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This paper examines the gendered impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Chinese migrants who had returned to their hometowns for the Spring Festival before the Wuhan lockdown, using data from a recent nationally representative survey. The study finds that women migrants were less likely than men migrants to return to the cities and also less likely to return to paid work after the pandemic outbreak. It also finds that having a preschool-age child had a strong negative effect on women migrants' employment decisions, but it had no effect on men migrants' decisions. These results expand the literature on the economic vulnerabilities of Chinese migrant workers. More importantly,~the findings indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a setback in the~progress made in pre-pandemic times in advancing Chinese rural women's position in the labor market. HIGHLIGHTS The COVID-19 pandemic had negative employment consequences for Chinese migrant workers. Women migrants were the hardest hit and more likely to withdraw from migration flows and paid work. Women's caregiving roles and employment in face-to-face services are the main causes of their withdrawal. The pandemic has reinforced traditional gender roles and heightened labor market inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine the frequency and clinical features of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and its association with cognitive and behavioural impairments in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional investigation to explore the frequency and clinical features of EDS in a group of 121 Chinese patients with ALS compared with 121 age-matched and sex-matched healthy subjects. EDS was diagnosed using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Other characteristics of patients with ALS including sleep quality, REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD), restless legs syndrome (RLS), cognition, behaviour, depression and anxiety were also evaluated.Results: EDS was significantly more frequent in patients with ALS than in controls (26.4% vs 8.3%; p<0.05). Patients with ALS with EDS scored lower scores on the revised ALS Functional Rating Scale (ALSFRS-R), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and MMSE and MoCA delayed memory subitems and higher on the Frontal Behavioural Inventory (FBI) than patients with ALS without EDS. ESS scores correlated with global ALSFRS-R, FBI, MMSE and MoCA scores and MMSE and MoCA delayed memory scores. RLS and global ALSFRS-R scores were independently associated with EDS in patients with ALS.Conclusions: We identified a high frequency of EDS symptoms in Chinese patients with ALS, and these patients might have more serious physical, cognitive and frontal behaviour impairment. Patients with ALS might improve quality of life from the timely recognition and optimised management of EDS symptoms. Our results further suggest that ALS is a heterogeneous disease that might exhibit abnormal sleep-wake patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of corporate governance structure is currently one of the crucial issues that restrict further reform of the natural monopoly industries in China. This article defines the objectives of corporate governance in natural monopoly industries, and cites the electric power industry as an example to analyze the characteristics of the governance structure of natural monopoly industries in developed countries such as Great Britain and the United States. It then provides analyses of the types of governance structure in China's natural monopoly industries and their existing problems. The authors propose the future direction and measures regarding reform of the corporate governance structure in the natural monopoly industries in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]