If not me, then who? Social media, vaccine hesitancy, and ethical responsibility in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic is the most significant public health emergency of the 21st century.However,the infection of social media with fact-less,false,and misleading information concerning Covid-19 has direct and detrimental effects on millions of people’s health and well-being,often with deadly consequences.With the introduction of Covid-19 vaccines,an end to the pandemic is in sight.Yet,the unsubstantiated and damaging claims about the vaccine remain prevalent throughout society.As a result,a large segment of the population is hesitant to be vaccinated.As social media is used to sow false information.It also can be used to temper or eradicate the cascading and self-perpetuating flow of misinformation and misperceptions by disseminating truthful,timely,and action-oriented information.And in doing so,promote the efficacy and safety of the vaccines and highlight the responsibility we get vaccinated for Covid-19.Therefore,it is the ethical and moral obligation of every powerful entity-healthcare providers,pharmaceutical companies,social media platforms,and individual users-to stop the spread of misinformation and promote fact-and evidence-based information throughout the media that they control or participate in.Pathways to overcoming vaccine hesitancy and a return to a sense of normalcy depend on these efforts.

A comparative study of the antioxidant,antimicrobial,cytotoxic and thrombolytic potential of the fruits and leaves of Spondias dulcis

Objective:To investigate the antioxidant,antimicrobial,cytotoxic and thrombolytic property of the fruits and leaves of Spondias dulcis(S.dulcis).Methods:Methanolic extracts of fruits and leaves of S.dulcis were partitioned with chloroform and dichloromethane.The antioxidant potential of the crude extract and partitioned fractions were evaluated in terms of total phenolic content,total flavonoid content,DPPH radical scavenging potential,reducing potential and total antioxidant capacity by specific standard procedures.The antimicrobial activity was evaluated using disc diffusion method.The cytotoxicity was evaluated by using brine shrimp lethality bioassay and compared with vincristine sulfate.The thrombolytic activity was compared with streptokinase.Results:The methanolic fruit extract exhibited the highest phenolic content,flavonoid content and antioxidant capacity,among the other extracts,with the highest DPPH radical scavenging activity at a concentration of 10μg/mL(IC_(50):1.91μg/mL)and maximum reducing power at a concentration of 100μg/ml.(EC_(50):3.58μg/mL).Though all extract showed moderate antimicrobial activity against the bacterial strains,weak or no activity against fungus.The range of LC_(50)value of all extracts was 1.335-14.057μg/mL which was far lower than the cut off index for cytotoxicity.All extracts exhibited statistically significant(P<0.001)thrombolytic activity.Conclusions:Our study suggested that 5.dulcis exhibits antimicrobial activities against a wide variety of strains while it possesses significant antioxidant,cytotoxic and thrombolytic aclivily.