Publications by authors named "Gitau J"

Background: The immune response against tumors relies on distinguishing between self and non-self, the basis of cancer immunotherapy. Neoantigens from somatic mutations are central to many immunotherapeutic strategies and understanding their landscape in breast cancer is crucial for targeted interventions. We aimed to profile neoantigens in Kenyan breast cancer patients using genomic DNA and total RNA from paired tumor and adjacent non-cancerous tissue samples of 23 patients.

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Background: Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumor in women worldwide, and disproportionately affects Sub-Saharan Africa compared to high income countries. The global disease burden is growing, with Sub-Saharan Africa reporting majority of the cases. In Kenya, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer, with an annual incidence of 7,243 new cases in 2022, representing 25.

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  • Rift Valley Fever (RVF) is a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes, mainly affecting livestock like sheep and cattle, and can lead to significant mortality and reproductive loss.
  • The study focuses on uncovering gene clusters and regulatory elements involved in RVF to develop potential vaccines and treatments by analyzing RNA-Seq samples using advanced computational techniques.
  • Key findings include identifying enriched gene modules related to immune response and viral defense, as well as regulatory motifs that could serve as targets for new therapeutic strategies against RVF progression.
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Multiple mycotoxins were tested in milled rice samples ( = 200) from traders at different milling points within the Mwea Irrigation Scheme in Kenya. Traders provided the names of the cultivar, village where paddy was cultivated, sampling locality, miller, and month of paddy harvest between 2018 and 2019. Aflatoxin, citrinin, fumonisin, ochratoxin A, diacetoxyscirpenol, T2, HT2, and sterigmatocystin were analyzed using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS).

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  • A study used a radiotracer (Technetium-99m) to investigate the behavior of materials in a ball mill at a cement plant in Kenya.
  • The researchers measured the residence time distribution (RTD) of the raw feed and determined the solid holdup and mean residence times (MRTs) in both the ball mill and the separator.
  • Modeling of the RTDs showed a high level of backmixing in the ball mill, while the separator exhibited no axial mixing.
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Background: Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a global public health issue. Women in the UK are at risk of FGM and its adverse health consequences but little is known about its practice. Since 1985 it has been a criminal offence to perform FGM in the UK and further legislation has tightened the law but FGM continues.

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Biting flies of the family Tabanidae are important vectors of human and animal diseases across continents. However, records of Africa tabanids are fragmentary and mostly cursory. To improve identification, documentation and description of Tabanidae in East Africa, a baseline survey for the identification and description of Tabanidae in three eastern African countries was conducted.

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Purulent pericarditis is a rare clinical entity in the modern antibiotic era. The most common portal of entry is thought to be direct extension from a primary lung source and is usually caused by , or We report the case of a man aged 69 years who presented with purulent pericarditis due to likely caused by haematogenous spread from a urinary tract source. Urgent pericardiocentesis was vital and restored his haemodynamic stability.

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Mycobacteria leprae(leprosy) and HIV coinfection are rare in Kenya. This is likely related to the low prevalence (1 per 10,000 of population) of leprosy. Because leprosy is no longer a public health challenge there is generally a low index of suspicion amongst clinicians for its diagnosis.

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Background: United states Agency for International development-Academic Model for Providing Accesses to Healthcare (USAID-AMPATH) cares for over 80,000 HIV-infected patients. Express care (EC) model addresses challenges of: clinically stable patient's adherent to combined-antiretroviral-therapy with minimal need for clinician intervention and high risk patients newly initiated on cART with CD4 counts < or = 100 cells/mm3 with frequent need for clinician intervention.

Objective: To improve patient outcomes without increasing clinic resources.

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Background: Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia has generally been regarded to be an uncommon opportunistic infection in HIV infected individuals in sub-Saharan Africa. The reason for this has not been clear but postulates included a lack of suitable pathogenic types in the African environment, diagnostic difficulties and the more commonly held belief that African HIV infected individuals were dying early from common non-opportunistic pathogens before severe degrees of immunosuppression occured. Recently a trend has emerged at the Mbagathi district hospital whereby an increasing number of HIV infected patients are empirically treated for Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) based on clinical and radiological features.

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