The University of Southampton

Category: Practice blogs

AI Bionic Arms Exist: An Innovative Piece of Prosthetic Tech by Atom Limbs

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Background on Atom Limbs and Prosthetics

This is the first artificial human arm created by Atom Limbs called the ‘Atom Touch’.

Atom Limbs is a company whose goal is to build a better future for humans by building artificial prosthetics that allow amputees to regain function of lost limbs.

Prosthetics first emerged with the use of materials such as wood and metal, however current technology uses lighter and more durable materials such as carbon fiber and silicon. Despite the modern world having great advancements in technology, most prosthetic limbs have remained the same in that they give the appearance of a functioning limb but are relatively useless to the wearer.

Prosthetic toe from ancient Egypt

Ethical and Societal Considerations

Bionic products tend to be expensive which puts most devices out of reach for many disabled people, who statistics show are more likely to be on the poorer end of society. There may also be supply issues for low income countries who have limited access to specialised medical facilities. This seems to partially be why less than 1 in 5 people with arm loss do not use a prosthetic. So what is the point of making a device to improve quality of life if the intended target audience doesn’t use them?

I read this BBC News article and it appears that Atom Limbs have dwelled upon this ethical consideration positioning their bionic arm around £15,000, which – although still a lot – is considerably less than many other similar devices on the market. A more reasonable price for a high quality bionic product. This made me question myself – if I had a missing arm, would I get this bionic arm? Considering its price, my decision would come down to the prosthetics practicality and usability in everyday life. If it functions like a real arm, then it would be justifiable to spend such an amount as it is a life-long investment.

The Underlying Science

The prosthetic arm controlled by your mind | BBC News

Neural Interface

Atom Limbs primarily relies on the use of advanced sensors and machine learning algorithms to interpret signals from the brain and utilise them to move a prosthetic limb. It connects to the wearer’s residual limb with bands of sensors that measure electrical signals produced from muscle movements. Signals are then picked up by electrodes and integrated. This innovative mechanism is known as myoelectric control.

Attachment

The arm attaches via a vest and is a non-invasive procedure which means no surgery is required for it to function. It uses breathable and lightweight materials providing comfort, which I believe would encourage amputees to choose the ‘Atom Touch’ over other prosthetic arms.

Haptic Feedback

One of the challenges posed in the use of bionic arms is the grip strength used on different objects. How would a wearer be able to tell how strongly they are gripping, for example, an egg to ensure it doesn’t crack? The answer is haptic feedback – this is delivered to the user through vibrations which are produced when sensors detect interaction with the environment.

Motion

The near-full range of motion in the elbow, wrist and individual fingers allows the wearer to fully interact with the world and regain their sense of touch. For someone who has not lost a limb, this may seem like a trivial feature, however for an amputee this may be an extraordinary feeling. An amputee reporter from the BBC News operated a digital version of the bionic arm.

“The notion of learning how to control a part of the body I don’t have is almost impossible to describe.”

Paul Carter from BBC News

To hear or not to hear? That is the question.

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A estimated 900,000 people in the UK suffer from server or profound hearing loss (approximately 1.34% of the UK population), and the World Health Organisation estimate that a whopping 5% of the global population suffer from disabling hearing loss! Now you may think that these stats aren’t anything to worry about and that hearing aids will compensate for hearing loss. You wouldn’t be completely incorrect, as hearing aids do help those with partial deafness, but they do not provide the same level of aid for those who suffer from serve/profound hearing loss.

Those who suffer from serve/profound hearing loss are categorised as not being able to hear sounds bellow 71-95dB (for serve hearing loss) and sounds bellow 95dB (for profound hearing loss). To put this into context, imagine you go to a club with a friend who suffers with profound hearing loss. You and your friend would need to stand 1 meter from the speakers in order for them to hear the music, and after a night like that you too may be suffering some hearing loss!

