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Internet Governance and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Part 4: Article 13-15 – CircleID

Articles 13-15: Political Rights (I), Co-authored by Klaus Stoll and Prof Sam Lanfranco. [1]

This is Part 4 of a series of articles published (here in CircleID) on the UDHR and human rights in the cyberspaces of the Internet Ecosystem. [2] Here we discuss Articles 13-15 and touch on other topics such as the role of cyber governance, empowered digital citizenship, and whistleblowers. [3] At this point in this series of articles on the UDHR in the digital age, it is useful to pause and remind ourselves of the purpose of this analysis. The exponential growth of digital cyberspace and the Internet ecosystem has both opened new exciting virtual territories for human activity and has disrupted many elements of society's existing (literal) human social order. At the same time, it has produced major tears in society's social fabric and posed challenges to the underlying social contract. [4] In this series of articles we try to do several things.

First, we looked at the UDHR and its underlying principles to see what guidance the UDHR might give to define, or at least point the way, to formulating the principles and policies that support the rights and duties of digital citizenship. For some aspects, the guidance around protected rights is straightforward. Other areas are unique to the global span of the Internet ecosystem and demand fresh thinking and fresh approaches.

Second, our intention is to explore possible mechanisms for pursuing possible ways forward. There may be neither a unique path nor a unique arrangement of mechanisms. There is, however, a unique starting point --one enabled by the scope of the Internet ecosystem. That starting point, aspirational at this point, begins with engaged digital stakeholders, with the broader goal of promoting engaged digital citizenship. With all its pitfalls and its uses by those wishing to attack democracy and democratic processes, the Internet ecosystem offers a venue for democratic multistakeholder engagement in policy and decision-making processes that was heretofore unimaginable. Internet governance for stakeholder engagement will likely include some blend of national, international, and multilateral structures and processes. It should be formulated using a multistakeholder process.

The Internet ecosystem has changed reality in ways more profound than the changes from the Industrial Revolution in the late 19th Century to the early 20th Century. Those changes were not recognized at the end of WWI when the Treaty of Versailles imposed peace conditions that contributed to almost half a century of terrible consequences. [5] While the principles contained in the UDHR may be robust and durable, the context has changed dramatically, as has the speed of change.

This calls for an ecosystem approach and not a "whack-a-mole" symptomatic approach to issues surrounding the rights and duties of one's presence and residency in the Internet ecosystem. It calls for an engaged stakeholder approach that combines progress in governance and regulations with the rebuild of appropriate social fabric and social contract.

Finally, these series of articles are meant to contribute to the upcoming 75th anniversary of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and prompt an Internet ecosystem-wide discussion around digital rights and Internet ecosystem policy development. [6] The goal is to kickstart progress toward a much-needed International Covenant on digital Civil and Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Historical Context

The UDHR was drafted in an important historical period. It was written during the time of the persecution and the mass migration European Jews, the refusal of the world's nations to grant migrants asylum, British limitations on Jewish immigration to Palestine, civil war between factions in Palestine, the resulting two-state solution proposed by the UN in 1947, and the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. [7] The question now is what do the Articles mean at this moment in time, as persons and other entities (communities, companies, governments) take up residence (migrate) to the cyberspaces of the Internet ecosystem. Residence within the cyberspaces of the Internet ecosystem is simultaneous to maintaining residence within nation-states. We cannot simply translate the UDHR into cyberspace. On the other hand, there is no need to redraft them for the digital age, as our fundamental human rights remain the same, and the challenge is how to apply them in a new context. We must start from the principles behind the UDHR and use them as navigational aids. We should look to the UDHR to help us understand our rights and obligations in cyberspace and how to build respect for the digital dignity and rights of others. We must also examine what needs to be codified into formal covenants with regard to rights and duties in cyberspace, and what needs to become part of the social fabric and underlying social contract.

Article 13: (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.

Article 13: (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Central to any discussion of Articles 13-15 regarding rights and duties is to revisit the notions of nation and state, as they related to the cyberspaces of the Internet ecosystem, a subject previously discussed in Part 1 of this series. [8] Article 13: (1) is set within the framework of statehood, whilst Article 13: (2) is set within the notion of country.

Cyberstate Basics

Within cyberspace, we are living in technological and social constructs and virtual territories. These were initially the web sites we visit and the social platforms (email, social media) we use. Increasingly, they now include the growing universe of the Internet of Things (IoT) with its immense tracking and data archiving. Each of those online spaces could be compared to nations in terms of their process and data control. Many digital tech companies and their high-level representatives act in their relationship with states as if they are nations in their own right [9]. Like nations in the real world, digital territories are influenced and defined by political, economic, geographic, ethnic, religious, language factors. What are, or should be, our rights and obligations as digital citizens within the digital territories of cyberspace?

Our digital residence in the cyberspaces of the global Internet ecosystem stands in marked contrast to our digital residence where we reside. Governments have sovereignty and authority over the domestic cyberstate. Persons and entities have a state defined digital citizenship and residency. They also now have a nation-like digital residence in the global Internet ecosystem. However, cyberstate governance, commonly called "Internet Governance" (IG) is in its infancy at both levels, in terms of what it is and what it covers.

Approaches to sovereignty in Cyberspace go back as far as 1996 when John Perry Barlow published his "Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace". [10] "We will create a civilization of the Mind in Cyberspace. May it be more humane and fair than the world your governments have made before."

The current state of Internet governance, in its infancy, has not reached the status of a cyberstate with defined mechanisms of cyber-governance. As well, the Internet has disrupted the behavioral norms of the prevailing social constructs of the late 20th Century, resulted in major tears in society's social fabric and damage to the underlying social contract. Repairing the social fabric, and agreeing upon a new social contract base, is an essential complement to the development of both digital governance and digital citizenship. This is a pressing priority of the moment.

A just state is built by the political will and engagement of its citizens. To construct the layers of the cyberstate, from local to global, will require shared aspirational goals and vision across stakeholders. The steps needed to create a system of digital governance within a country's cyberstate are rooted in the state's Constitution and associated institutions for policy development, and their implementation in the literal world. That work is challenging and will benefit from starting with the principles underpinning the UDHR.

The power and legitimacy of the cyber governance stem from the recognition of a state's sovereignty and its right to govern domestic cyberspace. [11] Within one's country citizenship, national digital citizenship comes under the governance of that domestic cyberspace. At the same time persons and entities have a global residence in cyberspace, and may have local residences in other countries. [12] This raises the issue of digital migration, and one's ability to change digital residence across states and governments, at will. At the same time, this leaves open our understanding of what digital citizenship means at the global level. ICANN, responsible for the security and stability of the global Internet, has a motto that states: "One World, One Internet." What that means in terms of global digital citizenship, domestic digital citizenship, and cyberstate governance is yet to be worked out. Ideally, this will be determined, consistent with and with help from, the principles in the UDHR.

Cyberspace Residence Requires Empowered Digital Citizenship

Article 13: (1) gives everyone the right to freedom of movement and residence, within the borders of a state. Residence and citizenship are not necessarily the same so Article 13 does not address rights and duties regarding citizenship. Residency in cyberspace operates both within the nation state, and globally outside the nation state. [13] Ideally, there should be only one set of cyberstate policies and regulations, one digital citizenship for all. However, nation-states can and do distinguish between residence and citizenship. They may have different policies for each, policies that also differ from those of other nation-states. At the global level, that is not the case. In global cyberspace everyone is a global resident and, by extension, a global citizen. There is no way to differentiate between the two. There is no way to acknowledge global residency but deny global citizenship.

States are in the process of building their policies and regulations for national cyberspace, and for the rights and duties of national citizens and residents, virtual or literal, in national cyberspaces. This was the motive behind Facebook moving its user files out of Ireland at the start of the GDPR. Subscribers remained residents of the Internet ecosystem but no longer held that residency in Ireland.

