ABSTRACT Baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) is an indigenous fruit tree occurring in the savannah drylands of sub-Saharan Africa. A vast population of people in this region suffers from hidden hunger and malnutrition. Baobab fruits are a source of micronutrients, and their utilization in local diets has potential to improve health of the rural poor. The present study was conducted to determine the nutritional characteristics of baobab pulp and seeds across Africa geographical regions. Mature baob...
ABSTRACT Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a large group of organic compounds included in the European Union and US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) priority pollutant list because of their mutagenic and carcinogenic properties. Several studies have shown that exposure to benzo[A]pyrene (BaP), a member of the PAHs increases the risk of cancer. PAHs have been the subject of much concern in the recent years due to their toxic potential. They are known as highly stable contamina...
ABSTRACT Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder of multiple etiology, characterized by chronic hyperglycemia with disturbances of carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action or both. It is associated with significant morbidity and mortality due to cardiovascular complications as a result of imbalance in lipid metabolism. Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are estimated to occur in 15% of all patients with diabetes and precede 84% of all dia...
ABSTRACT Cadmium (Cd) is a ubiquitous environmental and industrial pollutantwhose exact toxicity mechanisms still remain elusive. However, cumulative data has implicated bioaccumulation as well as free radical generation in the biochemical and molecular mechanisms of cadmium induced toxicity. Chelation therapy with calcium disodium ethylenediamine tetra acetic acid (CaNa2EDTA), British Anti Lewisite (BAL), meso 2, 3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) is so far among the best known treatment again...
ABSTRACT Human African trypanosomosis (HAT) is caused by subspecies of T. brucei found in East, Central and West Africa, with T. b. rhodesiense and T. b .gambiense causing sleeping sickness in human through the bite of a tsetse fly of the genera Glossina. The treatment of CNS infection is difficult and at the same time the biology of late stage trypanosome infection is poorly understood. In addition, the parasites hideout in the brain and their mode of survival and multiplication in the brain...
ABSTRACT Banana is an important crop in East Africa. In the tropics, banana and plantains are a major source of carbohydrate for about 400 million people of whom 200 million are from East Africa. In Kenya, the banana serves both as a subsistence crop as well as a cash crop. The production of banana in Kenya is however constrained by viral diseases especially the Banana Streak Disease (BSD) which is caused by the Banana Streak Virus (BSV). Breeding between A and B-genomes containing banana ha...
ABSTRACT Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is largely consumed among various communities in Kenya. However, its productivity is gradually declining due to infections such as common bacterial blight and halo blight. Zanthoxylum gilletii and Markhamia lutea have been used traditionally in the management of various human bacterial pathogens. In addition, plants are inhabited by fungal endophytes that produce bioactive secondary metabolites. This study therefore, was to determine the bioactivit...
ABSTRACT The protozoan hemoflagellate Trypanosoma brucei is the causative agent of African trypanosomosis in humans and nagana in domestic animals. The human disease is a health concern in many African countries. The infection of mammalian-host by African trypanosomes is characterised by an up-regulation of prostaglandin (PG) production in the plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which modulates the host responses and causes symptoms of the infection. It has been shown that the protozoan ...
ABSTRACT Tsetse flies (Diptera: Glossinidae), which are the major vectors of human and animal trypanosomes, harbour bacterial gut symbionts Wigglesworthia glossinidia, Wolbachia pipientis and Sodalis glossinidius in close association with trypanosomes. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence, temporal variation and strain diversity of these endosymbionts in G. austeni and G. pallidipes from the Kenyan coast. The co-relation between symbiont and trypanosomes infection wa...
ABSTRACT Cadmium (Cd) is a ubiquitous environmental and industrial pollutantwhose exact toxicity mechanisms still remain elusive. However, cumulative data has implicated bioaccumulation as well as free radical generation in the biochemical and molecular mechanisms of cadmium induced toxicity. Chelation therapy with calcium disodium ethylenediamine tetra acetic acid (CaNa2EDTA), British Anti Lewisite (BAL), meso 2, 3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) is so far among the best known treatment again...
ABSTRACT Cadmium (Cd) is a ubiquitous environmental and industrial pollutantwhose exact toxicity mechanisms still remain elusive. However, cumulative data has implicated bioaccumulation as well as free radical generation in the biochemical and molecular mechanisms of cadmium induced toxicity. Chelation therapy with calcium disodium ethylenediamine tetra acetic acid (CaNa2EDTA), British Anti Lewisite (BAL), meso 2, 3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) is so far among the best known treatment again...
This study was conducted to establish reference values for some biochemical parameters of synovial fluid in Sudanese cattle and to compare them with the corresponding values in serum, also to establish the correlation and regression among serum and synovial fluid parameters. The bulls were selected from the herd of the Animal Production Research Centre- Khartoum North- Hilat kuku, from January 2018 to October 2019. Eleven blood samples and twenty two synovial fluid samples were collecte...
ABSTRACT Diabetes mellitus, a metabolic disorder that affects the body’s ability to make or use insulin, has become a major public-health issue globally. This is because of the numerous health problems it causes to humans including: brain damage, heart and renal diseases, circulatory problems, and death. The onset of diabetes mellitus can be due to various causes including genetic that leads mainly to development of Type I diabetes mellitus and the lifestyle of an individual that leads to o...
ABSTRACT Studies show there is less ear damage by insect pests and increased soil fertility from maize/legume intercropping system. These are two main benefits with pre-harvest potential on ear rots incidence and severity which result into mycotoxins reduction. Therefore, in a two season study, impact of push-pull technology (PP), maize desmodium intercrop edged by Brachiaria or Napier grass, was assessed on incidence and severity of four common ear rots: Fusarium, Gibberella, Diplodia and As...
ABSTRACT Control and management of human African trypanosomosis faces many challenges including limited available drugs that are stage specific and also toxic, treatment failures and post treatment CNS and cardiac pathology which might be fatal. Because of ethical considerations, trypanosomosis and drug trial studies are conducted using animal models which have drawbacks. It is therefore important to develop models that can address the current drawbacks and also develop enzymatic disease stag...