title: He Jiankui affair

text: The first clinical trials of CRISPR-Cas9 for the treatment of genetic blood disorders was started in August 2018. The study was jointly conducted by CRISPR Therapeutics, a Swiss-based company, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals, headquartered in Boston. The result was first announced on 19 November 2019 which states that the first two patients, one with β-thalassemia and the other with sickle cell disease, were treated successfully. Under the same project, a parallel study on 6 individuals with sickle cell disease was also conducted at Harvard Medical School, Boston. In both studies, the gene involved in blood cell formation "BCL11A" was modified in the bone marrow extracted from the individuals. Both the studies were simultaneously published in "The" "New England Journal of Medicine" on 21 January 2021 in two papers. The individuals have not complained the symptoms and needed blood transfusion normally required in such disease, but the method is arduous and poses high risk of infection in the bone marrow, to which David Rees at King's College Hospital commented, "Scientifically, these studies are quite exciting. But it’s hard to see this being a mainstream treatment in the long term."


title: He Jiankui affair

text: In June 2019, Denis Rebrikov at the Kulakov National Medical Research Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology in Moscow announced through "Nature" that he was planning to repeat He's experiment once he got official approval from the Russian Ministry of Health and other authorities. Rebrikov asserted that he would use safer and better method than that of He, saying, "I think I'm crazy enough to do it." In a subsequent report on 17 October, Rebrikov said that he was approached by a deaf couple for help. He already started "in vitro" experiment to repair a gene that causes deafness, "GJB2", using CRISPR.


title: He Jiankui affair

text: In 2019, the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania in US announced the use of the CRISPR technology to edit cancer genes in humans, and the results of the phase I clinical trial in 2020. The study started in 2018 with an official registration in the US clinical trials registry. The report in the journal "Science" indicates three individuals in their 60s with advanced refractory cancer, two of them with the blood cancer (multiple myeloma) and one with tissue cancer (sarcoma), were treated with their own cancer cells after CRISPR editing. The experiment was based on CAR T-cell therapy by which the T cells, obtainted from the individuals were removed of three genes involved in cancer and were added a gene "CTAG1B" that produces an antigen NY-ESO-1. When the edited cells were introduced back into the individuals, the antigens attack the cancer cells. Although the results were acclaimed as the first "success of gene editing and cell function" in cancer research and "an important milestone in the development and clinical application of gene-edited effector cell therapy," it was far from curing the diseases. One died after the clinical trial, and the other two had recurrent cancer.


title: He Jiankui affair

text: A similar clinical trial was reported by a team of Chinese scientists at the Sichuan University and their collaborators in 2020 in "Nature Medicine". Here they removed only one gene ("PDCD1" that produces the protein PD-1) in the T cells from 12 individuals having late-stage lung cancer. The study was found to be safe and effective. However, the edited T cells were not fully efficient and disappeared in most individuals, indicating that the treatments were not completely successful.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: The Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) is one of the three species of orangutans. Critically Endangered, and found only in the north of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, it is rarer than the Bornean orangutan but more common than the recently identified Tapanuli orangutan, also found in Sumatra. Its common name is based on two separate local words, ""orang"" ("people" or "person") and ""hutan"" ("forest"), derived from Malay, and translates as 'person of the forest'.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: Male Sumatran orangutans grow to about tall and , while females are smaller, averaging and . Compared to the Bornean species, Sumatran orangutans are thinner and have longer faces; their hair is longer with a paler red color.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: Compared with the Bornean orangutan, the Sumatran orangutan tends to be more frugivorous and especially insectivorous. Preferred fruits include figs and jackfruits. It will also eat bird eggs and small vertebrates. Sumatran orangutans spend far less time feeding on the inner bark of trees.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: Wild Sumatran orangutans in the Suaq Balimbing swamp have been observed using tools. An orangutan will break off a tree branch that is about a foot long, snap off the twigs and fray one end with its teeth. The orangutan will use the stick to dig in tree holes for termites. They will also use the stick to poke a bee's nest wall, move it around and catch the honey. In addition, orangutans use tools to eat fruit. When the fruit of the "Neesia" tree ripens, its hard, ridged husk softens until it falls open. Inside are seeds that the orangutans enjoy eating, but they are surrounded by fiberglass-like hairs that are painful if eaten. Tools are created differently for different uses. Sticks are often made longer or shorter depending on whether they will be used for insects or fruits. If a particular tool proves useful, the orangutan will often save it. Over time, they will collect entire "toolboxes". A "Neesia"-eating orangutan will select a five-inch stick, strip off its bark, and then carefully collect the hairs with it. Once the fruit is safe, the ape will eat the seeds using the stick or its fingers. Although similar swamps can be found in Borneo, wild Bornean orangutans have not been seen using these types of tools.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: NHNZ filmed the Sumatran orangutan for its show "Wild Asia: In the Realm of the Red Ape"; it showed one of them using a simple tool, a twig, to pry food from difficult places. There is also a sequence of an animal using a large leaf as an umbrella in a tropical rainstorm.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: As well as being used as tools, tree branches are a means of transportation for the Sumatran orangutan. The orangutans are the heaviest mammals to travel by tree, which makes them particularly susceptible to the changes in arboreal compliance. To deal with this, their locomotion is characterized by slow movement, long contact times, and an impressively large array of locomotors postures. Orangutans have even been shown to utilize the compliance in vertical supports to lower the cost of locomotion by swaying trees back and forth and they possess unique strategies of locomotion, moving slowly and using multiple supports to limit oscillations in compliant branches, particularly at their tips.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: The Sumatran orangutan is also more arboreal than its Bornean cousin; this could be because of the presence of large predators, like the Sumatran tiger. It moves through the trees by quadrumanous locomotion and semibrachiation.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: As of 2015, the Sumatran orangutans species only has approximately 7,000 remaining members in its population. The World Wide Fund for Nature is thus carrying out attempts to protect the species by allowing them to reproduce in the safe environment of captivity. However, this comes at a risk to the Sumatran orangutan's native behaviors in the wild. While in captivity, the orangutans are at risk to the "Captivity Effect": animals held in captivity for a prolonged period will no longer know how to behave naturally in the wild. Being provided with water, food, and shelter while in captivity and lacking all the challenges of living in the wild, captive behaviour becomes more exploratory in nature.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: A repertoire of 64 different gestures in use by orangutans has been identified, 29 of which are thought to have a specific meaning that can be interpreted by other orangutans the majority of the time. Six intentional meanings were identified: Affiliate/Play, Stop action, Look at/Take object, Share food/object, Co-locomote and Move away. Sumatran orangutans do not use sounds as part of their communication, which includes a lack of audible danger signals, but rather base their communication on gestures alone.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: The Sumatran orangutan has five stages of life that are characterized by different physical and behavioral features. The first of these stages is infancy, which lasts from birth to around 2.5 years of age. The orangutan weighs between 2 and 6 kilograms. An infant is identified by light pigmented zones around the eyes and muzzle in contrast to darker pigmentation on the rest of the face as well as long hairs that protrude outward around the face. During this time, the infant is always carried by the mother during travel, it is highly dependent on the mother for food, and also sleeps in the mother's nest. The next stage is called juvenile-hood, and takes place between 2.5 and 5 years of age. The orangutan weighs between 6 and 15 kilograms, and does not look dramatically different from an infant. Although it is still mainly carried by the mother, a juvenile will often play with peers and make small exploratory trips within the vision of the mother. Towards the end of this stage, the orangutan will stop sleeping in the mother's nest and will build its own nest nearby. From the ages of 5 to 8 years of age, the orangutan is in an adolescent stage of life. The orangutan weighs around 15–30 kilograms. The light patches on the face start to disappear, and eventually the face becomes completely dark. During this time, orangutans still have constant contact with their mothers, yet they develop a stronger relationship with peers while playing in groups. They are still young and act with caution around unfamiliar adults, especially males. At 8 years of age, female orangutans are considered fully developed and begin to have offspring of their own. Males, however, enter a stage called sub-adulthood. This stage lasts from 8 to around 13 or 15 years of age, and the orangutans weigh around 30 to 50 kilograms. Their faces are completely dark, and they begin to develop cheek flanges. Their beard starts to emerge, while the hair around their face shortens, and instead of pointing outwards the face flattens along the skull. This stage marks sexual maturity in males, yet these orangutans are still socially undeveloped and will still avoid contact with adult males. Finally, male Sumatrans orangutans reach adulthood at 13 to 15 years of age. They are extremely large animals, weighing between 50 and 90 kilograms, roughly the weight of a fully grown human. They have a fully grown beard, fully developed cheek callosities, and long hair. These orangutans have reached full sexual and social maturity and now only travel alone.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: Female Sumatran orangutans typically live 44–53 years in the wild, while males have a slightly longer lifespan of 47–58 years. Females are able to give birth up to 53 years of age, based on studies of menopausal cycles. Both males and females are usually considered healthy even at the end of their lifespans and can be identified as such by the regular abundance of hair growth and robust cheek pads.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: The Sumatran orangutan is more social than its Bornean counterpart; groups gather to feed on the mass amounts of fruit on fig trees. The Sumatran orangutan community is best described as loose, not showing social or spatial exclusivity. Groups generally consist of female clusters and a preferred male mate. However, adult males generally avoid contact with other adult males. Subadult males will try to mate with any female, although mostly unsuccessfully, since mature females are easily capable of fending them off. Mature females prefer to mate with mature males. Usually, there is a specific male in a group that mature females will exhibit preference for. Male Sumatran orangutans sometimes have a delay of many years in the development of secondary sexual characteristics, such as cheek flanges and muscle mass.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: Males exhibit bimaturism, whereby fully flanged adult males and the smaller unflanged males are both capable of reproducing, but employ differing mating strategies to do so.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: The average interbirth rates for the Sumatran orangutan is 9.3 years, the longest reported among the great apes, including the Bornean orangutan. Infant orangutans will stay close to their mothers for up to three years. Even after that, the young will still associate with their mothers. Both the Sumatran and Bornean orangutans are likely to live several decades; estimated longevity is more than 50 years. The average of the first reproduction of "P. abelii" is around 15.4 years old. There is no indication of menopause.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: Nonja, thought to be the world's oldest orangutan in captivity or the wild at the time of her death, died at the Miami MetroZoo at the age of 55. Puan, an orangutan at Perth Zoo, is believed to have been 62 years old at the time of her death, making her the oldest recorded orangutan. The current oldest orangutan in the world is believed to be Bella, a female orangutan at the Hagenbeck Zoo, who is 61 years of age.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: Sumatran orangutans are primarily frugivores, favoring fruits consisting of a large seed and surrounded by a fleshy substance, such as durians, lychees, jackfruit, breadfruit, and fig fruits. Insects are also a huge part of the orangutan's diet; the most consumed types are ants, predominantly of the genus "Camponotus" (at least four species indet.). Their main diet can be broken up into five categories: fruits, insects, leaf material, bark and other miscellaneous food items. Studies have shown that orangutans in the Ketambe area in Indonesia ate over 92 different kinds of fruit, 13 different kinds of leaves, 22 sorts of other vegetable material such as top-sprouts, and pseudo-bulbs of orchids. Insects included in the diet are numbered at least 17 different types. Occasionally soil from termite mounds were ingested in small quantities. When there is low ripe fruit availability, Sumatran orangutans will eat the meat of the slow loris, a nocturnal primate. Water consumption for the orangutans was ingested from natural bowls created in the trees they lived around. They even drank water from the hair on their arms when rainfall was heavy.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: Meat-eating happens rarely in Sumatran orangutan, and orangutans do not show a male bias in meat-eating. Research in the Ketambe area reported cases of meat-eating in wild Sumatran orangutans, of which nine cases were of orangutans eating slow lorises. The research shows, in the most recent three cases of slow lorises eaten by Sumatran orangutan, a maximum mean feeding rate of the adult orangutan for an entire adult male slow loris is 160.9 g/h and, of the infant, 142.4 g/h. No cases have been reported during mast years, which suggests orangutans take meat as a fallback for the seasonal shortage of fruits; preying on slow loris occurs more often in periods of low fruit availability. Similar to most primate species, orangutans appear to only share meat between mother and infants.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: Orangutans have 48 chromosomes. The Sumatran orangutan genome was sequenced in , based on a captive female named Susie. Following humans and chimpanzees, the Sumatran orangutan has become the third extant hominid species to have its genome sequenced.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: The researchers also published less complete copies from ten wild orangutans, five from Borneo and five from Sumatra. The genetic diversity was found to be lower in Bornean orangutans ("Pongo pygmaeus") than in Sumatran ones ("Pongo abelii"), despite the fact that Borneo is home to six or seven times as many orangutans as Sumatra. The comparison has shown these two species diverged around 400,000 years ago, more recently than was previously thought. The orangutan genome also has fewer rearrangements than the chimpanzee/human lineage.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: Sumatrans encounter threats such as logging (both legal and illegal), wholesale conversion of forest to agricultural land and oil palm plantations, and fragmentation by roads. Oil companies use a method of deforestation to re-use land for palm oil. This land is taken from the forest in which Sumatran orangutans live. An assessment of forest loss in the 1990s concluded that forests supporting at least 1,000 orangutans were lost each year within the Leuser Ecosystem alone.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: As of 2017, approximately 82.5% of the Sumatran orangutan population was strictly confined to the northernmost tip of the island, in the Aceh Province. Orangutans are rarely, if ever, found south of the Simpang Kanan River on Sumatra's west side or south of the Asahan River on the east side. The Pakpak Barat population in particular is the only Sumatran population predicted to be able to sustain orangutans in the long run, given the current effects of habitat displacement and human impact.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: While poaching generally is not a huge problem for the Sumatrans, occasional local hunting does decrease the population size. They have been hunted in the Northern Sumatra in the past as targets for food; although deliberate attempts to hunt the Sumatrans are rare nowadays, locals such as the Batak people are known to eat almost all vertebrates in their area. Additionally, the Sumatrans are treated as pests by Sumatran farmers, becoming targets of elimination if they are seen damaging or stealing crops. For commercial aspects, hunts for both dead or live specimens have also been recorded as an effect of the demand by European and North American zoos and institutions throughout the 20th century.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: Sumatran orangutans have developed a highly functioning cardiovascular system. However, with this development of hugely improved air sacs in their lungs, air sacculitis has become more prevalent among orangutans in this species. Air sacculitis is similar to streptococcal infection, e.g. strep throat in "Homo sapiens". The bacterial infection is becoming increasing common in captive orangutans, due to the fact that they are exposed to the human strain of "Streptococcus" in captivity. At first, both strains are treated and cured with antibiotics along with rest. Yet, in 2014, a Sumatran orangutan, ten years in captivity, was the first of its species to die from "Streptococcus anginosus". This remains the only known case, but raises the question of why the known human cure for "Streptococcus" was ineffective in this case.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: The Sumatran orangutan is endemic to the north of Sumatra. In the wild, Sumatran orangutans only survive in the province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD), the northernmost tip of the island. The primate was once more widespread, as they were found farther to the south in the 19th century, such as in Jambi and Padang.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: There are small populations in the North Sumatra province along the border with NAD, particularly in the Lake Toba forests. A survey in the Lake Toba region found only two inhabited areas, Bukit Lawang (defined as the animal sanctuary) and Gunung Leuser National Park. Bukit Lawang is a jungle village, 90 kilometers northwest of Medan, situated at the eastern side of Gunung Leuser National Park. An orangutan sanctuary was set up here by a Swiss organisation in the 1970s to attempt to rehabilitate orangutans captured from the logging industry. The rangers were trained to teach the orangutans vital jungle skills to enable them to reintegrate into the forest, and provided additional supplementary food from a feeding platform. However, within the last few years supplementary feeding has ceased as the orangutan rehabilitation program has been deemed a success, the orangutans having been fully rehabilitated, and the jungle (or the remaining part of) is now at saturation point, so the sanctuary no longer accepts new orphaned orangutans.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: The species has been assessed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2000. From 2000-2008 it was considered one of "The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates."