We have now entered a period of cyberspace governance building. As countries and regions act, there is a high degree of consultation and some collaboration. Hopefully, they will be guided by principles like those in the UDHR, and policies of good governance will prevail. In Part 1 of this series, we stated: "Today, cyberspace bestows on each of us a dual, but inseparable, physical and digital citizenship. Even if we don't know about cyberspace or are unable or have decided not to use any of the digital technologies, we are still digital citizens with rights (and corresponding duties)". Access to cyberspace becomes a human right, that indirectly is enshrined in the fundamental human rights of the UDHR.

At the level of the global Internet ecosystem, the issue of global digital citizenship is more complicated on one front and easier on another. The explosive expansion of the Internet has made everyone a de facto resident and global citizen in cyberspace. The rights and obligations of global digital citizenship are yet to be defined. In addition to the key issue of what rights and obligations should accompany that citizenship, it is the key issue of who should be involved in formulating those rights and obligations.

This is where the UDHR comes in two ways. The principles in the UDHR constitute the key principles that should be enshrined in a declaration of digital rights, or more properly, the rights of global digital citizenship. Secondly, any structures of global governance are likely to be enshrined in international or multilateral treaty agreements. They are unlikely to come from some sort of overarching cyberstate. [14] It is essential for the governance of cyberspace that policymaking and enforcement tools are in place that ensure global digital citizens are empowered in the policy-making processes, are never deprived of their full rights (and duties) citizenship and enjoy a safe and secure residence in the cyberspaces of the Internet.

To delineate between national digital citizenship and citizenship within the cyberspaces of the Internet ecosystem, we use the term digital citizenship for the former and global digital citizenship for the later. In both cases, effective democracy calls for engaged citizenship, engaged digital citizenship and engaged global digital citizenship. Here our focus is on stakeholder engaged global digital citizenship.

There are state and private sector initiatives under to create ring-fences around sections of cyberspace. [15] Creating isolated cyberspaces runs against the very nature and strengths of cyberspace. Such efforts are to be resisted in that they devalue the very strengths of the Internet ecosystem as a tool for human understanding and human development. Such ring-fenced spaces would diminish global digital citizenship, establishing second-class digital citizenship that lacked access to one's rights as a global digital citizen.

Opting Out: A Conundrum

Article 13: (2) refers to the right to leave any country, including one's own, and to return to that country. At one level, this presents a simple issue. With the advances in government (services, etc.) and e-governance, it is easier for citizens to engage their governments and engage in governance. It also means that those without adequate digital access have diminished citizenship. This underscores the need to treat digital access as a public good and not just another private consumable. However, it is virtually impossible to become "non-resident" in a national cyberspace. Even when physically leaving a country, one is liable to remain subject to that country's digital citizenship rights and duties, even in exile. There are many examples that show how difficult, or even impossible, it is for many to erase their digital footprints.

Residence in cyberspace is, of course, completely composed of data, data tagged with personal identifiers. Such data goes well beyond personal data input into the data cloud by deliberate transactional actions. It includes data collected from one's behavior, as one browses and roams around the Internet. More importantly, increasingly, it also includes ambient data from one's simple presence in life. Ambient data is data from cell phones, automobiles, the Internet of Things (IoT), third-party surveillance, and a myriad of other sources. Such data, personal or not, is broadly tagged with identifiers and used to construct profiles. It is increasingly used in "black box" artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to construct digital personas, used for marketing, monitoring, and a broad myriad of other uses. [16] While Article 13: (2) speaks about a right to leave, in cyberspace there is nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. Being a digital resident comes with the fact of being alive, with residency possibly both after death and before birth. [17] One's final wish may be to maintain digital residency forever. [18] This makes protected access to the proper rights and duties of digital citizenship all that more important.

Digital Asylum: Rights, Obligations and Duties

Article 14: (1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

Article 14: (2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Cyberspace, by its nature, is a network of networks based on common technical standards that operate at the technical level independent of any ethical standards. With many different policies, rules of conduct and culture practices, what might be permissible in one context, may be unacceptable or the cause for persecution in another. What is considered normal and healthy in an open society may be subject to censure or punishment under a repressive regime.

The right to freedom of digital asylum may be complicated and needs exploration. If within one's digital residency one has been persecuted or prevented access, digital migration still leaves the literal person open to persecution. [19] For digital asylum to have meaning, it might have to be accompanied by physical migration.

Issues arise here. Can there be a digital asylum with some protections? Can digital crimes abroad be subject to the territorial jurisdiction of one's physical residence? [20] If a digital persona is persecuted in a digital space by entities that exert political power over that space, or if there is an inability of political powers to protect that digital person, what rights are relevant here? What does "a right to leave" mean? [21] How does a right to asylum assure a right to protection? If there is a duty in digital spaces to grant asylum what does that mean?

Also, foreign digital residency can be like dual citizenship and exist for purposes other than asylum. Digital residency may be the presence of a persona within a country despite the person not having literal citizenship. [22] What rights does the digital asylum resident have within the literal rights and duties of the host country?

While in principle the extension of a right of asylum to digital/cyber residents should exist, there is much work to be done to understand what needs to go into the rights and obligations/duties of digital residency, digital citizenship and digital asylum.

Asylum and Migration: Political Crimes and Contrary Acts

Article 14: (2) restricts the application of claims to asylum to situations where the claim is not based on a political crime or acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the UN. However, it is not easy to define what constitutes a political crime. The definition is influenced by both the context and the point of view of the beholder, whether the beholder is persons or institutions:

"...a political crime or political offence is an offence involving overt acts or omissions (where there is a duty to act), which prejudice the interests of the state, its government, or the political system. It is to be distinguished from state crime, in which it is the states that break both their own criminal laws or public international law." [23] States may define political crimes as any behavior perceived as a threat, real or imagined, to the state's survival, including both violent and non-violent oppositional crimes. Such criminalization may curtail a range of human rights, civil rights, freedoms. Under such regimes conduct which would not normally be considered criminal per se is criminalized at the convenience of the group holding power. [24] Political crimes in the context of the UDHR are considered an abuse of human rights. Asylum is the mechanism that protects human rights against arbitrary state power, be it driven by political, economic, religious or other forces. Extending this notion to the protection to one's digital residency and citizenship is one of the challenges on the global Internet policy and governance agenda.

The purposes and principle of the UN are stated in the first two chapters of the UN charter. [25] It identifies "members", "people" and "peace-loving states" that promote and encourage respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion. Peoples and states are addressed here, but the ultimate focus is on the rights of the people. As in the case of political crimes and the work of the UN itself, the yardstick to measure and evaluate behavior is the UDHR. Any acts contrary to human rights are acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. These protections need to be extended to digital personas and residency in the cyberspaces of the Internet ecosystem.

Whistleblowers and the Need for Protections:

Digital whistleblowers are an example of an area that needs further analysis and an exploration as we flesh out the rights, duties and protections regarding the integrity of digital activities. At the other end of the spectrum purveyors of miss information, "false news" and malicious information also require attention and accountability for their actions. [26] This is a complicated and muddy area so we will dwell on several recent incidents [27].

Many states view the publication of classified, or unclassified but embarrassing information, increasingly from digital sources, as not a political crime, but as a criminal activity that does not deserve the protection of Article 14: 1. [28] When it comes to whistleblowers in the context of cyberspace names such as Snowden, Assange, and Manning come to mind. [29] The question is if their whistleblowing deeds are deserving protection and literal asylum, or are nonpolitical crimes that are not subject to human rights protection.

Snowden describes his motivation clearly:

"...My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them." [30] Snowden qualifies that, saying that the disclosure of information must be justified and serve a public interest." [31] In contrast the US Government argued that the major portion of the content:

" had nothing to do with exposing government oversight of domestic activities. The vast majority of those were related to our military capabilities, operations, tactics, techniques and procedures". [32] In 2013, Snowden was partially vindicated when a U.S. federal judge ruled the collection of U.S. phone metadata by the NSA was likely unconstitutional.

