Fluorescent Core-Shell Molecularly Imprinted Particles for Analysis of Highly Polar Biomolecular Motifs and Small-Molecule Analytes

In dieser Arbeit wurden fluoreszierende MIP-Partikel hergestellt, um polare Analyten von biologischer und ökologischer Bedeutung zu analysieren, zum Beispiel den Krebs-Biomarker Sialinsäure (SA) und die Herbizide Glyphosat (GPS), Haloxyfop P und Fenoxaprop P. Die MIP-Schale wurde auf Siliziumdioxid und siliziumdioxid-beschichtete Polystyrol (PS)-Kernpartikel synthetisiert und enthielt einen Fluoreszenzfarbstoff, dessen Signal in Anwesenheit der Zielanalyten verstärkt wurde. Die Leistungsfähigkeit aller MIP-Partikel wurde durch den Vergleich ihres Bindungsverhaltens mit den nicht geprägten Polymer (NIP)-Partikeln und/oder durch ihre Diskriminierungsfähigkeit gegenüber konkurrierenden Analyten bewertet. Fluoreszierende Monomer für die MIP-Synthese erwiesen sich als vorteilhaft, da sowohl die Bindungsleistung als auch die Assoziationskonstanten einfacher bestimmt werden konnten. Als Alternative zur traditionellen Wasserstoffbrückenbindung zwischen Analyt und Bindungseinheit des Farbstoffes in unpolaren Lösungsmitteln, kann die Deprotonierung-Protonierung von harnstoffhaltigen Farbstoffen als Sensing-Mechanismus in polaren Medien wie DMF verwendet werden. Darüber hinaus führte die Verwendung eines „Dummy“-Analyten für die NIP-Partikel-Synthese zu einer Polymerschicht mit ähnlichen Eigenschaften wie die der MIP-Partikel, womit "Dummy"-NIPs als deutlich bessere Kontrollpartikel herangezogen werden konnten. Insgesamt erwies sich die Bestimmung der Diskriminierung der MIPs gegenüber konkurrierenden Analyten als konsistenteres Maß für die Leistungsbeurteilung. Mit Siliziumdioxid beschichtete, farbstoffdotierte PS-Partikel erwiesen sich als vielseitige Plattform für das Aufwachsen fluoreszierender MIP-Schalen, um zweifach fluoreszierende MIPs zu erhalten. Das Vorhandensein eines Kontrollsignals ist vorteilhaft für die Korrektur instrumenteller Schwankungen während analytischer Tests.Fluorescent MIP particles were prepared to target highly polar analytes of biological and environmental significance, namely sialic acid (SA) and glyphosate (GPS), haloxyfop P and fenoxaprop P. Silica and silica-coated polystyrene (PS) particles were used as core supports on which a MIP shell was synthesized. In all systems, the MIP shell contained a fluorescent dye with urea sensing motifs whose signal was enhanced in the presence of the target analyte. The performance of all MIP particles was evaluated by comparing their binding behaviour to that of non-imprinted polymer (NIP) controls and/or determining their discrimination ability against competing analytes. It was found that the application of fluorescent monomers in MIP synthesis is advantageous due to simplified determination of binding performance and binding parameters such as association constants. It was also shown that deprotonation-reprotonation of urea containing dyes can be used as a sensing mechanism in polar media such as DMF, as an alternative to traditional hydrogen bonding in non-polar aprotic solvents. In addition, the results showed that the inclusion of a “dummy” template during NIP synthesis led to the formation of a polymer layer with similar properties as the MIP, and thus, “dummy” NIPs provided a more relevant comparison for MIP binding. Overall, the discrimination of MIPs against competing analytes was found to be a more consistent measure of MIP performance. When a urea containing dye was used to prepare MIPs targeting anions by hydrogen bonding in non-polar media, the choice of counterion used during imprinting influenced the binding behaviour of the resulting MIPs and must be carefully chosen. Lastly, silica-coated dye-doped PS was found to be a versatile platform for the grafting of fluorescent MIP shells to achieve dual fluorescent MIPs, and the presence of a control signal was beneficial in correcting instrumental fluctuations during analytical assays

Micro-enterprise finance as an empowerment tool for women-owned businesses: lessons from Kenya and South Africa