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: A survey published in March 2016 estimates a population of 14,613 Sumatran orangutans in the wild, doubling previous population estimates. A survey in 2004 estimated that around 7,300 Sumatran orangutans still live in the wild. The same study estimates a 20,552 km occupied area for the Sumatran orangutans, of which only an approximate area range of 8,992 km harbors permanent populations. Some of them are being protected in five areas in Gunung Leuser National Park; others live in unprotected areas: northwest and northeast Aceh block, West Batang Toru river, East Sarulla and Sidiangkat. A successful breeding program has been established in Bukit Tiga Puluh National Park in Jambi and Riau provinces.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: Two strategies that are recently being considered to conserve this species are 1) rehabilitation and reintroduction of ex-captive or displaced individuals and 2) the protection of their forest habitat by preventing threats such as deforestation and hunting. The former was determined to be more cost efficient for maintaining the wild orangutan populations, but comes with longer time scale of 10–20 years. The latter approach has better prospects for ensuring long-term stability of populations. This type of habitat conservation approach has been pursued by the World Wide Fund for Nature, who joined forces with several other organizations to stop the clearing of the biggest part of remaining natural forest close to the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: In addition to the above extant wild populations, a new population is being established in the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park (Jambi and Riau Provinces) via the re-introduction of confiscated illegal pets. This population currently numbers around 70 individuals and is reproducing. However it has been concluded that forest conservation costs twelve times less than reintroducing orangutans into the wild, and conserves more biological diversity.


title: Sumatran orangutan

text: Orangutans have large home ranges and low population densities, which complicates conservation efforts. Population densities depend to a large degree on the abundance of fruits with soft pulp. Sumatran orangutan will commute seasonally between lowland, intermediate, and highland regions, following fruit availability. Undisturbed forests with broader altitudinal range can thus sustain larger orangutan populations; conversely, the fragmentation and extensive clearance of forest ranges breaks up this seasonal movement. Sumatra currently has one of the highest deforestation rates in the world.


title: The Celebrity Apprentice

text: The Celebrity Apprentice is an American television reality competition series. It was a variation of "The Apprentice" series, hosted by then real estate developer (later 45th president of the United States) Donald Trump from 2008 to 2015, and actor and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger from January to August 2017, when it was canceled.


title: The Celebrity Apprentice

text: Like its precursor, the show's opening theme song is "For the Love of Money" by The O'Jays. Unlike its precursor, "Celebrity Apprentice" consists of celebrities as competing apprentices rather than unknowns. Some of the celebrities featured are contemporary while others have been out of the public eye for some time. They compete to win money for a charitable organization of their choice, and come from various mass media fields, including radio and television and professional sport.


title: The Celebrity Apprentice

text: "The Celebrity Apprentice" was linked in seasons to its precursor TV show, "The Apprentice", which consisted of seasons one to six and season ten. "The Celebrity Apprentice" consists of seasons seven to nine and eleven to fifteen.