Assange and Wikileaks didn't impose criteria on which documents to publish. They publish available data from what they perceive as "powers" and let the rest of the world decide. They view Wikileaks acting as a "dropbox" to ensure that journalists and whistleblowers are not prosecuted for disclosing sensitive or classified documents. According to WikiLeaks, its goal is:

"to bring important news and information to the public ... One of our most important activities is to publish original source material alongside our news stories so readers and historians alike can see evidence of the truth." [33] This is complicated legal terrain at the national level, and more so at the global level. It crosses both national boundaries and the boundaries between the digital and the literal. It illustrates the need for engaged dialogue among the various stakeholders ranging from engaged literal and digital stakeholders to lawmakers and judicial systems, a dialogue that must precede any rush to legislation and regulations, both at the national and the global (international/multilateral?) level.

Digital Residency and the Rights and Obligations of Digital Citizenship

Article 15: (1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.

The advent of digital technologies has created an important new reality, the scope for a digital residence in the cyberspaces of the Internet ecosystem. Consider digital residency and how the issues raised relate back to the UDHR. For starters, digital technologies are a double-edged sword. [34] Practically every trace of one's presence in cyberspace is uniquely tagged to one's literal persona. One's virtual identity and the AI assisted multiple digital personas constructed by others facilitate one's integration into new virtual and literal contexts in ways that one may not approve or wish for. They provide unique identifiers to others well beyond our contemporary notions of privacy and personal security. [35] Nationality, as a citizen or resident of a state, is an important foundational concept of the UDHR [36]. It defines the legal relationship of a person to the state, giving the state jurisdiction over the person. In turn, the person enjoys rights and duties protection from the state. The protection of rights and duties and the honoring of those by both the citizen/resident and the state within the realm of in one's digital residency in cyberspace is an area calling for multistakeholder dialogue to explore the issues and multistakeholder engagement in policy development.

Article 15: (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

The world is again in the middle of a great migration. From 1850 to 1950 one hundred million people migrated, mainly from Europe to colonial areas and areas of sparse population. [37] We are on the cusp of another great migration. Social unrest and climate change have resulted in 70 million forcibly displaced persons, many of those with little prospect of "going home" in any meaningful way. [38] Migration results from both push factors and pull factors. While most existing migrants have been "pushed" by political unrest, estimates suggest that hundreds of millions more will be "pushed" by climate change in the next 20-30 years. [39] Article 15 was crafted after the terrible events of WWII. Refugees fleeing persecution and economic hardship faced some hostile reception but found welcoming destinations in other parts of the world. Increasingly migrants are "displaced persons" stuck in an indeterminate existence in slums and refugee camps, with nowhere to go. They may retain literal nationality or have become effectively stateless. Deprived of the rights of their prior literal nationality, they have little hope of changing literal residency or nationality.

Is there any scope for ameliorating this situation through the extension of digital citizenship? There is much ongoing work around assigning digital Identification documentation to refugees for the management of immediate services. Many have been displaced with no personal documentation and are effectively stateless persons. Within the refugee process, a digital identity can compensate for lack of proof, but it cannot restore the ability to exercise the rights and obligations one's literal identity and leave open the question of what good is a digital identity in the absence of a literal identity?

This leaves open the question of whether there is any scope for ameliorating these personal situations through the extension and application of digital citizenship. The short answer is that nobody knows. That depends on how the world treats the creation of the rights and duties of digital citizenship, and in the absence of rights of literal residency, this is another area to be explored.

There is a bit more to explore regarding UDHR Articles 15.1 and 15.2 that will be handled in the next article in this CircleID series, along with an exploration of UDHR Article: 16 and Article: 17.

What is clear thus far is that the UNDH can and should serve as the North Star/Southern Cross navigational aid for the construction of both an understanding of how we should approach the rights and duties of digital citizenship, in particular global digital citizenship, and how we need multistakeholder dialogue around how to handle those rights and duties challenges that are unique to the digital cyberspaces of the Internet ecosystem.

We also reiterate our position that there is neither a one-size-fits-all template for developing our understanding and approach to digital citizenship. There is a need for multistakeholder engagement, both to identify the best path forward and to get stakeholder buy-in to both the path taken and the mechanisms chosen.

The path forward cannot be completely regulatory and will require attention to restoring society's social fabric, with possibly different repairs in different settings, and rebuilding the underlying social contract to embrace human activities across both of our digital and literal human realities.

Beyond that, and beyond how these tasks are handled at the national level in individual nation-states, there will need to be some blend of international and multilateral action to move forward. This progress, while enlightened by historical perspective and expertise, will have to come from multistakeholder engagement that has been enabled by the digital cyberspaces of the Internet ecosystem. Trying to circumvent, or short circuit, that route will result in delay and the risk of failure.

In the next section, we explore further issues of digital presence and data ownership in the digital cyberspaces of the Internet ecosystem, and how decisions in those areas impact on how we handle the rights and duties of digital citizenship, in the quest for digital and literal future with promise.

[2] Part 1, 2, 3 are available here:http://www.circleid.com/posts/20191210_internet_governance...http://www.circleid.com/posts/20200106_internet_governance...http://www.circleid.com/posts/20200203_internet_governance...

[3] This series of article are presented a bit like preparing the foundation for a house, here the house is the "house of regulations and rights" in the digital age. An understanding of the desired digital rights, and the pitfalls from policy and regulation, is required to build a sturdy and relevant platform of digital rights.

[4] A long list of examples could be given here, ranging from issues of personal privacy and security, to disruptive disintermediation in business, and social process, to the toxic effects of false news on elections, governance and trust.

[5] . See: The Economic Consequences of the Peace, written by the British economist John Maynard Keynes and published in 1919. His call for multilateral policies was ignored after WWI. He was instrumental in the growth of multilateralism after WWII.

[6] Comments are welcomed. Send comments with "UDHR" in the subject line to klausstoll@thebrocasgroup.com . Comments will be used to update this digital rights discussion in subsequent articles.

[7] After World War II the drafters of the UDHR faced a historical situation of immense complexity. British rule of Palestine, confirmed by the League of Nations, took effect in 1923. To escape persecution in Europe, Jewish immigration to Palestine took place in waves, resulting in Palestinian and Arab rioting in 1920 and 1921. The British imposed immigration quotas for Jews. The US Immigration Act of 1924 barred Jewish immigration to the United States. Persecution in Poland and Hungary left those Jewish communities with few migration options. By 1938 several hundred thousand Jews had migrated to Palestine. Between 1939 and 1945 Nazi atrocities caused the deaths of approximately 6 million Jews and at the war's end illegal migration accelerated. The British turned to the UN for help and the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) proposed "an independent Arab State" and "an independent Jewish State". The resolution was adopted by the UN in 1947 and followed by inaction. David Ben-Gurion proclaiming Israeli independence in 1948. It is within this context that the drafters of the UDHR drafted Articles 13-15.

[8] For Country, Nation and State: A country is commonly understood as a defined and recognized geographic territory inside which people live according to a legally binding sets of rules that are set by its own governance processes. The term nation often refers to a country, but not always. A nation may exist within or across geographic boundaries. It may be defined as a community of people based on political, economic, geographic, ethnic, religious, and other factors. The important difference between a country and a nation is that a nation may not have sovereignty or governing power, nor clearly delineated geographic boundaries. A state, by contrast, is an entity with governing power and sovereignty over a geographic area.

[9] Tech giants like Amazon, Facebook and Google have behaved in part as though they are their own global digital nations, some (Amazon) even appropriating the names of territories, reflecting their intentions to operate at a global scale and, in the absence of global Internet ecosystem governance, act as digital nations answerable only to themselves.

[10] See: John Perry Barlow "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace", https://www.eff.org/cyberspace-independence. (Ironically Barlow made his declaration in Davos where the WEF meets annually and is busy trying to shape its own capitalist Cyberstate). At the same time Nexusweb declared its Independence as the first virtual country in Cyberspace and published its own Declaration of Independence, see: https://web.archive.org/web/19970102014217/http://www.inter-nexus.com/nexusweb/declare1.html

For further discussion on the topic of "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace", see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Declaration_of_the...

[11] There is scope for some extraterritorial application here. In the area of child abuse, for example, countries can and do prosecute citizens for sex crimes against children whether they are perpetrated at home or abroad.

