Objectives:The study aimed to examine health workers' perceptions of the coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine in Nigeria and their willingness to receive the vaccine when it becomes available. Methods: This multi-center cross-sectional study used non-probability convenience sampling to enroll 1,470 hospital workers aged 18 and above from 4 specialized hospitals. A structured and validated self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Data entry and analysis were conducted using IBM SPSS ver. 22.0. Results: The mean age of respondents was 40 ± 6 years. Only 53.5% of the health workers had positive perceptions of the COVID-19 vaccine, and only slightly more than half (55.5%) were willing to receive vaccination. Predictors of willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine included having a positive perception of the vaccine (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 4.55; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.50−5.69), perceiving a risk of contracting COVID-19 (AOR, 1.50; 95% CI, 1.25-3.98), having received tertiary education (AOR, 3.50; 95% CI, 1.40−6.86), and being a clinical health worker (AOR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.01−1.68). Conclusion:Perceptions of the COVID-19 vaccine and willingness to receive the vaccine were suboptimal among this group. Educational interventions to improve health workers' perceptions and attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine are needed.

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Snack products are evolving as new carriers of functional ingredients with nutritional and health-promoting benefits. A blend of whole grains is increasingly being utilized to harness the functional potential of the grain mix. Amaranth, acha, and pearl millet grains flours were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM), to obtain optimum blends (90:5:5 and 47.98:26.68:25.34) having high protein content and low glycemic index. Snack bar products from the blends were labelled MBY and MBZ. A total of 50 subjects were recruited. About 42% were overweight while 40% were obese. Each was allowed to consume snacks containing the equivalent of 50 g of carbohydrates. Finger prick was employed to evaluate the postprandial glucose response of snack products while venous blood was evaluated for antioxidant enzymes, carbohydrate-hydrolyzing activities, and insulin using standard methods. Consumption of the multigrain snacks elicited a stable postprandial response (133-141 mg/dL) with 16 and 24% postprandial decline. In addition, snacks had low to intermediate glycemic index (52 and 56) and reduced α-amylase/glucosidase activities compared to control snacks. Similarly, glutathione level, glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, and catalase activities in serum from subjects that consumed multigrain snacks were upregulated compared to control and market sample groups. Moreso, snack products promoted a reduction in serum insulin levels in diabetic subjects (45 and 17% for MBY and MBZ respectively). Following the nutraceutical properties displayed by the formulated snack especially MBY, it can be promoted as a functional snack for the management of diabetes while solving the limited snack product choice of diabetes sufferers.

Background: Sex specific differences appear particularly relevant in the management of type 2 DM. Objective: We determined gender specific differences in cardio-metabolic risk, microvascular and macrovascular complications in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: Four hundred type 2 diabetes patients, males and females, matched for age and disease duration were recruited from the diabetes clinic. Relevant clinical and laboratory information were obtained or performed. Results: 190(47.5%) were male and 210 (52.5%) were female respectively. The mean age of the study population was 60.6 + 9.93 years. Women had higher prevalence of hypertension (and obesity. Mean total cholesterol was significantly higher in women but men were more likely to achieve LDL treatment goals than women (69.5% vs 59.0%, p<0.05). More women (47.1% & 31.4%) reached glycaemic goals of <10mmol/l for 2HPP and HBA1c of <7.0%. There were no gender differences in the distribution of microvascular and macrovascular complications (p>0.05) but women were more likely to develop moderate and severe diabetic retinopathy (p= 0.027). Conclusion: Women with T2DM had worse cardiometabolic risk profile with regards to hypertension, obesity and lipid goals. Men achieved therapeutic goals less frequently than did women in terms of glycaemia. Microvascular and macrovascular com- plications occurred commonly in both sexes. Keywords: Type 2 diabetes; gender; microvascular; macrovascular complication; cardiometabolic risks; glycaemic control.