Ability to sniff is preserved

Sniffing is a precise motor skill that is controlled, in part, by the soft palate - the flexible divider that moves to direct air in or out through the mouth or nose. The soft palate is controlled by Custom hockey jerseysseveral nerves that connect to it directly through the braincase. This close link led Sobel and his scientific team to theorize that the ability to sniff - that is, to red control soft palate movement - might be preserved even in the most acute cases of paralysis.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) added support to the idea, showing that a number of brain areas contribute to soft palate control. This imaging revealed a significant overlap between soft palate control and the language areas of the brain, hinting to the scientists that the use of sniffing to communicate might be learned intuitively.

To test their theory, Sobel and his team, Dr. Anton Plotkin, Aharon Weissbrod and research student Lee Sela from the Weizmann Institute's Neurobiology Department, created a device with a sensor that fits on the opening of the nostrils and measures changes in air pressure.

For patients on respirators, the team developed a passive version ofCustom hockey jerseys the device, which diverts airflow to the patient's nostrils.

Initial tests, carried out with healthy volunteers, showed that the device compared favorably with a mouse or joystick for playing computer games. In the next stage, carried out in collaboration with Prof. Nachum Soroker of Loewenstein Hospital Rehabilitation Center in Ra'anana, quadriplegics and locked-in patients tested the device.

The team found that the method of use is easily mastered, both by Custom hockey jerseyshealthy volunteers and the disabled. Seventy-five percent of the subjects on respirators were able to control their soft palate movement to operate the device.