Free Republic

An unusual enzyme called telomerase acts on parts of chromosomes known as telomeres. The enzyme has recently been found in many human tumors and is being eyed as a new target for cancer therapyEditor's note: We are posting the main text of this article from the February 1996 issue of Scientific American for all our readers because the authors have won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Subscribers to the digital archive may obtain a full PDF version, complete with artwork and captions. Often in nature things are not what they seem. A rock on the seafloor may...

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' cancellation of a $75 million contract with UT Southwestern Medical Center could mean the end to the Dallas university's research into treatments and cures for Gulf War illnesses. UT Southwestern epidemiologist Dr. Robert Haley told The Dallas Morning News that he and a team of 200 colleagues from eight universities are five years ahead of anyone else engaged in the painstaking research into why 200,000 healthy soldiers went to the Persian Gulf in 1990-91 and returned to civilian lives of chronic illness. ... A closer look at the body of research conducted by Haley...

SUMMARY. The influenza virus infects people and animals by binding to complex sugar molecules on the surface of the respiratory tract. Bird viruses bind most strongly to bird cell-surface sugars and human viruses bind most strongly to human cell-surface sugars. As the recent swine-origin influenza virus has demonstrated, there is considerable overlap between the binding ability of human and pig viruses to cells of the other host. Changes to this binding affinity are one key component for viruses to make a jump between species, and it is difficult to predict the necessary mutations ahead of time. We would like to...

Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and Mike Tyson; Colossus, Cray, ASCI Red and Blue Gene. The names of boxing's heavyweights are never forgotten - and it's the same with the champs of the supercomputing world. These machines truly are like no others. Each is computationally more muscular than its predecessor; and for a while, each has claimed the title of the fastest computer in the world. But, as the calamitous fall of 'Iron' Mike Tyson showed us, champions are built to be felled. And so we've seem supercomputers come and go, growing from single processor machines capable of a...

Another site I am on is trying to start a small folding team. One "green" activist is trying to make the case that you would be better off sending money directly to cancer researchers rather than wasting energy by folding. His argument is that projects like folding and SETI have been wasting time and energy for years with nothing to show for it and all you are doing is putting money in the pockets of electric company executives. Are there any studies that show how much it costs to run folding 24/7 as opposed to just letting your pc sit...

Improving blood flow to brain is a preventive strategy CHICAGO --- A slow, chronic starvation of the brain as we age appears to be one of the major triggers of a biochemical process that causes some forms of Alzheimer's disease. A new study from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine has found when the brain doesn't get enough sugar glucose -- as might occur when cardiovascular disease restricts blood flow in arteries to the brain -- a process is launched that ultimately produces the sticky clumps of protein that appear to be a cause of Alzheimer's. Robert Vassar, lead author,...

... We present a novel computational approach for describing the formation of oligomeric assemblies at experimental concentrations and timescales. We propose an extension to the Markovian state model approach, where one includes low concentration oligomeric states analytically. This allows simulation on long timescales (seconds timescale) and at arbitrarily low concentrations (e.g., the micromolar concentrations found in experiments), while still using an all-atom model for protein and solvent. As a proof of concept, we apply this methodology to the oligomerization of an Abeta peptide fragment (Abeta 21–43). Abeta oligomers are now widely recognized as the primary neurotoxic structures leading to Alzheimer's...

With the 6.20 (classic & GPU) and 6.22 (SMP) clients out, we (Dr. Pande and the F@H team) can start looking forward to the next steps in client development. We still have some last bits of work to completely unify the clients, but the hard part is already completed there for the most part. The 6.2x series introduces several new features for donors, but in time, the clients have been getting gradually more and more complex to use. The Win/SMP and multi-gpu setups are examples of very challenging setups. Our primary plans for the future are to make setup much...

Mainly to help FReerepublic folders, but anyone can take advantage of this deal. Item number 7387-A11 (Refurbished) Lenovo 3000 J115 - Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 2 GHz - RAM 1 GB - HD 250 GB - DVD±RW (+R DL) - Memory card reader - LAN- Fast Gig - Modem - Vista Home Premium. 1 year manuf. warr. incl. Subtotal: 210.00 Sales Tax: 0.00 Shipping: 30.32 Order Total: 240.32 Actually they are $230.00, but if you call the guy below, and ask him for a "folding@home" discount, he'll give you an additional $20.00 off. Tech For Less Cory -719-886-8000 ext....