[12] For example, when the EU implemented the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018 Facebook moved millions of accounts out of Ireland to remove them from GDPR regulation.

[13] This is a bit like one's rights on the high seas. Some of those rights have been enshrined in multilateral "law of the sea" agreements, some rights are protected by one's national citizenship and the protective efforts of the relevant nation states, and for some rights there is no legal protection at all. For example, in the case of rescue efforts when pirates hijack ships at sea, it is often difficult to determine which rights apply and which do not.

[14] While some might wish for a one world government approach that respects and enforces global digital citizenship, it is unrealistic to believe that nation states would give up sovereignty for the creation of a global digital governance structure. The short run path forward is more likely to be international and multinational.

[15] For example see: "Russia Says It Has Successfully Tested a Country-Wide Alternative to the Global Internet", http://www.circleid.com/posts/20191227_russia_has_tested_country_wide...

[16] The area of AI-enhanced facial recognition software is a case in point here. China is using it to monitor human behavior and keep a "social credit" score card on individuals. Multiple commercial entities are compiling scorecard ratings (credit, insurance, health, driving) using digital business practice and data gathering techniques that raise serious legal and human rights (privacy) questions.

[17] See: https://iapp.org/news/a/pregnancy-tracking-app-drawing-privacy-scrutiny/ and see:

https://www.gamingtechlaw.com/2018/09/iconsumer-deceased-persons-gdpr-data-protection.html

[18] See the digital mausoleum in https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=black+mirror+san+junipero

[19] There are ongoing issues here. How much privacy should prevail around domain name ownership? Anonymous ownership can hide criminals, predatory behavior and such. Revealed ownership can expose vulnerable groups to retribution by enemies and repressive regimes. Even the current controversy around the sale of the non-profit .org registry by the Internet Society to a private capital fund has raised questions around the protections afforded to social activist .org domain name holders.

[20] For example, Canadian citizens and permanent residents engaging in prohibited child sexual exploitation in a foreign country can be prosecuted in Canada even when they have not been convicted in the foreign country.

[21] It cannot simply mean the right to disconnect when access is increasingly seen as integral to both human and digital rights. It would be like saying that one can escape constraints on literal citizenship by ceasing to breath.

[22] Estonia is offering a digital e-residency. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Residency_of_Estonia

[23] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_crime , A good example of a state crime was the persecution of minorities in Nazi Germany.

[24] From: https://wikimili.com/en/Political_crime

[25] https://www.un.org/en/charter-united-nations/

[26] In both cases this can spill over into being subject to physical violence or engaging in acts of physical violence. The literal and digital worlds are parts of one single larger reality.

[27] Covid19 makes for an interesting and important new example. The speed and the volume misinformation appeared about Covid19 overwhelming. How do we move from an Internet saturated with misinformation and false news to an emphasis on an "information commons" based on evidence, truth and integrity? At one level this has become the Internet's finest hour, using novel approaches to address pandemic circumstances at lightning speed. Digital processes and digital actors (firms, organizations, governments, and individuals) have emerged as crucial to how we combat disease. At another level emerging practices are raising questions about policy, practices and behavior that will have to be addressed once society is no longer of a war footing fighting the covid-19 virus outbreak.

[28] It can be perceived as a threat to the political authority of the state if individuals distribute material containing uncensored information which undermines the credibility of state-controlled news media. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_crime

[29] Edward Joseph Snowden leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013, after seeing the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, directly lie under oath to Congress by denying that the NSA wittingly collects data on millions of Americans. In May 20, 2013, Snowden left the United states to seek physical asylum and remains abroad. Julian Paul Assange, the Australian who founded WikiLeaks, published a series of leaks provided by U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. After a series of asylum moves and legal complications Assanage faces legal indictment from the United States and remains incarcerated in Britain's London Belmarsh Prison. Chelsea Elizabeth Manning, the American activist, whistleblower and former US Army soldier, was court-martialed in 2013 for violations of the US Espionage Act and other offenses after disclosing military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks, and was sentenced to prison in 2017. In Marsh 2020, a Federal judge orders Chelsea Manning's release from jail.

[30] Poitras, Laura; Greenwald, Glenn (June 9, 2013), (video), The Guardian. London.

[31] Greenwald, Glenn; MacAskill, Ewen; Poitras, Laura (June 9, 2013). "Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations". The Guardian. London.

[32] Army General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaking to the House Armed Services Committee (March 2014).

[33] Whistleblower leaks can be used to illuminate truth, or to influence outcomes. At the start of the 2016 US Presidential campaign Wikileaks released documents pertaining to Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton. The U.S. Intelligence Community and a Special Counsel investigation concluded that that the Russian government carried out the hacking to interfere in the 2016 US Presidential elections.

[34] For the use of identity data to persecute asylum seekers see: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/02/magazine/ice-surveillance-deportation.html

[35] Even the idea of a permanent digital identification is subject to much debate. Benefits are being weighed against a "nanny" or "surveillance" state watching and meddling into every aspect of one's personal affairs. This concern is amplified when it comes to applications like AI enhanced facial recognition software linked to broadly installed camera networks. The current Chinese personal "Social Credit" score, based on mass digital and video surveillance, is an example of such practices.

[36] The UN sees as one of its central roles to enforce the right to nationality, as the right to nationality implies protection of the human rights of every individual to a minimal standard, set down in the UDHR. This is reflected in the large amount of treaties and resolutions and UN agencies work on the topic. See: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Pages/Nationality.aspx

Originally posted here:
Internet Governance and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Part 4: Article 13-15 - CircleID

Genetics

Bridging the gap study sequences Asian genomes to diversify genetic databases – University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily

Though the number of human genomes sequenced continues to rise rapidly since the completion of the Human Genome Project a scientific endeavor spanning multiple decades and countries aimed at detailing human DNA in 2003, less than 10 percent of those genomes to date correspond to individuals of Asian descent. The GenomeAsia 100K Project, a non-profit consortium, seeks to change this lack of knowledge surrounding a major portion of the worlds ethnicities. The conglomeration of researchers and private sector executives from around the world from Seoul, South Korea to the University plans to add 100,000 novel genomes from individuals of Asian ethnicity to new open-access databases.

Academic institutions and private sector companies came together in 2016 to launch the GenomeAsia 100K Project. While the research organization MedGenome and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore originally founded the non-profit consortium, representatives from other businesses and schools including Genentech, Macrogen and the University of California, San Francisco have joined the association.

Since genome sequencing can reveal the unique characteristics of each persons genetic material, it can help determine a persons ancestry and the propensity for certain medical conditions. According to GenomeAsia 100K, Asians constitute nearly half of the worlds population, and the distinct ethnicities and communities offer a relatively untapped repository of genetic diversity. The project hopes to provide new insights into inherited diseases as well as those caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

Aakrosh Ratan, assistant professor of public health sciences and researcher for GenomeAsia 100K, explained that in particular, the information the initiative collects may help develop medical treatments based on peoples specific genetic makeup, instead of relying on traditional general treatments that may not target the unique root cause of each patients form of a disease.

The goal of precision medicine is to tailor treatment towards a persons genetic background, and that dream cannot be realized until you have the proper reference databases, Ratan said.

Mutations in humans DNA sequences lead to different copies of the same gene within a person and amongst ethnicities. These different versions of a gene can act as markers of diseases that are inherited or influenced by genetic makeup. For example, the disorder sickle cell anemia is caused by the change of a single point in the DNA sequence. When someone is born with copies of this particular gene from both parents contain the mutation, he or she will suffer from often debilitating pain resulting from red blood cells that cannot effectively transport oxygen.

Ratan explained that genome sequencing can highlight mutations in a persons DNA that may cause illnesses such as sickle cell anemia.

One of the ways we identify the mutations that drive a rare disease is by identifying the mutations and then prioritizing those mutations based on their prevalence in healthy populations, Ratan said. With the medical datasets we have compiled, we can actually improve such analyses for patients of Asian descent.

