title: Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome

text: In individuals with WPW, electrical activity that is initiated in the SA node travels through the accessory pathway, as well as through the AV node to activate the ventricles via both pathways. Since the accessory pathway does not have the impulse slowing properties of the AV node, the electrical impulse first activates the ventricles via the accessory pathway, and immediately afterwards via the AV node. This gives the short PR interval and slurred upstroke of the QRS complex known as the delta wave.


title: Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome

text: In case of type A pre-excitation (left atrioventricular connections), a positive R wave is seen in V1 ("positive delta") on the precordial leads of the electrocardiogram, while in type B pre-excitation (right atrioventricular connections), a predominantly negative delta wave is seen in lead V1 ("negative delta").


title: Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome

text: People with WPW may have more than one accessory pathwayin some cases, as many as eight abnormal pathways have been found. This has been seen in individuals with Ebstein's anomaly.


title: Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome

text: Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome is sometimes associated with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy, a form of mitochondrial disease.


title: Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome

text: WPW carries a small risk of sudden death, presumably due to rapidly conducted atrial fibrillation causing ventricular fibrillation. While the overall risk is approximately 2.4 per 1000 person years, the risk in an individual is dependent on the properties of the accessory pathway causing pre-excitation.


title: Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome

text: A higher risk accessory pathway may be suggested by a history of syncope, but risk stratification is best performed by assessing how frequently a pathway can conduct impulse to the ventricles, usually via programmed electrical stimulation (PES) in the cardiac electrophysiology laboratory. This is an invasive but generally low-risk procedure during which the atria are stimulated to try to induce tachycardia. If a tachycardia involving the accessory pathway can be triggered, the cardiologist can then assess how rapidly the accessory pathway is able to conduct. The faster it can conduct, the higher the likelihood the accessory pathway can conduct fast enough to trigger a lethal tachycardia.


title: Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome

text: High-risk features that may be present during PES include an effective refractory period of the accessory pathway less than 250 ms, multiple pathways, septal location of pathway, and inducibility of supraventricular tachycardia (AVRT, atrial fibrillation). Individuals with any of these high-risk features are generally considered at increased risk for SCD or symptomatic tachycardia, and should be treated accordingly (i.e.: catheter ablation).


title: Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome

text: It is unclear whether invasive risk stratification (with PES) is necessary in the asymptomatic individual. While some groups advocate PES for risk stratification in all individuals under 35 years old, others only offer it to individuals who have history suggestive of a tachydysrhythmia, since the incidence of sudden cardiac death is so low (less than 0.6% in some reports).


title: Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome

text: Other methods of risk stratification include observing the ventricular rate during spontaneous atrial fibrillation on a 12-lead ECG. RR intervals of less than 250 ms suggest a higher risk pathway. During exercise testing, abrupt loss of pre-excitation as heart rate increases also suggest a lower risk pathway. However, this approach is hampered by the normal improvement in AV node conduction during exercise which can also mask pre-excitation despite ongoing conduction down the accessory pathway.


title: Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome

text: According to the ACLS protocol, people with WPW who are experiencing rapid abnormal heart rhythms (tachydysrhythmias) may require synchronized electrical cardioversion if they are demonstrating severe signs or symptoms (for example, low blood pressure or lethargy with altered mental status). If they are relatively stable, medication may be used.


title: Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome

text: WPW pattern with hemodynamically stability and orthodromic AVRT leading to a regular narrow complex tachycardia may be managed similarly to other regular narrow complex supraventricular tachycardias: first with vagal maneuvers followed by a trial of adenosine (first-line therapy). The 2015 ACC/AHA/HRS guidelines recommend beta-blockers or calcium channel blockers as second-line agents, electric cardioversion is reserved for refractory arrhythmias. However, if there is any doubt about the diagnosis of orthodromic AVRT or if aberrant conduction leading to a wide complex QRS is observed, it may be prudent to manage as undifferentiated wide complex tachycardia.


title: Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome

text: People with atrial fibrillation and rapid ventricular response may be treated with amiodarone or procainamide to stabilize their heart rate. Procainamide and cardioversion are accepted treatments for conversion of tachycardia found with WPW. Amiodarone in atrial fibrillation with WPW, is linked to ventricular fibrillation, and thus may be worse than procainamide.


title: Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome

text: AV node blockers should be avoided in atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter with WPW or history of it; this includes adenosine, diltiazem, verapamil, other calcium channel blockers, and beta blockers. They can exacerbate the syndrome by blocking the heart's normal electrical pathway (therefore favoring 1:1 atrial to ventricle conduction through the pre-excitation pathway, potentially leading to unstable ventricular arrhythmias).


title: Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome

text: The definitive treatment of WPW is the destruction of the abnormal electrical pathway by catheter ablation. Two main types of catheter ablation include radiofrequency ablation with heat or cryoablation with cold energy. This procedure is performed by cardiac electrophysiologists and has high success rate in the hands of an experienced electrophysiologist. Findings from 1994 indicate success rates of as high as 95% in people treated with radiofrequency catheter ablation for WPW. If radiofrequency catheter ablation is successfully performed, the condition is generally considered cured. Recurrence rates are typically less than 5% after a successful ablation. Some patients, such as the ones with underlying Ebstein's anomaly and inherited cardiomyopathies, may have multiple accessory pathways.


title: Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome

text: The bundle of Kent is eponymously named for British physiologist Albert Frank Stanley Kent (18631958), who described lateral branches in the atrioventricular groove of the monkey heart (erroneously believing these constituted the normal atrioventricular conduction system).


title: Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome

text: In 1915, Frank Norman Wilson (18901952) became the first to describe the condition later called Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome. Alfred M. Wedd (18871967) was the next to describe the condition in 1921. Cardiologists Louis Wolff (18981972), John Parkinson (18851976) and Paul Dudley White (18861973) are credited with the definitive description of the disorder in 1930.


title: Syriana

text: Syriana is a 2005 American political thriller film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, loosely based on Robert Baer's 2003 memoir "See No Evil". The film stars an ensemble cast consisting of George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson, Amanda Peet, Christopher Plummer, Alexander Siddig, and Mazhar Munir.


title: Syriana

text: "Syriana" was shot in 200 locations in five continents, with large parts shot in the Middle East, Washington, D.C., and Africa. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Gaghan described incidents (including planned regime changes in Venezuela) from personal meetings and interviews with the most powerful oil owners, owners of media houses, lobbyists, lawyers, and politicians which were included in the film. As with Gaghan's screenplay for "Traffic", "Syriana" uses multiple, parallel storylines, jumping between locations in Iran, Texas, Washington, D.C., Switzerland, Spain, and Lebanon.


title: Syriana

text: Clooney's performance was critically acclaimed, earning him an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as British Academy Film Award, Critics' Choice Movie Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. Gaghan was nominated for an Academy Award and a Writers Guild of America Award for his screenplay. As of April 20, 2006, the film had grossed a total of $50.82 million at the U.S. box office and $43.2 million overseas, for a total of $94 million.


title: Syriana

text: Gaghan changed the names of entities currently operating in the Middle East, while retaining their place in the story. Committee for the Liberation of Iran was based on an organization called Committee for the Liberation of Iraq.


title: Syriana

text: U.S. energy giant Connex Oil is losing control of key oil fields in a Persian Gulf kingdom ruled by the Al-Subaai family. The Emirate's foreign minister, Prince Nasir, has granted natural gas drilling rights to a Chinese company, greatly upsetting the U.S. oil industry and the U.S. government. To compensate for its decreased production capacity, Connex initiates a shady merger with Killen, a smaller oil company that recently won the drilling rights to Kazakhstan's Tengiz Field. If Connex-Killen were a country, it would rank as the world's twenty-third largest economy, and antitrust regulators at the Department of Justice (DOJ) have concerns. A Washington, D.C.-based law firm headed by Dean Whiting is hired to smooth the way for the merger. Bennett Holiday is assigned to promote the impression of due diligence to the DOJ, deflecting any allegations of corruption.


title: Syriana

text: Bryan Woodman is an American energy analyst based in Geneva. Woodman's supervisor directs him to attend a private party hosted by the Emir at his private estate in Marbella, Spain, to offer his company's services. The Emir's illness during the party prevents Woodman from speaking directly with him while, at the same time, the Emir's younger son, Prince Meshal Al-Subaai, shows the estate's many rooms and areas to Chinese oil executives via remote-controlled cameras. No one notices that a crack in one of the swimming pool area's underwater lights has electrified the water. Just as Woodman and all the other guests are brought to the pool area, Woodman's son jumps into the pool and is electrocuted.


title: Syriana

text: In reparation and out of sympathy for the loss of his son, Prince Nasir, the Emir's older son, grants Woodman's company oil interests worth $75 million. Woodman though initially insulted by the offer, gradually becomes his economic advisor. Prince Nasir is dedicated to the idea of progressive reform and understands that oil dependency is not sustainable in the long term; Nasir wants to utilize his nation's oil profits to diversify the economy and introduce democratic reforms, in sharp contrast to his father's repressive government, which has been supported by American interests. His father, at the urging of the American government with the help of Whiting and his law firm, names the younger Meshal as his successor, causing Nasir to attempt a coup.


title: Syriana

text: Bob Barnes is a veteran CIA officer trying to stop illegal arms trafficking in the Middle East. While on assignment in Tehran to kill two arms dealers, Barnes notices that one of two anti-aircraft missiles intended to be used in a bombing was diverted to an Egyptian, while the other explodes and kills the two arms dealers. The dealers are later revealed to be Iranian Intelligence agents. Barnes makes his superiors nervous by writing memos about the missile theft and is subsequently reassigned to a desk job. However, unaccustomed to the political discretion required, he quickly embarrasses the wrong people by speaking his mind and is sent back to the field with the assignment of assassinating Prince Nasir, whom the CIA identifies as being the financier behind the Egyptian's acquisition of the missile. Prior to his reassignment, Barnes confides in his ex-CIA officer friend, Stan Goff, that he will return to Lebanon. Goff advises him to clear his presence with Hezbollah so they know he is not acting against them. Barnes travels to Lebanon, obtains safe passage from a Hezbollah leader, and hires a mercenary named Mussawi to help kidnap and kill Nasir. But Mussawi has become an Iranian agent and has Barnes abducted. Mussawi tortures Barnes and prepares to behead him, but the Hezbollah leader arrives and stops him.


