Aim: Eggs have sometimes been regarded as unhealthy foods due to their relatively high cholesterol content. The aim of this study is to determine contribution of eggs and other    cholesterol containing food to total dietary cholesterol and their influence on serum lipid profile of adults. Study Design: Cross sectional and experimental. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Biochemistry, University of Calabar, Calabar. February to July 2017. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey to determine consumption pattern was carried out on 400 respondents using food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and 24 hour dietary recall. The respondents were further grouped into four based on their reported weekly egg consumption. A detailed follow-up study was conducted on 50 participants selected from across the 4 groups, using a 3-day repeated 24 hour dietary recall to determine their consumption of egg and other cholesterol-containing foods. Serum blood lipid profile of these 50 participants was also determined using Randox cholesterol test kits. Food composition tables were used to calculate dietary cholesterol intake (DCI). The mean DCI of the 4 groups were cross-tabulated with mean serum cholesterol levels. Percentage contribution of eggs and other frequently consumed cholesterol-containing foods (such as milk and fish) to total DCI was calculated. Statistical significance was accepted at p = .05. Results: For the follow-up participants, it was observed that results of correlations between DCI and the lipid profile parameters showed negative correlation (at p = .01) in both males and females, except slight positive correlations between cholesterol intake and HDL-c (r=0.191) among the males, and cholesterol with TC (r=0.265) among the females. Apart from this, no association was observed between DCI and the lipid profile parameters. Furthermore, the > 5eggs/week group had the lowest TC and LDL-c (4.23±0.19 mmol/L and 2.38±0.10 mmol/L). Based on the respondents’ consumption patterns, eggs (boiled and fried) contributed the highest- 34.8% to total DCI, followed by milk (15.9%); salad cream contributed lowest (0.3%) to total DCI. Conclusion: Increased DCI from cholesterol-containing foods (such as eggs), did not cause an adverse increase in serum cholesterol levels of normocholesterolemic people.

Aims: To determine the cholesterol and fatty acid profile of five bird egg varieties and the possible health implications of their consumption. Study Design: Experimental design.

Objective. Food proteins provide amino acids (AAs) and serve as building blocks of all vital organs, muscles, hormones, and biological fluids such as blood. Eggs are known as a good source of protein. This study compared the protein quality of bird eggs (raw and boiled), using their AA scores since some individuals consume raw eggs for various reasons. Research Methods. Eggs studied were exotic chicken, local chicken, turkey, quail, and guinea fowl eggs. The eggs were shelled and their contents (boiled and raw) lyophilized. The standard AOAC method (Kjeldahl) was used to determine protein content, while the amino acid composition was measured using an AA analyzer. The total AA scores were calculated based on the whole hen’s egg AA profiles. Statistical significance was accepted at p < 0.05 . Results. The Guinea fowl egg had the highest total amino acid score (TAAS) of 0.92. The other scores ranged as follows: 0.82 (quail) >0.81 (turkey) >0.75 (exotic chicken), and the lowest score was 0.65 (local chicken). The least scores were phenylalanine: 0.34 (exotic chicken), phenylalanine and serine: 0.36 (local chicken), leucine and aspartic acid: 0.41 (turkey), methionine: 0.31 (quail), and glutamic acid: 0.33 (guinea fowl). Also, guinea fowl egg had the highest total essential amino acid (TEAA) (49.6 g/100 g protein), i.e., % TEAA (55.1%), while exotic chicken egg had the lowest (41.1%), but the highest % NEAA (58.9%). Conclusion. Guinea fowl eggs had the highest EAA and TAA content. Its consumption should particularly be encouraged for children as this can significantly reduce the risk of protein-energy malnutrition and prevent protein deficiencies.

