The Coolest Way to Keep Food Cold Without Refrigeration

Believe it or not, you don’t need a fridge to keep food cold. Just gather some ceramic pots, sand, and water, and you’ve got a portable, non-electric mini-fridge with a time-tested design. After all, people were preserving food for thousands of years before you had to keep that leftover takeout from stinking up your college dorm.

In some parts of the world, this clay pot cooler is called a zeer, and its sustainable, inexpensive design is far from new. People in the Middle East and Africa have long used similar contraptions to keep food from spoiling in hot, dry climates.

“It’s just amazing,” says Paul Smith Lomas, CEO of  Practical Action, a U.K. charity that helps people in Latin America, East and Southern Africa, and South Asia find solutions to daily challenges, including food preservation. “We like to find ingenious ideas that can help people fix their own problems.”

Here’s how to make one:

1. Get two unglazed ceramic pots—one that will fit inside the other—plus some sand and water.
2. Fill the bottom of the larger pot with a couple inches of sand.
3. Put the smaller pot in the larger one.
4. Fill the space between the pots with sand.
5. Pour water into the sand.
6. Cover the pots with a ceramic lid or wet cloth.

Done. You’re ready to store food inside. Just remember to add water to the sand every day, because zeer pots use evaporation to cool food.

As water evaporates through the clay, it releases energy into the air and cools the space inside the pot. It’s like splashing water on your face on a hot day; the water evaporates off your skin, cooling it in the process. Refrigerator coolant actually works in a similar way, using evaporation to draw heat out of the fridge itself. That’s why the back of your Frigidaire is so warm.

These pot-in-pot coolers are useful in places that don’t have power grids, but they’re also great for people who don’t have fridges, need more space, or want to cut their energy bills. On that last point: they’re also much better for the environment since they don’t require any sort of fuel, much less oil or gas.

It’s best to keep zeer pots in the shade, since the sun will warm them up, but you can also put them in a breezy area—wind makes the water evaporate faster, which cools the food more quickly. They’re most effective in arid climates, because water evaporates more when there’s less of it in the air. So, these pots will likely work better in Arizona than Florida.

They work well in Sudan, where Practical Action has introduced the zeer pot to many in need of refrigeration.

Food security is a huge problem in the Northeast African country, and the homemade coolers can make food last 10 times longer, Lomas says.

“Someone told me they once made ice out of a zeer pot,” he says, laughing.

He didn’t believe the guy, but he does find the pots incredibly effective. According to Practical Action’s website, one woman, Hawa Abbas, used to watch half her okra, tomato, and carrot crops spoil. After discovering zeer pots, that changed.

“They keep our vegetables fresh for three to four weeks, depending on the type of crop. They are very good in a hot climate such as ours where fruit and vegetables get spoiled in one day,” she told Practical Action. “Since I learned how to make zeer pots, our life has been so much better.”

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

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This Doctor Invented a Rs. 50 Device To Give Throat Cancer Patients Their Voice Again

 
 The prosthesis – Front View
Side view

Dr. Vishal Rao, a Bangalore based oncologist, has developed a voice prosthesis that can help throat cancer patients speak after surgery. And unlike the extremely expensive ones available in the market today, this device will cost just Rs. 50.

It had been over two months since a throat cancer patient from Kolkata had eaten properly. He was depressed, unable to speak or swallow, and was being fed with the help of a pipe through his nose. His financial condition made it very difficult for him to afford proper medical treatment. It was then that a doctor informed him about a surgeon in Bangalore who could be of help. So he travelled, met the surgeon and sought his treatment. After a procedure that lasted only five minutes, he was able to speak properly, swallow his food, and was even ready to travel back home – all thanks to Dr. Vishal Rao U.S.

“That day, when I came out from another surgery after about three hours, the Kolkata patient was still standing there, waiting for me. He was so emotionally overwhelmed that he just ran towards me and hugged me saying that he had never imagined getting his voice back would be so easy,” says the 37-year-old doctor.

