ABSTRACT The world total fertility rate has dropped from 4.95 births per woman to 2.36 births per woman in the last 50 years. In developing countries the total fertility rate has dropped from 6.0 births per woman in the 1960s to 2.9 births per woman in 2005 and was expected to have dropped even further in 2015. Kenya‟s fertility has declined from 7.8 births per woman in 1979 to 4.6 births per woman in 2009 (KNBS, 2010). Despite the general drop in fertility, there are differentials where s...
Abstract There are increased reported cases of rickets in Kenya coupled with scanty data on its cause. This study was carried out to determine risk factors associated with rickets for pediatric infants and children attending Maternal and Child Health clinic at Kiambu district hospital. A cross sectional analytical survey design was used. Systematic random sampling was used to select 377 infants and children in addition to their mothers and care givers for data collection. Simple random sampl...
ABSTRACT Gasification technology has failed to take off in a number of developing countries including East Africa despitebeing the most efficient way of converting biomass into energy. All countries in the Lake Victoria Basin (LVB) depend mostly on hydroelectric power for provision of modern energy. While hydropower is sensitive to climate change, gasification technology has a high potential for reducing biomass energy consumption while increasing access to electricity and clean cooking faci...
ABSTRACT Cosmic ray muons are produced by the interaction of primary particles with nuclei in the upper parts of the atmosphere. The charge ratio of cosmic ray muons is the ratio of the number of positive muons to negative muons. It gives valuable information on the hadronic interaction processes in the atmosphere such as the mass of the primary particle. The value of the cosmic ray muon charge ratio has been measured by several experiments to be 12766±0.0032 (the CMS detector), 1.374 ± 0....
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 Heat transfer plays a great role in engineering processes, blowing of fluids is used in designing thrusters and prevention of corrosion. Suction is used in film cooling and coating of wires in chemical engineering. A lot of research has based on thermal reduction in processing streams and forgetting the machine efficiency. The study theoretically investigates the effect of hall current on a steady magneto convection and radiative heat transfer over a porous plate. This work is motiv...
ABSTRACT Acacia nilotica, Urtica dioica, Aloe volkensii and Cynanchum viminale have been used to manage several diseases including pain, inflammation and fever. However, their efficacy has not been scientifically validated. The aim of this study therefore is to investigate the antinociceptive, antipyretic and anti-inflammatory activities of their aqueous extracts. The plant materials were collected from Loita division, Narok County in Kenya. A total of 240 albino mice with an average weight ...
ABSTRACT In this study, gravity survey method was used to investigate the geothermal potential field in Gilgil area, Nakuru County, Kenya. No previous geophysical study has been done in Gilgil area. Gilgil area is volcanic and gravity survey in volcanic regions has shown that it gives useful information about the density changes within the Earth’s subsurface associated with the heat source. Gravity highs are related to centres of volcanism, faults and geothermal activity. The discovery of g...
ABSTRACT Majority of Kenyans lack access to clean water due to increased population growth, high rate of industrialisation and poor waste management. The situation may worsen if immediate measures are not taken. Lead and cadmium are the main heavy metals in contaminated water and their harmful effects such as lung cancer, mental retardation and nerve disorder cannot be underestimated. Available methods for removing these metal ions from water such as use of activated carbon are very expensive...
ABSTRACT Every year millions of tones of industrial wastes and municipal sewage are dumped into the world oceans as rivers carrying agricultural wastes discharge their waters into the ocean. The Mombasa inshore (Kilindini and Portreiz) waters and Sabaki/Malindi bay complex are characterized by rapid urbanization, industrial activities including shipping, agriculture and tourism. As a result, the coastal fauna, sediments and sea water are polluted with heavy metals, raw sewage and organochlori...
ABSTRACT The prevailing tuberculosis (TB) situation in the world demands the re-engineering and repositioning of some old drug families to achieve effective control of the spread and effects of TB. One such drug that is targeted for re-engineering is isoniazid which is also known as isonicotinohydrazide (INH). In this study, theoretical studies have been carried out to investigate twenty eight structural analogues of the isoniazid (INH) for their reactivity and some drug-likeness. The density...
ABSTRACT Primordial radionuclides in building materials are one of the major sources of radiation hazard in dwellings. Clay bricks are mainly used for the construction of dwellings in Bomet district, Bomet County, Kenya. Therefore, knowledge of the presence of natural radioactivity in these materials is of great importance in order to assess the radiological hazards associated with them. In this context, specific activities of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K were measured in brick samples collected from...
ABSTRACT The Avian family has been a significant source of human epidemic. Over the last three decades, reports on yeast infections in humans have increased especially with respect to immunocompromised individuals. This is associated with increased morbidity and mortality especially in HIV/AIDS immunocompromised individuals. The purpose of this study was to isolate and characterize pathogenic yeasts from domestic Chicken (Gallus gallus) dropping. The droppings were collected from Kabigeriet ...
ABSTRACT Sanitary materials (pads and diapers) are mainly made of cellulose and non-degradable synthetic elements including superabsorbent gel which collects fluids. These materials are disposed of in the open together with other domestic waste in the low-income urban settlements in Kenya. The waste remains uncollected for long, thus posing health risk to street children and the neighborhood especially when scattered by stray dogs, cats and chicken. The scattered sanitary materials are a nuis...
ABSTRACT Schistosomiasis is considered one of the neglected tropical diseases caused by blood flukes. The disease kills 200,000 people annually in Sub Saharan Africa and stunts cognitive and physical growth. In Kenya, the total population requiring preventive chemotherapy in the year 2015 was estimated at 2.5 million out of which 1.8 million were school aged children. Fresh water snails of genus Biomphalaria are the intermediate hosts of S. mansoni. Chemical molluscicides used to control snai...