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 ...
ABSTRACT Plasmodium is protozoa from the Apicomplexa phylum which causes malaria. In the tropics and sub-tropics, approximately 3.3 billion people are at risk. Artemisinin Combination Therapy (ACT), the current prime treatment, has been reported to have a possible emergence of resistance. This is a major obstacle that contributes to high mortality. Drug repurposing offers an appealing alternative to de novo drug development. Although astemizole and methylene blue have been reported to have an...
ABSTRACT In my study, I investigate the influence of thermophoresis and a constant inclined magnetic field on a fluid flowing over a porous wedge. The inclination is an acute angle to the horizontal axis. The effects of variable prandtl and thermal conductivity, Hartman number, wedge angle parameter, Schmidt’s number, thermophoretic concentration and a constant suction or injection on the fluid flow parameters are studied numerically by the collocation method since the Prandtl number is a f...
ABSTRACT Increasing population in Kenya has resulted into scarcity of land for farming. As a result, many people are opting to do farming even in the small land spaces available along the highways. However, heavy metal pollution along the highways is an issue of concern despite the fact that leaded fuel is no longer in use in Kenya because this exposes man and animals to heavy metals. The increase in transportation services is becoming a major source of heavy metals pollution particularly alo...
ABSTRACT The consequence of intense permanent cultivation of land has been severe loss of soil nutrients through removal of harvested produce, removal of crop residue, leaching and gaseous losses. Experiments were designed to investigate the effect of soil amendment with cow manure, chicken manure and fertilizer on nodulation and nitrogen fixation in climbing beans (MAC 64) and soybeans (Gazelle). Isolation and characterization of isolates together with greenhouse experiments were carried out...
ABSTRACT Because of the prevalence of antibiotic resistant pathogenic bacteria, infectious diseases are becoming more difficult and expensive to treat. In Kenya, high levels of flouroquinone resistance of a bacterium, Neisseria gonorrhea have been widely reported. Antimicrobial resistance may be coded on plasmids, mutational events or on transposons. A growing body of evidence indicates that metal tolerance and antibiotic resistance are often found together in many clinical isolates and that ...