Sonar System For The Blind

ScienceDaily (June 26, 2008) —

"Echolocation is a method of perceiving the world by emitting noises, then listening to the reflections of these noises off objects in the environment. Animals use echolocation for hunting and navigation, but visually impaired humans also employ echolocation as part of their orienting repertoire while navigating the world. There are a few rare individuals who can echolocate very well without assistance.

However, researchers at Boston University have developed a prototype device that can enhance auditory cues while navigating an environment. The device repeatedly emits an inaudible (to humans) ultrasonic click several times per second, and each click reflects off any objects in the environment. The reflections are then detected by special head-mounted microphones, and computer processing converts the ultrasonic signals into audible signals, which the user then can hear over custom open-ear earphones."

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Online Service Lets Blind Surf The Internet From Any Computer, Anywhere

ScienceDaily (June 27, 2008) —

"Visions of future technology don't involve being chained to a desktop machine. People move from home computers to work computers to mobile devices; public kiosks pop up in libraries, schools and hotels; and people increasingly store everything from e-mail to spreadsheets on the Web.

But for the roughly 10 million people in the United States who are blind or visually impaired, using a computer has, so far, required special screen-reading software typically installed only on their own machines.

New software, called WebAnywhere, launched today lets blind and visually impaired people surf the Web on the go. The tool developed at the University of Washington turns screen-reading into an Internet service that reads aloud Web text on any computer with speakers or headphone connections."

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The Ultimate Guide to Special Needs Teaching: 100+ Resources and Links

By Laura Milligan

"Whether you have an entire class of students with special needs, or you’ve welcomed a student with a disability into your traditional classroom, this massive list of resources will help you research different disorders and conditions, review special lesson plans, and find the support you need to work with your students and help them succeed.

Blind Students

For instructing blind and visually impaired students, turn to this list of resources for teaching math, translating texts into braille and more.

1. Teaching Math to Visually Impaired Students: Learn all about Nemeth Code and different strategies for teaching the visually impaired how to solve and decode math problems.
2. National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped: Use this resource to find books in braille and audio books.
3. Strategies for Teaching Students with Vision Impairments: This guide from West Virginia University helps teachers who aren’t used to teaching blind or visually impaired students understand what kinds of words to use and which tools and lab equipment to use in class.
4. National Braille Press: Browse the bookstore, have your class join the Children’s Book Club and find textbooks and tests for your visually impaired students here. The NBP can translate study guides, music and worksheets into braille.
5. Badger Accessibility Services: This resource from the University of Wisconsin-Madison lists places to find enlarged text books e-text to voice conversion teaching materials and audio materials."

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14th Annual People on the Go Fundraiser Bowlathon

The 14th Annual People on the Go Fundraiser will be a Bowlathon at the AMF Columbia Lanes on 1732 Bush River Road Saturday, July 19 from 1-4 p.m.

Discount Tickets - $10.00 Free shoe rental, coke and popcorn

For more information call 748-5020 or 787-0286.

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Neural Implant That Learns With The Brain May Help Paralyzed Patients

ScienceDaily (June 24, 2008) —

"Devices known as brain-machine interfaces could someday be used routinely to help paralyzed patients and amputees control prosthetic limbs with just their thoughts. Now, University of Florida researchers have taken the concept a step further, devising a way for computerized devices not only to translate brain signals into movement but also to evolve with the brain as it learns.

Instead of simply interpreting brain signals and routing them to a robotic hand or leg, this type of brain-machine interface would adapt to a person's behavior over time and use the knowledge to help complete a task more efficiently, sort of like an assistant, say UF College of Medicine and College of Engineering researchers who developed a model system and tested it in rats."

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Mind Over Matter: Monkey Feeds Itself Using Its Brain

ScienceDaily (May 28, 2008) —

"A monkey has successfully fed itself with fluid, well-controlled movements of a human-like robotic arm by using only signals from its brain, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine report in the journal Nature. This significant advance could benefit development of prosthetics for people with spinal cord injuries and those with "locked-in" conditions such as Lou Gehrig's disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

"Our immediate goal is to make a prosthetic device for people with total paralysis," said Andrew Schwartz, Ph.D., senior author and professor of neurobiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "Ultimately, our goal is to better understand brain complexity.""

