Antimicrobial properties of hugonia casteneifolia and its potential use for the control of opportunistic infections

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Socioeconomic Factors that Influence Smallholder Farmers’ Membership in a Dairy Cooperative Society in Embu County, Kenya

Smallholder dairy farmers produce the bulk of total marketed milk in Kenya. Dairy cooperatives are one of the avenues for these smallholder farmers to harness markets for their milk. The paper sought to find out the socioeconomic factors that would influence these farmers to join dairy cooperatives in Embu County, Kenya. Systematic random sampling and simple random sampling were used to select a total of 236 smallholder farmers. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and the binomial logit model. The results show that age, gender, household size, herd size, distance to the nearest market, access to credit and milk sold influenced the decision to join cooperative societies. The study recommends further study whether cooperatives are improving the incomes of smallholder farmers. Keywords:Dairy cooperative society, smallholder farmers, Binomial logit mode

Importance of Employee Welfare and Performance: The Case of the UASU at Egerton University, Kenya

Trade unions play a key role in enhancing employee welfare and performance in organizations. In Kenya, the Universities’ Academic Staff Union (UASU) is a trade union for academic staff in all the public universities, with a Chapter in every university and whose objects include ensuring better welfare for its members. Through a cross-sectional survey, this study examined the contribution of the UASU to employee welfare and the extent of its effects on employee performance. The study was undertaken at UASU Egerton University Chapter, Njoro, Kenya. A representative group of 82 respondents was obtained by simple random sampling from a sample frame of the 435 general members of the UASU. The respondents provided information regarding the contribution of the activities of the UASU to employee welfare and their influence on employee performance. Results indicated that the UASU had different but positive impacts on the variables affecting employee welfare and, consequently, employee performance. In descending order of importance, maternity, pension, housing and medical schemes were some of the benefits from the activities of the UASU. However, availability of recreational facilities received least attention from the UASU. The UASU should, therefore, be maintained and strengthened to further improve on quality delivery of products and services in the University by its members. Keywords: Employee welfare; Employee performance; UASU; Egerton University, Keny

Determinants of Market Participation among Small-Scale Pineapple Farmers in Kericho County, Kenya

Pineapple (Ananas comosus) is one of the major cash crops grown in Kericho County, Kenya specifically Bureti district. In the study area, pineapples have been perceived to have high market value, resulting in tradeoffs with staple food. Despite pineapples market value, its market participation has not been studied and quantified. Therefore, this paper aims to determine the factors influencing market participation and its extent. A simple random sampling approach was used to select a sample of 150 small-scale pineapple farmers and primary data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaires. The data was analyzed using the descriptive statistics and Heckman two-stage model. The results showed that age, gender, education level and pineapple yields significantly influenced the decision to participate in pineapple marketing. Further, gender, price information, group marketing, marketing experience, vehicle ownership and marketing under contract significantly influenced the extent of market participation. Based on the findings policy implication was drawn for improving the household income in the study area. Key words: Heckman two-stage model, market participation, small-scale pineapple farmers

Influence of Social Capital on Producer Groups’ Performance and Market Access Amongst Smallholder French beans Farmers in Kirinyaga County, Kenya

Market access is a major constraint facing agricultural commercialization in Kenya. The pressure on arable land and market changes are mainly felt by the smallholder farmers who are faced with high transaction costs. In addition, these farmers face a number of institutional and technical factors putting their market survival at stake. To curb these challenges, formation of farmer groups and organizations has become important in bringing about collective action whose basis is social capital. However, this capital must be mobilized through group membership and other social dimensions to achieve collective action. This paper therefore, sought determine influence of the social capital dimensions, socio-economic and institutional factors on group’s performance. The study was conducted in Mwea sub-county, Kirinyaga County and a multistage sampling method was used to obtain a sample of 174 farmers (95 group members and 79 non-group members) who were interviewed using structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics was utilized in characterizing socio-economic attributes of the smallholder French beans farmers. Tobit model was used to determine influence of the social capital dimensions and institutional factors on group’s performance. The results showed that gender, age, education level, French beans yield, farming experience, transport cost, off-farm income, initial social capital endowment, trust index and meeting attendance significantly influenced the extent of commercialization. The results of this study enhanced a better understanding of social capital dimensions in farmer group performance. Key words: Social capital, commercialization, Tobit model, French bean

Genetic diversity and population structure of Urochloa grass accessions from Tanzania using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers

Urochloa (syn.—Brachiaria s.s.) is one of the most important tropical forages that transformed livestock industries in Australia and South America. Farmers in Africa are increasingly interested in growing Urochloa to support the burgeoning livestock business, but the lack of cultivars adapted to African environments has been a major challenge. Therefore, this study examines genetic diversity of Tanzanian Urochloa accessions to provide essential information for establishing a Urochloa breeding program in Africa. A total of 36 historical Urochloa accessions initially collected from Tanzania in 1985 were analyzed for genetic variation using 24 SSR markers along with six South American commercial cultivars. These markers detected 407 alleles in the 36 Tanzania accessions and 6 commercial cultivars. Markers were highly informative with an average polymorphic information content of 0.79. The analysis of molecular variance revealed high genetic variation within individual accessions in a species (92%), fixation index of 0.05 and gene flow estimate of 4.77 showed a low genetic differentiation and a high level of gene flow among populations. An unweighted neighbor-joining tree grouped the 36 accessions and six commercial cultivars into three main clusters. The clustering of test accessions did not follow geographical origin. Similarly, population structure analysis grouped the 42 tested genotypes into three major gene pools. The results showed the Urochloa brizantha (A. Rich.) Stapf population has the highest genetic diversity (I = 0.94) with high utility in the Urochloa breeding and conservation program. As the Urochloa accessions analyzed in this study represented only 3 of 31 regions of Tanzania, further collection and characterization of materials from wider geographical areas are necessary to comprehend the whole Urochloa diversity in Tanzania

Western Indian Ocean marine and terrestrial records of climate variability: a review and new concepts on land-ocean interactions since AD 1660

We examine the relationship between three tropical and two subtropical western Indian Ocean coral oxygen isotope time series to surface air temperatures (SAT) and rainfall over India, tropical East Africa and southeast Africa. We review established relationships, provide new concepts with regard to distinct rainfall seasons, and mean annual temperatures. Tropical corals are coherent with SAT over western India and East Africa at interannual and multidecadal periodicities. The subtropical corals correlate with Southeast African SAT at periodicities of 16–30 years. The relationship between the coral records and land rainfall is more complex. Running correlations suggest varying strength of interannual teleconnections between the tropical coral oxygen isotope records and rainfall over equatorial East Africa. The relationship with rainfall over India changed in the 1970s. The subtropical oxygen isotope records are coherent with South African rainfall at interdecadal periodicities. Paleoclimatological reconstructions of land rainfall and SAT reveal that the inferred relationships generally hold during the last 350 years. Thus, the Indian Ocean corals prove invaluable for investigating land–ocean interactions during past centuries

Cpd-1 Null Mice Display a Subtle Neurological Phenotype

CPD1 (also known as ANP32-E) belongs to a family of evolutionarily conserved acidic proteins with leucine rich repeats implicated in a variety of cellular processes regulating gene expression, vesicular trafficking, intracellular signaling and apoptosis. Because of its spatiotemporal expression pattern, CPD1 has been proposed to play an important role in brain morphogenesis and synaptic development.We have generated CPD1 knock-out mice that we have subsequently characterized. These mice are viable and fertile. However, they display a subtle neurological clasping phenotype and mild motor deficits.CPD1 is not essential for normal development; however, it appears to play a role in the regulation of fine motor functions. The minimal phenotype suggests compensatory biological mechanisms

Systematic analysis of mitochondrial genes associated with hearing loss in the Japanese population: dHPLC reveals a new candidate mutation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Variants of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have been evaluated for their association with hearing loss. Although ethnic background affects the spectrum of mtDNA variants, systematic mutational analysis of mtDNA in Japanese patients with hearing loss has not been reported.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography combined with direct sequencing and cloning-sequencing, Japanese patients with prelingual (N = 54) or postlingual (N = 80) sensorineural hearing loss not having pathogenic mutations of m.1555A > G and m.3243A > G nor <it>GJB2 </it>were subjected to mutational analysis of mtDNA genes (<it>12S rRNA</it>, <it>tRNA</it>^{<it>Leu(UUR)</it>}, <it>tRNA</it>^{<it>Ser(UCN)</it>}, <it>tRNA</it>^<it>Lys</it>, <it>tRNA</it>^<it>His</it>, <it>tRNA</it>^{<it>Ser(AGY)</it>}, and <it>tRNA</it>^<it>Glu</it>).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We discovered 15 variants in <it>12S rRNA </it>and one homoplasmic m.7501A > G variant in <it>tRNA</it>^{<it>Ser(UCN)</it>}; no variants were detected in the other genes. Two criteria, namely the low frequency in the controls and the high conservation among animals, selected the m.904C > T and the m.1105T > C variants in <it>12S rRNA </it>as candidate pathogenic mutations. Alterations in the secondary structures of the two variant transcripts as well as that of m.7501A > G in <it>tRNA</it>^{<it>Ser(UCN) </it>}were predicted.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The m.904C > T variant was found to be a new candidate mutation associated with hearing loss. The m.1105T > C variant is unlikely to be pathogenic. The pathogenicity of the homoplasmic m.7501T > A variant awaits further study.</p