Browsing by Author "Smit, A."

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    Practical management of therapeutic diphenylhydantoin concentrations in children
    (Health & Medical Publishing Group, 1999) Smit, A.; Schoeman, J. F.; Seifart, H. I.; Parkin, D. P.
    Objective. Development of easy, practical methods for the management and optimisation of therapeutic diphenylhydantoin (DPH) concentrations in children. Design: Investigation of DPH concentration profiles and pharmacokinetic parameters in children with poorly controlled epilepsy. Subsequent determination of individual-specific DPH maintenance dosage and volume of distribution data suitable for use in routine therapeutic concentration management procedures. Setting. Department of Paediatrics and Child Health and Department of Pharmacology, University of Stellenbosch, Tygerberg Hospital. Subjects. Children of both sexes between the ages of 4 and 12 years with poorly controlled epilepsy receiving DPH as sole medication. Results. In all subjects evaluated epilepsy was unsatisfactorily controlled because of inadequate DPH dosage regimens. Individual-specific maintenance dosage and volume of distribution data could be calculated for all individuals participating in the trial. The calculated data were suitable for use in routine management procedures and in no instance was it necessary to recalculate parameters in a 12-month follow-up period subsequent to evaluation. Conclusions. Therapeutic DPH concentration profiles can be managed satisfactorily in children if individual-specific DPH pharmacokinetic parameters are derived and skilfully applied.
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    Viability of telemedical remote robotic systems
    (Industrial Engineering, Stellenbosch University, 2011-09) Smit, A.; Van der Merwe, A. F.
    Worldwide, the demand for telemedicine devices and systems has risen steadily in recent years. The design of remote robotic systems has always been a complex undertaking. Technological limitations affecting bandwidth and access to communications infrastructure have impeded the advancement of a long distance remote robotic telemedicine system training purposes. Assessing the commercial viability and acceptability will be achieved by evaluating responses from expert user groups. This plays a crucial role in the development of future systems as well as providing expert-user data on user perception of such systems and data on the current viability of long distance patient care. An assessment of the information that is required to be presented to the medical professional in both training and diagnostic situations would have to be completed by making use of questionnaires and interviews. The system will be developed using low cost technologies with support structures in place as to facilitate financial feasibility and minimization of complexity along with intuitive control inputs. The results of the study will provide valuable information for the future development of commercially viable robotic telemedicine systems in South Africa.