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

No Abstrac

Awareness and Practice on Biomedical Waste Management among Health Care Personnel in Kenyatta National Hospital

Background: The proper handling and disposal of Bio-medical waste  (BMW) is very imperative. There are well defined set rules for handling BMW worldwide. Unfortunately, laxity and lack of adequate training and awareness in execution of these rules leads to staid health and environment apprehension.Objective: To assess the awareness and practice regarding biomedical waste management among health care personnel in Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH)Design: A cross sectional study design.Setting: Kenyatta National HospitalSubjects: Doctors, Nurses and support staff who have worked in the institution for more than six months and consented were evaluated.Results: The total level of awareness on biomedical waste management among health care personnel was found to be 60%. The doctors scored 51% which was the lowest score the nurses scored 65% which was the highest score while the support staff scored 55%. As for the practices, the results showed that most of the healthcare personnel were aware of the biomedical waste management practices in the hospital with the lowestscores emerging from doctors and this shows no association between knowledge on biomedical waste management and education. When asked how they would describe the control of waste management in the institution 59% said good and 40% said fair while 1% said poor.Conclusion: The present study therefore outlines the gap between  biomedical waste management rules and inadequate state of execution and awareness in practice. It is recommended that enhancement be done to the already existing Hospital Infection Control Committee to supervise all the aspects of biomedical waste management. Periodical training programmes for biomedical waste handling and disposal to the staff with focus on doctors is highlighted

Phytochemical analysis and antimicrobial activity of Phytolacca dodecandra, Cucumis aculeatus and Erythrina excelsa

Three medicinal plants, Erythrina excelsa, Phytolacca dodecandra and Cucumis aculeatus, collected from Siaya and Migori District in Kenya, were screened for the presence of phytochemicals. These plants have diverse compounds including phenolics, terpenoids, anthraquinones, alkaloids and flavonoids, whereby the terpenoids were the most abundant. The antimicrobial activity of the hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, methanol and water extracts from the stem barks, root barks and the leaves of selected medicinal plants were assayed against eight microorganisms. In comparison with the standard antibiotics (chloramphenicol), the dichloromethane extract presented a high activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 and a moderate activity on Salmonella typhi (Clinical isolate). The methanol extract presented significant activity against clinical fungal isolates, Microsporum gypseum and Trychophyton mentagrophytes. The hexane and ethyl acetate extract of Cucumis aculeatus leaves were active against P. aeruginosa ATCC 27853, whereas the dichloromethane extract of Erythrina excelsa had antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923. Hexane, dichloromethane and water extracts of Erythrina excelsa also showed activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853. These investigations shows that various extracts obtained from Erythrina excelsa, Phytolacca dodecandra and Cucumis aculeatus could be used in vitro to inhibit the growth of some important bacteria and fungi. The above results justify the reason why these medicinal plants have been and are being used to treat the fungal and bacterial infections by the Luo community.Keywords: Phytochemicals, Erythrina excelsa, Phytolacca dodecandra, Cucumis aculeatus, antimicrobial propertie

Factors associated with infant feeding practices and nutritional status among children aged 6-24 months attending child welfare clinics in Kajiado Sub-County

Objective: To determine knowledge and practices on infant feeding, socio-demographic factors that influence choice of infant feeding method and nutritional status of children aged 6 to 24 months attending Mother Child Health Clinics (MCH) in Kajiado North Sub-county.Design: A hospital based cross-sectional study.Setting: Three public health facilities: Ngong sub-district hospital, Ongata Rongai and Olo-sirkon health centres in Kajiado North Sub-county.Subjects: Three hundred and fifty mother-child pairs as participants.Results: All mothers were of reproductive age, mean age was 25 years (95%= 25+-5.03) and 92.6% were married. A high proportion of mothers 94.3% and of their spouses 88.9% had attended formal education at varying levels. Out of the 350 children in the study, 56.3% were males while 43.7% were females, 84.5% of all children being one year and below. Majority of mothers 68.6% had knowledge on infant feeding practices, mainly obtaining information from health workers. Only 38.8% of mothers had complete correct information on both breast and complementary feeding. All children were breastfed at one point in their life, 55.1%, immediately after birth, not all children were exclusively breastfed for the first six months or for a total of two years as recommended. Main reasons for early termination of breastfeeding were, voluntary refusal by the child to breastfeed or feeding on complementary food. Stunting level among the children was 26.5%, underweight level was 11.1% and no child was wasted. There was a significant association between marital status, children age group and stunting using ordinal regression.Conclusion: The study showed a knowledge gap on infant complementary feeding in area of quality and quantity of food. There is need for further interventions and more education regarding infant feding practices

