WEBVTT 00:00:09.760 --> 00:00:12.580 Thanks for tuning in. HamTalk Live will be on 00:00:12.580 --> 00:00:28.850 the air shortly. Please stand by. This episode 00:00:28.850 --> 00:00:32.429 of HamTalk Live is brought to you by Tower Electronics. 00:00:32.869 --> 00:00:37.130 For connectors, cables, and more, call 920 -435 00:00:37.130 --> 00:00:43.869 -2973 or visit pl -259 .com. And by ICOM, heard 00:00:43.869 --> 00:00:49.109 it, worked it, logged it. Visit www .icomamerica 00:00:49.109 --> 00:00:52.829 .com slash amateur for more information about 00:00:52.829 --> 00:01:27.819 ICOM radios. Here we Hey, good evening, everyone. 00:01:27.819 --> 00:01:31.400 It's time for HamTalk Live. It's episode number 00:01:31.400 --> 00:01:37.099 209. Ways Hams Can Help with COVID -19 Research. 00:01:37.299 --> 00:01:41.299 Recorded live on Thursday, April 23rd, 2020. 00:01:41.379 --> 00:01:45.099 I'm your host, Neil Rapp, WB9VPG. Thanks for 00:01:45.099 --> 00:01:48.879 tuning in to this episode of HamTalk Live. Tonight 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:53.299 we're joined by Dr. Scott Wright, KZeroMD. also 00:01:53.299 --> 00:01:57.620 Sam Rose KC2 LRC and we're going to take your 00:01:57.620 --> 00:02:01.700 calls live in just a few minutes. Last week here 00:02:01.700 --> 00:02:05.739 on the show Dr. Jim Marra in 5HZ was here to 00:02:05.739 --> 00:02:08.379 talk about his trip to the Begali key factory 00:02:08.379 --> 00:02:10.610 over in Italy. If you missed the show, you can 00:02:10.610 --> 00:02:14.310 listen anytime at HamTalkLive .com or on your 00:02:14.310 --> 00:02:18.189 favorite podcast app or on YouTube. Or of course 00:02:18.189 --> 00:02:20.729 you can catch the rebroadcast of the show each 00:02:20.729 --> 00:02:28.949 week on WTWW. That's 5 0 8 5 50 85 AM Saturday 00:02:28.949 --> 00:02:33.909 evenings at about 6 30 PM Eastern time. So get 00:02:33.909 --> 00:02:37.669 your questions ready to go for Scott and for 00:02:37.669 --> 00:02:40.509 Sam and if you're listening to us live on Thursday 00:02:40.509 --> 00:02:43.949 night You can give us a call after the interview 00:02:43.949 --> 00:02:46.169 by telephone. Let me give you the number It's 00:02:46.169 --> 00:02:49.169 not time to call just yet, but let me give you 00:02:49.169 --> 00:02:52.430 the number so you have it ready and Punched into 00:02:52.430 --> 00:02:59.469 your phone ready to go here. It's 8 5 9 9 8 2 00:02:59.469 --> 00:03:10.719 73 73 Again, that's 859 -982 -7373. You can also 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:12.960 tweet us. It's at HamTalk Live on Twitter. You 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:15.900 can do that anytime you like. And we'll get to 00:03:15.900 --> 00:03:19.020 those in the second half of the show as well 00:03:19.020 --> 00:03:22.199 as the calls. And you can comment if you're on 00:03:22.199 --> 00:03:24.599 Spreaker listening live. You can comment and 00:03:24.599 --> 00:03:28.560 we'll check those out. during the question and 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:32.060 answer time as well. So I'll be back with Scott 00:03:32.060 --> 00:03:35.699 and Sam right after this word from ICOM America 00:03:35.699 --> 00:03:40.560 right here on HamTalk Live. Get out and be active 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:44.900 with ICOM's new IC705 and its optional multi 00:03:44.900 --> 00:03:48.370 -function backpack. The IC -705 is your perfect 00:03:48.370 --> 00:03:51.590 QRP companion as you have base station features 00:03:51.590 --> 00:03:54.009 and functionality at the tip of your fingers 00:03:54.009 --> 00:03:57.689 in a portable package covering HF 6 meters, 2 00:03:57.689 --> 00:04:00.270 meters, and 70 centimeters. 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Your host, Neil Rapp, would 00:05:02.379 --> 00:05:05.240 tell you a chemistry joke, but he probably wouldn't 00:05:05.240 --> 00:05:32.259 get a reaction. Now, more HamTalk Live. Be sure 00:05:32.259 --> 00:05:36.680 to check out ICOM at icomamerica .com slash amateur 00:05:36.680 --> 00:05:40.160 for all kinds of good stuff. They help bring 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:42.480 you ham talk live each and every week, Thursday 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:48.060 nights at nine PM Eastern time. And tonight we 00:05:48.060 --> 00:05:51.480 have two guests. It's a two for one special here 00:05:51.480 --> 00:05:56.300 tonight. Dr. Scott Wright, K zero MD is now in 00:05:56.300 --> 00:05:59.040 his third year as editor of the national contest 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:02.160 journal. He's from Rochester, Minnesota, and 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:05.500 he works at the Mayo Clinic teaching cardiology, 00:06:05.500 --> 00:06:08.480 which often takes him abroad, so ham radio can 00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:11.720 go along and he's an excellent contestor and 00:06:11.720 --> 00:06:14.459 been on several of the expeditions. We met when 00:06:14.459 --> 00:06:18.939 we were kids, actually, at a FCC test session 00:06:18.939 --> 00:06:22.379 in Louisville, Kentucky, and he is a graduate 00:06:22.379 --> 00:06:27.680 of the University of Kentucky, Go Cats, and he 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:32.740 is working on a new project that we'll be talking 00:06:32.740 --> 00:06:36.040 about in just a minute. Also with us tonight 00:06:36.040 --> 00:06:39.899 is Sam Rose, KC2LRC from Syracuse, New York. 00:06:40.019 --> 00:06:43.610 Sam was first licensed in 2003 at the age of 00:06:43.610 --> 00:06:46.970 13 and studied electrical engineering at Clarkson 00:06:46.970 --> 00:06:50.250 University, where he was president of their radio 00:06:50.250 --> 00:06:54.790 club, K2CC, and he started a career doing engineering 00:06:54.790 --> 00:06:57.709 and data performance analysis work on C -Speed 00:06:57.709 --> 00:07:01.350 Lightwave Radar, a next generation S -band air 00:07:01.350 --> 00:07:03.970 traffic surveillance radar, and now he's working 00:07:03.970 --> 00:07:08.660 on phased array radar systems. at Lockheed Martin. 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:13.459 So Scott and Sam, welcome back to both of you. 00:07:14.100 --> 00:07:17.680 It's good to be here tonight. Good evening, Neil. 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:19.879 It's always a pleasure to join my favorite talk 00:07:19.879 --> 00:07:25.160 radio show. Well, wow, thank you. And Scott had 00:07:25.160 --> 00:07:27.319 the honor of being on the very first episode. 00:07:27.379 --> 00:07:31.180 So there you go. And the show survived. Amazing. 00:07:31.459 --> 00:07:38.600 And survive, yes. Well, And you survived. We're 00:07:38.600 --> 00:07:41.480 going to let Scott go first here because he's 00:07:41.480 --> 00:07:45.920 been working like I think 28 hour days or something. 00:07:47.319 --> 00:07:49.579 So we're going to let him go a little early tonight 00:07:49.579 --> 00:07:53.480 so we're going to let him go first and if he 00:07:53.480 --> 00:07:57.699 can hang around for some questions he will. But 00:07:57.699 --> 00:08:02.819 I'm leaving that entirely in his court because 00:08:02.819 --> 00:08:07.040 he's on a tight schedule here. But you're working 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:16.000 on a really high profile project at Mayo Clinic 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:20.379 right now for COVID -19 research. And so tell 00:08:20.379 --> 00:08:23.939 us just a little bit about the research and what 00:08:23.939 --> 00:08:28.259 it's trying to do and then later on we'll get 00:08:28.259 --> 00:08:33.320 into how people can help. Neil, thank you for 00:08:33.320 --> 00:08:38.460 asking. COVID -19 infections are the greatest 00:08:38.460 --> 00:08:41.259 health crisis in a hundred years in this country 00:08:41.259 --> 00:08:44.919 in my view. Shockingly more people died today 00:08:44.919 --> 00:08:47.879 of COVID than of cancer or heart disease and 00:08:47.879 --> 00:08:51.919 that's been true all month. It's been the most 00:08:51.919 --> 00:08:55.000 frightening and anxiety provoking time that I 00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:57.840 and I think most doctors would say they've ever 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:00.320 experienced working because we're fighting a 00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:03.879 disease and an infection and an adversary that's 00:09:03.879 --> 00:09:06.879 still tough to tame. There are no commercially 00:09:06.879 --> 00:09:09.659 available treatments for COVID -19 at this time. 00:09:09.659 --> 00:09:12.059 You can't pull a drug like penicillin off the 00:09:12.059 --> 00:09:15.980 shelf or give a vaccine to prevent it. So we're 00:09:15.980 --> 00:09:18.000 struggling with how can we treat it and help 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:21.200 people because You only have to look at today's 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:24.639 New York Times to see the fact that they're now 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:27.000 burying 24 people a day in the pauper's graves 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:31.899 in New York, and that used to be 24 a week. Over 00:09:31.899 --> 00:09:34.720 the last hundred years, we've faced several pandemics. 