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BSE and Playstations

A

Anonymous

Guest
PlayStation's serious side: Fighting disease
POSTED: 0542 GMT (1342 HKT), September 19, 2006
By David E. Williams
CNN

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(CNN) -- Kids aiming to persuade their parents to buy the PlayStation 3 have some new ammunition -- donating their PS3's down time to researchers could help cure Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or mad cow disease.

This November, Sony's PS3, with a price tag from $499 to $599, will challenge Microsoft's XBox 360 and Nintendo's Wii in a battle royale for holiday dollars when it hits stores in the United States and Japan.

The PS3 uses a powerful new processor called the Cell Broadband Engine to run highly realistic games like "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07," "Metal Gear Solid 4" and "Full Auto 2." It also has a 20GB or 60GB hard drive (depending on the model) and can connect to the Internet either wirelessly, or with an Ethernet hookup so gamers can download new programs and take each other on.

The PS3's chip is the same one IBM is using in a supercomputer it's building for the Department of Energy. That computer is expected to reach speeds of one petaflop, or 1,000 trillion calculations per second. (Full story)

"It has so much horsepower and, of course, when you're playing a game all that horsepower will be used for the game. But there are a lot of times during the day when somebody's not playing the game," said Sony's Richard Marks. "It seemed like a good idea to be able to use that horsepower for something else that is, in this case, good for mankind."

Sony worked with Stanford University's [email protected] project to harness the PS3's technology to help study how proteins are formed in the human body and how they sometimes form incorrectly.

Improperly formed proteins are linked to a number of diseases, including Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cystic fibrosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gherig's disease, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as mad-cow disease.

"What you can imagine is that if a machine was assembled incorrectly, it can do damaging things," said Vijay Pande, who runs the Stanford project. "You can imagine a car that's screwed up and someone tries to drive it, then maybe it crashes into things and causing problems."

Proteins start out in the body as long strings of amino acids and have to assemble themselves into complex shapes -- a process scientists call folding -- before they can do anything. The challenge for scientists is that folding is difficult to observe because proteins are so small and the process is so fast -- about 10 one-millionths of a second.

Scientists are using computer simulations instead, but that has its own limitations. It takes about a day for a computer to simulate a nanosecond (one-billionth of a second) so it would take about 30 years for that computer to complete one simulation.

[email protected] uses a network of about 200,000 personal computers to simulate how proteins assemble themselves. Dividing the complicated calculations into smaller packets enables the computers to do jobs that would strain the most powerful supercomputers.

"These calculations that we have to do are very challenging. Even if we were given all of the supercomputer resources in the country we still would not be able to do the types of things that we can do with [email protected]," said Vijay Pande, who runs the Stanford project.

A network of PS3s would run even faster. Pande said that a network of 10,000 PlayStations would increase speeds by a factor of five, and 100,000 would be 50 times faster than what they can do today.

"It turns two years into one month, and that's a huge thing for us," he said. "It's more than us just being impatient, there are calculations that we don't run right now because any calculation that would take more than two or three years, we don't even start it."

To participate, users will just download a program into the PS3's hard drive. Then they just need to leave the machine on when they're not playing. The [email protected] team will divide their complex calculations into manageable chunks and then send it to the participating machines. The program and data will take up 10 to 20 megabytes - or about the size of a handful of MP3 files, Pande said.

When the PS3 is done processing its chunk it will send the data back.

Makers say the program won't run when someone is using the PS3, because it might bog down the game.

Sony says it plans to sell about 2 million PS3s in the United States and Japan before the end of the year, and 6 million worldwide by next March.

Since all of those units are pretty much the same, developers did not have to make compromises that would slow the [email protected] program down.

"You don't really know what you're getting on any given PC, so you have to write the program in a general way so that it will run on weaker machines and stronger systems, Marks said. "They have to write programs sort of to the lowest common denominator, whereas on our system it can be finely tuned to completely leverage what we have."