Dr. Rao is an oncologist and head and neck surgeon at the Bangalore-based HealthCare Global (HCG) Cancer Center. He has developed the Aum Voice Prosthesis – a voice prosthesis device that can help patients whose voice box has been removed, to speak and eat properly.

Unlike the currently available prostheses that cost anywhere between Rs. 15,000 and Rs. 30,000, and have to be replaced every six months, Dr. Rao’s prosthesis will cost just Rs. 50.

Voice prosthesis is a device made of silicone. It is used to help patients speak when the entire voice box, or larynx, has been removed. In such cases, the windpipe and food pipe are separated from each other, either at the time of the surgery or later, creating an opening between the two. The device is then placed in this opening. Dr. Rao explains that the voice box basically vibrates with the help of air provided from the lungs. The mechanism behind the prosthesis is that instead of the vocal cord vibrating, the food pipe is made to vibrate with the back end of the prosthesis sitting at the food pipe.

“If you send air into the food pipe through the lungs, it will vibrate, create noise, and that can be converted into intelligent speech with coordination from the brain. As food or water should not fall into the lungs, it is a one-way valve device,” he elaborates. The device weighs 25 grams and is 2.5 cm long.

The foundation for Aum Voice Prosthesis was laid about two years ago, when a throat cancer patient from a remote Karnataka village came in to meet Dr. Rao.

“That man had not eaten since about a month and he could not speak. After the cancer surgery, his voice box had been removed, but he could not afford the prosthesis. When he came to me, he did not find life worth living anymore,” remembers Dr. Rao, who promised the patient that he would try and help.
  
Till then, every time he had encountered a case like this, Dr. Vishal had to contact some pharmaceutical companies, ask for discounts, raise funds, and arrange donations – but he had been able to help patients in spite of all this trouble. So raising funds was his first thought this time as well. But then, something amazing happened. “I would call it serendipity that right after the patient a friend walked in to meet me,” he says. This friend, Shashank Mahes, promised that he would try and arrange the required funds but he also asked the doctor a simple question:
“Why are you dependent on all these people. Why don’t you make something on your own?”

Dr. Rao felt that something like this was beyond his capacity. He was familiar with the technical side but didn’t have the industrial expertise to turn his idea into a viable product. Fortunately, Shashank was willing to help him with that. They decided to collaborate for this cause – Dr. Rao got the entire technical plan ready and Shashank helped him convert it into reality using his expertise as an industrialist. They put in the required funds from their own pockets and developed the device.

“I never want to donate torn old clothes to the poor because they deserve more dignified donations. That’s why I didn’t want to create a medical product of cheaper quality only because my patients are poor. Don’t they deserve the best? So we brought in the best materials,” says Dr. Rao.

The duo has filed for a patent for the device; it will be available in the market by next month. They have also received approvals from scientific and ethical committees at HCG to start using the product on patients. Testing will begin on 30 patients initially.

Most voice prostheses are very costly because they are imported. Dr. Rao and his friend took two years to come up with the final product. But in order to keep it affordable, they decided not to charge for their time and effort.

“We believe that speech and communication are not a privilege but a right. We cannot hold them back from a patient only because he/she is poor,” he says.

Dr. Rao has used the device on three patients so far. His aim is to study and fine tune it further, in the hope that its use will soon become widespread in every cancer centre in the country.

“My first patient was a watchman from Peenya. Two years ago, we arranged for his prosthesis with the help of donations. While the shelf life of the device is only six months, he used it for two years because he could not afford a replacement. Eventually, the device led to many complications. When he came in, I felt that he deserved the Aum Voice Prosthesis. And after the procedure, he happily called me in the middle of the night from his duty to tell me that the device is working well. That call gave me immense satisfaction,” says the doctor, with pride.

Why is the device called ‘Aum’?

“In older scriptures, ‘Om’ was written as ‘Aum.’ ‘A’ stands for creation, ‘U’ for sustenance and ‘M’ for annihilation. These are the three basic principles of our universe. When a person speaks again after losing his voice box, for me it is more like rebirth, like Aum being recreated, because it is the origin of all sound,” concludes Dr. Rao.
 
