IMPROVEMENT OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN PUBLIC TECHNICAL SECONDARY SCHOOLS (ECOLE TECHNIQUE OFFICIEL - ETOS) IN RWANDA

This paper presents a brief review of the state of technical education in Rwanda based on a study conducted in 2007, with pertinent recommendations. The background of technical education in the country is appreciated first, and then followed up with a situational analysis. Thereafter, a 5-year implementation project plan proposal, to address the identified shortcomings, needs, and expectations of government is advanced. The need to raise access to post tronc commun (post O-Level) technical training is addressed within this proposal with a specific interest to increase the capacity and range of programmes running in the existing ETOs, and the introduction of new ETOs where deemed necessary. The establishment and sustenance of a good quality technical education system is also given consideration in this proposal for effective and efficient rehabilitation of existing physical facilities and the purchase of new and appropriate training equipment. Simultaneously, considerations for increasing the number of technical teachers in the system to a determined optimum level while setting minimum acceptable qualifications for technical teachers are advanced. Implementation of this proposal is expected to contribute greatly to the continuous development of a labour pool with skills that are relevant to and adequate for the needs of the economy

Exploring the experiences of clients receiving opioid use disorder treatment at a methadone clinic in Kenya: a qualitative study

Background: Assessing the experiences of individuals on methadone treatment is essential to help evaluate the treatment program’s efectiveness. This study aimed to explore the experiences of patients receiving methadone treatment at a clinic in Nairobi, Kenya. Method: This study employed an exploratory qualitative study design. Through purposive sampling, participants were enrolled from individuals attending a methadone clinic for at least 2 years. Semi-structured individual interviews were used to collect data on substance use and experience before methadone treatment and experiences after starting methadone treatment, including benefts and challenges. Interviews were transcribed, and NVIVO 12 software was used to code the data using the preidentifed analytical framework. Thematic analyses were utilized to identify cross-cutting themes between these two data sets. Seventeen participants were enrolled. Results: Seventeen participants were enrolled comprising 70% males, with age range from 23 to 49 years and more than half had secondary education. The interview data analysis identifed four themes, namely: (a) the impact of opioid use before starting treatment which included adverse efects on health, legal problems and family dysfunction; (b) learning about methadone treatment whereby the majority were referred from community linkage programs, family and friends; (c) experiences with care at the methadone treatment clinic which included benefts such as improved health, family reintegration and stigma reduction; and (d) barriers to optimal methadone treatment such as fnancial constraints. Conclusion: The fndings of this study show that clients started methadone treatment due to the devastating impact of opioid use disorder on their lives. Methadone treatment allowed them to regain their lives from the adverse efects of opioid use disorder. Additionally, challenges such as fnancial constraints while accessing treatment were reported. These fndings can help inform policies to improve the impact of methadone treatment

The origin, genetics and dispersal of drug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum in Kenya

Three sets of molecular markes were used to investigate the population genetics of three populations of Plasmodium falciparum from Kenya; Mwea (low transmission), Tiwi (moderate transmission) and Bondo (high transmission). One set of markers codes for polymorphic antigens while the other two are microsatellite markers; one set located in non coding regions of the genome while the other set is located in the regions flanking two genes whose products are targets of the antimalarial drug sulphadoxine/pyrimethamine (SP). A comparison of the effectiveness of antigen-coding and the unlinked microsatellite loci in differentiating recrudescence from reinfection revealed that both sets of markers are equally effective. The microsatellite loci however, revealed more alleles per population than the antigen-coding loci possibly due to their different mutation rates. An analysis of the three populations using the neutral microsatellite loci revealed high levels of diversity, lack of linkage disequilibrium and virtually no population substructuring (FST<0.008) in the Kenyan P. falciparum populations even with the geographical areas being as much as 800 km apart. This indicates a lot of gene flow among these populations a factor that can only be explained by movement of people between the areas studied. An analysis of the same samples from the three areas at the dihydrofolate reductase (dhfr) and dihydropteroate synthase (dhps) gene loci that code for targets of the antimalarial drug SP revealed high prevalence of the multiply substituted alleles associated with SP resistance in the three regions. An analysis of ~17 kb regions flanking both sides dhfr reveal a strong selective sweep of the 108N/51I/59R triple mutation alleles associated with pyrimethamine resistance. The work presented also demonstrates that alleles of the dhfr gene, especially the triple mutant allele, isolated from the three different areas are closely related to one another and probably share a common and very recent ancestor. Most notable is the finding that dhfr triple mutants seem to be imported into the country through immigration from elsewhere. An equivalent region flanking the dhps gene also revealed a strong selective sweep of the 437G/540E double mutation allele associated with sulphadoxine resistance in two of the three sites. However, double mutation dhps alleles from Mwea revealed no selection at all. While the three populations reveal no geographic substructuring using the results of the unlinked microsatellite loci, they seem to be highly structured in their drug resistance patterns. While it would be expected that these populations would have the same prevalence of drug resistance mutations (due to the apparent panmixia), the Mwea population appears quite different in regard to selection for drug resistance-associted alleles. This is possibly due to the diet, other drug interactions or the hosts' genetics in this area. A simplistic model on the rate of spread of drug resistance in the three populations reveals that the selection for drug resistance alleles is faster in the lower transmission area of Mwea (selection coefficient, s = 0.26) and slowest in Bondo (s = 0.10) indicating selection for drug resistant alleles is favoured by low transmission. These observations have implications for malaria drug resistance surveillance programs due to the fact that if treatment failure spreads faster in low transmission areas where almost all the population has low immunity, malaria epidemics are bound to occur resulting in huge morbidity and mortality

