[nfb-talk] Fw: Implanted chip 'allows blind people to detectobjects'

Thu Nov 4 14:42:14 UTC 2010

This is very interesting.  Part of me likes the idea of interfacing directly with the visual center of the brain rather than using external nerve endings such as is 
the case with devices that use the tongue or the back.  However, I also am a little uncertain of implanting a foreign object so close to the brain in terms of 
infection or rejection.  I'd like to understand more about that aspect before I would jump on such an idea.  Of course, in my case, it probably wouldn't work 
since my optic nerve is the problem.  <smile>

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Thu, 4 Nov 2010 08:30:16 -0400, Jennifer Aberdeen wrote:

>Thank God!

>This is great news!
>___________________________________________________________________________________________________
>Shop my store for the latest and greatest in beauty and wellness products!
>www.youravon.com/jaberdeen

>Get paid to read email!
>http://www.sendearnings.com/?r=ref1487633
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Kenneth Chrane" <kenneth.chrane at verizon.net>
>To: <CSDB-ALUMNI at googlegroups.com>
>Cc: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2010 8:21 AM
>Subject: [nfb-talk] Fw: Implanted chip 'allows blind people to 
>detectobjects'

>> What do you think about this Article?
>> Ken Chrane
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: Lela Behee
>> To: venetian-blind at googlegroups.com
>> Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2010 2:38 AM
>> Subject: Implanted chip 'allows blind people to detect objects'
>>
>>
>> Though this may not be helpful for those of us who have prosthetic eyes 
>> and so have no retina, what a very exciting leap forward this is in 
>> technology!
>> Praise our Lord!!
>>
>>
>> 2 November 2010 Last updated at 20:49 ET
>> Implanted chip 'allows blind people to detect objects'
>> By Neil Bowdler Science reporter, BBC News
>>
>> Miikka Terho is given the task of reading letters which together misspell 
>> his
>> own name
>> A man with an inherited form of blindness has been able to identify 
>> letters and
>> a clock face using a pioneering implant, researchers say.
>> Miikka Terho, 46, from Finland, was fitted with an experimental chip 
>> behind his
>> retina in Germany. Success was also reported in other patients.
>>
>> The chip allows a patient to detect objects with their eyes, unlike a 
>> rival
>> approach that uses an external camera.
>>
>> Details of the work are in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
>>
>> Professor Eberhart Zrenner, of Germany's University of Tuebingen, and 
>> colleagues
>> at private company Retina Implant AG initially tested their sub-retinal 
>> chip on
>> 11 people.
>> Some noticed no improvement as their condition was too advanced to benefit 
>> from
>> the implant, but a majority were able to pick out bright objects, Prof 
>> Zrenner
>> told the BBC.
>>
>> However, it was only when the chip was placed further behind the retina, 
>> in the
>> central macular area in three people, that they achieved the best results.
>>
>> Two of these had lost their vision because of the inherited condition 
>> retinitis
>> pigmentosa, or RP, the other because of a related inherited condition 
>> called
>> choroideraemia.
>>
>> RP leads to the progressive degeneration of cells in the eye's retina, 
>> resulting
>> in night blindness, tunnel vision and then usually permanent blindness. 
>> The
>> symptoms can begin from early childhood.
>>
>> The best results were achieved with Mr Terho, who was able to recognise 
>> cutlery
>> and a mug on a table, a clock face and discern seven different shades of 
>> grey.
>> He was also able to move around a room independently and approach people.
>>
>> In further tests he read large letters set out before him, including his 
>> name,
>> which had been deliberately misspelled. He soon noticed it had been spelt 
>> in the
>> same way as the Finnish racing driver Mika Hakkinnen.
>>
>> Three or four days after the implantation, when everything was healed, I 
>> was
>> like wow, there's activity," he told the BBC from his home in Finland.
>> "Right after that, if my eye hit the light, then I was able to see 
>> flashes, some
>> activity which I hadn't had.
>>
>> "Then day after day when we started working with it, practising, then I 
>> started
>> seeing better and better all the time."
>>
>> Soon Mr Terho was able to read letters by training his mind to bring the
>> component lines that comprised the letters together.
>>
>> The prototype implant has now been removed, but he has been promised an 
>> upgraded
>> version soon. He says it can make a difference to his life.
>>
>> "What I realised in those days was that it was such a great feeling to 
>> focus on
>> something," he says.
>>
>> "Even having a limited ability to see with the chip, it will be good for
>> orientation, either walking somewhere or being able to see that something 
>> is
>> before you even if you don't see all the tiny details of the object."
>>
>> Electrical impulses
>> The chip works by converting light that enters the eye into electrical 
>> impulses
>> which are fed into the optic nerve behind the eye.
>>
>> It is externally powered and in the initial study was connected to a cable 
>> which
>> protruded from the skin behind the ear to connect with a battery.
>>
>> The team are now testing an upgrade in which the device is all contained 
>> beneath
>> the skin, with power delivered though the skin via an external device that 
>> clips
>> behind the ear.
>>
>> This is by no means the only approach being taken by scientists to try to
>> restore some visual ability to people with retinal dysfunction - what's 
>> called
>> retinal dystrophy.
>>
>> A rival chip by US-based Second Sight that sits on top of the retina has 
>> already
>> been implanted in patients, but that technique requires the patient to be 
>> fitted
>> with a camera fixed to a pair of glasses.
>>
>> Charities gave the news of the latest work a cautious welcome.
>>
>> David Head, of the British Retinitis Pigmentosa Society, said: "It's 
>> really
>> fascinating work, but it doesn't restore vision. It rather gives people 
>> signals
>> which help them to interpret."
>>
>> Peoria Blind Center
>> www.peoriablindcenter.org
>> Here is the name of the group on facebook: PeoriArea Blind People's 
>> Center.  Your friends on facebook are going to have to get on
>> their facebook account and search for the group's name to join, or to see 
>> what we are about.
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
>> "venetian blind" group.
>> To post to this group, send email to venetian-blind at googlegroups.com.
>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to 
>> venetian-blind+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com.
>> For more options, visit this group at 
>> http://groups.google.com/group/venetian-blind?hl=en.
>> _______________________________________________
>> nfb-talk mailing list
>> nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk_nfbnet.org
>> 

>_______________________________________________
>nfb-talk mailing list
>nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk_nfbnet.org