The Anti-Human Rights Machine: Digital Authoritarianism and The Global Assault on Human Rights

Across the world, governments and state-aligned actors increasingly target human rights defenders online using techniques such as surveillance, censorship, harassment, and incitement, which together have been termed “digital authoritarianism.” We currently know little about the concrete effects on human rights defenders of digital authoritarianism as researchers have focused primarily on hate speech targeting religious, national, and ethnic minority groups. This article analyzes the effects of digital authoritarianism in two countries with among the highest rates of killings of human rights defenders in the world; Colombia and Guatemala. Anti-human rights speech in these countries portrays defenders as Marxist terrorists who are anti-patriotic and corrupt criminals. Evidence for a direct causal link to offline violence and killing is limited, however, and this empirical study documents the non-lethal and conditioning effects of speech. Human rights defenders who are targeted online report negative psychological and health outcomes and identify a nexus between online harassment and the criminalization of human rights work. Many take protective measures, engage in self-censorship, abandon human rights work, and leave the country. To prevent these harms, social media companies must implement stronger human rights-protective measures in at-risk countries, including expediting urgent requests for physical protection, adopting context-specific content moderation policies, and publicly documenting state abuses. The article concludes by advocating for a new United Nations-sponsored Digital Code of Conduct that would require states to adopt transparent digital policies, refrain from inciting attacks, and cease illegally surveilling human rights defenders

The Production and Characterization of Alginate Produced by Pseudomonas Syringae.

Alginate has many industrial uses because of its unique colloidal behavior, and its ability to thicken, stabilize, emulsify, suspend, form films, and produce gels. Currently, all commercial alginate comes from brown algae, where it exists naturally as a structural material. Many different types of brown algae produce alginate but it can only be obtained in sufficient quantity and quality from a limited number of species. On the basis of location, at least half of the world\u27s resources of this polymer are potentially at risk due either to political instability or industrial pollution. Bacteria provide a potentially unlimited alternate source for alginate. Pseudomonas syringae pv phaseolicola ATCC 19304, produced an acetylated alginate-like polysaccharide with a weight average molecular weight (M\sb{\rm w}) of 1.2 \times 10\sp5. This bacterial polymer was composed of 82% mannuronic acid and 18% guluronic acid. Compositional analysis of the reduced alginate polymer showed that L-gulose was more sensitive to acid degradation than D-mannose. The percentage of gulose recovered at various hydrolysis times was extrapolated to zero hydrolysis time to account for the loss of gulose. Acetylation affected the solution and gelling properties of the polymer. Acetylated bacterial alginate showed increased viscosity, and water holding capacity, and altered cation precipitability over unacetylated alginates. By controlling the degree of acetylation on the bacterial alginate, the solution and gelling properties of the polymer can be manipulated and the polymer targeted to specific applications

Prolactin delays hair regrowth in mice

Mammalian hair growth is cyclic, with hair-producing follicles alternating between active (anagen) and quiescent (telogen) phases. The timing of hair cycles is advanced in prolactin receptor (PRLR) knockout mice, suggesting that prolactin has a role in regulating follicle cycling. In this study, the relationship between profiles of circulating prolactin and the first post-natal hair growth cycle was examined in female Balb/c mice. Prolactin was found to increase at 3 weeks of age, prior to the onset of anagen 1 week later. Expression of PRLR mRNA in skin increased fourfold during early anagen. This was followed by upregulation of prolactin mRNA, also expressed in the skin. Pharmacological suppression of pituitary prolactin advanced dorsal hair growth by 3.5 days. Normal hair cycling was restored by replacement with exogenous prolactin for 3 days. Increasing the duration of prolactin treatment further retarded entry into anagen. However, prolactin treatments, which began after follicles had entered anagen at 26 days of age, did not alter the subsequent progression of the hair cycle. Skin from PRLR-deficient mice grafted onto endocrine-normal hosts underwent more rapid hair cycling than comparable wild-type grafts, with reduced duration of the telogen phase. These experiments demonstrate that prolactin regulates the timing of hair growth cycles in mice via a direct effect on the skin, rather than solely via the modulation of other endocrine factors

The proportion of dementia attributable to common modifiable lifestyle factors in Barbados

Objective. To understand what number and proportion of dementia cases in Barbados are attributable to modifiable lifestyle factors and what effect a reduction in these risk factors would have on future dementia prevalence. Methods. This was an observational study using Levin’s Attributable Risk formula, which assumes independence of risk factors, to calculate the population attributable risk (PAR) of dementia (all-cause) for six risk factors: midlife obesity, physical inactivity, smoking, low educational attainment, diabetes mellitus, and midlife hypertension in Barbados. A recently-published, modified formula was utilized to account for non- independence of risk factors using secondary data for Barbados. The number and proportion of dementia cases attributable to each risk factor and to all risk factors combined were computed, as was the effect that any reduction in these risk factors might have on future dementia prevalence. Results. Accounting for the fact that risk factors do not operate independently, 50.9% (1 526 cases) were attributable to the combined effect of the six risk factors under study. According to the analysis, if each risk factor were reduced by 5% – 20% per decade, dementia prevalence could be 3.3% – 31.8% lower by 2050. Conclusion. Using a largely theoretical model, the six modifiable lifestyle factors were estimated to be attributable to 50.9% of dementia cases in Barbados. Since the risk factors have much in common, any intervention that targets one of them could significantly reduce future dementia prevalence.This work was supported by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (Canberra, Australian Capital Territory; CE110001029), Australian Research Council (Canberra, Australian Capital Territory; Fellowship #120100227) and by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC; Canberra, Australian Capital Territory; Fellowship #1002560 and APP1079438). We also acknowledge support from the NHMRC Dementia Collaborative Research Centres (Canberra, Australian Capital Territory)

Fluid Intake and Hydration Status of Forest Workers -- A Preliminary Investigation

Dehydration and its milder form hypohydration have both short term and long term health effects. In the short term poor, body hydration impairs cognitive performance, physical strength and aerobic power, rendering the worker prone to injury and heat illness. In the long term the potential consequences of hypohydration are kidney stones and bladder cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate hydration status of forest workers in New Zealand and their preferred fluid replacement. The specific gravity (sg) of urine was used as an indicator of body fluid status. In addition daily fluid loss was compared with a tested algorithm of sweat rate to better understand if workers are hydrating at the desired rate. The results of this preliminary study clearly demonstrate that loggers are working at sub-optimal hydration levels and are consuming inappropriate fluids to replace sweat losses. The hypohydrated state of these workers may pose both an immediate and long term health and safety risk