely be used to rule out EICP in patients with traumatic and non-traumatic brain injury in the ED. In limited-resources contexts, a negative US ONSD could allow emergency physicians to rule out EICP in low-risk patients, deferring the head CT.
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