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Brain Activity May Predict Schizophrenia Behavior Personalized diagnosis, treatment may be possible, U.K. study suggests

WEDNESDAY, June 18 (HealthDay News)

"British researchers say they have discovered a means of anticipating how people might behave during a psychotic episode.

The study, by a team at the University of Cambridge, found that patterns of normal brain activity may predispose individuals to different psychosis symptoms.

The researchers compared the brain activity of 15 healthy volunteers before and after they were given ketamine, a psychosis drug that mimics schizophrenia symptoms.

Increased brain activity during some tasks in the normal state predicted behaviors after the participants were given ketamine. For example, those who showed more frontal and temporal brain activity while imaging the sounds of voices in their normal state were more likely to experience strange perceptions after taking ketamine."

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Bilateral Cochlear Implants: A Case When Two Are Definitely Superior To One

ScienceDaily (Jun. 2, 2008) —

"A study of cochlear implant patients seen by Indiana University School of Medicine physicians is the first research to show evidence that cochlear implants in both ears significantly improves quality of life in patients with profound hearing loss and that the cost of the second implant is offset by its benefits.

The study, which appears in the May issue of the journal Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, found that improvements in factors that contribute to quality of life including such critical abilities as hearing in noisy environments, focusing on conversations, and speaking at an appropriate volume resulted when cochlear devices were implanted in both ears."

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Wireless Vision Implant: Implantable Prosthesis Lets Patients Perceive Visual Images

ScienceDaily (June 2, 2008) —

"About 30 million people around the world have grown legally blind due to retinal diseases. The EPI-RET project has sought for a technical solution for the past twelve years to help these patients. This work has resulted in a unique system – a fully implantable visual prosthesis.

For twelve years, experts from different disciplines in the fields of microelectronics, neurophysics, information engineering, computer science, materials science and medicine have been working to develop a visual prosthetic device for patients who have lost their sight through diseases of the retina.

In September 2007, their effort was rewarded. In a clinical study including six patients, the team was able to demonstrate not only that a completely implantable vision prosthesis is technically feasible and proven functioning, but also that it enables patients to perceive visual images."

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Longer Life For Paraplegic Patients With Superman Bicycle

ScienceDaily (Jun. 10, 2008) —

"A new type of exercise equipment can prevent serious lifestyle illnesses in paraplegic patients. The equipment, which was partly developed at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, was first designed for the American actor Christopher Reeve.

Patients who are unable to walk after a spinal injury have a poorer quality of life and a shortened lifespan than their non-paralysed counterparts. Sitting passively in a chair makes people susceptible to weight and digestion problems, lower bone density, diabetes – and last but not least, heart and circulation problems."

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Engineer Develops Detergent To Promote Peripheral Nerve Healing

ScienceDaily (Jun. 15, 2008) —

"A detergent solution developed at The University of Texas at Austin that treats donor nerve grafts to circumvent an immune rejection response has been used to create acellular nerve grafts now used successfully in hospitals around the country. Research also shows early promise of the detergent solution having possible applications in spinal cord repair.

The solution – combined with an enzyme treatment conceived at the University of Florida in Gainesville – is licensed by AxoGen, an Alachua, Florida-based company, and is used to create an acellular nerve graft from human cadaver tissue, called AVANCE Nerve Graft. Nationwide, nearly 100 patients suffering nerve injuries have received AVANCE grafts, all involving peripheral nerves which transmit sensory information between the brain and muscles."

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Lou Gehrig's Protein Found Throughout Brain, Suggesting Effects Beyond Motor Neurons

ScienceDaily (Jun. 16, 2008) —
"Two years ago researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine discovered that misfolded proteins called TDP-43 accumulated in the motor areas of the brains of patients with amyotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease. Now, the same group has shown that TDP-43 accumulates throughout the brain, suggesting ALS has broader neurological effects than previously appreciated and treatments need to take into account more than motor neuron areas."

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Increase in Autism Due Only to Changes in Diagnosis

By Matt Ransford
"There is more evidence this month demonstrating that we are not, in fact, presently suffering through an age of increased incidence of autism, but rather as the definition of autism is refined, we discover individuals who were previously misdiagnosed. A University of Oxford study has followed up with a group of 38 adults who were originally involved in a series of studies on developmental language disorders in the late 80s and 90s. Those who manifest symptoms of the disorders have difficulty with spoken language, a trait also seen in autism. All of the subjects had attended specialized schools and were previously not diagnosed with autism."

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