ABSTRACT Despite numerous health intervention measures available, severe dehydrating rotavirus diarrhea remains a major contributor towards childhood mortality particularly in developing countries. Global rotavirus surveillance is vital towards the development of safe, effective and efficacious vaccines to control the associated high infection rates. In Kenya, however, there is little corroborated data on rotavirus epidemiology, burden of disease and strains in circulation. The objective of t...
ABSTRACT This study investigated the effect of produced water from an oil exploration company in Rivers State on the blood, gills and liver of Juvenile African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus). Seventy Juvenile African Catfish were separated into 7 groups (10 per treatment) and used for the study. The juveniles were exposed to three varying concentrations of fresh and stale produced water (2.5ml/l, 5.0ml/l and 10.0ml/l) for a period of 3weeks. At the end of the test period, haematological, bioch...
ABSTRACT Napier grass (Pennisetum purpuruem), an indigenous tropical African clumping grass, is the major livestock feed used by many farmers in zero-grazing systems in Kenya. However, Napier stunt (Ns) disease caused by a phytoplasma has adversely affected napier production at rates of up to 90% in many smallholder fields. A number of wild grasses growing around napier fields have also been observed to host phytoplasma. This includes Hyparrhenia rufa grass that has been documented to host p...
ABSTRACT Advancement in civilization in developing countries with unmatched capacity to dispose of the vast amounts of wastes generated poises public health concerns and adds strain on diminishing land space in emerging urban centers. A sustainable efficient way of waste management is needful, to which end, enhanced composting through employment of appropriate biopreparations offers environmentally safe strategy. This work sought to improve the management of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) by ass...
ABSTRACT Microbial contamination in laboratories and hospitals is becoming serious problem worldwide and characterization of such contaminants offer hope for treating some hospital and laboratory acquired infections (LAI). Microbial contaminants on benches, floors, media and in equipment can be influenced by temperature, humidity, nutrient media used in the laboratories as well as storage conditions of the media. Therefore there is need to determine the microbial sources, isolate and identify...
ABSTRACT In high Plasmodium transmission regions, malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum is the leading cause of malaria-related morbidity and mortality among children under the age of 5 years. Severe malaria anaemia (SMA) is the most common cause of malaria burden in holoendemic P. falciparum transmission regions such. Although the mechanisms underlying development of SMA are poorly understood, direct and indirect lysis of erythrocytes, suppression of erythropoiesis, erythrophagocytosis, dy...
ABSTRACT Plants appear to be almost an exclusive source of medicine to the worlds’ gradually increasing population with substances derived from them constituting a big percentage of all prescribed conventional medicines and other products. This puts pressure on the demand for medicinal plants, most of which are sourced from the wild. Zanthoxylum gilletii is an African indigenous deciduous tree which is overexploited for its medicinal use among many communities. This species has its habitat ...
ABSTRACT Striga weeds are root parasitic plants that affect production of food in sub-Saharan Africa. Striga genus includes species; Striga hermonthica, S. gesnerioides, S. aspera, S. asiatica and S. forbesii with S. hermonthica being the most widely spread in the semi-arid tropical African zones. The most effective Striga control strategy is to exploit natural resistance. Wild grasses contain a resistance mechanism that enables them to resist Striga infection resulting in low Striga quantity...
ABSTRACT Bacterial infections are responsible for numerous deaths every year worldwide. On average, 80% of the African populations cannot afford conventional drugs. Moreover, many synthetic antibiotics are associated with side effects and progressive increase in antimicrobial resistance. Currently, there is growing interest in discovering new antibacterial agents from medicinal plants. About 60% of the population living in developing countries depends on herbal remedies for healthcare needs. ...
ABSTRACT Enterobacterial constitute a large family of Gram-negative bacteria which reside in the intestines of the animals and can be pathogenic. Penicillins and fluoroquinolones have been used as antibiotics to combat enterobacterial infections. Challenges in treatment of enterobacterial infections with conventional drugs have led the physicians to opt for phyto products and other alternative medicine for treatment of enterobacterial infections. Heavy bacterial load leads to oxidative ...
ABSTRACT Diabetes is increasingly affecting a growing number of patients and seriously reducing their quality of life. Use of conventional drugs in diabetes management is expensive, thus, unaffordable to most patients. Furthermore most of these conventional drugs are associated with undesirable side effects. Incorporation of herbal medicine into conventional healthcare system may significantly improve the overall management of Diabetes. Evaluation of efficacy and safety by scientific method i...
ABSTRACT Warburgia ugandensis Sprague is a highly valued medicinal plant which is over-exploited for its medicinal use among many communities. Encroachment and fragmentation of the species habitat has led to a notable decrease in its population size and distribution to the level that warrant some conservation efforts. Moreover, information on diversity in its antimicrobial activity and phytochemical profiles is lacking. The aim of this study was to evaluate variations in antimicrobial activit...
ABSTRACT Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz), is an energy giving food and has a crucial role in many of the world‟s least developed countries by providing not only food but also economic security. However, its productivity has been hampered by constraints that reduce yields. One of the biotic constraints is cassava anthracnose disease (CAD) caused by pathogen Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, results into more than 30 per cent reduction of produce in the fields. The use of conventional method...
ABSTRACT Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the main staple food for more than half of the world’s population. Improving cooking and eating quality of rice is one of the important objectives of many plant breeding programs. Aroma and cooked kernel elongation are two critical parameters that determine the market value, cooking and eating qualities of rice. The objective of this study was to evaluate the phenotypic and genetic diversity of thirteen (13) Oryza sativa L. populations from Ke...
ABSTRACT Studies on the biosorption potentials of Zea mays cobs and Musa paradisiaca peels in the treatment of waste effluent from paint industry, was carried out. Standard laboratory procedures using 400 ml of the effluent were adopted to assess the values of Pb, Fe, Cland PO4, BOD and TDS at pH 6.7 and pH 10.0 before and after treatment of the effluent with 1g and 3g of pulverized corn cobs and plantain peels. Standard procedures were adopted for the phytochemical screening of the biosorbe...