title: Syriana

text: When the CIA learns that Mussawi plans to broadcast the agency's intention to kill Nasir, they set Barnes up as a scapegoat, portraying him as a rogue officer. Barnes's boss, Terry George, worries that Barnes might talk about the Nasir assassination plan and that killing Nasir with a drone would make it obvious as an American-backed assassination. He has Barnes's passports revoked, locks him out of his computer at work, and initiates an investigation of him. Barnes, however, learns from Goff that Whiting, working on behalf of a group of businessmen calling themselves "The Committee to Liberate Iran", is responsible for Barnes's blackballing and the assassination, and threatens Whiting and his family unless he halts the investigation and releases Barnes's passports.


title: Syriana

text: Barnes returns to the Middle East and approaches Prince Nasir's convoy to warn him of the assassination plan. As he arrives, a guided bomb from a circling Predator drone strikes the automobile of Nasir and his family, killing them and Barnes instantly. Woodman, having earlier offered his seat in Nasir's car to a member of the prince's family, survives the drone strike and goes home to his wife and remaining son.


title: Syriana

text: Pakistani migrant workers Saleem Ahmed Khan and his son Wasim board a bus to go to work at a Connex refinery, only to discover that they have been laid off. Since the company had provided food and lodging, the workers face the threat of deportation due to their unemployed status. Wasim desperately searches for work but is refused because he doesn't speak good Arabic. Wasim and his friend join a madrasa to learn Arabic in order to improve their employment prospects. While playing soccer, they meet a charismatic Islamic fundamentalist, the same man who received the missing Iranian missile, who eventually leads them to execute a suicide attack on a Connex-Killen tanker using the missile.


title: Syriana

text: Bennett Holiday meets with Dean Whiting, who is convinced that Killen bribed someone to get the drilling rights in Kazakhstan. While investigating Connex-Killen's records, Holiday discovers a wire transfer of funds that leads back to a transaction between Texas oilman and Killen colleague Danny Dalton and Kazakh officials. Holiday tells Connex-Killen of his discovery, and they pretend not to have known about it. Holiday advises Dalton that he will likely be charged with corruption in order to serve as a "body" to get the DOJ off the back of the rest of Connex-Killen. U.S. Attorney Donald Farish III then strong-arms Holiday into giving the DOJ information about illegal activities he has discovered. Holiday gives up Dalton, but Farish says this is not enough. Holiday meets with the CEO of Killen Oil, Jimmy Pope, and informs him that the DOJ needs a second body in order to drop the investigation. Pope asks Holiday whether a person at Holiday's firm above him would be sufficient as the additional body. Holiday acknowledges that if the name were big enough, the DOJ would stop the investigation and allow the merger.


title: Syriana

text: Holiday is brought by his colleague and mentor Sydney Hewitt to meet with the Chairman & CEO of Connex Oil, Leland "Lee" Janus. Holiday reveals an under-the-table deal that Hewitt made while the Connex-Killen merger was being processed. Holiday has given Hewitt to the DOJ as the second body, thereby protecting the rest of Connex-Killen. Janus is able to accept the "Oil Industry Man of the Year" award with a load taken off his shoulders.


title: Syriana

text: While working on "Traffic", Stephen Gaghan began to see parallels between drug addiction and America's dependency on foreign oil. Another source of inspiration came from 9/11 and Gaghan's lack of knowledge about the Middle East. He said, "When 9/11 happened, it suddenly was a war on terror, which I think of as a war on emotions. It all started to click for me." A few weeks after 9/11, Steven Soderbergh sent Gaghan a copy of ex-CIA officer Robert Baer's memoir, "See No Evil". The screenwriter read the book and wanted to turn it into a film because it added another layer to the story that Gaghan wanted to tell. Soderbergh bought the rights to "See No Evil" and negotiated the deal with Warner Bros.


title: Syriana

text: Gaghan met Baer for lunch and then, for six weeks in 2002, the two men traveled from Washington to Geneva to the French Riviera to Lebanon, Syria and Dubai, meeting with lobbyists, arms dealers, oil traders, Arab officials and the spiritual leader of Hezbollah. Meeting Baer, Gaghan realized that the man had "gone out there and done and seen things that he was not allowed to talk about, and wouldn't, but he was angry about and also trying to make amends for." Before any filming took place, Gaghan convinced Warner Bros. to give him an unlimited research budget and no deadline. He did his own legwork, meeting with oil traders in London and lawyers in Washington, D.C. Moments after arriving in Beirut in 2002, Gaghan was taken from the airport in a blindfold and hood where he met with Sheik Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, who was interested in films. He decided to grant the writer an audience even though he had not requested one. In addition, Gaghan dined with men suspected of killing former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and met with former Defense Policy Board chairman Richard Perle.


title: Syriana

text: Gaghan has cited as influences on "Syriana", European films like Roberto Rossellini's "Rome, Open City", Costa Gavras' "Z", and Gillo Pontecorvo's "The Battle of Algiers".


title: Syriana

text: Another influence, or resource—one that might also explain the movie's use of a documentary clip featuring John D. Rockefeller—is the fact that Gaghan's fashion-designer wife Minnie Mortimer is the great-granddaughter of onetime Standard Oil executive Henry Morgan Tilford.


title: Syriana

text: Harrison Ford turned down the role of Bob Barnes (the role played by George Clooney), regretting it later, stating, "I didn't feel strongly enough about the truth of the material and I think I made a mistake." This is the second Stephen Gaghan-written role Ford has declined, having turned down the role of Robert Wakefield in "Traffic", a role that eventually went to Michael Douglas.


title: Syriana

text: Gaghan shot in over 200 locations on four continents with 100 speaking parts. "Syriana" originally had five storylines, all of which were filmed. The fifth storyline, centering on Michelle Monaghan playing a Miss USA who becomes involved with a rich Arab oilman, was cut when the film became too complicated. Also, a role played by Greta Scacchi, as Bob Barnes' wife, was also cut before the final release. Parts of the film were shot in Lebanon, Dubai and other parts of the Middle East.


title: Syriana

text: The film's title is suggested to derive from the hypothesized "Pax Syriana," as an allusion to the necessary state of peace between Syria and the U.S. as it relates to the oil business. In a December 2005 interview, Baer told NPR that the title is a metaphor for foreign intervention in the Middle East, referring to post-World War I think tank strategic studies for the creation of an artificial state (such as Iraq, created from elements of the former Ottoman Empire) that ensured continued western access to crude oil.


title: Syriana

text: The movie's website states that "‘Syriana’ is a real term used by Washington think-tanks to describe a hypothetical reshaping of the Middle East." Gaghan said he saw Syriana as "a great word that could stand for man's perpetual hope of remaking any geographic region to suit his own needs."


title: Syriana

text: The word "Syriana" derives from "Syria" + the Latin suffix "-ana"; it means, roughly, "in the manner of Syria." Historically, Syria refers not to the state that since 1944 has borne the name, but to a more extensive land stretching from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea to the middle Euphrates River and the western edge of the desert steppe, and from the Tauric system of mountains in the north to the edge of the Sinai desert in the south. This land was part of the Fertile Crescent, and has historically been a geopolitically crucial junction for trade routes from the east, from Asia Minor and the Aegean, and from Egypt, and has long been a focus of great power conflicts. The word "Syria" does not appear in the Hebrew original of the Scriptures, but appears in the Septuagint as the translation of Aram. Herodotus speaks of "Syrians" as identical with Assyrians, but the term's geographical significance was not well defined in pre-Greek and Greek times. As an ethnic term, "Syrian" came to refer in Antiquity to Semitic peoples living outside Mesopotamian and Arabian areas. Greco-Roman administrations were the first to apply the term to a definite district.


title: Syriana

text: "Syriana" was released on November 23, 2005 in limited release in only five theaters grossing $374,502 on its opening weekend. It went into wide release on December 9, 2005 in 1,752 theaters grossing $11.7 million on that weekend. It went on to make $50.8 million in North America and $43.2 million in the rest of the world for a worldwide total of $94 million. Censor authorities in some parts of the Middle East censored parts of the movie, because it depicted foreigners being ill-treated. Although abuse of foreign workers is rife, the censor authorities deemed such scenes as insulting.


title: Syriana

text: "Syriana" received generally positive reviews, mostly for Clooney's performance and Gaghan's screenplay. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, it has a rating of 73% based on 198 reviews, with an average score of 6.89/10. The website's consensus states, "Ambitious, complicated, intellectual, and demanding of its audience, "Syriana" is both a gripping geopolitical thriller and wake-up call to the complacent." The film has a score of 76 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 40 critics indicating "Generally favorable reviews".


title: Syriana

text: As a motion picture, the main criticism, even among reviewers who praised the film, was the confusion created by following numerous stories. Most critics stated that it was almost impossible to follow the plot, though some, notably Roger Ebert, praised precisely that quality of the film and offered an interesting hidden story possibility (a covert deal between the U.S. and China involving oil being shipped through Kazakhstan and passed off as coming from a different source). The audience confusion mimics the confusion of the characters, who are enmeshed in the events around them without a clear understanding of what precisely is going on. As with Gaghan's screenplay for "Traffic", "Syriana" uses multiple, parallel storylines, jumping from locations in Texas, Washington D.C., Switzerland, Spain, and the Middle East, leading film critic Ebert to describe the film as hyperlink cinema.