title: The Celebrity Apprentice

text: The format of "The Celebrity Apprentice" followed that of the original "The Apprentice", outside of housing arrangements; there was no communal living space, and celebrities were not required to live in the city during filming, allowing them to maintain their own appearance schedule which may have caused them to miss out on tasks at times. The two teams were given separate suites near the boardroom which they can use for planning and other activities related to the tasks.


title: The Celebrity Apprentice

text: Additionally, the celebrities as contestants were not vying for a job, but instead each had selected a charity for which they were playing. The winner of each season got a large donation made to that charity by the host, but in addition, winning project managers may also have received additional charity money by winning a task, either as a fixed amount set by the host and/or a participating business, or by the total charitable take they made on the task. The host also had discretion to provide charity funds to eliminated celebrities as a consolation prize.


title: The Celebrity Apprentice

text: On July 6, 2007, it was announced that "The Apprentice" had been renewed for a seventh season, with a possibility of an eighth. In an effort to revitalize interest in the series, season seven featured celebrities playing the game to raise money for charities, going under the name "The Celebrity Apprentice" as opposed to continuing under "The Apprentice" format. British tabloid editor Piers Morgan was declared the winner of that season. On January 28, 2008, NBC confirmed that season eight would feature celebrities playing the game to raise money for charity. That season premiered in March 2009, and resulted in a win for comedian Joan Rivers.


title: The Celebrity Apprentice

text: Season three of "The Celebrity Apprentice" aired in the spring of 2010, and was won by musician Bret Michaels.


title: The Celebrity Apprentice

text: On March 17, 2010, NBC officially stated that a new season of the original "Apprentice" would be brought back, with the explanation that regular working people would again attract audiences in light of the damaged U.S. economy. That season premiered September 16, 2010. This time the ratings were low, and both Trump and Producer Mark Burnett returned to the 'Celebrity' format, which saw John Rich win in season four. In season five, late night host Arsenio Hall won. In season six, the first all-star season took place, bringing back 14 of the most memorable celebrities to compete for the first title of the All-Star Celebrity Apprentice, which country singer Trace Adkins won. In season seven, Donald Trump returned the show to the regular "Celebrity Apprentice" format; TV anchor and talk show host Leeza Gibbons won the season.


title: The Celebrity Apprentice

text: After Trump announced his intentions to run for President of the United States in the 2016 election in 2015, NBC began to re-evaluate their business relationship with Trump and whether he could still be host of "The Apprentice" series. NBC stated that they opted to sever their business ties with Trump following "derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants" in June 2015, and began seeking a new host for the show. However, Trump stated that it was his decision to end the relationship with NBC "out of respect", even though he had been approached by Burnett and NBC to host two more seasons of the show just prior to his presidential bid. In an April 2016 interview, Trump revealed he earned about $213 million from the show over its 14 seasons.


title: The Celebrity Apprentice

text: In September 2015, NBC announced that actor and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger would become the new host of "The Celebrity Apprentice" to premiere during the 2016–17 television season. The rebooted series, "The New Celebrity Apprentice" first broadcast on January 2, 2017. Trump will remain credited as an Executive Producer to the show, including what is estimated as a five-figure per-show fee as well as ongoing profits from the franchise through MGM, the production entity for the show.


title: The Celebrity Apprentice

text: On March 3, 2017, NBC announced that Arnold Schwarzenegger stepped down as host of "The Celebrity Apprentice", leaving the show's future up in the air. Schwarzenegger cited poor ratings as well as his feud with President Trump as factors in his decision.


title: The Celebrity Apprentice

text: "Note": Given that the show is a sequel television series, the below "statistics by season" chart is a continuation from its precursor's (The Apprentice) "statistics by season" chart. Note as well that season 10 is omitted from the chart below as the show reverted to The Apprentice for that season.


title: Hydrology

text: Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is called a hydrologist. Hydrologists are scientists studying earth or environmental science, civil or environmental engineering, and physical geography. Using various analytical methods and scientific techniques, they collect and analyze data to help solve water related problems such as environmental preservation, natural disasters, and water management.


title: Hydrology

text: Hydrology subdivides into surface water hydrology, groundwater hydrology (hydrogeology), and marine hydrology. Domains of hydrology include hydrometeorology, surface hydrology, hydrogeology, drainage-basin management, and water quality, where water plays the central role.


title: Hydrology

text: Oceanography and meteorology are not included because water is only one of many important aspects within those fields.


title: Hydrology

text: Hydrology has been subject to investigation and engineering for millennia. Ancient Egyptians were one of the first to employ hydrology in their engineering and agriculture, inventing a form of water management known as basin irrigation. Mesopotamian towns were protected from flooding with high earthen walls. Aqueducts were built by the Greeks and Romans, while history shows that the Chinese built irrigation and flood control works. The ancient Sinhalese used hydrology to build complex irrigation works in Sri Lanka, also known for the invention of the Valve Pit which allowed construction of large reservoirs, anicuts and canals which still function.


title: Hydrology

text: Marcus Vitruvius, in the first century BC, described a philosophical theory of the hydrologic cycle, in which precipitation falling in the mountains infiltrated the Earth's surface and led to streams and springs in the lowlands. With the adoption of a more scientific approach, Leonardo da Vinci and Bernard Palissy independently reached an accurate representation of the hydrologic cycle. It was not until the 17th century that hydrologic variables began to be quantified.


title: Hydrology

text: Pioneers of the modern science of hydrology include Pierre Perrault, Edme Mariotte and Edmund Halley. By measuring rainfall, runoff, and drainage area, Perrault showed that rainfall was sufficient to account for the flow of the Seine. Mariotte combined velocity and river cross-section measurements to obtain a discharge value, again in the Seine. Halley showed that the evaporation from the Mediterranean Sea was sufficient to account for the outflow of rivers flowing into the sea.


title: Hydrology

text: Advances in the 18th century included the Bernoulli piezometer and Bernoulli's equation, by Daniel Bernoulli, and the Pitot tube, by Henri Pitot. The 19th century saw development in groundwater hydrology, including Darcy's law, the Dupuit-Thiem well formula, and Hagen-Poiseuille's capillary flow equation.


title: Hydrology

text: Rational analyses began to replace empiricism in the 20th century, while governmental agencies began their own hydrological research programs. Of particular importance were Leroy Sherman's unit hydrograph, the infiltration theory of Robert E. Horton, and C.V. Theis' aquifer test/equation describing well hydraulics.


title: Hydrology

text: Since the 1950s, hydrology has been approached with a more theoretical basis than in the past, facilitated by advances in the physical understanding of hydrological processes and by the advent of computers and especially geographic information systems (GIS). (See also GIS and hydrology)


title: Hydrology

text: The central theme of hydrology is that water circulates throughout the Earth through different pathways and at different rates. The most vivid image of this is in the evaporation of water from the ocean, which forms clouds. These clouds drift over the land and produce rain. The rainwater flows into lakes, rivers, or aquifers. The water in lakes, rivers, and aquifers then either evaporates back to the atmosphere or eventually flows back to the ocean, completing a cycle. Water changes its state of being several times throughout this cycle.


title: Hydrology

text: The areas of research within hydrology concern the movement of water between its various states, or within a given state, or simply quantifying the amounts in these states in a given region. Parts of hydrology concern developing methods for directly measuring these flows or amounts of water, while others concern modeling these processes either for scientific knowledge or for making a prediction in practical applications.


title: Hydrology

text: Ground water is water beneath Earth's surface, often pumped for drinking water. Groundwater hydrology (hydrogeology) considers quantifying groundwater flow and solute transport. Problems in describing the saturated zone include the characterization of aquifers in terms of flow direction, groundwater pressure and, by inference, groundwater depth (see: aquifer test). Measurements here can be made using a piezometer. Aquifers are also described in terms of hydraulic conductivity, storativity and transmissivity. There are a number of geophysical methods for characterizing aquifers. There are also problems in characterizing the vadose zone (unsaturated zone).


title: Hydrology

text: Infiltration is the process by which water enters the soil. Some of the water is absorbed, and the rest percolates down to the water table. The infiltration capacity, the maximum rate at which the soil can absorb water, depends on several factors. The layer that is already saturated provides a resistance that is proportional to its thickness, while that plus the depth of water above the soil provides the driving force (hydraulic head). Dry soil can allow rapid infiltration by capillary action; this force diminishes as the soil becomes wet. Compaction reduces the porosity and the pore sizes. Surface cover increases capacity by retarding runoff, reducing compaction and other processes. Higher temperatures reduce viscosity, increasing infiltration.


title: Hydrology

text: Soil moisture can be measured in various ways; by capacitance probe, time domain reflectometer or Tensiometer. Other methods include solute sampling and geophysical methods.


title: Hydrology

text: Hydrology considers quantifying surface water flow and solute transport, although the treatment of flows in large rivers is sometimes considered as a distinct topic of hydraulics or hydrodynamics. Surface water flow can include flow both in recognizable river channels and otherwise. Methods for measuring flow once the water has reached a river include the stream gauge (see: discharge), and tracer techniques. Other topics include chemical transport as part of surface water, sediment transport and erosion.


title: Hydrology

text: One of the important areas of hydrology is the interchange between rivers and aquifers. Groundwater/surface water interactions in streams and aquifers can be complex and the direction of net water flux (into surface water or into the aquifer) may vary spatially along a stream channel and over time at any particular location, depending on the relationship between stream stage and groundwater levels.


