Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

Need to improve the care of seriously ill children leads to PhD

14 December 2022 | Story André Damons | Photo André Damons

Dr Michael Pienaar 1 — Dr Michael Pienaar, Senior Lecturer and specialist in the UFS Department of Paediatrics and Child Health being presented to the acting Chancellor by his supervisor Prof Stephen Brown.

A lecturer from the University of the Free State (UFS) says the need to improve the care of seriously ill children is a vital part of reducing preventable deaths and diseases, and this led him to investigate the use of artificial neural networks to develop models for the prediction of patient outcomes in children with severe illness. The study was done for his PhD thesis.

This forms the basis for the PhD thesis of Dr Michael Pienaar, Senior Lecturer and specialist in the UFS Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, called, The Development and Validation of Predictive Models for Paediatric Critical Illness in Children in Central South Africa using Artificial Neural Networks. His thesis reports the development and testing of several machine learning models designed to help healthcare workers identify seriously ill children early in a range of resource-limited settings. Combining a systematic literature search and Delphi technique with clinical data from 1 032 participants, this research led to significant progress towards implementable models for community health workers in clinical practice.

Care for critically ill children is a mission and calling

Dr Pienaar graduated with a PhD specialising in Paediatrics on Monday (12 December) during the Faculty of Health Sciences’ December graduation ceremony. It took him three years to complete this degree. His supervisor was Prof Stephen Brown, Principal Specialist and Head of the Division of Paediatric Cardiology in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the UFS. Prof Nicolaas Luwes and Dr EC George were his co-supervisors.

“I have been working in paediatric critical care since 2019 and see the care of critically ill children as my mission and calling in life. At the outset of the project, I was interested in approaches to complex phenomena and wanted to investigate new methods for tackling these in healthcare.

“I have been interested in technology since childhood and in collaborating with other disciplines since I joined the university in 2019. Machine learning seemed like a great fit that could incorporate these interests and yield meaningful clinical results,” explains Dr Pienaar the reason why he chose this topic for his thesis.

He hopes that, in time, this work will lead to the implementation of integrated machine learning models to improve care and clinical outcomes for children in South Africa. From a scholarship perspective, he continues, his hope is that this work draws interest to this field in clinical research and encourages a move towards incorporating these new methods, as well as skills in areas such as coding and design in the armamentarium of a new generation of clinicians.

Medicine chooses you

According to Dr Pienaar, he always had broad interests, of which medicine is one. “I am very grateful to have found my way in medicine and am humbled and privileged to be allowed to walk with children and their families on a difficult and important journey. I believe this profession will choose you and put you where you are needed if you give it time and are prepared to listen.”

He describes graduating as a complicated ending to this period of his life and the beginning of a next chapter. He was humbled by the graduation ceremony.

“It was wonderful to graduate with undergraduates and postgraduates in my profession – I felt great pride and solidarity joining these new colleagues and specialists in taking the oath. I am certainly relieved, proud, excited, and happy. I am also very grateful to the university, my promotors, colleagues, friends, and family for supporting me through this process. I must confess, it is also slightly bittersweet, I loved working on this and do miss it, but look forward to the next exciting project.

“I would like to thank my Head of Department, Dr (Nomakhuwa) Tabane, my supervisors, my family and friends once again. I would also like to acknowledge and thank the National Research Foundation (NRF) as well as the University of the Free State for their assistance with funding this research.”

News Archive

UFS involved in project to light up the townships

2006-06-06

The parties involved with the project are from the left: Prof Hendrik Swart (Departmental Chairperson of the UFS Department of Physics), Dr Thembela Hillie (CSIR), Prof Neerich Revaprasadu (Department of Chemistry at the University of Zululand) and Dr Wynand Steyn (CSIR).

UFS involved in project that could light up the townships

The University of the Free State’s (UFS) Department of Physics is involved with a project that could make life easier in the townships through the use of artificial light.

“The project is based on the use of sunlight to activate nano material in for example cement and paint during the day. At night the cement or paint can then radiate light,” said Prof Hendrik Swart, Departmental Chairperson of the UFS Department of Physics.

According to Prof Swart an amount of R3,9 million has been made available by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for the further development of the project.

Prof Swart visited the University of Florida in America in 1995 for a year where he researched luminescent phosphor material that is suitable for flat panel television screens. The red, green and blue spots on the television screens originate from these kinds of phosphor materials. “At that stage plasma television screens were only a dream. Today it is sold everywhere,” said Prof Swart.

“Upon my return I started a research group at the UFS which investigated the degrading of phosphor material. We also started to concentrate on the effectiveness of nano phosphors. In the mean time our cooperation with the Americans was strengthened with follow-up visits to America of my colleagues, Prof Koos Terblans and Mr Martin Ntwaeaborwa,” said Prof Swart.

“Nano phosphors are basically luminescent powders that consist of particles that are 1 millionth of a millimetre. These particles can provide light as soon as they are illuminated with, for instance, sunlight. The amount of time these particles can provide light, is determined by the impurities in the material,” said Prof Swart.

According to Prof Swart nano particles are developed and linked to infrastructure materials in order for these materials to be excited during the day by sunlight and then it emits light during night time.

“The nano material is of such a nature that it can be mixed with materials, such as paint or cement. The yellow lines of roads can for example emit light in a natural way during night time,” said Prof Swart.

About a year ago Prof Swart and Dr Thembela Hillie, a former Ph D-student of the UFS Department of Physics, had discussions with Prof Neerich Revaprasadu from the University of Zululand and the CSIR about the possibility of mixing these nano phosphor particles with other materials that can be used as light sources in the building of roads and houses.

“Prof Revaprasadu is also actively involved in the research of nano materials. Our efforts resulted in the CSIR approving the further extension of the project,” said Prof Swart.

“The UFS and the University of Zululand are currently busy investigating ways to extend the light emitting time,” said Prof Swart.

“There are eight M Sc and Ph D-students from the UFS and about five students from the University of Zululand working on this research project. The Department of Physics at the Qwaqwa Campus of the UFS, with Francis Dejene as subject head, is also involved with the project,” said Prof Swart.

According to Prof Swart the further applications of nano materials are unlimited. “Children whose parents cannot afford electricity can for instance leave any object such as a lamp, that is covered with these phosphor particles, in the sun during the day and use it at night as a light for study purposes,” said Prof Swart.

According to Prof Swart the further extension of the project will take about two years. “During this time we want to determine how the effectiveness of the phosphors can be increased. Discussions with the government and other role players for the possible implementation of the project are also part of our planning,” said Prof Swart.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
6 June 2006

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

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