Phonological Interference in the Spoken English Performance of the Izon Speaker in Nigeria: A Product of Systemic and Interlanguage Factors.

This paper sets out to examine the phonological interference in the spoken English performance of the Izon speaker. It emphasizes that the level of interference is not just as a result of the systemic differences that exist between both language systems (Izon and English) but also as a result of the interlanguage factors such as the level of the individual’s interaction in and with the L1, his level of education and access to oral English lessons while in school. The research reveals some troublesome contrasts in the two languages. The three factors that determine the level of interference are: the level of immersion of the individual in Izon; the level of the individual’s education; the individual’s oral English education exposure. The English language teacher has to be aware of these factors and pay particular attention to the differences in the phonological systems of the first language (L1) and the second language (L2) which can cause interference.Keywords: Mother-tongue, First language, Second language, Interlanguage, and Immersion

Effects of Salt, Detergents and Alum on Fatty Acid Profile in Cooked Eggs

In Abakaliki, as in most other parts of Nigeria, it is a common practice among commercial sellers of boiled eggs to boil them with chemicals such as omo, klin, table salt and alum, which gives the egg ashy appearance after cooking.  The effects of cooking with these chemicals on the fatty acid profile of eggs from four species of birds (gallus gallus): Quail (corturnix delegorgei), Guinea fowl (Numida meleagris), local chicken (Gallus varius) and high-breed chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) were investigated. Fifteen eggs from each bird were bought from various places where they are reared in Abakaliki. Eggs were divided into five groups: A, B, C, D and E, with three eggs in each group. Eggs in groups A, B, C, and D were boiled with omo, klin, table salt and alum, respectively. Group E eggs served as the control group and were boiled with water only. Fatty acid profile was determined using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC, AKAPTA). The results showed significant (P<0.05) reduction of fatty acids contents of the eggs compared to the control. The effects which were species-dependent were found to be least in the quail egg and highest in the high-bred chicken. The detergents (klin and omo) had more devastating effects compared to alum and table salt. Thus boiling eggs with any of the chemicals studied reduces their nutritional quality and should be discouraged. Keywords: Egg, fatty acid profile, detergents, salt and alu

Human Immunodeficiency Virus Self‑Testing: Perspectives from Primary Healthcare Workers in Enugu State, Southeast Nigeria

Background: Stigmatization remains an intractable issue surrounding human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) management. Testing services are the gateway to treatment and prevention. HIV‑self testing (HIVST) is a panacea to this stigmatization. It is a simple friendly testing technique. This study assessed issues surrounding the HIVST from the perspectives of the primary health‑care workers in Enugu State. Methods: A cross‑sectional study was carried out using a semi‑structured interviewer‑administered questionnaire. A convenience sampling of 238 respondents were sampled from the 17 local government areas of the state. Analyses were performed using IBM‑SPSS version 23. Ethical approval was obtained from the Enugu State Ministry of Health. Results: The majority of the respondents were within the age of 31–50 years 84 (35.3%), predominantly females 203 (85.3%) and mainly married 191 (80.3%). Half of them had practiced for over 10 years and 145 (60.9%) had good knowledge of HIV screening. However, 23.9% understood HIVST as a  testing modality approved by the World Health Organization. A handful of them, 25 (10.5%) correctly identified the 5Cs of HIV testing. Only 162 (68.1%) of the health‑care workers reported stigma as the most perceived problems of the present testing modality and 146 (61.3%) expressed a  preference for HIVST over previous methods. Age was found to be a determinant of good knowledge of HIVST, as being within the age group of  20–40 years has a 1.83 greater odds of good knowledge of HIVST than, 41–60 years age group (Adjusted odds ratios = 1.830; 95% confidence interval  1.081–3.099). Conclusion: Most of the Primary health‑care workers in Enugu State had poor knowledge of HIVST. These workers could benefit from awareness creation and training on HIVST by public health specialists to improve their knowledge. Keywords: Enugu state, human immunodeficiency virus self‑testing, perspectives, primary health‑care worker

Nutritional status, prevalence of some metabolic risk factors for cardiovascular disease and BMI-metabolic-risk sub-phenotypes in an adult Nigerian population

Studies have shown that metabolic risk factors associated with increased body mass index are the critical factors that confer risk for the chronic diseases associated with fat. The prevalence of these disorders is scarcely reported in Nigeria. We evaluated 542 adult Nigerians for nutritional status, serum total cholesterol, fasting blood glucose level and hypertension, using standard anthropometric and clinical methods. The results show that 32.1%, 11.8%, 19.6%, 11.8% and 60.7% of the population, irrespective of sex were over-weight, obese, hyperglycaemic, hypercholesterolemic and hypertensive respectively. Approximately 33% of the obese population were metabolically-healthy obese-like (MHO-like) while 8.6% of the normal BMI population were metabolically-obese normal-weight-like (MONW-like). Other sub-phenotypes were present at rates of 5 \u2013 32% in the population. The results are discussed and compared to figures from other populations. Our data apparently supports the view that the assessment of metabolic risks for chronic diseases, irrespective of body mass index, may be more useful in identifying individuals or groups at risk of these disorders

Fluorescent organic cations for human OCT2 transporters screening: uptake in CHO cells stably expressing hOCT2

