Free Republic does more to fight Cancer, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's than DU

[DFLer4edu]

Folding@Home is a research project run by Stanford which hopes to develop new drugs and/or find a cure for diseases such as Cancer, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's. Contributing to this project is simple. All you have to do is download a small program which quietly runs in the background on your computer. It will not degrade performance, and it's secure. The only times it makes contact with the Stanford servers is when uploading data and downloading new data for processing. Since October, 2000 over 1 million computers have participated in the project.

While the DU has made a significant contribution to this program (we currently have over 170 active computers working on the project), the Free Republic has over 1000! This is a friendly competition, but they would say that we're not a very charitable group of people. So, let's prove them wrong!

All it takes is to download and install a client to your hard drive. All you need to do then is to make it a service (Windows) or a login item (Mac) and it will quietly run in the background. As I have said, it will not degrade performance, and it is secure. The only times it makes contact with the Stanford servers is when uploading data and downloading new data for processing.

For more info go to their home page at:
http://folding.stanford.edu /

Read the info. If you want to take part download the software here:
http://folding.stanford.edu/download.html

If you want, join our team. when you set up your Folding@home client you will see where you can join a team. Type in the number 48157 and that will enroll you. This is not a requirement. You may want to go it solo, or you may want to be part of a team. Your choice. Taking part in this worthy project is what is important.

Here's our team page:
http://vspx27.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=teampage&teamnum=48157

Please join us and help find the cure for a host of ills that plague the human species.

P.S. Thank you to Alfredo who has recently been working to get more people at the DU involved in this project. Much of the information in this post can be found at http://journals.democraticunderground.com/alfredo/8

[Robbien]

1. Since GOPers are not being put on watch lists by BushCo

I can see why they would join in on this program.

I decline. Sorry.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. Good point

[hobbit709]

4. If you're that paranoid

then why are you on DU in the first place?

Donator Hobbit709
Team Democratic Underground (48157)
Score 98938 (certificate)
Donator Rank 13817 of 601695
WU 374 (certificate)

[Robbien]

6. What does one have to do with the other?

A bot run on my computer doing heaven knows what and reporting heavens knows what to whomever, is not a thing an activist would trust.

That is not paranoia, it is commen sense.

[havocmom]

40. Yeppers.

Let the bush bots turn over their hard drives

They are also fighting mental health.

[Recursion]

48. Compile it from source if you want to

That's the beauty of open-source: mistrust is built in.

[TwilightZone]

3. I think that wins the misleading thread title of the millenium award

Folding@Home is but a small part of the research puzzle.

Your point and intent are understood, of course, but the assertion you use as bait is misguided, at best. Considering that the average Freeper wants stem cell research banned, they're certainly not doing what they can to help the causes you mention.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

5. #105

#49 will finish tomorrow. :)

[WorseBeforeBetter]

7. I really don't care what FR thinks of DU...

and certainly feel no need to prove them wrong on this one. Will have to read up on this before I commit to it.

[helderheid]

11. I've asked for explanations and have never gotten one satisfactory enough to participate. n/t

[Caution]

25. The project is easily explained

They take a database of compounds, then run computer simulations on those compounds to determine how they would attack disease cells (virii, bacteria, cancer cells, etc). This requires a massive amount of computing power. By installing the application on your computer, whenever your computer has extra power available it becomes a part of the project. The more computers, the better the chance of finding a cure for disease.

It's free to do.

[helderheid]

57. That still doesn't provide me with enough info on my computer's privacy. n/t

[Caution]

70. Folding and Privacy

Your privacy is completely maintained. The system is such that a connection is made by the software to the main server. The software asks for a piece of work to do. The software grabs the work package (in this case a compound). The package is processed over many hours (days typically) and when complete it send the package back to the server and requests another. The computer reports back what its specs are (CPU speed, memory and hard drive space available) and how long the process took. You can, if you choose provide an email address and a team number. You are not required to do either.

The software makes the request, no ports are left open. Do you have any specific questions? You never indicated initially that you were asking about privacy so I didn't address that in my first response.

[mcscajun]

35. Here's another explanation...

For those of you still wondering what this is all about, Folding@Home is one of many active Distributed Computing projects. DC projects utilize your PC's idle time to process work units for the project. The most famous DC project is probably the SETI@Home project (mentioned in the movie "Contact"). Folding@Home's purpose is to help scientists determine how proteins fold under various conditions in an effort to help cure diseases (cancer, alzheimer's, etc.) This is a very worthwhile project and one certainly worthy of leaving your PC on 24/7.

Some may be concerned about leaving a PC on 24/7 and the costs involved. A newer PC running a full load will use about the same amount of electricity as two lamps left on 24/7. That is to say, not a lot.

Security-wise, running a DC app (even a non-BOINC app) is very safe. Just be sure to download the apps from the site's main page and you should have nothing to worry about.

There are various clients available at the Folding@Home download page including CLI (Command Line Interface - DOS) and GUI (Graphical User Interface - pretty pictures) for Windows-based PCs, Linux console, and Mac OS X GUI, CLI, and Screensaver clients.

All of the apps will only use a PC's idle processing time. Every PC has spare computing cycles to contribute to the effort. The program is small and runs in background, can be paused at any time, or closed entirely if your workload or hobbies require more CPU resources. There's even an interesting graphic to let you watch the simulation in progress. Old PCs, Slow PCs, Spare PCs lying around that can be attached to your home network all help the cause. The race may go to the swift, but slow and steady racks up points, too!

[merh]

56. You too?

No one can explain to me how it is my little bitty computer helps the battles against those diseases.

Hell, if they need computers, they've got all the fed computers and all of the university computers and it's employees to work with (that is if the program is so darned innocent).

I'd like a legitimate explanation is all. :hi:

[donco6]

63. Ever heard of SETI@home?

It's the same concept. Spread a mathematical problem among thousands of processors and you vastly multiply your computing power - far beyond what's available at the campus.

I've done SETI@home for years and have never had a compromise on my computer.

[merh]

66. how does that cure disease?

:shrug:

[donco6]

68. It doesn't.

And never mind.

[merh]

69. oh, thank's for the very rude dismissal of a legitimate question

As the OP is about "Free Republic does more to fight Cancer, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's than DU" one would assume that allowing use of my computer helps fight cancer and other diseases.

Since it doesn't, the OP is incorrect and all you that promote the concept are just happy to let your computer be used.

Cool - whatever floats your boat.

[mcscajun]

71. Distributed computing, linking thousands upon thousands of PCs

together, can break up the problem and solve it faster than larger computers. The problem in this case is the misfolding of proteins; exploring how proteins misfold may hold the key to curing many diseases.

That's as simple as I can make it.

[merh]

73. And your simple explanation makes sense

and I thank you for it.

[SpiralHawk]

8. I choose my charities based on critieria other than Freeper interest

I do not feel any sense of competition with them in the area of charity.

I applaud their generosity toward the charities of their choice.

But this is America, or at least it used to be until the republicons stole it from the people.

Therefore, I choose the charities I wish to support based on criteria of my own choosing.

[Caution]

26. What does this have to do with participating in the folding@home project?

It costs nothing to participate in, it's not a charity, it's a distributed computer project. You are donating nothing other than unused computing cycles.

[Ian David]

9. I've been in for a while, but now I'm out, and getting back in

I un-installed my Folding program, because I falsely thought it was behind my system slow-downs. It turns out, it wasn't.

I'm going to go re-install it tomorrow.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. Or we might be taking part in other background processing

such as http://climateprediction.net/">Climate Prediction Experiments (and I suspect freepers won't be so sympathetic to that, seeing how stupid Bush is about it).

[Mabus]

17. You can run both

Unless you've got a computer like mine. I've got an older machine and I tried to down load the CPE software but it wouldn't run on my computer.

[muriel_volestrangler]

33. Hah - my CPU is crawling through its jobs

even though it gets all my spare CPU. At this rate, it should finish the BBC climate experiment about mid-2008 - they said the quick machines would finish in mid-2006 (having started early 2006). I don't think I can load more on it.

[badgerpup]

12. This may be a Good Cause...

but I RESENT LIKE HELL the attepmt at manipulation in the title.
This is very reminiscent of the GOP "If you vote Democrat, it emboldens the enemy! It will make Osama happy!"

Not to denigrate the cause, it appears to be a good one...it's the way it's being presented that pisses me off.

I really abhor and detest this kind of manipulation.
It's arrogant, disrespectful, denigrating and says "I'm so much better and smarter than you that I can play you like a violin and make you do exactly what I want."
:nuke:

[Blue-Jay]

14. Yeah. What *you* said.

:thumbsup:

[hfojvt]

13. kudos to the Freeps

:patriot: Now if only the policies and politicians that they support were not so evil.

[Hun Joro]

15. Thanks for the reminder

I was on the team, but myhhard drive crashed some time last year and I had to replace it, and forgot to reinstall this.

[twilight_sailing]

16. We are not sports fans, this is not a friendly competition.

If this were a friendly competition between the fans of two different sports teams, I might take you up on your challenge. But, alas, we are not.

The differences I have with Republicans these days are vastly different than the differences I had with Republicans 20 or 30 years ago. The Republicans have changed. Their base is made up of radical right wing theocrats and their leadership is made up of those who care most about the super wealthy.

I do not care one whit about what such people might think of me. I'd like to add this, too. They are not going to like me no matter what I do. I know this from my own experience.

[mzmolly]

18. Bullcrap, opposing stem cell research is not fighting "jack."

The are opposing progress on these issues.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

23. you said it.

They can go get bent--the mindless, sanctimonious hypocrites.

I don't give a rat's ass about what racist, homophobe chickenhawks think.

:thumbsdown:

[PetraPooh]

19. Since Freepers tend to be wealthier...all is as reasonably expected. N/T

[IndyOp]

20. ONE freeper has turned DOZENS+ computers at his workplace

on to fold 24/7 -- I wonder why they are ahead?

And, yes, I am folding! I don't like being compared to CHEATERS - and it is cheating - they are not doing what we all imagine individuals can do - which is folding on one computer while they are working at that computer.

[Caution]

27. how is that cheating? It most certainly is not cheating.

Not to mention that this is not a true competition, the "team" aspect is just a way to appeal to our own sense of competition. the goal is to get as many computers as possible involved to maximize the chance to find a cure. The freeper dedicating unused CPU cycles on his work computer to this project deserves a pat on the back, he/she certainly doesn't deserve to be called a cheater.

[Mabus]

21. #72

I've got an older machine but I fold in the background whenever the computer is running. My mom and my grandmother had cancer. I have a good friend whose husband has Parkinson's Disease and another friend whose spouse has Alzheimer. I signed up because of people I know and I will continue to run the folding program for them.

When Molly died the other day I thought about her breast cancer and thought about posting a "Do it for Molly" thread.

K&R.

[Cha]

22. Well, that's bullshit cause

DU is the most "charitible" political organization I've encountered. Simply Amazing.

[annabanana]

24. OK. . I finally figured out how to do it...

Now my decided un-techno ass is folding with the rest of you. That little red microbe (or whatever it is) is just what my desktop needed to feel well dressed!

[Caution]

28. Thanks for drawing attention to Folding@home.

Shame on those who are giving you crap for trying to get them to participate. As if it hurts them personally to see that free republic has a greater degree of participation in the project than they do. Unbelievably thin-skinned.

I have been folding for a while, anonymously with no set team, i just changed my team setting. Thanks.

[EndElectoral]

29. Like support stem cell research....

[Bluebear]

31. Jinx. nt

[Bluebear]

30. BULLSHIT. "Freepers" do not support stem cell research which could CURE those diseases

Because baby Jayzuz will cry if you "kill" an embryo, so don't you DARE say that they "do more" to fight those diseases.

Sorry, your cause may be wonderful, but this is TOTALLY offensive. And untrue.

[Straight Shooter]

32. For accuracy, you should note that FR has more Folding@home participants.

Also please be mindful that there may well be DU'ers who are participants who have joined as part of another group, not as a DU member.

Your post title, "Free Republic does more to fight Cancer, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's than DU," is inaccurate because the vast majority of DU'ers vote for Democratic or Green candidates, and support the Democratic and Green parties. On those qualifications alone, and with our political activism to promote education and research to find cures for those diseases, we are far, far ahead of freepers in fighting cancer, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, as well as many other planetary and social ills.