OK, so I'll never be one of the top 10 and I'd have to almost double what I have now to even make the top 150 but persistence DOES pay off: Rank User Score WU 200 Oshkalaboomboom 23839 163

*** New PS3 client *** Sony has released an upgraded client for the PS3. Check out Noam Rimon's (he's the lead developer at Sony) post: Hello, Starting today a new version of Folding is available. This version is a minor fix to the previous 1.3 version and adds a better tuned algorithm that handles peak performance hours of Folding@home network, by acting differently to certain network errors if those occur. It is recommended that you update to the new version by quitting the application and restarting it. Your current WU will not be damaged in any way, in-fact Folding will...

We're often interested in comparing things--predicting a known difference is a good way to test our methods. Then, once we're pretty confident that things work, we want to predict ways to change the way proteins interact. Changing a system in a defined way is both a good tool for biological insight and the basis for a lot of medical treatments. In this particular case, we're interested in the "selectivity" of ligand binding by a protein: the protein is known to bind one small molecule ("ligand") much better than another. So project 3903/3905 is a pair of projects comparing the protein-small...

As we approach one million PLAYSTATION 3 consoles participating in the Folding@Home program, we continue to improve the FAH client. With the new Firmware v2.1 we also prepared an updated version of FAH, which can soon be automatically downloaded by clicking on the FAH icon. This updated version includes the following new features: If you happen to be one of the people that wants to leave their machine running after they finished their late-night gaming session, but wish to shut it down after a limited period of time, we have a great tip for you: Go to Settings menu, select...

A plea to all owners of new computers and PS3s this weekend to strongly consider adding the Folding@home program to your new system to run in the background. Why? Because Alzheimer's Disease, Mad Cow (BSE), CJD, ALS, Huntington's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, and many Cancers and cancer-related syndromes are partially or wholly caused by mid-folded proteins. You can help by simply running a piece of software. Folding@home is a distributed computing project -- people from throughout the world download and run software to band together to make one of the largest supercomputers in the world. Every computer takes the project closer...

Scientists have moved a step closer to finding a cure for Alzheimer's, it has been revealed. Biologists have developed a compound which has successfully prevented the disease killing brain cells, improving memory and learning ability that was already damaged. The researchers at the University of St Andrews, working with scientists in the US, have developed man-made compounds capable of blocking a nerve cell interaction known to lead to the symptoms of the disease. The results of the study - carried out in the laboratory using a model of the disease - have prompted the Alzheimer's Research Trust to help fund...

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas TX are seeking patients to participate in medical studies for Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and low-back pain. All clinical trials are approved by UT Southwestern’s Institutional Review Board, which reviews them for benefits, risks, side effects and informed consent. Parkinson’s UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers are enrolling patients with Parkinson’s disease to determine if creatine, normally used as a nutritional supplement, can slow the progression of the disease. Study participants will receive either creatine or a placebo and must not take creatine outside the study during the trial. The investigators will measure...

The Brain Tour explains how the brain works and how Alzheimer's affects it. Start Brain Tour Taking the tour: There are 16 interactive slides. As you view each slide, roll your mouse over any colored text to highlight special features of each image. Then, click on the arrow to move to the next slide.

Time for awards to be passed out for the FReepers who have pushed the team past 25 Million points. For the old timers, you never thought we wuld see the day, huh? We had threads when we topped a million points as a team and threads when we blew the doors off the DUmmies team and silenced their boasting (what ever happened to them?). In this thread if you have seen a huge contribution to the team then please recognize the poster and let us know so we can all shout out to them. Cheering and noisemakers to all!

Time for a new FreeRepublic folding@home thread. Our FreeRepublic team of 460 members comprised primarily of Free Republic members in good standing have banded together to donate their excess CPU cycles to a worthy cause. Via distributed computing, millions of computers around the world, contribute directly to scientific research, in the quest for a greater understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Cancer, and Mad Cow (BSE). Currently, the team is in 54th place (with 1050 active CPUs - 123,500 completed Work Units and 24.75 million points). Please take the time this Memorial Day weekend to run the F@H program and...

Inner Life of a CellInner Life of the Cell: Animation conception and scientific content by Alain Viel and Robert A. Lue. Animation by John Liebler/XVIVO. SIGGRAPH Award Winning Video

HUNTINGTON'S DISEASE (HD) is caused by the aggregation of a different type of proteins. Some proteins have a repeat of a single amino acid (glutamine, often abbreviated as "Q"). These poly-Q repeats, if long enough, form aggregates which cause HD. We are studying the structure of poly-Q aggregates as well as predicting the pathway by which they form. Similar to Alzheimer's Disease, these HD studies, if successful, would be useful for rational drug design approaches as well as further insight into how HD aggregates form kinetically (hopefully paving the way for a method to stop the HD aggregate formation).

