Salad Spinner Centrifuge: A Cheap, Ingenious Health Care Tool

[Make7]

 

Salad Spinner Centrifuge: A Cheap, Ingenious Health Care Tool

We already know that we need to eat plenty of leafy greens to stay healthy, but who knew that a salad spinner itself could help save lives?

As we learn from EurekAlert, Rice University undergraduates Lila Kerr and Lauren Theis were presented with an assignment in their Introduction to Bioengineering and World Health class. As Theis explains:

"We were essentially told we need to find a way to diagnose anemia without power, without it being very costly and with a portable device."

In a solution short on cost but long on ingenuity, the duo modified a basic, every day salad spinner into an easy to use and transport centrifuge that successfully separates blood to allow diagnosis of anemia with no electricity. The device costs about $30, can process 30 individual 15 microliter blood samples at a time, and can separate blood into its component red cells and plasma in about 20 minutes.

... more


http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/salad-spinner-centrifuge-a-cheap-ingenious-health-care-tool-2019637/

Brilliant!
 

[JVS]

1. why do people spin salads?

[KT2000]

2. to remove the water

some greens need to be soaked and washed well. That leaves lots of water in the leaves, so the spinner separates the water from the leaves.

[Retrograde]

18. soaking in slightly acidic water can revitalize droopy greens

If the lettuce is looking a bit tired I soak the separate leaves in water with a few drops of vinegar for about a half hour, then spin dry.

And no matter how clean the spinach looks, I find it needs at least two good soaks to get all the grit out. I thought salad spinners were an affectation until I got one.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

20. Ozone generators can freshen your strawberries in about a minute or two, in water.

www.mold-kill.com

[Ignis]

21. Yes! It definitely helps with gritty/sandly veggies.

It used to take me forever *cough OCD cough* to clean a bunch of spinach by hand.

[Bluebear]

3. What KT said. And dry greens let the dressing adhere to them.

[Warren DeMontague]

4. To disorient them, and make them easier to catch.

The tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers don't put up nearly as much of a struggle if they're dizzy.

[Occulus]

5. .

:rofl:

[Cal Carpenter]

13. ,,,

:thumbsup:

[SunnySong]

15. Love it....

[Ignis]

19. !

:spray:

[Cirque du So-What]

6. If just one corpuscle makes its way onto my spring mix

I'm gonna freak OUT!

[eShirl]

7. I use one as a spin dryer for hand-washables, before air drying them.

Although instead of hand washing them, I use this: http://www.laundry-alternative.com/

[watrwefitinfor]

8. How ironic.

I use my washing maching's spin cycle to spin my salad greens. (A clean, white dedicated cotton towel separating greens from tub, of course.)

Works beautifully.

Wat

[pipi_k]

9. More irony

I send my salad greens to the dry cleaners.

They wash, dry, and press all the wrinkles out, and send them back on tiny little hangers.


:7

[northernlights]

10. ...

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[BuddhaGirl]

14. my mom always did that - she used a pillow case to hold the greens!

n/t

[northernlights]

11. very, very cool....

I'm jealous of people who can think outside the box like that :D

[Javaman]

12. Isn't this just basic flywheel technology? nt

[MilesColtrane]

16. Meh.

Call me when someone figures out how to use a modified Pocket Fisherman™ to do an angioplasty.

[eppur_se_muova]

17. Ummm ... they already manufacture hand-cranked centrifuges ...

http://www.ofite.com/products/153-25-1.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babcock_test

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6905454.html (an even simpler device)