Friday, December 6, 2013

ALMOST LATE BUT WITH JUSTIFICATION [JACQUI]

I have the same thoughts about this hunt it seems, like Hafidha......however I have been delayed because it has been raining cows and elephants, and I wanted to test the products for the intended purpose, so at first opportunity today I was able to support my choices with some hard evidence!
I bought two chocolate bars, and a stick of my favourite brand of demi sal butter a few days ago. I chose the chocolates based on price...one mid range [blue package] and one economy [red package], rationale was I was thinking perhaps the more expensive one may have something added to preserve the shape of the bar even when exposed to warm ambient temperature. I conditioned all 3 items in the fridge for about 2 days while waiting for favorable weather.

I broke off one square of each chocolate bar...[.I picked the white and brown chocolate combinations hoping that it will show better in the pictures]and cut off a similar square of butter. Each specimen was then put separately into a small zip lock polythene bag. 

This is what the specimens looked like at 1hour exposure to ambient temperature of about 30 degrees C. Notice the butter is starting to melt a bit. 

I moved the experiment to the verandah, I think the granite counter was keeping the porcelain dish cool and slowing down my experiment. This picture above is after 3 hours outside on the cement short wall of our verandah...or porch if you like....away from direct sunlight. The butter has become liquid and both chocolates have softened noticeably. I would approximate ambient temperature outside about 34 degrees C. 

 I held the bags against a white background for better visibility, the economy chocolate folded over...[far left], the butter was liquid, and the mid range chocolate[far right] shows extensive shape loss.
In conclusion, it may be possible to determine exposure of a package containing TTSPPs to temperature above 30 degrees C, by including into the package a small packaged piece of chocolate or butter, in a see- through polythene bag with secure closure so as not to melt onto the TTSPP. The loss of primary shape cannot be regained by subsequent cooling to desired storage temperature and so this simple supermarket products can serve as evidence of temperature excursion beyond 30degreesC.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Other Consumer product that can also be used as a temperature detection device (Hafidha)



When left in a hot room or near a heat source (>28°C°), Butter will readily melt, and we can detect if it was exposed at excessive heat because it can go out the packaging.  

I take this photo now, it's butter that I bought last time, and I keep it the refrigerator, for breakfast or for cooking some recipes :)

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Consumer product that can also be used as a temperature detection device (Daudi)

Very true, you can not drink comfortably where ever if its hot or at temperature of 30 degrees or above, myself i tried it and I cant explain how scared i was in a bad taste! 7 up soft drink

In the same mini-supermarket, my son saw something, i buy for him later when we were out in room temperature of 31 degrees centigrade, it was melted and lost its shape, even taste and was difficult to carry; that is ice cream!
Surprising in the same plastic bag, the other consumer good was also melted even-though when we picked it, was not in refrigerator!
When I arrived home, I forgot to keep fresh milk in the refrigerator, of course in few hours was fermented
 
I
I finally realized, that was part of my assignment  

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Consumer product that can also be used as a temperature detection device (Hafidha)

 Hi everybody, today, it was a little special for me, my husband went to our hometown which is 500 km from Tunis.He was obliged to leave me with the children to visit her mother.
Returning tonight with the kids from the school, I felt they were a little sad because of the absence of their father, but what I will do to motivate them  and especially  this period  of exams.
I have not put much time to think, I know they love sweets too . Directly I went with them to the Carrefour Market which is in my way home. I bought chocolate " Ferrero Rocher " .
Reading the email relating to scavenger hunt, I catch this opportunity to take these photos  .




Definitely the chocolate will melt otherworld 30 ° C, certainly if it has been exposed to the heat, when we open the package, we can discover the change of the initial fom .

 It's so funny,  if we don’t have monitor, we can think of chocolate. Any ways we must not think to put “Ferrero rocher”, not only is it more expensive than the monitor but also as health personnel I guarantee that the chocolate does not melt in the heat, but in my mouth (unwanted event that you cannot prevent it with all risk assessments :) )

SCAVENGER HUNT 5 - CONSUMER PRODUCT TO BE BOUGHT IN A MARKET/KIOSK FOR TEMPERATURE DETECTION (25 November - 8 December)

Many thanks to Daudi, Jacqui and Hafidha for very good photos on transport risks. It was very impressive to read how you analyzed especially the sodium cyanide truck, effective doubling of loading capacity in waste disposal three wheeler, and the football fans…

We are NOW announcing the last scavenger hunt for this course:

Acquire a readily available consumer product that can also be used as a temperature detection device to determine if the contents of a package were exposed to temperatures above 30°C. This product must be purchased from a local market/kiosk/marche anywhere and everywhere (and is not a thermometer).