Phytochemical and antimicrobial studies on Rhus natalensis

Magister Scientiae - MScExtracts from the root bark, stem bark, and leaves of R. natalensis were screened for antibacterial activity against standard bacterial strains; Staphylococcus aureas, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aureginosa, and fungi; Candida albicans, Trichophyton mentagrophytes or Microsporum gyseum. Chromatographic techniques were utilized to isolate pure compounds. This study validates and documents, in a systematic way, the antimicrobial properties of the R. natalensis used for many years by many people of the world. It also provides valuable information for further phytochemical isolation and characterization studies of active compounds, necessary for the development of new drugs. The extractions were carried out using broad spectrum of solvents (hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, and methanol). Fractionation was done using standard chromatographic techniques. A total of seven (7) compounds were isolated from R. natalensis. Three of the isolates were characterized and their structures were unambiguously established by detailed spectroscopic analysis that involved high resolution mass spectrometry, 1D and 2D-NMR spectral data experiments 1H, 13C, DEPT, COSY, HMBC, and NOESY. These compounds are: 3-(1-(2,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-3,3-bis(4- hydroxyphenyl)-1-oxopropan-2-yl)-7-methoxy- 4H-chromone-4-one (39), Rhuschromone, a novel compound isolated for the first time, 2’,4’-dihydroxychalcone-(4-O-5’’’)-4’’,2’’’,4’’’- trihydroxychalcone (40) and 3-((Z)-heptadec-13-enyl) benzene- 1,2-diol (41), an urushiol. Compound 39 recorded the highest activity zone of inhibition (21mm) against S. aureas, which was found to be 50% as active the chloramphenicol standard used. The traditional use of the extracts in infections and inflammatory conditions is rationalized based on the content of theisolated compounds, and it has been proposed that the total crude extract, with its contents of so many bioactive compounds, could be formulated for use in many infections, microbial or fungal. Furthermore, not all of the species studied to date have been fully characterized for potential bioactivities. Thus, there remains a significant research gap spanning the range from lead chemical discovery through process development and optimization in order to better understand the full bioactive potential of many of these plants.South Afric

Structural investigation of the natural products composition of selected South African seaweeds.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDRecently, a great deal of interest has developed towards the isolation of bioactive compounds from marine sources due to their numerous health benefits. Furthermore, marine algae are valuable sources of structurally diverse metabolites with scientifically proven therapeutic claims. The cell walls are rich in sulfated polysaccharides such as fucoidans in brown algae, carrageenans in red algae and ulvans in green algae. These sulfated polysaccharides exhibit many beneficial biological activities such as anticoagulant, antiviral, antioxidative, anticancer and immunomodulating activities. They have great potential for further development as products in cosmeceutical, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical areas. Although the mechanism of action is still not clear, their biological activities could be mainly attributed to their major secondary metabolites namely; phlorotannins, terpenoids and fucoidans. There was use of comprehensive chromatographic separations and a full analysis of isolates using one or other of the spectroscopic techniques. Antioxidant and cytotoxicity tests were perfomed in details for Ecklonia maxima. Furthermore, structural and electronic features of the phlorotannins were compared in an attempt to provide an explanation for the differences in their radical scavenging properties. In this regard, two main radical scavenging mechanisms, hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) and electron transfer (ET), were assessed in order to determine the preferred mode of radical scavenging. Fully relaxed geometry optimizations of the neutral and the radical species were performed utilizing DFT/B3LYP and DFT/UB3LYP methods respectively. In further studies, the structural and functional properties of sulfated polysaccharides from the three brown and one red seaweeds were investigated. This was through detailed analysis of chemical composition of crude and purified polysaccharides using PMP - derivatization of hydrolysed sugars, anion exchange, molecular weight determination, ion chromatography , FT-IR, NMR to methylation analysis. The work reports isolation and characterization of compounds from four algae: Ecklonia maxima, phlorotannin derivatives, namely phloroglucinol (22), eckol (23), 7-phloroeckol (24), 2-phloroeckol (25) and a sterol, 24-ethylidine cholesterol (26); Splachinidium rugosum, 24-ethylidine cholesterol ( 26), 1, 3-Dicapryloyl-2-oleoylglycerol (27), E-3,7,11,15-tetramethylhexa dec-2-en-1-ol (phytol) (2 8); Macrocystis angustifolia, 24-ethylidine cholesterol (26); a red seaweed Aeodes orbitosa, and E -3, 7, 11, 15-tetramethylhexad ec-2-en-1-ol (28) and 17-(5-Ethyl-6-methylheptan-2-yl)-10,13-dimethyl-2,3,4,7, 8,9,11,12,14,15,16,17-dodecahydro-1 H-cyclopenta[a]phenanthren-3-ol (β-sitosterol) (29). Experimental findings and theoretical predictions of phlorotannins indicated that the radical scavenging activities followed the order 22< 23 < 25 < 24. Theoretical studies further indicated the ET mechanism is more significant than the HAT mechanism due to the high BDE values. Their polysaccharide structures were tentatively shown to have a backbone of (1-3) and (1-4) linkages with sulfate groups at O-2 and O-2, 3 positions. The only red algae studied contained, 2-O-methyl-D-galactose with (1-3) and (1-4)-glycosidic linkages possessing sulfate groups at positions 2 and 6

