Restitution for Haiti, Reparations for All: Haiti’s Place in the Global Reparations Movement

Haiti’s claim for restitution of the debt coerced by France in exchange for Haiti’s 1804 independence has unique legal advantages that can open the door to broader reparations for the descendants of all people harmed by slavery. But in order to assert the claim, Haiti first needs help reclaiming its democracy from a corrupt, repressive regime propped up by the powerful countries that prospered through slavery and overthrew the Haitian President who dared to assert his country’s legal claim. This article explores Haiti’s Independence Debt, and the fight for restitution of it, in the context of two centuries of continued struggle between Haitians asserting their independence and countries enriched by slavery trying to limit the power of Haiti’s example

UBVRI Light Curves of 44 Type Ia Supernovae

We present UBVRI photometry of 44 type-Ia supernovae (SN Ia) observed from 1997 to 2001 as part of a continuing monitoring campaign at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The data set comprises 2190 observations and is the largest homogeneously observed and reduced sample of SN Ia to date, nearly doubling the number of well-observed, nearby SN Ia with published multicolor CCD light curves. The large sample of U-band photometry is a unique addition, with important connections to SN Ia observed at high redshift. The decline rate of SN Ia U-band light curves correlates well with the decline rate in other bands, as does the U-B color at maximum light. However, the U-band peak magnitudes show an increased dispersion relative to other bands even after accounting for extinction and decline rate, amounting to an additional ~40% intrinsic scatter compared to B-band.Comment: 84 authors, 71 pages, 51 tables, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal. Version with high-res figures and electronic data at http://astron.berkeley.edu/~saurabh/cfa2snIa

Cheaper, Better, Longer-Lasting: A Rights-Based Approach to Disaster Response in Haiti

This Article explores how the failure of the earthquake response is the result of past and current policies that, however well intentioned, fail to adequately respect the human rights of Haitians, especially Haiti\u27s poor. It demonstrates that while the earthquake created new acute human rights challenges for Haiti, it also exposed the disastrous effects of decades-old policies that systematically undermine the Haitian government\u27s ability to provide basic governmental services and meet the needs of the majority of its people. A legacy of debt and international trade policies has incapacitated the Haitian government, and lack of enforcement of the rule of law has made Haiti\u27s poor disproportionately vulnerable to natural disasters. Haiti\u27s earthquake illustrates that the most severe humanitarian emergencies are most often symptomatic of and contributory to a larger human rights emergency

Protein kinase A activation inhibits DUX4 gene expression in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy patient myotubes

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is among the most prevalent of the adult onset muscular dystrophies. FSHD causes the loss of muscle mass and function resulting in severe debilitation and reduction in quality of life. Currently only the symptoms of FSHD can be treated and with minimal benefit. The available options are not curative and none of the treatments address the underlying cause of FSHD. Given that the genetic, epigenetic and molecular mechanisms underlying FSHD are now quite well understood and that DUX4 expression has been demonstrated to be necessary for disease onset and is largely thought to be the causative factor in FSHD, we sought to identify compounds modulating Dux4 activity in a phenotypic screen using FSHD patient derived muscle cells. This effort has led to the identification of molecules able to reduce DUX4 gene expression and hence Dux4 activity. Amongst those, β-2 adrenergic receptor agonists and phosphodiesterase inhibitors, both leading to increased cellular cAMP, were particularly effective in patient cells. We further determined that cAMP production reduces DUX4 expression through a PKA dependent mode of action in FSHD patient myotubes. These findings increase our understanding of DUX4 expression regulation in FSHD and point to potential areas of therapeutic intervention