ABSTRACT Provision of clean and safe drinking water to low income earners living in remote and dry regions remains a major challenge in many developing countries. Exploring simple ways of developing cheap adsorbent materials from resources that can be easily found in dry and semi-arid regions for use in water purification at household level is crucial. Cactus is an excellent compromise as it is not only known to naturally and readily grow in very dry regions but its mucilage is associated wit...
ABSTRACT Homa Hills geothermal prospect is located on the Nyanzian rift west of the Kenyan rift system. The manifestation of hot springs and steaming grounds in the area has revealed its geothermal potential. In order to fully asses the potential of this field, the heat source which is one of the main features of a geothermal system had to be properly located based on its perturbation on the gravity field. This enables gravity technique which is a high precision method for measuring density c...
ABSTRACT Clays are aluminosilicate minerals which are widely spread in the earth’s crust. They also naturally contain iron because of its high relative abundance of about 6.5% .They have many applications such as, use in manufacture of Portland Cement, ceramic products such as bricks, roofing tiles and high quality ceramic products as crockery. For the manufacture of high quality ceramic products, the level of iron in the clays should not exceed 1%. This study was done on clays of Kano plai...
ABSTRACT Kenya has one of the highest mortality rates among children under five. Inadequate dietary intake and low socio-economic status may contribute to the prevalence of malnutrition. The main objective of the study was to determine the dietary intake, hygienic practices, morbidity and nutritional status of children under five years in Mukuru slums.The study is important for planning and development of nutritional and good sanitation policies. Descriptive research design was used for ...
ABSTRACT The global malaria situation is being exacerbated by emergence of drug resistance to conventional antimalarials, necessitating search for novel drugs. A recent rational approach of antimalarial drug design characterized as „„covalent bitherapy‟‟ involves linking two molecules with individual intrinsic activity into a single agent, thus packaging dual-activity into a single hybrid molecule. This study proposed to synthesize a dual drug based on quinoline and trioxane pharmacop...
ABSTRACT Striga species are parasitic weeds, one of the most devastating biological constraint threatening agriculture especially production of cereals in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), causing approximately 30% to near crop failure, thus endangering the livelihood of more than 300 million poor smallholder famers. One way of combating Striga is having natural host resistance which is cost effective and efficient for tolerance to phytopathogenic damages. Such resistance can either be due to fai...
ABSTRACT There are arthropod-borne disease outbreaks as a result of pathogen influx including arboviruses which are transmitted by strains of Aedes species that occur periodically in varying spots in Kenya. However, there has been paucity of documented information on the epidemiology of Aedes mosquitoes involved in transmission of different strains of viruses. This cross sectional study determined spatial and temporal distribution of Aedes mosquitoes, Dengue and Chikungunya viruses, and...
Abstract Cotton (Gossypium species) occupies a prime position as a fibre crop of the world. Today cotton is used as a natural fibre, while seeds are used for making cooking oil, soup and seed cake for animal feed industry. Wild cotton germplasm performance in Kenya has not been studied. While current cultivated variety (HART 89M) has a narrow genetic base, the wild cotton germplasm provides a gene pool that is required for its improvement. Understanding the correlation of traits influencing s...
ABSTRACT Malaria is an infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by protozoa of the genus Plasmodium and is transmitted mainly through bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. The main species causing the disease in humans include Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale, Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium knowlesi. The disease results from multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever, headache,...
ABSTRACT A green house study was conducted to investigate the ability of an isolate of Trichoderma harzianum (P52) and Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in enhancing growth in tea cuttings, tomato seedlings and napier grass cuttings. Trichoderma harzianum is a saprophytic fungus that enhances plant growth through solubilization of nutrients and is antagonistic to many soil pathogens. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi forms symbiotic associations with plant roots promoting phosphorous absorption a...
ABSTRACT Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes are vectors of malaria because of their ability to transmit Plasmodium falciparum parasites. The major impact of malaria is in sub-Saharan Africa where at least 90% of the deaths from malaria occur. In Kenya, malaria accounts for 30% of all outpatients and 19% of all admissions to health facilities. Malaria can also affect the quality of labour negatively and also can lead to low productivity through absenteeism. Anopheles gambiae is the vector associated...
ABSTRACT For sustainability of future civilization, development of alternative clean energy technologies to replace fossil fuels has become one of the most crucial and challenging problems of the last few decades. Thin film solar cells is one of the major photovoltaic technologies that is promising for renewable energy conversion. The PV cells currently in use today are silicon based, though other cells have been fabricated using other semiconductors. Recent research is focused on fabrication...
ABSTRACT From the early 1980s, scientists continue to debate on HIV as the cause of AIDS with few arguing that AIDS is caused by chemicals, drugs and malnutrition. A nutrition intervention study in Kenya using VIUSIDTM, a recommended daily allowance compliant formulation with respect to ascorbic acid, pyridoxal, folic acid and zinc sulphate, was ineffective in restoring serum zinc levels and immunity of HIV and AIDS subjects in 12 weeks. The purpose of this study was to determine serum micro-...
ABSTRACT From the early 1980s, scientists continue to debate on HIV as the cause of AIDS with few arguing that AIDS is caused by chemicals, drugs and malnutrition. A nutrition intervention study in Kenya using VIUSIDTM, a recommended daily allowance compliant formulation with respect to ascorbic acid, pyridoxal, folic acid and zinc sulphate, was ineffective in restoring serum zinc levels and immunity of HIV and AIDS subjects in 12 weeks. The purpose of this study was to determine serum micro-...
ABSTRACT Rhipicephalus appendiculatus (Brown Ear tick) is an efficient vector of Theileria parva the aetiological agent of East Coast fever (ECF) in cattle. Currently, ECF threatens about 28 million cattle in eastern, central and southern Africa. Control of this tick has largely depended on synthetic acaricides. The use of these chemicals for tick control has however, been compromised by increased cases of tick resistance, high cost of the acaricides and concerns over environmental pollution ...