USP's can destroy viruses(hepatitus, HIV, Herpies)

[Q-tip]

Arizona State University Physics Professor Kong-Thon Tsen and his son Shaw-Wei Tsen might be holding the key for curing, if not totally eliminating, deadly viruses such as hepatitis and HIV. They reportedly found out that viruses can be destroyed by using ultrashort-pulse lasers or USPs.

According to them, we must find a way to remove these viruses from our system because vaccinations are sometimes insufficient. In the study conducted by the father and son tandem, it was demonstrated that this laser technique was able to shatter the protein shell (capsid) of the tobacco mosaic virus.

What was left of the mosaic virus after the experimentation was just a "harmless mucus-like mash of molecules." Interestingly, the Tsens mentioned that the energy used to destroy the mosaic virus was 40 times lower than the threshold for human cells. Surpassing the limit would cause harm to the human T-cells.

We ran a report back in June of this year concerning USPs and the company Raydiance Inc., which is planning to fully-developed the technology to be used in other fields aside from physics such as medicine and biology. Hearing about the Tsens' accomplishment, Raydiance Inc. President Scott Davison had this to say:


The extreme brevity of these pulses is creating a physical effect that traditional lasers and other types of non-laser approaches can't do. What we see is a new wave of exploration and discovery in applying USP in a whole bunch of industries and applications.


http://science.qj.net/Virus-destroyed-using-ultrashort-pulse-laser-HIV-cure-not-far-ahead/pg/49/aid/106677

[jdcord]

Not to hijack the thread, or anything, but HIV is technically not a "virus".  A virus is an organism (see definition below), and as such it can be seen, physically, under a microscope.  HIV can not be seen under a microscope, even the high-powered ones (and with all the efforts and money put into AIDS research, don't ya think that the best, costliest, and highest powered microscopes have been used to try and find that sucker?).  And not being visible under any microscope = both of the following:  1) not an organism, and  2) not a "virus".

Ergo:  HIV may very well cause AIDS, but regardless of whether it does or not, HIV is not a "virus".

Viruses may be defined as acellular organisms whose genomes consist of nucleic acid, and which obligately replicate inside host cells using host metabolic machinery and ribosomes to form a pool of components which assemble into particles called VIRIONS, which serve to protect the genome and to transfer it to other cells.

[Q-tip]

This is something that I know little about.

I understand that HIV is the name of the organism that causes AIDS but I have always heard it referred to as a retrovirus. 

If I am not mistaken(and I probably am) it is classified as a retrovirus for a couple of reasons:   1)  It can only reproduce by infecting an existing cell(like viruses), 2) it is surrounded by a protein coat.

To tie this in with the topic I will add that if this is the case then, in theory, blasting it with said radio frequencies could still destroy the HIV organism.

HIV can not be seen under a microscope, even the high-powered ones (and with all the efforts and money put into AIDS research, don't ya think that the best, costliest, and highest powered microscopes have been used to try and find that sucker?).

Okay, Help me out here.  What am I missing?

http://www.avert.org/aids-photo-gallery.php?photo_id=512&gallery_id=4

http://www.avert.org/aids-photo-gallery.php?photo_id=508&gallery_id=4

*scratches head*

[jdcord]

Interesting. 

Those microscopic image captures must be a relatively recent development (as in, w/in the last 5 to 8 years), because I remember several years ago reading how they STILL hadn't been able to find it under a microscope.  Obviously, that has changed.

I wonder why it took them so long to finally be able to see it microscopically?  That's pretty odd.

[jdcord]

Oh yeah!


I almost forgot.  ............................   I apologize for hijacking your thread.


:grin:

[Q-tip]

I apologize for hijacking your thread.

It seemed relevant to the subject matter to me being that HIV is listed as one of the diseases it is being tested on.

[SippinTea]

HA! JD's become a pinkwinker.

[newkris]

  and scientifically at that. 

interesting thread.  medicine is so amazing.