[AikidoSoul]

34. Folding Home is bad idea for several reasons... I'll give 3 of them

1. This is a project donating our resources to the Chem/ pharm industry. This is the same industry that has egregiously contributed to the causes of Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's, cancer and many other chronic illnesses by putting its toxic poisons into every conceivable consumer product, and in our air and water. This industry has been ruthless in suppressing science showing the links between its toxic chemicals and these diseases. Now it wants us to provide resources so develop new profitable drugs to treat the increasing number of diseases that it creates. This is an industry that first profits from the poisons it manufactures, and then from the drugs and medical technologies that it manufactures. And we should contribute to this system?


Here's an excellent article that shows this circle of poison and profit --
not all the links work now but it's still excellent and well documented:

http://www.redflagsweekly.com/storm_warnings/poison.html

2. There is absolutely no guarantee that your computer will be safe from invasion. It's a door into your life. If you think that this door is only accessed by the "trustworthy" then you are not living in our current reality. This would be an extremely tempting target for hackers. Consider this: If they can get into the Pentagon, DoD, and banks.... why wouldn't they be able to get into a huge pie like millions of computers networked together. What attractive bait! Just think how excited the new NetBot manipulators are about this project!

3. Who do you think is behind this kind of idea? Funding chem/ pharm by taking a "little bit" from each of us? It's kind of like the new Medicare package that disallows competition and steals from our taxes to make them even richer. The Busheviks and their ilk are all deeply invested in chem / pharm. And chem / pharm is deeply invested in them.... no wonder Free Republic is so happy to be involved with taking a little bit of everybody's processing power! What's next?

[mcscajun]

36. Your link doesn't back up Point #1. Do you have one that does?

I'll address only this point with an entry from the Folding@Home FAQ:

Who "owns" the results? What will happen to them? Unlike other distributed computing projects, Folding@home is run by an academic institution (specifically the Pande Group, at Stanford University's Chemistry Department), which is a nonprofit institution dedicated to science research and education. We will not sell the data or make any money off of it.

Moreover, we will make the data available for others to use. In particular, the results from Folding@home will be made available on several levels. Most importantly, analysis of the simulations will be submitted to scientific journals for publication, and these journal articles will be posted on the web page after publication. Next, after publication of these scientific articles which analyze the data, the raw data of the folding runs will be available for everyone, including other researchers, here on this web site.

http://folding.stanford.edu/faq.html#project.own

[AikidoSoul]

38. Point one was indeed substantiated because chem/ pharm will profit from this project

and the Folding Home site even discusses how this information will be useful to "develop drugs".

Whether or not the PandeGroup directly "sells" the information is irrelevant.

But speaking of $$$$$$ ... Stanford, like other major universities, is a huge benefactor of chem/ pharm largess because it funds many projects and departments.

Since PandeGroup made up of Standford's chemistry dept. -- seems like there's a good potential for financial and career benefits here, even though this may occur indirectly and not from the direct "sale" of the information promulated from PandeGroup.

I'm certain that if one looked closely at the network of players within PandeGroup, and from those that support it -- we would see the strands of influence going to and coming from Chem /pharm players.

My point was simple enough. This Folding Home project will provide information that will ultimately profit the chem/ pharm industry. Whether PandeGroup directly "sells" it to that industry, is less important than the fact that chem/ pharm will be able to use the information to develop more profitable drugs.

It is a crime that the same industry that produces chemicals that create these diseases, not only profits from the drugs used to treat them -- all while aggressivley suppressing the science that shows its culpability. It is evident to a growing number of scientists that this industry is increasinly responsible for contributing to an epidemic of neurodegenerative diseases.

It's a simple plan: This industry is creating disease, and then profiting from it.

Then it works hard to create networks of influence to perpetuate that cycle.

[mcscajun]

42. As the data will be widely available, every firm that can possibly

make a drug, including those that manufacture inexpensive generics will have the same shot at the data required to produce one, unlike proprietary research owned by one pharmaceutical firm.

I don't have a problem with this. Nothing gets made for free.

[AikidoSoul]

44. Do you work in an industry that will profit from this project?

You sound like you do.

The argument that "generics" will be produced leaves out the fact that in order to BECOME a "generic", it first has to leave the patent status. During the patent period the profits made by chem/ pharm are huge.

DUers would do more to support prevention of cancer and these neurodegenerative diseases instead of supporting the making of drugs.