title: Syriana

text: "Time" magazine's Richard Corliss wrote, "Gaghan relies on Clooney's agnostic heroism to lure viewers into his maze. When they get there, they will find not a conventionally satisfying movie but a kind of illustrated journalism: an engrossing, insider's tour of the world's hottest spots, grandest schemes and most dangerous men." In his review for the "Los Angeles Times", Kenneth Turan wrote, "This is conspiracy-theory filmmaking of the most bravura kind, but if only a fraction of its suppositions are true, we—and the world—are in a world of trouble." "USA Today" gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "Gaghan assumes his audience is smart enough to follow his explosive tour of global petro-politics. The result is thought-provoking and unnerving, emotionally engaging and intellectually stimulating." "Entertainment Weekly" gave the film a "B−" rating and Lisa Schwarzbaum wrote, "it's also the kind of movie that requires a viewer to work actively for comprehension, and to chalk up any lack of same to his or her own deficiency in the face of something so evidently smart."


title: Syriana

text: In his review for "The New York Observer", Andrew Sarris wrote: "If anything, "Syriana" tends to oversimplify a mind-bogglingly multifaceted problem that cannot so easily be resolved by a diatribe against the supposedly all-powerful 'Americans.'" "Rolling Stone" magazine's Peter Travers gave the film his highest rating and praised George Clooney's performance: "This is the best acting Clooney has ever done—he's hypnotic, haunting and quietly devastating." Philip French, in his review for "The Observer", praised the film as "thoughtful, exciting and urgent". In his review for "The Guardian", Peter Bradshaw wrote, "But what complicates the plot is writer-director Stephen Gaghan's reluctance to criticise America too much. Instead of complexity, there is a blank, uncompelling tangle, which conceals a kind of complacent political correctness."


title: Syriana

text: Ebert named it the second-best film of 2005, behind "Crash". Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" named it as the third best film of 2005. "Entertainment Weekly" ranked "Syriana" as one of the 25 "Powerful Political Thrillers" in film history.


title: Shea butter

text: Shea butter (, , or ; ) is a fat extracted from the nut of the African shea tree ("Vitellaria paradoxa"). It is ivory in color when raw and commonly dyed yellow with borututu root or palm oil. It is widely used in cosmetics as a moisturizer, salve or lotion. Shea butter is edible and is used in food preparation in some African countries. Occasionally, shea butter is mixed with other oils as a substitute for cocoa butter, although the taste is noticeably different.


title: Shea butter

text: The English word "shea" comes from , the tree's name in Bambara. It is known by many local names, such as in the Dagbani language, in the Wali language, in Twi, or in Hausa, in the Igbo language, in the Yoruba language, in the Wolof language of Senegal, and "ori" in some parts of West Africa and many others.


title: Shea butter

text: The common name is (lit. "shea tree") in the Bambara language of Mali. This is the origin of the English word, one pronunciation of which rhymes with "tea" , although the pronunciation (rhyming with "day") is common, and is listed second in major dictionaries. The tree is called in the Wolof language of Senegal, which is the origin of the French name of the tree and the butter, .


title: Shea butter

text: The shea tree grows naturally in the wild in the dry savannah belt of West Africa from Senegal in the west to Sudan in the east, and onto the foothills of the Ethiopian highlands. It occurs in 21 countries across the African continent, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya and Guinea.


title: Shea butter

text: A testa found at the site of the medieval village of Saouga is evidence of shea butter production by the 14th century. The butter was being imported into Britain by 1846.


title: Shea butter

text: Shea butter is composed of five principal fatty acids: palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, and arachidic (see Table below). About 85 to 90% of the fatty acid composition is stearic and oleic acids. The relative proportion of these two fatty acids affects shea butter consistency. The stearic acid gives it a solid consistency, while the oleic acid influences how soft or hard the shea butter is, depending on ambient temperature.


title: Shea butter

text: The proportions of stearic and oleic acids in the shea kernels and butter differ across the distribution range of the species. Ugandan shea butter has consistently high oleic acid content, and is liquid at warm ambient temperatures. It fractionizes into liquid and solid phases, and is the source of liquid shea oil. The fatty acid proportion of West African shea butter is much more variable than Ugandan shea butter, with an oleic content of 37 to 55%. Variability can be high even locally, and a tree that produces hard butter can grow with one that produces soft butter.


title: Shea butter

text: Nuts are gathered from a wide area for local production, so shea butter consistency is determined by the average fatty acid profile of the population. Within West Africa, shea butter from the Mossi Plateau region of Burkina Faso has a higher average stearic acid content, and so is usually harder than shea butter from other West African regions.


title: Shea butter

text: Phenolic compounds are known to have antioxidant properties. A recent study characterized and quantified the most important phenolic compounds in shea butter. This study identified 10 phenolic compounds, eight of which are catechins, a family of compounds being studied for their antioxidant properties. The phenolic profile is similar to that of green tea, and the total phenolic content of shea butter is comparable to virgin olive oil. Also, this study was performed on shea butter that had been extracted with hexane, and the authors note that traditional extraction methods may result in higher phenolic levels.


title: Shea butter

text: Furthermore, they note that the catechin content alone of shea kernels is higher than the total phenolic content of ripe olives. This study also found that the overall concentration and relative percentages of different phenolic content in shea kernels varied from region to region. The authors hypothesized that the overall concentration of phenols in shea kernels is linked to the level of environmental stress that the trees endure.


title: Shea butter

text: Shea butter is mainly used in the cosmetics industry for skin- and hair-related products (lip gloss, lip stick, skin moisturizer creams and emulsions, and hair conditioners for dry and brittle hair). It is also used by soap makers and massage oil manufacturers, typically in small amounts, because it has plenty of unsaponifiables, and higher amounts result in a softer soap that has less cleaning ability. Some artisan soap makers use shea butter in amounts to 25% – with the European Union regulating the maximum use around 28%, but it is rarely the case in commercially produced soap due to its high cost compared to oils like palm oil or pomace (olive oil). It is an excellent emollient for dry skin. No evidence shows it is a cure, but it alleviates the pain associated with tightness and itching.


title: Shea butter

text: In some African countries such as Benin, shea butter is used for cooking oil, as a waterproofing wax, for hairdressing, for candle-making, and as an ingredient in medicinal ointments. It is used by makers of traditional African percussion instruments to increase the durability of wood (such as carved djembe shells), dried calabash gourds, and leather tuning straps.


title: Shea butter

text: Shea butter is sometimes used as a base for medicinal ointments. Some of the isolated chemical constituents are reported to have antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, emollient, and humectant properties. Shea butter has been used as a sunblocking lotion with an estimated SPF of 3–4 and some of its components "have limited capacity to absorb ultraviolet radiation".


title: Shea butter

text: In Ghana, shea butter, locally known as "Kpakahili" (Eng. trans. raw cream) in Dagbani, "nkuto" (Akan) or "nku" (Ga), is either used as a food product or applied as lotion to protect the skin during the dry Harmattan season. The shea nut tree itself is called tááŋà (pl. táánsì) and the fruit is called táánì (pl. támá). The current northern regional capital Tamale derives its name from a combination of the words "tama" and "yili", meaning "the town of shea fruits".


title: Shea butter

text: In Nigeria, shea butter is used for the management of sinusitis and relief of nasal congestion. It is massaged into joints and other parts of the body where pain occurs.


title: Shea butter

text: The United States Agency for International Development and other companies have suggested a classification system for shea butter, separating it into five grades:


title: Shea butter

text: Commercial grades are A, B, and C. The color of raw (grade A) butter ranges from cream (like whipped butter) to grayish yellow. It has a nutty aroma which is removed in the other grades. Grade C is pure white. While the level of vitamin content can be affected by refining, up to 95% of vitamin content can be removed from refined grades (i.e., grade C) of shea butter while reducing contamination levels to undetectable levels.


Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values is a book by Robert M. Pirsig first published in 1974. It is a work of fictionalized autobiography and is the first of Pirsig's texts in which he explores his concept of Quality.


title: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

text: The title is an apparent play on the title of the 1948 book "Zen in the Art of Archery" by Eugen Herrigel. In its introduction, Pirsig explains that, despite its title, "it should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It's not very factual on motorcycles, either."


text: Pirsig received 121 rejections before an editor finally accepted the book for publication—and he did so thinking it would never generate a profit. It was subsequently featured on best-seller lists for decades, with initial sales of at least 5 million copies worldwide.


text: The book is a fictionalized autobiography of a 17-day journey that Pirsig made on his Honda CB77 motorcycle from Minnesota to Northern California along with his son Chris in 1968. The story of this journey is recounted in a first-person narrative, although the author is not identified. Father and son are also accompanied, for the first nine days of the trip, by close friends John and Sylvia Sutherland, with whom they part ways in Montana.


text: The trip is punctuated by numerous philosophical discussions, referred to as Chautauquas by the author, on topics including epistemology, the history of philosophy, and the philosophy of science.


text: Many of these discussions are tied together by the story of the narrator's own past self, who is referred to in the third person as Phaedrus (after Plato's dialogue). Phaedrus, a teacher of creative and technical writing at Montana State College, became engrossed in the question of what defines good writing, and what in general defines good, or "Quality", which he understands similar to Tao. Phaedrus's philosophical investigations eventually drove him insane, and he was subjected to electroconvulsive therapy, which permanently changed his personality.


text: Towards the end of the book, Phaedrus's strong and unorthodox personality, presented as dangerous to the narrator, begins to re-emerge and the narrator is reconciled with his past.


text: In a 1974 interview with National Public Radio, Pirsig stated that the book took him four years to write. During two of these years, Pirsig continued working at his job of writing computer manuals. This caused him to fall into an unorthodox schedule, waking up very early and writing "Zen" from 2 a.m. until 6 a.m., then eating and going to his day job. He would sleep during his lunch break and then go to bed around 6 in the evening. Pirsig joked that his co-workers noticed that he was "a lot less perky" than everyone else.


