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Interviewer: Are you a new parent? Well, here are three burn dangers you need to watch out for. We'll examine that next on The Scope.

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Interviewer: When you bring a brand new baby home, there are a lot of things that you've got to make sure that your house is safe for them. One of the things you have to start thinking about is potential burn dangers, and we're going to talk about three things you should do . . . three burn dangers you should watch out for when you bring that new child home or you have a new child in the house. Annette Matherly is with the University of Utah Burn Center. Let's cover these three things: number one . . .

Annette: Number one would absolutely be that beautiful glass fronted gas fireplace, which is quite a mouthful for me to say, but that fire is really attractive to young children and that glass stays hot for at least an hour after it's turned off. So it's not just when the fire is on that it's hot. It's when it's off and it looks safe that it remains hot enough to burn a child in about a second.

Interviewer: And I think that's really surprising when people find that out because they think that that glass is like the glass in your oven, right? The oven could be at 450 degrees. You could touch that glass. You're fine. The glass fronted fireplace, not that kind of glass.

Annette: Absolutely not, which is strange because it's about 1,300 degrees when it's hot, which is crazy to think about. And so, now, there's legislation moving forward to ensure that everybody puts a guard around that glass fronted fireplace, but that doesn't protect you if you go to a vacation spot or a hotel or a restaurant that doesn't have that guard around or it doesn't protect you if you've had your glass fronted gas fireplace in for a while and you're not aware of the danger surrounding that.

Interviewer: All right. So, remember, that glass front fireplace, it's pretty, it's like a magnet that kids' hands would love to go up there and it stays hot for a long time. So be aware of that. That's number one. If you're a new parent, you've got three burn dangers to watch out for: number two . . .

Annette: Number two would be hot liquids burn like fire, which seems counterintuitive because we think fire burns like fire. We don't think of something in a cup burning like fire, but to know that hot water right from your water heater is set at about 146 if you haven't turned it down. And so a suggestion to new parents, especially because that child has much thinner skin than an adult, would be to turn that water heater down to 120. You can measure that by putting a candy thermometer in the first water that comes out of your tap and then it's usually a low, medium setting.

Interviewer: So the default settings for hot water heaters is 146.

Annette: 146.

Interviewer: And how long does that take to burn a child?

Annette: Two seconds for a significant injury to occur.

Interviewer: And 120 is a little safer or a lot safer?

Annette: Absolutely. So it doesn't mean that you won't get burn injured, but what it means is that there's some more time. There's minutes as opposed to seconds.

Interviewer: And what about hot liquids like in your cup there that was hot, cups of coffee and stuff?

Annette: If you think about your Starbucks, or whatever it is, your beverage of choice, when a barista pours it, it's around 180, which is crazy if you think 146 is water that comes from your tap and burns you in two seconds. So 180 is outrageously high and much faster than that two second incident. So never carry your young child whilst carrying a hot beverage and ensure that your beverage stays away from countertops and tables, that tablecloths aren't used so young children can't pull on that tablecloth and pull that beverage down onto themselves.

Interviewer: And maybe go out and buy some mugs like your fancy one three with that airtight seal on it.

Annette: Absolutely. My beautiful silver one, so, you know, if you've got a young child then we usually say, "got a kid, get a lid."

Interviewer: Okay. Very good. All right. So glass front fireplaces, hot liquids burn like fire, what's the third thing that new parents should watch out for as far as burn dangers are concerned?

Annette: So we talk about a three-foot safety zone around a lot of things. So around a campfire would be another thing, but also around your cooking area. So, if you have a small child, I know it's not always possible to put a physical three-foot marker with duct tape on the floor. Most people don't want that in their beautiful kitchens.

Interviewer: You could.

Annette: You absolutely could, but to think visually where that marker would be, especially when you have little children roaming around or a brand new infant because that also includes cooking with a child in your arms. So to be aware of what you are holding in that precious bundle and is it worth the risk.

Interviewer: And other than the stove, a lot of people don't really realize the microwave, stuff that comes out of there can be dangerous, ramen noodles, boiling water.

Annette: Absolutely. So ramen noodles are the number one for teens because teens come home from school. They go and they put something hot in the microwave, and oftentimes, again, like you said, it's above head level, and so they're reaching to pull something down and they'll pull it right down on their face.

Interviewer: Yeah. And if you have a child in your arm and you reach up with one hand, you fumble that item. It doesn't take long.

Annette: Absolutely.

Interviewer: All right. So those are the three really good things to watch out for if you're a new parent because a lot of burn prevention is just awareness and implementing some of these changes in your household. Do you have any other final advice for that new parent coming home with that new child to keep them more burn safe?

Annette: So the last thing would be burn prevention is a team sport. We work as a team to ensure that each other is kept safe so when you bring home your new child then to talk to others that are maybe not familiar with the dangers that you've just heard about. So maybe grandparents, maybe babysitters would be another really important one as you go out on a date with your partner and leave your child in the care of another. And so, to ensure that they're aware of the things that could really cause lifelong injury to a small child would be really important to mention before you leave.

Interviewer: And having these conversations really can make a difference.

Annette: Absolutely. Most burns are preventable. It is very, very infrequently that we see somebody come through our unit that it could not have been prevented. So, to know and to educate yourself about the dangers of fire and then to educate those around you would be really important.

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Interviewer: Probably just about every house has one. Talking about a portable heater, and you would think that they would be fairly safe, I mean, there is so much stuff in between you and those heating elements, how could you possible burn yourself? Well, you can burn yourself.
Annette Matherly is the Outreach Education and Burn Disaster Coordinator at the Burn Center at University of Utah Health Care. I wouldn't think that a portable heater would be a serious burn hazard, but it is.

Annette Matherly: Absolutely. Especially if it's in a kid's room. Kids are naturally curious about hot things. You know, when they're a year old, we give them a candle with a cake and they blow it out and they think they can control fire, and then we reward them with gifts and cake so why are we surprised when they want to prod and play and light fires and touch fires?
So obviously children are very curious about fire, and so they will touch it. They will touch the bars. They will put things in it. Kids, again, love to play and they'll build tents, and they'll put the heater in the tent because the tent is cold, and they'll put things around the fire, and they'll throw clothes in a pile, and those clothes are too close to those fires. There should be a three foot radius around any portable heater, and when those things are closer than that, they will ignite and they will ignite very quickly.

Interviewer: So the real danger of portable heaters more so is of a fire starting, not so much, I'm touching it I'm going to get burned.

Annette Matherly: Absolutely.

Interviewer: Even with the modern-day heaters with all of these safety things? I mean, my heater, sometimes it just shuts off when I get too close to it because I don't know why.

Annette Matherly: Well, you know the heaters that blow hot air are a little bit different. Oftentimes the heaters that cause the fires are propane heaters . . .

Interviewer: Oh, okay.

Annette Matherly: . . . and are the electric heaters with the coils. And so, those get extremely hot and oftentimes they have open bars. And so those are usually what catches, ignites curtains and then the curtains catch on fire.
The other thing with propane heaters, or actually with any heater is that if you are working in a garage, so let's say you have your heater in the garage and maybe you are working with an accelerant and those fumes that come off those accelerants are pretty dense and they travel really fast and when they hit the heater, they can ignite.

Interviewer: Let's talk about some preventative things as kind of our final thought here. What are some things you can do with portable heaters to prevent these things from happening?

Annette Matherly: You know, always, always have a three foot radius around any heater no matter what kind of heater it is. You know, make sure that your bedding isn't close, make sure that the curtains aren't close. Sometimes we have long curtains that drape down against a heater that's on the wall.
Talk to our children and to our families about the importance of staying away, you know, knowing that children are naturally curious and love that warm glow, to talk to our children and to say, you know, this is hot and let's talk about what hot is.
The other thing would be to always have a home escape plan, to make sure that in the worst possible scenario if something were to happen, that our families and ourselves have a plan that we can talk to our kids about stop, dropping, and rolling in case they, you know, they catch on fire from backing too close whether it be at our home or it be a neighbor's home.

Also, to talk to them about the basics going back to kindergarten, and to make sure that we have a place to meet outside of the home, a safe meeting place. A place where everyone can gather so that firefighters, when they're fighting a blaze in that house aren't going back in for a child that's maybe in the backyard or a parent that's in the backyard when people think that they're still in the house.

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Interviewer: Today we're speaking with Dr. Carl Wittwer, University of Utah Professor of Pathology, who recently was made a Fellow in the National Academy of Inventors, along with two other University of Utah faculty. You came to the University and one of the directives for you, in your position here, was to find new technology. What did you invent?

Dr. Carl Wittwer: I was a new professor, first academic job. And I had a small laboratory but I had a need that I wanted to do the PCR process. That involves changing temperature, usually between two or three different temperatures. And the equipment to do that, although common today, did not at that time exist. So being somewhat naive and energetic, we decided to build our own instruments. Initially they were somewhat comical instruments, derived from heaters off of hair dryers and fans off of vacuum cleaners. But with a lot of trial and error and a number of prototypes that did not work at all, or not very well, I came up with a very good replication of what was then starting to come out as PCR machines. With one exception. We were able to do it fast. We were able to change temperature very quickly. And if you think about some of the diagnostic applications for PCR, faster answers are always more useful. Typically, at that time, PCR was on a two to four hours with the rapid system. So we developed, we cut the time down to 10 to 15 minutes.

Interviewer: Okay, can you tell us what polymerase chain reaction is and what it does?

Dr. Carl Wittwer: Certainly. Long name but simple concept. Cells in your body replicate after they've made two copies of DNA. Now, you can do this in vitro or in a test tube by the polymerase chain reaction.

Interviewer: And what's the advantage of replicating DNA?

