title: Apollo 15 postal covers incident

text: The crew bought several hundred of the ten-cent First Man on the Moon postage stamp issue. These were affixed to the lightweight envelopes by secretaries in the Astronaut Office. Collins had made arrangements for the KSC post office to open at 1:00 am EDT on launch day—opening this facility so early on an Apollo launch morning was not unusual—and brought several hundred of the stamped covers. Once the envelopes had been run through the cancellation machine, he took them to the astronaut quarters, where members of the Flight Crew Support Team vacuum sealed them in Teflon-covered fiberglass to fireproof them for space. Normally, if the Flight Crew Support Team found that an item was not on an astronaut's PPK list, they would add it, and make sure it was approved, but team leader James L. Smotherman stated that he "goofed", explaining that he had confused the 400 covers with the Herrick envelopes, which had been approved by Slayton. Since the 400 covers had not been approved by Slayton, they were considered unauthorized. Scott stated, "I never intended to bootleg the covers. If I had intended to bootleg the covers, I certainly would not have allowed Mr. Collins to handle them or the rest of the people to assist me." Like other items being placed in the pockets on Scott's space suit (for example, his sunglasses), they were first shown to him by the suit technicians helping him dress. Divided into two packets, the bundled covers were about thick and weighed about ; they entered the spacecraft in Scott's pocket. Apollo 15 blasted off for the Moon at 9:34 am on July 26, 1971, with three astronauts and about 641 covers aboard.


title: Apollo 15 postal covers incident

text: At some point while the mission was en route to the Moon, the 400 covers were moved into the lunar lander "Falcon"; in his testimony, Scott agreed this violated the rules. He stated he did not recall how the transfer took place, and that he was only certain that the envelopes went to the lunar surface because they were in the bag of items taken out of the "Falcon" in preparation for the return to Earth. Worden stated in his testimony that they were aware of the presence of the covers in the Command Module after the mission's launch, but he did not recall if the covers had been among the many items moved into the "Falcon" in preparation for the lunar landing; he did not believe the matter had been discussed during the flight. He wrote in his autobiography that the night he had agreed to the deal with Eiermann "was the last I heard or thought of about the covers until after the flight ... What arrangements Dave [Scott], Eiermann, and Sieger made to get the covers onto the flight, I never knew until later. Dave later told a congressional committee that he had placed them in a pocket of his spacesuit, but he never shared that information with me". He indicated that the covers he had arranged to have on board, including those from Herrick, remained in his PPK in the Command Module throughout the flight. The testimony before Congress, from multiple individuals including Apollo 15 astronauts, was that carrying the covers did not interfere with the mission in any way.


title: Apollo 15 postal covers incident

text: Apollo 15 splashed down about north of Honolulu at 4:46 pm EDT () on August 7, 1971; the crew was retrieved by helicopters from the "Okinawa". Scott had asked that a supply of the twin space stamps of the design he had canceled on the Moon (issued August 2) be available on the "Okinawa", and on July 14, Forrest J. Rhodes, who ran the postal facility at KSC, wrote to the Chief Petty Officer in charge of the "Okinawa"s post office. The ship replied on the 20th, saying the stamps could be obtained in time. The stamps were secured from the post office at Pearl Harbor; 4,000 were flown to the "Okinawa" at sea by helicopter, reportedly in the custody of a naval officer joining the vessel. The astronauts had no money with them; their purchases were paid for by high-ranking officers aboard the "Okinawa", who were later reimbursed. The crew had the assistance of "Okinawa" crew members in affixing the stamps to the 400 covers for cancellation by the ship's post office. The Irwin covers were not postmarked, either at liftoff or splashdown. Worden wrote in his book that he never saw the covers Scott had brought until the astronauts were on the flight to Houston. However, as Scott mentioned he was having them postmarked with the splashdown date, Worden arranged to have that done for the ones he had taken into space. On the flight, the 400 covers were autographed by the three astronauts; the Herrick covers were also signed while en route. Irwin remembered the signing took several hours.


title: Apollo 15 postal covers incident

text: On August 31, 1971, C.G. Carsey, a clerk in the Astronaut Office in Houston, typed certifications on 100 of the covers, with the aid of other NASA employees in her office. The certifications stated the cover had been on the Moon aboard the "Falcon". The covers already carried a handwritten statement signed by Scott and Irwin that they had been landed on the Moon on July 30. Carsey later stated that in signing the certifications as a Texas notary public, she only intended to certify their signatures were genuine. The question of whether Carsey had improperly certified that the covers had been landed on the Moon (something she had no personal knowledge of) was the subject of an investigation by the Texas Attorney General. With the notary certifications, the last of Sieger's requirements for the covers was fulfilled. On September 2, Scott sent the 100 covers by registered mail to Eiermann, who was in Stuttgart, where he had moved. Eiermann turned the covers over to Sieger, and was rewarded with a commission of about $15,000—ten percent of the anticipated proceeds. The remaining 300 were entrusted by the astronauts to a Houston-area stamp collector who arranged with a local printer to have an inscription stating that the cover had been carried to the Moon printed in the upper left. The printer discovered there were 298 covers, not 300; the stamp collector consulted Scott, who told him not to worry about it. One of Irwin's covers from the group of eight, with a shamrock design as its cachet, was given to Rhodes and one to the president of the Kennedy Space Center Philatelic Society; Irwin said in 1972 that he had retained the other six.


title: Apollo 15 postal covers incident

text: Sieger notified his customers of the flown covers via a mailing, selling them at DM 4,850 (about $1,500 at the time), with a discount to those who bought more than one. He kept one for himself, and by November had sold the remaining 99. He numbered and signed the backs of the envelopes in the lower left as a token of their genuineness.


title: Apollo 15 postal covers incident

text: Worden recalled in his book that he sent the agreed number of 44 covers to Herrick soon after returning from space. He also sent him 60 belonging to himself for safekeeping, and gave 28 to friends. Herrick consigned 70 covers to Robert A. Siegel, a prominent New York dealer. Siegel sold ten covers for a total of $7,900, receiving a commission from Herrick of 25 percent. Herrick sold three himself for $1,250 each and placed several on commission in Europe.


title: Apollo 15 postal covers incident

text: In late October 1971, a potential customer for one of the Herrick covers wrote to NASA to inquire about its authenticity. On November 5, Slayton responded, saying NASA could not confirm whether it was genuine. He warned Worden to ensure that his covers would not be further commercialized. Worden wrote an angry letter to Herrick. In June 1972, Herrick instructed Siegel to send 60 covers to Worden in Houston, which he did by registered mail. Until this point, Siegel had assumed the 60 covers belonged to Herrick.


title: Apollo 15 postal covers incident

text: Probably before they made an official NASA trip to Europe in November 1971, the Apollo 15 astronauts received and completed the paperwork necessary to open accounts in a Stuttgart-area bank to receive the agreed $7,000 payments. According to Scott's testimony, while they were in Europe, they heard the Sieger covers were being sold commercially. Scott called Eiermann, who promised to look into it. The astronauts indicated they received the bankbooks in early 1972. Irwin remembered in his autobiography that before their trip to Europe, Scott came to him and said, "Jim, we are in trouble now—they are starting to sell the envelopes over there", and that the covers cast a shadow over their European trip. Scott said the crew discussed it among themselves, then decided that the receipt of funds was improper. In late February they returned the bankbooks to Eiermann, who responded that the astronauts should receive something for their efforts. Howard C. Weinberger, in his account of the Apollo 15 covers, deemed the astronauts' refusal "an effort to save their careers and reputations". The crew initially agreed to accept albums filled with aerospace-themed stamps for their children, including issues in honor of Apollo 15. Scott related that they decided this too was improper and said they wanted nothing. This final refusal happened in April 1972. Worden remembered, "we did this before NASA asked us anything about a deal with Sieger—before NASA even knew about it".


title: Apollo 15 postal covers incident

text: Discussion of the covers in European philatelic publications alerted collectors in the United States. On March 11, 1972, Lester Winick, president of a group of collectors of space stamps and covers known as the Space Topics Study Group, sent a letter to NASA's general counsel asking a number of questions about the Sieger covers. The letter was forwarded for a response to Slayton, who casually mentioned it to Irwin in late March; Irwin told him to talk to Scott. Slayton spoke with Worden on the assumption that the covers referred to were among the group of 144, but Worden told him this was not necessarily the case and that he should talk to Scott. Slayton did talk to Scott in mid-April, just before the launch of Apollo 16. Scott told him there had been 400 covers not on the approved list, and that 100 had been given to a friend. In his autobiography, Slayton wrote that he confronted Scott and Worden about what he called a "regular goddamn scandal": "they told me what the deal was, and I got pretty goddamn angry. So I was through with Scott, Worden, and Irwin. After 16 splashed down, I kicked them off the backup crew for 17." One reason for Slayton's anger was that he had defended the astronauts as rumors of the high prices being paid for the covers circulated; according to Andrew Chaikin in his history of the Apollo program, Slayton "went out on a limb to defend his people". Slayton wrote to Winick, stating that the spacecraft had carried covers, but NASA could not confirm these particular envelopes had been taken; he did not tell Winick unauthorized covers had been flown. He sent a copy of his response to the general counsel's office at NASA Headquarters in Washington, which took no action. Slayton did not inform Administrator Fletcher, Deputy Administrator George M. Low or his own superior, Christopher C. Kraft of the postage stamp incident or of the disciplinary action he had taken.


title: Apollo 15 postal covers incident

text: In early June 1972, Low heard from a member of his staff of the possibility covers flown on Apollo 15 might have been sold in Europe. He asked Associate Administrator Dale D. Myers to enquire through NASA management channels for information. Low kept Fletcher informed of the situation as it developed. Myers made an interim report to Low on the 16th. Before he could make his final report on the 26th, the story broke with an article in "The Washington Sunday Star" on June 18. Kraft interviewed Scott on the 23rd. Low ordered a full investigation by NASA's Inspections Division on June 29.