text: In the book, the narrator describes the "romantic" approach to life of his friend, John Sutherland, who chooses not to learn how to maintain his expensive new motorcycle. John simply hopes for the best with his bike, and when problems do occur he often becomes frustrated and is forced to rely on professional mechanics to repair it. In contrast, the "classical" narrator has an older motorcycle which he is usually able to diagnose and repair himself through the use of rational problem-solving skills.


text: In an example of the classical approach, the narrator explains that one must pay continual attention: when the narrator and his friends come into Miles City, Montana he notices the engine running roughly, a possible indication that the fuel/air mixture is too rich. The next day he is thinking of this as he is going through his ritual to adjust the jets on his motorcycle's carburetor. During the adjustment, he notes that both spark plugs are black, confirming a rich mixture. He recognizes that the higher elevation is causing the engine to run rich. The narrator rectifies this by installing new jets and adjusting the valves, and the engine runs well again.


text: With this, the book details two types of personalities: those who are interested mostly in gestalt—romantic viewpoints focused on being "in the moment", and not on rational analysis—and those who seek to know details, understand inner workings, and master mechanics—viewpoints with application of rational analysis, "vis-a-vis" motorcycle maintenance.


text: The Sutherlands represent an exclusively romantic attitude toward the world. The narrator initially appears to prefer the classic approach. It later becomes apparent that he understands both viewpoints and is aiming for the middle ground. He understands that technology, and the "dehumanized world" it carries with it, appears ugly and repulsive to a romantic person. He knows that such persons are determined to shoehorn all of life's experience into the romantic view. Pirsig is capable of seeing the beauty of technology and feels good about mechanical work, where the goal is "to achieve an inner peace of mind". The book demonstrates that motorcycle maintenance may be dull and tedious drudgery or an enjoyable and pleasurable pastime, depending on attitude.


text: The narrator examines the modern pursuit of "Pure Truths", claiming it derives from the work of early Greek philosophers who were establishing the concept of truth in opposition to the force of "The Good". He argues that although rational thought may find a truth (or The Truth) it may never be fully and universally applicable to every individual's experience. Therefore, what is needed is an approach to life that is more inclusive and has a wider range of application. He makes a case that originally the Greeks did not distinguish between "Quality" and "Truth"—they were one and the same, "arete"—and that the divorce was, in fact, artificial (though needed at the time) and is now a source of much frustration and unhappiness in the world, particularly overall dissatisfaction with modern life.


text: The narrator aims towards a perception of the world that embraces both sides, the rational and the romantic. This means encompassing "irrational" sources of wisdom and understanding as well as science, reason and technology. In particular, this must include bursts of creativity and intuition that seemingly come from nowhere and are not (in his view) rationally explicable. He seeks to demonstrate that rationality and Zen-like "being in the moment" can harmoniously coexist. He suggests such a combination of rationality and romanticism can potentially bring a higher quality of life.


text: It has been noted that Pirsig's romantic/classical dichotomy resembles Nietzsche's Dionysian/Apollonian dichotomy as described in "The Birth of Tragedy". For example, in his book "The Person of the Therapist", Edward Smith writes, "In his popular novel ... Pirsig also addressed the Apollonian and Dionysian worldviews, naming them respectively classical understanding and romantic understanding."


text: Beverly Gross (1984) writes that Pirsig is seeking a synthesis of "the normal, everyday, functioning self with the person given to extremes, excesses, dizzying heights, obsessions—our crazy self with our sane self, the greatness in us with our ordinariness". The exceptional in the narrator is represented by Phaedrus, who, despite the narrator's attempt to keep him in the past, pushes to the foreground of his mind toward the book's end, threatening the narrator's stability and relationship with his son. However, the narrator's difficulties with his son during the journey also question whether giving up parts of himself in exchange for "sanity" has even helped this relationship. Gross writes, "He relates to mechanical things, not to people. There is beauty in his recognition that personality inheres in motorcycles, riding gloves; there is sadness and sickness in his removal from the personality of people, his own most notably". The Chautauquas, which emphasize the narrator's tendency toward solitary thought and over-analysis, may reflect his avoidance of the problems before him: his relationships and the resurrection of Phaedrus. To the extent that the narrator denies Phaedrus, the Chautauquas are practical, but when he decides that he will admit himself to hospital again, he realizes the undeniable presence of Phaedrus in him, and the Chautauquas are given over to those more abstruse topics.


text: According to the author, A "gumption trap" is an event or mindset that can cause a person to lose enthusiasm and become discouraged from starting or continuing a project. The word "gumption" denotes a combination of common sense, shrewdness, and a sense of initiative. Although the last of these traits is the primary victim of the "gumption trap," the first two suffer indirectly in that a reduction in initiative results in a reduction in constructive activity and therefore inhibits one's development of the first two traits. Pirsig goes on to inform his readers that the "trap" portion of the term refers to the positive feedback loop that the event or mindset creates: the reduction in the person's enthusiasm and initiative decreases both the person's likelihood of success in that project and the degree of success likely, thus doubly affecting the expected outcome of the person's efforts. The usual result further discourages the person, whether it be a mere lack of success or a bigger outright failure complete with embarrassment and loss of the resources initially invested.


text: The specific term "gumption trap" was coined by Pirsig, and the associated concept plays an important part in the practical application of his Metaphysics of Quality.


text: Pirsig refers to two types of gumption traps: "setbacks", which arise from external/"exogenous" events, and "hang-ups", which are the product of internal/"endogenous" factors such as a poor fit between one's psychological state and the requirements of a project.


text: The nature of setbacks can vary considerably. For example, a minor setback might result from a minor injury. Larger setbacks include the lack of knowledge that a certain procedural step or other condition is necessary for a project's success: If one attempts to keep working despite the lack of knowledge that this obstacle exists (let alone how to deal with it), one's lack of progress may prompt one to take long breaks from the project, to focus one's attention on other endeavors, or even to lose interest in the project altogether. Pirsig suggests preventing these kinds of gumption traps by being slow and meticulous, taking notes that might help later, and troubleshooting in advance ("e.g.", by laying out the requirements for one's project in logical and/or conceptual order and looking for procedural problems ranging from unaccounted-for prerequisites to gaps in one's instructions or plans).


text: Hang-ups stem from internal factors that can get in the way of starting or completing a project. Examples of such hang-ups include anxiety, boredom, impatience, and the failure (often borne of excessive egotism) to realize that "a") one might not have all the information necessary to succeed and/or "b") certain aspects of the problem might be more or less important than one believes. Dealing with hang-ups can be as simple as reducing hyperfocus on a specific aspect of a problem by taking a short break from working on the problem or that specific aspect of it.


text: At the time of its publication, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, in his book review for "The New York Times", wrote,


text: I now regret that I lack the expertise in philosophy to put Mr. Pirsig's ideas to a proper test, for this book may very well be a profoundly important one—a great one even—full of insights into our most perplexing contemporary dilemmas. I just don't know. But whatever its true philosophical worth, it is intellectual entertainment of the highest order.


text: Since then, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" has become the best-selling philosophy book of all time.


title: Ghostwriter

text: A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, memoirs, magazine articles, or other written material. Memoir ghostwriters often pride themselves in "disappearing" when impersonating others since such disappearance signals the quality of their craftsmanship. In music, ghostwriters are often used to write songs, lyrics, and instrumental pieces. Screenplay authors can also use ghostwriters to either edit or rewrite their scripts to improve them. Usually, there is a confidentiality clause in the contract between the ghostwriter and the credited author that obligates the former to remain anonymous. Sometimes the ghostwriter is acknowledged by the author or publisher for their writing services, euphemistically called a "researcher" or "research assistant", but often the ghostwriter is not credited.


title: Ghostwriter

text: Ghostwriting (or simply "ghosting") also occurs in other creative fields. Composers have long hired ghostwriters to help them to write musical pieces and songs; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is an example of a well-known composer who was paid to ghostwrite music for wealthy patrons. Ghosting also occurs in popular music. A pop music ghostwriter writes lyrics and a melody in the style of the credited musician. In hip hop music, the increasing use of ghostwriters by high-profile hip-hop stars has led to controversy. In the visual arts, it is not uncommon in either fine art or commercial art such as comics for a number of assistants to do work on a piece that is credited to a single artist; Andy Warhol engaged in this practice, supervising an assembly line silk screen process for his artwork. However, when credit is established for the writer, the acknowledgment of their contribution is public domain and the writer in question would not be considered a ghostwriter.


title: Ghostwriter

text: A consultant or career-switcher may pay a ghostwriter to write a book on a topic in their professional area, to establish or enhance credibility as an 'expert' in their field. Public officials and politicians employ "correspondence officers" to respond to the large volume of official correspondence. A number of papal encyclicals have been written by ghostwriters. A controversial and scientifically unethical practice is medical ghostwriting, where biotech or pharmaceutical companies pay professional writers to produce papers and then recruit (via payment or as a perk) other scientists or physicians to attach their names to these articles before they are published in medical or scientific journals. Some university and college students hire ghostwriters from essay mills to write entrance essays, term papers, theses, and dissertations. This is largely considered unethical unless the actual ghostwriting work is just light editing.


title: Ghostwriter

text: Ghostwriters are hired for numerous reasons. In many cases, celebrities or public figures do not have the time, discipline, or writing skills to write and research a several hundred-page autobiography or "how-to" book. Even if a celebrity or public figure has the writing skills to pen a short article, they may not know how to structure and edit a several hundred-page book so that it is captivating and well-paced. In other cases, publishers use ghostwriters to increase the number of books that can be published each year under the name of well-known, highly marketable authors, or to quickly release a topical book that ties in with a recent or upcoming newsworthy event.