As of December 2019, the GenomeAsia 100K Project has completed the analysis of 1,739 genomes from 219 populations and 64 countries worldwide. Preliminary findings appeared that same month in the scientific journal Nature. The paper concluded that the sample provided a reasonable framework for sequencing practices and studying the history and health of Asian populations. Ratan and his lab at the University supervised the identification and contributed to the analysis of these genetic variants.

Once the 100,000 genomes have been collected and sequenced, the data will be publicly available as a controlled dataset. As a result, experts investigating topics from heart disease to human evolution can easily access the genome sequences.

One of the real gaps in human genetics studies of disease has been the underrepresentation of non-Europeans, Charles Farber, associate professor of public health sciences, said in an email to The Cavalier Daily. The work of the GenomeAsia 100K Consortium provided critical insight into the extent and nature of genome variation in individuals of Asian ancestry and will be critical in making disease genetic studies more inclusive of all global populations.

Ani Manichaikul, assistant professor of public health sciences in the Center for Public Health Genomics, expressed enthusiasm for the GenomeAsia 100K Project. She claimed that the additional genetic information could augment her research as part of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, a cardiovascular disease where fatty deposits accumulate and potentially block arteries. The study currently focuses on Caucasian, African American, Hispanic and Chinese American individuals.

The GenomeAsia project is very useful because there are some instances where particular genetic variants are only observed in particular genetic groups, Manichaikul said. Those markers can be unique to those sequenced through the project, which means we would not have necessarily have observed those particular variants otherwise.

Manichaikul also suggested that expanding existing repositories of hereditary statistics would improve methods of assigning people risk scores for diseases based on their DNA. The National Human Genome Research Institute describes polygenic risk score, which indicates a persons likelihood of certain diseases based on the presence of mutations known to be associated with a given disorder. Companies such as 23andMe have started to provide consumers with this metric, but without a comprehensive database of genomes from different populations, score reliability can decrease.

Since indicators of genetically-linked conditions often appear in certain alleles, or different versions of a gene, knowing whether one has a disease marker can help patients take preventative measures if need be. However, in the absence of comprehensive information on the range of disease markers that appear in different ethnicities, whole populations may lack the potential benefits of this burgeoning healthcare statistic.

The only way we can create risk prediction models that are accurate across populations is if we also have corresponding databases available with individuals that represent that diversity, Manichaikul said.

Following the findings in the preliminary study, GenomeAsia 100K Project collaborators will continue to sequence more genomes of Asian individuals. The hope is that, once researchers have access to the data, insights from 100,000 genomes will drive the development of new therapeutic strategies that will benefit people around the world.

I would like more researchers to have access to this data, Ratan said. This is a resource. Were working to establish these reference datasets, and we would definitely like them to be used.

The rest is here:
Bridging the gap study sequences Asian genomes to diversify genetic databases - University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily

Genetics

Sex is a choice, regardless of genetics – Chicago Daily Herald

Says Louis Guagenti in his recent letter: "Being LGBT is not subjective; it's how the person is wired. They don't get to choose their sexual orientation any more than one gets to choose their eye color." If that's true, then it's also true that heterosexuals are hard wired and since sex has become a recreational activity for so many today, does this hard-wiring force everybody to engage in sex with as many others as possible?

Or is it possible that one must choose to do such things?

So, just as it is with heterosexuals, so it is with others. Whatever it is that either group does, they do it because they choose to do it. That means, regardless of "wiring," they can also choose not to do it, especially if it happens to be a threat to one's physical and/or emotional health.

Regarding abortion when rape is involved, well, that does produce a conundrum, doesn't it?

When the rape victim is a child and gets pregnant, concern for the girl is universal, but even in this case, the pro-death/pro-abort idea that a baby in the womb is not a baby plays out: if it's less than human, then where's the problem? But it IS a baby, a human being and it was through no fault of its own that it even exists, yet we in America decided with Roe-v-Wade that its very life is wholly subject to the whims of the mother carrying it.

There is even a push to allow a baby to die should it survive the abortion procedure. Fancy that: it is no longer a "part of the woman," it is no longer "her body." It is an individual by every definition of the word, yet its very life still depends on the whims of its mother.

John Babush

Big Rock

Excerpt from:
Sex is a choice, regardless of genetics - Chicago Daily Herald

Genetics

How healthtech startup Bione aims to use genetic testing in the fight against coronavirus – YourStory

Ever since the Human Genome Project began in the late 1980s, genetics and DNA have become topics of mass interest. The book Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 chapters states that the genome is a book that wrote itself, continually adding, deleting, and amending for over four billion years.

For Dr Surendra Chikara, who has been working in the field for over 20 years now, the idea of founding Bione, a healthcare startup, was a no-brainer.

Monitoring the present coronavirus outbreak scenario in the country, we have included new parameters to our Longevity Plus kit. The new updated kit provides information about the susceptibility of a person to viruses like coronavirus, SARS-like viruses, HIV, Hepatitis C virus, etc. This could be based on an individuals genetic makeup or the patterns of living, Surendra says.

Dr Surendra, Founder of Bione

Surendra says a recent addition to the Bione Genetic test can check an individuals susceptibility to coronavirus. He adds that the platforms microbiome test, combined with its predictive analytics tools and artificial intelligence, can provide tailored recommendations to individuals to strengthen their microbiome and improve their immunity.

A research paper titled 'Evidence of gastrointestinal infection of SARS-CoV-2 revealed that 23.29 percent patients infected with SARS CoV-2 showed positive results in stool after showing negative in respiratory samples. Hence, the gut microbiome test is the only way to know when a virus is no longer in your system, Surendra says.

Surendra started his career with recombinant DNA technology and worked with Dr Gita Sharma, who had created the first r-DNA vaccine for Hepatitis-B in India.

My journey in genomics started under her support and guidance. It was the time when human genome sequencing and next-generation sequencing were starting to gain importance. We were in discussions to bring D2C technology to India, but the Indian healthcare market was not ready for direct-to-consumer genetic testing," Surendra says.

This is a huge problem that all my networks were aware of. We all know that the future of the global pharmaceutical industry lies in developing precision medicines tailored for individuals based on their genes, and clinical risk for developing a disease. Indian genetic data is highly diverse and a number of breakthroughs can happen. At Bione, we are doing our part to be part of this bigger picture of making India disease-free, Surendra says.

The different types of kits depend on the number of tests covered, and include Longevity kit, Longevity Plus Kit, and MyMicrobiome kit. The Longevity Plus kit covers over 415 parameters, including health, personalised medicine, fitness, and wellness.

The team claims that it also covers a parameter that determines specific gene variants that may contribute to enhance resistance to viruses like coronavirus, HIV, Hepatitis C, and many others.

The MyMicrobiome kit identifies and quantifies the microbiome in the gut, based on which a personalised diet is recommended.

Surendra says scientific research has shown that the gut microbiome plays an important role in the function and maintenance of our immune system. In ideal conditions, this microbiome-immune system alliance allows the initiation of protective responses against germs.

The platform also offers sample collection, with samples collected from an individuals homes. A pick-up is arranged as per your convenience by Bione. The DNA sequencing is done in a well-equipped lab by expert scientists, after which a detailed report is prepared.

Bione gXplore is a user-friendly, informative, and interactive app-based platform. On it, you can go through your report and easily understand the results of DNA analysis.

Slots with genetic or food and nutrition counsellors are provided as a free-of-cost service. The expert team of counsellors guides you to proactively plan your and your familys health and lifestyle choices.

The Bione team consists of experts from global institutions and scientists domains of genomics, genetics, bio-IT, genome informatics, quality assurance, sales, marketing, genetic/nutrition/fitness counselling. The startup has a total team size of 39 people.

The startup also runs a lab with scientists, bioinformaticians, and genetic counsellors. The team is applying for ISO 9001:2015, followed by CAP and CLIA accreditation to follow global standards.

Bione is projecting to test 20,000 to 30,000 samples in the first year of operations. Tests are priced between Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000, with the option of paying in EMIs. Customers can choose the package based on their needs.

