ABSTRACT Different communities in Kenya use a wide variety of indigenous plants for food. About 850 species of plants are used for food. To this group belong Amaranthus species that has important nutrients and a rich array of biologically active secondary metabolites. Corriandrum sativum is a leafy spice/ herb that contain volatile oils from which it derives its flavour and aroma and also antimicrobial properties. Essential oils from fresh leaves of C. sativum were extracted by hydro distill...
Abstract The growth of Candida utilis NRRL Y-1084 in acid and enzymatic hydrolysates of cassava peel and on glucose in a mineral salts medium was investigated in aerobic submerged cultivation. Kinetic and stoichiometric parameters for growth were determined. The cardinal temperatures of this yeast strain were 14 °C, 33 °C and 41 °C. C. utilis exhibited no absolute requirement for growth factors, although its maximum specific growth rate (μmax) was higher in the mineral salts medium with y...
ABSTRACT Cassava (Manihot esculenta) grows well in Tropical and Sub-Tropical regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. It is used as a food and raw material for many industrial applications, including food, feed and starch. Cassava has several varieties whose physico-chemical properties and functional properties of flour are hardly known. The aimed at characterizing physico-chemical and functional properties of cassava flour from different varieties harvested at different maturity stages and to determi...
ABSTRACT The abundance of indigenous leafy vegetables (ILVs) during rainy seasons and accompanying poor storage systems leads to high post-harvest losses (PHL). These gluts in the rainy seasons are usually followed by scarcity in the dry seasons. Currently some limited preservation is employed involving boiling of ILVs and open sun drying, a practice that is inappropriate and done under unhygienic conditions. To reduce the huge losses, a cheaper, hygienic and locally adaptable preservation m...
ABSTRACT Fluorosis is a condition caused by excessive intake of fluoride, and is characterized mainly by mottling of teeth. A number of defluoridation techniques have been proposed, studied and even implemented in a number of countries, to varying degrees of success. Among these techniques, contact precipitation, a hybrid technique involving the use of calcium and phosphate compounds together with bone char to effect defluoridation of water has been extensively used. The mechanism of fluorid...
ABSTRACT Innate immunity has a key role in the control of microbial infections in both vertebrates and invertebrates. In insects, including vectors that transmit parasites that cause major diseases such as trypanosomosis, leishmaniasis and filariasis, antimicrobial peptides and agglutinins form an important component of innate immunity and participate in regulating parasite development. In this study, induced haemolymph peptides from a non-vector, nonheamatophagous insect, Schistocerca grega...
ABSTRACT Mosquitoes present a worldwide, public health and nuisance challenge since they transmit human diseases including west Nile virus, malaria, dengue, Japanese encephalitis, filiarisis and other viral diseases throughout the globe. An obvious method for preventing the spread of these diseases is to control mosquito vector population by insecticides and synthetic agents, which have been developed and employed in the field with considerable success. As a result of insects’ resistance a...
Summary This short report describes the results of a rapid; simple and cost effective immuno diagnostic test for malaria in Ibadan, Nigeria. A total of 77% patients presenting at the children outpatient clinic, University College Hospital with malaria symptoms were screened for malaria parasites by microscopy using Giemsa stain and by the immuno chromatographic card test. The immunodiagnostic test had a sensitivity of 93.1 % and a specificity of 95.8%, making a gog,d alternative for malaria ...
ABSTRACT Urinary tract infections (UTI) during pregnancy can lead to serious obstetric complications, poor maternal and perinatal outcomes. The purpose of this study was to determinethe prevalence of bacterial UTI in pregnant women in Morogoro municipality, Tanzania. This study was conducted at SabaSaba Health Centre from May 2014 to July 2014 involving 196 pregnant women. Mid stream of urine samples were obtained and analyzed by dipstick and processed for culture. Out of 196 pregnant women ...
ABSTRACT The dynamic buckling loads of some imperfection-sensitive elastic structures subjected to slowly varying time dependent loading are determined using perturbation procedures. First, we consider an elastically imperfect column resting on a softening nonlinear elastic foundation. The governing differential equation has two small parameters. We determine the dynamic buckling load of this column subjected to the stipulated loading for three different cases. The cases are when the small p...
ABSTRACT The greatest human nutritional problem in Nigeria is that of inadequate animal protein in the diet of a large proportion of the population. The development and sustenance of the poultry industry in Nigeria appears to be the fastest means of meeting human need for dietary animal protein supply. However, diseases constitute a major problem to the development of the poultry industry and Newcastle disease (ND) is the most important of these diseases. Newcastle disease is caused by ...
ABSTRACT Food insecurity has been an issue in developing nations worldwide including Kenya. This is as a result of soil related problems, climate change, crop pests and diseases among food crops. Late blight disease caused by Phytophthora infestans in Irish potato (Solanum tuberosum L) is a major challenge among the small-scale farmers in the highlands of Kenya. Yield losses as a result of late blight in Kenya are about 40 - 50%. The appropriate use of fungicides and fertilizers application r...
ABSTACT The Maas trichian-Pale ocene sediments in Yuli area me composed of the Gombe Sandstone and the Kerri-Kerri Formation. They cover 400 square kilometres have a thichess of more than 100 metres. Six stratigraphic sections were studied, representing the entire stratigraphic succession of the Gombe Sandstone i n the Yuli area, The formation has a thickness of about 30 metres in the studied area. The Gombe Sandstone consists of folded beds of sandstone, siltstone and mudstone. The sandstone...
EXTENDED ABSTRACT A study was conducted to develop extruded instant mixed mushroom soup supplemented with banana, soybean and orange fleshed sweet potatoes. The nutritional qualities, physical properties, sensory acceptability and the shelf life of the developed product were evaluated. Proximate compositions were determined to evaluate the potential of the product to supply energy and required nutrients. Moisture, ash, protein, fiber, ether extract, carbohydrate and energy content ranged fro...
ABSTRACT Cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis are common infections in humans in Kenya and Cryptosporidiosis in particular is an opportunistic infection in HIV-infected individuals. Diarrhoeal disease caused by these parasites is a major public health problem particularly in countries with poor socioeconomic status. The study on Cryptosporidium species and Giardia lamblia was carried out in Siaya county referral hospital and was conducted to assess the prevalence and risk factors associated with ...