The PS3 also has a graphic chip that lets users watch the protein as it folds and from different angles, said Klaus Hofrichter, another Sony developer.

"These interfaces are very nice looking, very scientific in a certain way. ... You can use the controller and navigate around," Hofrichter said.

That might make people more likely to download and run the program, Pande said.

All PS3s connect to the Internet, and Sony plans to make it easy for gamers to get the program when they go online, Marks said.

"What we want is for people just to have to make the decision to contribute electricity and benefit mankind," Marks said.
 

Big Muddy rancher

Well-known member
Sony worked with Stanford University's [email protected] project to harness the PS3's technology to help study how proteins are formed in the human body and how they sometimes form incorrectly.

Improperly formed proteins are linked to a number of diseases, including Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cystic fibrosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gherig's disease, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as mad-cow disease.



In one paragraph they are talking human bodys and misfolded prions and in the next they run right into Mad Cow. Has somebody found a human with "Mad Cow"?
 

Bill

Well-known member
Big Muddy rancher said:
Sony worked with Stanford University's [email protected] project to harness the PS3's technology to help study how proteins are formed in the human body and how they sometimes form incorrectly.

Improperly formed proteins are linked to a number of diseases, including Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cystic fibrosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gherig's disease, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as mad-cow disease.



In one paragraph they are talking human bodys and misfolded prions and in the next they run right into Mad Cow. Has somebody found a human with "Mad Cow"?
Obviously R2 has:


Reader 2 wrote:
I was thinking yesterday of France finding yet another case of BSE and of the now 19 deaths from vCJD in France. Comparing European countries testing every animal to the U.S., even though Germany has not had cases of vCJD yet, in order to safeguard human life. OT's point was a fine one although he did mispeak -- those who have seen CJD firsthand become activists for safer meat, blood, medical procedures in the U.S. and Canada because of the horror of the disease.

And note what Flounder said -- my husband's case was iatrogenic (derived from a medical procedure). We don't know how the person whose tissue contaminated him got BSE (probably a German citizen since the company whose dura mater killed a hundred Japanese and others around the world is German).
Not only did this human have BSE but he was probably German?
 

Bill

Well-known member
reader (the Second) said:
Bill - keep beating that dead horse, it's all you know how to do.

I typed that post in a flash and had BSE on the mind. Big deal.

You should know one tenth as much about these diseases as I do... But since you attack only, don't read, analyze, or learn, that won't be happening.
Attack?

You come to a RANCHER'S website and take offense when something you write that casts suspicion on our livliehood is challenged?

You take exception that some of us choose to actually hold others accountable for what they write when they target our livliehood?

You seem to think you know alot about TSE's and perhaps you do but you sure as heck don't know what makes a rancher tick. We have fought animal rights groups, gov't programs, depressed prices, increasing input costs, droughts, floods, blizzards and anything else mother nature can throw at us. We have also endured the "experts" telling us beef causes heart disease and other life threatening issues only to find out that some other "experts" find reasons to encourage more beef consumption.

Some of us are damned proud to be ranchers and actually will defend the way we make a living until someone provides absolute proof otherwise.
 

Econ101

Well-known member
Bill said:
reader (the Second) said:
Bill - keep beating that dead horse, it's all you know how to do.

I typed that post in a flash and had BSE on the mind. Big deal.

You should know one tenth as much about these diseases as I do... But since you attack only, don't read, analyze, or learn, that won't be happening.
Attack?

You come to a RANCHER'S website and take offense when something you write that casts suspicion on our livliehood is challenged?

You take exception that some of us choose to actually hold others accountable for what they write when they target our livliehood?

You seem to think you know alot about TSE's and perhaps you do but you sure as heck don't know what makes a rancher tick. We have fought animal rights groups, gov't programs, depressed prices, increasing input costs, droughts, floods, blizzards and anything else mother nature can throw at us. We have also endured the "experts" telling us beef causes heart disease and other life threatening issues only to find out that some other "experts" find reasons to encourage more beef consumption.

