Exploring the relationship between government stringency and preventative social behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.

We constructed a preventive social behaviours (PSB) Index using survey questions that were aligned with WHO recommendations, and used linear regression to assess the impact of reported COVID-19 deaths (RCD), people's confidence of government handling of the pandemic (CGH) and government stringency (GS) in the United Kingdom (UK) over time on the PSB index. We used repeated, nationally representative, cross-sectional surveys in the UK over the course of 41 weeks from 1st April 2020 to January 28th, 2021, including a total of 38,092 participants. The PSB index was positively correlated with the logarithm of RCD (R: 0.881, p < .001), CGH (R: 0.592, p < .001) and GS (R: 0.785, p < .001), but was not correlated with time (R: -0.118, p = .485). A multivariate linear regression analysis suggests that the log of RCD (coefficient: 0.125, p < .001), GS (coefficient: 0.010, p = .019), and CGH (coefficient: 0.0.009, p < .001) had a positive and significant impact on the PSB Index, while time did not affect it significantly. These findings suggest that people's behaviours could have been affected by multiple factors during the pandemic, with the number of COVID-19 deaths being the largest contributor towards an increase in protective behaviours in our model.

The Antiangiogenic Activity of Flaxseed Oil Alone and Combination with Mefenamic Acid in Vivo and in Vitro Assay.

BACKGROUND: Antiangiogenic agents are commonly used for the management of many types of cancers. Flaxseed oil is a wealthy source of omega-3,omega-6, and lignans, and possesses anticancerous and antioxidant activities. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the antiangiogenic activity of flaxseed oil alone and in combination with mefenamic acid in a dose-response study. METHODS: Oil was extracted from flaxseeds. The ex vivo rat aorta ring assay was used to screen the flaxseed oil alone and in combination with mefenamic acid for possible antiangiogenic activity. Also, the assay was used to determine the dose-response effect.An in vivo chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay was used to quantify the zone of inhibition of blood vessel by flaxseed oil. RESULTS: The 200,100,50,25,12.5, and 6.25µg/ml of the flaxseed oil inhibited blood vessel growth with values of 91±0.42, 84±2.06,36±2.71, 21±2.15,23±1.56, and 5±0.93%, respectively, withan IC50 value of 45.695 µg/ml. These concentrations showed a dose-dependent inhibition of angiogenesis. At 200, 100, and 50 µg/ml of flaxseed oil in combination with 50 µg/ml of mefenamic acid inhibited blood vessel growth with inhibition percentages of 81.48±0.82,79.63±0.75, and 77.78±1.26, respectively, with an IC50 of 2.27 µg/ml. Also, these concentrations indicated a dose-dependent inhibition of angiogenesis.  Flaxseed oil produced a significant inhibition zone of blood vessels in the CAM assay. The LD50 for flaxseed oil was 5.656g/kg. CONCLUSION: Flaxseed oil alone and in combination with mefenamic acid exhibited antiangiogenic activity both in ex vivo and in vivo assays. At doses of 2.5, 1.25, 0.625, and 0.312 g/kg of flaxseed oil intraperitoneally injected into mice, no symptoms of toxicity or death of mice due to acute toxicity were observed. However, doses of 5 and 10 g/kg of oil resulted in the death of the majority of mice.