[mcscajun]

45. No, I do not work in the pharma industry. I work for $12 an hour in a medical office.

And you are being disingenuous about generics in this case. IF a particular drug company develops a Proprietary, patented drug based on their own research, then yes, the generic firms must certainly wait while the company that owns the R&D gets their big turn at the profit trough before they get to manufacture a copycat (generic) drug. If this research has no owner, all bets are off.

On edit: for the record, I am opposed to much of what the pharma industry does, particular in the matter of WASTE. Also for the record, I am for Universal Health Care and bringing the insurance companies to heel.

[Midlodemocrat]

50. Actually, that isn't always correct.

The R&D process can often cost pharma companies millions if not billions to bring a drug from conception into the pipeline.

And the generic must be A/B rated in order to get the DAW signatory removed from the doctor. There are some drugs which are considered 'desi' drugs, the old version of Synthroid for example, which never had FDA approval but was the closest thing available to assist people who were hypothyroid.

Some pharma companies make too much profit, that is of course the truth, but there is a lot more to getting a drug to a generic state if the generic manufacturer actually wants to get Managed Care providers to pay for it.

[AikidoSoul]

67. I don't argue with your point, but only to the degree which it is relevant.

My point was specifically that this project will benefit chem/ pharm, and enable it to use data supported by use of the public's computer microprocessors to develop its drugs. I also pointed out that this fact is hidden from the public. Later I posted a link to Stanford University's chemistry department where the professor works who uses his name in the "folding" project title. There are a huge number of very large chem/pharm companies that fund that department. The use of a huge network of the public's resources (processors) is merely another mechanism to get the public to pay for its research. Our tax monies ALREADY fund a large percentage of Chem/ pharm drug research --but this industry almost always neglects to include this fact when it speaks about the huge amount of money it takes to develop and test products.

Thanks for your comment and the opportunity to reply!

[AikidoSoul]

51. $$$$$ from Big Pharma, a/k/a Chem/Pharm funds Pande's chemistry dept

Looks like the Stanford Univ. Chemistry Department $$$$$$ profits $$$$ handsomely $$$$ from its corporate sponsors which include several chem/ pharm companies. Remember that Assoc. Professor Vijay Pande (PandeGroup's namesake) works in that department.

Here's the link to the page showing corporate sponsors which include very large chemical/ pharmaceutical companies:


http://www.stanford.edu/dept/chemistry/department/corp/members.html

<<<SNIP>>>

Corporate sponsors include:

Full Members

Chevron Research & Technology Company (1969)
Dade Behring Diagnostics (1996)
E.I. duPont de Nemours & Co., Inc. (1969)
Eastman Kodak Company (1969)
Exxon Research & Engineering Company (1969)
Hewlett Packard (1983)
Raychem Corporation (1970)
Roche Bioscience (1995)
Overseas Members

BASF AG (1993)
Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (1986)
Saudi Aramco (1994)
Limited Plus Member

Canon Research Center America, Inc. (1997)
Limited Members

ABB Lummus Global, Inc. (1996)
Catalytica Advanced Technologies (1998)
Rentech, Inc. (1996)
Symyx, Inc. (1999)
Honorary Members

Hitachi Ltd.
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
Corporate Partners/Donor Companies

Abbott Laboratories
Amoco
Boehringer-Ingelheim
Bristol-Myers Squibb
DuPont Merck
Elf Atochem
Eli Lilly & Company
Merck Research
Novartis
Pharmacia-Upjohn
Rohm & Haas
Smith-Kline Beecham

[pinto]

53. I get your POV about profit in big pharma. It's a good point. Yet, I have AIDS and doubt I'd

be alive today without the antivirals they've developed that I take daily.
That's no shit.

Do I wish there were another R&D/production/marketing/profit structure? Sure.

Do I want to see big pharma go away? Not on my life.

Thanks.

[AikidoSoul]

61. I sympathize totally with your position. My assertions do not concern elimination of chem/pharm,

but to point out how extremely aggressive and criminal it has become. That is a fact, and cannot be disputed. The incredible number of criminal prosecutions against this industry however, does not touch the fact that it is responsible for poisoning every living creature on this earth with its toxicants, and denying responsibility for its role. Worse -- it destroys any med/sci person who communicates the connections between toxicants and a wide range of chronic illnesses.