The dualism of South Africa's economy is reflected, most notably, in the country's high Gini coefficient which in 2010 was recorded at 63.14. The recent labour and social unrest in the country may be attributed in part to the socio-economic disparity between the first and second economy. Twenty-one per cent of the population lives on R1 000 or less. The majority of the population, 52 per cent, lives on R1 800 a month. Furthermore, only 29 per cent of the adult population in South Africa is employed full time. The unemployment rate in 2011 was 24.9 per cent and the unemployment rate for women remained higher than the national average between 2008 and 2012. Although the unemployment rate for both men and women increased in 2012, women were 1, 2 times more likely to be unemployed than men. The South African government has made some strides in alleviating poverty through various interventions, including formulating a job creation strategy aiming to create 5 million new jobs by 2020, providing social grants to the poor and adopting policies such as the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment policy support to promote black-owned businesses. However, the financial services sector has not been sufficiently addressed in these interventions despite the pressing need for reforms. There are currently six leading or mainstream banks which provide the full spectrum of financial services to the South African population. Many of these banks provide little or no access to the marginalised groups in society including women and alternative sources of finance for the poor are also limited. This study proffers that microfinance can be an effective mechanism which can be used to deliver financial services to the unbanked or those who only have access to informal banking services. More specifically, it focuses on how microfinance can be used to empower women and promote the growth and sustainability amongst women. The main objectives of the study are to identify and assess the critical success factors and shortcomings of the Kenyan microfinance model, which is well-developed and regulated and make recommendations for the South African microfinance sector. The study places specific emphasis on microfinance models tailored for women and women-owned businesses. The research approach adopted in this study was intended to be flexible, explorative and comparative. It draws from the lending models applied by Equity Bank in Kenya and Women's Development Business in South Africa. Both primary and secondary data was used in order to achieve the objectives of the study. The key findings of the study reveal that, the critical success factors of microfinance institutions which lend to women include the adoption of a multi-faceted lending methodology, group-based and individual lending, encouragement and facilitation of savings. Other critical success factors are educational and business skills training interventions and product innovation and diversification to meet the needs of these women

Extracellular Signalling and Stem Cell Self-Renewal

In preimplantation mouse embryos, signalling and gene regulatory networks cooperate to determine lineage segregation, and modulating signalling in vitro allows for stem cell populations to be established from these lineages. Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signalling triggers the differentiation of primitive endoderm (PrE) cells fated to contribute to the yolk sac, while cells unreceptive to FGF form the epiblast (Epi) that subsequently contributes to the embryo proper. In vitro, FGF signalling is required for preimplantation Epi-derived mouse ES cells to exit self-renewal. Conversely, in human ES cells and postimplantation Epi-derived mouse epiblast stem cells, FGF signalling is instead required for pluripotency maintenance. It remains unclear how these divergent outcomes arise, especially as these cells rely on a similar core pluripotency gene network. This study demonstrates that ectopic expression of the PrE transcription factor Gata6 destabilises mouse ES cell pluripotency in vitro and upregulates PrE-associated genes independently of FGF signalling. As previous studies show that PrE specification is compromised in Fgf4-/- embryos, despite initiation of Gata6, this suggests FGF signalling and Gata6 cooperatively drive PrE specification in vivo. Characterising Gata6 function determines that it directly binds to both up- and downregulated gene targets and potently initiates reprogramming in multiple cell types, including human ES cells, suggesting it may also antagonise pluripotency in vivo. Surprisingly, FGF stimulation negatively affects establishment of the pluripotent human Epi. Characterising alternative signalling pathways in the human embryo finds that modulating IGF signalling promotes proliferation of the human ICM, and similar to human ES cells, intact TGFβ/Nodal signalling is required for pluripotent gene expression in the Epi. Consequently, as signalling requirements in the human Epi appear somewhat distinct from both the mouse Epi and existing human ES cells, modulating embryo-specific signalling pathways may permit derivation of human ES cells that more accurately reflect the pluripotent Epi compartment

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARENTS’ SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND SATISFACTION WITH QUALITY OF SERVICES OFFERED IN PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN MAKADARA SUB-COUNTY, KENYA

Parents are important stakeholders in preprimary education sector and the essence of finding out how they perceive the quality of services in schools was imperative. Thus, the need to investigate how parents’ socioeconomic status influenced their satisfaction with quality of services offered in preprimary schools was crucial. The study was premised on the Expectancy-Disconfirmation Theory of Customer Satisfaction and Interactive School Polls’ Conceptual Model of Parents’ School Satisfaction. The study employed correlation research design. Parents with children aged 3 to 6 years attending pre-primary schools constituted the study population. Data was collected by use of questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.   Article visualizations

Construction of multidimensional poverty index of Kenya using the Alkire-Foster method

A Research project Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Business Science in Financial Economics at Strathmore UniversityIn this paper, we use one specification of the Alkire-Foster approach, which is referred to as the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), to calculate the poverty index of Kenya. This index was computed for 104 countries in Alkire and Santos (2010) and launched as a prominent feature of the annual United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Human Development Report, replacing the previous Human Poverty Index of the United Nations Development Program. The novelty of this paper is that it seeks to reconstruct the poverty index which is used in Kenya’s Revenue Allocation formula. Currently, the country is using a modification of Human Development Index as used by UNDP which gives weights to different aspects of deprivation, a method that has been dubbed as ‘Lucy’s model’, named after the person who developed it in December 2015, and was approved for use by the Commission for Revenue Allocation to distribute funds from the National government to county governments, by the National Assembly of Kenya on 10th March 2016. The paper compares the allocations arrived at by both Lucy’s Model and Alkire-Foster method in terms of equality of means, variances, correlations and other statistical tests of significance in differences between two or more data sets

The Influence of human resource management practices on employee retention in public universities in Kenya

