ABSTRACT The knowledge of the distribution of the radionuclides and their levels in the environment is paramount in assessing the effects of radiation exposure from either terrestrial or extraterrestrial sources. Human population and other living organisms are exposed to radiation from naturally occurring radionuclides in soil, building materials, food, volcanic eruptions and other environmental materials. Natural background is of terrestrial and extraterrestrial origin. Terrestrial sources ...
ABSTRACT Information on the potency of many African medicinal plants against microorganisms is scanty, and in the current wave of antimicrobial resistance against chemotherapeutic drugs, there is need to search for plants that could be having phytochemicals that are resistance-free, affordable and with fewer and less side effects. The objective of this study was to investigate the phytochemical properties with respect to antimicrobial effects of the crude and pure components from extracts o...
ABSTRACT A novel mGuide turn-by-turn Android mobile application for GPS outdoor voice navigation has been developed and presented, which is adapted for visually challenged people. The application was developed in response to the challenges of outdoor navigation by visually impaired persons. The application optimizes five map servers to give the best navigation information at any particular instance and loads map tiles very fast due to superior rendering procedures of the open street maps; lo...
ABSTRACT Malaria is a key hindrance to the improvement of health in tropical and subtropical countries of the world with more than two billion people exposed to it. One of the approaches of controlling vectors of malaria is by targeting aquatic stages at source. This would lead to significant reduction in the adult vectors as well as malaria transmission. Entomopathogenic bacteria Bacillus thuriengiensis var israelensis (Bti) and Bacillus sphaericus (Bs) in the form of dispersable granular f...
ABSTRACT In the area of security, industry and academia have actively conducted research and implemented several systems which can be used to enhance security. However, many of these systems are not always suitable for outdoor activities and also their cost is very high. An easily portable and a versatile device like a mobile phone become handy for enhancing personal security. In this work, an optimal mobile phone-based route detection application has been developed. It locates and monitors ...
ABSTRACT Cereals are major food commodity used in Kenya and their quality determines their suitability to human and animal health. The presence of mycotoxins in cereals and their products is a serious emerging threat to quality of cereals based foodstuff. The main classes of mycotoxins found in cereals are aflatoxins, ochratoxins, fumonisins, deoxynivarenol and trichothecenes. Though aflatoxins are the most toxic mycotoxins, ochratoxin A (OTA) is a possible carcinogen of class 2B. In this st...
ABSTRACT The low levels of thiocyanate (SCN) normally present in body fluids increase with chronic exposure to cyanide. Cyanide (CN- ) is a fast-acting, potentially deadly chemical which prevents or inhibits cellular respiration and inactivation of cytochrome oxidase killing the cell. Humans are exposed to cyanide from dietary, industrial, environmental and other sources. Tobacco smoking is an important source of cyanide exposure. After absorption, cyanides are readily distributed in the bod...
ABSTRACT Mosquitoes are of high public health concern since they are significant disease vectors of different tropical and subtropical life-threatening diseases like malaria, dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, zika virus and encephalitis. Use of synthetic insecticides for control of mosquitoes causes development of resistance in vector species and have negative effects to the environment and human. This study aimed to find alternative, effective tools against these vectors from plant essenti...
ABSTRACT About 43% of people in Kenya have no access to clean water. Lack of clean water may worsen as industrial development and population increases as projected if drastic measures are not taken immediately Pollution of water by heavy metals arises from many sources but most commonly from purification of metals, smelting industries, paint industries and textile industries. Activated carbon and other commercial adsorbents are frequently used as adsorbents. Despite their extensive use in wat...
ABSTRACT In Africa, intercropping of some legumes with cereal crops has been found to cause remarkable reduction of Striga infestation and improved production of cereal crop. Desmodium uncinatum controls Striga infestation in intercrop with cereals through an allelopathic mechanism, which involves post-germination growth inhibitors exuded from the roots. Allelopathy is a natural and environmentally friendly technique, which has a potential to be a new approach for weed control. A standardize...
ABSTRACT High concentrations of fluoride in drinking water pose serious problems associated with dental and skeletal fluorosis to humans in several parts of the world. Among various methods used for defluoridation such as electrochemical degradation, ion exchange, precipitation coagulation, adsorption offers an attractive method for the removal of fluoride in terms of cost, simplicity of design and operations. Silicon nitride is a material that is characterized by high mechanical strength, th...
ABSTRACT The increased environmental awareness, the world’s petroleum supply constraints and high petroleum fuel prices have spurred efforts in many countries to search for suitable alternatives to diesel fuels. Diesel fuels derived from triglycerides (vegetable oils or animal fats) present a promising alternative. In this study, oils extracted from four plants, Jatropha curcas L., Croton megalocarpus Hutch., Calodendrum capense (L.f.) Thunb. (cape chestnut) and Cocos nucifera L. (coconut) ...
ABSTRACT Water as a resource in Kenya is increasingly being polluted as its population increases. Ingestion of heavy metal compounds poses great risks to human health since heavy metal ions can accumulate their amounts along the food chain. Therefore, it is necessary to remove or minimize the heavy metal ions in contaminated water. A number of methods are already in operation such as ion-exchange, chemical coagulation, electrochemical methods, membrane process, using natural zeolite, ultra-fi...
ABSTRACT Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a cyanogenic plant which is toxic when consumed without sufficient processing. Cassava is characterized by presence of linamarin a cyanogenic glycoside and when acted upon by an enzyme linamarase is hydrolysed into cyanohydrin which is further hydrolyzed to give hydrogen cyanide (HCN) which is toxic. This study aimed at determination of the levels of cyanide in the sweet cassava variety grown in five different geographical regions of Kenya namel...
ABSTRACT Pica is described as the craving and subsequent consumption of non-food substances including earth, charcoal and uncooked rice. Various hypothesis have been fronted to explain pica among them hunger, micronutrient deficiency and protection. Geophagy, a special type of pica applicable to the deliberate consumption of soil and clay deposits cuts across socio-economic, ethnic, religious and racial divides due to cultural, medicinal, physiological and nutritional factors. In sub-Saharan ...