WASHINGTON – June 8, 2012 - Two studies announced last week by Department of Veterans Affairs may help develop new diagnostics, therapeutics, and rehabilitation strategies for treating blast-related traumatic brain injury and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), while improving technology that restores independence and mobility for people with paralysis or limb-loss.Research indicates the use of an investigational brain-computer interface system provided two people with paralyzed limbs the power of mind over body. Separate VA research is providing further evidence that exposure to a single bomb blast may cause a progressive degenerative disease of the brain linked to repetitive brain trauma.
“These studies are just the latest example of the world-class VA research that reaches beyond Veterans,” Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki said. “As with so much of VA research, the impact will be felt not just through improved care for Veterans but for all Americans.”
In a study published in the May 17 Nature, VA researchers described how two individuals without functional use of their limbs were able to reach and grasp objects in three-dimensional space using robotic arms controlled solely by brain activity. Specifically, BrainGate*, an investigational brain-computer interface system being studied under a Food and Drug Administration Investigational Device Exemption led to this landmark discovery.
This is the first peer-reviewed demonstration of three-dimensional control of robotic arms by a person with tetraplegia using neural activity. read more>>>
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