Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
28 December 2020 | Story André Damons | Photo Supplied
Dr Michael Pienaar is a lecturer in the University of the Free State’s (UFS) department of Paediatrics and Child Health.

A lecturer from the University of the Free State’s (UFS) department of Paediatrics and Child Health is investigating the use of artificial neural networks to develop models for the prediction of patient outcomes in children with severe illness.

Dr Michael Pienaar, senior lecturer and specialist, is conducting this research as part of his doctoral research and the study deals primarily with the development of models that are designed and calibrated for use in South Africa. These artificial neural networks are computer programs designed to mimic some of the learning characteristics of biological neurons.

The potential applications of models

According to Dr Pienaar these models have traditionally been developed in high-income nations using conventional statistical methods.

“The potential applications of such models in the clinical setting include triage, medical research, guidance of resource allocation and quality control. Having initially begun this research investigating the prediction of mortality outcomes in the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) I have broadened my scope to patients outside of PICU, seeking to identify children early during their illnesses who are at risk of serious illness requiring PICU,” says Dr Pienaar.

The research up until now has been directed towards the identification of characteristics that are both unique to children with serious illness in South Africa, but also accessible to clinicians in settings where expertise and technical resources are limited.

Research still in the early changes

The research is still in its early stages but next year a series of expert review panels will be held to investigate the selection of variables for the model, after which the collection of clinical data will begin. Once the data has been collected and prepared, a number of candidate models will be developed and evaluated. This should be concluded by the end of 2022.

Says Dr Pienaar: “The need to engage with the rapid proliferation of technology, particularly in the realms of machine learning, mobile technology, automation and the Internet of Things is as great in medical research now as it is in any academic discipline.

“It is critical that research, particularly in South Africa, engage with this in order to take advantage of the opportunities offered and avoid the dangers that go paired with them. Together with the technology as such, it has been essential to pursue this project as an interdisciplinary undertaking involving clinicians, biostatisticians and computer engineers.”

Hope for the research  

Dr Pienaar says he was very fortunate and grateful to be the recipient of a generous interdisciplinary grant from the UFS which has allowed him to procure software and equipment that is critical to this project.

“The hope for this research is that the best performing of these models can be integrated with a mobile application that assists practitioners in a wide range of settings in the identification, treatment and early referral of children at high risk of severe illness. I would like to expand this research project to include other countries in Africa and South America and to use it as a bridge to collaboration with other clinical researchers in the Global South,” says Dr Pienaar.

As an early career researcher, Dr Pienaar hopes that this research can serve as a platform to build a body of research that uses the rapid technological advances of these times together with a wide range of collaborations with other disciplines in the pursuit of better child health.

He concludes by saying that he has had excellent support thus far from his supervisors, Prof Stephen Brown (Faculty of Health Sciences, UFS), Dr Nicolaas Luwes (Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, Central University of Technology) and Dr Elizabeth George (Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit, University College London). I have also been supported by the Robert Frater Institute in the Faculty of Health Sciences.

News Archive

Inaugural lecture by Prof Kwandiwe Kondlo
2011-08-26

 

Present at the inaugural lecture of Prof Kwandiwe Kondlo were from the left: Prof. Lucius Botes, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities; Prof. Kwandiwe Kondlo and Prof. Teuns Verschoor, Vice-Rector: Institutional Affairs
Photo: Stephen Collett

Can the South African Communist Party (SACP) ever become a viable option for the ANC or has it become just a flat spare-tyre of the ruling party? Is there more to expect from the SACP or has it run full cycle? These are some of the questions that were brought up by Prof. Kwandiwe Kondlo at his inaugural lecture at our university on 24 August 2011.

Prof. Kondlo, head of our Centre for Africa Studies, told the audience that the current SACP (unlike pre-1994) is a party in which theory and intellectual reflection were being eclipsed by politics of pragmatism and warned that self-interest and ambition have become a problem. Delivering his lecture on the topic The South African Communist Party and the Dilemma of the National Democratic Revolution in South Africa, 1994 to date, Prof. Kondlo warned that he may ruffle feathers amongst those with ideological commitments and said that as an intellectual it was his job to irritate.
 
Prof. Kondlo told the audience his lecture would re-open old debates telling them that old questions are making way to the fore, for example the nationalisation debate.
 
Please find Prof. Kwandiwe Kondlo’s full inaugural lecture in the attached document. 

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept