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多名病人已经重获行走的能力。
测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：
paraplegic[pærəp'li:dʒɪks] n.截瘫
spinal cord[ˈspaɪnəl kɔ:d] n.脊髓
plasticity[plæˈstɪsəti] 可塑性
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Three paraplegic patients, who were paralysed by spinal cord injuries several years ago, have been helped to walk again by wireless implants that apply precise electrical stimulation to their remaining nerves.
Swiss researchers at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne published their success in the journal Nature on Wednesday, which showed that spinal stimulation combined with a gruelling exercise regime helped to treat paralysis. The study follows similar research reported recently by US scientists.
Chet Moritz, a rehabilitation specialist at the University of Washington in Seattle, who was not directly involved in the studies, said: “The field of spinal cord injury is poised to take a giant leap forward in the treatment of what was until very recently considered incurable paralysis.”
David Mzee, one of the EPFL patients in Switzerland, said: “My left leg used to be fully paralysed. Now I can do a knee extension of my left leg without electrical stimulation, flex my hip and even move my toes.” The 28-year-old from Zurich suffered a severe sports injuryin 2010.
For its study, the Lausanne team adapted an electronic implant originally made by Medtronic, the US medical devices company, for deep brain stimulation in people with Parkinson’s disease. Neurosurgeon Jocelyne Bloch inserted this array of 16 electrodes beside the region of the spinal cord that controls leg movements. The implant was connected wirelessly to sensors in the feet, which detect when the patient intends to take walking steps. It then stimulates leg muscles that the patient’s own damaged nerves cannot activate on their own.
“The targeted stimulation must be as precise as a Swiss watch,” said Dr Bloch. “Selected configurations of electrodes are activating specific regions of the spinal cord, mimicking the signals that the brain would deliver to produce walking.”
“All the patients could walk using body-weight support within one week,” she added. “I knew immediately that we were on the right path.”
The surgery was followed by intensive physical training, with the participants suspended in a mobile harness, as they first learnt to co-ordinate the brain’s intention to walk with the targeted electrical stimulation and then built up muscle strength.
At the same time, this activity was stimulating the growth of new connections between damaged nerves — demonstrating the neural “plasticity” that enables the nervous system to reorganise itself after injury under the right conditions. As a result, all the participants gradually acquired some ability to walk even when the implants were switched off.
“Voluntary muscle control improved tremendously within five months of training,” said Grégoire Courtine, the project leader. “The human nervous system responded even more profoundly to the treatment than we expected.”
A total of eight paraplegic patients are taking part in the current EPFL study, he said, and then a follow-up is planned with 20 people, who will receive more sensitive spinal implants plus a new implant in the motor cortex, the brain region that controls voluntary movements.
“We are building next-generation neurotechnology that will also be tested very early post-injury, when the potential for recovery is high and the neuromuscular system has not yet undergone the atrophy that follows chronic paralysis,” said Professor Courtine.
Professor Courtine and Dr Bloch have co-founded a start-up company called GTX medical, which aims to develop the research into a widely available therapy for spinal injury.
请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：
A. wireless implants
B. acupuncture
C. artificial legs
D. avatar
答案 (1)
A. A construction worker who were paralysed by spinal cord injuries two years ago.
B. A farmer who lost two legs in a car accident one year ago.
C. A 3-year-old boy who was born with no legs.
D. A former athlete who has been in coma from head injure two years ago.
答案 (2)
A. Bone rerebuilding
B. Implants connected to sensors in the feet
C. A Swiss watch that keeps accurate timing of leg movement
D. New spinal cord made from a new material
答案 (3)
(1) 答案：A解释：Three paraplegic patients, who were paralysed by spinal cord injuries several years ago, have been helped to walk again by wireless implants that apply precise electrical stimulation to their remaining nerves.
(2) 答案：A解释：“The field of spinal cord injury is poised to take a giant leap forward in the treatment of what was until very recently considered incurable paralysis.”
(3) 答案：B解释：Neurosurgeon Jocelyne Bloch inserted this array of 16 electrodes beside the region of the spinal cord that controls leg movements. The implant was connected wirelessly to sensors in the feet, which detect when the patient intends to take walking steps. It then stimulates leg muscles that the patient’s own damaged nerves cannot activate on their own.