title: Apollo 15 postal covers incident

text: According to Low in his personal notes, during the investigation, Scott, who had to that point maintained that the astronauts had never intended to profit from the Sieger covers, disclosed the information about the German bank accounts. Once the facts had been developed, Low consulted with Fletcher, Kraft, Slayton and others regarding whether to expel the three men from the Astronaut Corps and return them to the Air Force, to reprimand them and retain them within NASA outside the corps, or to reprimand them but allow them to remain astronauts. Low accepted Kraft's recommendation to reprimand the astronauts, and to state that their actions would be taken into consideration in their future assignments. Low asked to meet with the crew members before making a final decision, and this took place on July 10, Scott and Worden individually at Low's Washington office and Irwin by telephone. All admitted the basic facts, with Scott making "the point for the first time that his intention had really been to use the funds for a trust fund for his children, and not for any direct personal use". Worden, also admitting the facts, stated that he felt he had "taken most of the beating", and in a way was relieved the full story was being aired. Irwin, who had already decided to leave NASA, expressed his concern for Scott's future.


title: Apollo 15 postal covers incident

text: Later on July 10, the three astronauts were reprimanded for poor judgment, something that made it extremely unlikely that they would be selected to fly in space again. Richard S. Lewis, in his early history of the Apollo program, noted that "in the atmosphere of wheeling and dealing that has characterized government agency-industrial contractor relations in the Space Age, the unauthorized freight that the Apollo 15 crew hauled to the moon was a boyish prank. In the rhetoric of space program critics, though, it was branded as exploitation for personal gain of the most costly technological development in history. In the press, the astronauts were treated like fallen angels." Kraft remembered in his memoirs that Slayton told him, "They did it. There was no hiding. Dave just said sure, nothing wrong with it, right?" Scott, while stating, "we made a mistake in even considering it", felt that the reaction "was turning into a witch-hunt". Worden, though admitting blame for entering into the deal, felt that NASA had not adequately supported him, and that Scott had not taken full responsibility for his role. He believed that Slayton would not have required them to leave the Astronaut Corps if left to himself, but that Kraft had insisted. Irwin, who would become an evangelist after leaving the Astronaut Corps, said that NASA had no choice but to reprimand them. He hoped he could turn the experience to use in his ministry, that it would help him empathize with others who had erred.


title: Apollo 15 postal covers incident

text: In mid-July, the media reported on the dispute over the sculpture "Fallen Astronaut", left on the Moon by Scott in tribute to those killed in the American and Soviet space programs; the sculptor was having copies made for public sale, over the astronauts' objection. Due to the increasing publicity surrounding the incident, and concerned about the appearance of commercialization of Apollo 15, the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences set a hearing for August 3. It called a number of NASA employees including the astronauts, Slayton, Kraft, Fletcher and Low to appear. Fletcher and Low had tried to talk Senator Anderson out of having a hearing, but the chairman insisted. Worden remembered that while there were difficult questions asked about the astronauts' conduct, part of the committee's concern was why NASA management had allowed another incident to happen so quickly after the Apollo 14 Franklin Mint matter. Members also wanted to know how it was that NASA's chain of command permitted allegations against the astronauts to go unreported to senior management. Because of the efforts of Fletcher and Low, Anderson invoked a rarely used Senate rule for when testimony might impact the reputation of witnesses or others, closing the hearing to the public. Kraft recalled that while he and Low were grilled by the committee, the senators treated the astronauts "like gods".


title: Apollo 15 postal covers incident

text: None of the Apollo 15 crew flew in space again. Given that the reprimands meant they would likely never be promoted by the Air Force, they were offered other positions at NASA where their skills could be used. Scott was made a technical adviser on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (the first joint mission with the Soviet Union) and retired from the Air Force in 1975. He became director of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, retiring from NASA in October 1977 and entering the private sector. Worden transferred to NASA's Ames Research Center in California, remaining there until his 1975 retirement both from the Air Force and NASA, and then entered the private sector. Irwin retired in 1972 and founded an evangelical group.


title: Apollo 15 postal covers incident

text: Fletcher asked astronauts still with NASA, and even those who were not, such as Apollo 7's Wally Schirra, to turn in all flown covers in their possession to NASA pending a determination of whether they were government property. Kraft related that there was resistance from astronauts, but "we confiscated them, sometimes under duress". These covers were returned when the Justice Department chose to take no action, "and whatever happened to them was kept quiet". Among the astronauts interviewed in NASA's investigation was Apollo 13's Jack Swigert, who denied any dealings with envelopes; after he subsequently admitted he had, Low removed him from Apollo-Soyuz.


title: Apollo 15 postal covers incident

text: Kraft suspended some fifteen astronauts who "had broken faith with us and ignored a standing order from Deke"; some, having apologized and served their suspensions, flew on Skylab in the mid-1970s. The covers affair resulted in prejudice in the Air Force against former astronauts (all three Apollo 15 astronauts had served there). This deterred Apollo 14's Stu Roosa from returning to the Air Force when he left NASA, leading him to go into business instead. Although Apollo 16's Charles Duke had taken covers to the lunar surface in April 1972, changes to the PPK procedures instituted by NASA meant that none were taken on Apollo 17 that December. Today, astronauts are forbidden by federal regulation from taking philatelic items into space as mementos.


title: Apollo 15 postal covers incident

text: The remaining covers in the Apollo 15 astronauts' control (298 from the group of 400 and 61 more from Worden) were held by NASA during the investigation; Worden said he surrendered them at Kraft's request on the understanding they would be returned once the investigation was over, but the covers were transferred to the National Archives in August 1973. There was a Justice Department investigation into the covers. Its Criminal Division decided in 1974 that no prosecution was warranted, but the Civil Division the following year assumed the covers would be retained by the government. Kraft wrote, "it was questionable that any law had been broken and [the Justice Department] realized that dragging astronauts into court would not be a popular pastime." In 1978, the department issued a report indicating that while the government might have some claim to the Herrick covers (due to the appearance of having been made for profit), it probably did not have any claim to the 298 remaining covers, which the astronauts had said were intended as gifts. In 1979, the department informed NASA that it had concluded that the government would likely lose if the astronauts sued for the covers. There was opposition among senators to the covers being returned, and in February 1980 a resolution passed the Senate that the government should keep the covers because of the commercialization. It died in the House of Representatives. In 1983, Worden sued, and the government agreed to return all the covers to the three astronauts. The government felt it could not successfully defend the lawsuit, and that NASA either authorized the covers to be flown or was aware of them. "Slate" magazine opined that the action effectively exonerated the astronauts.


title: Apollo 15 postal covers incident

text: Some of the covers were sold by the astronauts. One of the group of 298 covers impounded by the government and owned by Scott sold at the January 2008 Novaspace auction for $15,000. A Sieger cover sold in 2014 for over $55,000, the highest auction price to that point—the auctioneer noted that it was one of only four Sieger covers to come to public sale since the initial distribution. Worden sold many of the returned Herrick covers to pay debts from his unsuccessful 1982 run for Congress. When asked in 2011 where the covers were, he said, "Lord only knows. Some of them sold, some of them are still in a safety deposit box. They're probably all over the world by now." In a 2013 interview with Scott, "Slate" found that "he's vexed by lingering inaccuracies in the Wikipedia entry about the incidents. We ask: Why didn't he get a friend to log in and correct the entries? He responds with a startled pause. 'Is that right? I didn't know you could do that!' "


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: Algorithms for calculating variance play a major role in computational statistics. A key difficulty in the design of good algorithms for this problem is that formulas for the variance may involve sums of squares, which can lead to numerical instability as well as to arithmetic overflow when dealing with large values.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: Using Bessel's correction to calculate an unbiased estimate of the population variance from a finite sample of "n" observations, the formula is:


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: This algorithm can easily be adapted to compute the variance of a finite population: simply divide by "n" instead of "n" − 1 on the last line.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: Because and can be very similar numbers, cancellation can lead to the precision of the result to be much less than the inherent precision of the floating-point arithmetic used to perform the computation. Thus this algorithm should not be used in practice, and several alternate, numerically stable, algorithms have been proposed. This is particularly bad if the standard deviation is small relative to the mean.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: The variance is invariant with respect to changes in a location parameter, a property which can be used to avoid the catastrophic cancellation in this formula.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: the closer formula_4 is to the mean value the more accurate the result will be, but just choosing a value inside the


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: samples range will guarantee the desired stability. If the values formula_7 are small then there are no problems with the sum of its squares, on the contrary, if they are large it necessarily means that the variance is large as well. In any case the second term in the formula is always smaller than the first one therefore no cancellation may occur.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: If just the first sample is taken as formula_4 the algorithm can be written in Python programming language as


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: This algorithm is numerically stable if "n" is small. However, the results of both of these simple algorithms ("naïve" and "two-pass") can depend inordinately on the ordering of the data and can give poor results for very large data sets due to repeated roundoff error in the accumulation of the sums. Techniques such as compensated summation can be used to combat this error to a degree.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: It is often useful to be able to compute the variance in a single pass, inspecting each value formula_11 only once; for example, when the data is being collected without enough storage to keep all the values, or when costs of memory access dominate those of computation. For such an online algorithm, a recurrence relation is required between quantities from which the required statistics can be calculated in a numerically stable fashion.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: The following formulas can be used to update the mean and (estimated) variance of the sequence, for an additional element "x". Here, formula_12 denotes the sample mean of the first "n" samples formula_13, formula_14 their biased sample variance, and formula_15 their unbiased sample variance.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: These formulas suffer from numerical instability, as they repeatedly subtract a small number from a big number which scales with "n". A better quantity for updating is the sum of squares of differences from the current mean, formula_19, here denoted formula_20:


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: This algorithm was found by Welford, and it has been thoroughly analyzed. It is also common to denote formula_22 and formula_23.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: This algorithm is much less prone to loss of precision due to catastrophic cancellation, but might not be as efficient because of the division operation inside the loop. For a particularly robust two-pass algorithm for computing the variance, one can first compute and subtract an estimate of the mean, and then use this algorithm on the residuals.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: The algorithm can be extended to handle unequal sample weights, replacing the simple counter "n" with the sum of weights seen so far. West (1979) suggests this incremental algorithm:


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: Chan et al. note that Welford's online algorithm detailed above is a special case of an algorithm that works for combining arbitrary sets formula_24 and formula_25:


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: This may be useful when, for example, multiple processing units may be assigned to discrete parts of the input.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: Chan's method for estimating the mean is numerically unstable when formula_27 and both are large, because the numerical error in formula_28 is not scaled down in the way that it is in the formula_29 case. In such cases, prefer formula_30.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: This can be generalized to allow parallelization with AVX, with GPUs, and computer clusters, and to covariance.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: Assume that all floating point operations use standard IEEE 754 double-precision arithmetic. Consider the sample (4, 7, 13, 16) from an infinite population. Based on this sample, the estimated population mean is 10, and the unbiased estimate of population variance is 30. Both the naïve algorithm and two-pass algorithm compute these values correctly.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: Next consider the sample (, , , ), which gives rise to the same estimated variance as the first sample. The two-pass algorithm computes this variance estimate correctly, but the naïve algorithm returns 29.333333333333332 instead of 30.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: While this loss of precision may be tolerable and viewed as a minor flaw of the naïve algorithm, further increasing the offset makes the error catastrophic. Consider the sample (, , , ). Again the estimated population variance of 30 is computed correctly by the two-pass algorithm, but the naïve algorithm now computes it as −170.66666666666666. This is a serious problem with naïve algorithm and is due to catastrophic cancellation in the subtraction of two similar numbers at the final stage of the algorithm.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: Terriberry extends Chan's formulae to calculating the third and fourth central moments, needed for example when estimating skewness and kurtosis:


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: By preserving the value formula_37, only one division operation is needed and the higher-order statistics can thus be calculated for little incremental cost.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: further extends these results to arbitrary-order central moments, for the incremental and the pairwise cases, and subsequently Pébaÿ et al.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: offer two alternative methods to compute the skewness and kurtosis, each of which can save substantial computer memory requirements and CPU time in certain applications. The first approach is to compute the statistical moments by separating the data into bins and then computing the moments from the geometry of the resulting histogram, which effectively becomes a one-pass algorithm for higher moments. One benefit is that the statistical moment calculations can be carried out to arbitrary accuracy such that the computations can be tuned to the precision of, e.g., the data storage format or the original measurement hardware. A relative histogram of a random variable can be constructed in the conventional way: the range of potential values is divided into bins and the number of occurrences within each bin are counted and plotted such that the area of each rectangle equals the portion of the sample values within that bin:


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: where formula_39 and formula_40 represent the frequency and the relative frequency at bin formula_41 and formula_42 is the total area of the histogram. After this normalization, the formula_43 raw moments and central moments of formula_44 can be calculated from the relative histogram:


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: where the superscript formula_47 indicates the moments are calculated from the histogram. For constant bin width formula_48 these two expressions can be simplified using formula_49:


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: The second approach from Choi and Sweetman is an analytical methodology to combine statistical moments from individual segments of a time-history such that the resulting overall moments are those of the complete time-history. This methodology could be used for parallel computation of statistical moments with subsequent combination of those moments, or for combination of statistical moments computed at sequential times.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: where formula_58 is generally taken to be the duration of the formula_59 time-history, or the number of points if formula_60 is constant.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: The benefit of expressing the statistical moments in terms of formula_61 is that the formula_52 sets can be combined by addition, and there is no upper limit on the value of formula_52.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: where the subscript formula_65 represents the concatenated time-history or combined formula_61. These combined values of formula_61 can then be inversely transformed into raw moments representing the complete concatenated time-history


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: are then used to compute the central moments of the concatenated time-history. Finally, the statistical moments of the concatenated history are computed from the central moments:


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: As for the variance, the covariance of two random variables is also shift-invariant, so given any two constant values formula_73 and formula_74 it can be written:


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: and again choosing a value inside the range of values will stabilize the formula against catastrophic cancellation as well as make it more robust against big sums. Taking the first value of each data set, the algorithm can be written as:


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: A slightly more accurate compensated version performs the full naive algorithm on the residuals. The final sums formula_79 and formula_80 "should" be zero, but the second pass compensates for any small error.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: A stable one-pass algorithm exists, similar to the online algorithm for computing the variance, that computes co-moment formula_81:


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: The apparent asymmetry in that last equation is due to the fact that formula_83, so both update terms are equal to formula_84. Even greater accuracy can be achieved by first computing the means, then using the stable one-pass algorithm on the residuals.


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: Likewise, there is a formula for combining the covariances of two sets that can be used to parallelize the computation:


title: Algorithms for calculating variance

text: A version of the weighted online algorithm that does batched updated also exists: let formula_87 denote the weights, and write


title: Kaa

text: Kaa is a fictional character from "The Jungle Book" stories written by Rudyard Kipling. He is a giant snake who is 30 feet long.


title: Kaa

text: In the books and many of the screen adaptations, Kaa is an ally of main protagonist Mowgli, acting as a friend and trusted mentor or father figure alongside Bagheera and Baloo. However, Disney's screen adaptations portray him as a secondary antagonist who attempts to eat Mowgli.


title: Kaa

text: First introduced in the story "Kaa's Hunting" in "The Jungle Book", Kaa is a huge and powerful snake, more than 100 years old and still in his prime. In "Kaa's Hunting", Bagheera and Baloo enlist Kaa's help to rescue Mowgli when the man-cub is kidnapped by Bandar-log (monkeys) and taken to an abandoned human city called the Cold Lairs. Kaa breaks down the wall of the building in which Mowgli is imprisoned and uses his serpentine hypnosis to draw the monkeys toward his waiting jaws. Bagheera and Baloo are also hypnotized, but Mowgli is immune because he is human and breaks the spell on his friends.


title: Kaa

text: In "The Second Jungle Book", Kaa appears in the first half of the story "The King's Ankus". After Kaa and Mowgli spend some time relaxing, bathing and wrestling, Kaa persuades Mowgli to visit a treasure chamber guarded by an old cobra beneath the same Cold Lairs. The cobra tries to kill Mowgli but its venom has dried up. Mowgli takes a jeweled item away as a souvenir, not realizing the trouble it will cause them, and Kaa departs.


title: Kaa

text: In "Red Dog", Mowgli asks Kaa for help when his wolf pack is threatened by rampaging dholes (the red dogs of the title). Kaa goes into a trance so that he can search his century-long memory for a stratagem to defeat the dogs:


title: Kaa

text: With Kaa's help Mowgli tricks the dholes into attacking prematurely. Kaa takes no part in the resulting battle (obliquely citing his loyalty to the boy rather than to the wolves, who often caused Mowgli grief) but Mowgli and the wolves finally kill all the dholes, though not without grievous losses.


title: Kaa

text: In "The Spring Running", as the teenage Mowgli reluctantly prepares to leave the jungle for the last time, Kaa tells Mowgli that "it is hard to cast the skin," but Mowgli knows he must cast the skin of his old life in order to grow a new one. Kaa, Baloo and Bagheera sing for Mowgli in "The Outsong", a poem and the ending of "The Spring Running".


title: Kaa

text: Kaa appears in the 1967 animated adaptation by Walt Disney Productions. This version of Kaa is recast as an antagonist, as Walt Disney felt audiences would not sympathize with a snake character. The voice of Kaa is provided by Sterling Holloway.


title: Kaa

text: Kaa notices Mowgli in a tree one night and, rather than a serpentine dance, uses his hypnotic eyes to lull Mowgli into a deep sleep. Kaa nearly eats Mowgli before Bagheera awakens nearby, notices him, and slaps him, awakening Mowgli. Kaa retaliates by hypnotizing Bagheera, though Mowgli pushes Kaa out of the tree, making him unravel violently. Kaa encounters Mowgli again later in the film and once again, hypnotizes him, this time using his song, "Trust in Me", to lull him into a deep trance, though he must hide him when Shere Khan asks him if he's seen the boy. Shere Khan makes Kaa swear to tell him when he finds Mowgli and leaves, though Mowgli eventually wakes up and pushes Kaa out of the tree again.


title: Kaa

text: Kaa is based on earlier characters from Disney films who comically and unsuccessfully attempt to eat the protagonist, including Tick-Tock the crocodile from "Peter Pan" and the wolf from "The Sword in the Stone". Holloway provided Kaa with a hissing lisp while voicing him, which the Sherman Brothers incorporated into Kaa's song "Trust in Me".


title: Kaa

text: Kaa returns in "The Jungle Book 2", now voiced by Jim Cummings and has a smaller role. Kaa again tries and fails to eat Mowgli while he and Baloo are singing "The Bare Necessities". He angrily swears that he will "never again associate with mancubs" until he discovers Mowgli's human friend Shanti. He hypnotizes her, and tries to eat her. Mowgli's adoptive brother Ranjan thwarts him, causing him to fall down a cliff. Shere Khan finds Kaa again and asks him where Mowgli is, but Kaa lies that Mowgli is heading toward the swamp.


title: Kaa

text: Kaa appears in the prequel series "Jungle Cubs", where he is voiced by Jim Cummings. Kaa is seen as a snakeling who is still trying to master his hypnotic abilities, though he is cowardly. He is shown as a protagonist as opposed to the 1967 film, being friendly with the other cubs.


title: Kaa

text: Kaa appears in the 1994 live-action adaptation as a large Burmese Python, though most of his appearances are created using both animatronics and computer-generated imagery, though they did use an unnamed trained anaconda.


