Abstract: Anopheles mosquitoes are colonized by diverse microorganisms that may influence hosts‟ biology and vectorial capacity. Resident Anopheles bacterial symbionts isolated from these hosts are known to influence traits such as generational fitness, survival, host seeking,and infectivity of pathogens such asPlasmodium falciparum.Eukaryotic symbionts such as fungi residing in the gut of Anopheles gambiaecould confer similar phenotypes, but are undexplored. It was hypothesized that fungi...
Abstract: Industrial rearing of insects, especially the black soldier fly, is gaining momentum in recent years because of the increase in food and feed insecurity, high prices of animal feeds and animal proteins, and population growth. This in turn has led to increased global demand for alternative sources of protein apart from traditional livestock products. This study focused on evaluating the gut microbial community dynamics of both the layer and broiler chickens that have been fed on BSF...
Abstract: Arthropod borne viruses (arboviruses) are transmitted by blood sucking arthropods. Disease outbreaks caused by arboviruses are sporadic and unpredictable. Arboviral disease outbreaks in Kenya have confirmed the presence of a number of arboviral diseases within the human and animal populace. Currently, there are no approved or specific therapies for arboviral infections; treatment is limited to palliative care. Early detection and vector control are important strategies in control o...
Abstract: Maize lethal necrosis (MLN) disease caused by a dual infection of maize with Maize chlorotic mottle virus (MCMV) and any cereal potyvirus such as Sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV), Maize dwarf mosaic virus (MDMV) or Wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV) was first reported in Kenya in 2011 in Bomet County. This study was aimed at determining the presence and genetic variability of MCMV and SCMV in cereal crops,wild and domesticated grasses and the spatial distribution of alternative hosts in...
Abstract: Reliable molecular identification of vertebrate species from morphologically unidentifiable tissue is critical to the prosecution of illegally traded wildlife products to limit their trade, as well us for surveillance to inform conservation policies and identification of blood-meal hosts. Currently, this is mainly dependent on sequencing of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) ‘barcode’ genes, which remains costly for purposes of screening large numbers of unknown samples a...
Abstract: Rule-based classifiers have one major advantage over other classes of supervised learning algorithms: interpretability. They provide a means to read into a model and find how the features co-act in order to come to a classification outcome. This in turn enables the researcher to visualize the feature interactions and evaluate the key features that discern between different decision classes. The rules generated from these algorithms, however, can be very many and their analysis is n...
Abstract: Background Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis is an emerging tool in ecological monitoring of aquatic habitats. When applied correctly, it can overcome the limitations of traditional aquatic sampling methods. This current study develops and validates a protocol for using eDNA analysis to detect and quantify mosquito larvae in laboratory and controlled field setting. Methods Species-specific PCR primers were designed from An. gambiae s.l and An. funestus, and qPCR primers for An. gam...
The genus Capsicum ( sweet and hot pepper) is an incredible intra and inter-specific diversity in fruit type, color, shape, taste and biochemical content. Molecular biology techniques based on DNA analysis are being adopted in the modern study of plant breeding. The aim of this study was to assess the applicability of SSR techniques in transferability assessment and diversity of placental length and type in genus Capsicum . This study analyzed 19 accessions of Capsicum species obtained from d...
ABSTRACT Ixodid ticks respond to a limited spectrum of stimuli in their search for hospitable environments, hosts and mates hence change in their behavior. This responsiveness is mediated by pheromones which are signaled by biochemical changes that occur during different stages of feeding. Genes induced during blood feeding result in the expression of new proteins secreted into tick foveal gland. Some of these proteins may be involved in the biosynthesis of these pheromones. Assembly behavior...
ABSTRACT Experiences of early antiretroviral treatment failures are increasingly linked to escalating pretherapy HIV resistance mutations. Regular update of epidemic status and impact of pretherapy resistance are needed in resource limited countries, including Kenya. Since pretherapy resistance survey has not been conducted and factors associated remain unknown in the high-HIV prevalence western Kenya region, this study aimed to establish the prevalence of pretherapy antiretroviral resistance...
ABSTRACT Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) are a serious problem globally and are some of the most common diseases encountered in medical practice today. Despite the widespread availability of antibiotics, UTIs remain a problem because of antimicrobial resistance. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing therefore provides information that allows physicians to select the most appropriate antibiotics for UTIs. This study was carried out to: (i) determine the prevalence of UTIs among patients present...
ABSTRACT The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is used extensively in many important industrial applications that often expose these organisms to a range of stresses. Consequently, a considerable amount research has focused on understanding the nature of stress response in yeast and the development of more stress resistant yeast. The stress protein Hsp12 has since garnered interest, as it is upregulated in response to a wide variety of environmental stresses. Using an Hsp12-GFP construct, we con...
ABSTRACT Though the promotion of resistant bacteria worldwide has mainly been attributed to the injudicious use of many antibiotics, the role of non-antimicrobial drugs used in the clinical management of pathological conditions of non-infectious diseases in the modulation of microbial drug resistance or susceptibility needs to be assessed. The effects of the antibioticnon- antibiotic drug-drug interactions against bacteria in SCD patients and in other chronic diseases cannot be overemphasized...
ABSTRACT Recent discovery of cutaneous H. ducreyi has complicated the epidemiology of Yaws in endemic countries. Yaws and H. ducreyi ulcers are clinically indistinguishable from each other and some other causes of skin ulcerations. The aim of the study was to isolate and characterize H. ducreyi strains from lesions of children in yaws-endemic areas. Symptomatic patients were first screened with Dual Path Platform (DPP-RDT) Syphilis Screen & Confirm test kit (Chembio, Medford, New York) for ya...
ABSTRACT Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) is an arbovirus which belongs to the Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever serogroup. It belongs to the viral family, Nairoviridae and genus, Orthonairovirus. Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever serogroup and Nairobi sheep disease serogroup both fall under this genus. Viruses from these two serogroups are pathogenic to humans and animals respectively, and therefore have a significant economic impact. Tick species of three genera are known to tra...