title: Ghostwriter

text: Ghostwriters will often spend from several months to a full year researching, writing, and editing non-fiction and fiction works for a client, and they are paid based on a price per hour, per word, or per page, with a flat fee, a percentage of the royalties of the sales, or some combination thereof. In 2013, literary agent Madeleine Morel stated that the average ghostwriter's advance for work for major book publishers was "between $40,000 and $70,000". These benchmark prices are mirrored approximately in the film industry by the Writers Guild, where a Minimum Basic Agreement gives a starting price for the screenplay writer of $37,073 (non-original screenplay, no treatment).


title: Ghostwriter

text: However, the recent shift into the digital age (15–20% world market share of books by 2015) has brought some changes, by opening newer markets that bring their own opportunities for authors and writers—especially on the more affordable side of the ghostwriting business. One such market is the shorter book, best represented at the moment by Amazon's Kindle Singles imprint: texts of 30,000 words and under. Such a length would have been much harder to sell before digital reader-technologies became widely available, but is now quite acceptable. Writers on the level of Ian McEwan have celebrated this recent change, mainly for artistic reasons.


title: Ghostwriter

text: As a consequence, the shorter format makes a project potentially more affordable for the client/author. Manhattan Literary, a ghostwriting company, states that "book projects on the shorter side, tailored to new markets like the Kindle Singles imprint and others (30,000–42,000 words) start at a cost of $15,000". And this shorter book appears to be here to stay. It was once financially impractical for publishers to produce such novella-length texts (they would have to charge too much); but this new market is, by 2015, already substantial and has been projected to be a solid part of the future of book publishing. So, with its appearance the starting price for the professional book writer has come down by about half, but only if this shorter format makes sense for the client.


title: Ghostwriter

text: On the upper end of the spectrum, with celebrities that can all but guarantee a publisher large sales, the fees can be much higher. In 2001, "The New York Times" stated that the fee that the ghostwriter for Hillary Clinton's memoirs would receive was probably about $500,000 of her book's $8 million advance, which "is near the top of flat fees paid to collaborators".


title: Ghostwriter

text: A recent availability also exists, of outsourcing many kinds of jobs, including ghostwriting, to offshore locations like India, China, and the Philippines where the customer can save money. The true tests of credibility—the writer's track record, and samples of his or her craft—become even more important in these instances, when the writer comes from a culture and first language that are entirely different from the client's.


title: Ghostwriter

text: In some cases, ghostwriters are allowed to share credit. For example, a common method is to put the client/author's name on a book cover as the main byline (by [a"uthor's name"]) and then to put the ghostwriter's name underneath it (with [g"hostwriter's name"]). Sometimes this is done in lieu of pay or to decrease the amount of payment to the book ghostwriter for whom the credit has its own intrinsic value. Also, the ghostwriter can be cited as a co-author of a book, or listed in the movie or film credits when having ghostwritten the script or screenplay for film production.


title: Ghostwriter

text: For nonfiction books, the ghostwriter may be credited as a "contributor" or a "research assistant". In other cases, the ghostwriter receives no official credit for writing a book or article; in cases where the credited author or the publisher or both wish to conceal the ghostwriter's role, the ghostwriter may be asked to sign a nondisclosure contract that legally forbids any mention of the writer's role in a project. Some have made the distinction between "author" and "writer", as ghostwriter Kevin Anderson explains in a "Washington Post" interview: "A ghostwriter is an interpreter and a translator, not an author, which is why our clients deserve full credit for authoring their books."


title: Ghostwriter

text: Ghostwriters are widely used by celebrities and public figures who wish to publish their autobiographies or memoirs. The degree of involvement of the ghostwriter in nonfiction writing projects ranges from minor to substantial. In some cases, a ghostwriter may be called in just to clean up, edit, and polish a rough draft of an autobiography or a "how-to" book. In other cases, the ghostwriter will write an entire book or article based on information, stories, notes, an outline, or interview sessions with the celebrity or public figure. The credited author also indicates to the ghostwriter what type of style, tone, or "voice" they want in the book.


title: Ghostwriter

text: In some cases, such as with some "how-to" books, diet guides, or cookbooks, a book will be entirely written by a ghostwriter, and the celebrity (e.g., a well-known musician or sports star) will be credited as author. Publishing companies use this strategy to increase the marketability of a book by associating it with a celebrity or well-known figure. In several countries before elections, candidates commission ghostwriters to produce autobiographies for them so as to gain visibility and exposure. One of John F. Kennedy's books ("Profiles in Courage") is almost entirely credited to ghostwriters. Donald Trump's famous autobiography ("") was produced by a ghostwriter. Several of Hillary Clinton's books were produced by ghostwriters. Nelson Mandela's autobiography ("Long Walk to Freedom") was also produced by a ghostwriter.


title: Ghostwriter

text: A consultant or career-switcher may pay to have a book ghostwritten on a topic in their professional area, to establish or enhance their credibility as an "expert" in their field. For example, a successful salesperson hoping to become a motivational speaker on selling may pay a ghostwriter to write a book on sales techniques. Often this type of book is published by a self-publishing press (or "vanity press"), which means that the author is paying to have the book published. This type of book is typically given away to prospective clients as a promotional tool, rather than being sold in bookstores.


title: Ghostwriter

text: Ghostwriters are employed by fiction publishers for several reasons. In some cases, publishers use ghostwriters to increase the number of books that can be published each year by a well-known, highly marketable author. Ghostwriters mostly pen fictional works for well-known "name" authors in genres such as detective fiction, mysteries, and teen fiction.


title: Ghostwriter

text: Additionally, publishers use ghostwriters to write new books for established series where the "author" is a pseudonym. For example, the purported authors of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries, "Carolyn Keene" and "Franklin W. Dixon", respectively, are actually pseudonyms for a series of ghostwriters who write books in the same style using a template of basic information about the book's characters and their fictional universe (names, dates, speech patterns), and about the tone and style that are expected in the book (for more information, see pseudonyms and pen names). In addition, ghostwriters are often given copies of several of the previous books in the series to help them match the style.


title: Ghostwriter

text: The estate of gothic novelist V. C. Andrews hired ghostwriter Andrew Neiderman to continue writing novels after her death, under her name and in a similar style to her original works. Many of action writer Tom Clancy's books from the 2000s bear the names of two people on their covers, with Clancy's name in larger print and the other author's name in smaller print. Various books bearing Clancy's name were written by different authors under the same pseudonym. The first two books in the "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" franchise were written by Raymond Benson under the pseudonym David Michaels.


title: Ghostwriter

text: Sometimes famous authors will ghostwrite for other celebrities as well, such as when H. P. Lovecraft ghostwrote "Imprisoned with the Pharaohs" (also known as "Under the Pyramids") for Harry Houdini in "Weird Tales" in the 1920s.


title: Ghostwriter

text: A number of papal encyclicals have been written by ghostwriters. "Pascendi", for instance, was written by Joseph Lemius (1860–1923), the procurator in Rome of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. In June 1938, Pius XI summoned American Jesuit John La Farge, who began to prepare a draft of "Humani generis unitas", which LaFarge and two other Jesuits—Gustav Gundlach and Gustave Desbuquois—on in Paris; the draft was approximately 100 pages long. Another Jesuit translated the draft encyclical into Latin, presenting it to Wlodimir Ledóchowski, then the General of the Society of Jesus who had chosen Gundlach and Desbuquois for the project. The draft encyclical was delivered to the Vatican in September 1938. Sebastian Tromp, a Dutch Jesuit, a solid Thomist theologian and close to Pope Pius XII, is considered to be the main ghostwriter of "Mystici corporis".


title: Ghostwriter

text: Michel-Louis Guérard des Lauriers, one of the Vatican's leading theologians of that time, was responsible for the critical study of the New Mass of Pope Paul VI, commonly known as the Ottaviani Intervention, after the supposed attribution to Cardinals Alfredo Ottaviani and Antonio Bacci. The Vatican later answered these accusations and Cardinal Ottaviani later regretted that his name was misused to berate the pope, of which, his questions about the Pauline Mass were already clarified.


title: Ghostwriter

text: Ghostwriting is considered to be academic dishonesty and can lead to repercussions if detected by universities, although it is not illegal in the United States, United Kingdom and Germany.


title: Ghostwriter

text: There are ghostwriting companies and freelancers that sell entrance essays, term papers, theses and dissertations to students. Such services are commonly known as "essay mills".


title: Ghostwriter

text: Although academic ghostwriting involves the sale of academic texts that are written on demand, it differs from plagiarism in that it does not involve an undisclosed appropriation of existing texts. As opposed to cases of plagiarism that stem from a copy-and-paste reuse of previous work, essays and assignments that are obtained through ghostwriting services as a rule have the originality of their text confirmed by plagiarism detection software packages or online services that are widely used by universities.


title: Ghostwriter

text: Universities have developed strategies to combat such academic services, which can be associated with academic fraud, that are offered to students and researchers. Some universities allow professors to give students oral examinations on papers which a professor believes to be ghostwritten. If the student is unfamiliar with the content of an essay that he or she has submitted, then the student can be charged with academic fraud.


title: Ghostwriter

text: With medical ghostwriting, pharmaceutical companies pay professional writers to produce papers and then pay other scientists or physicians to attach their names to these papers before they are published in medical or scientific journals. Medical ghostwriting has been criticized by a variety of professional organizations representing the drug industry, publishers, and medical societies, and it may violate American laws prohibiting off-label promotion by drug manufacturers as well as anti-kickback provisions within the statutes governing Medicare. Recently, it has attracted scrutiny from the lay press and from lawmakers, as well. including the University of Washington School of Medicine, while it is prohibited and considered a particularly pernicious form of plagiarism at others, such as Tufts University School of Medicine.


title: Ghostwriter

text: Professional medical writers can write papers without being listed as authors of the paper and without being considered ghostwriters, provided their role is acknowledged. The European Medical Writers Association have published guidelines which aim to ensure professional medical writers carry out this role in an ethical and responsible manner. The use of properly acknowledged medical writers is accepted as legitimate by organisations such as the World Association of Medical Editors and the "British Medical Journal". Moreover, professional medical writers' expertise in presenting scientific data may be of benefit in producing better quality papers.