title: Hydrology

text: In some considerations, hydrology is thought of as starting at the land-atmosphere boundary and so it is important to have adequate knowledge of both precipitation and evaporation. Precipitation can be measured in various ways: disdrometer for precipitation characteristics at a fine time scale; radar for cloud properties, rain rate estimation, hail and snow detection; rain gauge for routine accurate measurements of rain and snowfall; satellite for rainy area identification, rain rate estimation, land-cover/land-use, and soil moisture, for example.


title: Hydrology

text: Evaporation is an important part of the water cycle. It is partly affected by humidity, which can be measured by a sling psychrometer. It is also affected by the presence of snow, hail, and ice and can relate to dew, mist and fog. Hydrology considers evaporation of various forms: from water surfaces; as transpiration


title: Hydrology

text: from plant surfaces in natural and agronomic ecosystems. Direct measurement of evaporation can be obtained using Simon's evaporation pan.


title: Hydrology

text: Detailed studies of evaporation involve boundary layer considerations as well as momentum, heat flux, and energy budgets.


title: Hydrology

text: Remote sensing of hydrologic processes can provide information on locations where "in situ" sensors may be unavailable or sparse. It also enables observations over large spatial extents. Many of the variables constituting the terrestrial water balance, for example surface water storage, soil moisture, precipitation, evapotranspiration, and snow and ice, are measurable using remote sensing at various spatial-temporal resolutions and accuracies. Sources of remote sensing include land-based sensors, airborne sensors and satellite sensors which can capture microwave, thermal and near-infrared data or use lidar, for example.


title: Hydrology

text: In hydrology, studies of water quality concern organic and inorganic compounds, and both dissolved and sediment material. In addition, water quality is affected by the interaction of dissolved oxygen with organic material and various chemical transformations that may take place. Measurements of water quality may involve either in-situ methods, in which analyses take place on-site, often automatically, and laboratory-based analyses and may include microbiological analysis.


title: Hydrology

text: Observations of hydrologic processes are used to make predictions of the future behavior of hydrologic systems (water flow, water quality). One of the major current concerns in hydrologic research is "Prediction in Ungauged Basins" (PUB), i.e. in basins where no or only very few data exist.


title: Hydrology

text: By analyzing the statistical properties of hydrologic records, such as rainfall or river flow, hydrologists can estimate future hydrologic phenomena. When making assessments of how often relatively rare events will occur, analyses are made in terms of the return period of such events. Other quantities of interest include the average flow in a river, in a year or by season.


title: Hydrology

text: These estimates are important for engineers and economists so that proper risk analysis can be performed to influence investment decisions in future infrastructure and to determine the yield reliability characteristics of water supply systems. Statistical information is utilized to formulate operating rules for large dams forming part of systems which include agricultural, industrial and residential demands.


title: Hydrology

text: Hydrological models are simplified, conceptual representations of a part of the hydrologic cycle. They are primarily used for hydrological prediction and for understanding hydrological processes, within the general field of scientific modeling. Two major types of hydrological models can be distinguished:


title: Hydrology

text: Recent research in hydrological modeling tries to have a more global approach to the understanding of the behavior of hydrologic systems to make better predictions and to face the major challenges in water resources management.


title: Hydrology

text: Water movement is a significant means by which other materials, such as soil, gravel, boulders or pollutants, are transported from place to place. Initial input to receiving waters may arise from a point source discharge or a line source or area source, such as surface runoff. Since the 1960s rather complex mathematical models have been developed, facilitated by the availability of high-speed computers. The most common pollutant classes analyzed are nutrients, pesticides, total dissolved solids and sediment.


title: Rufus Buck Gang

text: The Rufus Buck Gang was an outlaw Native American gang whose members were Creek Indian and African American. Their crime spree took place in the Indian Territory of the Arkansas-Oklahoma area from July 30 1895 through August 4 of 1896.


title: Rufus Buck Gang

text: Formed by Rufus Buck, the gang consisted also of Lewis Davis, Sam Sampson, Maoma July, and Lucky Davis. The gang began building up a small stockpile of weapons while staying in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. After killing U.S. deputy marshal John Garrett on July 30, 1895, the gang began holding up various stores and ranches in the Fort Smith area during the next two weeks. In one incident, a salesman named Callahan – after being robbed – was offered a chance to escape if he could outrun the gang. When the elderly Callahan successfully escaped, the gang killed his assistant in frustration.


title: Rufus Buck Gang

text: Continuing attacks on both local settlers and Creek indiscriminately, the gang was captured outside Muskogee by a combined force of lawmen and Indian police of the Creek Light Horse, led by Marshal S. Morton Rutherford, on August 10. While the Creek wanted to hold the gang for trial, the men were brought before "Hanging" Judge Isaac Parker. He twice sentenced them to death, the first sentence not being carried out pending an ultimately unsuccessful appeal to the Supreme Court. They were hanged on July 1, 1896 at 1 pm at Fort Smith.


title: Rufus Buck Gang

text: A slightly modified account of the gang's crimes is the basis for the novel "Winding Stair" by Douglas C. Jones.


title: Rufus Buck Gang

text: The Buck gang, "Hanging Judge" Isaac Parker, half-black, half-Indian outlaw Cherokee Bill, and the socio-political environment at the death of Indian Territory are the subjects of the 2011 historical novel "I Dreamt I Was in Heaven - The Rampage of the Rufus Buck Gang" by Leonce Gaiter.


title: Rufus Buck Gang

text: The story of the gang served as an inspiration for the 2021 Western film "The Harder They Fall", in which Rufus Buck was portrayed by Idris Elba. The gang was also featured in the 2019 film "Hell on the Border".


title: Richie Ramone

text: Richard Reinhardt (born August 11, 1957) is an American drummer best known by his stage name Richie Ramone, and for being the drummer for the punk band the Ramones from February 1983 until August 1987. As of 2022, he is one of the four surviving members of the band (the others being Marky Ramone, Elvis Ramone, and C.J. Ramone).


title: Richie Ramone

text: Reinhardt joined the Ramones in February 1983 before the release of "Subterranean Jungle", and appeared in two music videos from that album, although he did not play on the record itself. In his first months with the group he broke the tradition of adopting the Ramones surname and instead performed under the stage name Richie Beau. However, by the time of his first recordings with the band he had switched to the name Richie Ramone. He played on the Ramones albums "Too Tough to Die", "Animal Boy" and "Halfway to Sanity" and appears on their compilation albums "Greatest Hits", "" and "Weird Tales of the Ramones", and on the Ramones live DVD "It's Alive 1974-1996". He penned the Ramones' hit song "Somebody Put Something in My Drink" which is included on the album "Ramones Mania", the first Ramones album to go gold, as well as "Smash You", "Humankind", "I'm Not Jesus", "I Know Better Now" and "(You) Can't Say Anything Nice". Richie's songs "I'm Not Jesus" and "Somebody Put Something in my Drink" have been covered by new generations of bands worldwide, notably by metal bands Children of Bodom and Behemoth.


title: Richie Ramone

text: Richie was the only drummer to sing lead vocals on a Ramones song, including "(You) Can't Say Anything Nice" and the unreleased 1985 demo "Elevator Operator" written by Joey Ramone, which also featured Joey's brother Mickey Leigh on guitar and Dave U. Hall on bass, both from The Rattlers, as well a multitude of Ramones demos. Joey said of Richie: "Richie's very talented and he's very diverse . . . He really strengthened the band a hundred percent because he sings backing tracks, he sings lead, and he sings with Dee Dee's stuff. In the past, it was always just me singing for the most part." Richie performed over 500 shows with the Ramones all over the world, including South America, where rabid Richie fans held up signs proclaiming "Richie" and "Drink", the latter referring to the song "Somebody put Something in my Drink" written by Richie.


title: Richie Ramone

text: The relationship of the Ramones members was often rocky, as documented in 22-year tour manager Monte Melnick's book, "On the Road with the Ramones", and Mickey Leigh's book, "I Slept with Joey Ramone". In the documentary "", Richie reveals that he had artistic differences with Johnny Ramone that escalated in the recording studio while Richie was remixing "Halfway to Sanity" at the late night request of Joey Ramone to fix the album. Johnny would also refuse to credit Richie for the remixes on the album and would not allow him to write more than one or two songs per album. However, Richie enjoyed close bonds with songwriter/bassist Dee Dee Ramone and Joey Ramone who stated, "[Richie] saved the band as far as I'm concerned. He's the greatest thing to happen to the Ramones. He put the spirit back in the band."


title: Richie Ramone

text: Richie left the band abruptly in August 1987 after financial conflicts with Johnny Ramone. Richie stated that he had asked for a small percentage of the merchandise income based on his tenure with the band and their use of his name and image, which he claimed Joey and Dee Dee was in favor of, but Johnny refused. Richie said that he never felt entitled to a large share as he was not a founding member, but that it was about being a part of the band rather than a hired hand and mentioned feeling left out on tours when the other members would go cash their merchandise checks. After leaving the Ramones, Richie remained friends with Dee Dee and worked on some of his solo recordings. He was briefly replaced by Clem Burke of Blondie and The Romantics fame, using the name Elvis Ramone. After Elvis played just two gigs, Richie's predecessor Marky Ramone rejoined the band and stayed until the band broke up in 1996. After Joey's passing in 2001, Richie was along with Tommy and C. J. the only Ramones to attend his funeral. Richie would later express sadness over not being able to reconnect with Joey before his death given their close friendship while in the band.


