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7/7 victims are bionic surgery pioneersBy Sam Lister, Health Correspondent   A TEAM of British scientists has overcome one of the great challenges of modern medicine by developing technology that allows skin to bind with metal without causing infection, improving the prospect of bionic limbs.      Early clinical trials on a group of patients who have lost limbs, fingers and thumbs, including two people injured in the July 7 bombings a year ago, are described as very promising. Doctors hope to involve more survivors of the London bombs, as well as military personnel and other volunteers who have...

University of Utah researchers will receive up to $10.3 million to help develop a new prosthetic arm that would work, feel and look like a real arm. The Utah work is a key part of a U.S. Department of Defense contract worth up to $55 million to develop the new device for soldiers and potentially others whose arms were amputated. "Imagine an artificial arm that moves naturally in response to your thoughts, that allows you to feel both the outside world and your own movements, and that is as strong and graceful as an intact, biological limb," says bioengineer Greg...

Paralysed patients are being taught to use their hands and arms again by an electric ‘gauntlet’. It stimulates the muscles to make the hands and arms work again and also helps the brain to relearn how to move them unaided. An area of the brain unaffected by the stroke then takes over from the damaged area to control movement. Each year, millions of men and women around the world suffer from a stroke, which results in either death or severe disability. Many stroke patients have hand paralysis, which prevents them from doing many every day activities, from opening a door...

A ROBOT suit has been developed that could help older people or those with disabilities to walk or lift heavy objects. Dubbed HAL, or hybrid assistive limb, the latest versions of the suit will be unveiled this June at the 2005 World Expo in Aichi, Japan, which opened last month. A commercial product is slated for release by the end of the year. HAL is the result of 10 years' work by Yoshiyuki Sankai of the University of Tsukuba in Japan, and integrates mechanics, electronics, bionics and robotics in a new field known as cybernics. The most fully developed prototype,...

Stanford physicists and eye doctors have teamed up to design a "bionic eye," of sorts.On Feb. 22 in the Journal of Neural Engineering, Daniel Palanker, Alexander Vankov and Phil Huie from the Department of Ophthalmology and the Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory and Stephen Baccus from the Department of Neurobiology published a design of an optoelectronic retinal prosthesis system that can stimulate the retina with resolution corresponding to a visual acuity of 20/80—sharp enough to orient yourself toward objects, recognize faces, read large fonts, watch TV and, perhaps most important, lead an independent life. The researchers hope their device may someday...