The startup has raised angel funding from a clutch of undisclosed investors. Gourish Singla, the Founder of blockchain startup Project Shivom has invested in Bione.

Currently, startups like The Gene Box and Hyderabad-based MapMyGenome work on providing preventive solutions based on an individuals genetic makeup.

He says the startup's high tech lab is using advanced technologies, including whole genome sequencing, while the competition is still working with array technology with limited markers.

(Edited by Kanishk Singh)

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How healthtech startup Bione aims to use genetic testing in the fight against coronavirus - YourStory

Neuroscience

MINERVA NEUROSCIENCES TO HOST KEY OPINION LEADER MEETING ON ROLUPERIDONE: A POTENTIALLY NOVEL MECHANISM TO TREAT THE NEGATIVE SYMPTOMS OF…

Call at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, March 31, 2020

WALTHAM, Mass., March 24, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Minerva Neurosciences, Inc. (NERV), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of therapies addressing high unmet medical needs in the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) disorders, today announced that it will host a Key Opinion Leader (KOL) call on roluperidone and the treatment of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia on Tuesday, March 31, 2020.

Dr. Remy Luthringer, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Minerva, will join William T. Carpenter, MD, University of Maryland, Ofer Agid, MD, University of Toronto, John Kane, MD, Hofstra University/ Northwell Health System, and Stephen Marder, MD, UCLA, to discuss the treatment of negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

In the second quarter of 2020, Minerva expects to announce top line results from a Phase 3 study with roluperidone in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia with negative symptoms. Roluperidone is the only molecule in advanced clinical development that to date has shown a specific effect on negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

Tuesday, March 31, 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time

Dr. Carpenter is a Professor of the University of Maryland School of Medicine and past Director of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. He is Past-President of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and chairs the scientific program committee of the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. He also chaired the DSM-V Psychosis Work Group.

Dr. Agid is Clinician Scientist and Psychiatrist in the Schizophrenia Program and Medical Head, Ambulatory Services and the Lead Psychiatrist, Partial Hospital Program at the Schizophrenia Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Kane is Senior Vice President for Behavioral Health Services of the Northwell Health System. He is Chairman of Psychiatry and Professor of Psychiatry and Molecular Medicine at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. He has chaired review and advisory committees at the NIMH and the Food and Drug Administration and has served as President of the Schizophrenia International Research Society and the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology.

Dr. Marder is currently the Director of the Veterans Integrated Service Network 22 Mental Illness Research, Education Clinical Center for the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Director of the Section on Psychosis at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute. He is a Professor and the Vice Chair for Education at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience at UCLA.

About Minerva Neurosciences

Minervas proprietary compounds include: roluperidone (MIN-101), in clinical development for schizophrenia; seltorexant (MIN-202 or JNJ-42847922), in clinical development for insomnia and MDD; and MIN-301, in pre-clinical development for Parkinsons disease. Minervas common stock is listed on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol NERV. For more information, please visit http://www.minervaneurosciences.com.

Forward-Looking Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements which are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts, reflect managements expectations as of the date of this press release, and involve certain risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include statements herein with respect to the timing and scope of future clinical trials and results of clinical trials with roluperidone (MIN-101); the clinical and therapeutic potential of this compound; the timing and outcomes of future interactions with U.S. and foreign regulatory bodies; our ability to successfully develop and commercialize our therapeutic products; the sufficiency of our current cash position to fund our operations; and managements ability to successfully achieve its goals. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and may differ materially from actual results due to a variety of factors including, without limitation, whether roluperidone will advance further in the clinical trials process and whether and when, if at all, it will receive final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies and for which indications; whether any of our therapeutic products will be successfully marketed if approved; whether any of our therapeutic product discovery and development efforts will be successful; managements ability to successfully achieve its goals; our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations on terms acceptable to us; and general economic conditions. These and other potential risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from the results predicted are more fully detailed under the caption Risk Factors in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year endedDecember 31, 2019, filed with theSecurities and Exchange Commission on March 9, 2020. Copies of reports filed with theSECare posted on our website at http://www.minervaneurosciences.com. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

Story continues

Contact:William B. BoniVP, Investor Relations/Corp. CommunicationsMinerva Neurosciences, Inc.(617) 600-7376

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MINERVA NEUROSCIENCES TO HOST KEY OPINION LEADER MEETING ON ROLUPERIDONE: A POTENTIALLY NOVEL MECHANISM TO TREAT THE NEGATIVE SYMPTOMS OF...

Neuroscience

US Intraoperative Neuromonitoring Market Analysis 2020-2024, Featuring Cadwell Industries, Medtronic Plc and NuVasive Inc. – ResearchAndMarkets.com -…

The "Intraoperative Neuromonitoring Market in the US 2020-2024" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The intraoperative neuromonitoring market (IONM) in the US is poised to grow by USD 955.33 mn during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of 10% during the forecast period. This report provides a holistic analysis, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis covering around 25 vendors.

The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current US market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. The market is driven by increasing number of surgeries that require IONM. In addition, rising adoption of remote IONM is anticipated to boost the growth of the intraoperative neuromonitoring market in the US.

Market Segmentation

Type:

Application:

Methodology:

End-user:

Key trends for intraoperative neuromonitoring market growth

This study identifies rising adoption of remote IONM as the prime reason driving growth in the intraoperative neuromonitoring market in the US during the next few years.

Prominent vendors in the US intraoperative neuromonitoring market

A detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the intraoperative neuromonitoring market in us 2020-2024, including some of the vendors such as Accurate Neuromonitoring LLC, Cadwell Industries Inc., Computational Diagnostics Inc., IntraNerve Neuroscience Holdings LC, Medtronic Plc, Natus Medical Inc., NeuroMonitoring Technologies Inc., Nihon Kohden Corp., NuVasive Inc. and SpecialtyCare Inc. .

Key Topics Covered:

1 Executive Summary

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market Ecosystem

2.2 Market Characteristics

2.3 Value Chain Analysis

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market Definition

3.2 Market Segmentation Analysis

3.3 Market Size 2019

3.4 Market Outlook: Forecast 2019-2024

4 Five Forces Analysis

5 Market Segmentation

6 Customer Landscape

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic Segmentation

7.2 Geographic Comparison

7.3 Europe - Market Size and Forecast 2019-2024

7.4 North America - Market Size and Forecast 2019-2024

7.5 APAC - Market Size and Forecast 2019-2024

7.6 South America - Market Size and Forecast 2019-2024

7.7 MEA - Market Size and Forecast 2019-2024

7.8 Key Leading Countries

7.9 Market Opportunity

8 Drivers, Challenges and Trends

8.1 Market Drivers

8.2 Market Challenges

8.3 Market Trends

9 Vendor landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Landscape Disruption

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors Covered

10.2 Market Positioning of Vendors

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Currency conversion rates for US$

11.3 Research methodology

11.4 Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

11.6 List of Exhibits

Companies Mentioned

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/xsf05j

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200324005412/en/

Contacts

ResearchAndMarkets.comLaura Wood, Senior Press Managerpress@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

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US Intraoperative Neuromonitoring Market Analysis 2020-2024, Featuring Cadwell Industries, Medtronic Plc and NuVasive Inc. - ResearchAndMarkets.com -...

Neuroscience

Yale Offers A Free Online Course In Happiness – wmmr.com

With everyone quarantined due to the COVID-19 virus, a free online Happiness class could not come at a better time than right now.

According toCNN, Yale Universitys mega-popular happiness course is available for free online through Coursera.

Course creator Laurie Santos, a Yale psychology professor, told CNN, Were in a particularly challenging time not just for this health crisis, this physical health crisis, but also a potential mental health crisis as well.

She explained, Our minds lie to us all the time. We miswant things. We think we need to change our life circumstances to become happier. What plays a much bigger role are our simple practices, simple acts like making a social connection, or taking time for gratitude, or taking time to be in the present moment. Many people mistakenly believe happiness is just around the corner if we land a better job, find a more attractive mate, or buy a bigger house. But the neuroscience literature doesnt back that up.

