舞蹈考级五级小阿哥:着眼未来的

着眼未来的

Category: Biology ? Design ? Human ? Technology分类： 生物学 ? 设计 ? 人 ? 科技
Posted on: July 19, 2010 6:00 PM, by Claire L. Evans发表于：2010年7月19日下午6时，由克莱尔属埃文斯

My grandmother suffered in her old age from macular degeneration , a common age-related eye disease that causes the center of your visual field (the macula) to gradually fritz out.我的祖母因她的年龄在旧黄斑变性 ，一个共同的与年龄有关的眼部疾病，导致）中心您的视野（黄斑逐步弗里茨了。 As it affected her more and more, the font size in her emails ballooned to cartoonish sizes.因为它影响到她的越来越多，她的电子邮件中的字体大小膨胀到卡通的大小。 She began walking with a cane, and needed a fancy electronic doo-dad to tell her when her cup of tea was full.她开始使用拐杖走路，需要一个花哨的电子斗爸爸告诉她时，她的茶杯满了。 By the end of her life, she was totally blind.到了她生命的尽头，她完全失明。

Watching my grandmother wink out from the world of seeing was tragic; the knowledge of macular degeneration's heredity terrifying.看我的祖母眼色从世界看惨了，在黄斑变性的遗传可怕的知识。 Relatives of those who have suffered from the condition have a fourfold greater risk of degenerating themselves, as compared to those without any hereditary connection.这些谁已经从亲属遭受的条件有一个更大的风险四倍自己堕落相比，没有任何连接的世袭。 A dire prognosis.一个可怕的预后。 My aunt assured me that if I wore sunglasses during all my waking hours, my odds might improve (and here you thought I was trying to look cool).我的姑姑向我保证，如果我穿我醒着的时候，在所有的太阳镜，我的胜算可能提高（这里你以为我是想看起来很酷）。

Actual website copy : "You should ask your doctor about all the potential risks and benefits of telescope implantation." 实际网站的副本 ：“你应该问你的医生植入望远镜所有潜在的风险和利益。”

Imagine my delight in seeing earlier this month that the FDA has approved the use of a tiny telescope that can be implanted in one eye to help patients suffering from macular degeneration .想象一下，我喜欢在本月早些时候看到美国食品药物管理局已批准使用的变性的一个小望远镜才能被植入患者眼睛，帮助患黄斑 。 The company behind this invention, aptly named VisionCare , claims that implanting their miniature telescope into the center of the eye -- and hence allowing images in the central vision field to be projected directly onto healthy areas of the retina -- allows patients "to distinguish and discern images that may have been unrecognizable or difficult to see."本发明公司在这背后，取名为VisionCare声称，他们的眼睛植入微型望远镜进入中心-现场图像，从而使在中央的目标，成为直接投射的视网膜上的健康领域-使患者“来区分和辨别可能已无法辨认或难以看到的图像。“ In clinical trials, some 75 percent saw their vision improve from severe impairment to only moderate impairment; their blinds spots markedly receded.在临床试验中，约有75百分之看到他们的眼光从严重受损的改善，只有中度受损，他们的百叶窗点明显消退。

The telescopette, 3.6mm diameter, can only be implanted in one eye -- the other one's needed for peripheral vision -- and will necessitate significant rehabilitation after surgery.该telescopette，内置3.6mm直径，只能被植入一只眼睛 - 其他人的需要的周围视觉 - 并且将需要重大手术后康复。 After all, the patients' brains will suddenly need to process two new and very different images: one "normal," and the other artificially magnified to 2.7 times its ordinary size.毕竟，病人的大脑会突然需要处理两个新的和非常不同的形象：一个“正常”，而其他人为放大到2.7倍的普通尺寸。 To handle this, the patients will need to learn how to switch their viewing back and forth between the eye with the telescope implant and the eye without the implant; in effect, their eyes will have become individualized tools, with the surgically-enhanced eye focusing (so to speak) on detailed central vision, while the regular eye takes care of peripheral vision.为了解决这个问题，病人就需要学习如何切换与眼睛和望远镜植入种植体无眼他们的收视来回，在效果上，他们的眼睛会已成为与手术增强眼个性化的工具，重点（这么说）详细的中心视力，而经常以眼睛余光照顾。 I am trying very hard at this moment to imagine what two different eye-images look like, or how my brain might handle them, but I guess that's a neurological privilege that will have to wait until the blindness bug catches up with me in my old age.我很努力在这一刻，想象自己两个不同的眼部图像的样子，或者我有多么的大脑可能处理他们，但我想这是一种神经系统特权，将不得不等待，直到失明错误捕获与我在我的老年龄。

As macular degeneration largely affects those over 60, this sci-fi accoutrement may represent a first step towards an era of bionic Baby Boomers.黄斑变性主要影响60岁以上，这个科幻上下最可能代表了走向一个仿生婴儿潮时代的第一步。 I can't help but wonder: will my parents' generation, moneyed and plentiful, create a market for many more such prosthetic devices that fight age-related ailments?我不禁感到很奇怪：我的父母辈，有钱的和丰富，创造更多的这种假肢装置的市场，争取与年龄有关的疾病？ My grandmother fought her blindness with pragmatic adaptations; she had her front steps painted in bright white and a nurse who read her books out loud to her.我的祖母打了务实的修改是盲目的，她有她前面的台阶在明亮的白色油漆和护士谁大声读出她的书给她。 Will her children and grandchildren fend off the grave with surreal gizmos like microscopic eye telescopes and robotic arms ?将她的孩子和孙子们抵御和严重的眼睛像小发明望远镜与超现实的微观机械臂 ？ I have a feeling that the answer is yes.我有一种感觉，答案是肯定的。