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One of the fast-growing major non-communicable diseases (NCD) that poses a danger to global public health is Diabetes mellitus (DM). Trends in the incidence of DM indicate a disproportionate increase in developing countries due to current rapid demographic transitions from traditional to more westernized and urbanized lifestyles. Knowledge of DM is vital for curbing or control. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the level of knowledge and awareness of DM among the Ho municipality general population, identify areas of deficiency for targeted health education efforts, and identify respondent characteristics that may be associated with knowledge of diabetes. A survey involving 132 respondents (age over 18 years) was conducted in the Ho municipality of the Volta region of Ghana. A 42-item pre-tested questionnaire was administered to participants to evaluate general and specific knowledge and awareness of DM. The Pairwise Multiple Comparison and Fisher's Exact tests were used to test the hypotheses and associations between the respondents' knowledge level and groups respectively. Of the 132 respondents, 22% were in the age range of 40-46 years; 72.7% were female. Mean over all diabetes knowledge composite score was poor: 32.99% (CI; 27.5, 38.5). Respondents performed best in the symptoms section: mean score was 36.247% (CI; 29.0, 43.4); and worst in the section on complications: mean score was 30.909% (CI; 23.6, 38.2). In multiple linear regression analyses, education level, older age, own self having diabetes, and having a family member/relative/friend with diabetes were significantly associated with knowledge of diabetes. Knowledge of diabetes among the inhabitants of Ho municipality respondents was interpreted as being inadequate 32.99% (CI; 27.5, 38.5). Some deficient portions and factors associated with knowledge of diabetes were identified. Relevant information for targeted health education programs in Ghana and beyond may be considered as one of such benefits of these findings. Key words: Knowledge, awareness, diabetes, attitude, perceptions, Ho, Volta Region, Ghana, INTRODUCTION Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder that affects adequate storage and usage of glucose in the blood, causing hyperglycemia. Diabetes mellitus may lead over time to serious [...]

Background: Frying makes food tasty; therefore, most people prefer the intake of fried foods to unfried foods. Oil for frying is mostly used again due to cost, and this can pose health hazards to the consumer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of reused frying oils. Methods: Twenty samples of reused oils collected from fried food vendors in May 2021. Using an experimental study, the samples were analysed and Peroxide, Free Fatty Acid (FFA), Saponification, Iodine Values as well as rancidity and beta carotene were determined. Data from laboratory assays were analysed with Microsoft excel 2013 and SPSS v.26.0. Results: Moisture content was observed to decrease as median from 1.19% (0.20-4.04%) for oils reused after a day to 0.60% for oils reused after 2 days with a significant effect (pvalue= 0.049), indicating that the quality of reused frying oil was affected by repeated use. The moisture content was also observed to be higher in oils in which plant products were fried compared to those in which animal products were fried. The Peroxide Value was recorded as 16.80 (5.80-55.80) and 21.90 (11.50-32.30) mEq/kg for oils with 10-20 and 21- 40 min frying times, respectively; whilst their moisture content decreased from 0.97 (0.19- 2.55) to 0.68% (0.60-0.77%) for 10-20 and 21-40 min, respectively. The authors also observed that factors such as the duration of reuse and storage after frying, conditions of storage, type of food fried in the oil, and the period of frying per food batch impacted the quality attributes of the reused oils. The FFA composition for instance increased with the duration of use of the oils. Furthermore, oils stored in plastic bottles recorded higher FFA values compared to those stored in frying pans. Conclusion: The findings show the need for fried food vendors to reduce the duration of storage of reused frying oil, and avoid storage conditions that expose oils to excess light. Also, the development of quality standards for highly patronised oils needs to be established to ascertain the impact of low-temperature long-time and high-temperature short-time treatments of the oils among non-existent jurisdictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]