00:09:35.220 --> 00:09:38.340 The Spanish flu pandemic is likely comparable 00:09:38.340 --> 00:09:44.879 in terms of deaths and fright as this one. But 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:46.720 there have been others, including some earlier 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:49.139 in this century, that people have heard of and 00:09:49.139 --> 00:09:53.740 forgotten, like MERS and SARS. What's been consistent 00:09:53.740 --> 00:09:57.600 about all of those has been the fact that physicians, 00:09:57.759 --> 00:09:59.720 until treatments are really proven and available, 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:02.220 have been using an old -fashioned treatment of 00:10:02.220 --> 00:10:05.039 convalescent plasma. What do we mean by that? 00:10:05.059 --> 00:10:06.960 Well, you can take someone who's recovered from 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:09.639 COVID, who's either been sick or in the hospital 00:10:09.639 --> 00:10:11.899 with it, and they've recovered, and their immune 00:10:11.899 --> 00:10:16.360 system has created antibodies. which inside the 00:10:16.360 --> 00:10:18.860 body bind and kill the virus and allow the body 00:10:18.860 --> 00:10:22.059 to overwhelm it and to expel it and to get the 00:10:22.059 --> 00:10:24.919 disease out. But once you've had the infection, 00:10:25.159 --> 00:10:27.259 typically you have a high level of antibody for 00:10:27.259 --> 00:10:29.259 several weeks to several months. And so if we 00:10:29.259 --> 00:10:31.620 can take blood or plasma from people who have 00:10:31.620 --> 00:10:34.759 had it and recovered, so the virus is now gone 00:10:34.759 --> 00:10:37.779 but the antibodies stay, and we can give that 00:10:37.779 --> 00:10:40.000 to a hospitalized patient, many of them are getting 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:43.399 better. We've heard anecdotal reports about people 00:10:43.399 --> 00:10:45.080 who have been on a ventilator for a week and 00:10:45.080 --> 00:10:47.759 they get a unit of convalescent plasma and they 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:49.539 are able to come off the ventilator the next 00:10:49.539 --> 00:10:52.059 day and go home a few days later. We've also 00:10:52.059 --> 00:10:54.120 had examples of giving it and people don't get 00:10:54.120 --> 00:10:56.159 well, they just continue to deteriorate and die. 00:10:56.220 --> 00:10:58.460 So we don't know if it's working effectively 00:10:58.460 --> 00:11:01.899 or strongly against COVID -19, but in March the 00:11:01.899 --> 00:11:03.779 Food and Drug Administration on behalf of the 00:11:03.779 --> 00:11:05.799 U .S. government asked Mayo Clinic and my friend 00:11:05.799 --> 00:11:08.399 and colleague Dr. Michael Joyner to organize 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:10.419 a national treatment study with convalescent 00:11:10.419 --> 00:11:13.259 plasma. Dr. Joyner asked my assistance and that 00:11:13.259 --> 00:11:15.259 of several others at Mayo to help him get it 00:11:15.259 --> 00:11:18.340 going and we did. And Neil, I'm glad to say that 00:11:18.340 --> 00:11:21.279 as of about the 1st of April until now just about 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:23.440 three weeks later we've been able to enroll 1 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:31.029 ,902 hospitals. and 3 ,921 patients in this bioethical 00:11:31.029 --> 00:11:35.350 medical research study. So far, we've had 1 ,626 00:11:35.350 --> 00:11:39.169 to receive treatment or to have plasma ordered 00:11:39.169 --> 00:11:42.090 for them of the 3 ,921 in hospitals. So that 00:11:42.090 --> 00:11:45.769 leaves about 2 ,300 tonight in hospitals across 00:11:45.769 --> 00:11:48.389 the United States and in our territories who 00:11:48.389 --> 00:11:51.330 are critically ill with COVID -19. Some run ventilators. 00:11:51.370 --> 00:11:54.450 Some can't talk to their loved ones. All of them 00:11:54.450 --> 00:11:57.090 are tragic stories. And we're still trying to 00:11:57.090 --> 00:11:58.970 find enough people who have recovered from COVID 00:11:58.970 --> 00:12:01.549 -19 who will donate plasma so this study can 00:12:01.549 --> 00:12:04.029 continue and give the Food and Drug Administration 00:12:04.029 --> 00:12:06.389 the best available data to determine if it's 00:12:06.389 --> 00:12:09.429 a safe and effective treatment or if it's a harmful 00:12:09.429 --> 00:12:12.769 treatment or if it's neutral. That's what we're 00:12:12.769 --> 00:12:14.549 working on. It's been a joy to work on. It's 00:12:14.549 --> 00:12:16.029 been one of the more important projects I've 00:12:16.029 --> 00:12:18.009 ever undertaken in my lifetime. It's acute to 00:12:18.009 --> 00:12:20.830 all of us. We realize that the work we're doing 00:12:20.830 --> 00:12:24.450 could help people we know, people in other states, 00:12:24.450 --> 00:12:27.730 of course. Even our own families are ourselves 00:12:27.730 --> 00:12:31.590 because none of us are immune to kovat 19 It's 00:12:31.590 --> 00:12:34.570 a terrible disease. I hope all the people listening 00:12:34.570 --> 00:12:38.389 to your podcast live and on the rebroadcast don't 00:12:38.389 --> 00:12:41.509 get it because it's it's a tough disease those 00:12:41.509 --> 00:12:44.110 in the media and in government who Belittle it 00:12:44.110 --> 00:12:46.370 and say it's not not anything serious. Don't 00:12:46.370 --> 00:12:49.230 understand the consequences And again, I just 00:12:49.230 --> 00:12:51.370 want to repeat what I said earlier Neil more 00:12:51.370 --> 00:12:53.590 people died today of kovat 19 than of cancer 00:12:53.590 --> 00:12:56.580 or heart disease As you pointed out, I'm a cardiologist 00:12:56.580 --> 00:13:00.240 and a proud graduate of the University of Kentucky. 00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:02.679 Like you, I'm a fan of Big Blue Nation, and I've 00:13:02.679 --> 00:13:04.559 spent my life battling heart disease, working 00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:07.100 on therapies to prevent it, to treat it, to help 00:13:07.100 --> 00:13:10.539 people live better and stronger lives. But COVID 00:13:10.539 --> 00:13:13.850 is an adversary none of us anticipated. and it's 00:13:13.850 --> 00:13:15.690 one that we're working hard night and day. And 00:13:15.690 --> 00:13:17.450 it's right, I am working seven days a week and 00:13:17.450 --> 00:13:19.870 everyone on this project. And I'm sure most doctors 00:13:19.870 --> 00:13:21.549 in this country are working seven days a week 00:13:21.549 --> 00:13:24.850 right now to try to take care of people who are 00:13:24.850 --> 00:13:27.450 ill and to fight it. But I wanna thank you, Neil, 00:13:27.470 --> 00:13:29.830 for inviting me on to talk about it and to make 00:13:29.830 --> 00:13:32.090 a plea if I can that if you or a loved one or 00:13:32.090 --> 00:13:34.570 a friend or a family member or an acquaintance 00:13:34.570 --> 00:13:37.330 are through and well from COVID, you've been 00:13:37.330 --> 00:13:39.409 diagnosed with it by a test and you're now fully 00:13:39.409 --> 00:13:43.100 recovered 21 days out. you can consider donating 00:13:43.100 --> 00:13:46.440 your blood to help people currently in the hospital. 00:13:47.220 --> 00:13:50.440 The lives you impact may not be your own families, 00:13:50.620 --> 00:13:52.460 they might be, but they certainly will be fellow 00:13:52.460 --> 00:13:55.039 Americans. This is a time as a nation we really 00:13:55.039 --> 00:13:57.360 have to come together. It's a battle that we 00:13:57.360 --> 00:13:59.460 win by fighting together, we lose by standing 00:13:59.460 --> 00:14:04.379 separately. And it's a big crisis. We don't expect 00:14:04.379 --> 00:14:06.340 it to be an easy victory or a quick victory. 00:14:06.490 --> 00:14:08.809 But this country will overcome it, but it's going 00:14:08.809 --> 00:14:11.250 to take a while. We expect it'll be back again 00:14:11.250 --> 00:14:13.629 in a few months to a year. By that time, we hope 00:14:13.629 --> 00:14:15.750 to have better treatments, more effective treatments 00:14:15.750 --> 00:14:18.730 out. But until then, this is likely one of the 00:14:18.730 --> 00:14:20.309 better treatment options we have. And I just 00:14:20.309 --> 00:14:22.269 want to reiterate, Neil, that it's a study. The 00:14:22.269 --> 00:14:24.409 FDA has authorized it as a clinical research 00:14:24.409 --> 00:14:27.210 study. It's conducted in a bioethical framework, 00:14:27.309 --> 00:14:30.049 which means that the patients who are in it understand 00:14:30.049 --> 00:14:32.269 that there may or may not be a benefit, there 00:14:32.269 --> 00:14:34.990 may or may not be new risks, and they have to 00:14:34.990 --> 00:14:37.899 sign a consent form. Which acknowledge they understand 00:14:37.899 --> 00:14:39.820 that and if they are not able to sign the form 00:14:39.820 --> 00:14:41.980 because they're sedated on a ventilator Or they're 00:14:41.980 --> 00:14:45.200 so ill that they can't think and talk Then their 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:47.000 family members can do that for them or their 00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:48.840 treating doctors can enroll them in a safety 00:14:48.840 --> 00:14:51.519 using a safety mechanism that the FDA established 00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:54.519 But that's what we're working on. I didn't if 00:14:54.519 --> 00:14:56.299 you we had talked in March I would have talked 00:14:56.299 --> 00:14:58.720 more about the National Contest Journal and my 00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:02.419 final year as editor, but now The world has turned 00:15:02.419 --> 00:15:05.200 in a different direction. And so if we And it's 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:07.120 a joy to be on your show because we can talk, 00:15:07.240 --> 00:15:12.559 Neil, and talk about this. And the other guests 00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:14.940 are also here. So we're all healthy. And that's 00:15:14.940 --> 00:15:17.320 a blessing. I'll give it back to you, Neil. Sure 00:15:17.320 --> 00:15:23.500 is. Well, you know, ham test online says ham 00:15:23.500 --> 00:15:28.679 radio saves lives. So, you know, as hams, we 00:15:28.679 --> 00:15:36.299 we we train for, you know, big Disasters and 00:15:36.299 --> 00:15:39.559 you know communications emergencies and this 00:15:39.559 --> 00:15:42.039 isn't so much of a communications emergency, 00:15:42.340 --> 00:15:47.279 but but hams are usually very Very giving people 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:51.840 and we're here to serve our community and our 00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:55.840 and our fellow hams and those around us and so 00:15:55.840 --> 00:15:59.539 and and some of us like like you and I you know, 00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:04.620 also, you know see it as a a spiritual thing 00:16:04.620 --> 00:16:07.659 that that you know Christians are called to serve 00:16:07.659 --> 00:16:14.240 so how can hams if they feel so called to do 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:26.299 so how can hams go about helping your cause Neil, 00:16:26.519 --> 00:16:29.740 thanks. I had my mic muted. I'm really a CW operator. 00:16:29.879 --> 00:16:33.460 Can you hear me okay now? You can answer in CW 00:16:33.460 --> 00:16:37.100 if you like. Oh, thank you. That would be a joy. 00:16:39.740 --> 00:16:42.500 Hams can help in two ways. They can talk about 00:16:42.500 --> 00:16:46.500 this. They can talk to our fellow hams on the 00:16:46.500 --> 00:16:48.899 air. They can encourage each other to stay healthy 00:16:48.899 --> 00:16:52.139 and to stay safe, to socially isolate in distance, 00:16:52.679 --> 00:16:56.779 to protect yourself. and to do your best and 00:16:56.779 --> 00:16:59.340 to help those in need and to talk to your family 00:16:59.340 --> 00:17:01.399 or friends who have recovered from COVID to see 00:17:01.399 --> 00:17:04.740 if they might be willing to contact the American 00:17:04.740 --> 00:17:11.720 Red Cross or to look online at www .uscovidplasma 00:17:11.720 --> 00:17:19.799 .org. That website is the website we created 00:17:19.799 --> 00:17:21.519 at Mayo Clinic. It will direct you on where to 00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:23.819 donate blood. Every state has blood collection, 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:26.480 almost every city does. Every major blood agency 00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:29.099 is working through the Red Cross to do it by 00:17:29.099 --> 00:17:31.200 talent in the West Coast, America's blood centers 00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:34.680 in the East, one blood in the South Florida region 00:17:34.680 --> 00:17:37.799 and around Florida. Many medical centers in your 00:17:37.799 --> 00:17:39.700 state, Neil, I'm confident that there are several 00:17:39.700 --> 00:17:41.859 big blood banks in Indianapolis that are collecting 00:17:41.859 --> 00:17:44.440 blood. likely in Bloomington where you live, 00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:46.460 there's a hospital blood bank that can take blood. 