User:2013dentistryMarenMartine

=Bionics= Bionics is the use of electronic and mechanical technology to simulate  biological systems. This science is used at many levels, for instance to create materials imitating silk thread from spiders or bird wings being the model for construction and design of airplane wings.

History of Bionics
Doctor and colonel in the Air Force, Jack Steel, created in 1958 the term "bionics". The same year at Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden the first fully implantable artificial pacemaker was inserted into a human patient. It did only work for three hours. In 1961 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a computer-operated mechanical hand was developed. 

Use of Bionics
Bionics are used for many different purposes including replace injured body parts, help humans prevent dangerous situations like disposing bombs. It can also be used to entertain, like robotic dog that is capable of learning new tricks.

Medical Bionics
In 2010 Berkeley Bionics demonstrated the use of robot legs called eLEGS. They weigh 20 kg and are built of carbon fiber and titan. eLEGS also consist of batteries and a microprocessor carried in a backpack when walking. 

Professor Ali Khademhosseini at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, has constructed heart tissue of hybrid materials, consisted of cardiac cells and carbon nanotubes. This discovery might make it possible to repair damaged tissue from heart attacks or provide robot hearts made of living tissues.  Researchers at Harvard University and California Institute of Technology have also turned living cardiac cells and silicone into tissues creating freely swimming jellyfish. 

Cochlear Implant
The cochlear implant is an artificial auditory system implanted in the ear and connected to nerves and brain. Researchers are trying to improve the design and function of the cochlear implant and other bionic hearing devices. Current projects deal with research on sound processing to improve the perception sounds like speech and music. Some researchers also try to develop new techniques to improve the way the hearing nerve works, as well as research into the brain’s response to combined electric and acoustic stimulation. The most common cause of deafness is damage to the sensitive hair cells of the inner ear (cochlea), known as sensorineural hearing loss. For people with the most severe hearing loss, the only therapeutic procedure available is the cochlear implant. 

The bionic ear works by activating auditory neurons with electrical signals within the cochlea. The electrode array of the bionic ear is inserted into the cochlea. It contains many electrode contacts and in this way it can activate the auditory neurons. However, little is known about the individual auditory neurons respond to signals from the electrode array, and how long periods of deafness may influence the ability of the neurons to provide sound information.

During cochlear implantation there is a risk of failure. Device failure is one of the most important. A total of 246 implants over an eleven-year period were evaluated, a total of 28 complications were reported. It was more frequent among children less than 10 years old. However, cochlear implant surgery has a low complication rate and complications are usually resolved easily. 

Bionic Vision
Restoring vision to the blind is now approaching a tractable reality. Visual neuroprosthetic devices could potentially provide useful vision and improve the quality of life of profoundly blind individuals through the stimulation of visual neural elements using appropriate patterns of electrical stimulation. 

Retina Implant
Artificial retinal devices are novel and revolutionary, it is some of the most advanced retinal prosthesis. Development of the field of visual prosthesis began with cortical prosthetic devices, since then new devices have been developed. 

The Argus II
The system is designed to treat near blindness caused by retinitis pigmentosa. It consists of a tiny video camera mounted in glasses that is wirelessly linked to a receiver and microelectrode array implanted onto the patient's retina. The system began clinical trials in the U.S. back in 2007 and won approval for sale in Europe in 2011. 

Video of Argus ll
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Bi_HpbFKnSw

=References= 1. http://www.ethicalbionics.org/bionics.html

2. http://natgeo.no/teknologi/bionikk-robotben-skal-hjelpe-lamme-med-a-ga

3. http://www.bionicsinstitute.org/research/bionic-hearing/Pages/bionic-hearing.aspx

4.http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/07/behold-the-artificial-jellyfish