Fine-tuning lasers to destroy blood-borne diseases like AIDS

　　激光微调摧毁血源性传染病-爱滋病

　　来源：www.iop.org

　　翻译：Duli@语际翻译

　　Physicists in Arizona State University have designed a revolutionary laser technique which can destroy viruses and bacteria such as AIDS without damaging human cells and may also help reduce the spread of hospital infections such as MRSA.

　　亚利桑那州立大学的物理学家已经设计出了一种革命性的激光技术，它可以消灭病毒和细菌(例如爱滋病)而不损害人体细胞，也可能有助于减少医院内感染病原菌的传播，如MRSA(甲氧西林耐药金黄色葡萄球菌)。

　　The research, published on Thursday November 1 in the Institute of Physics’: Condensed Matter, discusses how pulses from an infrared laser can be fine-tuned to discriminate between problem microorganisms and human cells.

　　这项研究于11月1日星期四发表在物理研究所学报《凝聚态物质》上，研究微调从红外激光发出的脉冲，以区分病原微生物和人类细胞。

　　Current laser treatments such as UV are indiscriminate and can cause ageing of the skin, damage to the DNA or, at worst, skin cancer, and are far from 100 per cent effective.

　　目前激光疗法(如紫外线)，(对波长)是不加选择的，因此引起皮肤老化，DNA损伤甚至皮肤癌，远远未达到百分之百有效的程度。

　　Femtosecond laser pulses, through a process called Impulsive Stimulated Raman Scattering (ISRS), produces lethal vibrations in the protein coat of microorganisms, thereby destroying them. The effect of the vibrations is similar to that of high-pitched noise shattering glass.

　　飞秒激光脉冲，通过一个称之为冲击受激拉曼散射(ISRS)的过程，在微生物的蛋白质外壳产生致命的振动，从而摧毁他们。振动的作用与高声调噪声粉碎玻璃相类似。

　　The physicists in Arizona have undertaken experiments to show that the coherent vibrations excited by infrared lasers with carefully selected wavelengths and pulse widths do no damage to human cells, most likely because of the different structural compositions in the protein coats of human cells vis a vis bacteria and viruses.

　　亚利桑那大学的物理学家的实验表明，这种红外激光器激发的有着精选的波长和脉冲宽度的连续振动对人体细胞没有什么损害，这最有可能是因为人类细胞与细菌、病毒的外衣蛋白质有着不同的结构组成。

　　Professor K. T. Tsen from Arizona State University said, “Although it is not clear at the moment why there is a large difference in laser intensity for inactivation between human cells and microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses, the research so far suggests that ISRS will be ready for use in disinfection and could provide treatments against some of the worst, often drug-resistant, bacterial and viral pathogens.”

　　亚利桑那州立大学的K. T. Tsen教授说，“虽然目前并不清楚为什么灭活人体细胞和微生物(如细菌和病毒)的激光强度有那么大的差异，到目前为止，研究显示ISRS可用于消毒，并能用于对付一些最厉害的，而且往往具有抗药性的细菌和病毒的病原体。 ”

　　Femtosecond lasers could find immediate application in hospitals as a way to disinfect blood supply or biomaterials and for the treatment of blood-borne diseases such as AIDS and Hepatitis.

　　飞秒激光器，可以立即应用到医院中，用作血液供应消毒或用作生物材料治疗血源性传染病，如爱滋病和肝炎。