Non-Fiction Archives - Page 2 of 5

March 2, 2020March 5, 2020

Make your own hand sanitizer – Coronavirus COVID-19

The following is a procedure on how to make your own hand sanitizer at home with ready to purchase ingredients. Making your own version is easy, but you must follow the instructions exactly.

Do not add your own steps. Do not substitute.

It is very important to note: If you buy a different percentage of alcohol, then the ultimate needed concentration of 60 % alcohol will be affected.

Aloe vera gel can be your choice, the most important thing is to get the right concentration of isopropyl alcohol.

The following is how I would make the hand sanitizer. I am an ex-researcher and a biochemist.

Keep things ready:

Do the following BEFORE starting to make the mixture. This will make your life easier and you won’t waste time, and hopefully not scald yourself with boiling water. Please be careful with super hot stuff around kids, pets, and yourself.

Clean kitchen surfaces.
Wash your hands with soap, friction, and running water.
Boil water on the stove. Do not microwave it, microwaving plain hot water causes hot spots and it creates small bursts that might scald you.
While the water is boiling, keep a glass measuring cup (pyrex) and a stainless-steel spoon ready.
Keep your ingredients, alcohol, gel + a new plastic jar/container ready.
Don’t keep the bottle of isopropyl alcohol open for no reason. If it tips over, you’ll lose the essential ingredient. Additionally the high concentrated alcohol will evaporate in air over time.
DO NOT breathe in the alcohol. Another suggestion – Keep windows open while making this concoction, specially if you have a small kitchen or space.
DO NOT eat/drink/ or consume the alcohol or sanitizer except in the prescribed manner.

Procedure

Take boiling hot water and pour it into your measuring cup (glass) and add a stainless-steel spoon into the same glass cup. Do not use plastic measuring cups or spoons. Dunk the entire spoon in the hot water and let it soak for a few minutes. In the meanwhile, wash your hands with regular hot water from the tap.
If you wait until the glass cup gets ‘cool’ to the touch, then it will be too late to continue next steps. Restart with boiling hot water.
Throw out the hot water from the glass cup, but do not wipe the glass cup with a towel, as it’ll contaminate it again.
Fill the cup with the aloe vera gel FIRST to the 82 mL mark. If you do this step first, then when the liquid is added it won’t splash as much.
Add 170 ml alcohol to the 250 mL mark. When doing this, do NOT inhale the alcohol, it will make you dizzy. Typically chemists take shallow breaths when handling such volatile (things that evaporate really fast in room temperature).
Mix with a CLEAN spoon (the one you’ve soaked in boiling water).
Now fill it into a clean container.

Notes: Please read the following before you start making the mixture.

Please don’t add other stuff (fragrances, essential oils etc.)
Since you are using home/kitchen measuring cups that are not as accurate or precise as laboratory equipment, it would be prudent to use higher than needed quantities of the isopropyl alcohol.
If your original container of isopropyl alcohol (IPA/rubbing alcohol) is super large (like Costco or some obnoxious size) then transfer to a clean sterilized container (general cup, glass) before measuring it out. Otherwise transferring from a super large container to a small cup will result in a lot of splashing and wastage.
By using these quantities, even if you make a slight mistake of one teaspoon etc. you will have a concentration that is higher than 60 %.
Please attempt to be as accurate and precise as possible when measuring the liquid.
Even if you add a little less of the gel, it is okay.
DO NOT add too much gel, as that will lessen the total percentage of alcohol concentration.

If you have excess isopropyl alcohol left, keep it. You can make another batch, or use it to make a hand spray. DO NOT waste.

March 2, 2020March 3, 2020

How to protect yourself – Coronavirus – COVID-19

Here is some basic cleanliness information to keep yourself and others protected in any situation. Please note, these are only recommendations.

Greeting (my personal recommendation)
- Instead of shaking hands, try waving, or using the Indian namaste. It is respectful, and acknowledges the other person from a distance as well. This way, everyone can keep their germs to themselves. There is less need to use hand sanitizers, soap, water, and paper towels.
- If you do come in contact with others, do not touch your face, nose, eyes, and mouth. These are some of the easiest ways to transfer germs to yourself.
Cleaning your hands:
- Wash your hands properly. This means on the insides of your fingers, back of the hand, and the bit of your forearm that has exposed skin. Plain soap can disrupt the virus’ surface by lysing it (cutting it open), effectively rendering it useless. This is different from saying soap kills the virus. Nothing does, as of now. Thus, it is important to use soap, water, and FRICTION. Washing hands can reduce transmission by 30 to 50 %, and reduce pandemic potentials by 34 to 60 %.
  - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/risa.13438
  - https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/26/809650625/a-guide-how-to-prepare-your-home-for-coronavirus
Hand sanitizer usage:
- Use a hand sanitizer with at least 60 % alcohol content.
- The following link has excellent information on how to use hand sanitizers properly – https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/hand-washing/art-20046253
- This link tells you why hand sanitizers work in general – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK513254/
- Other good links
  - https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public
  - https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/prevention-treatment.html

Coughing and sneezing:
- If you need to cough, please use the crease between your forearm and upper arm (the opposite side of your elbow) to sneeze and cough. Do not use your hands or palm. Do not cough or sneeze in open air.
Surfaces:
- Viruses can stay on surfaces longer than most bacteria, and this is why it is important to keep yourself clean. The coronavirus is expected to live on surfaces for up to 9 days. Compare this to measles viruses that can only survive for 2 hours on surfaces, or Flu viruses that only last 15 minutes on tissues and 24 hrs on other surfaces.
- What are surfaces? They include plastic, metal, glass, soft surfaces (skin, fabrics, etc.)
  - https://www.sciencealert.com/study-shows-just-how-long-coronaviruses-can-stick-around-on-a-surface
  - https://www.livescience.com/how-long-coronavirus-last-surfaces.html
  - https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/infections/how-long-do-bacteria-and-viruses-live-outside-the-body/
- If you get in contact with someone and instead of touching your face, you reach out to another object (purse, cell phone, door handle, jacket, etc.), you will then transfer the germs to those things, which will need disinfecting.
  - https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/coronaviruses-how-long-can-they-survive-on-surfaces#How-long-do-coronaviruses-persist?
How to clean surfaces
- Bleach or sodium hypochlorite: use as 0.1 % concentration with a minimum of 1 minute incubation.
- Ethanol: Use minimum of 60 % concentration with a minimum of 1 minute incubation.
- Hydrogen peroxide: Use a minimum concentration of 0.5 % with a minimum 1 minute incubation.
- What does 1 minute incubation mean? When you spray the solution, leave it alone for a few minutes, and THEN wipe it. Don’t just spray and wipe immediately, as that is useless.
  - https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/coronaviruses-how-long-can-they-survive-on-surfaces#How-to-inactivate-coronavirus
Masks:
- Due to the severe shortage of masks, please do not hoard masks or filters. Read this post before deciding otherwise.
Make your home a clean space
- If traveling outside the house, then before entering your house, try keeping your shoes at the door.
- Remember, if someone sneezes near you, you will have droplets on your clothes including shoes.
- Remove jackets that may have residue of germs, and then wash your hands.
Washing laundry
- All contaminated material (that would include the jackets people have sneezed on) should be washed at 60 C or 140 F along with bleach. This means that if you wash things at a lower temperature, the virus will persist.
  - https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/infections/can-clothes-and-towels-spread-germs/

Please note, I am not a medical doctor. I am a ex-researcher and a biochemist.

March 1, 2020March 3, 2020

Coronavirus COVID-19 and Masks/Filters

Coronavirus genre (alpha, beta, gamma, and delta) (yes there are types just like there are many strains of influenza – one reason that the same flu vaccine doesn’t work each year) – has an average size of 27 – 32/34 kb (kilo bases). The one we are most concerned with is the beta version.

https://www.scireslit.com/Virology/IJVID-ID13.pdf

So what is the size and why does size matter?

Coronovirus COVID19 specific size: 0.09 to 0.125 µ

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1563832/

https://www.ejmo.org/pdf/2019%20Novel%20Coronavirus%20COVID19%20Outbreak%20A%20Review%20of%20the%20Current%20Literature-12220.pdf

What does the micron or whatever size mean?

Width of hair = (note this is average, not typical) = 75 µ

Why does size matter?

It determines whether the virus can pass through filters or not.

Masks/Filters

N95 Masks: N95 designation the 95 means it will block out 95 % of the particulate matter and typically filter out contaminants as small as 0.3 µ

What does that mean? It means given current information on the size of the coronavirus (beta version) which is at 0.09 smallest to 0.125 µ, it is still too small to effectively stop the coronavirus if it were separate as is. But usually transmission from one person to another is through breath, cough, saliva etc. This means there will be a coating of water, mucus, (or other junk) that would be enveloping the virus.

So it would be reasonable to assume that given a coating of ‘something larger’ will make the overall size of the virus large enough to be stopped enough with an N95. Currently this is used by medical staff for treating patients with coronavirus.

If you have some masks, good for you. Don’t waste your filters wearing it when you are not sick. If you breathe through them and moisture builds up, that is a breeding ground for bacteria and other viruses and compromises the filtering effectivity/efficacy of the masks.

Currently in the USA, there are limited masks/filters available (specially N95) and are at an exorbitant price due to shortages. So, don’t waste the masks by wearing it to for daily routine. Leave it for those who need it more.