Phytochemical and antimicrobial studies on Rhus natalensis

>Magister Scientiae - MScExtracts from the root bark, stem bark, and leaves of R. natalensis were screened for antibacterial activity against standard bacterial strains; Staphylococcus aureas, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aureginosa, and fungi; Candida albicans, Trichophyton mentagrophytes or Microsporum gyseum. Chromatographic techniques were utilized to isolate pure compounds. This study validates and documents, in a systematic way, the antimicrobial properties of the R.natalensis used for many years by many people of the world. It also provides valuable information for further phytochemical isolation and characterization studies of active compounds, necessary for the development of new drugs. The extractions were carried out using broad spectrum of solvents (hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, and methanol).Fractionation was done using standard chromatographic techniques. A total of seven (7)compounds were isolated from R. natalensis. Three of the isolates were characterized and their structures were unambiguously established by detailed spectroscopic analysis that involved high resolution mass spectrometry, 1D and 2D-NMR spectral data experiments 1H, 13C, DEPT,COSY, HMBC, and NOESY. These compounds are: 3-(1-(2,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-3,3-bis(4- hydroxyphenyl)-1-oxopropan-2-yl)-7-methoxy-4H-chromone-4-one (39), Rhuschromone, a novel compound isolated for the first time, 2’,4’ dihydroxychalcone-(4-O-5’’’)-4’’,2’’’,4’’’-trihydroxychalcone (40) and 3-((Z)-heptadec-13-enyl) benzene-1,2-diol (41), an urushiol.Compound 39 recorded the highest activity zone of inhibition (21mm) against S. aureas, which was found to be 50% as active the chloramphenicol standard used. The traditional use of the extracts in infections and inflammatory conditions is rationalized based on the content of the isolated compounds, and it has been proposed that the total crude extract, with its contents of so many bioactive compounds, could be formulated for use in many infections, microbial or fungal.Furthermore, not all of the species studied to date have been fully characterized for potential bioactivities. Thus, there remains a significant research gap spanning the range from lead chemical discovery through process development and optimization in order to better understand the full bioactive potential of many of these plants

Operational risk modeling for general insurance companies in Kenya

A Research project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Business Science in Actuarial Science at Strathmore UniversityThis study looked at the quantification of operational risk based capital for general insurance companies in Kenya. It is important to note that the regulator requires all insurance companies to compute risk based capital annually. The study pointed out the various operational risk categories and analyzed the operational risk modeling approaches that have been developed in the insurance sector globally. In Kenya, the model used by the regulator to quantify operational risk capital is that recommended by the actuarial profession in the United Kingdom (Solvency II). The main shortcomings of the model used by the regulator were cited as lack of prudence in the estimation of capital requirements and the failure to truly indicate how insurance company operations interact leading to operational losses. The study then illustrated how a proxy-a hybrid modeling approach, could be used to quantify operational risk. The hybrid model was shown to be more prudent than the standardized approach used by the regulator. The methodology involved modeling a general insurance company and creating a hybrid simulations model for operational risk losses. Further, operational risk capital estimates were computed using the model by the regulator and the hybrid simulations model. The operational risk capital estimates were compared and tested for adequacy. The results led to the conclusion that the hybrid model yielded a more prudent operational risk capital estimate than the model used by the regulator. Based on the overall conclusion that the standardized method may not be fully adequate in computing operational risk capital, it is hoped that this study will encourage best practice in computing operational risk capital. It is also hoped that the study increases interest in Kenya's actuarial profession in the emerging field of operational ris