Some of us are damned proud to be ranchers and actually will defend the way we make a living until someone provides absolute proof otherwise.

C'mon, now bill, you do the same thing to rcalf.

Why don't you just stop before you get in too deep here.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Bill said:
Some of us are damned proud to be ranchers and actually will defend the way we make a living until someone provides absolute proof otherwise.

But you're not proud enough of your product to want it labeled for the consumer so they can make the final decision on whether its safe or not :???: Sounds like awful shallow pride :wink:
 

flounder

Well-known member
reader (the Second) said:
In 1997, a nongovernment surveillance group for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in Japan supported financially by the Ministry of Health and Welfare* (MHW) reported 43 cases of CJD associated with receipt of cadaveric dura mater grafts (1). In all but one case, the most probable vehicle of transmission was a single brand of dural graft (LYODURA® [B. Braun Melsungen AG, Melsungen, Germany]) produced before May 1987. As of March 2003, ongoing surveillance in Japan had identified an additional 54 dura mater graft--associated cases... Dural graft--associated CJD cases continue to be identified in Japan. The estimated minimum risk within 17 years after receipt of LYODURA® is approximately one case per 1,250 recipients. The precise number of dura mater grafts used in Japan is unknown, but an estimated 20,000 grafts per year might have been used during 1983--1987. The widespread use of LYODURA® during neurosurgical procedures in Japan is the most probable source of the unusually high number of dural graft--associated CJD cases in Japan (2). Dural graft recipients have symptom onset at a younger age compared with age at onset in sporadic cases of CJD in Japan. The identification of additional cases over time has resulted in an expected increase in the latency period between dural graft placement and symptom onset. The mean and range for this latency of CJD from contaminated grafts is unknown, but the upper limit now exceeds 22 years. The occurrence of new cases, the increase in the mean and range of the latency period, and the identification of suspected cases under investigation all suggest that this outbreak is ongoing.

No cases in Japan were reported to be related to receipt of a dural graft other than LYODURA®. For 11 cases, the manufacturer brand name was unknown. Although LYODURA®, or in one case either LYODURA® or a dural graft from another manufacturer (Tutoplast® [Pfrimmer-Viggo GmbH & Co., Erlangen, Germany]), was suspected in these cases...

LYODURA was manufactured by pooling tissue from approximately 1000 donors for each graft, significantly increasing the risk factor.


YEP, JUST ABOUT LIKE THEY DO HAMBURGER MEAT. your not eating meat from one cow, in one hamburger, your eating meat from many many cows. and just ask old Johanns, the USA does not have mad cow disease :liar: cause he aint gonna look, and when he does, they will use the least likely protocols and look in the least likely places, AND if they have to, they will go as far as to render a stumbling and staggering suspect mad cow without any test at all, and or, intentially putting off a confirmation of a mad cow for 7+ months, and another suspect for 4+ months, so GWs and the OIE wheels of corruption can move the goals posts again in the middle of the 1st quarter of the football game, thus, the BSE MRR policy was born, the LEGAL TRADING OF ALL STRAINS OF TSE I.E. MAD COW DISEASE FROM NORTH AMERICA TO EVERYONE AROUND THE GLOBE!

what GW and the OIE did with this BSE MRR policy, is worse than what was done by the UK when they kept exporting there tainted BSE [email protected] around the globe, but yet they knew. what GW and the OIE did with this BSE MRR policy was against all 'sound TSE science', and nothing less than organized crime. they set the attempted erradication of BSE back to the stone ages, back to square one, except now, we are speaking of many many strains that are being legally traded now. hey, but why should GW or the OIE care, they got there commodities and futures (them doggies) mooving again, across the borders of near and far, along with all the strains of TSEs in the USA (two strains of bovine TSE documented to date), CWD in deer and elk, and behind closed doors, they are speaking of even more than one strain here, Scrapie in sheep and goat and who knows how many strains here, TME in mink, ALL over which was rendered for feed for other animals which were for human and animal consumption, in more ways than one for years and years. The USA has the most documented strains of TSE in different species of all the other countries on the plantet, and there really not even looking good. can you imagine what would happen if you had a competent BSE program with a competent USDA overseeing it? you would have a lot more mad cows documented in the USA. .......TSS
 

Big Muddy rancher

Well-known member
Econ101 said:
Bill said:
reader (the Second) said:
Bill - keep beating that dead horse, it's all you know how to do.

