Bionic eye gives blind man sight

Updated: 06:38, Friday May 4, 2012

A blind man in Britain has had a bionic eye implant that gives him rudimentary vision.

Chris James, who had been totally blind for more than 20 years, is the first British patient to be fitted with a digital chip similar to those used in mobile phone cameras.

Sky News was present during the operation and, later, when the chip was switched on.

‘I’ve always had that thought that one day I would be able to see again,’ he said.

‘This is not a cure, but it may put the world into some perspective.

‘It’ll give me some imagery rather than just a black world.’

Surgeons at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital and King’s College Hospital in London are testing the implant in a clinical trial of up to 12 patients with retinitis pigmentosa.

The inherited eye disease destroys the retina – the ‘seeing’ part of the eye that is equivalent to a film in an old camera.

Around 25,000 families in Britain are affected by the condition, for which there is no treatment.

Surgeons in Oxford fitted the chip beneath Chris’ retina in a complex eight-hour operation.

Professor Robert MacLaren, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Oxford, said the success of surgery was a ‘great relief’.

‘Chris is doing extremely well,’ he said.

‘With the first operation, with the new technology and the complexity of everything, we are all absolutely delighted with the result.’

A second patient has since been fitted with the chip and is also responding well.

The sensor, designed by the company Retina Implant, is just 3mm square and packed with 1,500 pixels.

Light falling on the pixels is converted into an electrical signal that is picked up by nerves and transmitted to the visual processing region of the brain.

Patients see a grainy, black and white image.

And because the chip only covers a small part of the retina, their field of view is limited to a window the size of a CD case held at arm’s length.

But, because Chris has been blind for so long, his brain will take weeks to make sense of the images.

Although he can see the curve of a plate, he does not see the whole circle.

Professor MacLaren said: ‘The image is fragmented.

‘A circle may be perceived as two half circles, or even four quadrants, perhaps in different parts of space. What the brain needs to learn to do is put that back into one single object.

‘It is repeating in many ways what we all did when we learned to see in early childhood.’

Professor MacLaren said future generations of the chip are likely to be bigger, to widen the field of view, and have greater resolution.

The technology could be a cost-effective alternative to guide dogs, which cost GBP50,000 to GBP75,000 to train.

The chip is likely to be suitable for several hundred patients with retinitis pigmentosa.

In future it could be used to restore sight in patients with macular degeneration, a common disease in the over-65s.

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Lung cancer alarm near coal-fired power stations

Updated May 03, 2012 14:21:26

Photo: Doctors cite lung cancer worries in region with coal-fired power stations (ABC)

A new analysis of pollution data for the Port Augusta region contradicts reassurances from the South Australian Government that smoking can be blamed for high lung cancer rates.

Residents of the region have long complained about health problems they link with two power stations, Playford and Northern, which burn highly-polluting brown coal.

The lung cancer rates around Port Augusta are said by medical experts to be double the expected number.

The independent analysis has been presented in Adelaide at a briefing for state parliamentarians organised by Doctors for the Environment Australia.

Port Augusta mayor Joy Baluch lost her husband to lung cancer 16 years ago and he never smoked.

She dismissed the Government’s explanation of high lung cancer rates in the region.

“Of course I don’t believe the Government, why should I? After 40 years of constantly being told that the problems at Port Augusta are attributed to the high consumption of cigarettes. This is absolute rubbish,” she said.

“They are blatantly lying to the residents.”

Fight for data

Air pollution statistics for Port Augusta are collected by Alinta Energy, which owns the two power stations, in conjunction with the Environment Protection Authority.

Professor David Shearman, of Doctors For The Environment Australia, said it took a six-month battle to get the figures, so they could be independently examined.

“What it amounts to is the community feels they have not been listened to,” he said.

“When you look at how this community exists, it exists under the shadow of a power station that pours out pollution. They’ve had to stomach this for years because it supplies a large portion of the state’s energy and there’s been no alternative.”

Professor Shearman said smoking rates were about 7 per cent higher in the Port Augusta region than other areas.

“That’s really insufficient to account for a doubling of … lung cancer,” he said.

He said cleaner alternatives for power generation now needed to be considered for the area.

Topics:lung-cancer, cancer, diseases-and-disorders, health, air-pollution, pollution, environment, doctors-and-medical-professionals, health-policy, environmental-health, local-government, government-and-politics, states-and-territories, medical-research, activism-and-lobbying, port-augusta-5700, adelaide-5000, sa, australia, port-pirie-5540, port-lincoln-5606

First posted May 03, 2012 11:48:28

O’Farrell bids to pass law for health union administrator

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/ofarrell-bids-to-pass-law-for-health-union-administrator-20120503-1y0ko.html#ixzz1toMaQkIq

Ricken Patel – Avaaz.org avaaz@avaaz.org	9:25 PM (1 hour ago)
to me

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• Ecosystem effects of biodiversity loss rival climate change and pollution
• Ecosystem effects of biodiversity loss could rival impacts of climate change, pollution
• Rapid decline in US Earth observation capabilities
• Stream temperatures don’t parallel warming climate trend

Ecosystem effects of biodiversity loss rival climate change and pollution Posted: 02 May 2012 03:47 PM PDT Loss of biodiversity appears to affect ecosystems as much as climate change, pollution and other major forms of environmental stress, according to results of a new study.

Ecosystem effects of biodiversity loss could rival impacts of climate change, pollution Posted: 02 May 2012 10:31 AM PDT Loss of biodiversity appears to impact ecosystems as much as climate change, pollution and other major forms of environmental stress, according to a new study. There has been growing concern that the very high rates of modern extinctions — due to habitat loss, overharvesting and other human-caused environmental changes — could reduce nature’s ability to provide goods and services like food, clean water and a stable climate.

Rapid decline in US Earth observation capabilities Posted: 02 May 2012 09:34 AM PDT A new report says that budget shortfalls, cost-estimate growth, launch failures, and changes in mission design and scope have left US Earth observation systems in a more precarious position than they were five years ago.

Stream temperatures don’t parallel warming climate trend Posted: 02 May 2012 09:34 AM PDT A new analysis of streams in the western United States with long-term monitoring programs has found that despite a general increase in air temperatures over the past several decades, streams are not necessarily warming at the same rate.