title: Kaa

text: Kaa is depicted as a far more menacing predator who lives in Monkey City with King Louie, guarding the orangutan's treasure from intruders. Kaa attacks Mowgli and tries to drown him in a moat, but Mowgli wounds him with a dagger, forcing him to flee in a cloud of blood. Louie summons Kaa again after Mowgli defeats Captain Boone and Boone begins stealing treasure; Kaa scares Boone into the moat, where the stolen treasure weighs him down to the bottom. Struggling to free himself, Boone sees the skeletal remains of Kaa's past victims moments before he meets his death by the python.


title: Kaa

text: Kaa appears in the 2016 remake of the 1967 film as an indian python. This version of Kaa is female and voiced by Scarlett Johansson.


title: Kaa

text: As in the 1967 film, Kaa is a villain desiring to hypnotize and eat Mowgli but like the 2003 sequel Kaa has a minor role. While Mowgli is hypnotized, Kaa reveals that he came to live in the jungle after Shere Khan killed his father and Bagheera found him, then describes to him the power of the dangerous "red flower", fire. Kaa tries to devour Mowgli, but Baloo discovers her and rescues Mowgli.


title: Kaa

text: Johansson described Kaa in an interview as a "window into Mowgli's past" who uses storytelling to seduce and entrap Mowgli, noting that the way Kaa moves is "very alluring" and "almost coquettish". Johansson also recorded a new version of "Trust in Me" for the film, saying the song was "a strange melody. We wanted it to be a lullaby, but it has a very mysterious sound."


title: All the Best: Fun Begins

text: All The Best: Fun Begins is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language comedy film directed by Rohit Shetty and produced by Ajay Devgn. It stars Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt, Fardeen Khan, Bipasha Basu, Johny Lever, Sanjay Mishra and Mugdha Godse. Upon release, it was a critical and commercial success.


title: All the Best: Fun Begins

text: The plot is based on Marathi comedy play "Pati Sagle Uchapati" which itself is based on the English comedy play "Right Bed Wrong Husband". The English play has been an inspiration for Tamil films- "Veettuku Veedu" and "Vishwanathan Ramamoorthy" as well as Kannada films- "Galate Samsara" and "Housefull".


title: All the Best: Fun Begins

text: The film was subsequently remade with slight changes in the story in Malayalam in 2010 as "Best of Luck" which went on to be remade in Kannada in 2015 as "Ond Chance Kodi".


title: All the Best: Fun Begins

text: Veer Kapoor (Fardeen Khan) is a struggling artist who hopes to make it big someday with his rock group but at present is tottering financially. His only source of income is a monthly pocket money of Rs 100,000 from his wealthy elder step brother Dharam Kapoor (Sanjay Dutt), for which Veer has told a lie about him being married to Vidya (Mugdha Godse), his girlfriend. His best friend is Prem Chopra (Ajay Devgn), who is married to Jhanvi Chopra (Bipasha Basu). Jhanvi runs a broken down gymnasium owned by Prem's family and Prem spends his time mechanically modifying cars.


title: All the Best: Fun Begins

text: Veer and Prem need Rs. 500,000 to register Prem's car for an illegal race (if they win they will get Rs. 5,000,000). They borrow the money from a local mute loan shark Tobu (Johnny Lever) after showing him a car designed by Prem which, Prem assures him, cannot lose. Impressed by this vehicle, Tobu in addition to lending Prem and Veer 500,000, invest 500,000 of his own on Prem. Prem loses the race and ends up owing a sum of Rs. to Tobu which should be paid within a week.


title: All the Best: Fun Begins

text: Prem decides to rent out Veer's bungalow to a local slum dweller RGV;— Raghuvandas Goverdhandas Vakawale (Sanjay Mishra), who has won a lottery, and collects an advance of Rs 250,000. However, everything gets into a muddle when Dharam is stranded in the Goa Airport on his way to Lushoto and insists on catching up with his younger brother. Things get worse when their new tenant arrives and is beaten by Dharam. In order to save the situation, Prem and Veer both lie that Raghu is mad and vice versa.


title: All the Best: Fun Begins

text: Vidya had a fight with Veer and is temporarily not talking to him. After Veer brings Dharam home from the airport, Dharam sees Jhanvi and takes her for Vidya, and later when he sees Vidya, Prem and Veer tell him she is Jhanvi, Prem's girlfriend. Jhanvi pretends to be Vidya, Veer's wife and Vidya pretends to be Jhanvi. Both the young men aren't happy as Veer's brother's flight to Lushoto got delayed by a few days. Dharam decides to stay with his brother until further notice.


title: All the Best: Fun Begins

text: Prem sees Dharam's watch, a Rolex and decides to finish their debt to Tobu by giving him the Rolex. Dharam occasionally flirts with Jhanvi(Vidya) which irks Prem. in a similar way, Prem pays off the debt now by giving Tobu the royal gift of the king that turns out to be pickle for the princess. Immediately after Prem comes back home, A frantic jhanvi becomes unconscious and is rushed to the hospital by Prem, this is seen by Dharam and he follows them to the hospital and slaps Prem for taking jhanvi, the doctor informs Prem that Jhanvi is pregnant.


title: All the Best: Fun Begins

text: Veer feels extremely guilty now because his brother thinks that Vidya and him are having a baby, veer decides that he will tell Dharam the truth but before that Dharam reveals that his flight to lushoto has been booked. before Dharam leaves, Tobu and his men barge in the house and Dharam finds out the truth. The house is soon surrounded by thugs from lushoto, who turn out to be the king's men. it is later revealed that Dharam and the princess had an affair and that the princess is pregnant. The king's men want Dharam and the princess to get married. they accept and its a happy ending.


title: All the Best: Fun Begins

text: The movie was released in Diwali just like Golmaal series. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics.


title: All the Best: Fun Begins

text: The film had opened to an average start as it released with two other diwali releases that year but had later picked up due to positive word of mouth . It was rated as "Average" in India, and is the eighth highest grossing Bollywood film of 2009.


title: Chelicerae

text: The chelicerae () are the mouthparts of the subphylum Chelicerata, an arthropod group that includes arachnids, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. Commonly referred to as "jaws", chelicerae may be shaped as either articulated fangs, or similarly to pincers. Some chelicerae, such as those found on nearly all spiders, are hollow and contain (or are connected to) venom glands, and are used to inject venom into prey or a perceived threat. In "Pisaurina mira", also known as the nursery web spider, the chelicerae are utilized to snatch the prey once it becomes within reach, facilitating the "sit-and-wait ambush predator" behavior. Both pseudoscorpions and harvestmen have structures on their chelicerae that are used for grooming (papillae in pseudoscorpions, cheliceral teeth in Opiliones).


title: Chelicerae

text: Chelicerae can be divided into three kinds: jackknife chelicerae, scissor chelicerae, and 3-segmented chelate chelicerae.


title: Chelicerae

text: The jackknife chelicera is subchelate (with fixed finger much reduced or absent) and is composed of two segments. This type of chelicera occurs exclusively in the Tetrapulmonata.


title: Chelicerae

text: Jackknife chelicera presents two different forms: orthognathous and labidognathous. Orthognathous chelicerae are articulated in a manner that enables movements of the appendages parallel to the body axis. This kind of chelicera occurs in the Liphistiomorphae and Mygalomorphae spiders and in the related orders Amblypygi, Schizomida and Thelyphonida. Labidognathous chelicerae move at right angles to the body axis. This kind of chelicera is rotated and occurs exclusively in the Araneomorphae spiders.


title: Chelicerae

text: The chelicerae consist of a base segment, sometimes called the "paturon", that articulates with the cephalothorax (or prosoma) and a fang portion that articulates with the base segment. Almost all spiders have venom glands and can inject the venom through openings near the tips of their fangs when biting prey. The glands that produce this venom are located in the two segments of the chelicerae, and, in most spiders, extend beyond the chelicerae and into the cephalothorax. The fang, the organic functional equivalent to a hypodermic needle is what penetrates the skin, fur, or exoskeleton of the spider's target—spider mouthparts are primarily intended for envenoming a spider's prey in most species, typically insects and other small arthropods. The basal portion includes all or part of the spider's venom glands, which can be squeezed to control the amount of venom forced out of the glands. Such control permits a spider to administer either a dry bite, a dose appropriate to the nature of the prey or enemy, or a maximal dose. The control is also necessary for actions such as the spitting of venomous silk by members of the family Scytodidae; they depend on that mechanism both in hunting and defence.


title: Chelicerae

text: When a spider bites, the two parts of the chelicerae come together like a folding knife, and when making a threat display or actually preparing to bite, the spider will open the angle of the fangs with the basal portion of the "chelicerae" and also open the angle of the basal portion with the cephalothorax. In the tarantulas and other Mygalomorphae, the horizontal separation of the tips of the fangs does not change much, but in the other spiders the tips of the fangs move apart from each other as well as elevating. Even the tips of the fangs of the rather large spider shown above are quite sharp, and the spider's body is well adapted to driving the fangs into flesh. Some spider bites, such as those of the Sydney funnel-web spider, are reported to have penetrated toenails and soft leather shoes.


title: Chelicerae

text: The uncate chelicera is chelate and composed of two segments and occurs in the orders Pseudoscorpiones, Solifugae, Ricinulei, and Araneae (e.g., brown recluse, cellar spider, and crevice weaving spider).


title: Chelicerae

text: This is the primitive condition and occurs in arachnids such as the Scorpiones and the Opiliones, as well as in non-arachnid Chelicerata such as the Xiphosura and Eurypterida. The chelifores of the Pycnogonida may be homologous to chelicerae.


title: Cumann na mBan

text: Cumann na mBan (; literally "The Women's Council" but calling themselves The Irishwomen's Council in English), abbreviated C na mB, is an Irish republican women's paramilitary organisation formed in Dublin on 2 April 1914, merging with and dissolving Inghinidhe na hÉireann, and in 1916, it became an auxiliary of the Irish Volunteers. Although it was otherwise an independent organisation, its executive was subordinate to that of the Irish Volunteers, and later, the Irish Republican Army.


