Glass balls and enzymes break down the tissue, freeing the islet cells for collection. It is being used by the School of Medicine and the nine other centers involved in a worldwide study of the Edmonton Protocol for islet transplantation, a therapy the scientists hope will free many diabetics from the need to take insulin. The braillereader aids scientists studying the human brain. Harold Burton's group images brain activity of sighted and blind volunteers as they read in order to learn more about the areas responsible for language, touch and visual information. The volunteers perform language tasks inside a magnetic resonance scanner.
Sighted people look at visual displays projected onto a mirror.
For the blind, Kreitler came up with the braillereader. It is a housing made of plastic, because metal introduced into the MR scanner produces shadows on the image. Inside is a cardboard fanfold that feeds words embossed in braille one at a time to the subject. The studies will help Burton's group determine whether loss of sight leads to new functions in certain brain areas and expansion of areas used for touch, and may contribute to methods for evaluating and rehabilitating the visually impaired. And now for a really great grate A stainless steel grate in the sidewalk in front of the West Building was designed and installed by the machine shop to prevent fires.