Self-organizing neural networks as a means of cluster analysis in clinical chemistry

Connectionist systems (often termed "neural networks") are an alternative way to solve data processing tasks. They differ radically from conventional "von-Neumann" computing devices. Recent work on neural networks in clinical chemistry was done using supervised learning schemes, resulting in models which resemble classical discriminant analysis. The aim of the present study is to make clinical chemists familiar with basic concepts of self-organizing neural networks employing unsupervised learning schemes. Using a benchmark data set on the composition of milk from 22 different mammals, it is demonstrated that self-organizing neural networks are capable of performing tasks similar to classical cluster analysis and principal component analysis. Self-organizing neural networks could be envisaged to provide an alternative way for reducing the dimensionality of complex multivariate data sets, thus producing easily comprehensible low-dimensional "maps" of essential features.