I hope you do well with all of the choices you must make. Please realize that my words do not in any way criticize those choices.

[The Count]

37. Didn't I just read the cure for cancer was discovered?

Edmonton, Alberta Canada - and it's affordable too....Now if only it would make it past US drug companies and their stooged in government, we wouldn't need to donate for something already accomplished.
http://www.atheistnetwork.com/viewtopic.php?t=16715

[mcscajun]

39. I had to dig a bit past that link, and DCA is promising, but has yet

to go through clinical trials.

New Scientist has received an unprecedented amount of interest in this story from readers. If you would like up-to-date information on any plans for clinical trials of DCA in patients with cancer, or would like to donate towards a fund for such trials, please visit the site set up by the University of Alberta and the Alberta Cancer Board. We will also follow events closely and will report any progress as it happens.

(snip)

DCA can cause pain, numbness and gait disturbances in some patients, but this may be a price worth paying if it turns out to be effective against all cancers. The next step is to run clinical trials of DCA in people with cancer. These may have to be funded by charities, universities and governments: pharmaceutical companies are unlikely to pay because they can’t make money on unpatented medicines. The pay-off is that if DCA does work, it will be easy to manufacture and dirt cheap.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10971-cheap-safe-drug-kills-most-cancers.html

Investigators at the University of Alberta have recently reported that a drug previously used in humans for the treatment of rare disorders of metabolism is also able to cause tumor regression in a number of human cancers growing in animals. This drug, dichloroacetate (DCA), appears to suppress the growth of cancer cells without affecting normal cells, suggesting that it might not have the dramatic side effects of standard chemotherapies.

At this point, the University of Alberta, the Alberta Cancer Board and Capital Health do not condone or advise the use of dichloroacetate (DCA) in human beings for the treatment of cancer since no human beings have gone through clinical trials using DCA to treat cancer. However, the University of Alberta and the Alberta Cancer Board are committed to performing clinical trials in the immediate future in consultation with regulatory agencies such as Health Canada. We believe that because DCA has been used on human beings in Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials of metabolic diseases, the cancer clinical trials timeline for our research will be much shorter than usual.

Can I find and use DCA on my own?

Absolutely not! This can actually be dangerous. For example, DCA can be found in stores selling chemicals to scientific laboratories. Often, DCA is sold in a form that is very acidic and if consumed could cause serious or catastrophic complications. Even for use in animals DCA often has to be processed with chemicals to correct its acidity etc. In addition, the dose in patients with cancer, or its interactions with other medications that cancer patients might be on, are completely unknown.

Often, patients with terminal cancer might feel they are in a desperate situation and might be “willing to try anything”. It needs to be remembered that the inappropriate use of these drugs might cause catastrophic complications and make the situation even worse. In addition, if complications occur, because this was not done under the supervision of a physician, this problem will not become known and other patients might be exposed to a risk that could have been prevented.

http://www.depmed.ualberta.ca/dca

[Midlodemocrat]

41. Of course they do. Freepers are all using the computers in mom's basement

24/7 while DUers actually get out and 'do'. As in work, go to school, etc.

Not hard to see why they're ahead.

And, although I'm being sarcastic, this is what I really think of freepers.

[Bryn]

43. I am more interested in

saving wolves, and other wildlife. Saving lost & displaced & abandoned pets, saving & keeping Earth clean, keeping air and water CLEAN. Eat less meat. Keeping Religion and State SEPARATED.

Then we would not have to fight Cancer, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's

What ya think?

[AikidoSoul]

46. Why was a top Alzheimer scientist murdered? Co-workers think it was because of his research showing

that proteins fold when exposed to certain neurotoxicants.

In 1996, leading Alzheimer's researcher Tsunao Saitoh, 46 and his 13 year-old daughter were killed in La Jolla, California, in what a Reuters report described as a "very professionally done" shooting. Co-workers wondered if the murder was because of the data Saitoh was gathering on the effects of
chemicals on the brain, as evidenced in tests performed on transgenic mice.

He was shot after arriving at his home in a car with his daughter. The shooter approached the car and shot him and then shot the girl in the back when she jumped out of the car and started to run.

Saitoh was looking at CAUSES of Alzheimer's and the REASONS for folding proteins.

If he stuck to looking at ways to make chem/ pharm more money -- maybe he wouldn't have been murdered.

