Engaging fathers and grandmothers to improve maternal and child dietary practices: Planning a community-based study in western Kenya

Fathers and grandmothers are key family influencers who have an impact on maternal and child health. This paper describes the planning, design, and implementation of a four-phased evaluation study on the impact of engaging fathers or grandmothers in improving diets of mothers and feeding practices of infants and young children in a rural setting in western Kenya. The study used a quasi-experimental, non-equivalent comparison group design with pre- and post-test observations. It tested the hypothesis that families participating in activities to engage fathers or grandmothers have better knowledge and adopt better practices related to maternal nutrition and complementary feeding than families for which nutrition messages are targeted only to mothers. Information generated from previous formative research was used to design culturally relevant interventions for fathers and grandmothers. Interventions included separate but parallel peer education dialogue groups with fathers and grandmothers. They were held twice a month, and family bazaars and special fathers’ days at local clinics were held once per month. The study team selected the dialogue-based group methodology, including promotion of social support actions, because it engages participants to actively discuss new information and experiences providing social support rather than passively receive information. Community health extension workers and Ministry of Health nutritionists provided supportive supervision and monitoring of the dialogue group activities. Father and grandmother interventions were implemented in two separate sub-locations of Kenya’s former Western Province, and the program effects were compared to findings in a population with a similar socioeconomic background living in a similar sub-location in the same province. An examination of the study implementation methodology provides useful insights into practical issues that need to be addressed in programs seeking to engage key household influencers of maternal nutrition and infant and young child feeding behaviours. Results showed that the dialogue group methodology, formative research to inform intervention design, use of the existing Ministry of Health community health unit structure to provide critical support supervision, and actions that motivated peer mentors were key factors for successful implementation of the study intervention.Keywords: Maternal nutrition, infant feeding, complementary feeding, grandmother, father, design, formative researc

Influence of Cyclophosphamide on the Haematological Profile of Laboratory Bred African Soft-furred Rats (Mastomys natalensis)

The African soft-furred rat (Mastomys natalensis) has been shown to be a possible model for propagation  of Trypanosoma brucei gambiense. This study aimed at determining the baseline biological reference values  and reproductive data of a laboratory bred Mastomys colony, which was established at TRC. In addition,  the effect of cyclophosphamide (an immunosuppressant) treatment (s) on the haematological profile  was investigated. The mean gestation period was 23 days and the mean litter size was eight. At birth, the  pups weighed 2.4±0.23 g and the weights increased to 78.0±10.6 g in males and 53.9±4.5 g in females by  90 days. The mean haematological values were significantly (p<0.05) higher in adults than juveniles.  However, there was no statistical difference of haematological values between the sexes.  Cyclophosphamide treatment caused a macrocytic hypochromic anaemia, which was noted 24 hours after  treatment and was more severe in animals treated more than once. Thus, in studies involving a disease that  causes anaemia, repeated cyclophosphamide treatment should be limited. Our study is a contribution to  the clinical and biological characterization of the disease pattern in this preferred rodent model of T. b.  gambiense.

Haematology of experimental Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense infection in vervet monkeys

Haematological aberrations associated with human infective trypanosomes were investigated in the vervet monkey model of the Rhodesian sleeping sickness. Four monkeys were infected intravenously with 104 Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and monitored for changes in the blood profile using a haematological analyser. A chronic infection lasting between 48 and 112 days was observed. Microcytic hypochromic anaemia, which was characterized by a decline in packed cell volume (PCV), red blood cell (RBC) numbers, mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCH) developed at an early stage, and persisted throughout the infection. The mean platelet counts declined significantly from 3 x 105/μl (day 0 post infection) to 6.8 x 104/μl (day 7 post infection) and remained low in all the animals. However, the mean platelets volume rose during the course of the infection. An initial decline in total white blood cell (WBC) counts occurred between day 0 and 7 (3.1 x 106/μl) and remained low up to day 35 post infection (3.5 x 106/μl). This was followed by an increase in WBC counts, principally associated with increased lymphocyte numbers. It is concluded that microcytic hypochromic anaemia, thrombocytopaenia and an initial leucocytopaenia are the most important haematological changes associated with a chronic infection of T.b. rhodesiense infection in vervet monkeys. African Journal of Health Sciences Vol. 13 (3-4) 2006: pp. 59-6

Exploiting Biological Nitrogen Fixation: A Route Towards a Sustainable Agriculture