This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     
 

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Researchers at the University of Waterloo have developed a system using harmless microwaves and artificial intelligence (AI) software to detect even small, early-stage tumours within minutes. The new inexpensive technology could save lives and money by routinely screening women for breast cancer without exposure to radiation. The research, Breast Tumor Diagnosis using Machine Learning with Microwave Probes, was presented at a recent conference in Yemen. "Our top priorities were to make this detection-based modality fast and inexpensive," said Omar Ramahi, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Waterloo. "We have incredibly encouraging results and we believe that is because of its simplicity. " A prototype device -- the culmination of 15 years of work on the use of microwaves for tumour detection, not imaging -- cost less than $5,000 to build. It consists of a small sensor in an adjustable box about 15 centimetres square that is situated under an opening in a padded examination table. Patients lie face-down on the table so that one breast at a time is positioned in the box. The sensor emits microwaves that bounce back and are then processed by AI software on a laptop computer. By comparing the tissue composition of one breast with the other, the system is sensitive enough to detect anomalies less than one centimetre in diameter. Ramahi said a negative result could quickly rule out cancer, while a positive result would trigger referral for more expensive tests using mammography or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). "If women were screened regularly with this, potential problems would be caught much sooner -- in the early stages of cancer," he said. "Our system can complement existing technology, reserving much more expensive options for when they're really needed. "We need a mixture, a combination of technologies. When our device sent up a red flag, it would mean more investigation was warranted. " In addition to reducing patient wait times and enabling earlier diagnosis, Ramahi said, the device would eliminate radiation exposure, improve patient comfort and work on particularly dense breasts, a problem with mammograms. It would also save health-care systems enormous amounts of money and, because of its low cost and ease of use, dramatically increase access to screening in the developing world. Researchers have applied for a patent and started a company, Wave Intelligence Inc. of Waterloo, to commercialize the system and hope to begin trials on patients within six months. Three rounds of preliminary testing included the use of artificial human torsos known as phantoms.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo have developed a system using harmless microwaves and artificial intelligence (AI) software to detect even small, early-stage tumours within minutes. The new inexpensive technology could save lives and money by routinely screening women for breast cancer without exposure to radiation. The research, Breast Tumor Diagnosis using Machine Learning with Microwave Probes, was presented at a recent conference in Yemen.

"Our top priorities were to make this detection-based modality fast and inexpensive," said Omar Ramahi, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Waterloo. "We have incredibly encouraging results and we believe that is because of its simplicity.

" A prototype device -- the culmination of 15 years of work on the use of microwaves for tumour detection, not imaging -- cost less than $5,000 to build.

It consists of a small sensor in an adjustable box about 15 centimetres square that is situated under an opening in a padded examination table. 

Patients lie face-down on the table so that one breast at a time is positioned in the box. The sensor emits microwaves that bounce back and are then processed by AI software on a laptop computer.
By comparing the tissue composition of one breast with the other, the system is sensitive enough to detect anomalies less than one centimetre in diameter.

Ramahi said a negative result could quickly rule out cancer, while a positive result would trigger referral for more expensive tests using mammography or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

 "If women were screened regularly with this, potential problems would be caught much sooner -- in the early stages of cancer," he said. "Our system can complement existing technology, reserving much more expensive options for when they're really needed.

 "We need a mixture, a combination of technologies. When our device sent up a red flag, it would mean more investigation was warranted.

" In addition to reducing patient wait times and enabling earlier diagnosis, Ramahi said, the device would eliminate radiation exposure, improve patient comfort and work on particularly dense breasts, a problem with mammograms. 

It would also save health-care systems enormous amounts of money and, because of its low cost and ease of use, dramatically increase access to screening in the developing world. 

Researchers have applied for a patent and started a company, Wave Intelligence Inc. of Waterloo, to commercialize the system and hope to begin trials on patients within six months. Three rounds of preliminary testing included the use of artificial human torsos known as phantoms.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement