[Missouri-l] [leadership] FW: [CCLVI] Fw: [Acbny-l] Burst of Technology Helps Blind to See

[peter altschul]

Burst of Technology Helps Blind to See
> By
> PAM BELLUCK
> Published: September 26, 2009

> Blindness first began creeping up on Barbara Campbell when she 
was a
> teenager, and by her late 30s, her eye disease had stolen what 
was
left of
> her sight.

> Barbara Campbell is part of a worldwide experiment testing 
whether
> electrodes implanted in the eye can restore sight.

> Reliant on a talking computer for reading and a cane for 
navigating
New
> York
> City, where she lives and works, Ms.  Campbell, now 56, would 
have been
> thrilled to see something.  Anything.

> Now, as part of a striking experiment, she can.  So far, she can 
detect
> burners on her stove when making a grilled cheese, her mirror 
frame,
and
> whether her computer monitor is on.

> She is beginning an intensive three-year research project 
involving
> electrodes surgically implanted in her eye, a camera on the 
bridge of
her
> nose and a video processor strapped to her waist.

> The project, involving patients in the United States, Mexico and
Europe,
> is
> part of a burst of recent research aimed at one of science's
> most-sought-after holy grails: making the blind see.

> Some of the 37 other participants further along in the project 
can
> differentiate plates from cups, tell grass from sidewalk, sort 
white
socks
> from dark, distinguish doors and windows, identify large letters 
of
the
> alphabet, and see where people are, albeit not details about 
them.

> Linda Morfoot, 65, of Long Beach, Calif., blind for 12 years, 
says she
can
> now toss a ball into a basketball hoop, follow her nine 
grandchildren
as
> they run around her living room and "see where the preacher is" 
in
church.

> "For someone who's been totally blind, this is really 
remarkable,"
said
> Andrew P.  Mariani, a program director at the National Eye 
Institute.
> "They're
> able to get some sort of vision."

> Scientists involved in the project, the artificial retina, say 
they
have
> plans to develop the technology to allow people to read, write 
and
> recognize
> faces.

> Advances in technology, genetics, brain science and biology are 
making
a
> goal that long seemed out of reach - restoring sight - more 
feasible.

> "For a long time, scientists and clinicians were very 
conservative,
but
> you
> have to at some point get out of the laboratory and focus on 
getting
> clinical trials in actual humans," said Timothy J.  Schoen, 
director of
> science and preclinical development for the Foundation Fighting
Blindness.
> Now "there's a real push," he said, because "we've got a lot of 
blind
> people
> walking around, and we've got to try to help them."

> More than 3.3 million Americans 40 and over, or about one in 28, 
are
blind
> or have vision so poor that even with glasses, medicine or 
surgery,
> everyday
> tasks are difficult, according to the National Eye Institute, a
federal
> agency.  That number is expected to double in the next 30 years.
Worldwide,
> about 160 million people are similarly affected.

> "With an aging population, it's obviously going to be an 
increasing
> problem," said Michael D.  Oberdorfer, who runs the visual 
neuroscience
> program for the National Eye Institute, which finances several
> sight-restoration projects, including the artificial retina.
Wide-ranging
> research is important, he said, because different methods could 
help
> different causes of blindness.

> The approaches include gene therapy, which has produced improved
vision in
> people who are blind from one rare congenital disease.  Stem 
cell
research
> is
> considered promising, although far from producing results, and 
other
> studies
> involve a light-responding protein and retinal transplants.

> Others are implanting electrodes in monkeys' brains to see if 
directly
> stimulating visual areas might allow even people with no eye 
function
to
> see.

> And recently, Sharron Kay Thornton, 60, from Smithdale, Miss., 
blinded
by
> a
> skin condition, regained sight in one eye after doctors at the
University
> of
> Miami Miller School of Medicine extracted a tooth (her eyetooth,
> actually),
> shaved it down and used it as a base for a plastic lens 
replacing her
> cornea.

> It was the first time the procedure, modified
> osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis,
> was performed in this country.  The surgeon, Dr.  Victor L.  
Perez, said
it
> could help people with severely scarred corneas from chemical or
combat
> injuries.

> Other techniques focus on delaying blindness, including one 
involving
a
> capsule implanted in the eye to release proteins that slow the 
decay
of
> light-responding cells.  And with BrainPort, a camera worn by a 
blind
> person
> captures images and transmits signals to electrodes slipped onto 
the
> tongue,
> causing tingling sensations that a person can learn to decipher 
as the
> location and movement of objects.

