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Computers fight pancreatic cancer
The Engineer Online ^ | 4/26/05

Posted on 04/26/2005 12:32:03 PM PDT by LibWhacker

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To: whd23

Sorry to hear that. I know the survival rate is very, very low for cancer of the pancrease. I had a freind who was a pastor locally who went to the NIH. They are very good, I hear. I have a family member who is qualified for StageIV trials whenever they want (or need) to with either Mayo or Moffitt. I can NOT imagine being an oncologist. A friend of mine is one and he started out working on children and had to switch to adults because of the heartbreak. He would not have lasted had he stayed a pediatric oncologist. Ugh. Too much cancer talk today for one forum.


21 posted on 04/26/2005 1:23:29 PM PDT by RedBloodedAmerican
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To: RedBloodedAmerican
Think it would help? I may contact them yes, definitely. Download and try it. you can always uninstall it. It is a shame that so many computers go idle doing nothing when instead they could donate the CPU cycles and do something that can fight cancer. Here is a link that further explains the project. http://www.grid.org/projects/cancer/about.htm
22 posted on 04/26/2005 1:45:43 PM PDT by liberty2004
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To: liberty2004

thanks.


23 posted on 04/26/2005 1:46:52 PM PDT by RedBloodedAmerican
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To: LibWhacker
There's another project out of Stanford University called f@h (folding proteins). I've had their process running in background for several months now. See: http://folding.stanford.edu/

These research projects don't need high speed bandwidth but prefer a 7x24 or at least daily internet connection, 256MB RAM and a high speed processor.

24 posted on 04/26/2005 2:05:53 PM PDT by Procyon
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To: rightazrain
My Dad also.64 years old.5 months from diagnosis to passing.

It was a bad way to go.The only good thing, versus instant death like a heart attack or something,was I got to visit him often and tell him everything I should have said many times years before.The last week was a bitch.

25 posted on 04/26/2005 2:10:51 PM PDT by builder (I don't want a piece of someone else's pie)
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To: Yo-Yo
I'm not sure about this, but I think they're looking at billions of molecules, folding them various ways, and then checking to see if they'll bind well with certain "target proteins" that are associated with various cancers. So participants can't work on just one particular cancer of their choosing. I think pancreatic cancer was just recently added to their list.

I don't understand it, that's for sure, lol! But I may sign up for it and drop SETI@home. I love SETI, but it has plenty of volunteers by now!

26 posted on 04/26/2005 2:19:10 PM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: LibWhacker
From the Grid.org site that explains the current project:

Current Project: Human Proteome Folding
United Devices has begun a new and exciting research project -- the Human Proteome Folding Project -- in collaboration with the Institute for Systems Biology, the University of Washington, and IBM Corporation.

Now you can volunteer your computer's excess compute resources to take on one of modern science's greatest challenges: Unraveling the protein structures hidden inside the Human Genome.

The Human Proteome Folding Project analyzes sequence data from the Human Genome to predict how the proteins coded there are likely to function. Since proteins directly affect human health and are key targets in developing disease treatments, understanding their structure and function is critical. At present only a fraction of human protein structures are known -- this project seeks to dramatically increase that number and make the data available to scientists for further study by the end of 2005.

General research, very valuable, but not specifically targeted at cancer research. I'll reconsider installing it, but I'd hate to be donating computer time so some corporation can develop a better Viagra.
27 posted on 04/26/2005 4:52:30 PM PDT by Yo-Yo
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To: Yo-Yo
I'll reconsider installing it, but I'd hate to be donating computer time so some corporation can develop a better Viagra.

I'm with you on that! If I'm going to help a company make a zillion dollars, I damned well expect a cut of it. At the moment I can't figure out if this Proteome Folding project has anything at all to do with Prof. Richards cancer work?

I downloaded the software but haven't installed it yet. I don't have a whole lot of time to look into stuff like this (takes away from my recreational internet surfing and game playing :-)), but I'll install it later and try to take a careful look at it, thanks!

28 posted on 04/26/2005 5:32:58 PM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: LibWhacker

There are teams on the site that one can join. And there is a FreeRepublic team!


29 posted on 04/26/2005 5:35:46 PM PDT by Redcloak (But what do I know? I'm just a right-wing nut in his PJs whackin' on a keyboard..)
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To: Yo-Yo

They should give shares


30 posted on 04/27/2005 12:18:25 AM PDT by Roots (www.GOPatUCR.com - - College Republicans at the University of California, Riverside)
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To: LibWhacker

An old friend told me that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The good news was that his doctors were going to try some promising new drugs. I tend to be an optimist. I called back in a couple of weeks and he was already dead. Ever since then I have wished that I had just dropped everything and travelled to visit him.


31 posted on 04/27/2005 1:17:02 AM PDT by wideminded
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To: wideminded

I'm sorry about your friend. It's a horrible and swift killer. I never realized it myself until my wife's mom died of it. Then we got to listen to "experimental treatment" pitch that everyone hears when they get some horrible disease. We went for it. But it did no good at all, of course, and might actually have made things worse for her.


32 posted on 04/27/2005 1:30:40 AM PDT by LibWhacker
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