ABSTRACT African human trypanosomiasis (HAT) and African animal trypanosomiasis (AAT) are vectorborne parasitic diseases, which are among the most neglected diseases in the world. They cause major health and economic problems in rural sub-Saharan Africa. Chemotherapy, the main means of controlling the disease is limited due to parasite resistance and toxicity of the current anti-trypanosomal drugs. The development of a vaccine has been thwarted by antigenic variation of the parasite. Thus, t...
ABSTRACT Water pollution is an overbearing environmental challenge due to increasing anthropogenic activities from industrial, agricultural and domestic fronts. While data on the water quality such as heavy metals and physico-chemical parameters is enormous, that onpolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs) presents a research gap. The 16 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the environment have increasingly become a health risk as a result of anthropogenic activities. The study was unde...
ABSTRACT Malaria remains a major public health problem affecting an estimated 40% of the world’s population and resulting in more than 650,000 deaths worldwide every year. The emergence and rapid spread of parasite resistance to affordable, easy to use and widely available anti-malarial drugs such as chloroquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) has prompted many countries in endemic areas to switch to the more effective artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs). To mitigate against...
ABSTRACT Parasitic weeds are a serious problem in agricultural production, causing large crop losses in many parts of the world and particularly Africa. One of the most economically important parasitic weed is Striga. Striga weed is considered to be the greatest biological constraint to food production in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This genus includes races; Striga hermonthica, S. asiatica, S. gesnerioides, S. aspera and S. forbesii that are considered to be most harmful to crops. Striga herm...
ABSTRACT Sericulture (Silk farming) is the rearing of silk moths for the production of raw silk. Silk farming originated from China where it was secretly practiced for many years before spreading to other parts of the world. Silk moths are grouped into mulberry silk moths (domesticated) and wild silk moths. Silk moth cocoon has a double filament made of insoluble protein known as fibroin which is embedded in a water soluble protein called sericin. Prior to processing cocoons, are boiled in s...
ABSTRACT Nanostructured silicon has attracted considerable attention as a promising anode material for next generation Lithium-ion batteries for applications in portable electronic devices and hybrid electric vehicles. This interest is mainly due to its large theoretical specific charge capacity of 4,200 mAh g-1 that is ten times more than the theoretical specific charge capacity of conventional graphite anodes. This work exploits an alternative method of fabricating pure silicon nanoparticle...
ABSTRACT Farmers in central highlands of Kenya have been experiencing declining crop yields in the recent past. Low water availability caused by low and unreliable rainfall, and poor water harvesting techniques coupled with low soil fertility are key constraints to crop production in these regions. To increase crop yields, and reduce production risks, better use of available rainfall is required. The broad objective of the research was to enhance farmers' agricultural productivity through im...
ABSTRACT Staphylococcus aureus is a major food-borne pathogen that poses a serious threat to public health. In Kenya, with the continuous water shortage, proper sanitary conditions are not sufficiently met and hence pre-disposing the community to S. aureus infections. One of the difficulties of controlling S. aureus food poisoning is that food can contain a very high population of the bacteria without being noticeably identified. It has been suggested that food-borne diseases represent one of...
ABSTRACT The Galois group of a certain type of field extension is a specific group associated with the field extension. The study of field extensions and their relationship to the polynomials that give rise to them via the Galois groups came to be called Galois Theory in honor of Everiste Galois who first discovered them in 1830. In this project we find the extensions of whose Galois group is isomorphic to, , and the quaternion group . In each case we identify the extension, then work ou...
ABSTRACT Diabetes mellitus is a glucose metabolism disorder that has become an issue of public health concern in Kenya today. Conventional drugs used in management of the disease are unaffordable to the general populace and are associated with many undesirable side effects. Locally made herbal extracts are cheap and readily available but proper scientific study has not been conducteed on most medicinal plants to validateK their efficacy and safety. M. indica, E. schlechterianum (Loes.) Loes....
ABSTRACT The presence of multiple concurrent infections, or polyparasitism, is quite common in schistosomiasis endemic areas. Msambweni District in the Coast Province of Kenya is highly endemic for Schistosoma haematobium. Previous studies showed an overall prevalence of schistosomiasis in Msambweni District at 40% to 60%. This is a prevalence way above the national prevalence of approximately 23%. There has been continued support by various agencies, including the government and non-governme...
ABSTRACT Schistosomiasis is a tropical disease caused by worms in the genus Schistosoma. It remains one of the most prevalent parasitic infections and has significant economic and public health consequences. Despite having an effective chemotherapeutic drug, praziquantel, there is still need for a vaccine since the immediate manifestations in most people are negligible or indeterminate. Several antigens have been tested as vaccine candidates with largely disappointing results. Both rodents a...
ABSTRACT Tuberculosis is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity globally. Kenya is among the 22 high burden countries that contribute 80% of the global burden and is ranked number 15 worldwide while in Africa, it is ranked number five. Among children, it is a top 10 cause of mortality. However children with TB are given low priority in most national health programs and are a neglected group in this epidemic. This is because from a TB control point of view, they rarely transmit the disease...
Abstract The concept of the cycle index formulas of a permutation group was discovered in the year 1937. Since then cycle index formulas of several groups have been studied by di_erent scholars. For instance the cycle index of the dihedral group Dn acting on the set of vertices of a regular ngon is known and has been applied in enumeration of di_erent mathematical structures. In this study the relationship between the cycle index formula of a semidirect product group and the cycle index f...
ABSTRACT Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by high blood sugar levels that result from defects in insulin secretion, or action, or both. The disorder completely throws the metabolism of dietary carbohydrates, lipids and proteins into disarray. This condition in its fully developed form is characterized by high blood sugar level (hyperglycemia), glycosuria, increased protein breakdown, ketosis and acidosis. Diabetes is a chronic medical condition which can be co...