title: Ghostwriter

text: Some websites, including blogs, are ghostwritten, because not all authors have the information technology skills or the time to dedicate to running a website. Nonetheless, the style, tone and content is modeled on that of the credited author. Many website ghostwriters are freelance but some are freelancers who work under contract, as with radio presenters and television presenters. Occasionally a "house pseudonym", or collective name is used by the author of the website.


title: Ghostwriter

text: Some celebrities, CEOs, or public figures set up blog websites—sometimes as a marketing, public relations, or lobbying tool. However, since these individuals are typically too busy to write their blog posts, they hire discreet ghostwriters to post to the blog under the celebrity or CEO's name. As with nonfiction ghostwriting, the blog ghostwriter models their writing style, content and tone on that of the credited author. This goes for social media as well. Many public figures have ghostwriters at least partially handle their Facebook and Twitter accounts, among others.


title: Ghostwriter

text: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is an example of a well-known composer who was paid to ghostwrite music for wealthy patrons. In the film industry, a music ghostwriter is a "person who composes music for another composer but is not credited on the cue sheet or in the final product in any way." The practice is considered one of the "dirty little secrets of the film and television music business" that is considered unethical, but has been common since the early stages of the film industry. In the early years of film, David Raksin worked as music ghostwriter and orchestrator for Charlie Chaplin; even though Chaplin was credited as the score writer, he was considered to be a "hummer" (pejorative film industry slang for a person who purports to be a film score composer but who in fact only gives a general idea of the melodies to a ghostwriter).


title: Ghostwriter

text: The practice is also common in television, as composers listed on cue sheets are entitled to music royalties every time an episode or theme score appears on television. A 1998 investigation by "The Hollywood Reporter" revealed that it was especially prevalent among animation companies such as Saban Entertainment, DiC, Ruby-Spears Productions and Hanna-Barbera, which often listed company executives as musicians for the purpose of royalties. Several composers later filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Saban Entertainment president Haim Saban, for allegedly taking ownership and credit for their musical compositions.


title: Ghostwriter

text: Musical ghostwriting also occurs in popular music. When a record company wants to market an inexperienced young singer as a singer-songwriter, or help a veteran bandleader coping with writer's block (or a lack of motivation to finish the next album), an experienced songwriter may be discreetly brought in to help. In other cases, a ghostwriter writes lyrics and a melody in the style of the credited musician, with little or no input from the credited musician. A ghostwriter providing this type of service may be thanked, without reference to the service provided, in the album credits, or they may be a true 'ghost', with no acknowledgement in the album.


title: Ghostwriter

text: Legal disputes have arisen when musical ghostwriters have tried to claim royalties when an allegedly ghostwritten song becomes a money-making hit. In 1987, Darryl Neudorf was asked to work on a project for Nettwerk Productions involving a newly signed artist in their repertoire named Sarah McLachlan. This recording, the album "Touch", resulted in garnering the interest of Arista Records. She signed a multi-album contract with them and two of the songs that Neudorf worked on with her became commercial hits in Canada. In 1991, Neudorf was invited back to work with McLachlan on her second album, "Solace". In 1993, he filed a lawsuit against McLachlan and her label, Nettwerk, alleging that he had made a significant and uncredited contribution to the songwriting on "Touch", and alleging that he wasn't paid properly for work done on "Solace". The judge in this suit eventually ruled in McLachlan's favour on the songs; though Neudorf may have contributed to the songwriting, neither regarded each other as joint authors. The judge ruled in Neudorf's favour on the payment issue.


title: Ghostwriter

text: In hip hop music, the increasing use of ghostwriters by high-profile hip hop stars has led to controversy. Critics view the increasing use of hip hop ghostwriters as the "perversion of hip-hop by commerce." This is because of the limiting definition of "rapping" as "...about you expressing yourself through your own words, not someone else's." Chuck D of Public Enemy thinks this point of view is mistaken because "...not everyone is equipped to be a lyricist and not everyone is equipped to be a vocalist." He points out that creating a rap song may require multiple talents. Frank Ocean started his career as a ghostwriter for artists such as Justin Bieber, John Legend and Brandy.


title: Ghostwriter

text: Currently in hip-hop, the credit given to ghostwriters varies: "silent pens might sign confidentiality clauses, appear obliquely in the liner notes, or discuss their participation freely." In some cases, liner notes credit individuals for "vocal arrangement", which may be a euphemism for ghostwriting. In the early 2010s, hip-hop ghostwriting services like Rap Rebirth have appeared online, which provide recording artists who wish to purchase ghostwritten rhymes a greater degree of anonymity.


title: Ghostwriter

text: Ghost-authorship also applies to the visual arts, most commonly paintings. The extent of the master artist's contribution varies widely, as little as composition adjustments and corrective brush strokes, or as much as entire works. A common practice is the use of art instruction class milieu in which the master artist makes significant contributions to the work of the student who then signs that work as his or her own. Services addressing complete works have historically been highly confidential. Less prevalent are advertised commercial services which may use the term "vanity artwork" as suggestive of "vanity publishing".


title: Ghostwriter

text: In countries where the freedom of speech is not upheld and authors that have somehow displeased the ruling regime are "blacklisted" (i.e. forbidden from having their works published), the blacklisted authors or composers may ghostwrite material for other authors or composers who are in the good graces of the regime. Examples include:


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: The Report (styled as The Torture Report) is a 2019 American historical / political drama film written and directed by Scott Z. Burns that stars Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Ted Levine, Michael C. Hall, Tim Blake Nelson, Corey Stoll, Maura Tierney, and Jon Hamm. The plot follows staffer Daniel Jones and the Senate Intelligence Committee as they investigate the Central Intelligence Agency's use of torture following the September 11th attacks. It covers more than a decade's worth of real-life political intrigue, exploring and compacting Jones's 6,700-page report. It is partly based on the article "Rorschach and Awe" by American journalist Katherine Eban; that publication was originally distributed by the magazine "Vanity Fair" in July 2007.


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: "The Report" had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on November 15, 2019, by Amazon Studios, before streaming on Amazon Prime beginning November 29, 2019.


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: The movie has received generally positive critical reviews. For example, "Variety" published by a piece by Owen Gleiberman labeling it "at once gripping and eye-opening" in a manner that forces viewers to feel "chastened", the writer comparing the film to "All the President's Men".


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: Daniel J. Jones, a Senate staffer, is selected by Senator Dianne Feinstein to lead an investigation into the 2005 destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes. Jones' small team of six, which includes April and Julian, begins work in early 2009 reviewing 6 million pages of CIA materials in a windowless office.


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: The narrative shifts back to the September 11 attacks of 2001, introducing George Tenet, Bernadette, and Gretchen at the Counterterrorist Center (CTC), anxiously watching live videos of the attacks. At CIA headquarters a few days later, Tenet reports on his meeting at Camp David with President George W. Bush and CTC director Cofer Black. John Rizzo, the CIA's legal counsel, reports that the President had given the CIA powers to "capture and detain suspected terrorists." The next year, intelligence psychologists Bruce Jessen and James Elmer Mitchell are contracted to instruct the CIA in enhanced interrogation techniques (EITs).


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: Jones meets with FBI agent Ali Soufan and learns more about the CIA's interrogation program, particularly regarding Abu Zubaydah. The interrogation of Abu Zubaydah is shown, contrasting the FBI's approach with the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques. Bernadette is present as a witness. Soufan says they kept Zubaydah alive and gathered crucial intelligence in the days before the CIA took over the interrogations. The CIA disagreed on techniques and results.


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: Jones briefs Senator Feinstein in her office, providing the evidence from the CIA's own records proving that the CIA knew Zubaydah was not a high-ranking member of al-Qaeda, as they had falsely reported to the Department of Justice (DOJ). After the CIA told President Bush that Zubaydah was a key player, they received authorization in an August 2002 CIA memo to torture Zubaydah, making him the first detainee to be tortured.


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: Raymond Nathan, a physician assistant with the Office of Medical Services, secretly meets with Jones and tells him that he and others had wanted to leave the service because of the use of torture. He witnessed the waterboarding of Zubaydah, who almost drowned and who lost consciousness during the procedure. Nathan tells Jones that they were told by Director Jose Rodriguez to not put their complaints in writing.


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: Jones and April uncover the story of Gul Rahman, who died from hypothermia in 2002 after CIA interrogators left him chained to the ground overnight in a 36 °F (2 °C) cell. Jones meets with Feinstein and her staffer Marcy Morris to inform them about the CIA Inspector General's report of the incident. Jones also deduces that the National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice had been told to not inform the President about Office of Legal Counsel staffer John Yoo's 2002 memo containing narrower redefinitions of torture and enhanced interrogation techniques; President Bush only learned about it four years later in April 2006.


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: Jones finds the Panetta Review, a harshly critical internal CIA review of the EIT practices prepared in 2009 but never shared, among the files provided by the CIA. While watching TV at a bar after work, April, Julian, and Jones become discouraged as they watch a broadcast claiming that torture had yielded good intelligence and prevented terrorist attacks. Jones stays up all night to disprove the media's claims; the CIA's own records show that crucial information it claimed to have obtained by subjecting Khalid Sheikh Mohammad aka "KSM" to torture had already been obtained beforehand.


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: Through flashbacks, we see Mitchell and Jessen waterboard Mohammad in March 2003. Mitchell complains that when tortured, Muhammad lies to avoid more torture. Bernadette, who is witnessing from another room, admits they have a problem. Gretchen decides that the torture will continue. On April 21, 2004, President Bush denounces the use of torture on an address to the United Nations. Tenet, Bernadette, Mitchell, Jessen, Thomas Eastman, Jose Rodriguez, and John Rizzo meet to discuss how to respond. Jack Goldsmith, the OLC's new head, had repudiated and withdrawn the Torture Memos. Mitchell gives an impassioned speech in defense of his methods and Rodriguez has the program re-certified.


