Browsing by Subject "Biomedical Science"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Anthropometric variability, equipment usability and musculoskeletal pain in a group of nurses in the Western Cape
    (1997) Botha, Winifred Edna; Bridger, Robert S; Morris, Alan
    This study examined the anthropometry and anthropometric fit of a group of ward and theatre nurses in Western Cape private hospitals. Anthropometric variables were measured using a sample of nurses and a correlation matrix generated. All nurses were given a questionnaire concerned with operational problems in the work environment and musculoskeletal pain. The questionnaire was also completed by a group of sedentary nurses. The ward and theatre nurses reported numerous problems in the working environment, including lumbar backache, inadequate space and equipment that caused bodily discomfort. There were consistent, statistically significant associations between the frequency of occurrence of these problems and the anthropometric data indicating that the problems were caused or amplified by body size variability and were not simply general usability problems which would affect all nurses irrespective of their body dimensions. Further studies testing specifically for the consequences of mismatches and body size variability are recommended.
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    Cerebral Palsy and Rhizotomy: A ten year follow-up study with Gait Analysis
    (1997) Subramanian, Nivedita; Vaughan, Christopher Leonard (Kit)
    In 1985, a cohort of 14 children with cerebral palsy underwent a neurosurgical procedure - selective posterior rhizotomy - in an effort to reduce their spasticity. They were part of a prospective study in which their gait was analysed before surgery and at one and three years' post-operatively. In 1995, ten years after surgery, there were important questions that needed to be addressed: would their gait be different from the findings before surgery and three years after surgery and how would they compare with age-matched normal subjects? Three of the original subjects were lost to follow-up and 11 were invited to participate in this long-term study. Their ages ranged from 12 to 24 years at this time of evaluation. Their gait was studied in the sagittal plane by taping retro-reflective markers onto the greater trochanter, lateral femoral epicondyle and lateral malleolus and having the subjects walk in a direction perpendicular to a video camera recording their gait. The data were digitised and analysed making use of custom written software and all relevant gait parameters were calculated. The parameters evaluated were the ranges of motion and midrange values of the knee and thigh, and the spatial-temporal parameters, namely cadence, stride length and velocity. Data were also obtained from twelve age-matched normal control subjects. The ten-year results were compared to the pre-operative data, the data obtained from the three-year study and the normal controls. A statistical analysis was performed on these parameters by using multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) and post hoc comparisons were performed with a Scheffe test and a significance level set at p < 0.05. Results indicated that after ten years, the joint ranges of motion and mid-range values did not differ significantly from the normal values. The values also did not vary significantly from the values obtained in the three-year follow-up study, suggesting that functional changes acquired due to rhizotomy were of long term duration. The spatial-temporal parameters, however, did differ significantly from the normal range. Although this finding may have been influenced by the environment and subject motivation, the reduced cadence and stride length meant that the cerebral palsy subjects walked slower than their normal counterparts. This project, while confirming the results of the previous subjective studies, provides the first long-term objective data that establishes the effectiveness of selective posterior rhizotomy in improving and maintaining locomotor function for children with spastic cerebral palsy.
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    The development of a neonatal vital signs database
    (1992) Berelowitz, Jonathan; Poluta, Mladen; Woods, David R; Van der Elst, Clive; Mann, Michael D
    Modern intelligent monitoring systems use digital computer technology to analyze and evaluate physiological vital signs. This analytical and evaluative process is performed by algorithms developed for this purpose. The degree of 'intelligence' of the monitoring system is dependent on the 'sensitivity' and 'specificity' of these algorithms. In order to develop robust and clinically valid algorithms, a database of representative waveforms is required. The aim of this thesis was to create a neonatal vital signs database to be used for this purpose, by means of a computer-based central station. The computer was interfaced to a number of neonatal monitors (Neonatal ICU, Groote Schuur Hospital). The monitors were interrogated to obtain patient condition, ECG waveforms and respiration waveforms using the impedance technique. When possible, percentage oxygen saturation was also captured. The database contains 509 documented clinical records obtained from 35 patients and 20 records containing examples of technical alarm conditions and high frequency noise. Additional patient record data is included. Clinical events recorded include apnoea, bradycardia, periodic breathing tachycardia, tachypnoea and normal traces. These events were recorded against a variety of signal quality conditions that have been characterized in Appendix C. A prototype rate detection algorithm was checked using samples from the database.
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    Evaluation of the competence and attitudes of primary care physicians towards information technology
    (2000) Vogelzang, Barnabas Heinrich; Boonzaier, David; Cook, Donald
    The aim of this project was to produce some principles that would assist software developers (SD's) in the design of software for South African general medical practitioners (GP's). The author wanted to give SD's a cognitive model of general medical practice in the hope that this will improve the relevancy of future medical software. This cognitive model is in the form of a set of principles that SD's can keep in mind when developing software for GP's. An evaluation was done of the attitudes and competence of GP's towards information technology. This was done via detailed telephonic interviews, which were analyzed in order to deduce these principles.