title: Richie Ramone

text: In September 2007, Richie filed a federal lawsuit titled "Reinhardt v. Wal-mart Stores, Inc. et al." in the Southern District of New York. He alleged that the copyright on the six tunes he wrote for the Ramones had been infringed when the band's management licensed the band's recordings for sale as digital downloads. The defendants were Wal-mart Stores, Inc., Apple, Inc., RealNetworks, Inc., Taco Tunes, Inc., Ramones Productions, Inc., Estate of John Cummings, Herzog & Strauss, and Ira Herzog (i.e., he was suing the band, its managers, its publishing company, and three leading sellers of digital downloads.) Judge Shira Scheindlin dismissed the case in May 2008, on the grounds that no copyright infringement had occurred, even though she acknowledged that there might be other unsettled issues between Richie Ramone and his former band. These issues were subsequently resolved and resulted in Richie Ramone obtaining full writing and publishing rights to the songs.


title: Richie Ramone

text: Richie is still involved with music, as a composer and instrumentalist. In August 2007, he debuted a classical composition entitled "Suite for Drums and Orchestra" (based on themes from "West Side Story") with the Pasadena Pops. Richie Ramone was both the featured soloist and the concerto's co-composer, a feat no other punk rock drummer had done before. The work was commissioned by Pops music director Rachael Worby and was met with acclaim by critics who noted that Richie "brought the audience to its feet after his faster-than-the-human-eye-can-follow drumming". Richie regularly plays at the annual "Joey Ramone Birthday Bash" with Joey's brother Mickey Leigh, including songs with Tommy Ramone before his passing in 2014. In 2011, the Ramones were awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Leigh invited Richie to give a short speech at the awards ceremony where Richie noted that it was the first time in history that all three Ramones drummers were gathered and mused that Joey would be proud of the Achievement Award. Richie would later be the only surviving Ramone to feature on the long-anticipated second Joey Ramone solo album "...Ya Know?," released in 2012.


title: Richie Ramone

text: In 2013, Richie Ramone signed with DC-Jam Records and released his first solo album, "Entitled", on October 8, 2013. "Billboard" debuted the LP's first single, "Criminal" and noted, "Back to holding the songwriting reins, Ramone's 12 freshest cuts aim to please fans of both rock and metal with its blend of barre chord-chugging simplicity and guitar hero virtuosity." Richie released his second solo album "Cellophane" in 2016. In 2018, Ritchie's autobiography, "I Know Better Now: My life before, during and after The Ramones", was published by Backbeat Books. The book was written with Peter Aaron. Richie continues to tour with his solo band and occasionally plays with former Ramones bassist C. J. Ramone.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: Presidential elections were held in Iran on 18 June 2021, the thirteenth since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979. Ebrahim Raisi, the then Chief Justice of Iran, was declared the winner in a highly controversial election. The election began with the mass disqualification of popular candidates by the Guardian Council, and broke records of the lowest turnout in Iranian electoral history (around 49%), as well as had the highest share of protest blank, invalid and lost votes (around 13%) despite a declaration by the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, considering protest voting religiously forbidden (haraam) as it would "weaken the regime." Reporters Without Borders reported 42 cases of journalists being summoned or threatened for writing about candidates, and the chief of the police threatened people who discouraged others to vote.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: The Guardian Council announced the approval of seven candidates after the wide disqualification of prominent candidates, including Ali Larijani, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (the former president of Iran), and Eshaq Jahangiri (the Incumbent first Vice President), among others, which provoked many activists and candidates to call for boycotting the election, including Ahmadinejad, who said that he would neither participate nor recognize the election. Hassan Rouhani, the incumbent Iranian president, could not run for re-election under the constitution of Iran as he had already served his maximum two consecutive terms.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: Considered a "show election" to elect the handpicked candidate of the Iranian Supreme Leader, the elections were the first in Iranian history in which the reported number of invalid ballots, 3.84 million, outnumbered every non-winning candidate; the second-placed Mohsen Rezaee received 3.44 million votes. The elections were widely described as "neither free nor fair", a "sham", and a "selection" by different international human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch and the Center for Human Rights in Iran, and others called for an investigation into Raisi's role as an overseer in the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: The President of Iran is elected for a four-year term by universal adult suffrage with a minimum voting age of 18. The presidential term is renewable once in a consecutive manner. It is the country's highest directly elected official, the chief of the executive branch, and the second most important position after the Supreme Leader. Under Iran's political system, the Supreme Leader holds much more power than the President.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: According to Islamic Republic of Iran's constitution, any Iranian citizen who believes in Shia Islam, loyal to the Constitution, the ideology of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist and the Islamic Republic can participate in election as a presidential candidate. An institution called the Election Monitoring Agency (EMA), managed by the Guardian Council vets registered candidates and selects a handful to run in the election.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: The Guardian Council does not publicly announce the reason for rejections of particular candidates, although those reasons are privately explained to each candidate. Women are not constitutionally restricted from running; however, all women who registered as candidates have been excluded from standing for election by the Guardian Council. "We have not rejected any woman due to being a woman", the spokesman of the Guardian Council said. He clarified that there is no obstacle for women's registration in the elections.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: Those approved by the Guardian Council are put to a public vote on the weekend. The winner is the candidate who receive a majority (50% plus one) votes. If no candidate receives enough votes another election is held between the two candidates with the most votes the following Friday. Iranians who voted during the election receive a stamp that indicate so on their birth certificates.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: According to the constitution, once the result is known, the Supreme Leader must sign the decree of the elected president, and if he refuses to sign, the elected president will not assume the presidency. So far, Supreme Leaders have always signed the decree of the elected president. After that, the elected president must recite and sign an oath in a session of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, in the presence of the members of the Guardian Council and the head of the Supreme Court. In the Oath, the elected President must swear that he will guard the official religion (Islam), protect the Constitution and the Islamic Republic, and that he will dedicate himself to the service of the nation, its people, and its religion (among other things).


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: Having a national identification number is required for voting. The identification number system was developed and programmed by the Telecommunication Company of Iran. 33,000 virtual ballot boxes are used.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: The election was held concurrently with city and village council elections. In some electoral districts and provinces midterm elections of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the Assembly of Experts were also held.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: 1170 billion toman (approximately US$277.4 million) was allocated in the national budget, of which 160 billion was allocated to the Guardian Council for oversight and supervision, and the rest (1010 billion) was for the Ministry of Interior, which actually runs the election.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: 234 polling places were set up in 133 countries so that Iranians abroad could vote. 3.5 million members of the Iranian diaspora were eligible to vote in the election. The Canadian government did not allow Iran to operate polling places in Canada.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: The Guardian Council is responsible for approving candidates who have registered to run. The Guardian Council disqualified over 600 applicants, including all the women who had registered, ultimately approving seven candidates, three of whom withdrew days before the election.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: The Interior Ministry released the official list of candidates qualified by the Guardian Council on 25 May 2021. The following seven candidates are approved by the council.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: Several candidates withdrew from the election, with three withdrawing after they had been approved by the Guardian Council. All the candidates who withdrew endorsed a candidate.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: The government had administered 4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, which is about 2.7% of the country’s population (82.91 million). Incumbent President Rouhani predicted that the virus breakout could affect voter turnout. The government has limited the maximum number of people allowed to gather at polling places.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: The Election Office vaccinated staff by obtaining vaccines meant for old people. Election staff are tested for COVID-19 with PCR tests.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: Raisi held a rally despite the pandemic according to the Associated Press. The hospitals were readied for a 5th wave of the pandemic.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: The Supreme Leader and the Friday Prayers Imam of Isfahan had declared that blank votes are considered haram, and not voting would be considered a major sin.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: The moderator asked every candidate different random questions, regarding economics, social and political, and people's issues. Additionally, 3 TV chats were televised, hosting 7 candidates.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: Hemmati opened his speech by criticizing the fact that women and minorities were refused the right to run in the election, described the four hardliners besides Raisi as "covering" candidates, indicating that they had only participated to be defenders of Raisi in the debate and asked them to swear that they would not drop out of the election in favour of Raisi. He accused Reza'i of sabotaging the incumbent moderate government of Iran's effort to join the anti-money-laundering organization FATF and asked him whether it would be sane to solve the economic problems of Iran by taking American hostages (as Reza'i had indicated in a previous controversial interview). He asked Ra'isi, the Chief Justice of Iran and almost certain next president of Iran, to be given a promise (or a "safe conduct") not to be prosecuted after the conclusion of the elections.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: Mehralizade, another moderate candidate, criticized Ra'isi for not having pursued an academic education besides having completed the six grades of school, and said that despite the respect he has for Ra'isi's Islamic Seminary Diploma, he does not believe that that is enough education for a person who wants to handle a country, and said that Ra'isi suffers from a "restless-position syndrome" (a humorous allusion to the "restless-hand syndrome" which is the Persian term for the Alien Hand Syndrome) for pursuing one high position after another. In response to this claim, Raisi asked Mehralizade "why are you jealous of my popularity among the people?".


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: Reza'i and Zakani, both hardliner candidates, accused Hemmati, the then Governor of the Iranian Central Bank, of having issued fiat money, and Zakani, in response to Hemmati's criticism of widespread rejection of candidates not aligned enough with the want of the Guardian Council, said "If those candidates had been approved, you would not be here".