_INTO THE FOLD: Despite all the criticism the PlayStation 3 has received, everyone acknowledges it's a powerful piece of hardware. Scientists at Stanford University want to harness that power while you're not using it to play "Virtual Fighter." The researchers are studying the folding and misfolding of proteins, processes that may lead to diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and many kinds of cancer. It requires a lot of computing power to simulate the processes, so the Folding@home program has set up a global network of computers to handle the calculations. By the end of this month, Internet-connected PS3 owners will...

Several folks have asked to learn more about the Folding@Home project. I will provide information here that talks about the science and the math behind F@H. Above all, remember that F@H is about finding a cure to the diseases that take the live and minds of our loved ones. Basic research is generated concerning the causes of Alzheimers, Parkinsons and BSE, among others. F@H is an outgrowth out the Genone@Home project started back in the 90's. That project ended April 14, 2004 and Folding@Home is its offspring. Folding@Home is a combination of Distributed Computing and Serious Math, sent out all...

Time for a new Free Republic Folding@home thread. Our Free Republic team of 416 members comprised primarily of Free Republic members in good standing have banded together to donate their excess CPU cycles to a worthy cause. Via distributed computing, millions of computers around the world contribute directly to scientific research, in the quest for a greater understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Cancer, and Mad Cow (BSE). Currently, the team is in 57th place (with 1,032 active CPUs - 92,150 completed Work Units and 18.0 million points). This is an entirely voluntary program, and if you want to learn...

From a paper in the Journal of the American Chemical Society concerning nanotubes: The folding of proteins in confined spaces is a ubiquitous theme in biological and biomaterial applications, including folding in chaperones and pores, nanotube-based drug delivery, and cotranslational folding of nascent peptides in the ribosomal exit tunnel. The role of confinement on peptide conformational equilibrium has thus gained much interest in recent years, and a natural first hypothesis to investigate is the role of confinement alone in protein conformational preferences. ... Still, there exists a growing body of evidence to suggest that molecular water plays a role in...

Happy Birthday to the many folding FReepers who joined our little band last December. While we had been folding as a team for a long time, systematic was instrumental in rekindling interest in the team, and all the growth starts with his efforts. We had just passed into the top 2000 of teams when December started. No Klutz, no lrenh, no malsua. Uriah was our big gainer, having posted over 2000 points in less than a week! BoT was folding that first week and is still folding away for us. The research that we help advance will truly make a...

"Think you don't make a difference?" Those are the words that our very own FReeper/trucker papasmurf started out on a thread for one of his friends, almost a year ago. The subject of the thread, a young man named Dylan and his mother Smile, had successfully battled cancer. Papasmurf emailed me to let us know that Dylan is having some new problems, and has gone to the hospital several times while doctors work to discover the source of his problems. Here is Dylan during his fight with cancer and again after being diagnosed healthy:

Time for a new Free Republic folding@home thread. Our Free Republic team of 391 members comprised primarily of Free Republic members in good standing have banded together to donate their excess CPU cycles to a worthy cause. Via distributed computing, millions of computers around the world, contribute directly to scientific research, in the quest for a greater understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Cancer, and Mad Cow (BSE). Currently, the team is in 63th place (with 1,039 active CPUs - 74,650 completed Work Units and 13.75 million points). This is an entirely voluntary program, and if you want to learn...

Time for a new FreeRepublic folding@home thread. Our FreeRepublic team of 358 members comprised primarily of Free Republic members in good standing have banded together to donate their excess CPU cycles to a worthy cause. Via distributed computing, millions of computers around the world, contribute directly to scientific research, in the quest for a greater understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Cancer, and Mad Cow (BSE). Currently, the team is in 75th place (with 1,020 active CPUs - 70,500 completed Work Units and 12.75 million points). This is an entirely voluntary program, and if you want to learn more, please...

Time for a new FreeRepublic folding@home thread. Our FreeRepublic team of 358 members comprised primarily of Free Republic members in good standing have banded together to donate their excess CPU cycles to a worthy cause. Via distributed computing, millions of computers around the world, contribute directly to scientific research, in the quest for a greater understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Cancer, and Mad Cow (BSE). Currently, the team is in 75th place (with 1009 active CPUs - 55,700 completed Work Units and 9.75 million points). This is an entirely voluntary program, and if you want to learn more, please...

Time for a new FreeRepublic folding@home thread. Our FreeRepublic team of 351 members comprised primarily of Free Republic members in good standing have banded together to donate their excess CPU cycles to a worthy cause. Via distributed computing, millions of computers around the world, contribute directly to scientific research, in the quest for a greater understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Cancer, and Mad Cow (BSE). Currently, the team is in 85th place (with 908 active CPUs - 47,400 completed Work Units and nearly 8.5 million points). This is an entirely voluntary program, and if you want to learn more,...