For all living organisms, nitrogen is an essential element, while being the most limiting in ecosystems and for crop production. Despite the significant contribution of synthetic fertilizers, nitrogen requirements for food production increase from year to year, while the overuse of agrochemicals compromise soil health and agricultural sustainability. One alternative to overcome this problem is biological nitrogen fixation (BNF). Indeed, more than 60% of the fixed N on Earth results from BNF. Therefore, optimizing BNF in agriculture is more and more urgent to help meet the demand of the food production needs for the growing world population. This optimization will require a good knowledge of the diversity of nitrogen-fixing microorganisms, the mechanisms of fixation, and the selection and formulation of efficient N-fixing microorganisms as biofertilizers. Good understanding of BNF process may allow the transfer of this ability to other non-fixing microorganisms or to non-leguminous plants with high added value. This minireview covers a brief history on BNF, cycle and mechanisms of nitrogen fixation, biofertilizers market value, and use of biofertilizers in agriculture. The minireview focuses particularly on some of the most effective microbial products marketed to date, their efficiency, and success-limiting in agriculture. It also highlights opportunities and difficulties of transferring nitrogen fixation capacity in cereals

Pharmacology of DB844, an orally active aza analogue of pafuramidine, in a monkey model of second stage human African trypanosomiasis

Novel drugs to treat human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) are still urgently needed despite the recent addition of nifurtimox-eflornithine combination therapy (NECT) to WHO Model Lists of Essential Medicines against second stage HAT, where parasites have invaded the central nervous system (CNS). The pharmacology of a potential orally available lead compound, N-methoxy-6-{5-[4-(N-methoxyamidino) phenyl]-furan-2-yl}-nicotinamidine (DB844), was evaluated in a vervet monkey model of second stage HAT, following promising results in mice. DB844 was administered orally to vervet monkeys, beginning 28 days post infection (DPI) with Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense KETRI 2537. DB844 was absorbed and converted to the active metabolite 6-[5-(4-phenylamidinophenyl)-furanyl-2-yl]-nicotinamide (DB820), exhibiting plasma C(max) values of 430 and 190 nM for DB844 and DB820, respectively, after the 14th dose at 6 mg/kg qd. A 100-fold reduction in blood trypanosome counts was observed within 24 h of the third dose and, at the end of treatment evaluation performed four days post the last drug dose, trypanosomes were not detected in the blood or cerebrospinal fluid of any monkey. However, some animals relapsed during the 300 days of post treatment monitoring, resulting in a cure rate of 3/8 (37.5%) and 3/7 (42.9%) for the 5 mg/kg×10 days and the 6 mg/kg×14 days dose regimens respectively. These DB844 efficacy data were an improvement compared with pentamidine and pafuramidine both of which were previously shown to be non-curative in this model of CNS stage HAT. These data show that synthesis of novel diamidines with improved activity against CNS-stage HAT was possible

Impact of soil acidity and liming on soybean (Glycine max) nodulation and nitrogen fixation in Kenyan soils

Open Access Article; Published online: 22 Oct 2020There is a wide application of rhizobia inoculants to legume crops in Africa, irrespective of the soil acidity, though the latter limits the effectiveness of inoculants. Two trials were conducted in a controlled environment to determine suitable soil pH and impact of liming on soybean nodulation and nitrogen fixation to inform proper application of the rhizobia-inoculant technology on acid soils. In the first trial; soil, variety and inoculation had significant influence (p < 0.05) on weighed nodule effectiveness (WNE) and N fixation. Strongly acidic soils recorded low WNE and N fixation. In the second trial, WNE and N fixation significantly increased with co-application of lime and inoculation (p < 0.05). The results showed that soybean inoculation is effective in increasing nodulation and N fixation in moderate acidic soils, contrarily to strongly acidic soils. Interestingly, co-application of lime and inoculation has potential of increasing nodulation and N fixation in strongly acidic soils. The WNE is recommended as a robust formula to report nodule effectiveness, compared to the current percentage method

Reconciling yield gains in agronomic trials with returns under African smallholder conditions

Open Access Journal; Published online: 31 Aug 2020Increased adoption of improved agricultural technologies is considered an essential step to address global poverty and hunger, and agronomic trials suggest intensification in developing countries could result in large yield gains. Yet the promise of new technologies does not always carry over from trials to real-life conditions, and diffusion of many technologies remains limited. We show how parcel and farmer selection, together with behavioural responses in agronomic trials, can explain why yield gain estimates from trials may differ from the yield gains of smallholders using the same inputs under real-life conditions. We provide quantitative evidence by exploiting variation in farmer selection and detailed data collection from research trials in Western Kenya on which large yield increments were observed from improved input packages for maize and soybean. After adjusting for selection, behavioural responses, and other corrections, estimates of yield gains fall to being not significantly different from zero for the input package tested on one of the crops (soybean), but remain high for the other (maize). These results suggest that testing new agricultural technologies in real-world conditions and without researcher interference early in the agricultural research and development process might help with identifying which innovations are more likely to be taken up at scale

