New EU Law oblige Google, TikTok & Co to be transparent about advertising on their Platforms

Publicerad denFörfattareRss .

Google, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram: All major Internet platforms with more than 45 million monthly users are now subject to stricter rules in Europe. For example, they must label advertising more clearly and disclose who is paying for it. Advertising aimed at children is thus banned altogether. Sensitive data such as origin, political opinion or […]

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New EU Law oblige Google, TikTok & Co to be transparent about advertising on their Platforms

Publicerad denFörfattareIngo Geiger

Google, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram: All major Internet platforms with more than 45 million monthly users are now subject to stricter rules in Europe. For example, they must label advertising more clearly and disclose who is paying for it. Advertising aimed at children is thus banned altogether. Sensitive data such as origin, political opinion or sexual orientation may also no longer be used for advertising purposes. This is intended to protect younger users in particular.
Last week, the EU Commission published a list. This list includes 19 of the world’s largest Internet providers. Among them are US Internet giants such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon. But also the Chinese video platform TikTok. They were all selected because they have more than 45 million users per month. According to the Commission, they thus bear a great responsibility to society. That’s why the EU is now tightening the rules. What does that mean exactly? 
New rules for social media: combating hate speech and fake news 
The problems are well known: Hate speech, fake news and disinformation. In addition, poor data protection and insufficient transparency regarding the functioning of platforms are repeatedly criticized by data activists such as the Austrian Max Schrems. In most cases, platforms are powerful, but users are not. That is about to change. The new rules oblige Facebook, Google and others to take stronger action. 
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To do this, they must check their own platforms for risks. Does an online service distribute illegal content or gender-specific violence? Are minors and their mental health sufficiently protected? Does the platform endanger freedom of expression and democracy? These are the questions that online platforms will have to answer in a report in the future.
The risk report is to be written and reviewed annually. The European Center for Algorithmic Transparency (ECAT) will be responsible for the review. 
The data must then be published by the online platforms so that users and researchers can access it. 
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Advertising must be more clearly labelled, and it must be clear who is paying for it
Until now, it has been almost impossible for users to understand why they are seeing a particular advertisement or content. In the future, social media must disclose how they work. That is, how the algorithm that selects the content works. What criteria does it use? For example, does the algorithm only select content that is highly polarizing and aimed at an emotional reaction from users? 
A “Basic Law” for Social Media and Online Platforms
The new regulations are part of the EU’s Digital Service Act (DSA). A kind of basic law for online services, social media platforms and the digital space. The law was passed back in 2020 and came into force on November 16, 2022. 
The DSA is intended to protect users, make digital services more transparent and make the Internet giants more accountable. In a nutshell: Everything that is prohibited “offline” should also be prohibited “online” by the DSA. This includes, for example, insults, incitement of the people or re-activation, i.e. the distribution of national socialist content or signs. 
Facebook, Google, Amazon & Co. now have until August 25 to implement the new rules. Läs mer…

South Africa begins own production of groundbreaking HIV-prevention drug to make it affordable within the continent

Publicerad denFörfattareRss .

South Africa will soon begin production of the groundbreaking HIV-prevention drug, long-acting cabotegravir (CAB-LA), finally making the life-saving treatment affordable within the African continent. The treatment, which must be injected every two months, almost entirely eliminates the risk of becoming infected by HIV through sex. This development is expected to help millions of people at […]

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South Africa begins own production of groundbreaking HIV-prevention drug to make it affordable within the continent

Publicerad denFörfattareHarry Markham

South Africa will soon begin production of the groundbreaking HIV-prevention drug, long-acting cabotegravir (CAB-LA), finally making the life-saving treatment affordable within the African continent. The treatment, which must be injected every two months, almost entirely eliminates the risk of becoming infected by HIV through sex. This development is expected to help millions of people at risk within Africa.  
Following a collaborative agreement between the developers of CAB-LA, ViiV Healthcare, and the United Nations-backed Medicine Patent Pool (MPP), an HIV-preventative will be produced in South Africa for the first time. This has great implications for Africa as a whole, with an affordable solution to a problem that has long been a source of pain for the continent.
A patent-free, highly effective HIV-prevention drug
A branded version does exist, and in the USA just one injection costs $3,500. But thanks to this new agreement which was announced in March 2023, a generic version of the drug can finally be produced. A generic drug is a pharmaceutical drug that contains the same chemical substance as a drug that was originally protected by chemical patents. This is important as it drastically cuts the cost involved for governments looking to obtain the treatment for their populations. While there are already free of cost HIV-prevention drugs available across much of Africa, they must be taken daily and are not as effective as the long-lasting cabotegravir injection, which must only be taken every two months. The drug almost entirely eliminates the risk of becoming infected by HIV through sex.
It is rare for medicine to be produced within Africa, despite certain drugs such as HIV-preventatives being in higher demand there than anywhere else. In fact, only 38 countries across the world have any drug manufacturers, and even less than that actually develop new drugs. The new availability of this highly effective drug is expected to help millions of Africans who are currently at risk of HIV infection.
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Cooperation on producing generic drugs saves lives
The company which will produce the drug, an Indian group called Cipla, received permission to do so back in March through an agreement between its developers and the United Nations-supported MPP. The MPP state that:
“Our mission is to increase access to, and facilitate the development of, life-saving medicines for LMICs. We do this through an innovative approach to voluntary licensing and patent pooling.”
To achieve this goal, they work hand in hand with civil society, international organisations, industry, patient groups and governments. Between 2012 and 2021, through partnerships with 18 patent holders and 56 generic manufacturers, they provided 26.91 billion doses of treatment, saving at least 18,000 lives.
The work of groups such as the MPP is essential to ensuring that low-income nations can give essential and life-saving care to their populations. Often, people in need are left to suffer and potentially die because they do not have access to specialist medicines. The developers of the medicines themselves are usually guilty of financial gatekeeping, driving for profit as opposed to producing medicine for the common good.
Securing HIV-prevention drug is a big victory, but the fight continues
The gatekeeping of essential and lifesaving drugs by pharmaceutical companies has long been a problem. This problem really came to attention during the COVID pandemic, when rich nations were able to buy up billions of doses of the vaccine – more than they needed – while low-income nations were left to suffer.
Allowing Cipla to produce the vital drug in South Africa is a big first step, but there is still a lot more that could be achieved through further cooperation with drug producers. Firstly, allowing more companies to produce the same drug will improve availability and help to negate future shortages, as long as the companies which receive access to the knowledge are ready to produce in the quantities required. In addition to this, increased competition means lower prices. The US based Food and Drug Administration showed in one report that products with six or more generic producers were on average 95% cheaper than when only a single branded option was available.
Regardless of the imperfect situation, the ability to produce a generic version of CAB-LA in South Africa will save countless lives and is a victory in the ongoing struggle to make lifesaving drugs available to all in need. Läs mer…

Swamps as a climate saver: Ireland stores tons of CO₂ through 33,000 hectares of new peatlands

Publicerad denFörfattareRss .

Ireland is reforesting its swamps and bogs in a bid to fight climate change. Although marshlands cover only three percent of the earth, they store 25 percent of the world’s CO2. So far, around 8100 hectares on the “green island” have been flooded with water. The “watering” is intended to create optimum conditions for new […]

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Swamps as a climate saver: Ireland stores tons of CO₂ through 33,000 hectares of new peatlands

Publicerad denFörfattareNoah Duker

Ireland is reforesting its swamps and bogs in a bid to fight climate change. Although marshlands cover only three percent of the earth, they store 25 percent of the world’s CO2. So far, around 8100 hectares on the “green island” have been flooded with water. The “watering” is intended to create optimum conditions for new peat land. Experts believe that the “renaturation” project will store enormous amounts of climate-damaging greenhouse gases.
Peatlands are considered to be the ecosystem with the greatest storage potential for CO₂. When a plant dies, the CO₂ stored in it is released into the water or into the marsh soil as it decays, rather than into the air. Bogs and marshlands are therefore true climate protectors!
Trees store CO₂ and release oxygen This process is called photosynthesis. When trees die and rot, they release the remaining CO₂ into the environment, especially into the air. However, if a tree falls into a swamp, the CO₂ is not released into the air but stored in the water and soil. If the swamp dries up, and thus also the CO₂-containing mixture, peat is formed. Over thousands of years, a well-known raw material is created from it: coal!
Ireland is reforesting swamps and peatlands to fight climate change
Until the industrial revolution, almost one fifth of Ireland was covered with peatlands. From the 1850s until today, people have destroyed large parts of Ireland’s nature – that is, besides marshlands, also countless forests. The partly state-owned company “Bord na Móna” wants to revive nature and make Ireland the green lung of Europe to fight climate change. For this reason, they are filling 33,000 hectares of alluvial land with water over the next few years. They also want to reintroduce native species of plants and animals that have been driven or wiped out over the years. Currently, just under a quarter, or 8125 hectares, has been “reforested.”
How Ireland’s marshlands were destroyed and rebuilt
The reason for the poor condition of Ireland’s peatlands is historical. The tradition of “peat cutting” has been preserved and carried on for generations. The peat, when dried, is a good fuel. For the economy, especially during the industrialization, the peat was in great demand because it could be found everywhere on the island and was therefore very cheap. Peat was also used to heat the houses in Ireland.
Another reason for the large-scale drainage of the Irish peatlands is agriculture. During the Industrial Revolution, Ireland developed not only railroads and cities, but also agriculture on a large scale. For the cultivation of food, large areas of marshland were destroyed.
Even at the beginning of industrialization, the destruction of the marshes was already underway: by the end of the 19th century, Ireland was more industrialized than the whole of Austro-Hungarian Empire or Spain, two countries that were significantly larger in terms of area and population. The partly state-owned Irish company “Bord na Móna” and others now wants to declare war on environmental destruction and make the “emerald isle” live up to its name again.
This work is licensed under the Creative Common License. In case of new republication, please cite NeueZeit.at/Noah Düker as the Source/Author and set a link to the article in English: https://scoop.me/ireland-climate-change-peatlands/
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Breakthrough: New gel shown to be effective for brain tumour treatment

Publicerad denFörfattareRss .

A new “miracle” gel shows great promise for brain tumour treatment during lab tests at Johns Hopkins University. The gel is used to treat one of the most aggressive forms of brain tumour, glioblastoma, leaving patients with a diagnosed life expectancy of 12 – 18 months. The new treatment is used post-surgery to fill the […]

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Breakthrough: New gel shown to be effective for brain tumour treatment

Publicerad denFörfattareNoah Duker

A new “miracle” gel shows great promise for brain tumour treatment during lab tests at Johns Hopkins University. The gel is used to treat one of the most aggressive forms of brain tumour, glioblastoma, leaving patients with a diagnosed life expectancy of 12 – 18 months. The new treatment is used post-surgery to fill the spaces left by the removed tumour, hindering it from regrowing!
Professor Cui, an expert on chemical and biomolecular engineering, and his team say that the gel could even be used to treat areas of the brain that surgery might not be able to reach. Other than that, tests on infected mice have shown that the gel removed 100 percent of the aggressive tumour, freeing them from certain death. Furthermore, the gel seemed to create an immune reaction that allowed surviving mice, who were reinfected with glioblastoma, to fend off the tumour on their own using only their immune system. It also showed signs of improving immune memory, leading to a generally strengthened immune system post treatment. 
Despite the breakthrough, the medical procedure is still risky since brain surgery is still required for the gel to work effectively, having to be applied directly to the brain. Using the gel without surgery first led to a survival rate of around 50 percent. 
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For those interested in the science behind the miracle: the gel uses a combination of nano-sized filaments, extracted from the approved drug paclitaxel which then transports the antibody called aCD47. The mixture then expands upon the crevice that the tumour left, leaving the aggressive cancer with no room to regrow, thereby killing it off. 
Brain Tumour Treatment: Glioblastoma – aggressive and everywhere
There are a few reasons why Glioblastoma is so dangerous. The tumour is fast-growing and infects surrounding tissue, which can make surgical removal even harder. Another reason is the brain’s own defence mechanism, known as the blood brain barrier or BBB for short. This barrier normally hinders harmful substances from entering the brain, but also does the same for cancer treating drugs, leading to treatments being less effective.
Glioblastoma’s location in the human brain also doesn’t help with its treatment as it is usually located in the cerebral hemispheres of the brain, which are responsible for critical functions such as movement, sensation, and cognition. This makes surgical intervention more risky, as injuring healthy brain tissue can lead to serious neurological problems.
Science deniers and conspiracy believers are trying to push an anti-science agenda
In the past century, medicine has come a long way. From the times of experimental treatments using drugs like heroin and cocaine to the first effective polio vaccine developed in 1955 by Dr. Jonas Salk, ending the terror of infantile paralysis.
The medical developments of the past few years, however, have been even more marvellous. Science managed to make breakthrough after breakthrough. From healing patients with HIV, a sickness that used to be untreatable and therefore a death sentence, to stopping a global pandemic within two years of the outbreak.
Modern science is leading humanity to longer and healthier lives. But the security and development that scientific research has brought to fruition has come under attack as of recent. Science deniers and conspiracy believers are trying to push an anti-science agenda, smearing scientific fact as wrong or “fake news”, attesting that scientists are either bought by a mysterious elite or some other delusion, just because science does not back their opinion on certain topics. In today’s age of information, having sources and research is key to being informed. Therefore, it is necessary to honour and protect proper scientific research from delusional attacks such as those we saw during the covid pandemic. Because without modern science, life as we know it would be a lot shorter, and a lot less enjoyable, as the case of Glioblastoma makes evermore clear. Läs mer…