Techdirt. Stories filed under "treatment" Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us Techdirt. Stories filed under "treatment"http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Wed, 6 Mar 2013 17:00:00 PST DailyDirt: The Progress Of Treating HIV Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100614/1405019806/dailydirt-progress-treating-hiv.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100614/1405019806/dailydirt-progress-treating-hiv.shtml
  • A baby born in Mississippi with HIV has been "functionally cured" after receiving an aggressive regimen of anti-retroviral drugs.. a discovery that occurred when the treatment was inadvertently stopped after 18 months. There have been some scattered reports of other babies who have been cleared of HIV, but this is the first case that will be rigorously studied with highly sensitive genetic tests. [url]
  • A generation of HIV-positive youngsters are beginning to live into adulthood, but the long-term effects of HIV (and the medicines to treat it) are completely unexplored territory. Studying these kids for many decades could determine optimal medical regimes and shape how society handles patients who need indefinite treatment. [url]
  • The "Berlin Patient" (aka Timothy Ray Brown) is the first known person to defeat HIV. After a bone marrow transplant to treat (unrelated) leukemia, Brown recovered, and doctors found that his HIV levels were at undetectable amounts.. and remained so without anti-viral drugs. [url]
  • Some people have a genetic mutation that prevents HIV from infecting their white blood cells, making them immune to the virus. The specific mutation was identified in 1996, but the discovery hasn't (yet) lead to a universal vaccine. [url]
    • If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

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    ]]>     urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100614/1405019806     Wed, 28 Nov 2012 05:24:34 PST Bradley Manning Hearing Shows Military Bosses More Concerned About Media Attention Than Manning's Conditions Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121127/17045721161/bradley-manning-hearing-shows-military-bosses-more-concerned-about-media-attention-than-mannings-conditions.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121127/17045721161/bradley-manning-hearing-shows-military-bosses-more-concerned-about-media-attention-than-mannings-conditions.shtml the latest Bradley Manning hearings, focused mainly on the conditions associated with the treatment of Manning after his arrest, and whether or not it amounted to "unlawful pretrial punishment" or involved reasonable precautions by the military. Specifically, as we had discussed, Manning was held in conditions that amounted to torture under key definitions of torture -- held in "intensive solitary confinement" in total isolation, not allowed to have a pillow or sheets for his bed. Over 250 legal experts condemned his treatment and the State Department's spokesperson even lost his job for saying publicly that Manning was being mistreated, and that it wasn't productive.

    The legal issue is that if this treatment was seen as punitive then that's a problem. People can be held pre-trial, but they're not supposed to be "punished" as part of the process. The Defense Department has been trying to claim that the treatment of Manning had to do with fears that he would harm himself, and the latest hearings were to figure out which version of the story is really accurate. The details look pretty damning for the Defense Department. For example, it appears that officials were more concerned about the media, not about Manning's condition:
    Going through emails, it came out that Lt. Gen. George Flynn, superior officer, was concerned with media and not Bradley Manning’s conditions. For example, when David House and Firedoglake editor-in-chief Jane Hamsher were harassed at the gate of Quantico, Flynn was in on this incident. He was up on what the public affairs planned to say to any questions from media on the incident. But, he was not up on weekly updates coming from officers in the brig.
    Later, the same Lt. Gen. Flynn apparently got upset that the NYTimes had information on Manning's mistreatment and he hadn't been forewarned about the media situation:
    Lt. Gen. Flynn was upset that he read about Manning standing outside his cell naked in the New York Times. “It would be good to have leadership have heads up on these things before they’re read in the early bird!” Lt. Col Flynn wrote in an email. The “early bird” is a military synopsis of various news stories/press releases.
    And then there's the fact that the "psychologist" relied on to assess Manning's mental state... wasn't actually a psychologist but a dentist. Huh?!?
    Also, a “forensic psychiatrist” that the Brig was consulting was a Dentist. She didn’t really have qualifications as a psychologist. She was a doctor on staff there and they went to her for assessments on Manning’s condition.
    On top of that, evidence was presented of guards joking about taking away Manning's underwear in response to comments Manning had made. It certainly raises significant questions about why they were treating Manning this way and if it actually had anything to do with his own safety... or if they just liked taunting him.
    One Quantico Brig officer (female) sent email where he joked about the removal of Manning’s underwear after comments he made on March 2, 2011. Here’s a version the press pool currently believes we heard read in court:

    “As Dr. Seuss would say I can wear them in a box, I can wear them with a fox, I can wear them with socks. I can wear them in the day so I say. I can’t wear them at night. My comments gave the staff a fright.”

    It is Green Eggs & Ham.

    Coombs asked Choike if he believed joking about the underwear was something that an officer should have done. Choike then said something to the effect that he realized this could be brought up by Manning with his attorney and it might become “another media issue.”
    Even if you think Manning violated the law, it seems pretty damning to see him treated this way pre-trial.

    Separately, prior to the discussion about Manning's conditions, the government officially opposed Manning's attempt to plead guilty to certain lesser charges (as discussed earlier) in the hopes of speeding up the trial and getting potential leniency on some of the more serious charges. This issue more or less got tabled for procedural reasons, as Manning is still arguing that the government failed to provide a speedy trial and the court notes that if it excepts the plea, that would also waive the speedy trial issue. So, the court will handle the issue of whether or not the government failed to offer a speedy trial before taking on the plea issue.

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    ]]>     but-of-course http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20121127/17045721161     Mon, 14 Mar 2011 08:52:01 PDT Administration Forces PJ Crowley Out Of The State Dept. After He Admits That Manning Is Being Mistreated Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110313/16475213475/administration-forces-pj-crowley-out-state-dept-after-he-admits-that-manning-is-being-mistreated.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110313/16475213475/administration-forces-pj-crowley-out-state-dept-after-he-admits-that-manning-is-being-mistreated.shtml Team of Rivals, and how President Lincoln brought together may dissenting voices into his cabinet. There were, clearly, political reasons for doing so, but part of the benefit was that it allowed voices of dissent to be heard. However, in practice, it's appearing that President Obama has no real interest in allowing the same thing to occur in his administration, and that's really unfortunate.

    On Friday, we wrote about the quite surprising news that State Department spokesperson PJ Crowley had admitted that he felt Bradley Manning was being mistreated in prison. Crowley specifically called it "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid," despite also saying he believed that Manning clearly belonged in jail, and that the leaks were harmful. When President Obama was asked about this later, he gave a very weak answer about how he had asked the Defense Department, and they assured him everything was fine:
    "I have actually asked the Pentagon whether or not the procedures that have been taken in terms of his confinement are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards. They assured me that they are."
    Of course, that might just raise serious questions about what the DoD thinks is "appropriate" and what those basic standards are.

    But, even more troubling is the report that Crowley has resigned from the State Department, with lots of folks saying this was due to direct pressure from the administration for him to fall on his sword.

    Whether or not you believe that Manning's treatment is reasonable, this should trouble you. For a President who claimed he wanted to hear dissent from the people around him, to then force someone out for offering just that kind of dissent suggests someone focusing on remaining in their own bubble, rather than actually listening to concerns of people.

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    ]]>     what-happened-to-dissent? http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20110313/16475213475     Fri, 11 Mar 2011 17:24:00 PST State Department Spokesperson Says Bradley Manning Is Being Mistreated Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110311/12544813465/state-department-spokesperson-says-bradley-manning-is-being-mistreated.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110311/12544813465/state-department-spokesperson-says-bradley-manning-is-being-mistreated.shtml horrifying. It goes beyond what's reasonable, and in recent weeks has only gotten worse, as he's now being stripped naked every night.

    However Glenn Greenwald points us to the very surprising news that State Department spokesperson P.J. Crowley has now come out to say that he believes Manning is being "mistreated" in prison. This is a huge surprise. After all, the State Department has taken the brunt of the leaks that Manning is accused of facilitating. And Crowley has been the State Department's go to guy for massively exaggerating the leak's impact on world affairs. For him to come out and say that Manning is being mistreated is a huge surprise. I'm curious if the folks in our comments who were vocally defending the treatment of Manning as perfectly normal are still willing to defend it, when even one of their biggest allies is backing down.

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    ]]>     they-just-noticed? http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20110311/12544813465     Tue, 11 Jan 2011 10:57:52 PST Press Realizing That Treatment Of Bradley Manning Is Indefensible Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110110/16493012599/press-realizing-that-treatment-bradley-manning-is-indefensible.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110110/16493012599/press-realizing-that-treatment-bradley-manning-is-indefensible.shtml treatment of Bradley Manning, which is so severe that many people consider it to qualify as torture. Even the UN is now investigating whether the treatment qualifies as torture. Of course, even if you don't consider it torture, it's pretty clear that the treatment is designed to punish Manning, despite no trial and no conviction (or, perhaps, it's being used to pressure him to implicate Julian Assange in a potential conspiracy that might not actually exist).

    However, it's nice to see at least some in the press realize this is a serious problem. The LA Times has an editorial suggesting that this treatment of Manning is clearly indefensible, and should be stopped. It does not come out and say he's being tortured and says that it's fine to punish Manning (within the limits of the law) if he's convicted, but that to do so prior to any conviction is immensely problematic:
    Some see Manning as a whistle-blower who deserves leniency for exposing official duplicity; others believe that, like anyone who engages in civil disobedience, Manning, if guilty, should accept punishment for his actions. But regardless of one's view of his alleged conduct, the conditions under which he is being held are indefensible.
    There's no reason that Manning can't be held under more reasonable conditions. It's sad that our government appears to not be willing to allow that to happen.

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    ]]>     surprising http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20110110/16493012599