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: Hypothetical polls were done before the Guardian Council had announced who is approved to run. Therefore, these polls include several candidates (like Ahmadinejad) who were disqualified and are therefore ineligible to run.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: These polls include all seven candidates who were approved by the Guardian Council. Note that Jalili, Mehralizadeh, and Zakani all withdrew after this poll was conducted.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: The ISPA (Iranian Students Polling Agency) is considered as one of the most reliable pollsters in Iran. They correctly predicted the results of the 2017 election. ISPA polls projected that Ebrahim Raisi was heavily favored to win the election.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: The declared results showed a total of 28,750,736 people cast votes (48.48% of the eligible population), including 18 million votes for the victor of the election, Ebrahim Raisi. Mohsen Rezai was the candidate receiving the most votes as a non-winner with 13.81% of the valid votes, although his votes were lower than the number of blank, invalid, or lost votes.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: The results of the election broke many national records. The lowest turnout in an Iranian election in four decades (since the 1979 Iranian Revolution) was recorded, the largest share of non-valid and non-received issued voted by far were recorded (13.1% of the votes were counted as invalid), the second being 2005's 4.2%, the first time in Iranian history that no non-winner was able to break the invalid voter threshold, and the first time only a minority of the electoral roll engaged in the election. In the capital city, Tehran, only around a fourth of the eligible population voted, including the cast invalid votes. In some other major cities, such as Arak, Hamadan, Karaj, and Ahvaz, the largest number of the concurrent municipal elections votes were the invalid ones.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: The exact number of votes each candidate received has not been yet released for every single Iranian province, though turnout for each is made public. The highest provincial turnout has gone to South Khorasan and the lowest one to Tehran, with around 74% and 34% respectively, and this figure does include the unusually large number of invalid/blank voters as voters. In some provinces with historically high turnouts, the figures underwent a sharp drop in this election, making voters in some large provinces into a minority (made bold here), while others lost big amounts of vote while still keeping the majority. Some examples are Tehran (66% to 34%), Alborz (80% to 41%), Yazd (93% to 58%), Qazvin (83% to 52%), Mazandaran (91% to 60%), and Isfahan (74% to 43.8%). Twelve provinces in total recorded a turnout below 50%, a figure which went to no province in the previous election.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: Because whether an adult has participated in the previous elections or not is recorded in his/her identity card and subsequently considered in job interviews and some other situations, a large number of people have historically chosen to boycott the election and get a stamp in the ID at the same time, by voting a protest vote (voting blank or jokingly voting for non-existent/comical characters or even carrying the ballot with them out of the polling station), contributing to a very large share of votes being invalid/non-received, a phenomenon that is much more pronounced in this election (around thirteen percent of the votes being invalid).


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: For this reason, the ratio of received valid votes to all issued ballots is occasionally calculated by some sources and compared together and/or to that of the previous elections. For example, Alborz province, which had a turnout figure close to 80% in the 2017 Iranian presidential election but fell to 41% in 2021, had only 48.79% of its votes being valid, which could mean that only around 20% of the eligible population of the province have voted, of which only a minority have voted for Raisi.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: Upon being declared the winner, Raisi was congratulated by three of his four competitors on 19 June, and president Rouhani paid a congratulatory visit to him that evening.


title: 2021 Iranian presidential election

text: Jamal Arf, the head of the Election Office, announced updated details of the results after gathering details of votes from 91 ballot boxes and departments monitoring the elections across the country. Per the updated results, Raisi received more than 18 million votes. Meanwhile, 100,231 invalid votes that were cast were not collected and thus kept out of the count. While 28,989,529 turned up for the election, only 28,750,736 cast their vote.


title: Rocka Rolla

text: Rocka Rolla is the debut studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 6 September 1974 by Gull Records. It was produced by Rodger Bain, who had made a name for himself as the producer of Black Sabbath's first three albums. It is the only album to feature drummer John Hinch.


title: Rocka Rolla

text: According to the band, the entire album was played live in the studio rather than having individual musicians record alone.


title: Rocka Rolla

text: According to the band there were technical problems in the studio, resulting in poor sound quality and a hiss through the album. Guitarist Glenn Tipton had just joined when recording of "Rocka Rolla" began; his only songwriting contributions accepted by producer Rodger Bain were on the title track and "Run of the Mill". He did come up with the songs "Tyrant", "Epitaph", and "Ripper", but Bain considered them not commercial enough and rejected them. Bain also rejected the concert staple "Whiskey Woman" which later, with contributions from Tipton, morphed into "Victim of Changes". These songs were eventually all included on their next album, "Sad Wings of Destiny". In addition, "Winter", "Deep Freeze" and "Winter Retreat" form a suite, but are listed as separate tracks and divided as such on some versions of the CD release.


title: Rocka Rolla

text: Several of the songs on the album feature contributions from the band's previous frontman Al Atkins and had been regular parts of their live performances in Manchester, where the band had achieved a cult following during the previous few years. The track "Caviar and Meths" was originally a 14-minute effort penned by Atkins, Downing, and Hill but due to time constraints, only the intro was recorded for the album. A longer version of the song appears on Atkins's 1998 album "Victim of Changes". That album also contains covers of "Winter" and "Never Satisfied".


title: Rocka Rolla

text: At this time, the band had not yet developed their signature look of leather and studs. They had appeared on British television show "The Old Grey Whistle Test" in 1975, performing "Rocka Rolla" and "Dreamer Deceiver", and their wardrobe was very "hippified" as journalist Malcolm Dome put it. This footage was included on the "Electric Eye" DVD. In addition, the album is more blues/hard rock oriented than their later releases, and also has some slight progressive rock influences that would continue through to "Stained Class", but to a lesser extent, and would be abandoned in later releases. This makes the album's style virtually unrecognizable when compared with later Priest albums, although "Rocka Rolla" does feature dual guitars, and "Run of the Mill" is the first song that was explicitly designed for Halford's, rather than Atkins', vocal range.


title: Rocka Rolla

text: Drummer John Hinch was dismissed in 1975 before the next record was recorded. Tipton would later refer to him as being "musically inadequate" for the band's future plans.


title: Rocka Rolla

text: The album was reissued several times over the years, and in 1984 it was issued with a different sleeve design. The original "bottle cap" album cover art was initially intended by designer John Pasche for use with an unspecified Rolling Stones album. The band had filed a lawsuit with the Coca-Cola company. The re-issue cover art (by artist Melvyn Grant, and originally used as the cover for the novel "The Steel Tsar") was also used for the US cover of "Ballistix" for the TurboGrafx-16 and Commodore Amiga.


title: Rocka Rolla

text: Most of the songs from "Rocka Rolla" have not been performed by Judas Priest live since the mid-late 1970s, although Halford's solo band performed "Never Satisfied" during live shows in 2003, and the same song was part of the setlist of the Epitaph World Tour. "Rocka Rolla" was performed for the first time since 1976 at Bloodstock Open Air in 2021.


title: Rocka Rolla

text: The tour for "Rocka Rolla" was Judas Priest's first international tour with dates in Germany, Holland, Norway and Denmark including one show at Hotel Klubben in Tønsberg, one hour from Oslo, Norway which scored them a somewhat negative review in the local press.


title: Rocka Rolla

text: The album was released to very little reception selling "only a few thousand copies". Because it flopped, the band found themselves in dire financial straits. In particular, they talked of nights in which they were starving and didn't know when they were going to get their next meal. They tried to enter into an agreement with Gull Records to pay them £50 a week, but Gull, which was also suffering economic woes, refused. In a retrospective review, AllMusic gave "Rocka Rolla" a rating of 2.5 out of five stars, and said that while it was a "sketchy and underfocused debut", the album "definitely hints at Judas Priest's potential and originality".


title: Rocka Rolla

text: The original UK LP has a longer version of "Rocka Rolla" than the version used for the US LP release, and most CD releases. It has an extra verse and chorus at the beginning of the song.


title: Rocka Rolla

text: The very rare first printing of the UK LP has the words ""Thanks for the words Al!"" printed last in the credits in the blue circle on the back cover. This, presumably a reference to original singer Al Atkins, has been removed on other versions of the Gull vinyl.


title: Rocka Rolla

text: On some versions of the CD release, "Rocka Rolla" is timed at 4:00 and "Winter" at 0:45, becoming a mashup but remaining on separate tracks. Some releases, e.g. "Hero, Hero" also combine "Winter", "Deep Freeze" and "Winter Retreat" into one track. The iTunes version combines those three plus "Cheater" into one track.


title: Rocka Rolla

text: The version of "Diamonds & Rust" that appears on the re-release is actually from the "Sad Wings of Destiny" sessions and not the version that appears on "Sin After Sin". It was probably included to provide interest in "Rocka Rolla", an album that would have been unknown to many of the band's fans due to the band not playing songs from it live after the 1970s.


title: Rocka Rolla

text: "Rocka Rolla" features Judas Priest's longest track, "Run of the Mill" (8:34), prior to "Cathedral Spires" (9:17) from "Jugulator" in 1997. It is also the longest track co-written by Halford, Downing and Tipton prior to "Lochness" (13:28) from "Angel of Retribution" in 2005.


title: It's Pony

text: It's Pony is a British animated television series created by Ant Blades that premiered on Nickelodeon in the United States on January 18, 2020. The series is storyboarded, designed, produced, and animated by Blue-Zoo Animation.


title: It's Pony

text: "It's Pony" follows the life of Annie as she does her best to cope in her parents' farm (located on the balcony of their apartment) to the everyday struggles of being a 9-year-old in the city. Luckily, she has a pony. He may not be the best pony, but he is hers and she loves him. Pony adores her as well, but his optimism and enthusiasm often lead to the pair in unexpected and unwanted situations.


title: It's Pony

text: The series originated from a short titled "Pony", created as part of the annual Nickelodeon Animated Shorts Program. On March 6, 2018, it was announced that Nickelodeon officially green-lit the series with a 20-episode order at Nickelodeon's 2018 upfront presentation. On December 9, 2019, it was announced that the series would premiere on January 18, 2020, with a teaser episode released online on December 26, 2019.


