ABSTRACT Amaranthus is a pseudocereal that has its origin in Mexico, South America. It is commonly known as ‘terere’ in Kenya and is mostly used as leaf vegetable. It is fast gaining interest in Kenyan population as a grain due to its ability to adapt to different environments thus can be grown in semi-arid areas, its fast maturity time of 45-75 days, its high economic value and its vital nutrient composition. Amaranth is found to flourish in hot and dry climates where other cereals are d...
ABSTRACT Heavy metal contamination within river systems is a major environmental problem around the world. An environmental model was developed to simulate the temporal variation of concentration of lead discharged into a riverine system. The model was developed by solving the transport equation which governs the concentration of lead. The equation has advection, dispersion, sink and source terms. The equation was discretised and converted into a language compatible with a computer. A compute...
ABSTRACT Mrima hill in Kwale County, along the Kenyan coast, is known to have high natural background radiation caused mainly by 232 Thorium (Th). Currently, the area also has no proper sanitary disposal system and people use bushes as toilets. There are no fresh water bodies. Despite other parts of the coastal regions of Kenya having been studied for human disease vectors including mosquitoes and sandflies, no studies have been carried out in Mrima hill to establish the prevalence of these i...
ABSTRACT Nickel doped tin oxide and tin monoselenide thin films were coated using spray pyrolysis. Nickel doped tin oxide Precursor solution was prepared using a 0.05M Tin (II) Chloride (SnCl4.2H2O) and 0.05M Nickel chloride 6-hydrate (NiCl2.6H2O) in de-ionized water and then being added in ethanol in the ratio 1:1 to get equal proportions, followed by about 2-3 drops of hydrochloric acid. Doping tin oxide was done using uniform concentration of (NiCl2.6H2O) of 0-10 %. Precursor solution of t...
ABSTRACT Malaria is the commonest parasitic disease that continues to cause considerable number of deaths despite the fact that it is treatable and preventable. In 2016, nearly 3.2 billion persons were at risk of malaria and a total of 216 million cases occurred occasioning deaths of approximately 445 thousand people worldwide with majority of the affected being children below five years of age. These numbers are high for a disease which is treatable and preventable. Plasmodium falciparum, th...
ABSTRACT The mesocarp (edible part) of Mangifera. indica L. (mango) is known for its contribution towards addressing nutritional challenges that face most of the developing countries. Based on the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) recommended levels by National Research Council (NRC) USA, mangoes would provide sufficient amounts of essential minerals, sodium (Na), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), Zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn). However, as a result of consumi...
ABSTRACT Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a permanent and progressive loss of kidney function, resulting in deterioration of renal function. The overall management of CKD focuses on medication, dialysis, transplant and nutrition. The importance of nutritional evaluation and diet therapy in the overall management of the patients with CKD is very important; its application is limited by lack of knowledge regarding the requirement for certain nutrients in health and the way in which these require...
ABSTRACT Polypropylene is one of the most important commodity polymers and is used in many areas. Its applications are often limited due to its low impact strength, Young‟s modulus properties and non-biodegradability nature. Blending polypropylene with different polymers is an economic and effective way to improve these drawbacks. Polypropylene/wood flour blends have undesirable properties; they have weak structural rigidity, very low thermal stability and high diffusivity. Cellulose is lin...
ABSTRACT The potentiality for use of catechin levels in selection for drought tolerance ability in clones of tea Camellia sinensis (L) O. Kuntze was studied. The study reported herein was carried out in Tea Research Foundation of Kenya (TRFK) between June 2011 and March 2012. Ten clones of tea known to vary in drought tolerance were screened. The experiment was conducted in an open field over three seasons. The treatments were arranged in a completely randomized design and replicated...
ABSTRACT Pica is described as the craving and subsequent consumption of non-food substances including earth, charcoal and uncooked rice. Various hypothesis have been fronted to explain pica among them hunger, micronutrient deficiency and protection. Geophagy, a special type of pica applicable to the deliberate consumption of soil and clay deposits cuts across socio-economic, ethnic, religious and racial divides due to cultural, medicinal, physiological and nutritional factors. In sub-Saharan ...
ABSTRACT The action of Projective Special Linear group PSL(2; q) on the cosets of its subgroups is studied. Primitive permutation representations of PSL(2; q) have been previously studied by Tchuda (1986), Bon and Cohen (1989) and Kamuti (1992). In particular, the permutation representations on the cosets of Cq1 k ; Cq+1 k ; Pq; A4 and D2(q1) k are studied. In the case where it was previously done, we employ a dierent method or otherwise quote the results for completeness purpose. Thu...
ABSTRACT HIV infection continues to be among the leading causes of global mortality. Genital ulcer disease increases the risk of HIV infection. Ulcerative STDs such as Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) and syphilis cause breaks in the skin or mucous membranes, disrupt barriers that provide protection againstHIV-1 infections. It has been shown that HSV-2 is the single most important sexually transmitted infection that is fueling the HIV epidemic in Africa.. There is also an estimated two to ...
ABSTRACT Antibiotics are among the most counterfeited anti-infectious medicines in developing countries due to high demand. Amoxicillin is among the most prescribed, affordable and easily accessible antibiotic in Kenya. It is a broad-spectrum antibiotic hence commonly used for chemotherapy. Administration of poor-quality medicine possess the potential risks of treatment failure, emergence of resistance, side effects, and /or death to patients. This study sought to determine the quality and id...
ABSTRACT Diarrhoea is one of the leading causes of illness and death among children in developing countries, where an estimated 1.3 billion episodes and 4 to 10 million deaths occur each year in children less than 5 years of age. The study envisioned to determine the genetic basis of extended spectrum β-lactam (ESBL) resistance in E. coli isolated from children aged below 5 years attending Thika Level 5 Hospital Kiambu County in Kenya. Faecal samples were obtained from 384 children present...
ABSTRACT Parasites play an important role in ecosystems including shaping the populations and communities of their hosts. Majority of arthropod parasites transmit vector-borne zoonotic diseases, some of which are transmissible to humans and livestock. Birds are a host to a variety of arthropod parasites. Despite their importance, parasites continue being excluded in most ecological inventories. For example, the diversity of avian fauna in Kenya is fairly well known yet little is known about t...