U-S Remdesivir drug trial

This week on The Sound Kitchen, you’ll hear the answer to the question about the U-S’ Covid-19 medication, Remdesivir. There’s an update on confinement measures in France, “Ollia’s Happy Moment”, great music, and of course, the new quiz question. Just click on the “Audio” arrow above and enjoy!

Sound Kitchen Podcast RFI

Hello everyone! Welcome back to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, once again published every Saturday. A hearty “thank you!” to all of you who so kindly continued to watch The “Quarantine” Kitchen videos on Facebook during confinement. Now you’ll hear The Sound Kitchen as you have always known it, with the quiz, the winners and all the other ingredients you’re accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music … so be sure and listen every week. And once again, thanks for continuing to be a part of The Sound Kitchen !

For the time being, Paris Live, our afternoon news broadcast, is still off-the-air. We will let you know as soon as we can safely bring it back to you. Thank you all for your patience, and for your support of the English service during this difficult time.

RFI’s Planète Radio announced the winners of the 2020 ePOP short video competition and Adita Prithika Subrahmanyan, the president of the RFI Agnichiragu Phoenix Club in Tamilnadu, India is the laureate in the Club RFI category for her video “Cultivation between factories”. Adita won a week-long series of masterclasses in Paris with RFI and fellow ePOPers, a 1000€ grant to design and run a local ePOP Camp workshop in her community, and five ePOP video shooting kits.

You can watch Adita’s prize-winning video here, and of course, on the RFI English, The Sound Kitchen, the RFI English Clubs, and the RFI Listeners Club Facebook pages. Planète Radio will post the runners up in each category every Friday.

Prithwiraj Purkayastha, the president of the RFI Listeners Club of Jorhat in Assam, India, won fourth place in the Club RFI category for his video “Solution for greener cities”. I’ll be sure and let you know when his video is posted.

The Grand Prize winner is Hadama Diakité from Bamako, Mali, for his video “The economy of waste” (Adita also placed 11^th in this category). The Young Female Producer award went to Olivia Christine Jeanne from Alakamisy, Madagascar for “The value of trees”. The Emergency Science prize went to Damarus Tshinyam, from Kipepe, Democratic Republic of Congo, for his video “Helping Fishing”.

Initiated in 2017 by RFI Planète Radio and the French Development Research Institute (IRD), ePOP is an innovative project which aims to mobilize an international network of engaged and responsible youth. Coming from multiple countries, the young people produce short videos showing the reactions and the questions of people in their communities – especially the older generation - whose lives have been negatively affected by climate and environmental changes. The videos are then diffused on the ePOP site and social media platforms, notably Facebook. To find solutions for the problems brought forward in the videos, ePOP works with an international community of researchers at the IRD, a top development organization whose decisions are based on their contact with the public.

More than 130 videos were received this year from nearly 25 countries on five continents.

The selection of the winners was made by a jury of audiovisual, media, and environmental professionals.

Congratulations Adita! Congratulations Prithwiraj! And thanks to all of you who entered the contest.

Send me your music requests! I’ll make programs of your favorite music when I can’t be in the kitchen to cook up something new for you … write to me at  [e-mail]

To listen to our features from your PC, go to our website and click on the three horizontal bars on the top right, choose Listen to RFI / Podcasts, and you’ve got ‘em ! You can either listen directly or subscribe and receive them directly on your mobile phone.

To listen to our features from your mobile phone, the three horizontal bars are on the top left. Click and choose “Features”.

Teachers, take note! I save postcards and stamps from all over the world to send to you for your students. If you would like stamps and postcards for your students, just write and let me know. The address is [e-mail]

RFI Clubs: Be sure to always include Audrey Iattoni ([e-mail]) and Chrystelle Nammour ([e-mail]) from our Listener Relations department on all your RFI Club correspondence. Remember to copy me ([e-mail]) when you write them so that I know what is going on, too. N.B. You do not need to send them your quiz answers! Email overload!

And don't forget, there is a Facebook page just for you, the RFI English Clubs. It is a closed group, so when you apply to join, be sure you include the name of your RFI Club and your membership number. Everyone can look at it, but only members of the group can post on it. If you haven’t yet asked to join the group, and you are a member of an independent, officially recognized RFI English Club, go to the Facebook link above and fill out the questionnaire!!!!! (if you do not answer the questions, I click “decline”).

There’s a new Facebook page for members of the general RFI Listeners Club. Just click on the link and fill out the questionnaire, and you can connect with your fellow Club members around the world. Be sure you include your RFI Listeners Club membership number (most of them begin with an A, followed by a number) in the questionnaire, or I will have to click “Decline”, which I don’t like to do!

To join the RFI Listeners Club, just write to me at [e-mail] and tell me you want to join, and I’ll send you a membership number. It’s that easy. When you win a Sound Kitchen quiz as an RFI Listeners Club member, you receive a premium prize.

This week’s quiz: On 2 May, I asked you a question about an article you read on our website that week by RFI English journalist Christina Okello. The article, entitled “U-S claims major breakthrough after positive trial of coronavirus drug Remdesivir”, was about the findings of a clinical trial conducted on 1,063 Covid-19 virus patients in the U-S. The patients were given either the drug Remdesivir or a placebo – that is, an inactive drug, like a sugar pill, for example. I asked you to write to me with the recovery rate percentage figure, as well as the actual number of days in which trial participants taking Remdesivir recovered from the Covid-19 virus.

The answer is: Remdesivir showed a modest recovery speed in patients with the coronavirus: those taking the drug recovered in an average of 11 days, compared with 15 days for the patients who took a placebo. The drug sped up the recovery rate of trial participants by 31%.

Unfortunately, the trial failed to convincingly show that Remdesivir boosted survival in people with Covid-19. Eight percent of Remdesivir patients died during the trial, versus 11 percent in the placebo group.

Experts predict that in time, Remdesivir could become an effective weapon in combatting Covid-19. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U-S National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a highly respected scientist, told the New York Times that: “It is a very important proof of concept because what it has proved is that a drug can block this virus. This is very optimistic.” Dr. Fauci cautioned, however, that the results of the study still need to be properly peer-reviewed.

The winners are: Tilok Paul, a member of the RFI Women’s Club in Murshidabad, India; Kanchan Kr Chatterjee, the president of the Natun Radio Listeners Club also in Murshidabad, and Rabeya Begam, a member of the Nilshagor RFI Fan Club in Nilphamari, Bangladesh. From Rangpur, Bangladesh, there’s Waheed Nobi, and from Barrackpore in India, Miss Arundhati Mukherjee.

Congratulations winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s program: “Instrumental Reggae Rub A Dub” arranged by Matija Vabec; “Dorian” by Kenny Dorham, performed by Dorham and his ensemble; The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and “Blackbird” by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, sung by Sarah McLachlan.

Do you have a musical request? Send it to [e-mail]

This week’s question ... You'll have to listen to the show to participate. You have until 29 June to enter this week's quiz; the winners will be announced on the 4 July podcast. When you enter, be sure you send your postal address in with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:

[e-mail]

or

Susan Owensby

RFI – The Sound Kitchen

80, rue Camille Desmoulins

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

France

or

By text … You can also send your quiz answers to The Sound Kitchen mobile phone. Dial your country’s international access code, or “ + ”, then 33 6 31 12 96 82. Don’t forget to include your mailing address in your text – and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

To find out how you can win a special Sound Kitchen prize, click here

To find out how you can become a member of the RFI Listeners Club, or to form your own official RFI Club, click here