I typed that post in a flash and had BSE on the mind. Big deal.

You should know one tenth as much about these diseases as I do... But since you attack only, don't read, analyze, or learn, that won't be happening.
Attack?

You come to a RANCHER'S website and take offense when something you write that casts suspicion on our livliehood is challenged?

You take exception that some of us choose to actually hold others accountable for what they write when they target our livliehood?

You seem to think you know alot about TSE's and perhaps you do but you sure as heck don't know what makes a rancher tick. We have fought animal rights groups, gov't programs, depressed prices, increasing input costs, droughts, floods, blizzards and anything else mother nature can throw at us. We have also endured the "experts" telling us beef causes heart disease and other life threatening issues only to find out that some other "experts" find reasons to encourage more beef consumption.

Some of us are damned proud to be ranchers and actually will defend the way we make a living until someone provides absolute proof otherwise.

C'mon, now bill, you do the same thing to rcalf.

Why don't you just stop before you get in too deep here.


What do you expect Econ? R-CALF is attacking the livelihood of Canadian ranchers so should we not defend ourselves? If i was an American rancher i would be worried about R-CALF as well as their tactics could very well be hurting the US cattleindustry as well.


As for bring in over their head you've been buried since you first came to this site.
 

Econ101

Well-known member
Big Muddy rancher said:
Econ101 said:
Bill said:
Attack?

You come to a RANCHER'S website and take offense when something you write that casts suspicion on our livliehood is challenged?

You take exception that some of us choose to actually hold others accountable for what they write when they target our livliehood?

You seem to think you know alot about TSE's and perhaps you do but you sure as heck don't know what makes a rancher tick. We have fought animal rights groups, gov't programs, depressed prices, increasing input costs, droughts, floods, blizzards and anything else mother nature can throw at us. We have also endured the "experts" telling us beef causes heart disease and other life threatening issues only to find out that some other "experts" find reasons to encourage more beef consumption.

Some of us are damned proud to be ranchers and actually will defend the way we make a living until someone provides absolute proof otherwise.

C'mon, now bill, you do the same thing to rcalf.

Why don't you just stop before you get in too deep here.


What do you expect Econ? R-CALF is attacking the livelihood of Canadian ranchers so should we not defend ourselves? If i was an American rancher i would be worried about R-CALF as well as their tactics could very well be hurting the US cattleindustry as well.


As for bring in over their head you've been buried since you first came to this site.

Well, there you have it from the purveyor of truth from the Big Muddy Valley.

Country of origin labeling would not hurt Canadian ranchers one bit---unless the packers controlled too much of the regulatory agencies as it does here.

On bse, if you are not willing to err on the side of safety, you shouldn't be in the cattle business. Not allowing private tests does not err on the side of safety.

Your occasional informative posts on "being current" don't qualify you for anything without the knowledge that it is a normal part of the cattle buying and selling game. Tyson buying cheaper animals on the cash market and selling them at Walmart after adultration of the meat is more of a market scandal than a marketing coup.

BMR, I know you would like to run the cattle business for everyone, but it aint going to happen.

If you would find the common ground once in a while and express the real problems in the industry instead of your own self interest all the time, you might have a few more ears to take note.

Your proclomations of being the knowledge base of the cattle industry often makes me chuckle but it moves you closer to sh.

Why don't you use your knowledge to be useful instead of ranting on a U.S. domestic cattle organization that is trying to do what you do not have the nuts to do?
 

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