ABSTRACT Inflammation is a reaction to irritants that causes an injury to the body. Pain is a physical discomfort caused by injury or illness while pyrexia is an increase in body temperature above the normal range (36.5°C–37.5°C). Commonly used conventional drugs against inflammation, pain and pyrexia are effective but due to long term use, these drugs tend to be costly and are associated with adverse side effects. Traditional medicine has been used as an alternative and complementary d...
Medicinal plants contain a wide range of substances that can be used to treat chronic illness as well as infectious diseases. A vast knowledge of how to use the plants against different illnesses may be expected to have accumulated in areas where plants are commonly used. Conventional medicine has created problems due to microbial resistance. This has enhanced the interest in search for natural products with medicinal property. Information on the chemical constituents in herbs aid in dis...
Crude plant products have been widely used by different communities in Africa for pest control. Synthetic insecticides have a number of drawbacks, such as development of genetic resistance, eco-toxicity, negative health effects to users and high cost of application. However, not enough scientific research has been conducted on the efficacy of traditional methods in weevil control, the chemical profiles of plant products and their safety to the users. The bioactivities of the powedered pr...
ABSTRACT Microbial infections constitute a serious problem especially in developing countries. Several antibiotics have been developed but their use is limited due to antimicrobial resistance and emergence of new infections. Several plants have proven to be medicinal and this has necessitated research in the field of phytochemistry aimed at generating more effective antimicrobial agents. The aim of this study was to investigate the phytochemical properties with respect to antimicrobial effec...
Elastic electron-atom collision data from experimental and theoretical studies is useful in the interpretation of spectra obtained in X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy as well as in the Monte Carlo simulation of conduction electrons in solids. In principle the behaviour of an electron-atom collision system is predicted by solving the Schrödinger equation. However this task is far from simple in that the equation can only be solved exactly for a two-body co...
The search for materials for purification of polluted water is growing daily with the advent of nanoparticles. This is particularly important because many populations of people in the developing countries lack clean water due to water pollution. Water pollutants such as heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are known to have adverse effects on humans and environment. This work investigated the potential of synthesized magnetoresponsive CNT-polysulfone infused polymeric nano...
The Lake Victoria Basin (LVB) in East Africa hosts over thirty million inhabitants most of whom are classified as absolutely poor. The food security in the region is manifested in high levels of malnutrition, child mortality and high HIV and AIDS incidents. There is need for food diversifications. Food crops like pumpkins though indigenous in the region have no established position within the major food crops despite their rich nutritional potential and capability to provide a balanced ...
Limited access to safe drinking water and information on water quality in sparsely populated arid and semi-arid regions has contributed to frequent outbreaks of diarheal disease. There is therefore urgent need to determine the bacteriological and physico-chemical quality of water in various sources in these regions. This study was undertaken in order to determine water quality in Wamba Division of Samburu District and to asses the efficacy of plan extracts in purifying water. Bacteriolog...
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by protists of the genus Plasmodium. Malaria is responsible for high morbidity and mortality rates among children under five years and pregnant women. Recent climatic changes leading to global warming has resulted in the emergence of malaria in highlands in Africa where malaria never existed before. In Kenya, highland malaria is very rampant in Nyanza, Gucha District and some parts of Rift Valley province w...
ABSTRACT Fish farming has been practised all over the world for centuries. Throughout history, humans have used fish as a supplementary source of proteins and as a source of income. Fish performs all their body functions in water and therefore the quality of water is very important to their livelihood. Farmers have suffered losses due to the death and stunted growth of fish as a result of bacterial infections and diseases among other causes. The presence of these bacteria in fish pond water...
Persons living with HIV may succumb to acquired immunodefiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), which renders them susceptible to opportunistic infections. Several antibiotics are recommended for prophylaxis and treatment of the infections. These usage of antibiotics has lead to the development of multi drug resistant strains of Escherichia coli isolated from the gut of persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Such resistance is of great concern as the organisms may become infectious and also serve as ...
Fish production is an important food contributor to the global and local economy. However, diseases including parasitic infections have been recognized as one of the limiting factors in the production of fish. The increase in fish parasites can be as a result of flooding. The flooding of Lake Baringo that occurred in November 2011 could have caused water pollution that may have brought in parasites that could have caused fish diseases. No recent research had been carried out to investigate ...
About two billion people around the world have no access to modern energy. More than 84% of Kenya population use kerosene for cooking and lighting therefore it is necessary to search for suitable alternatives to liquid and cooking fuels. In this study, oil extracted from Telfairia pedata Hook (Oyster nut) was transesterified in methanol using sodium hydroxide catalyst. Methyl ester obtained was characterized by GC-MS and further tested for fuel properties relative to conventional diesel ...
Herbal medicine has been widely used and forms an integral part of primary health care in most countries. Of late, despite emphasis being put in research of synthetic drugs; interest in medicinal plants has been reborn. This is due to the rapidly growing population, the failure of modern medicine to provide effective treatment, increase in chronic diseases and the emergence of the multi-drug resistant pathogens. It is of importance to establish a scientific basis for the use and validati...
In the water distribution industry, meter reading is an important activity as source of revenue to the water utility company and at the same time it is meant to ensure accurate recording of consumption. Manual water meter reading is still being done in many countries in the world where employees of water companies take the readings from residential and business premises. Water bills are then prepared based on this data. This process is inefficient and costly in terms of man-hours, especi...