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:51.799 So if you have recovered, as a ham nation last 00:17:51.799 --> 00:17:54.720 night who had recovered, Andy Anderson did, or 00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:56.839 if you have a family member, a friend, or just 00:17:56.839 --> 00:17:59.079 an acquaintance, someone from church, someone 00:17:59.079 --> 00:18:01.579 from your social group who's been ill, who's 00:18:01.579 --> 00:18:03.859 recovered, encourage them to consider donating. 00:18:04.200 --> 00:18:07.319 They have to be symptom -free for 14 or 21 days. 00:18:08.970 --> 00:18:10.829 they can go to the blood center, make an appointment, 00:18:10.910 --> 00:18:14.890 donate, but it's very important. And, you know, 00:18:14.970 --> 00:18:17.990 the New York Blood Bank alone is carrying the 00:18:17.990 --> 00:18:19.769 weight for the United States right now. They've 00:18:19.769 --> 00:18:22.490 got several thousand units of convalescent plasma. 00:18:23.690 --> 00:18:25.529 I could tell you heart -gripping stories of the 00:18:25.529 --> 00:18:29.170 work we did today alone on Thursday to make this 00:18:29.170 --> 00:18:32.309 accessible for several patients in the Southern 00:18:32.309 --> 00:18:34.089 New Hampshire Medical Center, where the state 00:18:34.089 --> 00:18:36.690 law in New Hampshire was impeding the ability 00:18:36.690 --> 00:18:38.670 of these patients and their families to give 00:18:38.670 --> 00:18:40.509 consent to be in this study, but the governor 00:18:40.509 --> 00:18:42.970 and the attorney general have come together to 00:18:42.970 --> 00:18:45.809 help them to create an opportunity for COVID 00:18:45.809 --> 00:18:48.130 -19 patients at all medical centers in New Hampshire, 00:18:48.309 --> 00:18:50.289 Dartmouth, Southern Regional Hospital, and others 00:18:50.289 --> 00:18:52.349 to be able to be a part of this when the state 00:18:52.349 --> 00:18:55.569 law was written in a way that made hospitals 00:18:55.569 --> 00:18:58.960 believe that patients couldn't be. Every state 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:01.519 in this country has one or more hospitals in 00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:04.140 the study. In Minnesota, where I live, 40 hospitals 00:19:04.140 --> 00:19:06.720 are participating. In New York City alone, every 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:09.059 major hospital, every tent facility, every acute 00:19:09.059 --> 00:19:14.619 care facility is involved. We have 1 ,902 sites. 00:19:14.940 --> 00:19:16.859 When we started this with the FDA, they thought 00:19:16.859 --> 00:19:19.220 we would have 50 to 100 hospitals who would join. 00:19:19.880 --> 00:19:22.079 And you can see that we've blown right past that. 00:19:22.269 --> 00:19:25.289 We're delighted that as of this morning, 3 ,921 00:19:25.289 --> 00:19:29.769 patients in hospital had signed up because it's 00:19:29.769 --> 00:19:32.289 really one of the few therapies that's being 00:19:32.289 --> 00:19:34.069 tested. There are other experimental therapies, 00:19:34.069 --> 00:19:36.029 but those are not available in every hospital 00:19:36.029 --> 00:19:39.170 like this one. And if family members want to 00:19:39.170 --> 00:19:41.309 know if their patients, their loved ones should 00:19:41.309 --> 00:19:43.349 take this, they should talk to their patients, 00:19:43.430 --> 00:19:45.069 their family members, treating physicians and 00:19:45.069 --> 00:19:47.150 ask them if they think this would be suitable. 00:19:47.549 --> 00:19:49.130 I don't want to get into questions tonight and 00:19:49.130 --> 00:19:51.470 I won't comment specifically on individual patients. 00:19:51.900 --> 00:19:53.720 But I will say that this is a time that I've 00:19:53.720 --> 00:19:56.480 been impressed that that we're all working together 00:19:56.480 --> 00:20:00.559 and that everyone is aligned in a common common 00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:02.839 direction here. So that's how that's how hams 00:20:02.839 --> 00:20:05.720 can help. They can they can practice good behavior, 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:09.319 safe health practice behavior. They can encourage 00:20:09.319 --> 00:20:12.099 others to do that and they can encourage those 00:20:12.099 --> 00:20:13.819 who have been infected and recovered to maybe 00:20:13.819 --> 00:20:17.279 give some blood and plasma. And even if your 00:20:17.279 --> 00:20:19.140 blood is not able to be used for convalescent 00:20:19.140 --> 00:20:20.900 plasma, it can be used to be helpful at this 00:20:20.900 --> 00:20:24.220 time. So I hope that's not too long of an answer, 00:20:24.319 --> 00:20:25.700 Neil. I don't want to take too much time from 00:20:25.700 --> 00:20:29.019 your other guest. That's a great, great answer. 00:20:29.339 --> 00:20:32.220 And I have one last question for you. And I know 00:20:32.220 --> 00:20:35.220 I've kind of mentioned this just in passing, 00:20:35.339 --> 00:20:40.420 but we haven't talked about it a ton. I think 00:20:40.420 --> 00:20:46.059 I may have had it back in January. The symptoms 00:20:46.059 --> 00:20:51.039 seemed to line up, but I don't have a... diagnosis 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:56.480 I just said you know my you know being a pre 00:20:56.480 --> 00:21:02.500 -med dropout only having a chemistry degree I 00:21:02.500 --> 00:21:07.319 don't know all that but biomedical stuff so I 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:11.240 don't have a good diagnosis it is there anything 00:21:11.240 --> 00:21:14.740 that I could do I mean can I still can I still 00:21:14.740 --> 00:21:17.380 you know donate this and then they can check 00:21:17.380 --> 00:21:22.480 it or it You know until the antibody tests come 00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:26.200 out and are available, you know, how do you how 00:21:26.200 --> 00:21:30.319 do you handle that? That's a really good question 00:21:30.319 --> 00:21:33.480 and Neil I think you would have been an excellent 00:21:33.480 --> 00:21:36.380 physician but you're outstanding chemistry teacher 00:21:36.380 --> 00:21:38.680 and You're helping people doing exactly what 00:21:38.680 --> 00:21:40.880 you're doing and never underestimate the impact 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:44.299 you're having my friend I'm a physician today 00:21:44.299 --> 00:21:46.559 because of my biology and chemistry and math 00:21:46.559 --> 00:21:49.509 teachers in high school So, I want to give a 00:21:49.509 --> 00:21:51.190 special thank you to those three individuals 00:21:51.190 --> 00:21:54.890 who, or two actually, Mrs. Clark and Mr. Loudermilk, 00:21:54.950 --> 00:21:56.529 who gave me the background to become a doctor. 00:21:57.269 --> 00:22:00.529 So, what you're doing, Mr. Rapp, a lot of pre 00:22:00.529 --> 00:22:02.650 -med students and med students will thank you. 00:22:03.369 --> 00:22:06.230 In Minnesota, I know we have the antibody test. 00:22:06.349 --> 00:22:08.789 The governor announced today that there will 00:22:08.789 --> 00:22:11.130 be a massive effort statewide to test if people 00:22:11.130 --> 00:22:13.910 want to do this. I've also been told that in 00:22:13.910 --> 00:22:16.210 Florida, every unit of blood that's being donated 00:22:16.879 --> 00:22:19.579 is going to be screened with an antibody test. 00:22:20.700 --> 00:22:23.299 And if there's evidence that someone has antibodies 00:22:23.299 --> 00:22:25.160 to COVID, there's a very good possibility some 00:22:25.160 --> 00:22:26.920 of that blood will be used for the convalescent 00:22:26.920 --> 00:22:30.819 plasma project. Neil, I just want to say that 00:22:30.819 --> 00:22:33.740 it's possible you had this disease in January. 00:22:33.819 --> 00:22:36.440 It's also possible you had just plain old fashioned 00:22:36.440 --> 00:22:40.779 influenza or a bad cold. I don't know, but it's 00:22:40.779 --> 00:22:42.420 well worth seeing if you can get an antibody 00:22:42.420 --> 00:22:45.460 test so you know. I hope if you've had it, you 00:22:45.460 --> 00:22:47.019 have good immunity now, and you won't get it 00:22:47.019 --> 00:22:51.900 again. But it's people who get it. For some of 00:22:51.900 --> 00:22:53.880 them, it's a very tough course in the hospital. 00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:55.339 And of course, there are a lot of people who 00:22:55.339 --> 00:22:59.220 get it who have minimal symptoms. And it will 00:22:59.220 --> 00:23:01.460 be fascinating once we have screened 20 % or 00:23:01.460 --> 00:23:04.019 30 % of the population to know exactly how many 00:23:04.019 --> 00:23:07.940 of us have been exposed to it. I'm glad you're 00:23:07.940 --> 00:23:10.240 here healthy and not impaired at all, Neil. And 00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:12.700 so if you've had it, it was just divine blessing 00:23:12.700 --> 00:23:15.460 that you came through it easily. And, you know, 00:23:16.099 --> 00:23:18.279 you have the opportunity to do more good for 00:23:18.279 --> 00:23:24.359 society. Well, I think I'm I'm very interested 00:23:24.359 --> 00:23:26.619 to get the antibody test. We'll put it that way 00:23:26.619 --> 00:23:30.380 and we'll we'll go from there and see. see what 00:23:30.380 --> 00:23:34.420 happens but um yeah it was just a little different 00:23:34.420 --> 00:23:37.680 but like you said it may well not have been and 00:23:37.680 --> 00:23:40.559 since i don't have a good diagnosis i i don't 00:23:40.559 --> 00:23:43.359 know that for sure so i can't assume anything 00:23:43.359 --> 00:23:47.680 um actually uh let's since you're you're on short 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:49.940 short time you're checking in short time here 00:23:49.940 --> 00:23:54.920 tonight uh Matt in the chat room says, would 00:23:54.920 --> 00:23:58.400 former asymptomatic carriers yield enough antibodies 00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:03.299 to give useful plasma? Matt, thank you for that 00:24:03.299 --> 00:24:07.920 question. We believe so. And there's no evidence 00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:12.160 to suggest they would not. So by that degree 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:15.559 of logic, we will say it's very possible. So 00:24:15.559 --> 00:24:17.960 yes, if you've had it and you were largely without 00:24:17.960 --> 00:24:20.640 symptoms, your blood is still good to donate. 