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Commerce at Strathmore UniversityThe purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of human resource management practices on employee retention in public universities in Kenya. The specific objectives included: to establish the level of employee retention in public universities in Kenya, to investigate the influence of training and development on employee retention in public universities in Kenya, to analyze the influence of compensation on employee retention in public universities in Kenya and to examine the influence of recruitment and selection on employee retention in public universities in Kenya. Data was collected by use of questionnaires from the target population of 31 registered public universities in Kenya. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and multiple correlation analysis were used to analyze the data. Results showed that recruitment and selection was the most widely adopted human resource management practice, followed by compensation and reward then training and development as evidenced by their overall mean scores. On the influence of each human resource management practice on employee retention, training and development was the only independent variable found to be significant to employee retention in public universities in Kenya. The study however had limitations, in that it was only limited to three human resource management practices. The results therefore are not generalizable to all the other human resource management practices. Further research should therefore be done in order to find out what influence other human resource management practices have on employee retention in public universities in Kenya and in other areas of the world

Information service provision for the people with visual and physical impairments in public university libraries in Kenya.

Doctor of Philosophy in Information Studies. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg 2018.The study investigated information service provision to the people with visual and physical impairments in public university libraries in Kenya. The study was underpinned by the International Federation of Libraries Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Access to Libraries for Persons with Disabilities Checklist, and the Social Model of disability. A pragmatic paradigm that supports the mixed methods approach was used to underpin the study. The population comprised libraries of six public universities. The data was collected from the students with visual impairments, the students with physical impairments, the staff of the Disability Mainstreaming department, the library staff who provide services to students with impairments, the Systems Librarians and the University Librarians. The data was collected using questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, and observation. The findings revealed a blatant exclusion of the people with visual and physical impairments in the library policies which impacted negatively on other aspects of information services provision such as budgeting, assessment of users’ needs, planning of services, marketing of services, provision of information and ICT services, and the design and the layout of the library building. The study made the following recommendations: The libraries should formulate policies regarding the provision of information services to the people with impairments; formulate a special budget to cater for the needs of the people with impairments; assess the needs of the people with impairments; explore effective strategies for marketing the services for the people with impairments; evaluate the services provided to the people with impairments; create a disability services page in their library websites to provide information specific to the people with impairments; ensure that the library staff providing services to the people with impairments are adequately trained; explore the possibilities of information resource sharing amongst themselves and with other organisations providing services to people with impairments; provide special reading rooms equipped with the necessary equipment/resources for the people with impairments; involve the people with impairments in planning for their information services as well as in the policy formulation; and provide special library orientation as well as information literacy (IL) training to the people with impairments

An Extended Culture System that Supports Human Primordial Germ Cell-like Cell Survival and Initiation of DNA Methylation Erasure.

The development of an in vitro system in which human primordial germ cell-like cells (hPGCLCs) are generated from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) has been invaluable to further our understanding of human primordial germ cell (hPGC) specification. However, the means to evaluate the next fundamental steps in germ cell development have not been well established. In this study we describe a two dimensional extended culture system that promotes proliferation of specified hPGCLCs, without reversion to a pluripotent state. We demonstrate that hPGCLCs in extended culture undergo partial epigenetic reprogramming, mirroring events described in hPGCs in vivo, including a genome-wide reduction in DNA methylation and maintenance of depleted H3K9me2. This extended culture system provides a new approach for expanding the number of hPGCLCs for downstream technologies, including transplantation, molecular screening, or possibly the differentiation of hPGCLCs into gametes by in vitro gametogenesis

Availability of medicines in community pharmacy to manage patients with COVID-19 in Kenya; pilot study and implications

Multiple measures have been instigated across countries to prevent the spread and treat patients COVID-19 with personal protective equipment (PPE), sanitation measures and medicines. However, there has been considerable controversy surrounding initially endorsed treatments such as hydroxychloroquine with misinformation increasing prices and suicides. Prices of PPE and medicines have increased in countries following shortages, potentially catastrophic among lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with high co-payment levels. Consequently, there is a need to investigate changes in availability, utilisation, prices and shortages of relevant medicines during the pandemic in Kenya. To address this, a questionnaire was emailed to ten randomly selected community pharmacists from 21 purposely selected pharmacists attached to the University of Nairobi, with the survey covering the period from the start of the pandemic to the end of May 2020. This included suggestions from community pharmacists on potential ways forward with future pandemics. Six pharmacists eventually took in this pilot study. Two thirds noted increased requests for antimalarials and antibiotics; however, these were not dispensed with pharmacists recommending alternatives for symptomatic relief. There was increased use of analgesics as well as vitamins. Price rises were seen for hydroxychloroquine as well as vitamins and zinc (50-100% increase in price); however, no shortages were seen. The pharmacists believed their future role in pandemics include education, improved stock control and patient counselling. Overall, it was encouraging to see increases in the utilisation of vitamins/ immune boosters alongside no antimalarials or antibiotics dispensed without a prescription despite the hype and requests. Community pharmacists have a key role in any pandemic with prevention and guidance, and we will be monitoring this. Countries such as Kenya can also act as exemplar countries where there continues to be high rates of self-purchasing of antibiotics