Time for a new FreeRepublic folding@home thread. Our FreeRepublic team of 342 members comprised primarily of Free Republic members in good standing have banded together to donate their excess CPU cycles to a worthy cause. Via distributed computing, millions of computers around the world, contribute directly to scientific research, in the quest for a greater understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Cancer, and Mad Cow (BSE). Currently, the team is in 99th place (with 985 active CPUs - 39,500 completed Work Units and nearly 7 million points). This is an entirely voluntary program, and if you want to learn more,...

Time for a new FreeRepublic folding@home thread. Our FreeRepublic team of 337 members comprised primarily of Free Republic members in good standing have banded together to donate their excess CPU cycles to a worthy cause. Via distributed computing, millions of computers around the world, contribute directly to scientific research, in the quest for a greater understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Cancer, and Mad Cow (BSE). Currently, the team is in 103th place (with 988 active CPUs - 36,400 completed Work Units and more than 6,4 million points). This is an entirely voluntary program, and if you want to learn...

Time for a new FreeRepublic folding@home thread. Our FreeRepublic team of 325+ members comprised primarily of Free Republic members in good standing have banded together to donate their excess CPU cycles to a worthy cause. Via distributed computing, millions of computers around the world, contribute directly to scientific research, in the quest for a greater understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Cancer, and Mad Cow (BSE). Currently, the team is in 108th place (with 991 active CPUs - 34,150 completed Work Units and more than 6,000,000 points). This is an entirely voluntary program, and if you want to learn more,...

Time for a new FreeRepublic folding@home thread. Our FreeRepublic team of 300+ members comprised primarily of Free Republic members in good standing have banded together to donate their excess CPU cycles to a worthy cause. Via distributed computing, millions of computers around the world, contribute directly to scientific research, in the quest for a greater understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Cancer, and Mad Cow (BSE). Currently, the team is in 117th place (with 1,038 active CPUs - 29,000 completed Work Units and more than 5,000,000 points). This is an entirely voluntary program, and if you want to learn more,...

Time for a new FreeRepublic folding@home thread. Our FreeRepublic team of 300+ members comprised primarily of Free Republic members in good standing have banded together to donate their excess CPU cycles to a worthy cause. Via distributed computing, millions of computers around the world, contribute directly to scientific research, in the quest for a greater understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Cancer, and Mad Cow (BSE). Currently, the team is in 144th place (with 1,045 CPUs - 24,200 completed Work Units and nearly 4,000,000 points) This is an entirely voluntary program, and if you want to learn more, please see...

OK, new thread for the next week, celebrating the first of many Million point producers – our very own Klutz_Dohanger! First, a big shout out to the SETI and BOINC members who have added CPUs to the effort. Remember, its Team 36120, NOT Team 0. Next, congrats to all for bumping our team up to 1011 processors and 305 user names. We have a number of new users in the team, with over 50 computers from GetLoaded.com, a trucking support website, all contributing while their owners ply our freeways keeping the nation moving. We now have 57 members who have...

Time for a new FreeRepublic folding@home thread. Our FreeRepublic team of 300+ members comprised primarily of Free Republic members in good standing have banded together to donate their excess CPU cycles to a worthy cause. Via distributed computing, millions of computers around the world, contribute directly to scientific research, in the quest for a greater understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Cancer, and Mad Cow (BSE). Currently, the team is in 164th place (with 992 CPUs - nearly 19,000 completed Work Units and 2,982,241 points) This is an entirely voluntary program, and if you want to learn more, please see...

Brain Briefings Proteins carry out many crucial functions in the body and brain. Researchers, however, are finding out that some have a sinister side. Recent studies indicate that negative influences can turn the protein, alpha-synuclein, into a major contributor of the movement-impairing disorder, Parkinson's disease. The insights may lead to new ways to treat the brain disease as well as other related ailments. A protein inside the brain, dubbed alpha-synuclein, lives a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde existence. Normally, alpha-synuclein (AS) aids brain function, possibly by helping cells communicate with one another. Recent studies, however, show that certain forces negatively...

Time for a new FreeRepublic folding@home thread. Our FreeRepublic team of 250+ members comprised primarily of Free Republic members in good standing have banded together to donate their excess CPU cycles to a worthy cause. Via distributed computing, millions of computers around the world, contribute directly to scientific research, in the quest for a greater understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Cancer, and Mad Cow (BSE). Currently, the team is in 188th place (with 940 CPUs - 15,725 completed Work Units and 2,330,000 points) This is an entirely voluntary program, and if you want to learn more, please see the...

