Method of using electromagnetic absorption or perturbation spectra, to diagnose and detect abnormalities in cells, tissues and organisms

• US 20040058343A1
• Filed: 01/24/2003
• Published: 03/25/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: David M. Macdonald
• Original Assignee: David M. Macdonald
• Inventors: MacDonald, David M.
• Application Number:
  US10/350,362
• Publication Number:
  US 20040058343A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 435/6
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/05 Detecting, measuring or recording for diagnosis by means of electric currents or magnetic fields; Measuring using microwaves or radio waves impedance plethysmography A61B5/0295; measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof A61B5/11; detecting, measuring or recording bioelectric or biomagnetic signals of the body or parts thereof A61B5/24
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0507 using microwaves or terahertz waves
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4088 Diagnosing of monitoring cognitive diseases, e.g. Alzheimer, prion diseases or dementia
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7257 using Fourier transforms
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2021/3595 using FTIR
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/31 Investigating relative effect of material at wavelengths characteristic of specific elements or molecules, e.g. atomic absorption spectrometry G01N21/72 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/3581 using far infrared light; using Terahertz radiation

Abstract

A method for the detection of normal or abnormal constituents in cells, tissues or organisms, including proteins and nucleic acids, is provided which comprises obtaining a spectrographic waveform pattern of the absorption or perturbation of electromagnetic radiation caused by a nucleic acid, protein, cell, tissue or organism suspected of having an abnormal condition and comparing the pattern with the spectrographic waveform pattern of the absorbance or perturbance of the same radiation by the normal or standard object so as to detect the presence or absence of the abnormality. The method can also be used in a number of diagnostic applications such as sorting of cells by conformational or other differences, such as male from female sperm cells. An apparatus is also provided for carrying out these methods.

Claims

1. A method for detecting an abnormal condition in nucleic acids, proteins, cells, tissues or organisms comprising:

a. applying a signal of electromagnetic radiation generated as a series of harmonics to a normal or standard nucleic acid, protein, cell, tissue or organism so as to obtain a normal or standard spectrographic waveform pattern of the absorbance or perturbance of the radiation by the normal or standard object;

b. applying the same signal to a target nucleic acid, protein, cell, tissue or organism suspected of having an abnormality so as to obtain a spectrographic waveform pattern of the absorbance or perturbance of the radiation by the target object; and

c. comparing the spectrographic waveform pattern of the target object with the spectrographic waveform pattern of the normal or standard object to determine the presence or absence of an abnormal condition.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the applied signal of electromagnetic radiation is in the tera hertz range.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the applied signal of electromagnetic radiation is a broad band signal with wave lengths between 1,000,000 and 1 meters.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the target object is a neuron.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the target object is selected from the group consisting of an ameyloid precursor protein, a tau protein and a prion protein.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the spectrographic waveform pattern is obtained using Fourier transforms.

7. An apparatus capable of carrying out the method of claim 1 comprising:

a. a means of generating an electromagnetic signal having a wave length between 1,000,000 and 1 meters;

b. an antenna for directionally transmitting the signal and an antenna for directionally receiving the signal;

c. an amplifier and a means of determining the amplitudes at the constituent frequencies of the signal;

d. a means of calculating the higher frequency harmonics of the transmitted signal; and

e. a means of similarly calculating the harmonics of the received signal.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 wherein the means to determine the amplitudes at the constituent frequencies of the signal comprises an oscilloscope.

9. A method for differentiating and separating male and female sperm cells comprising:

a. obtaining an animal ejaculate and dividing the ejaculate into portions to be scanned with a signal of electromagnetic radiation generated as a series of harmonics;

b. scanning said portions of the ejaculate with a signal of electromagnetic radiation generated as a series of harmonics and determining the percentage of male and female sperm cells in the scanned portion by comparing the spectrographic pattern of the absorbance or perturbance of the signal in the scanned portion with the known spectrographic pattern made from an ejaculate having equal numbers of male and female sperm cells;

c. separating those portions which have a predominant amount of male or female sperm cells; and

d. repeating the above steps and collecting the ejaculate portions containing sperm cells of predominantly one sex until a desired percentage of sperm cells of that sex is obtained.