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: Jones finishes the 6,200-page report and the report is approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee, chaired by Senator Feinstein, on December 13, 2012, and sent to the CIA for final comments. However, two months later, John Brennan is sworn in as the new Director of the CIA. Brennan tells Jones and Senator Feinstein that he disagrees with many parts of the report and will not allow it to be published. Jones and Senator Feinstein sit down for a series of meetings with CIA representatives, who raise several objections to key findings in the report, such as the fact that the psychologists, Mitchell and Jessen, were unqualified to be offering advice on interrogation techniques, but were nevertheless paid $81 million of taxpayer money for their efforts.


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: Frustrated, Jones reveals some of the contents of the Panetta Review to Senator Mark Udall of the Intelligence Committee. Senator Udall confronts Caroline Krass during a December 17, 2013 Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Krass' nomination to the position of CIA General Counsel, stating that he "was more confident than ever of the accuracy of the committee's 6,300 page study," and was confident in its consistency with the CIA's internal reviews, thereby revealing the existence of the Panetta Review, and highlighting the fact that the CIA's protestations (against the Senate's report) directly contradict the conclusions of the CIA's own internal Panetta Review, which agrees with the report. Meanwhile, Jones, who is fearful that the CIA will attempt to destroy all copies of the Panetta Review like they destroyed the interrogation videotapes, secretly moves a copy of a portion of the review into a safe in the Senate Hart Building.


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: The CIA, humiliated by Udall's revelation, conducts a search of Jones' workspace in violation of the agreement between the Senate and the CIA and threatens to prosecute Jones for "stealing" the Panetta Review from the CIA's computers. Jones' lawyer, Cyrus Clifford, advises him that he does not have a legal problem, but a "sunlight" or transparency problem. Jones meets with a "New York Times" reporter (Matthew Rhys) and suggests he look into the CIA break-in and theft at the Senate Intelligence Committee's closed facilities. Jones is careful to provide the reporter with no details. When the "Times" article is published, Jones is called into a meeting with Morris and Senator Feinstein, who is visibly angry with him, but who ultimately makes a speech supporting him and formally accusing the CIA of unlawfully searching the Senate's computers in violation of the separation of powers. Brennan and the CIA are forced to back down.


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: Senator Feinstein tells Jones that she is prepared to publish a shorter summary of the report, but President Obama grants the CIA broad authority to redact Jones' report. Jones points out, to no avail, that the CIA's proposed heavy redactions make many of the revelations detailed in the report impossible to read or follow. Faced with unrelenting blocks to the report's publication, Jones meets in an underground parking lot with the "New York Times" national security reporter, but ultimately decides not to leak the report to the media.


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: The Republicans, most of whom oppose the release of the report, win control of the Senate in the November 2014 midterm elections, meaning the report will likely be buried forever come January 2015, when the new Congress is sworn in. Faced with this deadline, the Senate finally agrees to release the redacted report. Senator Feinstein gives a speech summarizing the report and its implications, which is followed by real-life footage of an impassioned speech in support of the report delivered by Senator John McCain, who was tortured by his captors as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War.


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: The film concludes with an epilogue, delivered through a series of intertitles, explaining that Jones left his job as a Senate staffer following the release of the report. It is also noted that no CIA officers were ever criminally charged in connection with the actions outlined in the report, that many were in fact promoted, and that one (an allusion to Gina Haspel) later became director of the Agency.


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: The project was announced in April 2018 with Scott Z. Burns directing and writing, and Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Jon Hamm and Jennifer Morrison signed on to star.


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: "PBS NewsHour"s Jeffrey Brown asked Burns on his motivation for making the controversial 2014 report on CIA torture into a movie. Both Burns' parents are psychologists and he found it "appalling" to learn from the Senate Intelligence Committee report, that "people had figured out a way to weaponize psychology", a profession that "exists to help people". Burns said that he and the film's producer Steven Soderbergh, felt it reflected well on the United States that the government allowed the report to be published. Soderbergh said that he did not know "that there's another country, other than maybe Canada or the U.K.", that "would have even allowed this kind of investigation."


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: Some of the people that appear in the film are composite characters, such as Bernadette, who bears some resemblance to Gina Haspel. Haspel oversaw the CIA black site in Thailand where Abu Zubaydah was tortured and would later manage to push her bosses to destroy the tapes of the torture. She was not, according to the Agency, in charge of the site during his interrogation.


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: The film began production on April 16, 2018, in New York with Tim Blake Nelson, Ben McKenzie, Matthew Rhys, Ted Levine and Michael C. Hall added to the cast the following month. In June 2018, Maura Tierney joined the cast. Originally set with a 50-day shooting schedule and $18 million budget, the allotted shooting days were cut to 26 and the final budget to $8 million.


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2019. Shortly after, Amazon Studios acquired distribution rights to the film. In October 2019, it appeared as a spotlight film at the Hamptons International Film Festival. It was scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on November 15, 2019, before being released on Amazon Prime Video two weeks later on November 29. It was previously scheduled for respective September 27 and October 11 releases.


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: Unlike its previous titles, Amazon did not publicly disclose theatrical gross of "The Report", leading "IndieWire" to estimate it grossed around $150,000 from 84 theaters in its opening weekend. The site wrote that "the response, so far as we can determine, are under the usual Amazon performance." Playing in just 60 theaters the following weekend, the film made an estimated $75,000.


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, ""The Report" draws on a dark chapter in American history to offer a sober, gripping account of one public servant's crusade for accountability." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Certain critics compared the movie to previous politics-centric dramas from the 1970s in contrast to more recently released works. For instance, "Variety" published by a piece by Owen Gleiberman labeling "The Report" as "at once gripping and eye-opening" in a way that made him think of "All the President's Men".


title: The Report (2019 film)

text: Human Rights First awarded the 2019 Sidney Lumet Award for Integrity in Entertainment to "The Report." The film also won the Cinema for Peace Award for most political film of the year in 2020.


title: Bikram Choudhury

text: Bikram Choudhury (born 1944) is an Indian-born American yoga guru, and the founder of Bikram Yoga, a form of hot yoga consisting of a fixed series of 26 postures practised in a hot environment of . The business became a success in the United States and then across the Western world, with a variety of celebrity pupils. His former wife Rajashree Choudhury assisted him in the yoga business.


title: Bikram Choudhury

text: In 2009, he began a series of copyright claims to protect the series of postures of Bikram Yoga; this was ultimately unsuccessful, and other studios continue to teach the series.


title: Bikram Choudhury

text: Choudhury was the subject of civil suits alleging sexual assault and discrimination against racial and sexual minorities. In 2017, a court awarded $7 million to his former lawyer, Minakshi Jafa-Bodden, who gained control of his yoga business when Choudhury fled to India without paying her. Since then he has continued to train yoga teachers outside the United States in countries including Spain and Mexico.


title: Bikram Choudhury

text: Bikram Choudhury was born in Calcutta, British India in 1944. He claimed to have begun studying yoga under Bishnu Charan Ghosh, and to have won the National India Yoga Championship for three consecutive years in his teens. However, the first ever Yoga competition in India took place in 1974, long after he had left the country. Recent evidence from interviews for the podcast series "30for30" on Choudhury (2018, ESPN) and from Jerome Armstrong's book, "Calcutta Yoga", have proven his claim of winning the National India Yoga Championships to be false and also that he did not start his training under Ghosh at the age of 5 but rather in 1962 when he was 18. His initial focus was on bodybuilding and massage. A few years later, during 1969, Bikram completed in six months his training on Asanas under Ghosh and other senior teachers, but he did not get the chance to finish his training on Pranayama (breathing exercises), Bandha (bodily locks) or Dhyāna (focused meditation) before Ghosh died in 1970.


title: Bikram Choudhury

text: Choudhury developed a 26-posture series, by piecing together existing sequences from over 500 poses and variations created by Ghosh, and put it into his signature series which takes about ninety minutes to perform. The heat in which Bikram Yoga is practiced is, according to Choudhury, meant to mimic the climate of India. Choudhury was closely associated with the United States's competitive yoga from its inception; the annual Bishnu Charan Ghosh Cup is named after his teacher.


title: Bikram Choudhury

text: In 1971, Choudhury emigrated to the United States and began to teach yoga. He opened his first studio in Los Angeles, teaching his own style of yoga. The author Brigid Delaney describes the atmosphere around him as "fawning": he was, she writes, treated reverentially, as if he were a guru, though he was a "braggart" openly boasting about the film stars he had taught and the money he had made. He was rude and insulting to students; in Netflix's 2019 documentary film, "" directed by Eva Orner, he uses abusive language and jeers at overweight pupils. The critic Adrian Horton writes that the film "visually synthesizes decades of archival footage with first-person testimony and filmed court depositions into a devastating portrait of an abusive narcissist protected from consequences by his own inflated cult of personality, wealth and professional power within the niche world of hot yoga."


title: Bikram Choudhury

text: All the same, Bikram Yoga expanded rapidly across the United States. In the 1990s, he began offering nine-week teacher certification courses, training thousands of instructors. Bikram Yoga studios were founded in many countries around the world. Choudhury taught celebrities such as the pop singers Madonna and Lady Gaga, and the footballer David Beckham, and claimed to have taught yoga to American presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.


title: Bikram Choudhury

text: From 2009, Choudhury claimed that the series of 26 postures of his yoga practice, Bikram Yoga, was under copyright and could not be taught or presented by anyone whom he had not authorized. Choudhury began making copyright claims on Bikram Yoga in 2012. In 2011 Choudhury started a lawsuit against Yoga to the People, a competing yoga studio founded by a former student and with a location near one of the Bikram Yoga studios in New York City. As a result of that lawsuit, the United States Copyright Office issued a clarification that yoga postures ("asanas") could not be copyrighted, and that Yoga to the People and others could continue to teach the series.