title: It's Pony

text: On July 9, 2020, the series was renewed for a second season of 20 episodes, which premiered on October 29, 2021.


title: National Merit Scholarship Program

text: The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and university scholarships administered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded, not-for-profit organization based in Evanston, Illinois. The program began in 1955.


title: National Merit Scholarship Program

text: NMSC conducts an annual competition for recognition and scholarships: the National Merit Scholarship Program, which is open to all students who meet entry requirements. Until 2015, it also ran the National Achievement Scholarship Program (est. 1964), which was reserved for African-American students. The highest-achieving students in the National Merit Scholarship Program are designated as National Merit Scholars. Finalists and Semifinalists are also given recognition for their academic and extracurricular achievements. Commended Students are named on the basis of a nationally applied Selection Index score, which may vary from year to year and is typically below the level required for participants to be named Semifinalists in their respective states. Each year's Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) is the qualifying test for a student's entry to a particular year's competitions.


title: National Merit Scholarship Program

text: About 1.6 million students in some 22,000 high schools enter the National Merit Scholarship competition annually when they take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). This serves to screen program entrants, measuring critical reading ability, mathematics problem-solving ability, and writing ability, rather than existing knowledge. Semifinalists are designated on a state representational basis, contingent on the total number of entrants and in proportion to each state's percentage of the nation's high school graduating seniors. Semifinalists are the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represent the top 0.5 percent of the state's senior students.


title: National Merit Scholarship Program

text: To be considered for a National Merit Scholarship, Semifinalists have to fulfill requirements to advance to Finalist standing. Each Semifinalist submits a detailed scholarship application, which includes essays and information about extracurricular achievements, awards, and leadership positions. Semifinalists also have to have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a school official, and earn SAT scores that confirm their qualifying test performance. From the Semifinalist group, a certain number of students, varying from year to year, advance to Finalist standing depending on the above criteria. By the conclusion of the competition, a select group of Finalists are chosen to receive prestigious National Merit Scholarships totaling nearly $35 million. Winners are the Finalist candidates judged to have the strongest combination of academic skills and achievements, extracurricular accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous university studies. Scholarship winners represent fewer than 1% of the initial pool of student entrants, based on official statistics released by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.


title: National Merit Scholarship Program

text: The NMSC uses the PSAT/NMSQT as the initial screen of over 1.5 million program entrants. In the spring of the junior year, NMSC determines a national Selection Index qualifying score (critical reading + math + writing skills scores all multiplied by two) for "Commended" recognition, which is calculated each year to yield students at about the 96th percentile (top 50,000 highest scorers). Up until 2016 (when the College Board changed the format and style of the PSAT), scores in the 200s (out of 240) often qualified for recognition; however, with the New SAT and PSAT format and grading system, which is out of 228 (not 240, which is what it was on the old PSAT), qualifying scores for commendation are about 207, but qualifying levels change annually depending on how the top approximately 50,000 high scorers fared. Qualification levels also vary by state, and qualifying levels are higher in competitive states such as New Jersey and Massachusetts. For the 2009/2010 school year, a score of 217 was required in California to qualify. Notification is mailed to school principals in April regarding students who scored at or above this level. In September, principals notify their students of their status.


title: National Merit Scholarship Program

text: Early the next September (beginning of the senior year, almost a year after the PSAT/NMSQT was taken), NMSC determines Selection Index qualifying scores for further recognition by state (including three other areas: DC, US Territories and Commonwealths, and students enrolled in schools outside the US) and US boarding schools (by geographic region). About 16,000 of the 50,000 are recognized as National Merit Semifinalists in this process. The Selection Index qualifying scores for Semifinalist standing vary from state to state and from year to year. Each state is allocated a percentage of Semifinalists based on the percentage of that state's graduating seniors out of the nation's total. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation does not release to the public the minimum qualifying score required per state. In August after the PSAT was taken, high school principals are mailed notification about their Semifinalists. Principals communicate these results to their students, though some misread the NMSC materials and do not release them until the NMSC press release, which comes in mid-September. Those not making Semifinalist - about 34.000 of the 50.000, and about 3-4% of all PSAT takers - are "Commended", and receive a Letter of Commendation; they do not continue in the competition for Merit Scholarship awards.


title: National Merit Scholarship Program

text: Semifinalists must fulfill additional requirements and advance to the Finalist level of the competition to be considered for a scholarship. Approximately 15,000 of the 16,000 Semifinalists advance to Finalist standing by submitting SAT scores that confirm the earlier PSAT/NMSQT performance, having an outstanding academic record, and being endorsed and recommended by a high school official. They must also submit an application that includes high school courses and grades, extracurricular and volunteer activities, and a self-descriptive essay. The information that is collected about each Semifinalist is used later in the process to choose scholarship winners. All Finalists receive a Certificate of Merit in recognition of their outstanding performance in the competition.


title: National Merit Scholarship Program

text: Of the 15,000 Finalists, about 8,000 receive Merit Scholarship awards. All Finalists are considered for one of the 2,500 National Merit $2,500 Scholarships. National Merit $2,500 Scholarship winners are the Finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The number of winners named in each state is proportional to the state's percentage of the nation's graduating high school seniors. These Scholars were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors, who appraised a substantial amount of information submitted by both the Finalists and their high schools: the academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; scores from two standardized tests; contributions and leadership in school and community activities; an essay written by the Finalist; and a recommendation written by a high school official. NMSC's own funds support the majority of these awards but corporate sponsors help underwrite these awards with grants they provide to NMSC in lieu of paying administrative fees. About 1,100 Merit Scholarship awards are provided by corporate sponsors for Finalists who meet criteria specified by the sponsor. Most of these awards are for children of the sponsor's employees, for Finalists living in a particular geographic area, or for Finalists who have career plans the sponsor wishes to encourage. These two types of awards can be used at any regionally accredited college or university in the United States. There are also approximately 4,600 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who plan to attend a sponsor college. Finalists report to NMSC their first choice college (College-Sponsored Merit Awards). In addition, about 1,500 program participants who are below the Finalist level receive Special Scholarships provided by corporate sponsors.


title: National Merit Scholarship Program

text: To receive a scholarship payment, a Merit Scholarship winner must (a) notify NMSC of plans to enroll in a college or university in the United States that holds accredited status with a regional accrediting commission on higher education, and (b) plan to enroll full-time in an undergraduate course of study leading to a traditional baccalaureate degree. NMSC scholarship stipends are not payable for attendance at United States service academies, distance learning programs, and certain institutions that are limited in their purposes or training. A number of National Merit Scholars do not receive a monetary award because their educational plans or other awards preclude receipt of a monetary scholarship; however, these students may be honored as Honorary Merit Scholars, a designation that acknowledges achievement without providing any financial assistance.


title: National Merit Scholarship Program

text: The National Achievement® Scholarship Program was established in 1964, contemporaneously with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, specifically to encourage Black American youth to continue their education.


title: National Merit Scholarship Program

text: In its half century of existence, more than four million African-Americans have entered the program. Approximately 228,000 have received program recognition, and more than 34,000 of the most outstanding participants were chosen to receive Achievement Scholarship® awards.


title: National Merit Scholarship Program

text: Prior to 2016, black students who met entry requirements and requested consideration when they took the PSAT/NMSQT could enter both the National Achievement Scholarship Program and the National Merit Program. The two programs were conducted concurrently; however, a student's standing in each program was determined independently. Black students could qualify for recognition, become candidates for awards, and be honored as Scholars in both competitions, but they could receive only one monetary award from NMSC. Students who were chosen as both National Achievement and National Merit Scholars received the monetary award that was most advantageous to them and were recognized as Honorary Scholars in the other program.


title: National Merit Scholarship Program

text: With the conclusion of the 2015 program, the National Achievement Scholarship Program transitioned to the United Negro College Fund, which will use program funds to honor and award financial assistance to high-achieving, underrepresented college graduates through the newly designed Achievement Capstone Program.


title: National Merit Scholarship Program

text: Because Achievement Scholarship funds are being redirected to awards for college graduates, Black American high school students no longer have the opportunity to compete for Achievement Scholarship awards. However, they may still enter the National Merit® Scholarship competition, and they may be eligible to receive awards from the United Negro College Fund after college graduation.


title: National Merit Scholarship Program

text: The following is a list of notable National Merit Scholarship Program honorees, many of whom are listed on the "Scholars You May Know" page on the National Merit Scholarship Corporation website.


title: National Merit Scholarship Program

text: A number of universities reserve or guarantee additional merit-based funding for students who are National Merit Scholars, Finalists or Semifinalists. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation releases annual reports displaying the number of award winners enrolled at specific universities, which some believe encourage competition to attract students in this select group. Secondary schools may also publish information related to their students, in order to augment perception on teaching quality.


title: National Merit Scholarship Program

text: The following lists universities that enrolled more than 100 National Merit Scholars for 2019 entering class according to the 2018-19 Annual Report of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.


title: National Merit Scholarship Program

text: Under the umbrella of their professional organization, the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), college and university admissions officers have strongly criticized the National Merit Scholarship Corporation's use of only one measure—the PSAT/NMSQT—to pre-screen students for National Merit recognition.


title: National Merit Scholarship Program

text: "Implementing the recommendations of its blue-ribbon Testing Commission, the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC) has called on the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) and the College Board to stop using PSAT scores as the initial screen for the country’s most prestigious academic awards."