Dr. Carl Wittwer: The advantage would be to amplify that DNA so you can test the sequence of the DNA much easier. So there's only very minute amounts of DNA in most cells, and the process of amplification allows you to interrogate or look at it, ask questions about what it is doing. What the bases are, what it's coding for. And whether or not there's any variance in the DNA. So ,it's like a large magnifying glass.

Interviewer: And what then can you learn from all this DNA that you've amplified and made, I take it, millions of copies of?

Dr. Carl Wittwer: Millions of copies. You'll of course be familiar with the forensic applications that you see on television in terms of identity or ancestry. In the clinical laboratory the major applications are in three different areas. Infectious disease, DNA that should not be there in a sample from an individual. Oncology or cancer, which of course is made, or is caused by changes in DNA. And finally, in genetics. To test for genetic diseases, characteristics that you may have that other people don't have.

Interviewer: From this first invention of yours, a company called Idaho Technology was eventually born.

Dr. Carl Wittwer: Correct, yes.

Interviewer: And Idaho Technology then manufactures these devices?

Dr. Carl Wittwer: Yeah, the initial device, again, we're back in 1990 or so, so it's quite a while ago. We called it, not surprisingly, a Rapid Cycler. A niche product but people were interested in doing things quickly. And it kept the company alive for quite a while. One other thing that we developed was looking at DNA melting. So if you remember the double helix form of DNA, it's got two strands. And if you heat it up, eventually those two strands fall apart. And if you watch very carefully, about how they fall apart, you can tell an amazing amount about what that sequence is and what it does. And any changes that may have occurred in that DNA. Later on the company, which eventually changed its name to BioFire, has been very successful in getting FDA approved products that look for syndromes that are caused by infectious agents. And even though it might be a common syndrome, like a flu-like illness or gastrointestinal symptoms, there's only a limited number of organisms that can actually cause those things. So this particular device will identify the caused organism of a syndrome. All within an hour. If you think back to your experiences at the doctor's office and how long it might take to get results back to you, this has all been encapsulated in to a one hour test. In terms of genetic and infectious disease diagnostics.

Interviewer: It seems to me there's a very creative process going on when you're inventing. What makes you so creative in that area? Or what makes you want to be so creative in that area?

Dr. Carl Wittwer: Yeah, so the old catch phrase of need is the mother of invention, you have to want something. You have to want a goal. You want to be able to achieve something. Whether it's doing PCR fast, which is still one of our, one of my major goals. To take the speed of amplification as an example, at the time that we changed a multi-hour process down to 10 or 15 minutes, that was pretty extraordinary. And I remember someone had a cold call from the blue who criticized me on the phone severely and said, "Wittwer, how can you lie to the public in your scientific publications?"
So, when you really do something that's different, people will not believe what you've done. The next step usually is they'll say, "Okay, I admit that you've done it but it's not worth anything. What are you going to use it for?" Right? And then eventually you'll get some adherence. Some people who say, "Ah-ha, this actually really works." And eventually it might penetrate the market and you might be very successful in terms of company products. Of course, at that stage, usually the original inventors get forgotten. But what you need to remember is that's part of the process and it's actually success when that happens.

Interviewer: What does the future have in store for you and your research?

Dr. Carl Wittwer: We started by making PCR faster than it was at that time. And although it's taken us 20 years to revisit the speed of amplification, the speed of PCR, we now have systems that take that 10 to 15 minute process and can actually produce robust, efficient, quantitative PCR in less than a minute. So start thinking about point of care applications, where you're actually waiting for the answer. So, when you can potentially get results out in under a minute timescale, it changes the way you think about providing diagnostics. Particularly at the point of care. So, of course I'm very excited about this again. Again, currently the state of this is in prototypes that no one, that are not commercially feasible and that very few people would have the patience to work with. But in terms of proving the point, the limits of, be it, in this case, speed, you end up with those prototypes that hopefully other people will pick up and make more commercially practical.

Interviewer: And are you confident that at some point technology will be commercially available that allows physicians or whatever other providers, organizations, to come up with results in a minute or less?

Dr. Carl Wittwer: Yes. It'll happen. It has to happen because of your need, because of your desire to want things quickly. And there's no reason, once the technology has shown that you can do it, the population will drive the companies to make it available.

Interviewer: What else can we cover that you would like to, or we didn't?

Dr. Carl Wittwer: You know, most true inventions don't happen in large groups. They happen with individual people. And often they happen with individual people who don't have a lot of resources. So what that means in terms of the roll out of inventions, they usually don't happen in large companies. They happen either in small companies that are struggling to survive. Or they happen in academic labs, often small academic labs. Where someone latches on to an idea, commits themselves to it and makes it happen.

Interviewer: Which sounds like is what you did.

Dr. Carl Wittwer: Yeah, it's a lot of stubbornness. And belief in what you're doing. Even when other people don't believe in what you're doing. And believe me, they will not believe. I've had that experience.

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