A High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Method for the Determination of Artemisinin in Artemisia annua L. Leaf Extracts

A simple, sensitive, accurate and precise high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for determination of artemisinin in crude plant material was developed and validated. Optimal separation of artemisinin from matrix components in the plant extracts was achieved using a Waters XTerra® RP18, 5 μm, 250 × 4.6 mm column, maintained at 40 °C, a mobile phase consisting of 0.05 M potassium phosphate buffer, pH 6.0 - acetonitrile (60:40) containing 5 mM hexane sulfonate in isocratic flow. The mobile phase flow rate was 1.0 ml/min while elution was monitored at 216 nm. The method satisfied the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) validation criteria for linearity, accuracy, precision and sensitivity. The developed method is applicable in routine quality control of Artemisia annua crude extracts. Key words: Artemisia annua, artemisinin content, crude extrac

Framing of Police Enforcement of the Covid-19 Laws in Kenya: A Comparative Analysis of the Daily Nation and Standard Newspapers

This study analysed how the Standard and The Daily Nation Newspapers framed the Kenyan police enforcement of Legal Notice No. 36 of 2020. Three major objectives were interrogated; the frames used by the two newspapers in reporting police enforcement of the curfew, the figures of speech used in the framing the police enforcement work and the sources of the stories used. Content analysis was the main data collection method. The key findings of the study were: The Daily Nation and the Standard newspapers framed the police enforcement of the curfew through negative valance via use of: brutality frames, conflict frames, death and murder frames. It also emerged that, the voicing of the police enforcement of the curfew order was largely supressed and left mainly to the mass media institutions and the journalists. Inferentially, the two newspapers played their watchdog role effectively. It also emerged that, critical voices necessary in ensuring accountability and transparent of the police enforcement of Covid 19 curfew in Kenya like: The Judiciary, Parliament, International Community and other key human right agencies were silent. It is recommended that, police should be trained on matters human rights and freedom and that both the journalists and the public should be empowered in order to hold police to account for their sometimes illegal actions during executions of their mandates. Keywords: Media framing, Police brutality, Governance, public order, DOI: 10.7176/NMMC/105-01 Publication date:October 31st 202

Promoting identification and support of learners with visual problems in public primary schools, central Kenya

Visual impairment in childhood has implications in all aspects of the child’s development. It posses educational, occupational and social challenges, with affected children being at risk of behavioral, psychological difficulties, impaired self-esteem and poor social integration. Moreover, visual problems are an important contribution to poor school performance. Visual problems are known to deteriorate and become visual impairments if they are not identified and treated early. Despite this realization, high risk learners in primary schools remain unnoticed, undiagnosed and do not benefit from special education services and interventions. The purpose of this study was to document challenges that teachers in public primary schools experienced in identifying and assisting children with visual problems. Utilizing a descriptive survey design, a study involving 36 teachers was conducted in 12 public primary schools in Central Kenya. Questionnaires and observation schedules were used. The study established the major challenges faced by teachers in identifying learners with visual problems as:  lack of knowledge and skills in special education and visual screening as well as lack of school visual screening programs. Strategies suggested to address the challenges included special education training and special education seminars for teachers and introduction of school visual screening programs for all the learners

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

An evolutionary genomics approach towards analysis of genes implicated in transmission of trypanosomes between tsetse fly and mammalian host

>Magister Scientiae - MScHuman African trypanosomiasis is the world’s third most important parasitic disease affecting human health after malaria and schistosomiaisis. The world health organization estimates approximately 60 million people at risk in sub-Saharan Africa and up to 50,000 deaths per year caused by trypanosomiasis. Current management of human African trypanosomiasis relies on active surveillance and chemotherapy of infected patients. Efforts to develop a vaccine to immunize the human host have been hampered by antigenic variation of the parasites cell coat. The advent of the genome era has opened up opportunities for developing novel strategies for interrupting the transmission cycle of trypanosomes, specifically using any of the three players,the human host, the tsetse fly vector and/or the parasite. The human genome has been deciphered and the genomes of several trypanosome species have been sequenced. Sequencing of additional neglected trypanosome species is in progress. The tsetse fly genome is currently being sequenced as part of the genomic activities of the International Glossina genome initiative (IGGI). In an attempt to support the tsetse fly sequencing effort, expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from various tissues and developmental stages of Glossina morsitans have been generated.In this study, tsetse fly EST data was analyzed using bioinformatics approaches, focusing on transcripts encoding serpin genes implicated in the immune defenses of tsetse flies. Glossina morsitans homologues to Drosophila melanogaster serpin4, serpin5, and serpin27A and Anopheles gambiae serpin10 were identified in the tsetse fly EST contigs. Comparison of the reactive center loop of tsetse fly serpins with human α-1-antitrypsin suggests that these tsetse serpins are inhibitory. Preliminary EST clustering did not succeed in assembling 3564 Tsal encoded ESTs into one contig. In this study, these ESTs were assembled together with three published Tsal cDNAs. A total of 29 Tsal-encoded contigs were generated. An analysis of the sequence variation within the Tsal EST assembled contigs identified five single base mismatches namely A-T, T-A, G-T and T-G.Results from this study form a basis onto which genetic and biochemical experimental studies can be designed, a process that will be successfully carried out once we have a reference genome. Specifically, studies aimed at genetic modification of tsetse flies towards populations that are inhabitable to trypanosomes. Ultimately, this will supplement current vector control strategies towards elimination of human African trypanosomiasis