And that is the opinion of at least one of his co-workers.

What makes Saitoh's murder so suspicious is because it's part of a pattern. There are many other scientists and researchers who have been targeted by chem/ pharm for doing research that threatens its bottom line... mostly they just lose their jobs, or are put under enormous pressure to stop focusing on causes.

[The Count]

49. I think I agree.

[AikidoSoul]

47. Speculation about why Alzheimer research Saitoh was murdered

This is one of many posts from other scientists studying Alzheimer's Disease. After this post there was an even more dramatic pattern of researchers disappearing from the world scientific community. In the mid-nineties, about a dozen researchers working in biological research, died or disappeared within a short time-- all mysteriously.

This post is from a colleague of the murdered Saitoh. The colleague also worked in Alzheimer's Disease research.

**********************************************************

Analysis: Arrest of Gajdusek, Murder of Saitoh
Listserve Commentary
22 July 1996

"In the months since Gajdusek's arrest and weeks since Saitoh's murder, as no other explanations have come forward, I have wondered what could have been the motivation, what the intimidation could be about. Certainly the murder of Saitoh and his daughter could have been a mistake. Gajdusek could simply have gone too far in his cultural relativism.

But there are some big money issues in the mix, such as transgenic mice, growth hormone, drug development, and chemical toxin liability. I have become intrigued by Saitoh's interest in the shift in the glutamate - calcium intracellular flux and the resulting shift to amyloid accumulation intracellularly as opposed to an intercellular messenger path.

If it is this excitotoxic process which accelerates the neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's Disease, and also in other neurodegenerative diseases, then I could see a link to BSE. That's the long way around to what Saitoh would have to do with intimidation about BSE. Not the cause, but the mechanisms by which a neurodegenerative process picks up speed, is what I think could be the link. Gajdusek seemed to hope he had the key, from the Papua New Guinea population, for resisting the neurodegeneration of HTLV-1.

[liberaldemocrat7]

60. I don't work as a scientist but Aluminum appears a suspect in Alzheimers

I do not use any product that has aluminum in it explicitly and I do not use aluminum foil or cookware. Most Deodorants have aluminum in it. I don't use them. I use soap. Also I don't use products as Maalox, as that has aluminum in it as well. I use tums which has no aluminum as I see.

[AikidoSoul]

62. Aluminum is implicated in neurodegenerative diseases as are a range of heavy metals and other

neurotoxicants. Neurotoxicants affect the brain and central nervous system. Some of these chemicals break down into even more toxic metabolites -- and most testing of cadavers on human brains excludes any testing for stored chems. What is clear is not only do neurotoxicants cause serious oxidation to tissue itself, but also are implicated in a wide range of other disturbances that disrupt the body's normal processes. Neurotoxins disturb our chemical messaging systems which regulate every function and organ in the body -- not just the brain.

[greiner3]

52. Not to rain on your parade, but,

I had the program installed on my computer for about 2 weeks but ended up deleting it and putting BOINC on which is running the climate prediction program. I took off Folding@home because it never said it had run all the network checks, or words to that effect. It was constantly trying to access the internet and then NOT doing anything. I specifically installed a firewall just so I could find out which program was doing all the dialing and yes, it was Folding@home. Granted the graphics were cool and I'm a Biology major but come on, that software is too buggy and there was no real help in the online forums. Maybe after the climate prediction runs, in 4851 hours, I will check back and see how many updates Folding@Home has had and maybe try them out again. BTW, I'm also running Seti@Home in a dual configuration and have never had a problem with BOINC or any of their embedded clients.

[donco6]

64. Thanks for info.

I've run SETI@home for years and have never had a problem. Good to know about the potential problems with FAH.

[wildflowergardener]

54. Thanks

Thanks for letting us know about this. I just put it on both my computers.

Meg

[merh]

55. How does this help fight Cancer, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's?

Please explain the basics to me.

[JCMach1]

58. Doesn't work at all behind my NAT

[Error]

59. I read there was a cure for cancer

it was on DU. Said there was a cure and it works, but companies can't make money off it.

[mcscajun]

72. See my post #39.

:)

[and-justice-for-all]

65. I support STEM CELL RESEARCH...

..with Monetary contributions. Stem Cell Research is the key to solving these medical problems.