10. An apparatus capable of carrying out the method of claim 9 comprising:

a) a means of generating and receiving broad band width electromagnetic signal in wave lengths between 1,000,000 and 1 meters;

b) an antenna for directionally transmitting the signal and an antenna for directionally receiving the signal;

c) a means for receiving and portioning an animal ejaculate;

d) a means of calculating the absorption or perturbation pattern of electromagnetic signals after said signals are directed to portions of the ejaculate so as to determine if said portions contain a predominant percentage of sperm cells of one sex; and

e) means for collecting portions of the ejaculate which are identified as containing sperm cells which are predominantly one sex at a desired percentage.

11. A method of determining the presence or absence of a particular conformations of atomic and molecular structures comprising scanning said structures with a signal of electromagnetic radiation at wave lengths that can permit in-vivo examination, and identifying said conformations by observing the absorption or perturbation of higher frequency harmonics up to and including the tera hertz frequencies of the transmitted signal using Fourier transforms of both the transmitted and received signal following scanning of the structures.

12. A method of diagnosing a tumorous condition in a patient comprising:

a. applying a signal of electromagnetic radiation to a sample known to reflect a tumorous condition so as to establish a standard spectrographic waveform pattern of the absorbance or perturbance of the electromagnetic radiation of the known sample indicative of a tumorous condition;

b. applying the same signal to a target tissue suspected of having a tumorous condition so as to obtain a spectrographic waveform pattern of the absorbance or perturbance of the electromagnetic radiation in the tissue to be tested; and

c. comparing the spectrographic waveform pattern of the tested tissue with the pattern given by the known tumorous pattern to determine the presence of absence of the tumorous condition.

13. An apparatus capable of performing the method of claim 12 comprising a means of generating a number of signals of differing and specific wave lengths, a directional,antenna, a directional receiving antenna, an amplifier able to amplify each signal and a means of comparing the amplitude of the received signals with a known pre-set spectrum of amplitudes versus frequencies.

14. A method of identifying the presence or absence of substances in an object to be tested comprising transmitting an electromagnetic signal through a control object having known substances so as to create a standard absorption or perturbation spectrum for the object at a given wavelength, scanning the test object using the same electromagnetic signal so as to obtain an absorption or perturbation spectrum for the object to be tested, and comparing the changes in amplitude of the spectral pattern in the tested object so as to determine the presence or absence of substances as compared to the standard object.

15. A method of identifying the presence or absence of organisms of differing function comprising transmitting an electromagnetic signal of the principal frequencies through a sample suspected of containing such organisms and comparing the changes in amplitude of the received signal with a known result to determine the presence or absence of the desired organisms.

16. The method according to claim 15 wherein the higher range frequencies are synthesized using Fourier transforms.

17. A method of identifying the presence of an altered function in living organisms comprising transmitting an electromagnetic signal generated as a series of harmonics through a living organism suspected of having an altered function and determining amplitude changes at specific frequencies within the sub-microwave spectra following interaction with the organism.

18. A method of producing a dynamic three dimensional model of cell structure and components comprising applying a signal of electromagnetic radiation generated as a series of harmonics to said cell, receiving said signal, and transforming said signal using a Fourier transformer so as to obtain a spectrographic waveform pattern of the electromagnetic radiation which reflects a dynamic three dimensional model of the cell structure and components wherein the major components are represented by vortices.

19. The method according to claim 18 wherein the components present in the cell by identified means of wave function or other non-linear equation.

20. A method of drug templating of candidates for particular drug therapies comprising identifying a specific spectrum of a protein associated With a conformational abnormality linked with a disease by scanning said protein with electromagnetic radiation generated as a series of harmonics so as to obtain a spectrographic waveform pattern of the absorbance or perturbance of the radiation caused by said conformational abnormality, introducing a drug suspected of treating the disease to the abnormal protein and obtaining an electromagnetic scan of the protein after interaction with the drug, and determining the efficacy of said drug by comparing the conformation of the protein following treatment to determine if the conformational abnormality has been reversed in whole or part.