Santos added, Happiness and contentedness stem from repeatedly doing simple tasks, rather than herculean ones. I take the science of happiness as giving us a lot of good news.

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Yale Offers A Free Online Course In Happiness - wmmr.com

Neuroscience

Yale’s massively popular ‘happiness’ course is available free online – WXII The Triad

Above video: Here are unique ways to maintain social distancing during COVID-19 outbreakAs people are spending more time at home and working to stay sane during the coronavirus pandemic, they might be able to find solace in Yale University's mega-popular "happiness" course, which is available for free online through Coursera."We're in a particularly challenging time, not just for this health crisis, this physical health crisis, but also a potential mental health crisis, as well," course creator Laurie Santos, a Yale psychology professor, told CNN's Christiane Amanpour this week.The course went online for free about two years ago under the name "The Science of Well Being," according to the Yale Daily News. Anyone can audit the course for free, and $49 lets you complete assignments, submit them for a grade and earn a certificate of completion.Although in-person social connections matter, Santos says the good news from science is that much of happiness stems from cultivating healthy practices and routines.And the dramatic reorientation of your life might actually give you an opportunity in the coming weeks to rethink your daily rituals and therefore rewire your brain toward a happier life.The course was a campus phenomenonSantos hatched the idea for the course because she's the head of Yale's Silliman College and lives with students "in the trenches." (Think of it like Professor Minerva McGonagall heading Gryffindor House in the Harry Potter universe).Eating daily with students, she said she was "shocked at the kind of mental health issues" she was seeing, and noted that it's "a national trend that's getting worse."So she created a course called "Psychology and the Good Life," which starts by offering students insights from psychology and neuroscience about what drives happiness. In its second half, the course challenges students in behavior change exercises to help rewire the brain.Almost 1,200 students enrolled in the class, or about one in four students on campus, and it became the most popular class in Yale's more than 300-year history.Happiness comes from the simple things"Our minds lie to us all the time. We mis-want things. We think we need to change our life circumstances to become happier," Santos says.On the other hand, she finds that "what plays a much bigger role are our simple practices, simple acts like making a social connection, or taking time for gratitude, or taking time to be in the present moment."Many people mistakenly believe happiness is just around the corner if we land a better job, find a more attractive partner or buy a bigger house. But the neuroscience literature doesn't back that up, she says.Happiness and contentedness stem from repeatedly doing simple tasks, rather than herculean ones. "I take the science of happiness as giving us a lot of good news," Santos said.You can audit the course for freeCatie Henderson, a 29-year-old living in Atlanta, Georgia, took the course online last year. She told CNN she had studied philosophy in college and as she has been progressing in her career, she's been looking for more ways to continue her "learning and development."She was attracted to the happiness course and took the plunge after seeing "raving reviews from other students."Her main takeaway was in deconstructing misconceptions many have around happiness, such as mistakenly seeking fulfillment through accomplishments."Getting your dream job or dream spouse won't create happiness. You have to build habits," Henderson said. "And connecting with others is important, but getting right with yourself is equally important."She said she was in fact a little happier after taking the course, but more importantly had generally come to feel more "enlightened and like happiness was in our control."As the world feels like it's spinning out of control, learning what we can control could be vital to finding the silver lining during the age of coronavirus.

Above video: Here are unique ways to maintain social distancing during COVID-19 outbreak

As people are spending more time at home and working to stay sane during the coronavirus pandemic, they might be able to find solace in Yale University's mega-popular "happiness" course, which is available for free online through Coursera.

"We're in a particularly challenging time, not just for this health crisis, this physical health crisis, but also a potential mental health crisis, as well," course creator Laurie Santos, a Yale psychology professor, told CNN's Christiane Amanpour this week.

The course went online for free about two years ago under the name "The Science of Well Being," according to the Yale Daily News. Anyone can audit the course for free, and $49 lets you complete assignments, submit them for a grade and earn a certificate of completion.

Although in-person social connections matter, Santos says the good news from science is that much of happiness stems from cultivating healthy practices and routines.

And the dramatic reorientation of your life might actually give you an opportunity in the coming weeks to rethink your daily rituals and therefore rewire your brain toward a happier life.

Santos hatched the idea for the course because she's the head of Yale's Silliman College and lives with students "in the trenches." (Think of it like Professor Minerva McGonagall heading Gryffindor House in the Harry Potter universe).

Eating daily with students, she said she was "shocked at the kind of mental health issues" she was seeing, and noted that it's "a national trend that's getting worse."

So she created a course called "Psychology and the Good Life," which starts by offering students insights from psychology and neuroscience about what drives happiness. In its second half, the course challenges students in behavior change exercises to help rewire the brain.

Almost 1,200 students enrolled in the class, or about one in four students on campus, and it became the most popular class in Yale's more than 300-year history.

"Our minds lie to us all the time. We mis-want things. We think we need to change our life circumstances to become happier," Santos says.

On the other hand, she finds that "what plays a much bigger role are our simple practices, simple acts like making a social connection, or taking time for gratitude, or taking time to be in the present moment."

Many people mistakenly believe happiness is just around the corner if we land a better job, find a more attractive partner or buy a bigger house. But the neuroscience literature doesn't back that up, she says.

Happiness and contentedness stem from repeatedly doing simple tasks, rather than herculean ones. "I take the science of happiness as giving us a lot of good news," Santos said.

Catie Henderson, a 29-year-old living in Atlanta, Georgia, took the course online last year. She told CNN she had studied philosophy in college and as she has been progressing in her career, she's been looking for more ways to continue her "learning and development."

She was attracted to the happiness course and took the plunge after seeing "raving reviews from other students."

Her main takeaway was in deconstructing misconceptions many have around happiness, such as mistakenly seeking fulfillment through accomplishments.

"Getting your dream job or dream spouse won't create happiness. You have to build habits," Henderson said. "And connecting with others is important, but getting right with yourself is equally important."

She said she was in fact a little happier after taking the course, but more importantly had generally come to feel more "enlightened and like happiness was in our control."

As the world feels like it's spinning out of control, learning what we can control could be vital to finding the silver lining during the age of coronavirus.

Follow this link:
Yale's massively popular 'happiness' course is available free online - WXII The Triad

Embryology

Israel halts all new IVF treatments over coronavirus fears – The Times of Israel

Israels Health Ministry last week suspended all new in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments, as well as some already in process, in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, throwing thousands of hopeful couples into uncertainty, as their dreams of having a child were put on hold indefinitely.

It was not an easy decision, the chairman of the Israel Fertility Association, Dr. Adrian Shulman, told The Times of Israel on Sunday.

In vitro fertilization literally, in glass fertilization typically involves a round of hormone treatments to stimulate a womans ovaries follicles, in order to produce several mature eggs; a procedure to retrieve those eggs; incubating the eggs with sperm in order to fertilize them (this is the in glass part); selecting the embryo, or embryos, with the best chance of a successful pregnancy; and implanting it or them in a womans uterus, where the embryo will hopefully implant, and develop into a fetus.

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IVF is a difficult process technically and emotionally that requires close, regular monitoring and, even when done properly, statistically fails more often than it succeeds. Yet in Israel, which has the highest rate of IVF in the world, roughly five percent of all births come from the procedure, according to Health Ministry data from 2017.

In calling off IVF treatments, Israel was following the path of similar decisions made by the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in recent weeks, Shulman said.

Shayna Kovler, whose IVF cycle was called off just as it was about to begin, said she was driven to begin a cycle of treatment precisely because of the ongoing coronavirus crisis, in which so much is uncertain.

It was an act of hope, of something to look forward to, Kovler told The Times of Israel.

A Health Ministry spokesperson said that it had ordered all new cycles of IVF called off, along with any treatment where the size of the ovary follicle was smaller than 15 millimeters. (A woman whose ovary follicle has reached 15 millimeters would be toward the end of the hormone treatment, likely two to three days away from egg retrieval.)

In addition, the implantation of embryos was halted.