In silico investigation of glossina morsitans promoters

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDTsetse flies (Glossina spp) are the biological vectors for Trypanosomes, the causative magents of Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT). HAT is a debilitating disease that continues to present a major public health problem and a key factor limiting rural development in vast regions of tropical Africa. To augment vector control efforts, the International Glossina Genome Initiative (IGGI) was established in 2004 with the ultimate goal of generating a fully annotated whole genome sequence for Glossina morsitans. A working draft genome of Glossina morsitans was availed in 2011. In this thesis, transcriptional regulatory features in Glossina morsitans were analysed using the draft genome. A method for TSS identification in the newly sequenced Glossina morsitans genome was developed using TSS-seq tags sampled from two developmental stages of Glossina morsitans. High throughput next generation sequencing reads obtained from Glossina morsitans larvae and pupae were used to locate transcription start sites (TSS) in the Glossina morsitans genome. TSS-seq tag clusters, defined as a minimum number of reads at the 5’ predicted UTR or first coding exon, were used to define transcription start sites. A total of 3134 tag clusters were identified on the Glossina genome. Approximately 45.4% (1424) of the tag clusters mapped to the first coding exons or their proximal predicted 5’UTR regions and include 31 tag clusters that mapped to transposons. A total of 1101 (35.1%) tag clusters mapped outside the genic region and/or scaffolds without gene predictions and may correspond to previously un-annotated transcripts or noncoding RNA TSS. The core promoter regions were classified as narrow or broad based on the number of TSS positions within a TSS-seq cluster. Majority (95%) of the core promoters analysed in this study were of the broad type while only 5% were of the narrow type. Comparison of canonical core promoter motif occurences between random and bona fide core promoters showed that, generally, the number of motifs in biologically functional genomic windows in the true dataset exceeded those in the random dataset (p <= 0.00164, 0.00135, 0.00185 for the narrow, broad with peak and broad without peak categories respectively). Frequency of motif co-occurrence in core promoter was found to be fundamentally different across various initiation patterns. Narrow core promoters recorded higher frequency of the TATA-box and INR motifs and two-way motif co-occurrence showed that the TATA-box-INR pair is over-represented in the narrow category. Broad core promoters showed higher frequency of the BREd and MTE motifs and two-way motif co-occurrence showed that the MTE-DPE pair is over-represented in broad core promoters. TATA-less promoters account for 77% of the core promoters in this analysis. TATA-less core promoters showed a higher frequency of the MTE and INR motifs in contrast to observations in Drosophila where the DPE motif has been reported to occur frequently in TATA-less promoters. These motif combinations suggest their equal importance to transcription in their corresponding promoter classes in Glossina morsitans

The Dynamics of Political Corruption and Neo-Patrimonialism in Kenya

Corruption is one of the major obstacles to the development of many African countries including Kenya. This paper examines the dynamics of political corruption and neo-patrimonialism in Kenya. It achieving this, the paper interrogated the changing manifestations of political corruption and neo-patrimonial practices from the government of Jomo Kenyatta to the present Jubilee government of Uhuru Kenyatta and highlights the implications on Kenya’s development. The study is considered important because there has been tendency to propose solutions and strategies for combatting corruption without necessarily taking into consideration the context in which corruption takes place. The paper analysed secondary sources of data with a qualitative approach. It maintains that political corruption in Kenya is similar to many African countries. However, the peculiarity of political corruption in Kenya is that it is deeply rooted in the exploitation of ethnic preferences. The manipulation of ethnicity has been a means by which political office holders use national resources to amass wealth and satisfy individuals needs to the detriment of the common person. The study concludes that concerted efforts should be made to reform the governance structure in Kenya to make it inclusive and participatory for the different ethnic groups in the country. Keywords:   Corruption, Neo-patrimonialism, Leadership, Development, Governanc

TSS seq based core promoter architecture in blood feeding Tsetse fly (Glossina morsitans morsitans) vector of Trypanosomiasis

A comprehensive illustration of the TSS and promoter identification pipeline. (PNG 184 kb

Chromosomal-level assembly of the Asian seabass genome using long sequence reads and multi-layered scaffolding

We report here the ~670 Mb genome assembly of the Asian seabass (Lates calcarifer), a tropical marine teleost. We used long-read sequencing augmented by transcriptomics, optical and genetic mapping along with shared synteny from closely related fish species to derive a chromosome-level assembly with a contig N50 size over 1 Mb and scaffold N50 size over 25 Mb that span ~90% of the genome. The population structure of L. calcarifer species complex was analyzed by re-sequencing 61 individuals representing various regions across the species’ native range. SNP analyses identified high levels of genetic diversity and confirmed earlier indications of a population stratification comprising three clades with signs of admixture apparent in the South-East Asian population. The quality of the Asian seabass genome assembly far exceeds that of any other fish species, and will serve as a new standard for fish genomics.Web of Scienc

Teaching Methods and Quality of Business Studies Textbook in Secondary Schools in Kenya

Well-structured business studies textbook provides enjoyable episodes of knowledge creation which promotes achievement learning outcome for sustained academic results. Business textbook represents potentially implemented curriculum as its vehicle through which intended curriculum is availed to learner encouraging achievement of learning objectives. However, adopting methodology that does not facilitate achievement of specific objectives may limit knowledge construction degrading learner’s mean score. The study adopted is exploratory research design. Data collected were both quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative data were analyzed through counts, percentages, means, standard deviations and Chi square tests while Qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. Cross tabulation results further indicated that teaching methods significantly influence quality of textbook implying that appropriate teaching methods supports achievement of learning. It was also found that presentation, visuals and differentiated instruction influence quality of instruction content encouraging learning. Therefore, it is recommended that teaching method selected should be learner centered to accelerate learning