Showing posts with label prosthetic. Show all posts

Man says he couldn’t ride at Dollywood because of prosthetic leg

By WJHL Staff
JONESBOROUGH (WJHL) – A cell phone video taken by a local football coach during a family trip to Dollywood has gone viral. In it, Josh Edens, a football coach at David Crockett High School, says he wasn’t allowed to ride with his son on a ride called Rockin’ Roadway, because he has a prosthetic leg.
Edens said the park discriminated against him, requiring him to get a special pass before riding anymore rides.
“She informed me that without a blue card, I couldn’t ride any of the rides. That I had a visible disability and that I was different from the other patrons at Dollywood and because of that, I had to have a blue card,” he said.
Dollywood spokesman Pete Owens told News Channel 11 that the park has a designated Ride Accessibility Center to inform people about the requirements for each ride, and that anyone with a visible disability is required to have an Accessibility Pass...
Get the full story at Wate.com.
http://wate.com/2015/07/09/man-says-he-couldnt-ride-at-dollywood-because-of-prosthetic-leg/
accessible

TWO-LEGGED DOG INSPIRES MILITARY AMPUTEES

Nov 8, 2013 by Dan Doyle

Faith is a dog who was born with no front legs but has learned to walk on her hind legs. Her tail is in constant wag-motion, indicating her love of life and of all she encounters. And now, she has become a regular on military bases and in military hospitals where soldiers, who have become amputees while deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, see her as a real inspiration for themselves:
Read more at The Veterans Site
(http://theveteranssite.greatergood.com/clickToGive/vet/article/Two-Legged-Dog-Inspires-Military-Amputees720#utRpIkDUKyxEt5Hm.03)
prosthetic

Can We Really 3-D Print Limbs for Amputees?




A 3-D printed prosthetic hand (John Biehler/flickr)




For the approximately 1.7 million people in the United States living without one or more of their natural limbs, the process of acquiring a prosthetic one is exhausting. It’s a drain on time and money, involving mold fitting, laser body scanning, and hours upon hours in prosthetists’ offices.

But many of the approximately 34 million people around the world living without a natural limb don’t have access to this process at all.

The motivation to research and create more advanced prosthetic limbs is not financial. The money poured into research isn’t often recouped, simply because there aren’t enough customers. And it isn’t cheap for those customers, either.

3-D printing has the potential to change this.

When Scott Summit, the founder of Bespoke Innovations, started researching 3-D prosthetics six years ago, you had to go to Los Angeles to get a 3-D body scan and it cost about $800. Summit has been working for the past six years to reach a point where fully 3-D printed prosthetics become an easy reality. Everyone I talk to about the intersection of 3-D printing and prosthetics mentions Summit as the definitive expert in the field, and he says we can, right now, create a prosthetic limb with an iPhone and a 3-D printer. “I would like to see the creation of a prosthetic limb to be a viral app that’s usable by everyone,” Summit says.


Read the full article at the Atlantic 

(http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/08/can-we-really-3-d-print-limbs-for-amputees/278987/)
3D printer

Super-organs: building body parts better than nature



August 23, 2013

Synthetic DNA circuits inserted into human stem cells could soon allow us to build new organs with unprecedented precision and speed. The circuits can be designed on a computer and assembled from ready-made parts ordered online. The technique could prove an efficient way of making organs for transplant without the worry of rejection, and raises the tantalising possibility that it might one day be possible to upgrade the organs we were born with. Human cells have already been used to create a tiny liver and a set of neurons.

"At the moment, the aim is to normalise cells, but in future, enhancement has to be on the menu," says Chris Mason, a professor of regenerative medicine at University College London, who wasn't involved in the work.

To turn induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells into a specific tissue type, they are typically placed in a soup of DNA and signalling molecules. These enter the cells and flick certain epigenetic switches. What gets turned on or off depends on the ingredients in the soup. "The problem is that there are tens of thousands of these switches that all need to be set in the right way," says Mason. Another hurdle is that all cells in the soup are influenced in the same way and grow into the same tissue type. But a piece of liver tissue, say, is not the same as a functioning liver. The issue is even more apparent with complex organs such as hearts, says Guye.

Read the full article at Next Big Future 
design

British athletes seeking advantage from cutting-edge technology

By: Dan Roan 
22 August 2013 

Lutalo Muhammad is feeling ill.
"It's so life-like, I'm getting motion sickness," the European taekwondo champion and Olympic bronze medallist tells me as he tries to complete a flight-simulator challenge usually reserved for the world's best fighter pilots.
Muhammad has been granted access to a secretive bunker at BAE Systems' high-security factory in Warton, Lancashire. Final assembly of Eurofighter Typhoons takes place here and they are also building a multi-billion pound fleet of aircraft for the Royal Saudi Air Force.
It may all seem a far cry from the Korean martial art in which Muhammad excels but, as part of a newly extended partnership between UK Sport and the military defence giant, Warton's aerospace engineers may just hold the key to improving Britain's taekwondo prospects after the team'sdisappointing performance at the recent World Championships in Mexico.
Read the full article at BBC UK

Play m
Paralympic

71% of Americans Believe That by 2050, Artificial Limbs Will Perform Better Than Natural Ones





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Fascinating new data from the Pew Research Center
AUG 6 2013
In a report out today, the Pew Research Center offers a fascinating look at Americans' views on aging -- and on, specifically, the practice known as "radical life extension." The majority of American adults, the survey found, don't believe that such life extension capabilities will be generally feasible in the near future: 73 percent of them, asked whether the average person would live to be 120 years old by the year 2050, answered in the negative.

Where Americans place more confidence, it seems, is in the incremental technologies that could contribute to longer life spans. As part of its survey, Pew asked its respondents how optimistic they are about things like artificial limbs and cures for cancer. And the responses they got were fascinating:

Read more at the Atlantic 
physically disabled

Venezuelan Man Builds His Own Prosthetic Arm


By Spooky on July 23rd, 2013

Angel Sanguino, an electronics technician from Caracas, Venezuela, who last year lost his left arm in a motorcycle accident, has recently been awarded a Prize for Science, Technology and Innovation, after he manged to build an ingenious robotic arm that allows him to perform a series of useful tasks.

33-year-old Angel Sanguino was riding his motorcycle when he was hit by a speeding car engaged in illegal street racing. He was taken to the emergency room, and doctors were forced to amputate his left arm from the shoulder. It was a devastating blow for the talented electronics technician who worked for a prestigious computer part manufacturer, as he could no longer do his job with just one arm. The orthopedist told Angel he should accept his disability and move on with his life, but he had other plans. While in intensive care recovering from the surgery, severe internal organ damage and fractured legs, Sanguino learned he was going to become a father soon, and that gave him the strength to fight for his life and make sure he was able to provide for his family. Three months after his accident, the young Venezuelan used his experience as a cartoonist to design a prosthetic arm that would allow him to repair electronic components just like before.

Read more at Oddity Central 
design

A Prosthetic Limb, Controlled by an Amputee's Thoughts






Cyborgs are here -- or, at least, they're in DARPA laboratories.
For a while now, the Defense Department agency, alongside civilian researchers, has been working to develop prosthetic limbs that can be controlled by the brains -- as in, the thoughts -- of their wearers.

And one of the most promising of those prosthetic devices, especially for near-term, practical application, has been something that emphasizes the "man" in "bionic man." (Or, of course, the "woman" in "bionic woman.") DARPA, through its Reliable Neural-Interface Technology (RE-NET) program, has developed a prosthetic interface that relies on "targeted muscle re-innervation." TMR works, DARPA says, by essentially "rewiring nerves from amputated limbs," allowing the wearer of a given prosthetic to control the device with his or her existing muscles. The approach relies on signals, from nerves or muscles or both at the same time, to control the prosthetics and provide direct sensory feedback to the wearer. Limb to brain and back again.
design

Doctors Replace 75 Percent Of Man's Skull With Implant From 3D Printer



Doctors have used 3D printing technology to replace most of a man's skull.
The groundbreaking surgery occurred last week, when 75 percent of an American patient's skull was replaced with an implant from an Oxford Performance Materials 3D printer. According to the New York Daily News, the Connecticut-based company shapes implants specifically to the anatomy of each patient, who in this case, remains unidentified.
The implant is called the OsteoFab Patient Specific Cranial Device, made from PEKK polymer, which is similar to bone.
During the process of 3D printing, which is also known as additive manufacturing, a digital model becomes a three-dimensional, solid object as multiple layers of material are laid down and shaped, according to UPI.
The technology could revolutionize health care.
"It is our firm belief that the combination of PEKK and Additive Manufacturing ... is a highly transformative and disruptive technology platform that will substantially impact all sectors of the orthopedic industry," Scott DeFelice, President and CEO of Oxford Performance Materials, said in a press release.
The Daily News reported that approximately 300 to 500 patients use the implants monthly. They could potentially aid cancer patients, car accident victims and soldiers, among others.
3D printer

Blind Paralympian Champion Tim Reddish has Bionic Eye Implant.


Brilliant, Way to Go on February 21, 2013
‘The chip is changing my life’: Tim Reddish with the silver medal he won at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics and the OBE he was awarded in 2009
He’s won more than 50 medals swimming for his country, but Tim Reddish only ever had the pleasure of seeing a handful of them.
Diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition at the age of 31, the former Paralympian went totally blind 17 years ago.
But thanks to the fitting of a bionic eye, the 55-year-old can now see his haul in all its glory.
Mr Reddish – currently the chairman of the British Paralympic Association – told yesterday how a revolutionary retinal chip is enabling him to make out shapes and read a clock face.
Blind

Scientists use 3D printer and cartilage cells to create artificial ears




February 21, 2013

When a child is born with the congenital deformity known as microtia, they have an underdeveloped external ear – also known as the pinna. Even though their inner ear may be normal, the lack of the external structure can affect their hearing, plus it looks unusual. Normally, a replacement pinna is made from a foam-like material (or sometimes even cartilage from the rib cage) and implanted under the skin, although these don’t always look particularly natural. Now, scientists from Cornell University have developed a more realistic pinna grown from biological material, using a 3D printer.
The study was led by associate professor of biomedical engineering Lawrence Bonassar, and associate professor of plastic surgery Dr. Jason Spector. Their research team started by creating a 3D digital model of a five year-old girl’s fully-developed external ear, then using a 3D printer to build a mold based on that model.

Collagen harvested from rat tails was combined with cartilage cells gathered from cows’ ears to form a hydrogel, which was then injected into the mold. The collagen served as a scaffolding, upon which the cartilage cells could settle and grow.
“It takes half a day to design the mold, a day or so to print it, 30 minutes to inject the gel, and we can remove the ear 15 minutes later,” said Bonassar. “We trim the ear and then let it culture for several days in nourishing cell culture media before it is implanted.” After three months of being implanted under the back skin of lab rats, newly-grown cartilage had largely replaced the collagen in the ears.
3D printer

Mind-controlled robot arms show promise



People with tetraplegia use their thoughts to control robotic aids.

Two people who are unable to move their limbs have been able to guide a robot arm to reach and grasp objects using only their brain activity, a paper in Nature reports today1.
The study participants — known as Cathy and Bob — had had strokes that damaged their brain stems and left them with tetraplegia and unable to speak. Neurosurgeons implanted tiny recording devices containing almost 100 hair-thin electrodes in the motor cortex of their brains, to record the neuronal signals associated with intention to move.
In a trial filmed in April last year and presented with the paper, Cathy, who had her stroke 15 years ago and received the implants in 2005, used her thoughts to steer a robot arm to grasp a bottle of coffee and lift it to her lips. She drank and smiled (see video).
‘We’ll never forget that smile,” says Leigh Hochberg, a neuroengineer at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and a co-author of the paper.

read more...
design

Injured bald eagle gets new 3-D printed beak




By Jess Zimmerman
Photo courtesy of Birds of Prey Northwest.
Sometime in 2005, Beauty the bald eagle was shot in the face by a poacher, which damaged her beak badly enough that she couldn’t eat on her own. Animal rescue workers found her before she starved to death, and volunteers at the nonprofit group Birds of Prey Northwest nursed her back to health via tube-feeding and, later, hand-feeding with forceps. But it became increasingly clear that her beak was never going to grow back — meaning that Beauty would never be able to feed herself. She was on track to be euthanized.
But raptor specialist Jane Fink Cantwell, who dresses like Indiana Jones, refused to take “dead bald eagle” for an answer. She joined forces with mechanical engineer Nate Calvin of Kinetic Engineering Group, and together with other scientists, engineers, and even a dentist, they designed a nylon polymer beak that would perfectly replace Beauty’s lost upper mandible.
Calvin developed the new beak using a 3-D modeling program, then used a 3-D printer to fabricate it. After an arduous procedure to attach her prosthetic, Beauty was able to eat, drink, and preen herself on her own.
3D printer
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