title: Cumann na mBan

text: They were active in the War of Independence and took the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War. Cumann na mBan were declared an illegal organisation by the government of the Irish Free State in 1923. This was reversed when Fianna Fáil came to power in 1932. During the splits in the Republican movement of the later part of the 20th century, Fianna Éireann and Cumann na mBan supported Provisional Sinn Féin in 1969 and Republican Sinn Féin in 1986.


title: Cumann na mBan

text: In 1913, a number of women decided to hold a meeting in Wynn's Hotel, Dublin, for the purpose of discussing the possibility of forming an organisation for women who would work in conjunction with the recently formed Irish Volunteers. A meeting chaired by Agnes O'Farrelly on 2 April 1914 marked the foundation of Cumann na mBan. Branches, which pledged to the Constitution of the organisation, were formed throughout the country and were directed by the Provisional Committee. The first branch was named the Ard Chraobh, which held their meetings in Brunswick Street before and after the 1916 Easter Rising.


title: Cumann na mBan

text: The constitution of Cumann na mBan contained explicit references to the use of force by arms if necessary. At the time the Government of Ireland Bill 1914 was being debated and might have had to be enforced in Ulster. The primary aims of the organisation as stated in its constitution were to "advance the cause of Irish liberty and to organize Irishwomen in the furtherance of this object", to "assist in arming and equipping a body of Irish men for the defence of Ireland" and to "form a fund for these purposes, to be called 'The Defence of Ireland Fund'".


title: Cumann na mBan

text: In addition to their local subscriptions (i.e. involvement in other nationalist associations or organisations), members of Cumann na mBan were expected to support the Defence of Ireland Fund, through subscription or otherwise. Its recruits were from diverse backgrounds, mainly white-collar workers and professional women, but with a significant proportion also from the working class. In September 1914, the Irish Volunteers split over John Redmond's appeal for its members to enlist in the British Army. The majority of Cumann na mBan members supported the rump of between 10,000 and 14,000 volunteers who rejected this call and who retained the original name, the Irish Volunteers. A few Cumann na mBan branches affiliated directly to Redmond's National Volunteers; other ex-members joined short-lived Redmondite associations, like the Volunteer Aid Association, or the "Women's National Council" formed by Bridget Dudley Edwards in 1915.


title: Cumann na mBan

text: On 23 April 1916, when the Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood finalised arrangements for the Easter Rising, it integrated Cumann na mBan, along with the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army, into the 'Army of the Irish Republic'. Patrick Pearse was appointed Commandant-General and James Connolly Commandant-General of the Dublin Division.


title: Cumann na mBan

text: On the day of the Rising, Cumann na mBan members, including Winifred Carney, who arrived armed with both a Webley revolver and a typewriter, entered the General Post Office on O'Connell Street in Dublin with their male counterparts. By nightfall, women insurgents were established in all the major rebel strongholds throughout the city except Boland's Mill and the South Dublin Union held by Éamon de Valera and Eamonn Ceannt.


title: Cumann na mBan

text: The majority of the women worked as Red Cross workers, couriers or procured rations for the men. Members also gathered intelligence on scouting expeditions, carried despatches and transferred arms from dumps across the city to insurgent strongholds.


title: Cumann na mBan

text: Some members of Cumann na mBan were also members of the Citizen Army and as such were combatants in the Rising. Constance Markievicz is said to have shot and killed a policeman at St Stephen's Green during the opening phase of the hostilities. She carried out sniper attacks on British troops and with Mary Hyland and Lily Kempson, was among a small force under Frank Robbins which occupied the College of Surgeons opposite the Green and failed to rifles that were believed to be held there by the college's Officer Training Corps. Helena Molony was among the Citizen Army company which attacked Dublin Castle and subsequently occupied the adjacent City Hall, where she and other women sniped.


title: Cumann na mBan

text: At the Four Courts the women of Cumann na mBan helped to organise the evacuation of buildings at the time of surrender and to destroy incriminating papers. More typical was the General Post Office (GPO), where Pearse insisted that most of them (excluding Carney, who refused to leave the injured James Connolly) leave at noon on Friday, 28 April. The building was then coming under shell- and machine-gun fire and many casualties were anticipated. The following day the leaders at the GPO decided to negotiate surrender. Pearse asked Cumann na mBan member Elizabeth O'Farrell (a mid-wife at the National Maternity Hospital) to act as a go-between. Under British military supervision she brought Pearse's surrender order to the rebel units still fighting in Dublin. Over 70 women, including many of the leading figures in Cumann na mBan, were arrested after the insurrection and many of the women who had been captured fighting were imprisoned in Kilmainham; all but twelve had been released by 8 May 1916.


title: Cumann na mBan

text: Revitalized after the Rising and led by Countess Markievicz, Cumann na mBan took a leading role in popularising the memory of the 1916 leaders, organising prisoner relief agencies and later in opposing conscription and internment. Cumann na mBan members canvassed for Sinn Féin in the 1918 general election, in which Countess Markievicz was elected Teachta Dála. Jailed at the time, she became the Minister for Labour of the Irish Republic from 1919 to 1922. During the Anglo-Irish War, its members were active. They hid arms and provided safe houses for volunteers, helped run the Dáil Courts and local authorities, and in the production of the "Irish Bulletin", official newspaper of the Irish Republic. In the Irish elections of May 1921, Markievicz was joined by fellow Cumann na mBan members Mary MacSwiney, Ada English and Kathleen Clarke as Teachtaí Dála.


title: Cumann na mBan

text: On 7 January 1922 the Anglo-Irish Treaty was approved by the Second Dáil by a close vote of 64–57. On 5 February a convention was held to discuss this, and 419 Cumann na mBan members voted against as opposed to 63 in favour. In the ensuing Civil War, its members largely supported the anti-Treaty Republican forces. Over 400 of its members were imprisoned by the forces of the Provisional government which became in December 1922 the Irish Free State. Some of those who supported the Treaty changed the name of their branches to Cumann na Saoirse, while others retained their name but gave allegiance to the Free State Government.


title: Cumann na mBan

text: Cumann na mBan continued to exist after the Treaty, forming (alongside Sinn Féin, the Irish Republican Army, Fianna Éireann and other groups) part of the Irish republican milieu. The government of the Irish Free State banned the organisation in January 1923 and opened up Kilmainham Jail as a detention prison for suspect women.


title: Cumann na mBan

text: In February 1923, 23 women members of Cumann na mBan went on hunger strike for 34 days over the arrest and imprisonment without trial of Irish republican prisoners (see 1923 Irish Hunger Strikes). That strike resulted in the release of the women hunger-strikers. In March 1923, 97 women went on hunger strike in Kilmainham Gaol after all of their privileges had been denied without explanation (that hunger strike ended later in the month with the restoration of privileges).


title: Cumann na mBan

text: Its membership strength was adversely affected by the many splits in Irish republicanism, with sections of the membership resigning to join Fianna Fáil, Clann na Poblachta and other parties. Máire Comerford, a lifelong member from 1914, reflected in later years that it became a 'greatly weakened organisation' that 'gathered speed downhill' from the founding of Fianna Fáil in 1926.


title: Cumann na mBan

text: What strength the organisation had left after 1926 was sapped again when post-1926 president Eithne Coyle repeatedly tried to resign in the late 1930s during World War II in protest against the Sabotage Campaign being waged by the IRA. Coyle objected to the IRA bombing British industrial targets in Northern Ireland and England due to risks posed to civilians. Her resignation was rejected by Cumann na mBan several times before they eventually conceded in 1941.


title: Cumann na mBan

text: Cumann na mBan supported the Provisional wing in the 1969/70 split in the IRA and Sinn Féin. Sinn Féin vice-president and leading Cumann na mBan member Máire Drumm was shot dead by loyalists in 1976. In Northern Ireland Cumann na mBan was integrated into the mainstream Irish Republican Army during the conflict, although the organisation continued to exist.


title: Cumann na mBan

text: In 1986, Cumann na mBan opposed the decision by the IRA and Sinn Féin to drop the policy of abstentionism and aligned itself with Republican Sinn Féin and the Continuity IRA. In 1996, RSF general secretary and Cumann na mBan member Josephine Hayden was jailed for six years on charges relating to the possession of a sawn-off shotgun and a revolver.


title: Cumann na mBan

text: In 2014 Cumann na mBan celebrated the Centenary of their foundation in Wynn's Hotel, Dublin, where they were founded in 1914.


title: Cumann na mBan

text: Cumann na mBan is a proscribed organisation in the United Kingdom under the Terrorism Act 2000, but it is not listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States.


title: Cumann na mBan

text: The documentary "Cumann na mBan: The Women's Army" (2019) offers historical and contemporary information on the organization: http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/video/CumannnamBan .


