M. Kleynhans

Effect of audit on critically ill pregnant women

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to ascertain whether there has been a change in the outcome of critically ill pregnant women from the indigent South African population from a clearly defined region in Pretoria, after the introduction of new management protocols supported by regular audit and feedback.Design/methodology/approach – A comparison of outcome of all women with severe acute maternal morbidity or maternal deaths was made between 1997/1998 (original protocol) and 2002/2004 (new protocol) was performed.Findings – It was found that there was a significant increase in the prevalence of critically ill pregnant women between 1997/1998 (8.40/1,000 births) and 2002/2004 (10.22/1,000 births; p<0.014), but a reduction in the MMR 133.2/100,000 births to 104.9/100,000 births (Odds Ratio 0.79, 95 Confidence Intervals 0.51 and 1.2) and in the mortality index from 15.9 per cent to 10.3 per cent (Odds Ratio 0.61, 95 per cent Confidence intervals 0.39 and 0.96). The pattern of primary obstetric causes o...

The effect of sports vision exercises on the visual skills of university students

Vision is one of the most important special senses and is the primary source of external information. The role of vision in our everyday lifestyles is immense and adequate visual skills are needed for simple tasks which include reading and writing, that are especially important for students. Stress is an important factor which most students deal with, and along with other external factors, could adversely affect the ability to effectively perform many visual skills. This study aims to determine if sports vision exercises could improve visual skills and thereby enhance motor and cognitive performance. A 169 second year physiology students (18-22 years of age) participated in the study. The students were divided into control (n=78) and experimental groups (n=91) and pre and post sports vision tests were conducted. This included testing visual skills such as visual acuity, eye dominance, focusing, tracking, vergence, sequencing, eye-hand coordination, visualization and reflex. The results showed a significant improvement in the sequencing and eye-hand coordination tests in the experimental group, whilst a non-significant improvement (control group) was observed in the visual acuity, visualization, tracking, vergence and reflex tests. The improvements (except for focusing) were greater in the experimental group than in the control group. The study clearly showed that correct sports vision training can improve certain visual skills and lead to an enhancement of motor and cognitive learning and performance. Sports vision exercises are therefore an efficient method of improving certain visual skills and possibly minimizing any defects caused by stress. Key words: Sports vision exercises, visual skills, students.

Comparing visual skills in sedentary and active work environments

This paper was initially delivered at the Annual Congress of the Biological Sciences Division of the South African Academy for Science and Art, ARC-Plant Protection Research Institute, Roodeplaat, Pretoria, South Africa on 01 October 2010.

The influene of an intense training programme on Cardio Stress Index

Mense ondervind baie stressors in hul alledaagse lewe, wat ‘n groot uitwerking het op daaglikse funksionering. Kardio Stres-indeks (KSI) is ‘n nie-indringende mate van die stres wat die hart ervaar. KSI (uitgedruk as ‘n persentasie) berekeninge word gebaseer op die duur van die QRS kompleks, hart tempo, ritme en standaardafwyking van die RR-interval (RRSD) spesifieke parameters.