The aim of this study was to assess the suitability of amiloride, rhodamine 6G and rhodamine 123 as non-radioactive substrates for characterizing hOCT2 using CHO cells. The uptake characteristics of these compounds were compared in wild-type (WT) and human organic cation transporter 2 (hOCT2)-stably transfected Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells. All the compounds were accumulated by the CHO-hOCT2 cells. Intracellular uptake of the compounds was higher in CHO cells stably-expressing hOCT2 compared to the WT. The uptake was concentration–dependent and saturable (except for rhodamine 123). The affinities of the compounds for the hOCT2 (in descending order) were: amiloride (Km = 72.63 12.02 μM) > rhodamine 6 G (Km = 82.47 29.15 μM). Uptake of amiloride in transfected cells was pH -dependent and significantly inhibited by hOCT2 inhibitors (quinine, verapamil and quinidine). Based on our kinetic data and other considerations, we recommend the use of amiloride for characterizing hOCT2 transporters

Advanced Gas Turbine Rotor Shaft Fault Diagnosis Using Artificial Neural Network

The effect of vibration in plant leads to catastrophic failure of a system. This is why vibration monitoring of a system constitutes a very key practice of ensuring power plant availability. Force, Amplitude and Resonance a program written in Visual Basic Programming language was utilized in this study to monitor the vibration level of the Gas Turbine (GT17) in Afam thermal station and to calculate the force causing vibration on the bearing. The program was also run using the data obtained from the plant. Results show that vibration velocity amplitude of bearing 2 on weeks 5 and 8 were 6.7mm/s and 6.6mm/s and the forces causing vibration were 2.545x104N and 2.272x104N respectively. The comparison of results obtained with maximum vibration velocity amplitude of the machine (7mm/s) showed that the vibration of the machine was tending towards the maximum value. Therefore, proper attention should be given to bearing 2 to avoid failure of the Gas Turbine

Knowledge and acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine among healthcare workers in Enugu metropolis, Enugu state, Nigeria

BackgroundCOVID-19 disease spread at an alarming rate, and was declared a pandemic within 5 months from the first reported case. As vaccines have become available, there was a global effort to attain about 75% herd immunity through vaccination. There is a need to address the issue of vaccine hesitancy to COVID-19 vaccines especially in places such as Sub-Saharan African countries which have a high rate of background vaccine hesitancy.ObjectiveTo determine the knowledge and acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines among healthcare workers (HCWs) in Enugu metropolis.MethodsA cross-sectional descriptive study of 103 HCWs in Enugu metropolis was done. Data was collected using structured online Google forms. Descriptive and inferential statistics was done using SPSS, and results were summarized into percentages and associations.ResultsAn acceptance rate of 56.2% was obtained among HCWs in Enugu metropolis. Positive predicators of acceptance include older age (p = 0.004, X2 = 13.161), marriage (p = 0.001, X2 = 13.996), and higher average level of income (p = 0.013, X2 = 10.766) as significant correlations were found. No significant association was found between educational level, religion, denomination nor occupation, and acceptance of vaccine. The major factor responsible for refusal was fear of side-effects.DiscussionThe acceptance rate of COVID-19 vaccines among HCWs is still less than optimal. This population represents the most enlightened population on health related matters, hence if acceptance rate remains merely average that in the general population is expected to be worse. There is a need to address the fear of vaccine side-effects by inculcating more open and interactive methods of information dissemination, while also addressing the misconceptions or myths surrounding COVID-19 vaccines

Integrating TB screening into house-to-house polio vaccination campaigns

Setting: In July 2019, the Anambra State (south-east Nigeria) TB Control Programme implemented the integration of TB case-finding with the polio vaccination campaign with the support of the WHO. Objective: To improve TB case-finding from communities leveraging already existing polio structures. Design: Vaccination teams were trained to ask for symptoms of TB in each household and to document details of people presumed to have TB. Community TB workers subsequently tracked those identified for subsequent sample collection. We report the numbers detected, and the proportion of wards that reported people with TB. Regression analyses were used to estimate the relationship between ward characteristics and reporting. Odds ratios (ORs) with associated 95% confidence intervals (CIs) are also reported. Results: Of 281 people with presumptive TB, 32 were diagnosed with TB; 21% (70/330) of wards identified at least one presumptive, while 5% (18/330) of the people were identified with TB. Peri-urban slums were most likely to identify presumptives (adjusted OR [aOR] 11.52, 95% CI 1.62–81.79), while Riverine areas were most likely to identify a person with TB (aOR 3.59, 95% CI 1.16–11.01). Conclusion: Integrating community TB case-finding into house-to-house vaccination campaigns can boost case detection. This approach proved effective in areas perennially underserved by routine healthcare services

Effects of Livelihood Sustenance Activities on Off-Farm Income of Poultry Farmers in IMO State, Nigeria

The study analysed the off farm income and its effect on livelihood sustenance of poultry farmers in Imo state.Multistage sampling technique was used to select 120 respondents. Data for the study were obtained with the aid of structured questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics and ordinary least square bivariate regression model. Results showed that: the mean off-farm income of poultry farmers was N410223 per annum. Livelihood sustenance activities of poultry farmers positively and significantly affected their off-farm income. It is recommend that government should come up policies that will center on establishment of more livelihood sustenance activities for poultry farmers that will generate increased off-farm income and promote agricultural development simultaneously