title: Afro-Cubans

text: Afro-Cubans or Black Cubans are Cubans of West African ancestry. The term "Afro-Cuban" can also refer to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community and the combining of native African and other cultural elements found in Cuban society such as race, religion, music, language, the arts and class culture.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: According to a 2012 national census which surveyed 11.2 million Cubans, 1 million Cubans described themselves as Afro-Cuban or Black, while 3 million considered themselves to be "mulatto" or "mestizo". Thus a significant proportion of those living on the island affirm some African ancestry. Although, there has been much discussion over the actual demographic composition of the island. While the 2012 national census showed that only 11% of Cubans reported themselves to be Afro-Cuban or Black, most international sources and independent studies have shown the proportion of Cubans who are black, or possess significant African genetic heritage, to be closer to 62-70%. A study by the University of Miami estimated that number to be 62%, noting that complex attitudes towards racial identification, and the defacto racial hierarchy that has existed on the island, have influenced lower figures. The matter is further complicated by the fact that a fair number of people still locate their origins in specific native African ethnic groups or regions, particularly the Yoruba (or Lucumí), Akan, Arará and Kongo, but also Igbo, Carabalí, Mandingo, Kissi, Fula, Makua and others.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: A study from 2014 estimated the genetic admixture of the population of Cuba to be 72% European, 20% African and 8% Native American.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: Although Afro-Cubans can be found throughout Cuba, Eastern Cuba has a higher concentration of Afro-Cubans than other parts of the island and Havana has the largest population of Afro-Cubans of any city in Cuba. Recently, many native African immigrants have been coming to Cuba, especially from Angola. Also, immigrants from Jamaica and Haiti have been settling in Cuba, most of whom settle in the eastern part of the island, due to its proximity to their home countries, further contributing to the already high percentage of blacks on that side of the island.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: The percentage of Afro-Cubans on the island increased after the 1959 Cuban revolution led by Fidel Castro due to mass migration from the island of the largely white Cuban professional class. A small percentage of Afro-Cubans left Cuba, mostly for the United States (particularly Florida), where they and their U.S.-born children are known as Afro-Cuban Americans, Cuban Americans, Hispanic Americans and African Americans. Only a few of them resided in nearby Spanish-speaking country of Dominican Republic and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: The Minority Rights Group International says that "An objective assessment of the situation of Afro-Cubans remains problematic due to scant records and a paucity of systematic studies both pre- and post-revolution".


title: Afro-Cubans

text: African countries such as Nigeria, the home of the Yoruba cultures and Spanish Guinea experienced an influx of ex-slaves from Cuba brought there as indentured servants during the 17th century and again during the 19th century. In Spanish Guinea, they became part of the "Emancipados"; in Nigeria, they were called "Amaros". Despite being free to return to Cuba when their tenure was over, they remained in these countries marrying into the local indigenous population. The former slaves were brought to Africa by the "Royal Orders of September 13, 1845" (by way of voluntary arrangement) and a June 20, 1861, deportation from Cuba, due to the lack of volunteers. Similar circumstances previously occurred during the 17th century where ex-slaves from both Cuba and Brazil were offered the same opportunity.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: Angola also has communities of Afro-Cubans, Amparos. They are descendants of Afro-Cuban soldiers brought to the country in 1975 as a result of the Cuban involvement in the Cold War. Fidel Castro deployed thousands of troops to the country during the Angolan Civil War. As a result of this era, there exists a small Spanish-speaking community in Angola of Afro-Cubans numbering about 100,000.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: Haitian Creole language and culture first entered Cuba with the arrival of Haitian immigrants at the start of the 19th century. Haiti was then the French colony of Saint-Domingue and the final years of the 1791–1804 Haitian Revolution brought a wave of French settlers fleeing with their Haitian slaves to Cuba. They came mainly to the east, and especially Guantánamo, where the French later introduced sugar cultivation, constructed sugar refineries and developed coffee plantations. By 1804, some 30,000 Frenchmen were living in Baracoa and Maisí, the furthest eastern municipalities of the province. Later, Haitians continued to come to Cuba to work as "braceros" (Spanish for "manual laborers") in the fields cutting cane. Their living and working conditions were not much better than slavery. Although they planned to return to Haiti, most stayed on in Cuba. For years, many Haitians and their descendants in Cuba did not identify themselves as such or speak Creole. In the eastern part of the island, many Haitians suffered discrimination. After Spanish, Creole is the second most-spoken language in Cuba. Besides the eastern provinces, there are communities in Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey provinces where the population maintains Creole as a first language. Classes in Creole are offered in Guantanamo, Matanzas and the City of Havana. There is a Creole-language radio program.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: Afro-Cubans are predominantly Roman Catholic, with minorities of Protestant. Afro-Cuban religion can be broken down into three main currents: Santería, Palo Monte and include individuals of all origins. Santería is syncretized with Roman Catholicism.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: Since the mid-19th century, innovations within Cuban music have been attributed to the Afro-Cuban community. Genres such as son, conga, mambo and chachachá combined European influences with sub-Saharan African elements. Cuban music evolved markedly away from the traditional European model towards improvisational African traditions. Afro-Cuban musicians have taken pre-existing genres such as trova, country and rap and added their own realities of life in a socialist country and as black persons. Genres like Nueva Trova are seen as live representations of the revolution and have been affected by Afro-Cuban musicians like Pablo Milanes who included African spirituals in his early repertory. Music in Cuba is encouraged both as a scholarly exercise and a popular enjoyment. To Cubans, music and study of it are integral parts of the revolution. Audiences are proud of mixed ethnicity that makes up the music from the Afro-Cuban community, despite there being a boundary of distrust and uncertainty between Cubans and Afro-Cuban culture.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: Afro-Cuban music can be divided into religious and profane. Religious music includes the chants, rhythms and instruments used in rituals of the religious currents mentioned above. Profane music includes rumba, guaguancó, comparsa (carnival music) and lesser styles such as the tumba francesa. Virtually all Cuban music is influenced by African rhythms. Cuban popular music, and much of the art music, combines influences from Spain and Africa in ways unique to Cuba. For example "son" combines African instruments and playing styles with the meter and rhythm of Spanish poetic forms. While much of the music is performed in cut-time, artists typically use an array of time signatures like 6/8 for drumming beats. On the other hand, clave uses a polymetric 7/8 + 5/8 time signature.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: Afro-Cuban arts emerged in the early 1960s with musicians spearheading an amateur movement bringing African-influenced drumming to the forefront of Cuban music. For example, Enrique Bonne's drumming ensembles took inspiration from Cuban folklore, traditional trova, dance music, and American Jazz. Pello de Afrokan created a new dance rhythm called Mozambique that increased in popularity after his predominantly afro-Cuban folklore troupe performed in 1964.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: Before the revolution, authorities considered Afro-Cuban religious music a lesser culture; religious drummers were persecuted and instruments were confiscated. After the revolution, Afro-Cuban music could be practiced more openly, but authorities were suspicious due to its relation to Afro-Cuban religions. The first revolutionary institution created for the performing "national folklore" (Afro-Cuban artistic traditions) was "Conjunto Folklórico Nacional". Despite official institutional support from the Castro's regime, Afro-Cuban music was treated mostly with ambivalence throughout the second half of the 20th century. Audiences looked down on traditional and religious Afro-Cuban music as primitive and anti-revolutionary, music educators continued pre-revolutionary indifference toward afro-Cuban folklore, and the religious nature of Afro-Cuban music led to criticisms of the government's whitening and de-Africanization of the music. Religious concerts declined, musical instruments related to Santería were confiscated and destroyed, afro-Cuban celebrations were banned outright, and strict limits were placed on the quantity of religious music heard on the radio and television. These attitudes softened in the 1970s and 1980s as the afro-Cuban community began to fuse religious elements into their music. In the 1990s, Afro-Cuban music became a mainstay of Cuba's tourism economy. Members of religious groups earned their living by performing and teaching ritual drumming, song, and dance, to tourists visiting the country.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: Rap was adopted in 1999 and solidified with the rise of hip-hop group Orishas. Cuban hip-hop focused on criticism of the Cuban state and the global economic order, including racism, colonialism, imperialism, and global capitalism.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: Other cultural elements considered to be Afro-Cuban can be found in language (including syntax, vocabulary, and style of speech).


title: Afro-Cubans

text: The Afro-Cuban religions all maintain some degree of use of African languages. Santería and Abakuá both have large parts of their liturgy in African languages (Lucumí and Ñañigo, respectively) while Palo uses a mixture of Spanish and Kikongo, known as Habla Congo.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: According to anthropologists dispatched by the European Union, racism is entrenched in Cuba. Afro-Cubans are systematically excluded from positions in tourism-related jobs, where they could earn tips in hard currencies. According to the EU study, Afro-Cubans are relegated to poor housing, and African Cubans are excluded from managerial positions.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: Enrique Patterson describes race as a "social bomb" and says that "If the Cuban government were to permit Afro-Cubans to organize and raise their problems before [authorities] ... totalitarianism would fall". Esteban Morales Domínguez, a professor at the University of Havana, says that "The absence of the debate on the racial problem already threatens ... the revolution's social project". Carlos Moore, who has written extensively on the issue, says that "There is an unstated threat, Afro-cubans in Cuba know that whenever you raise race in Cuba, you go to jail. Therefore the struggle in Cuba is different. There cannot be a civil rights movement. You will have instantly 10,000 black people dead. [...] The government is frightened to the extent to which it does not understand African Cubans today. You have a new generation of Afro-Cubans who are looking at politics in another way." Barack Obama's victory has raised disturbing questions about the institutional racism in Cuba. "The Economist" noted "The danger starts with his example: after all, a young, Afro-cuban, progressive politician has no chance of reaching the highest office in Cuba, although a majority of the island's people are of mostly African descent"


title: Afro-Cubans

text: In the years between the triumph of the revolution and the victory at Playa Girón the Cuban government was one of the world's most proactive regimes in the fight against discrimination. It achieved significant gains in racial equality through a series of egalitarian reforms early in the 1960s. Fidel Castro's first public address on racism after his rise to power was on March 23, 1959, at a labor rally in Havana, less than three months after he defeated Fulgencio Batista. He is quoted as saying: "One of the most just battles that must be fought, a battle that must be emphasized more and more, which I might call the fourth battle--the battle to end racial discrimination at work centers. I repeat: the battle to end racial discrimination at work centers. Of all the forms of racial discrimination the worst is the one that limits the colored Cuban's access to jobs. " Castro pointed to the distinction between social segregation and employment, while placing great emphasis on correcting the latter. In response to the large amount of racism that existed in the job market, Castro issued anti-discrimination laws. In addition, he attempted to close the class gap between wealthy white Cubans and Afro-Cubans with a massive literacy campaign among other egalitarian reforms in the early and mid-1960s.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: Two years after his 1959 speech at the Havana Labor Rally, Castro declared that the age of racism and discrimination was over. In a speech given at the Confederation of Cuban Workers in observance of May Day, Castro declared that the "just laws of the revolution ended unemployment, put an end to villages without hospitals and schools, enacted laws which ended discrimination, control by monopolies, humiliation, and the suffering of the people." Although inspiring, many would consider the claim to be premature."


