ABSTRACT For over 18 years, there has been an increased use of genetically modified foods for both human and livestock and for this reason, there has been a large number of scientific feeding studies carried out to try to find out how safe the GM foods are. The evidence, however, is still far from proving whether long-term consumption of genetically modified foods possess negative effects for human or animal health. This present study was carried out to analyze the safety of Bacillus thurien...
Availability of quality water supply is essential for a healthy nation and development. Water resources in Kenya are threatened by overuse, misuse and pollution as a result of destruction of vegetation in the watersheds. It is recognized that water quality and quantity factors are strongly influenced by forests. Degradation of water resource therefore causes large chemical consignments for water treatment. This study analysed the performance of four vegetation types in south Kinangop for...
The greatest portion of radiation received by world‟s population comes from natural radioactive sources. Everyone on earth receives natural radiation; some get much more than others depending on where they live. Primordial radionuclide in building sand and gravels from quarries are some of the sources of radiation hazards common in dwellings and working places. In this study, activity concentrations of naturally occurring radionuclide in mineral sand used for construction collected in ...
Typhoid fever is a waterborne and foodborne disease caused by Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi (S. Typhi). Studies have established that some patients presenting with typhoid-like symptoms are usually inflicted by other bacteria pathogens, which may or may not be transmitted by fecal oral route. It is common belief that typhoid fever cases are high in Alupe and continue to cause significant morbidity among the people of Alupe, Busia County. The study focused on isolation and character...
ABSTRACT Infectious diseases account for approximately one-half of all deaths in tropical countries. In industrialized nations, despite the progress made in understanding of microbiology and their pathogenic control, incidences of epidemics due to drug resistant micro-organisms and the emergence of hitherto unknown disease causing microbes, pose enormous public health concerns. Thus, there is need to continue the search for appropriate drugs for anti-microbial treatment without much drawback...
ABSTRACT Avocado (Persea americana Mill) is a fruit commercially grown worldwide. Its production is affected by anthracnose disease which causes huge loss of avocado fruits both at farm level and in storage. Management of anthracnose disease worldwide has been mainly through use of fungicides. In Kenya, farmers use fungicides such as bayleton, milraz and Copper oxychloride which are not registered for controlling anthracnose in avocado. Despite this, the disease has continued to cause signif...
ABSTRACT Lead and cadmium which are heavy metals may be used as paint pigments as they speed drying, increase durability, retain a fresh appearance and resist moisture that causes corrosion. Both lead and cadmium metals are toxic, poisonous and are carcinogen, lower IQ, cause hyper activity among other effect. Their presence in decorative paints can produce toxic effect to both painters and those who live in painted houses or painted product especially children who use painted toys can be i...
In Cameroon, common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is amongst the legumes which are greatly consumed. Farmers in Cameroon especially the Menoua Division grow different common bean cultivars which after harvest, are stored to be used as food over the storage period or for sale. Storage of agricultural products become prone to fungal infection over time. Studies on the microbiology of stored common bean has identified fungi as a major contaminant. However it is possible that the incidence an...
ABSTRACT Vacuum evaporation is one of the mostly commonly used method for depositing thin films of metals, semiconductors or dielectrics on various substrates. Either molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), electron-beam (e-beam) or resistance heating is employed for heating the evaporant source material in vacuum. Resistive evaporation is the oldest method of depositing thin films in magnetron sputtering systems. As a problem common to deposition of films using resistive evaporation, the source mater...
Globally, there is a high demand for clean, sustainable and renewable energy for domestic and industrial use. Current photovoltaic cell technology relies heavily on crystalline silicon wafers. Silicon based solar cell are expensive because of their initial cost of production and they require complex deposition method. Due to these challenges, great research interest is now directed towards thin-film solar cells. In this research, chemical bath deposition (CBD) method is preferred because...
Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) is recognized as the leading bacterial pathogen in children hospitalized for acute diarrheal illness reflecting a significant cost in health resources. However, asymptomatic carriage of EAEC is also high making it difficult to distinguish the pathogenic and the non-pathogenic strains of EAEC. Establishing a marker which corresponds with diarrheal illness would be of significant value in routine detection of pathogenic EAEC and its differentiation...
Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is the third most valuable food crop in Kenya and the main source of proteins to smallholder farmers. However, its production is constrained by insufficient nitrogen (N) in the soil exacerbated by acidic soil conditions and phosphorus (P) fixation. Majority of smallholder farmers are resource limited hence apply negligible amount of inorganic fertilizers. Therefore, enhancing biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) by bean germplasms grown by smallholder fa...
Genetic modification has come a long way since its inception with the first genetically engineered human insulin in 1982 and the first genetically modified tomato in 1994. The use of genetic engineering to modify crops has been a controversial issue which has raised scientific, environmental, economic, social and ethical/moral as well as religious concerns. In Kenya, the debate has been conducted with little involvement of key stakeholders, in particular farmers and consumers. Thorough e...
Natural activities like volcanic eruptions and anthropogenic activities such as excavation of rocks for buildings and road constructions expose originally concealed radioactive elements in the rocks within the earth crust. Poor agricultural practices such as excessive use of fertilizers lead to accumulation of radioactive elements in the environment. Transport agents like run-off water and rivers accumulate these radionuclides in lakes and other water bodies. Lake Nakuru is situated clo...
Drought adversely affects crop production worldwide leading to approximately 70% of yield reduction. Significant yield loss is common among the major cereals such as maize, wheat and barley due to frequent and severe drought as a result of climate change. Therefore, there is a great need for drought tolerant or escaping crops that still yield amidst erratic climatic manifestation. Sweetpotato is capable of producing high yield in a short period of time making it suitable for cultivation ...