00:24:21.470 --> 00:24:23.390 And Neil, I'll be happy to stay around as long 00:24:23.390 --> 00:24:26.170 as you need to answer questions. I'll continue 00:24:26.170 --> 00:24:28.430 to work on work stuff while your show's going 00:24:28.430 --> 00:24:31.789 on, but I'll be available. Okay, very good. Well, 00:24:31.829 --> 00:24:37.529 we'll put you on mute then. Or you can put yourself 00:24:37.529 --> 00:24:41.589 on mute, I guess. And we'll talk to Sam a little 00:24:41.589 --> 00:24:43.730 bit about this other project. But thanks so much 00:24:43.730 --> 00:24:46.809 for coming on and telling us about this. telling 00:24:46.809 --> 00:24:52.869 us about ways that hams can help out. And we'll 00:24:52.869 --> 00:24:55.529 try to keep you around here for a few questions 00:24:55.529 --> 00:24:59.690 a little later on. Well, Sam Rose, KC2LRC is 00:24:59.690 --> 00:25:05.599 here to talk about folding at home. We're actually 00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:09.220 about time for a break here so sam let me let 00:25:09.220 --> 00:25:11.460 me just kind of introduce you a little bit here 00:25:11.460 --> 00:25:13.480 and then we're gonna we're gonna take a break 00:25:13.480 --> 00:25:16.599 and then we'll come back and talk about the. 00:25:18.700 --> 00:25:26.099 About the. folding at home bit but John K1JR 00:25:26.099 --> 00:25:30.319 is here with us as well and we'll talk to John 00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:32.720 here in a little bit but Sam tell us a little 00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:37.440 bit about what folding at home is. Yeah so folding 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:40.579 at home is a research project that began in Stanford 00:25:40.579 --> 00:25:43.779 University probably in the early 2000s maybe 00:25:43.779 --> 00:25:49.809 2003 -2004. And what it focuses on is understanding 00:25:49.809 --> 00:25:53.930 the proteins in our body and proteins on other 00:25:53.930 --> 00:25:57.950 things like bacteria, viruses, COVID -19 virus, 00:25:58.009 --> 00:26:02.470 for instance. Proteins are small particles that 00:26:02.470 --> 00:26:05.130 perform all kinds of functions. They might cleave 00:26:05.130 --> 00:26:08.849 or modify DNA or assist with copying functions. 00:26:09.009 --> 00:26:11.450 They're responsible for the movement in our muscles 00:26:11.450 --> 00:26:15.329 and lots of other things that happen in our body. 00:26:15.400 --> 00:26:18.779 They also happen to be some of the things that 00:26:18.779 --> 00:26:21.960 viruses use to enter our cells. So in particular, 00:26:22.900 --> 00:26:27.059 the coronavirus uses the spike protein. You've 00:26:27.059 --> 00:26:30.660 probably seen in the graphic of it. It interacts 00:26:30.660 --> 00:26:35.339 with a protein called ACE2. which is on the surface 00:26:35.339 --> 00:26:37.559 of respiratory cells. And I forget the function 00:26:37.559 --> 00:26:39.420 of it, but that's one of the things that one 00:26:39.420 --> 00:26:42.380 drug called an ACE inhibitor reduces the function 00:26:42.380 --> 00:26:46.640 of. Well, that's not the point of the ACE protein, 00:26:47.119 --> 00:26:49.940 but it happens to be that the virus can kind 00:26:49.940 --> 00:26:52.420 of use it as a doorknob to get into the cell. 00:26:53.119 --> 00:26:55.960 So what folding at home has been pioneering is 00:26:55.960 --> 00:26:59.000 the use of computer simulations to model how 00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:02.509 these proteins form. And when a protein is made 00:27:02.509 --> 00:27:05.609 by the cell, it comes out as a chain of these 00:27:05.609 --> 00:27:09.809 individual amino acids that can be hundreds of 00:27:09.809 --> 00:27:13.549 thousands of atoms long. And then some process 00:27:13.549 --> 00:27:15.950 occurs by which the protein kind of assembles 00:27:15.950 --> 00:27:19.029 itself. It takes the shape. And the shape of 00:27:19.029 --> 00:27:22.829 the protein determines its function. And so the 00:27:22.829 --> 00:27:25.210 unassembled protein does something different 00:27:25.210 --> 00:27:27.990 than the assembled protein. It might do nothing 00:27:27.990 --> 00:27:33.000 at all. Well, they have been studying the process 00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:36.380 by which that protein starts as that unassembled 00:27:36.380 --> 00:27:40.500 string and then folds into shape to understand 00:27:40.500 --> 00:27:43.799 what happens when that process goes wrong or 00:27:43.799 --> 00:27:50.549 how is that process interrupted. case of things 00:27:50.549 --> 00:27:52.690 like this you might say you might be able to 00:27:52.690 --> 00:27:56.910 get a drug to bind to that protein and Some various 00:27:56.910 --> 00:27:58.990 state of the thing, but you can't observe it 00:27:58.990 --> 00:28:02.910 in all states So you can only observe it and 00:28:02.910 --> 00:28:04.950 generally in the final state of the lab so they've 00:28:04.950 --> 00:28:07.789 been using computers to simulate this Now what 00:28:07.789 --> 00:28:10.710 they did to get the computer power is they made 00:28:10.710 --> 00:28:14.369 a system, they used a system called distributed 00:28:14.369 --> 00:28:17.309 computing. And that's where volunteers from around 00:28:17.309 --> 00:28:20.049 the world install this program on their computer, 00:28:20.549 --> 00:28:24.910 which donates unused CPU or GPU power to the 00:28:24.910 --> 00:28:29.230 project. And so it actually uses that to perform 00:28:29.230 --> 00:28:32.470 the simulation. So it's essentially, it's a volunteer 00:28:32.470 --> 00:28:35.029 run supercomputer is what folding at home is. 00:28:36.779 --> 00:28:39.140 Okay, very good. Well, we're going to come back 00:28:39.140 --> 00:28:43.440 and we're going to talk more about that and what 00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:45.880 the project has done and what they're trying 00:28:45.880 --> 00:28:49.819 to accomplish. And then we'll take some of your 00:28:49.819 --> 00:28:52.779 questions when we come back right after this 00:28:52.779 --> 00:28:55.920 word from Tower Electronics right here on HamTalk 00:28:55.920 --> 00:29:09.920 Live. We have SMA adapters. We have BNC adapters. 00:29:10.279 --> 00:29:12.619 What can I show you today? Where's the tower? 00:29:13.180 --> 00:29:16.039 Well, we don't actually have a tower with us, 00:29:16.480 --> 00:29:18.940 but we have all kinds of things you can use with 00:29:18.940 --> 00:29:22.660 a tower. We have power poles, antennas, soldering 00:29:22.660 --> 00:29:25.579 irons and meters. Where's the tower? Ma 'am, 00:29:25.839 --> 00:29:28.460 that's the name of our company. We can't haul 00:29:28.460 --> 00:29:30.799 towers to all the ham fest across the country 00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:33.670 that we visit. But we have almost every connector 00:29:33.670 --> 00:29:36.230 and adapter you would need to connect your antenna 00:29:36.230 --> 00:29:38.349 that's on your tower. I don't think there's a 00:29:38.349 --> 00:30:02.539 tower back there. I really don't. I'm Don Wilbanks, 00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:06.299 AE5DW. Since 1986, we've had the honor of celebrating 00:30:06.299 --> 00:30:08.319 the accomplishments of Youth and Ham Radio when 00:30:08.319 --> 00:30:10.019 we want to know about your exceptional young 00:30:10.019 --> 00:30:12.400 ham. You'll find the rules and a nominating form 00:30:12.400 --> 00:30:15.700 by clicking the Y -H -O -T -Y tab on ARNewsline 00:30:15.700 --> 00:30:18.619 .org. Fill it out, send it in, and we'll see 00:30:18.619 --> 00:30:20.779 you and an amazing young ham at the Huntsville 00:30:20.779 --> 00:30:24.099 Alabama Ham Fest in August. Thanks and 73 from 00:30:24.099 --> 00:30:27.130 Amateur Radio Newsline. Join the conversation. 00:30:27.470 --> 00:30:33.710 Give us a call at 859 -982 -7373. Again, the 00:30:33.710 --> 00:30:39.910 number to call is 859 -982 -7373. Or if you'd 00:30:39.910 --> 00:30:43.170 rather type than talk, tweet us at HamTalk Live. 00:30:43.569 --> 00:30:47.089 Now, here's Neil Rapp with more HamTalk Live. 00:30:47.930 --> 00:30:51.490 HamTalk Live, now with 30 % less calories and 00:30:51.490 --> 00:31:12.279 no trans fat. Thanks to Scott and Jill at Tower 00:31:12.279 --> 00:31:14.759 Electronics for sponsoring the show again tonight. 00:31:15.440 --> 00:31:19.859 They're at PL -259 .com and they'll be back out 00:31:19.859 --> 00:31:22.980 on the Hamfest trail after all this COVID -19 00:31:22.980 --> 00:31:26.720 stuff is under control and we hope that that's 00:31:26.720 --> 00:31:31.400 soon. So right now, pretty much every Hamfest 00:31:31.400 --> 00:31:35.759 is postponed. So make sure to check your listings 00:31:35.759 --> 00:31:39.859 and They'll be there back out on the trail soon, 00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:45.859 but PL -259 .com is how you find them at the 00:31:45.859 --> 00:31:49.279 moment. And you'll find HamTalk Live at HamTalkLive 00:31:49.279 --> 00:31:52.240 .com every Thursday night at 9 p .m. Eastern 00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:55.480 Time. Be sure to check us out on Facebook, Twitter, 00:31:55.619 --> 00:32:00.880 and Instagram. And we'll take your calls here 00:32:00.880 --> 00:32:03.579 in just a little bit, but we're running a little 00:32:03.579 --> 00:32:09.019 over. I was listening to a nice discussion of 00:32:09.019 --> 00:32:12.380 proteins during the break there. So you missed 00:32:12.380 --> 00:32:15.400 out on some good science there, folks. Sorry. 00:32:15.940 --> 00:32:19.519 But Sam, let's go back to the folding at home. 