ABSTRACT Particulate emissions and organic volatiles produced by incomplete combustion processes have attracted the attention of many environmental experts. Consequently, increasing concern has been directed towards the study of human health problems caused by carcinogenic and mutagenic soot components such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polyenes from various combustion systems. Soot from many combustion systems are well-known precursors for numerous toxicological impacts in t...
ABSTRACT The diseases transmitted by mosquito continue to be rampant and in most case fatal especially in the developing countries. Mosquito is the main vector for malaria. Malaria is a scourge and according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimations, over 40% of the world population remain exposed to malaria. In Kenya, about 25,000 children die of malaria each year; although the actual number of deaths is unknown since most of them occur at home. Since prevention is better than cure...
ABSTRACT Life threatening diseases like, cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases have been linked to oxidative stress in the human body. Oxidative stress results from the uncontrolled generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the body. Naturally, the normal body regulates ROS through in situ production of antioxidants. However, the human body is not capable of quenching ROS exceeding a certain level and this can result in oxidative stress. Hence the need of exogen...
Fungi, especially higher ones, have received a lot of attention in the recent decades due to the advances of biotechnological techniques. This is because secondary metabolism in fungal biotechnological cultures is manipulable and produces an array of compounds with diverse as well as novel chemical and biological properties. The activities can be taped into to address the myriad problems afflicting local communities in Kenya especially in agrochemical and medical sectors. Disease burden ...
ABSTRACT Plants are a potential source of antimicrobial compounds. In this study, a plant from the family Simaroubaceae, Harrisonia abyssinica, traditionally used to treat a number of diseases was used. Research has been carried out on its stem bark, root bark and leaves and a number of chemical constituents have been isolated but no research has been carried out on its berries. Therefore the berries of this plant were chosen in order to investigate for antimicrobial compounds. The berries o...
Malaria caused by Plasmodium parasite is at the moment the one of the highest killer disease in the tropics. In developing countries, where malaria is one of the most prevalent diseases, some people still rely on traditional medicine for the treatment of this disease. In the present study an ethnobotanical survey was conducted to document antimalarial medicinal plants. In vitro antiplasmodial and in vivo toxicity activities were carried out on crude root extracts and on the isolated pure...
ABSTRACT Malaria caused by Plasmodium parasite is at the moment the one of the highest killer disease in the tropics. In developing countries, where malaria is one of the most prevalent diseases, some people still rely on traditional medicine for the treatment of this disease. In the present study an ethnobotanical survey was conducted to document antimalarial medicinal plants. In vitro antiplasmodial and in vivo toxicity activities were carried out on crude root extracts and on the isolated ...
Infectious diseases remain to be a global health burden due to the development of antibiotic resistance by pathogenic microorganisms. Antibiotic resistance has led to increased number of deaths among children and adults. Medicinal plants have been used over the years in the treatment and remedy of various infections affecting human beings. The use of secondary metabolites from medicinal plants and fungal endophytes can be an alternative to disease management without the negative impact o...
Mosquito transmitted diseases such as yellow fever, elephantiasis, dengue and malaria are some of the most deadly vector-borne diseases, affecting millions of people mainly in the tropics. In spite of major efforts undertaken for control of the diseases, through drug treatment and vector control, an increase in mosquito borne disease incidences has been witnessed in the last decades. Africa suffers most from mosquito borne diseases since mosquito vectors are distributed almost throughout...
ABSTRACT Maize is an important cereal crop and a staple food in most parts of Africa. Food insecurity is one of the major challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa. The food situation is worsened by fungal infestation of maize crops in the fields. The most prevalent fungi on maize crops are Fusarium moniliforme and Fusarium graminearum that cause red ear rot, stalk rot and Grey leaf spot (GLS) respectively. The development of antifungal resistance and side effects associated with synthetic pesticides ...
The emergence of bacterial resistance to existing antibiotics and other drugs is a worldwide problem. New classes of antimicrobial compounds with complete new mode of action are therefore urgently needed to control the rise of the multidrug resistant pathogens. The objective of this study was to synthesize and characterize half-sandwich organometallic compounds of ruthenium(II) containing bipyridine and pyridine- imine ligands and to test their biological activities against one Gram posi...
ABSTRACT The chemistry of natural products is very important since it has been used in the search for bioactive compounds for management of various human diseases including cancer. The increase in the incidence of cancer coupled with the undesirable side effects observed with chemotherapic agents urges the discovery of new agents from natural sources. In this study the four ethnomedicinal plants; Dovyalis abyssinica (Salicaceae), Solanum mauense (Solanaceae), Syzigium guinense (Myrtaceae) and...
ABSTRACT Most communities in Western Kenya use plant indigenous salts for cooking, medicinal and numerous uses. Typha latifolia and Cyperus rotundus reeds are widely used in Busia and Lugari regions of Western Kenya to prepare indigenous salts. The suitability of these salts and validation of micronutrients and heavy metals is unknown. The objective of this study was to assess the suitability of the indigenous reed salt used in selected parts of Western Kenya. Micronutrients and heavy metal c...
ABSTRACT Vegetable oils are triglycerides extracted from plants. Deep frying is one method which involves submerging the food in hot oil. When this oil is overused it undergoes a series of chemical reactions which may affect human health. This has made it important to study the oxidative stability of selected vegetable oils as relates to the different types of food fried. The main objective was to determine the relative thermal oxidative stability of the palm, corn, peanut, soybean, and sunf...