ABSTRACT The contamination of water by toxic heavy metals is a worldwide environmental problem. Global environmental changes have dramatically increased the environmental “load” of heavy metals. Therefore, there is need to find an economical method to remove pollutants from water. Onion skins are known to contain flavonoids which are polyphenolic. Quercetin is an example of flavonols, which is mainly in onions. Therefore, onion skins can bind metal ions enabling adsorption. This study eva...
ABSTRACT Provision of clean and safe drinking water to low income earners living in remote and dry regions remains a major challenge in many developing countries. Exploring simple ways of developing cheap adsorbent materials from resources that can be easily found in dry and semi-arid regions for use in water purification at household level is crucial. Cactus is an excellent compromise as it is not only known to naturally and readily grow in very dry regions but its mucilage is associated wit...
ABSTRACT Clays are aluminosilicate minerals which are widely spread in the earth’s crust. They also naturally contain iron because of its high relative abundance of about 6.5% .They have many applications such as, use in manufacture of Portland Cement, ceramic products such as bricks, roofing tiles and high quality ceramic products as crockery. For the manufacture of high quality ceramic products, the level of iron in the clays should not exceed 1%. This study was done on clays of Kano plai...
ABSTRACT The global malaria situation is being exacerbated by emergence of drug resistance to conventional antimalarials, necessitating search for novel drugs. A recent rational approach of antimalarial drug design characterized as „„covalent bitherapy‟‟ involves linking two molecules with individual intrinsic activity into a single agent, thus packaging dual-activity into a single hybrid molecule. This study proposed to synthesize a dual drug based on quinoline and trioxane pharmacop...
ABSTRACT From the early 1980s, scientists continue to debate on HIV as the cause of AIDS with few arguing that AIDS is caused by chemicals, drugs and malnutrition. A nutrition intervention study in Kenya using VIUSIDTM, a recommended daily allowance compliant formulation with respect to ascorbic acid, pyridoxal, folic acid and zinc sulphate, was ineffective in restoring serum zinc levels and immunity of HIV and AIDS subjects in 12 weeks. The purpose of this study was to determine serum micro-...
ABSTRACT From the early 1980s, scientists continue to debate on HIV as the cause of AIDS with few arguing that AIDS is caused by chemicals, drugs and malnutrition. A nutrition intervention study in Kenya using VIUSIDTM, a recommended daily allowance compliant formulation with respect to ascorbic acid, pyridoxal, folic acid and zinc sulphate, was ineffective in restoring serum zinc levels and immunity of HIV and AIDS subjects in 12 weeks. The purpose of this study was to determine serum micro-...
ABSTRACT Increasing population in Kenya has resulted into scarcity of land for farming. As a result, many people are opting to do farming even in the small land spaces available along the highways. However, heavy metal pollution along the highways is an issue of concern despite the fact that leaded fuel is no longer in use in Kenya because this exposes man and animals to heavy metals. The increase in transportation services is becoming a major source of heavy metals pollution particularly alo...
ABSTRACT A study on possibility of concentrating iron in laterite (murram) has been carried out. This was done using froth floatation where oleic acid was used as collector and cresylic acid as frother. Magnetic separation was also used. The study has shown that the level of iron in the original sample could be increased from 33% to 55%. Mineral content was determined using X-Ray diffraction which identified iron mineral present as goethite. Chemical analysis was also carried out on raw and c...
ABSTRACT Bacteria, as common microorganisms found in air, food, water and soil remain a major problem in developing countries where disease outbreaks frequently occur in congested areas. Antibiotics are used to treat common bacterial diseases such as respiratory, ear, gastrointestinal and skin infections but bacteria develop resistance to most of the drugs. The drugs also have serious side effects and the cost of medication is high. Plants are traditionally used for treatment of bacterial inf...
ABSTRACT The use of raw maize cob (rmc) and activated maize cob (amc) as a low-cost natural adsorbent for the removal of Pb2+ and Cu2+ ions from simulated waste water was studied. Batch experiments were conducted to determine the effects of varying contact time, initial metal ion concentration, adsorbent dosage, pH and temperature of adsorption on adsorption equilibrium quantity (qe ) and percentage removal (% R). % R increased with increasing adsorbent dosage for the two metal ions. It also...
ABSTRACT The prevalence of vitamins A and C deficiencies (VAD and VCD) in Kenya are 84 % and 45 % respectively, pointing towards health hazards among human beings. The deficiencies are mainly attributed to poverty and limited accessibility to expensive but rich food sources that contain vitamins A and C. Fruits and vegetables are however cheaper and easily available as sources of vitamins A and C. These are grown in various soils and are consumed at various stages of maturity thus being facto...
ABSTRACT The maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais (Motchulsky), the lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominica (Fabricius), and the Angoumois grain moth, Sitotroga cerealella (Oliver), are serious pests of stored grain in Kenya. The control of these insect pests relies heavily on the use of synthetic insecticides by better off farmers; but there is an increasing cost of application and erratic supply in developing countries. In addition, small-scale farmers cannot afford these commercial products a...
ABSTRACT 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 polym...
ABSTRACT Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are the most studied metal nanoparticles due to their ever growing range of applications in areas such as chemical sensing, nanomedicine and electronics which has led to their increased demand. The AgNPs synthesis involves the use of hazardous reagents and toxic solvents. There is need to develop methods AgNPs that use environmentally benign reagents and solvents. This research work reports a green method where AgNPs were synthesized using silver nitrate...
ABSTRACT Computational and theoretical advances have progressed sufficiently so that it is now possible to calculate reaction rates directly from ab initio theory without the intervening use of any analytical method. The rate constants of chemical reactions are calculated using information about the structures, energies, and Vibrational frequencies of reactants and transition states. Computer algorithms help in determining the structures of the molecules and in understanding how molecules re...