Bacteria-killing Pencil 285
kahrytan writes "Mounir Laroussi, a researcher at Old Dominion University has invented a hand-held device that is dubbed a plasma pencil. The pencil generates a "cold plasma," which can be used to kill germs that contaminate surfaces, infect wounds and rot your teeth. In the future, it might be used to destroy tumors without damaging surrounding tissue. When he turns the pencil on, it blows a high pitched whistle as a glowing, blue-violet beam about 2 inches long instantly appears at one end. Stick your finger in its path and you only feel a cool breeze, but the beam is powerful enough to blast apart bacteria that's crawling on your skin. Such a device if patented, tested and mass produced could end up doing a lot of good. Disinfecting surgery tools, keeping open wounds open in hospitals, destroying tumors in hard to operate areas like brains, and even treating that simple paper cut. The story can be read at dailypress and old dominion university."
Re:A lot of good only if patented?!? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:How come it only hurts the bacteria? (Score:5, Informative)
And bacterial cell membrane are a lot more fragile than the dead cells of your skin.
Re:Hmm... (Score:3, Informative)
See here [md4cancercare.com] for a link. Good radiation planning is a big selling point for hospitals.
Wine Making (Score:4, Informative)
1) Rinse out container with hot water
2) Soap out container (dishwasher soap) with awkward brush. Get all surfaces well wetted.
3) Rinse 3x to remove soap residue
4) Bleach container to 1% in hot water and let sit for 1 hour (massive headaches- bleach fumes- vent out the window)
5) Rinse container 4x to remove bleach residue
6) Mix Sodium Metabisulfite and Citric Acid in 1:1 ratio and coat all surfaces inside container for 30 sec - 1 minute. Fumes are nose + throat searing
7) Rinse 4x to guarantee removal.
8) Cap with plastic.
Takes about 1.5 hours for 2 jugs to go through the entire procedure.
Give me a portable plasma generator that can do the entire surface and I've just increased my productivity significantly as well as having less time downstairs and more time drinking the 'fruits' of the labor.
Re:The American Antibiotic Addicts (Score:2, Informative)
"Don't use a patent; use a patent instead." (Score:3, Informative)
Had B made an exact copy of company A's implementation then they would be infringing on A's copyright (or some other similar law.)
Copyright does not apply to processes. "Some other similar law" in this case would in fact be patent law. For example, one way to "evergreen" (extend a useful lifetime of) a drug patent is to patent the chemical once it works in rats and rabbits, patent an improved invention incorporating the chemical a few years later, and then submit the improved invention in the New Drug Application. This was used in the case of Prilosec® (omeprazole) [essentialdrugs.org] and its popcorn-style kernels-within-a-capsule, which AstraZeneca managed to con(vince) the FDA into thinking was better than the more common enteric double coating.
And even if they created an exact copy wouldn't they still need to go through testing to get their copy approved?
Yes, but there isn't nearly as much testing. A generic version of an existing medication is associated with an Abbreviated New Drug Application. For instance, the makers of Prilosec had to prove that omeprazole itself is safe and effective, but a maker of generic omeprazole would have to prove only that its product is as good as Prilosec. It's less difficult than getting a new chemical approved from scratch, but until AstraZeneca's patent on "enteric popcorn" expires, it'll still be more difficult than the typical generic app.
Re:I'm concerned... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Low-carb diet? (Score:3, Informative)
1)A high fat diet is bad for your heart.
FalseThe majority of people who go on the Atkins plan experience greatly improved blood lipid levels. That is because the fat you are eating is being burned as energy rather than stored.
2)Atkins puts the body in a state of Ketosis which acidifies the blood, leading to leached minerals from bones and other things.
FALSEThis comes from a confusion of the terms ketosis and ketoacidosis. Ketones ARE produced in the body whenever fat is burned, regardless of whether the person is on a low carb or "traditional" diet regimen. A properly functioning body can get rid of these ketones quite efficiently through urine, sweat and breathing. Ketoacidosis arises when there is a problem with the body, such as liver failure due to alcoholism or other disorders. This will then allow the buildup of the Ketones created in the burning of fat (or alcohols) to such a great extent that the blood does become acidic. However, barring the well known (to doctors) conditions which cause ketoacidosis, the body can quite efficiently regulate blood acid levels through regulation of CO2 levels. Hyperventilation will do more to change your blood pH than going on Atkins.
3)The Atkins plan calls for a dangerously low amount of vegetables in the diet.
BLATANTLY FALSE The Atkins plan is essentially centered around first making sure that you get enough healthy vegetables in your diet. By choosing proper vegetables, one gets far more servings of vegetables than the average diet. Many vegetables are very high in nutrient content and low in carbohydrates. In induction, the most carbohydrate restricted phase, carbohydrates are generally restricted to 20 grams per day (not including fiber.) This would allow for 100 cups of spinach every day, which has 0.2grams of sugars and starch. Granted the vegetables you eat should be varied, so a wide variety of vegetables is eaten including brocolli, asparagus, peppers, zucchini, baby corn, many other leafy vegetables, turnips, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, tomatoes, various squashes, radishes, onions, mushrooms, jicama, fenel, endive, egplant, cucumbers, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, etc. And this is just a list of some of the veggies with under 4 grams of net carbohydrates which means you could have five servings of them daily DURING INDUCTION. There are a whole lot more which can be added when the very low carb (spinach, other leafy greans, etc) vegetables are used. After the first two weeks of induction, more and more vegetables can be added to the diet.
After you make sure that you get enough vegetables in your diet, then meats, eggs, etc are added untill you are no longer hungry.
Oh, and do me a favor. find me one controlled scientific study which shows that a low fat/high carbohydrate diet increases health. And I'm not talking about a study which also has the low fat group exercising more than the other group. Those are the studies always pointed to, and using multi factor studies is simply bad science. If you really want, I can point you to many studies that show that a low carb diet improves health for the majority of people who go on it. Saying that the long term effects of a low carb lifestyle have not been properly studies is misleading, as ketogenic [google.com] diets (very similar to Atkin's plan) have been used to help keep cerebral palsy and epilepsy under control for over 80 years. The Ketogenic diet is far more restrictive than the Atkin's plan, and that makes sense as it is used to treat a different problem than obesity.
BTW, the Atkins plan or any low carb diet is not meant for everyone. Consulting a doctor and having them monitor your health is very important for any drastic lifestyle change. Certain health conditions (such as those which prevent the