So if hearing aids aren’t the best solution, what is being done? Well in 1961 the first ever cochlear implant (CI) was used, and since then many advancement have been made to shrink the implant and minimise the invasiveness of the procedure. The CI is a device that contains a receiver that is inserted under the skin of the head with an electrode that is implanted into the cochlear directly. Additionally a transmitter and microphone/processor are attached to the receiver on top of the skin via magnets. Essentially what the CI does is receive sound via the microphone and processes that sound into digital information, which passes from the transmitter to the receiver (through the skin) and down the electrode to stimulate the cochlear directly. Allowing for the sounds picked up by the microphone to be heard by the deaf patient.

Diagram showing where the cochlear implant sits within the head.

As of 2022, more than 1 MILLION cochlear implants have been successfully implanted! Granting many people, of all ages, the sense of hearing! So seeing that cochlear implants have the ability to artificially restore one of our key senses, surely no one would object to them? And even if there were, I would assume they’d be ill spirited people that can’t stand the idea of seeing others enjoy hearing. Or perhaps those with personal or religious beliefs that sees the implantation of foreign matter into the body as wrong. Well upon research, there are indeed people as I just described, but the leading voice against CI shocked me and may shock you too.

This voice being those from the deaf community themselves! Many in the deaf community are happy with their lives and don’t see their deafness as a negative attribute. They can communicate via sign language and can still sense the world via touch and sight. So this idea of ‘fixing hearing loss’ can make it sound like those who are deaf are ‘broken’, when they are living healthy lives. In my opinion we, as humans, are designed to be able to hear. So the lack of hearing technically would be a defect, however many of us suffer from different ailments and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I understand that for many, deafness is not debilitating, and so do not want to have the CI as they are happy the way they are.

When it comes down to it, cochlear implantations are an elective procedure and if you do not wish to have one you are completely within your rights to do so. However some people still see those who have CIs as “betraying the deaf community” when in reality they are just people making the decision that they believe will most benefit themselves, same as those who opt to not get a CIs.

Will Amniotic fluid stem cells be the future of organoid generation and congenital disease prevention?

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Congenital diseases are estimated to be the cause of death for 240,000 newborns within the first 28 days of life and a further 170,000 deaths of children from the ages of 1 month to 5 years old according to statistics generated by the WHO. Identification of these diseases at an early stage Is therefore vital in giving the best chance to apply the most effective treatment whether that be surgery or pharmaceutical therapeutics.

Scientists have had a difficult time isolating tissue-specific stem cells derived from the foetus due to their limited sample obtainability. Collection of foetal tissue has to be done in regulation with ethico-legal restrictions laid out by the Human tissue act of 2004. The extraction of foetal tissue cannot be done past 22 weeks of pregnancy and is usually carried out a post-mortem. The isolation of foetal stem cells has sparked large ethical debates due to the harm caused to the foetus which usually results in the termination of pregnancy. Despite this, these stem cells are crucial in understanding the late-stage development of the foetus and can aid in discovering the severity of cognitive diseases which has a great potential to save many lives.

However the ethical debate may come to an end, a recent study published by ‘Nature Medicine details a groundbreaking revelation into a new method of foetal stem cell isolation through the use of amniotic fluid, the yellow-tinged liquid surrounding a baby during development with the main role of protection. It was found that these foetal stem cells leak into the amniotic fluid during nutrient and urine turnover. This would mean that the direct extraction of stem cells from the foetus will be eluded. The scientists at the Great Ormond Street Hospital and University College London could isolate progenitor cells within the fluid by a technique called fluorescent activated cell sorting or ‘FACS’ along with a range of other techniques to fine-tune the culturing conditions. The cells grew many variations of organoids such as small intestines, lungs, and kidneys in both the progenitor form and epithelia variations. The organoid development will coincide with the development of the organs in the late stage of pregnancy and hence enable us to study the organs in vitro whilst allowing the foetus to continue development. This in-vitro work will enable real-time organoid models representing the current stage of organ development allowing us to recognise and analyse the signs of congenital diseases such as CDH (the condition in which there is a hole formed within the lungs) and hence allow us to come up with personalised pharmaceutical or surgical treatments to counteract the defect by targeting the transcription and genomic expression of the individuals organoid.