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:23.420 You talked a little bit about what this is. So 00:32:23.420 --> 00:32:27.680 why don't they just get a big supercomputer and 00:32:27.680 --> 00:32:31.980 start churning out data on a supercomputer? Well, 00:32:32.059 --> 00:32:34.420 that's a really funny question and the answer 00:32:34.420 --> 00:32:36.839 comes down to two things that have more to do 00:32:36.839 --> 00:32:40.660 with This project being more of a marathon than 00:32:40.660 --> 00:32:44.019 a race a supercomputer these days is essentially 00:32:44.019 --> 00:32:48.599 just a cluster of Decent computers, you know 00:32:48.599 --> 00:32:51.799 kind of server processors and graphics cards 00:32:51.799 --> 00:32:53.900 that are connected together with high -speed 00:32:53.900 --> 00:32:56.900 links and the supercomputer can be thought of 00:32:56.900 --> 00:32:59.660 kind of as a sprinter. It works on a problem 00:32:59.660 --> 00:33:02.740 that requires high -speed communication between 00:33:02.740 --> 00:33:05.660 all the different nodes in the computer, which 00:33:05.660 --> 00:33:08.140 obviously if you're talking about computers connected 00:33:08.140 --> 00:33:11.819 through the internet, we don't have that. So 00:33:11.819 --> 00:33:14.519 they didn't use it really for two reasons. Number 00:33:14.519 --> 00:33:17.420 one is that the supercomputers are very expensive 00:33:17.420 --> 00:33:20.779 and difficult to get time on, and they needed 00:33:20.779 --> 00:33:23.960 a lot more time to run these simulations than 00:33:24.250 --> 00:33:27.750 they could get time on on supercomputers. And 00:33:27.750 --> 00:33:31.529 then number two is that, and this will be a striking 00:33:31.529 --> 00:33:34.250 one, is that the supercomputers generally are 00:33:34.250 --> 00:33:37.289 not powerful enough to do what they want to do. 00:33:37.829 --> 00:33:41.289 So they looked at the model of SETI at home, 00:33:41.369 --> 00:33:43.930 which was the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. 00:33:44.869 --> 00:33:48.009 And as I'm aware, that project really pioneered 00:33:48.009 --> 00:33:50.569 the use of distributed computing. And they said, 00:33:50.609 --> 00:33:52.450 you know, if you get enough volunteers here, 00:33:53.160 --> 00:33:56.099 Our simulations don't require that high -speed 00:33:56.099 --> 00:33:59.180 communication, but they can go on much longer, 00:33:59.299 --> 00:34:01.660 and they need to simulate much more trajectories. 00:34:01.700 --> 00:34:05.059 Say this protein with initial atom positions 00:34:05.059 --> 00:34:10.280 here in water of this temperature or a different 00:34:10.280 --> 00:34:12.579 solvent, and you just wind up with all these 00:34:12.579 --> 00:34:14.940 different computations and paths that you have 00:34:14.940 --> 00:34:18.659 to go down. So each path is not really a super 00:34:18.659 --> 00:34:22.989 complex computation. The number of paths that 00:34:22.989 --> 00:34:25.210 you need to go down could be thousands or tens 00:34:25.210 --> 00:34:27.489 of thousands. And so you get a problem that really 00:34:27.489 --> 00:34:30.570 can be broken up nicely into individual trajectories. 00:34:30.710 --> 00:34:32.969 They're split up over the distributed computing 00:34:32.969 --> 00:34:35.590 system and simulated on the volunteers computers. 00:34:35.889 --> 00:34:38.110 And that way you don't have to fight for time 00:34:38.110 --> 00:34:41.789 on the supercomputer and you can get enough power 00:34:41.789 --> 00:34:47.190 to do all these things. So they had any successes 00:34:47.190 --> 00:34:50.679 with this? They've had a number of fascinating 00:34:50.679 --> 00:34:53.340 successes. And as you look through the history 00:34:53.340 --> 00:34:56.139 of the project, the purpose of it kind of changed. 00:34:56.639 --> 00:34:58.719 At first, they were trying to validate the method 00:34:58.719 --> 00:35:02.280 of, you know, can we produce simulations that 00:35:02.280 --> 00:35:05.739 come close to laboratory results? And as they 00:35:05.739 --> 00:35:08.340 began having successes with that, they started 00:35:08.340 --> 00:35:12.969 looking at what exactly do proteins do now that 00:35:12.969 --> 00:35:16.349 we know that our models are useful, we can start 00:35:16.349 --> 00:35:18.590 simulating things that you can't see in the lab 00:35:18.590 --> 00:35:22.309 because these foldings of the proteins might 00:35:22.309 --> 00:35:25.929 happen over just a few nanoseconds. So you can 00:35:25.929 --> 00:35:28.230 observe the final state of the protein in the 00:35:28.230 --> 00:35:30.809 lab, but generally you can't see the process 00:35:30.809 --> 00:35:33.449 that actually happens. And I don't know how they 00:35:33.449 --> 00:35:35.710 proved that the intermediate states were accurate 00:35:35.710 --> 00:35:40.000 as well. So they moved on from just learning 00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:43.179 how proteins work and fold to actually trying 00:35:43.179 --> 00:35:47.260 to use this to research treatments to diseases. 00:35:47.980 --> 00:35:50.380 They've done this for Alzheimer's disease where 00:35:50.380 --> 00:35:52.539 they believe they've identified, I think this 00:35:52.539 --> 00:35:57.340 was back in 2012, the protein that misfolds, 00:35:57.480 --> 00:36:01.300 like it can assemble itself incorrectly. and 00:36:01.300 --> 00:36:03.719 cause Alzheimer's disease and start damaging 00:36:03.719 --> 00:36:06.400 adjacent proteins or however it is that the thing 00:36:06.400 --> 00:36:11.539 replicates. They had another recent one in which 00:36:11.539 --> 00:36:15.599 they determined how an antibiotic resistant bacterium 00:36:15.599 --> 00:36:19.099 achieves its antibiotic resistance. And what 00:36:19.099 --> 00:36:22.820 it does is the bacterium creates this protein 00:36:22.820 --> 00:36:26.780 that devours things like penicillin before they 00:36:26.780 --> 00:36:29.860 can actually reach the surface of the bacterium 00:36:29.860 --> 00:36:34.840 and break its cell wall and destroy it. So they've 00:36:34.840 --> 00:36:37.719 come up with a number of candidate drugs that 00:36:37.719 --> 00:36:40.280 could interfere with the operation of this protein 00:36:40.280 --> 00:36:45.039 and maybe in combination with an antibiotic cause 00:36:45.039 --> 00:36:48.800 the bacterium to be destroyed. But I think one 00:36:48.800 --> 00:36:52.880 of their biggest successes is through the simulation 00:36:52.880 --> 00:36:56.320 of the proteins in the Ebola virus, what they 00:36:56.320 --> 00:37:00.260 found was in the final state of the protein, 00:37:01.159 --> 00:37:03.239 there wasn't any site that a drug could bind 00:37:03.239 --> 00:37:05.840 to. But if you went through it in a simulation, 00:37:06.079 --> 00:37:08.800 you could see that maybe halfway through the 00:37:08.800 --> 00:37:12.489 assembly of the protein, A drug that was already 00:37:12.489 --> 00:37:15.690 known safe for human use would actually bind 00:37:15.690 --> 00:37:18.230 strongly to the protein and prevent the protein 00:37:18.230 --> 00:37:22.230 from fully assembling itself, which inhibits 00:37:22.230 --> 00:37:25.469 the replication of the virus. And I forget whether 00:37:25.469 --> 00:37:27.949 that went into one of the treatments or the vaccine, 00:37:28.050 --> 00:37:30.670 but the research that folding at home did was 00:37:30.670 --> 00:37:36.590 instrumental to developing that treatment. Sounds 00:37:36.590 --> 00:37:42.059 like a valuable success to give it some promise 00:37:42.059 --> 00:37:47.159 here and maybe come up with some more information 00:37:47.159 --> 00:37:49.860 that could lead to a treatment at some point. 00:37:50.460 --> 00:37:52.579 So now they've kind of switched everything over 00:37:52.579 --> 00:37:57.460 to COVID -19, so what's going on there? They 00:37:57.460 --> 00:38:02.059 just kind of rerouted everything toward it? They 00:38:02.059 --> 00:38:07.190 did. Heard about this. They said, you know, we 00:38:07.190 --> 00:38:10.190 have This scientific method that we've come up 00:38:10.190 --> 00:38:12.530 with and it's a very young scientific method. 00:38:12.570 --> 00:38:16.409 This is it's young science. It's not It's not 00:38:16.409 --> 00:38:18.469 kind of tried and true science, but they said, 00:38:18.570 --> 00:38:21.650 you know, we have an opportunity in this crisis 00:38:21.650 --> 00:38:25.570 to attempt to Do something constructive towards 00:38:25.570 --> 00:38:29.480 the finding of a treatment for this? disease. 00:38:30.579 --> 00:38:33.380 So the COVID, the coronavirus that causes this 00:38:33.380 --> 00:38:38.260 has about 20 proteins on it. And so to come up 00:38:38.260 --> 00:38:40.880 with a whole bunch of permutations of simulations 00:38:40.880 --> 00:38:45.800 to say, we want to simulate how these proteins 00:38:45.800 --> 00:38:49.039 fold into shape so that we can look for potential 00:38:49.039 --> 00:38:53.179 binding sites as they fold into shape. And then 00:38:53.179 --> 00:38:56.780 also they want to search through potential drugs 00:38:56.780 --> 00:38:59.570 like drugs that are already known safe for human 00:38:59.570 --> 00:39:03.650 consumption and see which ones will interact 00:39:03.650 --> 00:39:06.530 with those binding sites. So that kind of leverage 00:39:06.530 --> 00:39:08.809 of the power, it kind of leverages the power 00:39:08.809 --> 00:39:11.550 of the network as it is. It's capable of trying 00:39:11.550 --> 00:39:15.710 a very, very large number of combinations of 00:39:15.710 --> 00:39:18.329 the proteins and different drugs and figuring 00:39:18.329 --> 00:39:23.170 out analytically what stuff is likely to bind 00:39:23.170 --> 00:39:26.650 together and hopefully inhibit maybe the RNA 00:39:26.650 --> 00:39:30.750 replication of the virus or bind to the spike 00:39:30.750 --> 00:39:33.730 protein the same way that the antibody might 00:39:33.730 --> 00:39:38.030 and inhibit it from being able to attach to the 00:39:38.030 --> 00:39:41.949 ACE2 protein of the cell and gain entry into 00:39:41.949 --> 00:39:43.969 the cell. You know, if you can disable one of 00:39:43.969 --> 00:39:47.829 the mechanisms that makes the virus tick, stop 00:39:47.829 --> 00:39:51.219 it from replicating, then you stand a chance 00:39:51.219 --> 00:39:55.280 at a treatment for the disease. And so they're 00:39:55.280 --> 00:39:57.400 throwing all their darts at the wall trying to 00:39:57.400 --> 00:40:00.139 find something that stands a chance of doing 00:40:00.139 --> 00:40:05.579 this. Now, let's talk about what hams can do 00:40:05.579 --> 00:40:08.320 because it is a ham radio show. So we're going 00:40:08.320 --> 00:40:12.280 to talk about what hams can do. So explain how 00:40:12.280 --> 00:40:16.019 hams can donate their computer time and power 00:40:16.019 --> 00:40:20.460 and processor time. to help with this project. 00:40:20.619 --> 00:40:25.139 It is a donation. It's going to use up electricity. 00:40:25.300 --> 00:40:28.780 It's going to run your processors longer. There 00:40:28.780 --> 00:40:32.900 is a cost to you for it, but if you're interested 00:40:32.900 --> 00:40:37.760 in making this donation of your spare processor 00:40:37.760 --> 00:40:40.780 time, how do you go about making that happen? 00:40:42.219 --> 00:40:46.840 Well, you go to foldingathome .org .org. and 00:40:46.840 --> 00:40:50.179 you download their software and set it up and 00:40:50.179 --> 00:40:53.360 what it does is it installs itself generally 00:40:53.360 --> 00:40:57.599 as an auto start on the computer and the idea 00:40:57.599 --> 00:41:01.960 is it uses whatever spare CPU cycles or GPU cycles 00:41:01.960 --> 00:41:05.889 that you're not using and So it's something that 00:41:05.889 --> 00:41:07.929 you can run while you're using the computer. 