In vertebrates, glucocorticoid secretion occurs in response to energetic and psychosocial stressors that trigger the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Measuring glucocorticoid concentrations can therefore shed light on the stressors associated with different social and environmental variables, including dominance rank. Using 14,172 fecal samples from 237 wild female baboons, we test the hypothesis that high-ranking females experience fewer psychosocial and/or energetic stressors than lower-ranking females. We predicted that high-ranking females would have lower fecal glucocorticoid (fGC) concentrations...

Nest survival is critical to breeding in birds and plays an important role in life-history evolution and population dynamics. Studies evaluating the proximate factors involved in explaining nest survival and the resulting temporal patterns are biased in favor of temperate regions. Yet, such studies are especially pertinent to the tropics, where nest predation rates are typically high and environmental conditions often allow for year-round breeding. To tease apart the effects of calendar month and year,...

1. Citizen science is gaining increasing prominence as a tool for science and engagement but has little visibility in many developing countries, despite being a potentially valuable tool for sustainable development. 2. We undertook a collaborative prioritization process with experts in conservation and the environment to assess the potential of environmental citizen science in East Africa including its opportunities, benefits and barriers. This provided principles that are applicable across developing countries, particularly for large-scale citizen...

This paper centers on the findings of a study done by the authors of this paper in 2019 titled Change in Gender Roles as a Factor in Gender Participation and Empowerment in the Oil Mining Industry: A Case of Lokichar, Kenya. One of the objectives; determining whether the oil mining companies promotes gender equity in Lokichar is explored. The null hypothesis testing on whether there is no relationship between equal hiring and equal opportunity for...

This paper analyses a study done by the authors of this paper on changes on gender role as a factor in gender participation and empowerment in the oil mining industry; a case of Lokichar in Turkana County. The paper centres on three null hypothesis tested. The studies target group was the active labour force aged between 15 to 64 years. Those who retired from work were also targeted. The data was collected from a sample...

Introduction Despite extensive knowledge about effective tobacco control interventions, the prevalence of tobacco use in many middle- and low-income countries continues to rise. In these countries, public appreciation of levels of protection provided by laws and regulations on tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke is limited. After ratification of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Kenya enacted the Tobacco Control Act, 2007, banning smoking in public places except in designated smoking areas. Objective To...

As countries scale up adult voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) for HIV prevention, they are looking ahead to long term sustainable strategies, including introduction of early infant male circumcision (EIMC). To address the lack of evidence regarding introduction of EIMC services in sub-Saharan African settings, we conducted a simultaneous, prospective comparison of two models of EIMC service delivery in Homa Bay County, Kenya. In one division a standard delivery package (SDP) was introduced and included...

Pastoralists in East Africa are among the world’s most vulnerable communities to climate change, already living near their upper thermal limits and engaging in a climate-sensitive livelihood in a climate change global hot spot. Pregnant women and children are even more at risk. Here, we report the findings of a study characterizing Samburu pastoralist women’s experiences of severe drought and outcomes in their children (N = 213, 1.8–9.6 y). First, we examined potential DNA methylation...

Additional file 3. Code and data. IPD from co-authors who agreed to share it, results of all analyses presented in the paper, and R code files necessary to reproduce the analysis and figures.

Additional file 5: Figure S1. Assessment of publication bias. A Funnel plots. Symbols show the effect of the menstrual cycle (x-axis) and the standard error of that effect (y-axis, reversed). Each symbol shows an individual study. Vertical solid line shows no effect. Vertical dashed line shows the meta-estimate of effect. Diagonal dashed lines enclose the region expected to include 95% of studies based on the estimated meta-effect and the standard errors. B Results of Egger’s...

The large-scale expansion of built infrastructure is profoundly reshaping the geographies of Africa, generating lock-in patterns of development for future generations. Understanding the impact of these massive investments can allow development opportunities to be maximised and therefore be critical for attaining the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Africa Union Agenda 2063. However, until now information on the types, scope, and timing of investments, how they have evolved, and their spatial-temporal impact was dispersed amongst...

Globally, arthropod-borne virus (arbovirus) infections continue to pose substantial threats to public health and economic development, especially in developing countries. In Kenya, although arboviral diseases (ADs) are largely endemic, little is known about the factors influencing livestock farmers’ knowledge, beliefs, and management (KBM) of the three major ADs: Rift Valley fever (RVF), dengue fever and chikungunya fever. This study evaluates the drivers of livestock farmers’ KBM of ADs from a sample of 629 respondents selected...

Current population genetic models fail to cope with genetic differentiation for species with large, contiguous and heterogeneous distribution. We show that in such a case, genetic differentiation can be predicted at equilibrium by circuit theory, where conductance corresponds to abundance in species distribution models (SDM). Circuit-SDM approach was used for the phylogeographic study of the lepidopteran cereal stemborer Busseola fusca Füller (Noctuidae) across sub-Saharan Africa. Species abundance was surveyed across its distribution range. SDM models...