Factors associated with non adherence to regulations on sale of alcohol by alcohol outlets operators in Thika Municipality, Kiambu County

Objective: To determine factors associated with non-adherence of existing alcohol regulations and policies on alcohol sale in Thika municipality Kiambu County.Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study.Setting: Thika Municipality, Kiambu County, KenyaSubjects: Eighty nine (89) participants were enrolled in the study. Ten (10) Key Informant Interviews were conducted among the security personnel, health officers, managers and supervisors.Results: Out of the 89 outlet operators enrolled in the study, (70.8%) among therespondents were not aware of the alcohol control act. Association between marital status and non adherence of the act was significant (p=0.003). There was low knowledge of 5.6%, who were aware of when the alcohol act was implemented, majority who totaled to 70.8% were not aware on when the alcohol control policy came into existence. Majority of the respondent 62.9% reported not to adhere to the alcohol control act of 2010; also the study showed that 57.3% of the responded were not aware of measures to control illicit brew. From the In-depth interviews most of the respondents interviewed confirmed that many of the operators were not aware of the act and it was difficult to implement thus subjecting the consumers into alcohol abuse. They also confirmed that with lack of employment, many women engaged into the alcohol operations which also contributed to the breakdown of their families given the mode of operations.Conclusion: This study concludes that there is failure in enforcement and adherence of the 2010 alcohol regulations. The study recommends the review of the alcohol control act of 2010 to ensure tough measures and penalties are adapted to anyone who fails to adhere to the act. Also there is need for awareness to be initiated to ensure members are informed and adhere to the policy. Setting up of an independent unit that will be mandated to enforcement and adherence of the 2010 alcoholic act

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

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

Characterization of the chicken inward rectifier K(+ )channel IRK1/Kir2.1 gene

BACKGROUND: Inward rectifier potassium channels (IRK) contribute to the normal function of skeletal and cardiac muscle cells. The chick inward rectifier K(+ )channel cIRK1/Kir2.1 is expressed in skeletal muscle, heart, brain, but not in liver; a distribution similar but not identical to that of mouse Kir2.1. We set out to explore regulatory domains of the cIRK1 promoter that enhance or inhibit expression of the gene in different cell types. RESULTS: We cloned and characterized the 5'-flanking region of cIRK1. cIRK1 contains two exons with splice sites in the 5'-untranslated region, a structure similar to mouse and human orthologs. cIRK1 has multiple transcription initiation sites, a feature also seen in mouse. However, while the chicken and mouse promoter regions share many regulatory motifs, cIRK1 possesses a GC-richer promoter and a putative TATA box, which appears to positively regulate gene expression. We report here the identification of several candidate cell/tissue specific cIRK1 regulatory domains by comparing promoter activities in expressing (Qm7) and non-expressing (DF1) cells using in vitro transcription assays. CONCLUSION: While multiple transcription initiation sites and the combinatorial function of several domains in activating cIRK1 expression are similar to those seen in mKir2.1, the cIRK1 promoter differs by the presence of a putative TATA box. In addition, several domains that regulate the gene's expression differentially in muscle (Qm7) and fibroblast cells (DF1) were identified. These results provide fundamental data to analyze cIRK1 transcriptional mechanisms. The control elements identified here may provide clues to the tissue-specific expression of this K(+ )channel