00:41:08.030 --> 00:41:10.030 I have it running on this computer right now 00:41:10.030 --> 00:41:13.530 and I don't know it's there because what it does 00:41:13.530 --> 00:41:16.369 is it uses functionality in Windows or Linux 00:41:16.369 --> 00:41:20.889 or Mac OS to set itself as the lowest priority 00:41:20.889 --> 00:41:24.170 for the CPU. And that means when you're running 00:41:24.170 --> 00:41:28.550 something, your program gets the CPU first and 00:41:28.550 --> 00:41:31.210 whatever is left over gets used by folding at 00:41:31.210 --> 00:41:34.989 home. Now GPUs don't have that, they actually 00:41:34.989 --> 00:41:37.309 don't have that priority function so sometimes 00:41:37.309 --> 00:41:40.090 you need to pause the client while you're running 00:41:40.090 --> 00:41:42.889 a video intensive program like a video game or 00:41:42.889 --> 00:41:46.030 something like that. But that's what you do is 00:41:46.030 --> 00:41:48.309 you pretty much you go to at foldingathome .org 00:41:48.309 --> 00:41:52.989 and you install this program. Now the other thing 00:41:52.989 --> 00:41:56.610 is that donors get credits for their donations 00:41:56.610 --> 00:42:02.059 so every time that the system Downloads a unit 00:42:02.059 --> 00:42:03.980 of work from the server and then it processes 00:42:03.980 --> 00:42:06.940 it for six or eight hours or whatever it takes 00:42:06.940 --> 00:42:09.159 and then it returns it to the server and gets 00:42:09.159 --> 00:42:12.239 another one You get some points for that. So 00:42:12.239 --> 00:42:14.780 to encourage people to kind of form a friendly 00:42:14.780 --> 00:42:19.219 competition You can form teams on this. So John 00:42:19.219 --> 00:42:23.360 k1jr who's on our line here He's one of the ones 00:42:23.360 --> 00:42:26.320 who actually got me into this when I was at Clarkson 00:42:26.320 --> 00:42:30.480 University We had a team And we have a team. 00:42:30.860 --> 00:42:33.440 In fact, we're still running for it, where all 00:42:33.440 --> 00:42:36.179 our points get pooled together and ranked up 00:42:36.179 --> 00:42:38.900 against the other teams in this project. And 00:42:38.900 --> 00:42:42.579 there's a lot of them. So John, tell me the story 00:42:42.579 --> 00:42:47.119 of what got you into this. A bit of a competition 00:42:47.119 --> 00:42:52.139 on campus, right? Yeah. So we had a little bit 00:42:52.139 --> 00:42:56.199 of an open source computer science department 00:42:56.199 --> 00:43:01.170 called COSI. at Clarkston University. And we 00:43:01.170 --> 00:43:06.650 also had our ham radio club K2CC. And we thought 00:43:06.650 --> 00:43:11.889 that maybe we could outdo the COSI work unit 00:43:11.889 --> 00:43:17.789 score. So a bunch of us got together, our PS3s. 00:43:18.010 --> 00:43:21.130 I had a computer that I actually kept in my closet 00:43:21.130 --> 00:43:25.889 when I was in the apartment there. And basically 00:43:25.889 --> 00:43:30.010 we started turning out work units and it was 00:43:30.010 --> 00:43:33.909 quite impressive. We outdid them and I would 00:43:33.909 --> 00:43:36.489 say it took us probably a good four months but 00:43:36.489 --> 00:43:41.849 we did it. And I think Sam also indicated we 00:43:41.849 --> 00:43:46.309 were in the top 100 for how long? I think about 00:43:46.309 --> 00:43:50.829 four years after I graduated. Clarkson University's 00:43:50.829 --> 00:43:53.909 team was in the top 100 list of contributors 00:43:53.909 --> 00:43:56.590 worldwide and I thought that was quite an accomplishment 00:43:56.590 --> 00:44:02.550 I would have to agree with Sam and I've been 00:44:02.550 --> 00:44:05.349 out of the folding at home project for for quite 00:44:05.349 --> 00:44:10.769 a few years Here at home where I am now But I've 00:44:10.769 --> 00:44:13.690 often wondered what has happened with all that 00:44:13.690 --> 00:44:17.289 data with all the work units that I produced 00:44:17.289 --> 00:44:21.000 while I was at campus and I often think that, 00:44:21.000 --> 00:44:23.619 you know, all that went to the greater good and 00:44:23.619 --> 00:44:26.480 now Sam talking about all these great findings, 00:44:26.599 --> 00:44:30.900 I wonder if the work units that, you know, the 00:44:30.900 --> 00:44:33.219 computers that I was running contributed to that 00:44:33.219 --> 00:44:35.679 and they probably most definitely certainly did. 00:44:36.760 --> 00:44:40.760 Yeah, the Alzheimer's finding happened right 00:44:40.760 --> 00:44:43.079 about at the end of when I was at Clarkson, so 00:44:43.079 --> 00:44:46.739 I'm sure your computers contributed to that. 00:44:48.800 --> 00:44:52.539 Now Sam got me signed up for the Clarkson team 00:44:52.539 --> 00:44:58.880 and it's team five nine five one five and So 00:44:58.880 --> 00:45:01.760 I'm on there and then I changed my name I was 00:45:01.760 --> 00:45:04.400 rapster and then I then I changed it to my call 00:45:04.400 --> 00:45:06.719 sign and then I found out the points don't carry 00:45:06.719 --> 00:45:09.699 over so I switched back he is I'm on there like 00:45:09.699 --> 00:45:13.300 twice now, but But one of the things that I noticed 00:45:13.300 --> 00:45:15.420 about the team from Clarkson, and there's a whole 00:45:15.420 --> 00:45:17.320 bunch of ham radio teams, we'll mention them 00:45:17.320 --> 00:45:19.960 here, but we're going to do a shameless plug 00:45:19.960 --> 00:45:25.659 for the Clarkson team, because we've got our 00:45:25.659 --> 00:45:28.300 Clarkson people here. But you know, one of the 00:45:28.300 --> 00:45:30.900 things that I noticed was there were a lot of 00:45:31.070 --> 00:45:33.849 ham radio call signs in there and and there was 00:45:33.849 --> 00:45:37.010 a lot of you know k2cc things where you know 00:45:37.010 --> 00:45:39.849 you had an irlp node but you had this running 00:45:39.849 --> 00:45:44.309 on it you had the shack log computer but you 00:45:44.309 --> 00:45:47.889 had this running on it and and you know you had 00:45:47.889 --> 00:45:51.789 your your uh i don't remember there was something 00:45:51.789 --> 00:45:54.570 else that was in the shack and you had you know 00:45:54.570 --> 00:45:58.710 you had the client running on it so This is something 00:45:58.710 --> 00:46:01.989 you could do while you're running FT8 or while 00:46:01.989 --> 00:46:05.090 you're running Whisper or while you're logging 00:46:05.090 --> 00:46:07.909 a contest. You could have this running in the 00:46:07.909 --> 00:46:12.710 background and do two things at once. Exactly. 00:46:13.070 --> 00:46:16.090 That was the spirit. As nuts as I am, some of 00:46:16.090 --> 00:46:18.170 you here have seen the pictures of these six 00:46:18.170 --> 00:46:20.909 computers in a row in my basement that run this. 00:46:21.159 --> 00:46:23.719 The spirit of the project has always been you 00:46:23.719 --> 00:46:25.699 don't have to spend money on extra hardware. 00:46:25.699 --> 00:46:28.619 Just run what you've got so if you have even 00:46:28.619 --> 00:46:32.400 something as old as a I think I have a couple 00:46:32.400 --> 00:46:35.079 core two duos that still run this and you know 00:46:35.079 --> 00:46:37.480 They'll take eight or ten hours to complete a 00:46:37.480 --> 00:46:40.500 unit whereas one of my i5s or i7s does it in 00:46:40.500 --> 00:46:43.179 an hour and a half But as long as the units are 00:46:43.179 --> 00:46:45.199 completing within their deadlines because they 00:46:45.199 --> 00:46:47.820 do need the units to come back Then that's a 00:46:47.820 --> 00:46:51.949 contribution so Whatever you've got, we certainly 00:46:51.949 --> 00:46:56.110 invite you to come join our team, Clarkson friends, 00:46:56.650 --> 00:47:01.130 alumni and students at team 59515. And we were 00:47:01.130 --> 00:47:05.469 in the top 100 until maybe three weeks ago when 00:47:05.469 --> 00:47:09.510 the rapid influx of new participants from COVID 00:47:09.510 --> 00:47:12.429 drove us out. I think we're now ranked about 00:47:12.429 --> 00:47:15.670 115. And I was thinking, you know, I need to 00:47:15.670 --> 00:47:18.750 come up with about 25 million points per day 00:47:18.750 --> 00:47:22.389 to get back in the top 100. And maybe I'll do 00:47:22.389 --> 00:47:25.130 it, maybe I won't, but either way, whoever we 00:47:25.130 --> 00:47:28.429 recruit can contribute a little bit to the project 00:47:28.429 --> 00:47:31.030 that brings it closer to its goals. And the one 00:47:31.030 --> 00:47:34.250 other thing I need to mention is that the project 00:47:34.250 --> 00:47:38.190 recently went from having 30 ,000 to over a million 00:47:38.190 --> 00:47:41.670 contributors, and their servers are backlogged 00:47:41.670 --> 00:47:45.550 with this like crazy. The project is run by about 00:47:45.550 --> 00:47:50.289 a dozen people dozen scientists professors postdoc 00:47:50.289 --> 00:47:53.630 students and They're struggling to get more work 00:47:53.630 --> 00:47:57.789 up and running so you will see I think your Client 00:47:57.789 --> 00:48:00.809 sitting idle now and then but as they go They're 00:48:00.809 --> 00:48:03.489 going to get more running so that they can take 00:48:03.489 --> 00:48:06.050 advantage of all the new donors And this is a 00:48:06.050 --> 00:48:08.809 marathon not a sprint get in it for however long 00:48:08.809 --> 00:48:13.280 you can and keep with it And John, I think you 00:48:13.280 --> 00:48:18.139 had something you were trying to say. I don't 00:48:18.139 --> 00:48:22.079 know, but, uh, it's always been, it's okay. Can 00:48:22.079 --> 00:48:26.079 keep going. This has been great. So, you know, 00:48:26.139 --> 00:48:29.920 this is, this is what you do now. I admit I turned 00:48:29.920 --> 00:48:34.940 it, turned it off to do the show because I need 00:48:34.940 --> 00:48:39.059 a whole lot of processing power to run. all the 00:48:39.059 --> 00:48:41.719 different streams at the same time and all all 00:48:41.719 --> 00:48:43.960 that but then when i get done i just click you 00:48:43.960 --> 00:48:47.860 know instead of while i'm idle you know i click 00:48:47.860 --> 00:48:50.539 in the background and and it goes back to it 00:48:50.539 --> 00:48:54.019 again that's just been chugging along and uh... 00:48:54.019 --> 00:48:58.099 it's uh... already finished i think fourteen 00:48:58.099 --> 00:49:00.940 jobs or something since we talked about this 00:49:00.940 --> 00:49:04.340 a week or two ago uh... action and i just want 00:49:04.340 --> 00:49:07.269 to run Yeah, and the nice thing about the new 00:49:07.269 --> 00:49:09.610 client is it does have an option where if you 00:49:09.610 --> 00:49:11.469 do find that it's interfering with what you're 00:49:11.469 --> 00:49:14.809 doing It can pause either the CPU process or 00:49:14.809 --> 00:49:17.650 the GPU process or both Automatically the second 00:49:17.650 --> 00:49:19.789 you start using your computer and then after 00:49:19.789 --> 00:49:22.710 the computers been idle for a while it'll start 00:49:22.710 --> 00:49:25.969 itself back up so you can do it that way and 00:49:25.969 --> 00:49:28.570 Set