Independence from kinetoplast DNA maintenance and expression is associated with multi-drug resistance in Trypanosoma brucei in vitro

It is well known that several antitrypanosomatid drugs accumulate in the parasite's mitochondrion, where they often bind to the organellar DNA, the kinetoplast. To what extent this property relates to the mode of action of these compounds has remained largely unquantified. Here we show that single point mutations that remove the dependence of laboratory strains of the sleeping sickness parasite Trypanosoma brucei on a functional kinetoplast result in significant resistance to the diamidine and phenanthridine drug classes

Community structure of nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria from effluents discharged into Lake Victoria, Kenya

Open Access Article; Published online: 14 Jul 2022An active microbial community of nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria is needed for efficient utilization of nitrogenous compounds from wastewater. In this study, we explored the bacterial community diversity and structure within rivers, treated and untreated wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) discharging into Lake Victoria. Water samples were collected from rivers and WWTPs that drain into Lake Victoria. Physicochemical analysis was done to determine the level of nutrients or pollutant loading in the samples. Total community DNA was extracted, followed by Illumina high throughput sequencing to determine the total microbial community and abundance. Enrichment and isolation were then done to recover potential nitrifiers and denitrifiers. Physicochemical analysis pointed to high levels total nitrogen and ammonia in both treated and untreated WWTPs as compared to the samples from the lake and rivers. A total of 1,763 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) spread across 26 bacterial phyla were observed with the most dominant phylum being Proteobacteria. We observed a decreasing trend in diversity from the lake, rivers to WWTPs. The genus Planktothrix constituted 19% of the sequence reads in sample J2 collected from the lagoon. All the isolates recovered in this study were affiliated to three genera: Pseudomonas, Klebsiella and Enterobacter in the phylum Proteobacteria. A combination of metagenomic analysis and a culture-dependent approach helped us understand the relative abundance as well as potential nitrifiers and denitrifiers present in different samples. The recovered isolates could be used for in situ removal of nitrogenous compounds from contaminated wastewater

Coenzyme Q10 and endogenous antioxidants neuro-protect mice brain against deleterious effects of melarsoprol and Trypanasoma brucei rhodesiense

Melarsoprol (Mel B) is the only efficacious drug against late stage Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT), but inadvertently is very toxic and induces Post Treatment Reactive Encephalopathy (PTRE) that is lethal in 5% of the patients. Investigations were conducted to establish the neuro-protective role of Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) and other cellular antioxidants ((Manganese Superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), Glutathione Reductase (GR), Copper-Zinc Superoxide dismutase (SOD-1) and glutathione (GSH)) against Mel B toxicity, PTRE and putative resultant brain degeneration in a mouse model. Female Swiss-white mice were infected with Trypanasoma brucei rhodesiense parasite and manipulated to simulate all phases of PTRE and HAT. Expression profiles of the antioxidants in brain tissues were assessed using immunoblots, while GSH was measured spectrophotometrically. Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense infection resulted in elevation of expression of endogenous antioxidants in the early stage of infection (21dpi), with significant expression (two fold) observed at the terminal stage of the disease (57dpi). CoQ10 assisted in boosting Levels of GSH upon induction of severe late stage of HAT. Similarly CoQ10 administration significantly augmented levels of SOD-1, GR and GSH in infected than in uninfected mice that were treated with Melarsoprol. The time dependent dynamics of antioxidant suppression due to Melarsoprol, and potential ameliorating effects of CoQ10 on the same, indicate putative mechanism underlying and antidote to the toxicity of the drug with potential application in formulation of novel Melarsoprol-based drugs and development of novel markers for staging the disease. Key Words: Trypanasoma brucei rhodesiense, endogenous antioxidants, late stage HAT; Coenzyme Q10; Melarsoprol;   Abbreviations: GSH, glutathione; CoQ10, Coenzyme Q10; MnSOD, Manganese Superoxide dismutase; GR, Glutathione Reductase; SOD-1, Copper-Zinc Superoxide dismutase; Mel B, melarsoprol; PTRE, Post treatment reactive encephalopathy; HAT, Human African Trypanoomiasis; HEPES, N-2 hydroxyethylpiperazine-N`-2 ethane sulfonic acid; ICDH, isocitrate dehydrogenase; LDH, lactate dehydrogenase; MnSOD, manganese superoxide dismutase; NADP+, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate, NO, nitric oxide; ONOO-, peroxynitrite; ROS, reactive oxygen species; SDS, sodium dodecyl sulfate; TCA, tricarboxylic acid; DAB, diaminobenzidine;  PBS, Phosphate buffered saline; dpi, days post infection