This scavenger hunt challenge comes with prizes!.. Do not miss it...

When you purchase the product, make a good photograph of it, and tell us your story as well as how can you use the product as to detect whether the contents of a package has been exposed to temperatures above 30 deg C.

Looking forward to see your hunt.

Cheers and good luck.

UMIT

Saturday, November 23, 2013

TRANSPORT RISKS and CONTROL MEASURES (Hafidha)



Hi dear all, My photo is taken this afternoon from my car and by my mobile phone, It shows, people that hanging out the window car, in their road to the stadium to assist the match football between Tunisian team (Sfaxian Club) and Tp Mazembé (Congo).
The unwanted event here, is the death of people in case of accident which become frequent in these events.
To prevent this bad scenario, hanging out window car must be forbidden by the police.
To finish my story, and although I'm not passionate about football, my son tell me now that Tunisian team won the match part :)
Enjoy your week end :)

TRANSPORT AND RISK CONTROL (Jacqui)

This is the last truck of a three truck convoy that I was driving behind last sunday. The red banner  tied to the back of  the last truck read 'BEWARE!! SODIUM CYANIDE CONVOY...and a drawn skull with cross bones in the corner'......I was shocked that this was the only warning for the convoy . In the event of  parking en route or an accident this warning is supposed...I am guessing here... to discourage attempt  to open and steal the truck container content ( villagers often try this with parked cargo vehicles...some have reportedly lost their lives trying to collect fuel from parked fuel tankers on inter city roads), of course the trucks were locked as well.There were 2 other trucks ahead)...I am guessing they were heading for the gold mining area in Obouasi.





On a lighter note, these two gentlemen were kind enough to allow me to take their picture. Like every rapidly growing city, Accra faces waste disposal challenges, which creates gainful employment in the informal sector. The driver , called Mandela and his loader- Cornelius...have put large boards on the sides of their three wheeler's cargo hold, effectively doubling the loading capacity and also preventing the wind from blowing away loose cargo...they have a large fishing net in the back which is used to secure the cargo when the hold is fully loaded, further preventing loss en route to the dump site...they were pleasant and very enthusiastic in describing their work...a surprisingly refreshing encounter for me ...kept me smiling at work that morning.


Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Transportation challenges

Transport is challenge for delivering and accessing health services, varries from animal transport, motorbikes (bodaboda, okada??) to reliable vehicle.

Animal transport in Shinyanga for distribution of agricultural products.



Motorbike carrying a woman to vaccination site:


SCAVENGER HUNT 4 - TRANSPORT RISKS and CONTROL MEASURES (11 - 24 November)

Dear All,

Many thanks to all for submissions. As for the "thermometer used as temperature monitoring device - outside the scope of pharmaceutical cold chain", we have seen temperature indicators in dashboard of the car, alcohol thermometer in a living room with fan, a split unit air conditioner with a temperature display, dial thermometer, alcohol thermometers on sale, digital body thermometer, thermometer in a cold storage facility for meat and thermometer used as monitoring device in National Public Health Laboratory. As you see, some were simple alcohol stem thermometer, one bi-metal and some digital... 

Temperature monitoring systems are a critical part of good storage and handling practice. A storage unit is only as effective as the temperature monitoring system it relies on. When it comes to MONITORING, certain types of thermometers are not recommended as primary device at all. In this sense, fluid-filled thermometers and bi-metal thermometers are not recommended for pharmaceutical temperature monitoring since they only indicate the temperature at the precise time they are read. 

For the next coming 2 weeks, we want you to hunt photos of transport risks and control measures. This transport could be anything - pharmaceutical or non-pharmaceutical. Please do not forget to explain your story, what type of unwanted events you see in the photograph or what is the control measure and which unwanted event you think it is introduced to prevent or control/mitigate should it happen. 























Cheers and all the best,

UMIT

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Temperature in a meat storage facility (Edwin)



A thermometer fitted to the entrance of a cold storage facility (meat) to monitor the temperature within the so-called cold store. Yes, a meat cold storage facility. The picture was taken today, at 2:34 PM (GMT). Please note that the ambient temperature was 31oC.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

THERMOMETER USED AS A MONITORING DEVICE- HEMANT


I found a non-pharmaceutical thermometer in my home.
This type of digital thermometer used to measure temperature of baby’s in caseof fever.
This digital thermometer gives  reading, and helps to record temperature /to decide whether you need to call the doctor.