This new research has allowed us to understand late-stage development during pregnancy for the first time past the 22-week threshold. The study showed that those who are developing the CDH condition showed a difference in gene and protein expression and hence altered development compared to the healthy organoids. The production of organoids through the foetal stem cells has allowed treatment reflection determining the effectiveness and efficacy of the current treatments available and has allowed the possibility to test new treatments in a less restricted manner.

Currently, the research carried out has led to developments in CDH, TTTS, and MMC treatment however the research showed that within some conditions, improvement has been limited. LUTO stands for ‘lower urinary tract obstruction’. One way this can be treated is by providing a ready supply of amniotic fluid hence removal of the amniotic fluid for generating organoids for further study may be risky hence fewer samples have been obtainable and so the cause of LUTO is still unknown with lack of definite treatments on the horizon due to a variety of isolated cases of the disease.

Overall, I believe this new research has ultimately paved the way to view the late-stage development processes to a further extent than ever before and is an innovative approach that could lead to the almost complete eradication of a whole range of congenital diseases which has the potential to benefit whole spectra of individuals and their families whilst also bypassing one of the most major ethical science debates.

The link to the original nature science paper is here!

Neuralink: A cause for concern?

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Elon Musk's Neuralink brain chip implanted in 1st human - National | Globalnews.ca

Brain implants and robotic limb replacements have become an area of increasing interest. The most recent step in advancement being the implantation of a brain implant into the brain of a human by Elon Musk’s Neuralink company. The aim of this is to allow people to control devices with just their thoughts

Indeed, this isn’t the first instance of brain implants being used. Previous examples include Gert-Jan Oskam who used an implant to allow him to stand and walk. Technology has also advanced with robotic arms being tested in monkeys allowing them to control the arm to eat.

However, this all raises the question of should we still be weary of these developments as well as question the motives behind them. As with an implant, there is the risk of infection. It is also worth noting that despite the advertised successes, there are instances where the public and investors were misled abut the safety of the brain implant. Records showed that monkeys with the implant experienced paralysis, seizures and brain swelling. This forces us to question, is he hiding anything else?

Sex Determination. Just X and Y?

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As humans, our sex is dictated by the combination of our sex chromosomes. XX for females and XY for Males. But other species don’t use X or Y chromosomes and some lack chromosomes completely!

Early reptiles such as the crocodile are one such species. They have no sex chromosomes and therefore their sex is regulated via the environment. On warmer days (temperatures above 32oc) developing crocodiles will follow the male developmental pathway and on cooler days (temperatures bellow 32oc) they will follow a female developmental pathway. When I first found this out I couldn’t believe it because I thought all sex was determined by genetics but it turns out it isn’t the case for all animals.

So, sex can be determined by either genetics or the environment but can both play a role? The answer is yes! Pogona viticeps can switch between both temperature and genetic determination! Furthermore Pogona doesn’t use X and Y but Z and W chromosomes!

An implant that allowed a paralysed man to walk

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Hi, My name is Tom and I am a 2nd year studying Biomedical Science.

I found this news article today, which talks about a man called Michel Roccati, who suffered a motorbike 5 years ago. He has a completely severed spinal cord, which means he has no feeling in his legs whatsoever. Thanks to a team of researchers in Switzerland, an implant was developed that was attached to the spinal cord, allowing for the relaying of neuron signals down the spinal cord. This implant would allow for people with spinal cord injuries to be able to regain some function that was lost due to this injury.

Michel was able to receive this implant and it allowed him to walk. I was absolutely astonished that something that I deemed impossible became possible through technology. However, I know this is only the beginning and the implant will not fix all of the complications caused by a spinal cord injury, but it is still a feat of science. This implant has already allowed 9 people to regain their ability to walk, and I am so excited to see where this technology takes us and what we can achieve.

