Medical Publishing

In 2001, the Dobelle Institute in New York developed an artificial eye can draw outlines of objects and therefore help the blind to distinguish their surroundings. The prosthesis consists of a pair of glasses on fixing a video camera and a detector distances. The camera records the environment and the sensor calculates the length distance that separates the individual from the obstacles. The information is sent to a small bag that is inside a computer. The computer cables are connected to the visual cortex, making up the optic nerve, brain perceives the forms of surrounding people and objects. The first tests are inconclusive because individuals achieve their independence.

José Sahel improved this technique, the institute’s director of vision of the Quinze-Vingts hospital in Paris. The computer is replaced by an electrode that connects directly into the eye. The images are taken by the camera present on the pair of glasses and send them directly to the microprocessor. The signal is sent directly to the optic nerve. No need to carry so many cables or over a computer. This discovery won him theAltran in 2007. Has still to be tested in people. (more…)

The next step is to enable amputees perceive new sensations such as temperature, pressure … The Applied Physics Laboratory at John Hopkins University plans to have prepared a prosthesis of this kind next year. From a team of researchers led by Douglas H. Smith, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, is engaged in developing an interface that links the prosthesis with the rest of the body. The problem lies in constructing a kind of nerve fiber network capable of sending information to the entire body.

The brain is the most complex organ in the body, fascinating in its plasticity and its ability to control the whole body. Researchers working on their understanding in order to help people with major disabilities to someday lead a normal life. ”

“Arise and walk”, this famous phrase that Christ told Lazarus is the name of a European program that began in 2000 and led the professor PierreRabischong, a researcher at INSERM, Montpellier . The objective of this project is to develop a technological mechanism to help people who are paralyzed by a member to develop some motor skills. (more…)