ABSTRACT Faidherbia albida (Del.) A. Chev is a tree species native to Africa and the Middle East. It is an important agro-silvo pastural species owing to its morphological and physiological dynamics that mediate improvement of soil structure and fertility while offering several other benefits to farmers and the environment. Key among these is its reverse phenology, a phenomenon that allows the tree to compete minimally with crops while providing a favorable microclimate for their growth. It ...
ABSTRACT Despite the fact that virtually all households in Kenya grow maize over 60% of them are net maize buyers because they do not produce enough for their consumption. Kenya‘s current food supply situation and outlook give cause for serious concern. Maize is the main staple food averaging over 80% of total cereals (rice, wheat, millet and sorghum) in Kenya. Maize stocks are estimated to be depleted at all levels throughout the country. According to strategic grain bank report on food s...
ABSTRACT Blast disease (Pyricularia oryzae or Magnaporte oryzae) is a disease of the economic importance in rice, causing up to 100% yield loss. The aroma trait of rice grain encoded by the badh2 gene significantly increases its market value. Unfortunately, the aromatic IR97012-27-3-1-1-B (Supa234) line developed at IRRI is susceptible to Pyricularia grisea pathotypes. Improvement of IR97012-27-3-1-1-B (Supa234) rice has been carried out through introgression of R genes (Pi9 and Pita) at IRRI...
ABSTRACT Coffee is a small shrub which is a source of a stimulating beverage. It ranks as one of the world's major commodity crops and is the major export product of many countries including Kenya. Economic production of Arabica coffee in Kenya is greatly hindered by the Coffee Berry Disease (CBD) caused by Colletotrichum kahawae. Since the release of the resistant Ruiru 11 in 1985, efforts have been devoted to the improvement of the genetic base of resistance, but this has faced the problem ...
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 Background: Hypertension is a public health challenge due to its high prevalence, and is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. This study was designed to determine the frequency of the I/D polymorphism of the angiotensin-converting enzyme gene and its association with hypertension in a sample population of Calabar and Uyo, South-South Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A population-based case control design consisting of total of 1224 participants, 612 each of patients and co...
ABSTRACT Vernonia Schreb. is a genus in the family Asteraceae. It has over 1000 species which may be trees, shrubs, woody climbers or herbs. Some of the species are economically important as sources of food and herbal medicine as well as for industrial purposes. Despite the economic importance of the species, the existing taxonomic and phylogenetic relationships among the taxa are not totally resolved. The objective of this study was to assess the genetic diversity of Vernonia species in Nig...
ABSTRACT Tuberculosis (TB) causes substantial human morbidity and mortality globally. About 10.4 million TB cases and 1.4 million deaths worldwide were reported in 2015. Kenya is among the 22 countries with highest TB burden. Microscopy is routinely used for Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacilli (Mtb) detection; however its sensitivity has been reported to be as low as 60% posing a problem for case detection. Rifampicin (RIF) is one of the major drugs for first line TB treatment; however, most p...
ABSTRACT Breast cancer is a disease that affects both men and women and currently the leading type of cancer in women globally, commanding a huge social and health impact. Approximately 52.5% of breast cancer cases express estrogen receptors (ER). ER is a receptor proteins type of breast cancer and it fuels growth of breast cancer. ER breast cancer which has been shown to be the most aggressive and misdiagnosed thus, leading to overtreatment. However, it has not been study in Africans Kenyan ...
ABSTRACT Incidence of Salmonella resistance to various antibiotic agents, especially to the commonly available antibiotics in Kenya, is rising. Genetic elements such as Class 1 integrons have an important role in development and spread of resistance. In western Kenya, integron-mediated antibiotic resistance was reported in clinical Salmonella enteric serovars. However, no similar studies have been done to elucidate the role of class 1 integrons in fish isolates for multidrug resistant Salmone...
ABSTRACT Acute Myelocytic Leukemia (AML) is a cancer of the bone marrow characterized by arrested maturation along with uncontrolled proliferation of hematopoietic progenitor cells. Mostly, it affects persons of age 65years and above. In AML, there is absence or low amounts of Estrogen Receptors in the bone marrow. Various studies have associated Estradiol to the variation of ER. However, the exact role Estradiol is still not known in association with the onset and progression of AML. The mai...
ABSTRACT The potential of the antiretroviral drugs zidovudine and nevirapine to induce genotoxicity was evaluated using the Allium cepa and the mice models. Four doses per antiretroviral were used in the Allium cepa chromosomal aberration assay while three doses per antiretroviral were used for the mouse study. The Allium cepa study consisted of the 96hr root growth inhibition, the 48hr recovery and the 48hr chromosomal aberration phases to determine the EC50; ascertain if root growth inhibi...
ABSTRACT The potentials of using Gycine max and Lycopersicon esculentum in remediating soil polluted with crude oil were investigated. The investigation involved screening of four accessions each of the two crops fro germination, survival and growth. The mitotic divisons of the accessions of G. max were further examined. The plant height, dry matter content, leaf area, chlorophyll content and pod production rate of the TGX 1440-1E accession of G. Max was also accessed. This was followed by in...
ABSTRACT Joloo is a formulation extracted from seven medicinal plants used in folk medicine practice for the management and treatment of breast cancer and some other health malaise in southwestern Nigeria. The study evaluates some of its traditionally acclaimed pharmacological properties in mice and rats as well as the safety of Joloo. Three toxicity levels of study which included acute, subchronic and chronic toxicity were undertaken to evaluate the extract. Joloo was prepared using plants i...