Bioelectronic Prosthetic Advancements

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An article posted by William A. Haseltine to Forbes shares recent insights into breakthroughs in prosthetic brain-machine interfaces. brain-machine interfaces are not entirely new technologies, however, the Ortiz-Catalan hand discussed in this article varies in a few ways from previous prosthetics. The article states that one major complaint from prosthetics users how comfortable it is during use; the Ortiz-Catalan hand aims to address this through attaching the prosthetic directly to the skeletal system via osseointegration.

3D printed Heart tissue

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Just discovered this article in which Stanford university scientists has used a patients own stem cells to develop 3D printed heart tissue. This is a groundbreaking discovery for the patients on the long extensive organ transplant list with the average duration of a waiting time being around 3-5 years this new research can be revolutionary for the treatments and may extend the lifespan of thousands upon thousands of individuals. The method of bio-printing isn’t unique but due to this new method we can now speed up the process by synthesising thousands of cells at a time in so called ‘Organoids’.

Interesting enough, the next step for this research is to develop a way to manufacture multiple Organoids together allowing a more effective way to test new drugs and so this new research has multiple useful applications

check out this video here for more

From Fiction to Reality- What You Need to Know about Neuralink

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What is Neuralink?

We’ve all heard the terms Neuralink around in the past few years, but ultimately what is it? Neuralink is an American neurotechnology company founded by none other than Elon Musk. Musk highlighted their mission includes developing an implantable brain-computer interfaces (BCI) allowing patients to connect and even control movement with just their mind. It will also aid in the study of brain electrical impulses and development of treatments to various medical problems that require such technologies.

Elon Musk with an image of the coin-size Neuralink device (not to size).

How does Neuralink Work?

The Neuralink device consists of a coin size 8mm chip called the N1 chipset and this will be implanted into a patients skull. Its true wow-factor lies in its numerous hair-like, micro-cables containing electrodes and wires that mimic the size of individual neurones. These flexible yet minuscule ‘threads’ were developed as a means to reduce disruption of the brain’s normal function. Furthermore, as the wires are very small and practically impossible to be inserted by humans, a ‘neurosurgery robot’ called R1 Robot, capable of inserting six threads every minute, was subsequently created to conduct the implantation.

Once in place the N1 chip should be able to record and transmit electrical brain signals, wirelessly to a mobile app that decodes movement intention. Their goal is to allow people who ‘control a computer cursor or keyboard using thoughts alone’.

Neuralink falls into the category of brain-computer interfacing (BCI) which usually involve recording electrical signals from the brain, interpreting them and turning them into actions. This technology could therefore be used to restore physical mobility in people with disabilities.

What is going on with their First Clinical Trials?

Human clinical trials for the first Neuralink study was US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved in September 2023. While trials regarding BCI in human patients can seem alarming, the FDA has placed tight regulations to regulate safety and the company must adhere to this. Eligibility of participants is narrow as the only patients that can take part in the trials are those with quadriplegia from an injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In the trial, not only does Musk aim to assess the N1 chip but also evaluate the safety and efficacy of the R1 robot.

Where Elon Musk goes follows media controversy and this was no exception as allegation of animal cruelty was suggested early on in animal trials. According to the media company Reuters over 1,500 animals have passed admits the Neuralink animal trials, a rather high number which reflects the rushed development from the company. There is further concern regarding FDA’s uncertainty about the long term effects and potential of permanent brain damage from exposure to the battery of the chip.

Nevertheless, Musk is one step closer and he shares a brief update on the first patient who has had a successful transplantation. In a Spaces event he shares, ‘Progress is good and the patient seems to have made a full recovery’ and that the patient could ‘ move a mouse around by just thinking.’

What do you think about human trials for a brain-computer interface device? Are you ready to accept that this is the future?

References:

  1. https://neuralink.com/
  2. https://kr-asia.com/all-in-your-head-what-you-should-know-about-neuralink-and-brain-computer-interfaces