> Ms.  Campbell's artificial retina works similarly, except it 
produces
the
> sensation of sight, not tingling on the tongue.  Developed by 
Dr.  Mark
S.
> Humayun, a retinal surgeon at the University of Southern 
California,
it
> drew
> on cochlear implants for the deaf and is partly financed by a 
cochlear
> implant maker.

> It is so far being used in people with retinitis pigmentosa, in 
which
> photoreceptor cells, which take in light, deteriorate.

> Gerald J.  Chader, chief scientific officer at the University of
Southern
> California's Doheny Retinal Institute, where Dr.  Humayun works, 
said
it
> should also work for severe cases of age-related macular 
degeneration,
the
> major cause of vision loss in older people.

> With the artificial retina, a sheet of electrodes is implanted 
in the
eye.
> The person wears glasses with a tiny camera, which captures 
images
that
> the
> belt-pack video processor translates into patterns of light and 
dark,
like
> the "pixelized image we see on a stadium scoreboard," said Jessy 
D.
Dorn,
> a
> research scientist at Second Sight Medical Products, which 
produces
the
> device, collaborating with the Department of Energy.  (Other 
research
teams
> are developing similar devices.)

> The video processor directs each electrode to transmit signals
> representing
> an object's contours, brightness and contrast, which pulse along 
optic
> neurons into the brain.

> Currently, "it's a very crude image," Dr.  Dorn said, because 
the
implant
> has
> only 60 electrodes; many people see flashes or patches of light.

> Brian Mech, Second Sight's vice president for business 
development,
said
> the
> company was seeking federal approval to market the 60-electrode
version,
> which would cost up to $100,000 and might be covered by 
insurance.
Also
> planned are 200- and 1,000-electrode versions; the higher number 
might
> provide enough resolution for reading.  (Dr.  Mech said a 
maximum
electrode
> number would eventually be reached because if they are packed 
too
densely,
> retinal tissue could be burned.)

> "Every subject has received some sort of visual input," he said.
"There
> are
> people who aren't extremely impressed with the results, and 
other
people
> who
> are." Second Sight is studying what affects results, including 
whether
> practice or disease characteristics influence the brain's 
ability to
> relearn
> how to process visual signals.

> People choose when to use the device by turning their camera on.  
Dean
> Lloyd,
> 68, a Palo Alto, Calif., lawyer, was "pretty disappointed" when 
he
started
> in 2007, but since his implant was adjusted so more electrodes
responded,
> is
> "a lot more excited about it," he said.  He uses it constantly, 
seeing
> "borders and boundaries" and flashes from highly reflective 
objects,
like
> glass, water or eyes.

> With Ms.  Morfoot's earlier 16-electrode version, which 
registers
objects
> as
> horizontal lines, she climbed the Eiffel Tower and "could see 
all the
> lights
> of the city," she said.  "I can see my hand when I'm writing.  
At Little
> League games, I can see where the catcher, batter and umpire 
are."

> Kathy Blake, 58, of Fountain Valley, Calif., said she mainly 
wanted to

> help
> advance research.  But she uses it to sort laundry, notice cars 
and
people,
> and on the Fourth of July, to "see all the fireworks," she said.

> Ms.  Campbell, a vocational rehabilitation counselor for New 
York's
> Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped, has long been
> cheerfully
> self-sufficient, traveling widely from her fourth-floor walk-up, 
going
to
> the theater, babysitting for her niece in North Carolina.

> But little things rankle, like not knowing if clothes are 
stained and
> needing help shopping for greeting cards.  Everything is a "gray 
haze -

> like
> being in a cloud," she said.  The device will not make her "see 
like I
used
> to see," she said.  "But it's going to be more than what I have.  
It's
not
> just for me - it's for so many other people that will follow 
me."

> Ms.  Campbell's "realistic view of her vision" and willingness 
to
practice
> are a plus, said Aries Arditi, senior fellow in vision science 
at
> Lighthouse
> International, a nonprofit agency overseeing her weekly 
training,
which
> includes practice moving her head so the camera captures images 
and
> interpreting light as objects.

> "In 20 years, people will think it's primitive, like the 
difference
> between
> a Model T and a Ferrari," said Dr.  Lucian Del Priore, an 
ophthalmology
> surgeon at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University 
Medical
> Center, who implanted Ms.  Campbell's electrodes.  "But the fact 
is, the

> Model
> T came first."

> Ms.  Campbell would especially like to see colors, but, for now, 
any
color
> would be random flashes, Dr.  Arditi said.

> But she saw circular lights at a restaurant, part of a light
installation
> at
> an art exhibition.  "There's a lot to learn," she said.  Still, 
"I'm,
like,
> really seeing this."


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/health/research/27eye.html?_r=1
&em=&pa
gewanted=all


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