Annotated Bibliography: Neuro-Prosthetics

Pablo Enriquez

ENGL 1311

Jorge Gomez

Annotated Bibliography

Cipriani, C., Controzzi, M., & Carrozza, M. C. (2011). The smarthand transradial

prosthesis. Journal of NeuroEngineering & rehabilitation (JNER), 8(1), 29-42. Retrieved from

http://encore.utep.edu:50080/ebsco-w-b/ehost/detail?sid=a3569f76-5b4e-4fee-b2ce-

cfbeaffbd996@sessionmgr112&vid=1&hid=112&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29w

ZT1zaXRl

This source starts out by giving us a little background information on the history of the prosthetics used to replace hands. Prosthetics have been available since the early 1970’s, starting from hand carved wooden body parts to robotic limbs and eventually prosthetics like the “smart hand”. Various scientists and neuro-engineers conducted a project to create a prosthetic hand called the “Smart Hand”. The article explains how the smart hand is made, what it is made of and how it works. The Smart Hand is a motorized prosthetic that has sensory capabilities, it is the next generation for the bionic hand. This source is a good example of what scientists are trying to achieve in the prosthetic field, they have the basics, now they’re taking the step in neuroprosthetics.

Weiland, J. D., Wentai, L., & Humayun, M. S. (2005). Retinal prosthesis. Annual Review of

Biomedical Engineering, 7(1), p.361-c-4. Retrieved from http://encore.utep.edu:50080/ebsco-w-

b/ehost/detail?sid=6785c3fa-ee7d-4fdf-b459-

2c22ff363e02@sessionmgr198&vid=1&hid=112&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29w

ZT1zaXRl

This source introduces the retina prosthetic which is a prosthetic for the eye, and explains how a chip that is approximately one centimeter in diameter can be placed in your eye and can connect to your brain. This prosthesis has given vision to people who were never able to see before or who have lost their vision in an accident of some sort. This article also explains how stimulation of the nerves has been used in the work of creating the retina prosthesis. This source is another good example of how far scientists, researchers, and engineers have come to restoring lost brain functions.

Courtine, G. (2013, 06). The paralyzed rat the walked. TedGlobal. [Video podcast]. Retrieved

from https://www.ted.com/talks/gregoire_courtine_the_paralyzed_rat_that_walked

In this video a scientist named Gregoire Courtine (head of the Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute of the Life Science School at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) talks to his audience about an experiment that took many months and a tremendous amount of perseverance to complete. Gregoire and his team were able to find a way to repair damaged neurons on a rat’s spine and have the rat’s body “fix itself” and walk again. Gregoire tells his audience about a dream that he has which was that through his research, patients who were deemed never able to walk again due to spinal injury can one day have a chance of walking again on their own. This source is great for my topic because it shows how far this research has brought neuroprosthetics and that hopefully in the near future there can be a cure for anything.

Carey, B. (2011). Memory implant gives rats sharper recollection. The New York Times,

Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/17/science/17memory.html?

action=click&module=Search&region=searchResults%230&version=&url=http%3A%2F

%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%3Faction%3Dclick%26region

%3DMasthead%26pgtype%3DHomepage%26module%3DSearchSubmit%26contentCollection

%3DHomepage%26t

%3Dqry105%23%2FMemory+implants+gives+rats+sharper+recollection&_r=0

This article is about an experiment that scientists carried out to try and figure out how to restore lost memory function of the brain. The scientists did so by training rats to pull a specific lever to receive water from a water bottle. Then after activating a few electrodes that were planted in the rats body that stretch from the head down the spine to the waist, the scientists were able to control the rat having memory of which lever to pull to receive the water. This article helps prove that the study in neuroprosthetics and neuroscience can help more than physical issues, but neural issues such as memory or diseases.

Kwok, R. (2013). Neuroprosthetics: Once more, with feeling. nature, Retrieved from

http://www.nature.com/news/neuroprosthetics-once-more-with-feeling-1.12938

In this Article Roberta talks about a prosthetic hand being capable of giving a sense of touch. Patients who have their limbs replaced by a prosthetic seem happy at first to be able to have a hand or half an arm again, but after a while these patients realized that not having a sense of touch can be very difficult to deal with. Roberta tells a story about a man named Igor Spetic and a woman named Cathy Huntchinson, who are using these prosthetics but found issues with not being able to feel what they were grabbing. Many scientists from various universities are

conducting experiments to try and solve this issue so that patients like Igor and Cathy can have a prosthetic that is as close as can be to a real limb. This is great for my topic because it shows this kind of research being done and goals that are trying to be achieved in this field.

Healy, M. (2012). Recorded brain commands, sent to muscles, may circumvent paralysis. Las

Angeles Times, Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2012/apr/18/news/la-heb-brain-

device-paralysis-20120418

This article talks about working with electric pulses that are sent from the brain directly to the muscles rather than drilling a hole through the skull and inserting a prosthetic directly into the brain. Scientists from North Western University and Pittsburgh University are hoping to find a way to send signals around the spinal cord to a designated muscle. The scientists did so by conducting an experiment with monkeys that were trained how to play catch. These monkeys were paralyzed by having a nerve block in their upper right arms, then they were injected with electrodes patterns of electric pulses into the muscles of the arm that was used to play catch. The scientists replayed the same messages that the brain sends through the nerves when they played catch without the nerve blocks, and the experiment ended up being up a success. This helps my topic because it shows that there are multiple ways that neuroprosthetics can be used.

Eveleth, R. (2014). When state-of-the-art is-second best. PBS, Retrieved from

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/tech/durable-prostheses/

In this article Rose introduces two different types of prosthesis, the first one “myoelectric” which are the prosthetics that are computer operated, contain small chips and wires, and contain sensors. The second kind of prosthesis that are explained are the “body powered”, which are made up of wires connecting to different parts of your body, being powered when you move an individual part of your body, thus being called body powered. This article also explains how these “prosthesists” which are the creators of these prosthetics are paid for what they create and not how long they work on it. This article is good for my topic because it explains two different types of prosthetics that are used, and explains one way on how some of these neuro-prosthesists make their money.

Marcus, G., & Koch, C. (2014). The future of brain implants. The Wall Street Journal, Retrieved

from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304914904579435592981780528?

mg=reno64

This article talks about some of the issues that scientists come across when building prosthetics and installing them into the human body. Dr. Marcus explains how when connecting a prosthetic to the brain there are risks of infection or unstable blood pressure just like a normal surgery. Dr. Marcus also talks about the short and long run of neuro-prosthetics, which in the short run they will only be used to help people who have lost certain functions. In the long run on the other hand there is a chance it will be used to enhance or even give people extra functions, for example a robotic eye that is capable night vision. This article is great for my topic because it shows that neuroprosthetics can not only help the ones who need certain brain functions restored, but in the future enhance them.