Time for a new FreeRepublic folding@home thread. While this folding@home team is not officially sanctioned by Free Republic, it's 250+ members comprised primarily of Free Republic members in good standing have banded together to donate their excess CPU cycles to a worthy cause. Via distributed computing, millions of computers around the world, contribute directly to scientific research, in the quest for a greater understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Cancer, and Mad Cow (BSE). Currently, the team is in 204th place, having reached more than 2,000,000 points! This is an entirely voluntary program, and if you want to learn more,...

Welcome to the new FreeRepublic folding@home thread. The previous thread has gotten too large, so we move on to yet another. While this folding@home team is not officially sanctioned by Free Republic, it's 250+ members comprised primarily of Free Republic members in good standing have banded together to donate their excess CPU cycles to a worthy cause. Via distributed computing, millions of computers around the world, contribute directly to scientific research, in the quest for a greater understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Cancer, and Mad Cow (BSE). Currently, the team is in 241st place, having moved up from 1200th...

OK, new thread for the next week, now that Pittsburgh has another Super Bowl ring. First, a big shout out to the SETI and BOINC members who have added CPUs to the effort. Remember, its Team 36120, NOT Team 0. Next, congrats to all for bumping our team up to 714 processors and 271 user names. We have a number of new users in the team, with over a 50 computers now from GetLoaded.com, a trucking support website, all contributing while their owners ply our freeways keeping the nation moving. We now have 22 members who have contributed at least...

A midweek thread celebrating our entry into the Top 300 Folding teams in the world! First, a big shout out to the SETI and BOINC members who have added CPUs to the effort. Remember, its Team 36120, NOT Team 0. Next, congrats to all for bumping our team up to 667 processors and 239 user names. We have a number of new users in the team, with over 50 computers now from GetLoaded.com, a trucking website, all contributing while their owners ply our freeways keeping the nation moving. After over a year of folding, Team 36120, composed of FReepers honoring...

OK, new thread for the next week. First, a big shout out to the SETI and BOINC members who have added CPUs to the effort. Remember, its Team 36120, NOT Team 0. Next, congrats to all for bumping our team up to 550 processors and 232 user names. We have a number of new users in the team, with over a 40 computers now from GetLoaded.com, a trucking support website, all contributing while their owners ply our freeways keeping the nation moving. New members of the week include: Mike_Medved (Thank you very much for your support) Zach_Erskine Route66 OldsDon'tFloat (who...

OK, new thread for the next week. First, a big shout out to the SETI and BOINC members who have added CPUs to the effort. Remember, its Team 36120, NOT Team 0. Next, congrats to all for bumping our team up to 512 processors and 220 user names. We have a number of new users in the team, with over a dozen folders now from GetLoaded.com all popping onto the hit list this week. We now have ten members who have contributed at least 10,000 points each. Klutz Dohanger, Malsua, Ken in Texas, Andrewksu, LSimpson, kingu, Uriah, arderenne and rach_FR...

OK, new thread for the next week. First, a big shout out to the SETI and BOINC members who have added CPUs to the effort. Remember, its Team 36120, NOT Team 0. Next, congrats to all for bumping our team up to 456 processors and 209 user names. We have a number of new users in the team, with over a dozen folders now from GetLoaded.com all popping onto the hit list this week. Special mention to Klutz Dohanger, who has quietly volunteered over 100 systems to fold. That is 20% of all of the Free Republic Folders systems actively...

OK, new thread for the next week. First, a big shout out to the SETI and BOINC members who have added CPUs to the effort. Remember, its Team 36120, NOT Team 0. Next, congrats to all for bumping our team up to 384 processors and 192 user names. We have a number of new users in the team, with nearly a dozen folders now from GetLoaded.com all popping onto the hit list this week. Special mention to Klutz Dohanger, who has quietly volunteered 80 systems to fold. That is 20% of all of the Free Republic Folders systems actively engaged...

Welcome to the folding at home thread. The previous thread has gotten too large, so we move on to yet another. While this folding@home team is not officially sanctioned by Free Republic, it's members, or it's founders, it is comprised primarily of Free Republic members in good standing, who have banded together, to donate their excess CPU cycles to a worthy cause. Via Distributed computing, millions of computers around the world, contribute directly to scientific research, in the quest for a greater understanding of diseases such as Alzheimers, Cancer, and Mad Cow (BSE). Currently, the team is in 777th place,...

New thread for this week. Congrats to all new members who joined this week! We've made excellent progress so far and have smoked the DUmmies and Kossacks. Let's keep folding!