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

Thu Nov 4 16:14:58 UTC 2010

Nope.  My brain's just fine like it is.
 Honestly, if one adjusts to blindness, why would one want such a thing?  IF not well adjusted, then I suppose one might want such a thing.  but, what with the programs we have in place, one would think such a chip undesirable.

Sincerely, 
The Constantly Barefooted Ray!!!

Now A Very Proud and very happy Mac user!!!

Skype Name:
barefootedray

On Nov 4, 2010, at 10:35 AM, Gloria Whipple wrote:

> Have no desires for that.
> 
> 
> Gloria Whipple
> 
> cell number: 509-475-4993
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Jennifer Aberdeen
> Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2010 5:30 AM
> To: NFB Talk Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Fw: Implanted chip 'allows blind people to
> detectobjects'
> 
> Thank God!
> 
> This is great news!
> ____________________________________________________________________________
> _______________________
> Shop my store for the latest and greatest in beauty and wellness products!
> www.youravon.com/jaberdeen
> 
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> 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.
>> 
>> 
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