Temperature charting in National Public Health Laboratory (DAVID)


Thermometer from Stockholm (Andrey)

Hi All,

Yesterday I found a very nice example of non-pharma thermometer in Sweden
With moose ;)

Another one I have found in a train from airport to Moscow city. 


Non pharmaceutical thermometers everywhere [Jacqui]


I have been  thinking about this particular 'hunt' for 10 days...where to get a picture of a non pharmaceutical temperature monitoring device?...and I realized yesterday this one has been staring me in the face all the time...I set it to 19 degrees Celsius every morning as seen on the digital display. I certainly need to improve my powers of observation. :) Jacqui


This is an exhibition of my improving powers...[of observation], now I am better tuned... I see potential  hunts of temperature monitors everywhere....this is the display panel of a ford caravan, showing on the first row, in the middle, an ambient outside temperature of 88 degrees Fahrenheit and on second row an internal temperature of 67 degrees  for our driving comfort.

At home  I viewed with fresh eyes.....the oven digital display.....the forgotten infant thermometer ...the bathroom hot water boiler gauge....etc etc etc my life has taken on an added  dimension where once I was blind and now I see!.....Lol

Take care everyone.

More fan please - temperature monitoring in living room (Ignacio)

A photo from the living room...


Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Thermometer used as a monitoring device (Hafidha)



This morning after several rounds to find parking in the city center, I spent a few minutes to relieve stress’s traffic jam. Checking time in the dashboard, I noticed that the thermometer showed 22°C. Today is cold compared to the usual, I look behind and ahead the car to find the thermometer sensor and I wondered did they do mapping before installing the sensor, I don't know, but I knew that I have to hurry up, I didn't miss this opportunity to capture this photo with my mobile phone. As you notice below the digital thermometer there is another that indicates 90°C, probably this is the engine temperature.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

SCAVENGER HUNT 3 (28 October - 10 November)

Dear colleagues,

Thanks for all your efforts for hunting down different ways of heat transfer from our daily life. We have seen creative photographs from hotel rooms, BBQ, freeze-drying, landscape, hair-drying at home, and preparing meal at home. 

The third Scavenger Hunt will be examples of a "thermometer used as a monitoring device". Again please find examples of thermometers used outside the scope of pharmaceutical cold chain

Looking forward to see your photographs. When you post your photograph(s), please do not forget to explain where you took the photograph and give some background on the picture taking. Please use all your creativity in hunting interesting shots.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

PREPARING MY AFTERNOON MEAL (Edwin)


Boiling slices of Yam and Plantain in an aluminum cooking pot; using heat transferred through conduction……… to the mass motion of warm water generated as a result of convection current transferring energy. Thermal radiation felt when taking the snaps




Thursday, October 24, 2013

CONDUCTION VERSUS CONVECTION (JACQUI)

I am stuck at home for a few days due to an L4 -5 misalignment….so my great plan of getting a picture of my 4 year old niece Rebecca making her super cute ‘sad face’ over her melting ice cream cone is not going to happen….that would have been a lovely picture as she never fails to do this, she always insists on 3 ice cream scoops and she can never eat it fast enough so invariably sun radiation and a little conduction results in the famous pout and icecream over the floor. LOL


So I needed to improvise …this gives me the opportunity of sharing a secret about type 3b hair with you…patience please! the rule is..... AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE…STICK TO AIR DRYING 3B HAIR.


I explain….

When dried naturally by conduction…which can take anything between 2 to 5 hours depending on how hot the weather is the result …nicely well behaved coif above.


However when the drying process is accelerated by assisted convection drying using a hair dryer with a diffuser …the results are sooo different! See below!
You are permitted to laugh  everyone. Take care.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Three ways of heat transfer in one photograph (ROLAND)

The following contribution comes from ROLAND.

This is a  view of the interior of the chamber of a freeze dryer where the lyophilization process take place. these are vials with a pharmaceutical product during the ramp of freezing.In this example the three mechanism of heat transfer are involved.

Conduction: From the product to the vials and  then to the shelf in direct contact to the vials.  Higher heat transfer rate.

Convection: From the product to the shelf surface through the air occluded between the shelf surface and the bottom of the vial in the case of concave vials. Lower heat transfer rate.

Radiation: This mechanism is more significant during primary drying of the lyophilization process than the freezing step, because exist a major gradient of temperature between  the surface of the shelf above the vials, walls, front door and the product surface. The product placed at the edge of the shelves have a higher heat transfer coefficient than the center ones.