Saturday, 5 May 2012

Two blind British men have electronic retinas fitted

          Technology is one of the techniques that innovated not only helping people to do many things but also helping the disability to live in a high quality of life.

          According to the article from Professor Robert MacLaren from Oxford Eye Hospital and Mr. Tim Jackson from King's College Hospital in London use the new technique to the blindness patient. They use the 3mm square wafer microelectronic chip that contains with 1,500 light-sensitive pixels, take over the function of the photoreceptor rods and cones. In the surgery operation, they place it behind the retina and there is the cable connects to the control unit that is under the scalp behind the ear. After the operation at the Oxford Eye Hospital, Chris James, the patient tells that there was a "magic moment". He can see the flashing light. It means that the chip is functional. Professor MacLaren who works in the study says that “It's the first time that British patients who were completely blind have been able to see something” and emphasis that "Here the patients had no light perception at all but the implant reactivated their retina after more than a decade." Another of study from King's College Hospital, Robin Millar is the patient who is the second surgery operation says he is also able to stand in a room and detect light coming through windows. Mr. Tim Jackson from King's College Hospital said “This pioneering treatment is at an early stage of development, but it is an important and exciting step forward, and may ultimately lead to a much improved quality of life for people who have lost their sight from retinitis pigmentosa.” Finally both of the study suggest that the microchip is not a treatment but it is a part of clinical trial.

          I think the method to use the microchip device. It is very useful to help the blindness person. This is one of the alternative methods that use the microchip technology. This process use electric to send data from retina to optic nerve. However, I think the same as suggest above that this method is not a treatment because there are many methods that can help the retina problem such as the biogenetics. It is also in the develop process, but there is a problem about the residual sight that happen to the patient. It is a comment from Professor Robert MacLaren.

          The method to help blindness person in the future can be possible both microchip device and biogenetics. The new study will prove the best solution to use in the future. It is very essential thing to help the blindness to improve their quality of life.__________
  
References
Fergus Walsh. (2012, May 3). Two blind British men have electronic retinas fitted. BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17936302

5 comments:

  1. Thank you Kon,
    I had seen that article, but not read it, so your summary was very informative. Since my own eyes continue to decline, it's something that interests me.

    Did you remember the rule that your response should be more than half the total length of your blog post, and probably more?

    That's OK. It's a good first response writing post, and as several people are finding, blogging can be a bit confusing the first time. I am sure that everyone will find it much easier the second time around.

    And as always, it helps a lot to read and compare your classmates' work to see how others have approached the same exercise.

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  2. Thank you for your suggestion. It is very good response, so I should improve my weak-point of writing skill in next time.

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  3. Kon,
    I don't think it's a weak point, just that your response to your source, the relatively easy part and the part we most want to practice here, should be more than 50% of the total length of your blog post.

    My guess is that most people find writing the second part, a short summary of their chosen source, much more challenging than the introduction and response.

    And as I wrote that last sentence, I decided it wouldn't hurt to make it a new poll for our blog, which is now there for everyone to vote on. After you've voted, feel welcome to add a response in a comment replying to this this one - click on "Reply" to open the comment box so that it goes under this comment, which is under Kon's response post "Two blind British men have electronic retinas fitted"

    Why might the summary be the difficult and time consuming part? Or am I wrong and it's not the difficult part?

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    Replies
    1. Writing my own summary of a source is usually the part of my response blogs that takes me the longest to write. It also tends to require the most effort, although there are some exceptions, such as when my response includes a supporting argument that I do put some thought into before and as I'm writing it.

      Am I abnormal?

      Delete
    2. From the voting so far, I'm definitely abnormal.

      Delete

Before you click the blue "Publish" button for your first comment on a post, check ✔ the "Notify me" box. You want to know when your classmates contribute to a discussion you have joined.

A thoughtful response should normally mean writing for five to ten minutes. After you state your main idea, some details, explanation, examples or other follow up will help your readers.

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