title: Afro-Cubans

text: Research conducted by Yesilernis Peña, Jim Sidanius and Mark Sawyer in 2003, suggests that social discrimination is still prevalent, despite the low levels of economic discrimination.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: After considering the issue solved, the Cuban government moved beyond the issue of racism. His message marked a shift in Cuban society's perception of racism that was triggered by the change in government focus." The government's announcement easily allowed the Cuban public to deny discrimination without first correcting the stereotypes that remained in the minds of those who grew up in a Cuba that was racially and economically divided. Many who argue that racism does not exist in Cuba base their claims on the idea of Latin American Exceptionalism. According to the argument of Latin American Exceptionality, a social history of intermarriage and mixing of the races is unique to Latina America. The large mestizo populations that result from high levels of interracial union common to Latin America are often linked to racial democracy. For many Cubans this translates into an argument of "racial harmony", often referred to as racial democracy. In the case of Cuba, ideas of Latin American Exceptionalism have delayed the progress of true racial harmony.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: In spite of all the promises and speeches by government leaders, racial discrimination against Afro-Cubans continues to be a major Human Rights issue for the Cuban government, even resulting in riots in Central Havana, a mostly black neighborhood in the capital.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: Most of the Latin population of Tampa in the 1950s was working class and lived in restricted areas, ethnic enclaves in the vicinity of Tampa's hundreds of cigar factories. African Cubans were tolerated to an extent in the Latin quarter (where most neighborhoods and cigar factories were integrated). Ybor City and its counterpart, West Tampa, were areas that bordered on other restricted sections-areas for U.S. blacks or whites only. In this Latin quarter, there existed racial discrimination despite its subtleness.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: During the 1920s and 1930s Cuba experienced a movement geared towards Afro-Cuban culture called Afrocubanismo. The movement had a large impact on Cuban literature, poetry, painting, music, and sculpture. It was the first artistic campaign in Cuba that focused on one particular theme: African culture. Specifically it highlighted the struggle for independence from Spain, African slavery, and building a purely Cuban national identity. Its goal was to incorporate African folklore and rhythm into traditional modes of art.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: The movement evolved from an interest in the rediscovery of African heritage. It developed in two very different and parallel stages. One stage stemmed from European artists and intellectuals who were interested in African art and musical folk forms. This stage paralleled the Harlem Renaissance in New York, Négritude in the French Caribbean, and coincided with stylistic European Vanguard (like Cubism and its representation of African masks). It was characterized by the participation of white intellectuals such as Cubans Alejo Carpentier, Rómulo Lachatañeré, Fortunato Vizcarrondo, Fernando Ortiz and Lydia Cabrera, Puerto Rican Luis Palés Matos and Spaniards Pablo Picasso and Roger de Lauria. The African-inspired art tended to represent Afro-Cubans with cliché images such as a black man sitting beneath a palm tree with a cigar.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: Poems and essays by Afro-Cuban writers began to be published in the 1930s in newspapers, magazines and books, where they discussed their own personal heritage. Afro-Cuban and Afro-Cuban heritage artists such as Nicolás Guillén, Alberto Arredondo and Emilio Ballagas brought light to the once-marginalized African race and culture. It became a symbol of empowerment and individuality for Afro-Cubans within the established Western culture of the Americas.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: This empowerment became a catalyst for the second stage to be characterized by Afro-Cuban artists making art that truly reflected what it meant to be Afro-Cuban. Beginning in the 1930s this stage depicted a more serious view of black culture like African religions and the struggles associated with slavery. The main protagonist during this stage of the movement was Nicolás Guillén.


title: Afro-Cubans

text: The lasting reputation of the Afrocubanismo movement was the establishment of a New World art form that used aesthetics from both European and African culture. Although the actual movement of Afrocubanismo faded by the early 1940s, Afro-Cuban culture continues to play a vital role in the identity of Cuba. It has been the Cuban Revolution that opened up a space for extended research of African ethnic roots in Cuba. The rhetoric of the Revolution incorporates black history and its contribution as an important stratum of Cuban identity. The Revolution has funded many projects that restore the work of Afro-Cubans in an effort to accommodate an African-driven identity within the new anti-racist Cuban society.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Anti-obesity medication or weight loss medications are pharmacological agents that reduce or control weight. These medications alter one of the fundamental processes of the human body, weight regulation, by altering either appetite, or absorption of calories. The main treatment modalities for overweight and individuals with obesity remain dieting (healthy diet and caloric restriction) and physical exercise.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: In the United States orlistat (Xenical) and semaglutide (Wegovy) are currently approved by the FDA for long-term use. Xenical reduces intestinal fat absorption by inhibiting pancreatic lipase; Wegovy is a GLP-1 analogue, a class of drugs that is relatively recent and which has promise as an effective anti-obesity measure.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Because of potential side effects, and limited evidence of small benefits in weight reduction for children and adolescents with obesity, it is recommended that anti-obesity medications only be prescribed for obesity where it is hoped that the benefits of the treatment outweigh its risks. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration advocates that people with either a body-mass index of at least 30, or a body-mass index of at least 27 with at least one weight-related comorbidity, represent a patient population with sufficiently high baseline health risks to justify the use of anti-obesity medication.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Current and potential anti-obesity medications may operate through one or more of the following mechanisms:


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Anorectics are primarily intended to suppress the appetite, but most of the medications in this class also act as stimulants (e.g., amphetamine), and patients have abused medications "off label" to suppress appetite (e.g. digoxin).


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: The first described attempts at producing weight loss are those of Soranus of Ephesus, a Greek physician, in the second century AD. He prescribed elixirs of laxatives and purgatives, as well as heat, massage, and exercise. This remained the mainstay of treatment for well over a thousand years. It was not until the 1920s and 1930s that new treatments began to appear. Based on its effectiveness for hypothyroidism, thyroid hormone became a popular treatment for obesity in euthyroid people. It had a modest effect but produced the symptoms of hyperthyroidism as a side effect, such as palpitations and difficulty sleeping. 2,4-Dinitrophenol (DNP) was introduced in 1933; this worked by uncoupling the biological process of oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondria, causing them to produce heat instead of ATP. The most significant side effect was a sensation of warmth, frequently with sweating. Overdose, although rare, led to a rise in body temperature and, ultimately, fatal hyperthermia. By the end of 1938 DNP had fallen out of use because the FDA had become empowered to put pressure on manufacturers, who voluntarily withdrew it from the market.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Amphetamines (marketed as Benzedrine) became popular for weight loss during the late 1930s. They worked primarily by suppressing appetite, and had other beneficial effects such as increased alertness. Use of amphetamines increased over the subsequent decades, including Obetrol and culminating in the "rainbow diet pill" regime. This was a combination of multiple pills, all thought to help with weight loss, taken throughout the day. Typical regimens included stimulants, such as amphetamines, as well as thyroid hormone, diuretics, digitalis, laxatives, and often a barbiturate to suppress the side effects of the stimulants. In 1967/1968 a number of deaths attributed to diet pills triggered a Senate investigation and the gradual implementation of greater restrictions on the market. While rainbow diet pills were banned in the US in the late 1960s, they reappeared in South America and Europe in the 1980s. Eventually rainbow diet pills were re-introduced into the US by the 2000s and led to additional adverse health effects.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: In 1959, phentermine had been FDA approved and fenfluramine in 1973. The two were no more popular than other medications until in 1992 a researcher reported that when combined the two caused a 10% weight loss which was maintained for more than two years. "Fen-phen" was born and rapidly became the most commonly prescribed diet medication. Dexfenfluramine (Redux) was developed in the mid-1990s as an alternative to fenfluramine with fewer side-effects, and received regulatory approval in 1996. However, this coincided with mounting evidence that the combination could cause valvular heart disease in up to 30% of those who had taken it, leading to withdrawal of Fen-phen and dexfenfluramine from the market in September 1997.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Medical complications included fatal pulmonary hypertension and heart valve damage due to Redux and Fen-phen, and hemorrhagic stroke due to phenylpropanolamine.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Since the introduction of medicines for the management of obesity in the 1930s, many compounds have been tried. Most of them reduce body weight by small amounts, and several of them are no longer marketed for obesity because of their side effects. Out of 25 anti-obesity medications withdrawn from the market between 1964 and 2009, 23 acted by altering the functions of chemical neurotransmitters in the brain. The most common side effects of these drugs that led to withdrawals were mental disturbances, cardiac side effects, and drug abuse or drug dependence. Deaths were reportedly associated with seven products. Ephedra was removed from the US market in 2004 over concerns that it raises blood pressure and could lead to strokes and death.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Some patients find that diet and exercise is not a viable option; for these patients, anti-obesity medications can be a last resort. In the United States, semaglutide (Wegovy) is approved by the FDA for chronic weight management. Some other prescription weight loss medications are stimulants, which are recommended only for short-term use, and thus are of limited usefulness for patients who may need to reduce weight over months or years.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: In 2021, one review concluded that "Currently, gut peptide analogues such as semaglutide [...] and [...] tirzepatide are the furthest advanced in clinical development". In 2022, a further review found that these two peptides are "the most promising candidates for the upcoming battle in the anti-obesity market".<ref name="10.7570/jomes22012"></ref> An article in "The New York Times" notes the high costs for semaglutide and potentially tirzepatide, suggesting that many people "who could most benefit from weight loss may be unable to afford such expensive drugs".


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Semaglutide (Ozempic) is a GLP-1 analogue, administered once weekly. It is more effective than Exenatide. In June 2021, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved semaglutide injection sold under the brand name Wegovy for long-term weight management in adults. Wegovy was approved for medical use ("used together with diet and physical activity") in the European Union in January 2022.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: A phase 3 clinical trial indicated that tirzepatide could be used for substantial weight loss. Specifically, phase-3 clinical trials found that after 71 weeks patients had lost 16% of their starting body weight on average. On May 13, 2022, it was approved under the name Mounjaro for type-2 diabetes (though not specifically for weight loss) .