The move came amid a series of directives from the Health Ministry to curb non-essential medical procedures and a general effort in Israel to prevent the spread of the virus, which has thus far killed one person and infected roughly another 1,000.

Workers inside a building at Tel HaShomer Hospital which was converted to receive Israelis who were under quarantine on the cruise ship Diamond Princess in Japan due to the spread of the coronavirus, February 20, 2020. (Avshalom Sassoni/ Flash90)

According to Shulman, the ministry wanted to halt all procedures across the board, but he and his colleagues fought to let those already in the midst of treatment to continue.

We said it wouldnt be right to stop in the middle, he said.

However, Kovler said she was aware of a woman undergoing IVF who had been asked to stop her treatment much further along in the process, at the point where an embryo would be implanted in her uterus.

She lauded her doctor, who had told her in advance that her treatment might be called off, but said that other women she knew were surprised by the decision.

Other were told on Sunday that everythings fine and then on Wednesday that everything was not, Kovler said.

Shulman said he and his colleagues at the IFA, along with the Health Ministry, determined that there was a twofold risk in allowing IVF treatments to continue: for patients and staff, there was an increased risk of contracting COVID-19, as the close monitoring often results in cramped waiting rooms where the disease could easily spread; and for the potential babies, there is an unknown danger from the coronavirus, as it is not yet clear what effect,if any, the virus has on fetuses.

Though some steps could be taken to mitigate the risk to the doctors, nurses, and the women undergoing IVF, the careful timing needed to track the womens ovulation limits the clinics ability to fully prevent the gathering of sometimes 40 to 50 women in the waiting rooms, Shulman said.

It would be difficult to spread this out throughout the day, he said.

Shulman said that the issue of the effects of the coronavirus on fetuses should be cleared up by researchers within the coming weeks and months, aided he anticipated by a quarantine-assisted baby boom.

I expect there will be more pregnancies, a baby boom, with everyone at home, he said.

Shulman said it was decided that the risks were too great and that the procedures must be called off, though he acknowledged that the decision was based on uncertainties and concerns, rather than hard empirical data.

In a few months, we might say we made a mistake, that it was all nonsense, he said.

It is not immediately clear when IVF treatments will again be allowed. Shulman said he expected them to resume in late April or early May, but much will depend on the viruss behavior.

Shayna Kovler. (Courtesy)

Kovler said that shed heard the estimates that treatments may start up sometime late next month, after the Passover festival. But she was concerned by the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus.

We dont know how long this will last. Am I supposed to wait 18 months until theres a vaccine? she said.

Kovler, 31, who has already been through 10 rounds of fertility treatments, including one of IVF, and underwent open-heart surgery in order to fix an underlying problem that would have prevented her from safely getting pregnant, argued that she and the other women looking to go through IVF treatments were already aware of the multiple risks involved in the process, both to themselves and to their babies, and were willing to go through with it anyway.

The desire to have a child is a very deep desire, she said.

Kovler, 31, also noted that for most women, IVF is a last-resort measure, when other fertility treatments have failed and the window of time when they can safely have children is closing.

[My husband and I] would like to have two kids, she said. But I do feel my biological clock ticking.

Read more from the original source:
Israel halts all new IVF treatments over coronavirus fears - The Times of Israel

Embryology

How Bourn Hall Clinic, the worlds first IVF clinic, was launched 40 years ago – Cambridge Independent

As a new biography of IVF pioneer Robert Edwards is launched, we talk to Bourn Hall Clinics first business director, Alan Dexter, who describes how financial backing was secured, to open the worlds first IVF clinic.

Being transparent with patients over their chances of success with a groundbreaking treatment for female infertility was a priority, recalls Alan Dexter.

He stepped in at the eleventh hour to help IVF pioneers Robert Edwards, Patrick Steptoe and Jean Purdy raise finance to open Bourn Hall as the worlds first IVF clinic in 1980.

When the clinic opened, the initial stages were not easy. People were phoning up and asking about our success rate, Alan remembers. I had to say to have a success rate first we have to treat people! But then the first successful pregnancy was achieved and it started to build.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Bourn Hall first opening its doors to patients. IVF was initially developed as a treatment for women like Louises mother, Lesley, with blocked fallopian tubes and there was a lot of stigma and secrecy around infertility.

Alan recalls: In the early days, people didnt want others to know theyd had difficulty conceiving, so they came with cash. For if you wrote the name Bourn Hall on the cheque, the bank staff would know you were seeking a test-tube baby.

Alan Dexter was Bourn Halls first business director; came in at a crucial time before Bourn Hall opened to provide the commercial knowledge.

His first meeting with the team was in Professor Edwards lab at the University of Cambridge just after their internationally acclaimed success in Oldham and the births of the first test-tube babies - Louise Brown, in 1978, and Alastair Macdonald, in 1979.

I met Bob and Jeanie (Jean Purdy) initially, and then Patrick subsequently. I was just stunned, I couldnt believe that nobody would advance their cause.

They were literally caught between two tools because the NHS was saying this was still science and there were more phases of research needed, yet the Medical Research Council was saying it wasnt, theyd proved it with two live births. They asked if I could help them in any way I agreed, he says.

At that stage the team had found a suitable location a Jacobean manor in its own grounds with temporary accommodation for patients and staff and the funds had been provided by Associated Newspapers.

However, without the backing of the establishment for what was at the time a futuristic medical treatment, the proprietors of the newspaper business had a change of heart.

Alan continues: They were concerned that the treatment might be attacked by other parts of the media and the response was no sorry, but we think that this is at the edge of science and are not prepared to go any further. They were about to sell the hall.

I went with Bob and Patrick to meet the head of Associated Newspapers. We asked him to stop the auction process to see if I could raise the money to buy the hall.

I looked at the feasibility study that they had produced, revised the business plan and went on a tour of the city.I wasnt getting far when I saw an advert in the Financial Times for ICFC, which became 3i, offering funding for high technology projects and I thought, Right, Im going to test that! and they were as good as their word.

Bourn Hall was one of the first companies to become part of the Cambridge phenomenon, which saw a rapid increase in high-tech and life science companies setting up in the region.

The pricing for treatment was complicated, as initially IVF required women to stay in bed for about 10 days.

An early patient, Lesley Smith, mother of Norfolks first IVF twins, remembers paying about 1,800 for treatment, the equivalent of 8,967 today.

Alan continues: The principle, I agreed with Bob and Patrick, was a package with a standard charge including accommodation, regardless of how long patients were in there.

It would have been unconscionable to say Actually, because ovulation was delayed its going to cost you more. If treatment was cancelled for any reason and could not progress any further, then there was a refund based on a daily rate. Certainly, in no way was it going to be exploitative.

Muriel Harris was a matron at Oldham District Hospital 40 years ago, and had been working unpaid in her own time to ensure the success of IVF.

She came down to set up the nursing team. Muriel was so passionate about the new clinic that she volunteered to live at Bourn Hall to provide 24/7 care for the patients.

Initially, portable cabins were used for the embryology lab and medical unit.

Eventually we were in the fortunate position of being able to create the permanent buildings, remove the cabins and build in that space. That took quite a long time, recalls Alan.

Bob was very aware of the ethical concerns around his work so an ethics committee was set up very quickly with senior gynaecologists and scientists not connected with Bourn Hall, giving opinions and guidance.

In fact Dame Mary Warnock came to Bourn Hall when the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority had been set up.

Bob and Jeanie had laid out all the papers Bob had produced about ethical issues surrounding IVF over the years. She was very impressed, and she commented that Professor Edwards was years ahead in confronting the issues.

After helping to set up Bourn Hall, Alan continued to enjoy a long career in private healthcare before rejoining Bourn Hall in 2014 as chairman of the board -a post he held until his retirement last year.

Read more

Cambridgeshire fathers day joy thanks to IVF

Bourn Hall offers IVF patients genetic test to screen embryos for chromosome irregularites

Pioneering lab at Bourn Hall Clinic uncovers secrets about the biology of human eggs

See the article here:
How Bourn Hall Clinic, the worlds first IVF clinic, was launched 40 years ago - Cambridge Independent