it so that when you you leave just leave 00:49:28.570 --> 00:49:31.829 your computer on and it'll start running when 00:49:31.829 --> 00:49:34.769 you When you walk away from it or you can try 00:49:34.769 --> 00:49:38.369 running it during what you're doing and you'll 00:49:38.369 --> 00:49:42.349 figure out what works. Yeah I've been playing 00:49:42.349 --> 00:49:44.929 around with you know you've got like three speed 00:49:44.929 --> 00:49:48.349 settings on it light and medium and heavy and 00:49:48.349 --> 00:49:49.849 I've been playing around with that and I noticed 00:49:49.849 --> 00:49:53.469 you know when the fan kicks on you know and keeps 00:49:53.469 --> 00:49:55.869 running then okay maybe I better back it down 00:49:55.869 --> 00:49:59.389 a little bit but um you know sometimes if I know 00:49:59.389 --> 00:50:02.130 that I'm just going to be you know working outside 00:50:02.130 --> 00:50:05.650 for you know an hour or got to run to the store 00:50:05.650 --> 00:50:08.610 or something I'll crank it up and let it run 00:50:08.610 --> 00:50:11.690 higher while I'm gone and then I can kick it 00:50:11.690 --> 00:50:15.090 back down again and I'm home teaching online 00:50:15.090 --> 00:50:19.409 now with everything so I let it run in the background 00:50:19.409 --> 00:50:25.349 and I don't need a whole lot of GPU time to do 00:50:25.349 --> 00:50:29.409 those things so it can run a lot on the GPU. 00:50:30.360 --> 00:50:35.179 Uh, we're already over time. So let me, let me 00:50:35.179 --> 00:50:39.219 move on here. Um, and again, uh, the, the Clarkson 00:50:39.219 --> 00:50:41.639 university team is five nine, five one five. 00:50:41.639 --> 00:50:44.039 And there are several hams in there, several 00:50:44.039 --> 00:50:47.400 call signs you'll see in that list. Um, and, 00:50:47.440 --> 00:50:49.719 and you want to get a pass key. You want to explain 00:50:49.719 --> 00:50:52.860 the pass key thing real quick. The pass key is 00:50:52.860 --> 00:50:56.039 just an identifier for, uh, your client that 00:50:56.039 --> 00:50:58.679 you, the search folding and home pass key. You'll 00:50:58.679 --> 00:51:03.010 find their page on it. And if you register a 00:51:03.010 --> 00:51:05.190 passkey, you put your email into the form and 00:51:05.190 --> 00:51:08.630 it sends you an email with this kind of a hash 00:51:08.630 --> 00:51:10.849 text looking thing, you put that into your client. 00:51:11.289 --> 00:51:13.349 It's a unique identifier for your client and 00:51:13.349 --> 00:51:16.829 they use that to track your contributions and 00:51:16.829 --> 00:51:19.309 grant you bonus points. So if you're folding 00:51:19.309 --> 00:51:22.070 competitively like me, you want your score to 00:51:22.070 --> 00:51:24.530 be as much as you can for your contribution, 00:51:24.710 --> 00:51:28.639 make sure you put that in your client. So sign 00:51:28.639 --> 00:51:32.099 up for five nine five one five folding at home 00:51:32.099 --> 00:51:36.880 org and then Go ahead and hit that button to 00:51:36.880 --> 00:51:39.679 get the pass key and put that pass key in there 00:51:39.679 --> 00:51:42.980 now I said we were doing a shameless plug for 00:51:42.980 --> 00:51:45.760 for Clarkson because you know Sam got me into 00:51:45.760 --> 00:51:49.820 this here, you know a couple weeks ago And you 00:51:49.820 --> 00:51:52.699 know, there is definitely a ham radio presence 00:51:52.699 --> 00:51:56.940 on that team But I did a search real quick just 00:51:56.940 --> 00:51:59.579 to see and I happen to notice AMSAT has a team. 00:52:00.519 --> 00:52:04.000 So I did a real quick search and so AMSAT is 00:52:04.000 --> 00:52:08.380 69710. And then there's a handful of others. 00:52:08.400 --> 00:52:12.539 So there's Do Something Amateur Radio Club 258065. 00:52:13.139 --> 00:52:18.079 There's Amateur Radio Hams 72200, Amateur Radio 00:52:18.079 --> 00:52:22.420 Community 254089. Amateur Radio Operators for 00:52:22.420 --> 00:52:28.780 the Cure 262934 Amateur Radio Science Team 43146 00:52:28.780 --> 00:52:34.619 The Central Coast Amateur Radio Club VK2 AFY 00:52:34.619 --> 00:52:41.260 is 262870 Ham Radio Operators is 341 Larry's 00:52:41.260 --> 00:52:47.800 List the KC Metro Ham Radio Group is 254950 and 00:52:47.800 --> 00:52:53.789 the in 18 ham radio operators from oh boy Recklinghausen 00:52:53.789 --> 00:53:00.750 or Erkenschwick I think 258747 now I don't expect 00:53:00.750 --> 00:53:04.050 you to keep all those so they are in the description 00:53:04.050 --> 00:53:07.769 so if you look in the description links to both 00:53:07.769 --> 00:53:11.800 Dr. Scott Wright's project and the folding at 00:53:11.800 --> 00:53:14.619 home are there and all those teams are listed 00:53:14.619 --> 00:53:20.360 out on the description of the show so you can 00:53:20.360 --> 00:53:24.179 find all of that easily but we're going to encourage 00:53:24.179 --> 00:53:29.159 you for 59515 but all of these are ham radio 00:53:29.159 --> 00:53:32.159 related teams that came up on the search right 00:53:32.159 --> 00:53:36.059 away anyway there may be more but just want to 00:53:36.059 --> 00:53:40.550 mention those so that we're not we're not excluding 00:53:40.550 --> 00:53:46.530 anybody. Sam, anything more on that before we 00:53:46.530 --> 00:53:50.070 open it up here? No, I think we had a really 00:53:50.070 --> 00:53:52.789 interesting set on that. Neal, thanks for having 00:53:52.789 --> 00:53:59.489 me on and hopefully every scientific thing you 00:53:59.489 --> 00:54:02.690 do you don't know is going to yield. That's why 00:54:02.690 --> 00:54:04.989 they have to try all these different trajectories 00:54:04.989 --> 00:54:09.309 and most of the computers that simulate something, 00:54:09.510 --> 00:54:11.210 we'll find out that there was nothing interesting 00:54:11.210 --> 00:54:13.550 about that trajectory, but you have to try it 00:54:13.550 --> 00:54:15.909 to know. You know, every science is like that, 00:54:16.210 --> 00:54:18.110 but things that Scott mentioned are like that, 00:54:18.250 --> 00:54:20.030 and we're just at a point where we have this 00:54:20.030 --> 00:54:23.389 disease that's coming up so fast that we're trying 00:54:23.389 --> 00:54:27.969 to help science move as fast as it can, and science 00:54:27.969 --> 00:54:30.409 has been doing an amazing job moving quickly, 00:54:30.469 --> 00:54:32.929 considering the situation, and I'm really proud 00:54:32.929 --> 00:54:35.090 of everything that all the scientists are doing. 00:54:35.849 --> 00:54:38.170 I'm proud to be able to give them some computer 00:54:38.170 --> 00:54:40.570 resources too. And I hope all of you will consider 00:54:40.570 --> 00:54:44.849 doing that also. All right, very good. Well, 00:54:44.849 --> 00:54:46.889 like I said, we are over time. But we're going 00:54:46.889 --> 00:54:51.050 to give a chance for people to ask some questions. 00:54:51.150 --> 00:54:53.190 We do have a couple of questions backed up here. 00:54:53.210 --> 00:54:55.829 So we're going to try to get a couple in. We'll 00:54:55.829 --> 00:55:00.469 try to keep it to an hour here at least. But 00:55:00.469 --> 00:55:04.789 now more than ever. to use a phrase that's like 00:55:04.789 --> 00:55:09.090 overused right now. Now more than ever. It's 00:55:09.090 --> 00:55:11.530 time for your call. So if you have a question, 00:55:12.030 --> 00:55:19.409 give us a call at 859 -982 -7373. That's 859 00:55:19.409 --> 00:55:24.110 -982 -7373. That'll put you in the queue. Or 00:55:24.110 --> 00:55:26.309 you can tweet us at HamTalkLive. We've got a 00:55:26.309 --> 00:55:28.570 couple on the comments here. And John, we're 00:55:28.570 --> 00:55:30.750 going to have to say 73 so we can open up the 00:55:30.750 --> 00:55:37.480 phone line. Sounds good 73 all right John. Thanks 00:55:37.480 --> 00:55:39.739 for calling in We appreciate it, and we appreciate 00:55:39.739 --> 00:55:41.980 all you getting Sam going on this you've got 00:55:41.980 --> 00:55:46.159 me going too Excellent thank you keep it going 00:55:46.159 --> 00:55:50.340 everybody All right, that's John k1jr. Thanks. 00:55:50.360 --> 00:55:56.019 Thanks a lot John for calling in Okay, eight 00:55:56.019 --> 00:55:58.360 five nine nine eight two seventy three seventy 00:55:58.360 --> 00:56:03.340 three is the number And Scott, if you're listening, 00:56:03.679 --> 00:56:06.760 I've got one here for you here in a minute. Matt 00:56:06.760 --> 00:56:11.500 says, Oh yeah, he gave out the Clarkson team 00:56:11.500 --> 00:56:13.440 number and says if you don't want to give your 00:56:13.440 --> 00:56:16.400 email and don't want to get a pass key, the contributions 00:56:16.400 --> 00:56:18.480 still help. The pass key is just for the bonus 00:56:18.480 --> 00:56:22.579 points and a friendly competition. And I think 00:56:22.579 --> 00:56:26.300 I heard Scott turn his mic on here. So Scott, 00:56:26.579 --> 00:56:31.780 John, W4USF wants to know any idea. why some 00:56:31.780 --> 00:56:34.320 people are asymptomatic while others are getting 00:56:34.320 --> 00:56:38.360 violently sick, controlling for immunity equivalency. 00:56:38.800 --> 00:56:43.539 I was sick, but it wasn't that bad. Again, I 00:56:43.539 --> 00:56:46.619 don't know if I had it or not, but some people 00:56:46.619 --> 00:56:53.420 don't even know they have it. No idea. There's 00:56:53.420 --> 00:56:58.269 your answer, John. No idea, yeah. And you know, 00:56:58.409 --> 00:57:00.530 unfortunately, that's the answer for a lot of 00:57:00.530 --> 00:57:03.590 things right now. I think there's some very young 00:57:03.590 --> 00:57:05.849 science that's suggesting a number of things 00:57:05.849 --> 00:57:08.110 on it. Now, none of these have been through peer 00:57:08.110 --> 00:57:11.690 review, so this is not necessarily correct. But 00:57:11.690 --> 00:57:16.030 there's been some things mentioning the dose 00:57:16.030 --> 00:57:18.670 of virus that someone receives may be a factor 00:57:18.670 --> 00:57:21.190 behind it. You know, if you have a small dose 00:57:21.190 --> 00:57:24.219 of virus, The virus takes longer to replicate 00:57:24.219 --> 00:57:26.599 to the point where it can cause significant tissue 00:57:26.599 --> 00:57:30.039 damage, but your immune system takes about the 00:57:30.039 --> 00:57:33.739 same time to respond to it and can kind of get 00:57:33.739 --> 00:57:36.400 ahead of the game on it. And then the other thing 00:57:36.400 --> 00:57:42.619 was where the virus lands. Maybe some cells like 00:57:42.619 --> 00:57:46.039 your throat cells are thought to get infected 00:57:46.039 --> 00:57:48.460 with it and help it replicate but not sustain 00:57:48.460 --> 00:57:53.400 enough damage to show symptoms. And that can 00:57:53.400 --> 00:57:56.900 cause somebody to be shedding virus, but not 00:57:56.900 --> 00:58:00.820 showing symptoms. And so it's a very young understanding. 