Why mammals have poor regenerative ability has remained a long-standing question in biology. In regenerating vertebrates, injury can induce a process known as epimorphic regeneration to replace damaged structures. Using a 4-mm ear punch assay across multiple mammalian species, here we show that several Acomys spp. (spiny mice) and Oryctolagus cuniculus completely regenerate tissue, whereas other rodents including MRL/MpJ ‘healer’ mice heal similar injuries by scarring. We demonstrate ear-hole closure is independent of ear size,...

Objective: The objective of this study was to develop an econometric model for the cost of treatment of pediatric malaria from a patient perspective in a resource scarce rural setting of Homa-Bay County, Kenya. We sought to investigate the main contributors as well as the contribution of non-user fee payments to the total household cost of care. Costs were measured from a patient perspective. Design: The study was conducted as a health facility based cross...

1. The Acacia drepanolobium (also known as Vachellia drepanolobium) ant-plant symbiosis is considered a classic case of species coexistence, in which four species of tree-defending ants compete for nesting space in a single host tree species. Coexistence in this system has been explained by trade-offs in the ability of the ant associates to compete with each other for occupied trees versus the ability to colonize unoccupied trees. 2. We seek to understand the proximal reasons...

The relationship between specific conductivity and surfactant concentration was used to determine the solution properties of synthesized anionic sesame fatty acid methyl esters sulphonate (SEFAMESO) surfactant and sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) standard. The solution properties evaluated included critical micelle concentration (CMC) values, counter-ion binding degree (β) and thermodynamic parameters namely, Gibbs free energy (∆G°mic), enthalpy (∆H°mic) and entropy (∆S°mic) of micellization.

1. Fencing is one of the commonest methods for mitigating human-wildlife conflicts. At the same time, fencing is considered to be of one of the most pressing emerging threats to conservation globally. Although fences act as barriers and eventually can cause population isolation and fragmentation, it is challenging to quantitatively predict the possible consequences fences have for wildlife. 2. Here, we model how fencing designed to mitigate human-elephant conflict (HEC) on the Borderlands between Kenya...

Pastoralists in East Africa are among the world’s most vulnerable communities to climate change, already living near their upper thermal limits and engaging in a climate-sensitive livelihood in a climate change global hot spot. Pregnant women and children are even more at risk. Here, we report the findings of a study characterizing Samburu pastoralist women’s experiences of severe drought and outcomes in their children (N = 213, 1.8–9.6 y). First, we examined potential DNA methylation...

Nonhuman primate species spend a conspicuous amount of time grooming during social interactions, a behaviour that probably serves both social and health-related functions. While the social implications of grooming have been relatively well studied, less attention has been paid to the health benefits, especially the removal of ectoparasites, which may act as vectors in disease transmission. In this study, we examined whether grooming behaviour reduced tick load (number of ticks) and haemoprotozoan infection status in...

Background: Glossina pallidipes is a major vector of both Human and Animal African Trypanosomiasis (HAT and AAT) in Kenya. The disease imposes economic burden on endemic regions in Kenya, including south-western Kenya, which has undergone intense but unsuccessful tsetse fly control measures. We genotyped 387 G. pallidipes flies at 13 microsatellite markers to evaluate levels of temporal genetic variation in two regions that have been subjected to intensive eradication campaigns from the 1960s to the...

Article Authors Metrics Comments Related Content Abstract Introduction Materials and methods Results Discussion Limitations Conclusion Supporting information Acknowledgments References Reader Comments (0) Media Coverage (0) Figures Abstract Background: 1.5 million Kenyans are living with HIV/AIDS as per 2015 estimates. Though there is a notable decline in new HIV infections, continued effort is still needed to develop an efficacious, accessible and affordable HIV vaccine. HIV vaccine clinical trials bear risks, hence a need to understand volunteer...

The impacts of vaccination on the transmission of Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) have not been evaluated. We have developed a RVFV transmission model comprising two hosts -- cattle as a separate host and sheep and goats as one combined host (herein after referred to as sheep) -- and two vectors -- Aedes species (spp) and Culex spp -- and used it to predict the impacts of: (1) reactive vaccination implemented at various levels of...

Some equatorial environments exhibit substantial within-location variation in environmental conditions throughout the year and yet have year-round breeding birds. This implies that breeding in such systems are potentially unrelated to the variable environmental conditions. By breeding not being influenced by environmental conditions, we become sure that any differences in immune function between breeding and non-breeding birds do not result from environmental variation, therefore allowing for exclusion of the confounding effect of variation in environmental conditions....

1. The need to address wildlife conservation outside of protected areas has become more urgent than ever before to meet environmental and socio-economic goals. However, there is limited knowledge about how woody plants respond to herbivory within landscapes shared by wildlife and domestic herbivores in African savanna, thus management decisions might be based on inaccurate information and ultimately be ineffective. 2. We compared woody vegetation dynamics between two adjacent ranches with different management objectives and...