title: Bikram Choudhury

text: Choudhury has faced lawsuits alleging sexual harassment, assault, racism and homophobia. By January 2014, five women were suing Bikram Choudhury with allegations including sexual harassment and sexual assault. Two lawsuits accusing Bikram Choudhury of rape were filed in May 2013, with other counts of sexual battery, false imprisonment, discrimination, and harassment. One suit describes a cult-like atmosphere where members of Choudhury's inner circle help him find young women to assault. Another suit claims that Choudhury recruits volunteers from overseas who are "so in fear of defendant Bikram Choudhury's wrath that they will travel to the US and risk violating immigration laws in order to serve him." In 2016, Choudhury was ordered to pay a $6.5 million judgment for similar charges.


title: Bikram Choudhury

text: Minakshi Jafa-Bodden served as Head of Legal and International Affairs from Spring 2011 to March 13, 2013, when she was "abruptly and unlawfully terminated". During the two years that Jafa-Bodden worked closely with Choudhury, she was both the victim of and witness to Choudhury's "severe, ongoing, pervasive and offensive conduct" toward women, homosexuals, African Americans and other minorities. Bikram Yoga teacher Sarah Baughn filed a sexual harassment suit in March, just before Jafa-Bodden was fired. On January 25, 2016, a jury awarded Jafa-Bodden $924,500 against Choudhury in actual damages, finding that Choudhury acted with malice, oppression and fraud. On January 26, 2016, the jury awarded Jafa-Bodden an additional $6.4 million in punitive damages.


title: Bikram Choudhury

text: In May 2016, Choudhury returned to India where he began opening yoga studios. In October 2016, Choudhury's attorney stated that his client would not return to the United States to defend himself in person at the other pending court cases. In a late 2016 interview on "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel", Bikram responded to the accusations by asking, "Why would I have to harass women? People spend one million dollars for a drop of my sperm", and calling his accusers "trash" and "psychopaths".


title: Bikram Choudhury

text: In May 2017, a Los Angeles judge issued a warrant for Choudhury's arrest, on the grounds that he had fled the country without paying any of the $7 million owed to Jafa-Bodden in compensation and punitive damages. The "New York Daily News" reported that luxury vehicles and other items of Choudhury's had been moved out of state, and that a court order preventing him from moving any of his other possessions out of warehouses in Florida and Nevada had been issued.


title: Bikram Choudhury

text: Despite Choudhury's departure in disgrace, people continued to attend his teacher trainings, such as in Murcia, Spain and Acapulco, Mexico in 2019. The yoga teacher Jessamyn Stanley called it "bizarre" that people would still take his trainings after all the rape allegations against him.


title: Bikram Choudhury

text: After the broadcast of the Netflix 2019 documentary "Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator", multiple studios removed "Bikram Yoga" from their name and replaced it with the term "Hot Yoga" instead, while others chose to maintain it.


title: Bikram Choudhury

text: In 1984, Choudhury married Rajashree Choudhury, who assisted him in founding the United States Yoga Federation and the International Yoga Sports Federation (IYSF). She won the first National Yoga Championship held by the Yoga Federation of India in 1979, followed by four more consecutive years as National Yoga Champion. In December 2015, after 31 years of marriage, Rajashree filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce was finalized in May 2016. Rajashree was awarded the houses in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles, and some of his luxury cars, while he kept the apartment in Hawaii. The settlement indemnified Rajashree from financial responsibility in Bikram's pending (or possible future) lawsuits.


title: Aegean Airlines

text: Aegean Airlines S.A. ( "Aeroporía Aigaíou Anónimi Etairía", ) is the flag carrier airline of Greece and the largest Greek airline by total number of passengers carried, by number of destinations served and by fleet size. A Star Alliance member since June 2010, it operates scheduled and charter services from Athens and Thessaloniki to other major Greek destinations as well as to a number of European and Middle Eastern destinations. Its main hubs are Athens International Airport in Athens, Macedonia International Airport in Thessaloniki and Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus. It also uses other Greek airports as bases, some of which are seasonal. It has its head office in Kifisia, a suburb of Athens.


title: Aegean Airlines

text: On 21 October 2012, Aegean Airlines announced that it had struck a deal to acquire Olympic Air, and the buyout was approved by the European Commission a year later, on 9 October 2013. Both carriers continue to operate under separate brands. In addition, Aegean Airlines participated in the final stages of the tender for the privatization of Cyprus Airways, the national carrier of Cyprus. Following the bankruptcy of Cyprus Airways, Aegean Airlines established a hub at Larnaca Airport, thus initiating scheduled flights to and from the island to various destinations and filling the service gap created by the services termination of Cyprus Airways.


title: Aegean Airlines

text: Aegean Airlines was founded as Aegean Aviation in 1987. After it was acquired by Vasilakis Group in 1994, Aegean Aviation commenced VIP flights from Athens all over the world with wholly owned Learjet aircraft.


title: Aegean Airlines

text: Aegean's first commercial flights were in May 1999 from Athens to Heraklion, Crete and Thessaloniki with 2 new wholly owned British Aerospace Avro RJ100. In December 1999 Aegean acquired Air Greece. Since 2005, the airline has been in partnership with Lufthansa. In March 2006, Aegean Airlines also entered into a co-operation agreement with TAP Air Portugal. In December 2008, Aegean Airlines announced its co-operation with Brussels Airlines.


title: Aegean Airlines

text: In 2009, Aegean Airlines started codeshare agreements with BMI, Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa and TAP Air Portugal. On 26 May 2009, the Aegean Airlines' membership application was approved by the Chief Executive Board of Star Alliance. Aegean joined the alliance on 30 June 2010.


title: Aegean Airlines

text: In February 2010, initial shareholder discussions took place to consider co-operation between Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air fueling rumours of a possible merger. On 22 February 2010, Olympic Air and Aegean Airlines announced that they agreed to a merger. The newly merged airline was to carry the Olympic brand name and logo, after a transition period in which both airline brands would be used in parallel. The Aegean brand would cease to exist after the transition period. It was expected that the merger would be finalised and the combined airline would begin operation by October 2010.


title: Aegean Airlines

text: Aegean joined Star Alliance at the end of June 2010. The intent was for the merged carrier to be a Star Alliance member, despite the fact that Olympic Air was forging ties with SkyTeam pre-merger. Star Alliance welcomed the proposed merger, releasing a statement stating "The integration teams from both sides will soon meet to assess the necessary steps, in order to guarantee a smooth transition of the merged Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air operations into the Star Alliance network".


title: Aegean Airlines

text: On 26 January 2011, the European Commission blocked the merger between the two airlines, citing anti-competition concerns. The commission stated that the merger would have created a "quasi-monopoly" in Greece's air transport market, with the combined airline controlling more than 90% of the Greek domestic air transport market. The EC further stated its belief that the merger would lead to higher fares for four of the six million Greek and European passengers flying to and from Athens each year, with no realistic prospects that a new airline of sufficient size would enter the market to restrain the merged airline's pricing. Additionally, commissioner Joaquin Almunia stated that the merger would have led to higher prices and lower quality of service for Greeks and tourists traveling between Athens and the islands. Both carriers offered remedies in an attempt to ease concerns, though the EU believed that they would not be enough to protect travelers adequately and ease competition concerns. One of the remedies offered by the airlines included ceding takeoff and landing slots at Greek airports, though the commission noted that Greek airports do not suffer from the congestion observed at other European airports in previous airline mergers or alliances.


title: Aegean Airlines

text: On 21 October 2012 Aegean Airlines announced that it had struck a deal to acquire Olympic Air, pending approval by the European Commission. On 23 April 2013, the European Commission issued a press release announcing it was starting an in-depth investigation into the proposed acquisition of Olympic Air by Aegean Airlines and announcing that the Commission will have decided by 3 September 2013. On 13 August 2013 it was published in the Greek media that the final decision had been delayed until 16 October 2013. The merger was approved by the European Commission on 9 October 2013 citing that "due to the on-going Greek crisis and given Olympic's own very difficult financial situation, Olympic would be forced to leave the market soon in any event".


title: Aegean Airlines

text: On 1 February 2014 Aegean Airlines took over every non-Public Service Obligation route that was previously operated by Olympic Air.


title: Aegean Airlines

text: the airline is owned by Theodoros Vassilakis (34.17% - 23.6% via Evertrans S.A. and 9.46% via Autοhellas S.A.), Alnesco Enterprises Company Limited (9.48%), Siana Enterprises Company Limited (9.48%), Konstantakopoulos Achilleas (6.39%).


title: Aegean Airlines

text: In 2009, Aegean Airlines carried 6.6 million passengers surpassing its then-rival Olympic Airlines (5.2 million passengers) for the first time. Losses were incurred 2010–2012, amidst the economic crisis for Greek tourism and the economy in general; passengers carried fell to 6.1 million, although the load factor increased to 74.3%. The group returned to profit in 2013, with further growth from 2014 with the takeover of Olympic Airways operations.


title: Aegean Airlines

text: Recent business trends for the group are shown below (for year ending 31 December; figures from 2014 onward include Olympic Airways):


title: Aegean Airlines

text: During the summer season, Aegean Airlines operates several A320s, performing charter services in association with major tour operators. The charter flights connect popular holiday destinations in Greece to Italy, France, United Kingdom, Poland, Israel, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Hungary, Ukraine and other countries. In recent years, they have also operated charter flights for football fixtures, for example, when the Greece national football team is playing abroad.


title: Aegean Airlines

text: In addition to the aircraft above, Aegean Airlines also operates a Learjet 60. The aircraft is used for the provision of VIP services and executive travel, in a non-scheduled flight basis.


title: Aegean Airlines

text: In its history, the airline has so far made two strategic moves concerning its fleet. The first was meant to withdraw all turboprop planes from the fleet, which was accomplished in May 2004. In December 2005, the carrier placed an order for eight Airbus A320s.