Abstract: There has been a considerable recent interest in the criteria by which animals choose mates and in the extent to which mating systems tend to be based on mutual mate choice. In this study, we consider Evarcha culicivora, a salticid spider from East Africa. This species has some unusual characteristics, including active display by females as well as males, males that kill females more frequently than females kill males and wide intrasexual variation in body size. For females, larger...
Abstract: Females of Anopheles gambiae Giles normally oviposit in a large number of fresh, small, sunlit, and spatially spread temporary pools. Such pools are associated with lower levels of predation compared to large, longerlasting habitats. We compared oviposition levels on preferred (water collected from natural anopheline larval habitats) and non-preferred (distilled water) aqueous substrates by gravid females that contained different densities of conspecific eggs or early and late inst...
Abstract: Phlebotomine sand flies transmit many viral protozoan and bacterial pathogens of public health importance. Knowledge of the ecologic factors influencing their distribution at local scale can provide insights into disease epidemiology and avenues for targeted control. Animal sheds, termite mounds and houses are important peri-domestic and domestic habitats utilized by different sand flies as resting or breeding habitats. However, our knowledge for selection of these habitats by sand...
Abstract: Eswatini was the frst country in sub-Saharan Africa to pass a National Malaria Elimination Policy in 2011, and later set a target for elimination by the year 2020. This case study aimed to review the malaria surveillance data of Eswatini collected over 8 years between 2012 and 2019 to evaluate the country’s eforts that targeted malaria elimination by 2020. Coverage of indoor residual spraying (IRS) for vector control and data on malaria cases were provided by the National Malaria...
Abstract: Macphail’s “null hypothesis,” that there are no differences in intelligence, qualitative, or quantitative, between non-human vertebrates has been controversial. This controversy can be useful if it encourages interest in acquiring a detailed understanding of how non-human animals express flexible problem-solving capacity (“intelligence”), but limiting the discussion to vertebrates is too arbitrary. As an example, we focus here on Portia, a spider with an especially intric...
Abstract: Ticks of the genus Rhipicephalus are important parasites of livestock in the world. Rhipicephalus ticks cause huge economic losses to cattle and have a great capacity to develop resistance to chemical acaricides. There is the need therefore to develop alternative strategies that could complement the existing control methods of this ectoparasite. Entomopathogenic fungi are being considered as a promising option for the control of ticks on-host and off-host. The aim of this study was...
Abstract: This thesis reports studies on three aspects of Glossina biology:- a) Studies on the peridomestic behaviour of Glossina fuscipes fuscipes in the sleeping sickness epidemic focus of Busoga, Uganda. b) Application of analysis of cuticular hydrocarbons in the chemotaxonomy of Glossina and c) Studies on the ovulation and late mating of virgin Glossina. A search near homesteads, made over a period of 20 months, revealed tsetse puparia and puparial shells under Coffea canephora (coffee),...
Abstract: A study was conducted on the activity response of unfed adults of Rhipicephalus appendiculatus to some o the environmental changes during the three main seasons here in East Africa. Ticks of two different ages were subjected to various treatments in the laboratory to vary their physiological (hydration) states and thereafter exposed in the field. Observations there made on the activity responses in relation to changes in temperature and relative humidity within the micro-habitat at...
ABSTRACT A total number of ten (10) locally fermented milk (nono) samples were collected from five (5) different retail outlet namely: Gombe main market, Jekadafari,Pantami, TashanDukku, and Tumfure. Bacteriological analysis was carried out on the samples for isolation and identification of bacteria associated with such products as well as total aerobic plate count. Seven (7) specie of bacteria which are of public health importance were isolated and identified. The percentage of occurrences o...
ABSTRACT Guava (Psidium guajava L) is native to South America and exists as both wild and cultivated. Guava has been used as a source of food and raw materials for pharmaceuticals. The aim of this study was to determine bioactivity of methanol and water extracts from apple guava against selected pathogenic bacteria. Study samples were collected from Tal, Gombe State, Nigeria and taken to the departmental herbarium for identification to obtain voucher number. Fifty grams of f...
The transmembrane proteins known as ion channels play a role in controlling and preserving the ionic concentrations across the cell membrane. Modeling the flux of ions in and out of these channels on an atomic level is essential for understanding several neurological diseases and related pharmaceutical discoveries. Recent experimental research has provided information on the channel's physical structure which can be used to create realistic ion transport models. Different trajectories exist f...
The transmembrane proteins known as ion channels play a role in controlling and preserving the ionic concentrations across the cell membrane. Modeling the flux of ions in and out of these channels on an atomic level is essential for understanding several neurological diseases and related pharmaceutical discoveries. Recent experimental research has provided information on the channel's physical structure which can be used to create realistic ion transport models. Different trajectories exist f...
This paper looks at a movement-based assay to analyze adaptability in Caenorhabditis elegans locomotion behavior. A series of sinusoidal microchannels of fixed wavelength and varying amplitude, with the width being similar to the body diameter of the organism, are used for this purpose. The worms are allowed to enter the channel from the input and transition towards the output port. In sections that are similar to the worms' undulations, the movement is fast and steady. However, as the channe...
This paper looks at a movement-based assay to analyze adaptability in Caenorhabditis elegans locomotion behavior. A series of sinusoidal microchannels of fixed wavelength and varying amplitude, with the width being similar to the body diameter of the organism, are used for this purpose. The worms are allowed to enter the channel from the input and transition towards the output port. In sections that are similar to the worms' undulations, the movement is fast and steady. However, as the channe...
ABSTRACT The study revealed into the relationship between personal hygiene and the occurrence of diseases primary school children in Makindye municipality where the following aspects were investigated: (1). personal hygiene practices among primary school children, (2). occurrence of disease among primary school, (3). relationship between hygiene practices and occurrence of diseases, (4). difference between personal hygiene practices and occurrence of diseases between private and public primar...