00:58:01.099 --> 00:58:03.079 Some things that I'm saying are probably not 00:58:03.079 --> 00:58:05.139 right just because we don't have a big enough 00:58:05.139 --> 00:58:08.199 sample size, but maybe it's something like that. 00:58:09.920 --> 00:58:11.800 It's starting to sound like last week's kinetic 00:58:11.800 --> 00:58:15.010 lesson that I taught online. It's about surface 00:58:15.010 --> 00:58:18.630 area and orientation of the molecules and the 00:58:18.630 --> 00:58:20.889 number of molecules present. There we go. It's 00:58:20.889 --> 00:58:23.510 kinetics. Can I just caution your listeners, 00:58:23.750 --> 00:58:26.010 Neil? What seems logical in medicine often is 00:58:26.010 --> 00:58:30.349 not. That is very true. History is replete. If 00:58:30.349 --> 00:58:33.010 we knew and we could logically figure all this 00:58:33.010 --> 00:58:34.909 out, we wouldn't need to do clinical studies. 00:58:35.409 --> 00:58:38.210 The older I get, the less confident I become 00:58:38.210 --> 00:58:44.210 that I know the answer. That's right. Well said. 00:58:45.469 --> 00:58:48.710 All right. Well, let's give out one more try 00:58:48.710 --> 00:58:54.530 here at 859 -982 -7373. And let me check the 00:58:54.530 --> 00:58:57.969 tweets and the comments here and just make sure 00:58:57.969 --> 00:59:00.610 we got everybody. But this has been a great show. 00:59:00.849 --> 00:59:05.369 I'm glad that all of you were on here tonight. 00:59:05.469 --> 00:59:09.210 And we did get a few questions here. So I think 00:59:09.210 --> 00:59:13.719 we've got them all. We'll stall here for just 00:59:13.719 --> 00:59:16.940 a minute and see if the phone rings, but I think 00:59:16.940 --> 00:59:20.300 we've pretty well hit it. So Scott, any final 00:59:20.300 --> 00:59:28.400 comments here before we go? Neil, this has been 00:59:28.400 --> 00:59:33.139 a fascinating show. I think the folding at home 00:59:33.139 --> 00:59:36.059 effort is helpful. I think that all we're doing 00:59:36.059 --> 00:59:40.250 now with science is important. I really wish 00:59:40.250 --> 00:59:42.090 that a lot of what we're doing in the United 00:59:42.090 --> 00:59:44.250 States could have been undertaken when this disease 00:59:44.250 --> 00:59:46.989 started in China. It moved its way through Asia 00:59:46.989 --> 00:59:49.250 into Europe. We would be farther ahead today 00:59:49.250 --> 00:59:53.170 with clinical knowledge, but this will leave 00:59:53.170 --> 00:59:55.750 North America. We hope in the not too distant 00:59:55.750 --> 00:59:57.889 future it will likely go into the southern hemisphere. 00:59:58.489 --> 01:00:01.190 The research must continue because it will be 01:00:01.190 --> 01:00:03.530 back again and we need to have answers so that 01:00:03.530 --> 01:00:06.530 we can help people. So I guess my last comment 01:00:06.530 --> 01:00:08.849 is thanks again for the promotion and if you 01:00:09.199 --> 01:00:13.219 If you have had COVID -19 or have someone who 01:00:13.219 --> 01:00:15.420 knows someone who has recovered and they are 01:00:15.420 --> 01:00:18.079 now without symptoms and are 14 to 21 days out, 01:00:18.179 --> 01:00:19.980 please encourage them to consider donating their 01:00:19.980 --> 01:00:22.519 plasma and their blood to help those across this 01:00:22.519 --> 01:00:25.039 country. There's a huge unmet need of people 01:00:25.039 --> 01:00:26.940 who have said, I want to try this and we just 01:00:26.940 --> 01:00:31.079 don't have product available yet. And remind 01:00:31.079 --> 01:00:35.139 us of your website again. Well, thank you. It's 01:00:35.139 --> 01:00:36.900 not mine. It belongs to the Mayo Clinic, and 01:00:36.900 --> 01:00:38.739 it's not really my study. I want to give credit 01:00:38.739 --> 01:00:41.840 to Dr. Michael Joyner and several of his colleagues 01:00:41.840 --> 01:00:44.659 across the United States and New York and at 01:00:44.659 --> 01:00:47.079 Johns Hopkins and other places who have helped 01:00:47.079 --> 01:00:50.059 him push this forward. It was really also to 01:00:50.059 --> 01:00:51.920 Dr. Peter Marks and colleagues at the Food and 01:00:51.920 --> 01:00:54.800 Drug Administration. So, but kudos to the Mayo 01:00:54.800 --> 01:00:56.780 Clinic and to our leadership who have allowed 01:00:56.780 --> 01:00:59.539 us to serve the country and to help every hospital 01:00:59.539 --> 01:01:06.240 in this country with the study. It's www. uscovidplasma 01:01:06.240 --> 01:01:11.079 .org. That's U -S -C -O -V -I -D -P -L -A -S 01:01:11.079 --> 01:01:16.659 -M -A .org. All right, very good. And Sam, any 01:01:16.659 --> 01:01:19.719 final comments from you? Yeah, I just want to 01:01:19.719 --> 01:01:23.039 say thanks for having me on here. It's a privilege 01:01:23.039 --> 01:01:25.639 to be able to jump on and share a little bit 01:01:25.639 --> 01:01:28.559 of what we do. And I hope everybody stays safe. 01:01:28.619 --> 01:01:31.000 I hope everybody stays healthy. I've had two 01:01:31.000 --> 01:01:34.340 family members get this. One had a fairly mild 01:01:34.340 --> 01:01:37.280 case which we're very thankful for and the other 01:01:37.280 --> 01:01:41.099 I think he's 41 years old now He was on a ventilator 01:01:41.099 --> 01:01:44.619 for 23 days and he's having a lot of difficulty 01:01:44.619 --> 01:01:47.960 getting off the ventilator right now So, you 01:01:47.960 --> 01:01:50.760 know that the pictures of that are just there. 01:01:50.940 --> 01:01:53.260 They're not something you can unsee. It's it's 01:01:53.260 --> 01:01:57.329 really Just because this doesn't produce a terrible 01:01:57.329 --> 01:01:59.630 disease for everybody doesn't mean it cannot 01:01:59.630 --> 01:02:02.050 produce a terrible disease and you know I just 01:02:02.050 --> 01:02:05.389 I hope that going forward everybody's able to 01:02:05.389 --> 01:02:08.429 steer as clear of it as they can and stay healthy 01:02:08.429 --> 01:02:12.329 so that we can resume our life and maybe be a 01:02:12.329 --> 01:02:15.170 little bit more appreciative of what life has 01:02:15.170 --> 01:02:18.250 been when all of this is over. So thank you Neil 01:02:18.250 --> 01:02:20.230 and thank you everybody for listening tonight. 01:02:21.019 --> 01:02:25.380 Okay, and again the website folding at home dot 01:02:25.380 --> 01:02:28.559 org and and another shameless plug for team five 01:02:28.559 --> 01:02:32.679 nine five one five so Do that and and you know 01:02:32.679 --> 01:02:39.420 it? Yep And you know tonight was about Neil that 01:02:39.420 --> 01:02:44.780 number again is five nine five one five That 01:02:44.780 --> 01:02:49.179 sound better this time Facebook and you know 01:02:49.179 --> 01:02:52.090 if you want to ask me questions there I'll be 01:02:52.090 --> 01:02:54.530 around in case you have any like setup questions 01:02:54.530 --> 01:02:57.170 or how to install it on Linux or anything you 01:02:57.170 --> 01:03:00.530 want to do with that I'll be around okay very 01:03:00.530 --> 01:03:04.250 good well let me let me say you know tonight 01:03:04.250 --> 01:03:07.269 was about how hams can help and and I want to 01:03:07.269 --> 01:03:08.989 give a little bit of a shout out here before 01:03:08.989 --> 01:03:13.489 we go if you've been following along Sam and 01:03:13.489 --> 01:03:17.519 I are both on the Youth on the Air Camp Committee 01:03:17.519 --> 01:03:21.059 and Sam is one of the ones who went over to Austria 01:03:21.059 --> 01:03:23.900 and kind of got the ball rolling and I just kind 01:03:23.900 --> 01:03:29.059 of in a weak moment, I guess, volunteered and 01:03:29.059 --> 01:03:34.739 the rest is history. But one of our presenters, 01:03:35.900 --> 01:03:39.980 our kit team builder, Dr. Jack Perdom, W8EE, 01:03:40.099 --> 01:03:43.929 I want to mention him for just a minute. because 01:03:43.929 --> 01:03:48.130 in the midst of all of this he was in on this 01:03:48.130 --> 01:03:51.389 project down at the University of Florida to 01:03:51.389 --> 01:03:55.909 put together this this makeshift ventilators 01:03:55.909 --> 01:03:59.570 and there were some hams involved in that and 01:03:59.570 --> 01:04:03.110 he was one of them he's the author of the arduino 01:04:03.110 --> 01:04:07.309 uh... for amateur radio book and he uh... actually 01:04:07.309 --> 01:04:10.380 uh... to give away a little bit, he actually 01:04:10.380 --> 01:04:14.239 rewrote the directions for the kit with pictures 01:04:14.239 --> 01:04:18.860 and everything and just did a fabulous job of 01:04:18.860 --> 01:04:23.039 rewriting the instructions from Mandarin into... 01:04:25.059 --> 01:04:28.719 into understandable English for teenagers for 01:04:28.719 --> 01:04:33.000 the camp. And so I've been talking to him a little 01:04:33.000 --> 01:04:34.960 bit about, hey, I need your paperwork. Hey, I 01:04:34.960 --> 01:04:36.559 need your paperwork. And he's like, I'm kind 01:04:36.559 --> 01:04:38.639 of busy right now. I'm working on a ventilator. 01:04:39.789 --> 01:04:45.329 So, shout out to Dr. Purdom, W8TEE, for working 01:04:45.329 --> 01:04:48.530 on that project. And the last email I got from 01:04:48.530 --> 01:04:51.610 him said that that was going to the FDA for the 01:04:51.610 --> 01:04:56.289 approval process. Maybe at some point we can 01:04:56.289 --> 01:04:59.150 talk about that, but tonight we just want to 01:04:59.150 --> 01:05:02.929 focus on ways that hams can help and these are 01:05:02.929 --> 01:05:07.809 our two ways that hams can help. So thanks Scott 01:05:07.809 --> 01:05:10.090 and thanks Sam for coming on and talking about 01:05:10.090 --> 01:05:14.010 those today. Thank you Neil. Thank your listeners 01:05:14.010 --> 01:05:16.570 and I want to thank everybody involved in the 01:05:16.570 --> 01:05:19.280 effort to help. the United States battle COVID 01:05:19.280 --> 01:05:22.219 from Sam and his team with protein folding to 01:05:22.219 --> 01:05:24.739 all of those involved in the convalescent plasma 01:05:24.739 --> 01:05:28.420 study and especially all the nurses and others, 01:05:28.559 --> 01:05:31.280 doctors working in the hospitals. They are the 01:05:31.280 --> 01:05:34.360 real heroes here. And you, Scott. Thank you. 01:05:34.500 --> 01:05:38.619 Yes, by all means. All right. Well, we're going 01:05:38.619 --> 01:05:43.119 to finish that up. That is a wrap. for this week's 01:05:43.119 --> 01:05:44.980 edition of HamTalk Live. I'd like to thank my 01:05:44.980 --> 01:05:49.960 guests, Scott Wright, KZeroMD, Sam Rose, KC2LRC, 01:05:50.019 --> 01:05:53.739 and also John for calling in, K1JR, and everybody 01:05:53.739 --> 01:05:56.199 out there in cyberspace for listening and typing 01:05:56.199 --> 01:05:59.139 in and invite you back next Thursday night, 9 01:05:59.139 --> 01:06:02.699 p .m. Eastern time. right here at HamTalkLive 01:06:02.699 --> 01:06:04.980 .com. And for a list of our upcoming guests, 01:06:05.579 --> 01:06:09.280 visit HamTalkLive .com. So for now, this is Neil 01:06:09.280 --> 01:06:15.860 Rapp, WB9VPG, saying 7 -3, 7 -5, and now more 01:06:15.860 --> 01:06:18.880 than ever, may the good DX be yours.