Available reports provide an account of academic staff’s poor job performance in higher education institutions and universities in particular. Consequently, a growing body of research has been attracted to this area, including those seeking ways to understand the problem and others aimed at proffering solutions. This study contributes to the literature by investigating the influence of occupational stress on the job performance of academic staff in universities. Three null hypotheses directed the study in line with the quantitative ex-post facto research design. A sample of 150 respondents was obtained using the systematic random sampling technique from a population of 400 lecturers in the Faculty of Education from two public universities in Nigeria. A 31-item questionnaire was used for data collection. The null hypotheses were tested at the .05 alpha level using simple linear regression analysis. It was revealed that remuneration is a significant positive predictor of academic staff job performance. The prediction of workload was negatively non-significant on the job performance of academics. The provision of institutional amenities has a positive but non-significant prediction on academic staff job performance in the two public universities. It was concluded that occupational stress significantly influences the job performance of lecturers in universities. The study recommended that the government constantly pay lecturers’ salaries as and when due. Institutional managers should reward lecturers with outstanding performance to boost their morale for effective service delivery.

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Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) incidence continues to rise in many parts of the world with increasing fatality. At the same time, tuberculosis (TB) has been identified as the leading cause of death amongst all infectious diseases globally. Routine screening of clients visiting health facilities can help to prevent the spread of these diseases. Aim: To assess the relationship between the practice of facility-based routine tuberculosis screening and routine screening for COVID-19. Methodology: Using a Snowball technique, a cross-sectional online survey was carried out during the national lockdown from 5 July to 5 August 2020. The target population for this survey was health care workers from the different health facilities across Nigeria. An online semi-structured questionnaire was used to interview healthcare workers to identify their knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) towards COVID-19 and the practice of routine TB screening. Descriptive analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Pearson's Chi-square test was used for statistical comparative analysis. Results: This shows that 53.9% of healthcare workers did not practice routine TB screening while 46.9% did not practice routine COVID-19 screening. Respondents who practiced routine TB screening were found to be more likely to practice routine COVID-19 screening (p < 0.001).

The National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) aims at supplying nutritious supplementary meals to schoolchildren in order to improve education outcome by elevating learning ability, school attendance, and punctuality. However, in South Africa there is an increasing number of food poisoning reports, especially in schools under the NSNP. This study seeks to assess knowledge levels of food safety and hygiene practices among NSNP food handlers in Gauteng. A qualitative research approach employing a semi-structured individual interview process was used for data collection. The results showed that lack of education and knowledge was one of the reasons behind food handlers’ non-adherence to food safety and hygiene practices. The findings also revealed that training should be a requirement for food handlers under the NSNP, in order to prevent foodborne diseases and reduce pathogen spread (cross contamination) during food preparation. The findings of this study recommend that the NSNP strengthens training programmes, evaluation and monitoring measures as these are crucial for food safety.

Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) stem pulp is widely consumed in Nigeria as a snack mainly for sugar content and is believed to possess some remedy against infectious diseases. This study therefore quantitatively evaluated the nutritional and chemical composition of the sugarcane stem pulp with a view to validating this claim. The results of proximate composition indicate relatively high amount of moisture (71.91 ± 0.05%) and a low level of dry matter (28.09%) consisting of carbohydrate (58.55 ± 0.04 g/100 g), fibre (29.88 g/100 g), ash (6.69 g/100 g) and some mineral elements, implying an active role in nutrient supplementation. Generous amounts of phytochemical compounds such as alkaloids (8.07 ± 0.04 µg/100 g), saponins (5.57 ± 0.01 µg/100 g) and flavonoids (1.52 ± 0.02 µg/100 g); and mineral elements including magnesium (1.596 mg/100 g), potassium (0.639 mg/100 g), calcium (0.318 mg/100 g) and others in trace amounts were also obtained. .Antimicrobial results revealed that the sugarcane extract showed the highest growth inhibition against Staphylococcus aureus (8.67 -24.00 mm) among the bacterial isolates and C. albicans (6.00 -14.00 mm) for the fungal isolates studied. Data from the study suggest that sugarcane stem pulp could be suitable for use in rehydration and as a functional food plant. Also, the plant possesses some antimicrobial qualities which could be beneficial to both pharmaceutical and food industries.