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Exenatide (Byetta) is a long-acting analogue of the hormone GLP-1, which the intestines secrete in response to the presence of food. Among other effects, GLP-1 delays stomach emptying and promotes a feeling of fullness after eating. Some people with obesity are deficient in GLP-1, and dieting reduces GLP-1 further. Byetta is currently available as a treatment for Diabetes mellitus type 2. Some, but not all, patients find that they lose substantial weight when taking Byetta. Drawbacks of Byetta include that it must be injected subcutaneously twice daily, and that it causes severe nausea in some patients, especially when therapy is initiated. As of 2015, Byetta was recommended only for patients with Type 2 Diabetes.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Orlistat (Xenical) reduces intestinal fat absorption by inhibiting the enzyme pancreatic lipase. Frequent oily bowel movements steatorrhea is a possible side effect of using Orlistat. But if fat in the diet is reduced, symptoms often improve. Originally available only by prescription, it was approved by the FDA for over-the-counter sale in February 2007. On 26 May 2010, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a revised label for Xenical to include new safety information about cases of severe liver injury that have been reported rarely with the use of this medication. Of the 40 million users of Orlistat worldwide, 13 cases of severe liver damage have been reported.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Cetilistat is a medication designed to treat obesity. It acts in the same way as the older medication Orlistat by inhibiting pancreatic lipase, an enzyme that breaks down triglycerides in the intestine. Without this enzyme, triglycerides from the diet are prevented from being hydrolyzed into absorbable free fatty acids and are excreted undigested.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: A 2010 phase 2 trial found cetilistat significantly reduced weight and was better tolerated than orlistat. It has not been approved in the US.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: The combination of phentermine and topiramate, brand name Qsymia (formerly Qnexa) was approved by the U.S. FDA on 17 July 2012, as an obesity treatment complementary to a diet and exercise regimen. In October 2012, the European Medicines Agency, by contrast, rejected the combination (Qsiva) as a treatment for obesity, citing concerns about long-term effects on the heart and blood vessels, mental health and cognitive side-effects.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Naltrexone/bupropion is a combination medication used for weight loss in those that have either obesity or overweight with some weight-related illnesses. It combines low doses of bupropion and naltrexone. Both medications have individually shown some evidence of effectiveness in weight loss, and the combination has been shown to have some synergistic effects on weight.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: In September 2014, a sustained release formulation of the medication was approved for marketing in the United States under the brand name Contrave. The combination was approved for use in the European Union in March 2015, under the brand name Mysimba.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Gelesis100 (sold under the brand name "Plenity") is an oral superabsorbent hydrogel used for weight loss in the treatment of obesity and overweight. As Gelesis100 absorbs water, it expands in the stomach and small bowel, which may result in satiety. Gelesis100 was approved in April 2019 by the US Food and Drug Administration as a medical device. In 2022, the American Gastroenterology Association recommended the use of Gelesis100 be limited to clinical trials due to limited evidence.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Lorcaserin (Belviq) was approved 28 June 2012 for obesity with other co-morbidities. The average weight loss by study participants was modest, but the most common side effects of the medication are considered benign. It reduces appetite by activating a type of serotonin receptor known as the 5-HT receptor in a region of the brain called the hypothalamus, which is known to control appetite.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: This drug has now been withdrawn from the market because a safety clinical trial shows an increased occurrence of cancer.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Sibutramine (Meridia), which acts in the brain to inhibit deactivation of the neurotransmitters, thereby decreasing appetite was approved in 1997 and withdrawn from the United States and Canadian markets in October 2010 due to cardiovascular concerns.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: As late as 2004, some held that Meridia was a harmless medication for fighting obesity: the US District Court of the Northern District of Ohio rejected 113 cases complaining about the negative effects of the medication, stating that the clients lacked supporting facts and that the representatives involved were not qualified enough.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: In October Sibutramine was withdrawn from the market for cardiovascular side effects like stroke or heart attack, sometimes fatal, in the United States, the UK, the EU, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and Colombia.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Rimonabant (also known as SR141716; trade names Acomplia and Zimulti) was an anorectic antiobesity medication that was first approved in Europe in 2006 but was withdrawn worldwide in 2008 due to serious psychiatric side effects; it was never approved in the United States. It works via a specific blockade of the endocannabinoid system. It has been developed from the knowledge that cannabis smokers often experience hunger, which is often referred to as "the munchies".


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Rimonabant is an inverse agonist for the cannabinoid receptor CB1 and was the first medication approved in that class.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: In people with type 2 diabetes mellitus and for those taking clozapine for schizophrenia, the medication metformin (Glucophage) can reduce weight, but in others it is not approved as an anti-obesity medication. Metformin limits the amount of glucose that is produced by the liver as well as increases muscle consumption of glucose. It also helps in increasing the body's response to insulin.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Pramlintide, originally developed by Amylin Pharmaceuticals, now owned by AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, is an injectable analogue of amylin (secreted by the Beta cells of the pancreas in a fixed ratio when insulin is released and activated) an approved for treating diabetes type 1 and 2. It is in testing for treating obesity in non-diabetics.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Dietary supplements, foodstuffs, or programs for weight loss are heavily promoted through advertisements in print, on television, and on the internet. The US Food and Drug Administration recommends caution with use of these products, since many of the claims of safety and effectiveness are unsubstantiated, and many of the studies purporting to demonstrate their effectiveness are funded by the manufactures and suffer a high degree of bias. Individuals with anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, and some athletes, try to control body weight with diet pills, laxatives, or diuretic medications, although the latter two generally have no impact on body fat and only cause short-lived weight-loss through dehydration. Both diuretics and laxatives can cause electrolyte abnormalities which may cause cognitive, heart, and muscle problems, and can be fatal.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Canadian clinical practice 2006 guidelines state that there is insufficient evidence to recommend in favor of or against using herbal medicine, dietary supplements or homeopathy against obesity. Some botanical supplements include high dosages of compounds found in plants with stimulant effects including yohimbine and higenamine.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Many products marketed as botanical weight loss supplements actually contain unapproved stimulants including analogues of amphetamine, methamphetamine and ephedra.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Caffeine, coffeine and green tea can suppress appetite and decrease caloric intake (food consumption). It can also cause beneficial changes in fat metabolism.<ref name="10.33549/physiolres.934674"></ref><ref name="10.1016/j.dsx.2019.03.021"></ref> According to a review, habitual intake of 3 to 4 cups of coffee appears to be safe and to be associated with the most robust beneficial effects.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Berberine can be useful in obesity treatment and prevention through a range of mechanisms, including effects on PEPCK, the gut microbiome, AMPK and glucose metabolism. A review found that berberine can elicit clinical benefits for various diseases at standard doses and has low toxicity. The (possibly relatively small but useful) anti-obesity effects (as well as effects on associationed issues such as via effects on insulin receptors) are thought to partly stem from its effects on the microbiome, such as enrichment of butyrate-producing bacteria which can upregulate GLP-1 and PYY. Berberine can modulate the diversity of the gut microbiome at the dose of 500 mg/day.<ref name="10.1016/j.biopha.2020.110137"></ref>


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Forskolin increases cAMP levels. Results from clinical trials "lead to speculation that forskolin might be helpful in the management of overweight". While it apparently reduced body fat levels in people with obesity, additional trials with high quality are required.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Oleuropein, as contained in olive leaf extract, has anti-obesity properties, which may make it useful as a supportive treatment.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Accumulating evidence demonstrated anti-obesity impact of caloric restriction mimetics (CRMs) like spermidine. Such nutraceuticals exert effects similar to caloric restriction. However, more studies are needed and some CRMs may not have effects useful for the treatment or prevention of obesity – for resveratrol in specific "current evidence does not fully support its use to prevent or treat age- or obesity-related diseases".


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: The ECA Stack cannot be marketed in most developed countries but used to be marketed as a weight loss; it provided modest short term weight loss but evidence for the long term was lacking. Additionally there was a risk of adverse effects on the cardiovascular, mental, digestive, and nervous systems.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Pyruvate, which is found in red apples, cheese, and red wine, is sometimes marketed as a weight loss supplement, but as of 1999 has not been thoroughly studied and its weight loss effect has not been demonstrated.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Some anti-obesity medications can have severe, even, lethal side effects, fen-phen being a famous example. Fen-phen was reported through the FDA to cause abnormal echocardiograms, heart valve problems, and rare valvular diseases. One of, if not the first, to sound alarms was Sir Arthur MacNalty, Chief Medical Officer (United Kingdom). As early as the 1930s, he warned against the use of dinitrophenol as an anti-obesity medication and the injudicious and/or medically unsupervised use of thyroid hormone to achieve weight reduction. The side effects are often associated with the medication's mechanism of action. In general, stimulants carry a risk of high blood pressure, faster heart rate, palpitations, closed-angle glaucoma, drug addiction, restlessness, agitation, and insomnia.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Another medication, orlistat, blocks absorption of dietary fats, and as a result may cause oily spotting bowel movements (steatorrhea), oily stools, stomach pain, and flatulence. A similar medication designed for patients with Type 2 diabetes is Acarbose; which partially blocks absorption of carbohydrates in the small intestine, and produces similar side effects including stomach pain and flatulence.


title: Anti-obesity medication

text: Other classes of medications in development include lipase inhibitors, similar to orlistat. Another lipase inhibitor, called GT 389–255, was being developed by Peptimmune (licensed from Genzyme). This was a novel combination of an inhibitor and a polymer designed to bind the undigested triglycerides therefore allowing increased fat expulsion without side effects such as oily stools that occur with orlistat. The development stalled as Phase 1 trials were conducted in 2004 and there was no further human clinical development afterward. In 2011, Peptimmune filed for Chapter 7 Liquidation.