title: National Merit Scholarship Program

text: In public letters to the test's co-sponsors, NACAC charged that eliminating 99 percent of test-takers from the National Merit Scholarship competition solely on the basis of a multiple-choice, standardized exam was "at odds with best practices in the use of admissions test scores." To be eligible for scholarships, high school juniors must score among the top 1 percent of test-takers in their home state. The PSAT serves as the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT), and measures critical reading ability, mathematics problem solving ability and writing ability, rather than existing knowledge. These criticisms were challenged by both the College Board and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.


title: National Merit Scholarship Program

text: FairTest (National Center for Fair and Open Testing) has also voiced concerns about the level of transparency in the National Merit Scholarship Corporation's selection process. In February 2010, it issued an announcement stating the following:


title: National Merit Scholarship Program

text: "The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), which runs the country’s most prestigious tuition aid competition, is trying to block internet posting of state-by-state test score requirements for its awards." FairTest points out the many problems associated with standardized tests as measurement tools for real-world achievement. Additional criticism exists in that the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) does not publish information regarding scholarship winners by year by state.


title: Denosumab

text: Denosumab (trade names Prolia and Xgeva) is a human monoclonal antibody for the treatment of osteoporosis, treatment-induced bone loss, metastases to bone, and giant cell tumor of bone.


title: Denosumab

text: Denosumab is contraindicated in people with low blood calcium levels. The most common side effects are joint and muscle pain in the arms or legs.


title: Denosumab

text: Denosumab is a inhibitor of RANKL (receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-Β ligand), which works by preventing the development of osteoclasts, which are cells that break down bone. It was developed by the biotechnology company Amgen.


title: Denosumab

text: Denosumab is used for those with osteoporosis at high risk for fractures, bone loss due to certain medications, and in those with bone metastases.


title: Denosumab

text: A 2012 meta-analysis found that denosumab was better than placebo, zoledronic acid and pamidronate, in reducing the risk of fractures in those with cancer.


title: Denosumab

text: In those with postmenopausal osteoporosis denosumab decreases the risk of fractures but increases the risk of infection. A 2013 review concluded that it is a reasonable treatment for postmenopausal osteoporosis. A 2017 review did not find benefit in males.


title: Denosumab

text: The most common side effects are joint and muscle pain in the arms or legs. There is an increased risk of infections such as cellulitis, hypocalcemia (low blood calcium), hypersensitivity allergy reactions, osteonecrosis of the jaw, and atypical femur fractures. Another trial showed significantly increased rates of eczema and hospitalization due to infections of the skin. It has been proposed that the increase in infections under denosumab treatment might be connected to the role of RANKL in the immune system. RANKL is expressed by T helper cells, and is thought to be involved in dendritic cell maturation.


title: Denosumab

text: Discontinuation of denosumab is associated with a rebound increase in bone turnover. In rare cases this has led to severe hypercalcemia, especially in children. Vertebral compression fractures have also occurred in some people after discontinuing treatment.


title: Denosumab

text: It is contraindicated in people with hypocalcemia; sufficient calcium and vitamin D levels must be reached before starting on denosumab therapy. Data regarding interactions with other drugs are missing. It is unlikely that denosumab exhibits any clinically relevant interactions.


title: Denosumab

text: Denosumab works by lowering the hormonal message that leads to excessive osteoclast-driven bone removal and is active in the body for only six months. Similarly to bisphosphonates, denosumab appears to be implicated in increasing the risk of osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) following extraction of teeth or oral surgical procedures but, unlike bisphosphonate, the risk declines to zero approximately 6 months after injection. Invasive dental procedures should be avoided during this time.


title: Denosumab

text: Bone remodeling is the process by which the body continuously removes old bone tissue and replaces it with new bone. It is driven by various types of cells, most notably osteoblasts (which secrete new bone) and osteoclasts (which break down bone); osteocytes are also present in bone.


title: Denosumab

text: Precursors to osteoclasts, called pre-osteoclasts, express surface receptors called RANK (receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappa B). RANK is a member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) superfamily. RANK is activated by RANKL (the RANK-Ligand), which exists as cell surface molecules on osteoblasts. Activation of RANK by RANKL promotes the maturation of pre-osteoclasts into osteoclasts. Denosumab inhibits this maturation of osteoclasts by binding to and inhibiting RANKL. Denosumab mimics the natural action of osteoprotegerin, an endogenous RANKL inhibitor, that presents with decreasing concentrations (and perhaps decreased effectiveness) in patients with osteoporosis. This protects bone from degradation, and helps to counter the progression of the disease.


title: Denosumab

text: On 13 August 2009, a meeting was held between Amgen and the Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs (ACRHD) of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to review the potential uses of denosumab.


title: Denosumab

text: On 2 June 2010, denosumab was approved by the FDA for use in postmenopausal women with risk of osteoporosis under the trade name "Prolia", and in November 2010 as "Xgeva" for the prevention of skeleton-related events in patients with bone metastases from solid tumors. Denosumab is the first RANKL inhibitor to be approved by the FDA.


title: Denosumab

text: On 13 June 2013, the FDA approved denosumab for treatment of adults and skeletally mature adolescents with giant cell tumor of bone that is unresectable or where resection would result in significant morbidity.


title: Denosumab

text: On 17 December 2009, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) issued a positive opinion for denosumab for the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis in women and for the treatment of bone loss in men with hormone ablation therapy for prostate cancer. Denosumab was approved for marketing by the European Commission on 28 May 2010.


title: Moxibustion

text: Moxibustion () is a traditional Chinese medicine therapy which consists of burning dried mugwort ("wikt:moxa") on particular points on the body. It plays an important role in the traditional medical systems of China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Mongolia. Suppliers usually age the mugwort and grind it up to a fluff; practitioners burn the fluff or process it further into a cigar-shaped stick. They can use it indirectly, with acupuncture needles, or burn it on the patient's skin.


title: Moxibustion

text: Moxibustion is promoted as a treatment for a wide variety of conditions, but its use is not backed by good evidence and it carries a risk of adverse effects.


title: Moxibustion

text: The first Western remarks on moxibustion can be found in letters and reports written by Portuguese missionaries in 16th-century Japan. They called it "botão de fogo" ("fire button"), a term originally used for round-headed Western cautery irons. Hermann Buschoff, who published the first Western book on this matter in 1674 (English edition 1676), used the Japanese pronunciation "mogusa". As the u is not very strongly enunciated, he spelled it "Moxa". Later authors blended "Moxa" with the Latin word "combustio" ("burning").


title: Moxibustion

text: The name of the herb Artemisia (mugwort) species used to produce Moxa is called "ài" or "àicǎo" (, ) in Chinese and "yomogi" () in Japan.


title: Moxibustion

text: The Chinese names for moxibustion are "jiǔ" ( ) or "jiǔshù" ( ); the Japanese use the same characters and pronounce them as "kyū" and "kyūjutsu". In Korean the reading is "tteum" (). Korean folklore attributes the development of moxibustion to the legendary emperor Dangun.


title: Moxibustion

text: Practitioners use moxa to warm regions and meridian points with the intention of stimulating circulation through the points and inducing a smoother flow of blood and qi. Some believe it can treat conditions associated with the "cold" or "yang deficiencies" in Chinese Medicine. It is claimed that moxibustion mitigates against cold and dampness in the body, and can serve to turn breech babies.


title: Moxibustion

text: Practitioners claim moxibustion to be especially effective in the treatment of chronic problems, "deficient conditions" (weakness), and gerontology. Bian Que ("fl." "circa" 500 BCE), one of the most famous semi-legendary doctors of Chinese antiquity and the first specialist in moxibustion, discussed the benefits of moxa over acupuncture in his classic work "Bian Que Neijing". He asserted that moxa could add new energy to the body and could treat both excess and deficient conditions.


title: Moxibustion

text: Practitioners may use acupuncture needles made of various materials in combination with moxa, depending on the direction of "qi" flow they wish to stimulate.


title: Moxibustion

text: There are several methods of moxibustion. Three of them are direct scarring, direct non-scarring, and indirect moxibustion. Direct scarring moxibustion places a small cone of moxa on the skin at an acupuncture point and burns it until the skin blisters, which then scars after it heals. Direct non-scarring moxibustion removes the burning moxa before the skin burns enough to scar, unless the burning moxa is left on the skin too long. Indirect moxibustion holds a cigar made of moxa near the acupuncture point to heat the skin, or holds it on an acupuncture needle inserted in the skin to heat the needle. There is also stick-on moxa.


title: Moxibustion

text: "Chuanwu lingji lu" (the Record of Sovereign Teachings), by Zhang Youheng, was a treatise on acu-moxa completed in 1869 and featuring several colour illustrations of the points on the body where moxa could be applied to treat the complaint.


title: Moxibustion

text: Most research into moxibustion comes from China and is generally of low quality. Claims are made for its effectiveness for a wide variety of conditions, with some practitioners promoting it as a panacea.


title: Moxibustion

text: A Cochrane Review found limited evidence for the use of moxibustion in correcting breech presentation of babies and called for more experimental trials. Side effects included nausea, throat irritation, and abdominal pain from contractions. Moxibustion has also been studied for the treatment of pain, cancer, stroke, ulcerative colitis, constipation, and hypertension. Systematic reviews have found that these studies are of low quality and positive findings could be due to publication bias.


title: Moxibustion

text: Mugwort amongst other herbs was often bound into smudge sticks. The Chumash people from southern California have a similar ritual. Europeans placed sprigs of mugwort under pillows to provoke dreams; and the herb had associations with the practice of magic in Anglo-Saxon times.