Assessment of passion fruit orchard management and farmers’ technical efficiency in Central-Eastern and North-Rift Highlands, Kenya

In Kenya, passion fruit (Passiflora edulis L.) has emerged as an important high market value horticultural crop over the last decade following the establishment and expansion of large scale processors of fruit juice and increasing population of health conscious consumers.  This has led to increasing interest in the enterprise among farmers. However, many farmers have also withdrawn from passion fruit farming, citing low productivity of orchards.  The objective of this study was to compare management and technical efficiency (TE) of orchards in Central-Eastern (Embu and Meru Counties) and North-Rift (Uasin Gishu County) Highlands of Kenya in order to determine opportunities for increasing and sustaining productivity. Cross-sectional data from 123 randomly selected farmers was collected using a personally administered structured questionnaire and subjected to managerial and stochastic frontier analysis. Management was assessed considering five practices; training of vines and pruning, weeding, watering, disease management and manure/fertilizer application. Meru County had the highest mean TE (65%) followed by Uasin Gishu (57%) while Embu was the least efficient (47%). Mean scores for the five management practices evaluated also followed a similar trend across the three Counties. The five management practices assessed significantly influenced TE. Therefore, the study established a relationship between orchard management practices and TE of farmers. The study recommends promotion of county cross-border farmer linkages as a platform for sharing ideas and success experiences. Further, increased emphasis on frequent farmer update on farming trends through participatory methods (lead farmer approach, training, farm visits and demonstrations) are recommended to increase farmer awareness on appropriate orchard management practices, which would eventually contribute to improved technical efficiencies and productivity. Keywords: Technical efficiency, managerial analysis, stochastic frontier analysi

POTATO PRODUCTION PRACTICES AND LATE BLIGHT MANAGEMENT IN NYANDARUA COUNTY, KENYA

Potato is the second most important crop after maize for food and nutrition security in Kenya. Late blight is a major threat to potato production causing losses of up to 100% if not controlled. Poor production and disease management practices enhance the development and occurrence of potato late blight. A survey was conducted in Nyandarua County to assess potato production and disease management practices on the development and occurrence of late blight. Solvin’s formula was used to determine the sample of 105 farmers. Data on socio-demographic aspects, prevalent potato diseases, management options, and agronomic practices were collected and analyzed using SPSS version 25. Major findings reflected a positive correlation (r = 0.57, n = 105, p = 0.001) between the size of farms owned and the area under potato. Awareness of biological control practices and integrated disease management was 33.3% and 28.6%, respectively.&nbsp; Practices largely influencing disease prevalence included the use of single variety (86.7%) and farm-saved seeds (74.3%), providing a medium for inoculum incubation. Averagely, 48.6% of farmers practice mono-cropping, and 13.3% leave plant debris in the field which enhances inoculum build-up and recurrence. An average of 65.8% use fungicides in a single class, leading to the pathogen developing resistance. It is therefore recommended that potato farmers adhere to good agricultural practices including crop rotation, intercropping, alternation of fungicide classes, use of biological control products, use of clean certified seeds, proper field sanitation, and primarily Integrated Disease Management to minimize the prevalence of late blight and the associated heavy use of chemical pesticides

Estimation of Above Ground Biomass in Forests Using Alos Palsar Data in Kericho and Aberdare Ranges

Above Ground Biomass is one of the six pools identified in the inventory of forest resources and estimation of greenhouse gas emissions and sinks from the forestry sector. The pool varies by management practices in different agroecological or agro-climatic zones in forests. The quantification of above ground biomass (AGB) hence carbon sequestration in forests has been very difficult due to the immense costs required. This research was done to estimate AGB using ALOS PALSAR L band data (HH, HV polarisation) acquired in 2009 in relation with ground measurements data in Kericho and Aberdares ranges in Kenya. Tree data information was obtained from ground measurement of DBH and tree heights in 100 circular plots of 15 m radius, by use of random sampling technique. ALOS PALSAR image is advantageous for its active microwave sensor using L-band frequency to achieve cloud free imageries, and the ability of long wavelength cross-polarization to estimate AGB accurately for tropical forests. The variations result between Natural and plantation forest for measured and estimated biomass in Kericho HV band regression value was 0.880 and HH band was 0.520. In Aberdare ranges HV regression value of 0.708 and HH band regression value of 0.511 for measured and estimated biomass respectively. The variations can be explained by the influence of different management regimes induced human disturbances, forest stand age, density, species composition, and trees diameter distribution. However, further research is required to investigate how strong these factors affect relationship between AGB and Alos Palsar backscatters