title: Sea turtle

text: Another major threat to sea turtles is the black-market trade in eggs and meat. This is a problem throughout the world, but especially a concern in China, the Philippines, India, Indonesia and the coastal nations of Latin America. Estimates reach as high as 35,000 sea turtles killed a year in Mexico and the same number in Nicaragua. Conservationists in Mexico and the United States have launched "Don't Eat Sea Turtle" campaigns in order to reduce this trade in sea turtle products. These campaigns have involved figures such as Dorismar, Los Tigres del Norte and Maná. Sea turtles are often consumed during the Catholic season of Lent, even though they are reptiles, not fish. Consequently, conservation organizations have written letters to the Pope asking that he declare sea turtles meat.


title: Sea turtle

text: Another danger to sea turtles comes from marine debris, especially plastics which may be mistaken for jellyfish, and abandoned fishing nets in which they can become entangled.


title: Sea turtle

text: Sea turtles in all types are being endangered by the way humans use plastic. Recycling is known of and people recycle but not everyone does. The amount of plastic in the oceans and beaches is growing every day. The littering of plastic is 80% of the amount.


title: Sea turtle

text: When turtles hatch from their eggs on the beach, they are already endangered with plastic. Turtles have to find the ocean by themselves and on their journey from land to sea, they encounter a lot of plastic. Some even get trapped in the plastic and die from lack of resources and from the sun being too hot.


title: Sea turtle

text: Sea turtles eat plastic bags because they confuse them with their actual diet, jellyfish, algae and other components. The consumption of plastic is different for every breed of sea turtle, but when they ingest the plastic, it can clog their intestines and cause internal bleeding which will eventually kill them.


title: Sea turtle

text: In 2015, an olive ridley sea turtle was found with a plastic drinking straw lodged inside its nose. The video of Nathan J. Robinson has helped raise considerable awareness about the threat posed by plastic pollution to sea turtles.


title: Sea turtle

text: The research into turtle consumption of plastic is growing. A laboratory of Exeter and Plymouth Marine tested 102 turtles and found plastic in every one of their stomachs. The researchers found more than 800 pieces of plastic in those 102 turtles. That was 20 times more than what was found in the last research. Those researchers stated that the most common things found were cigarette buds, tire, plastic in many forms and fishing material.


title: Sea turtle

text: The chemicals in the plastic that sea life eats damages their internal organs and can also clog their airway. The chemicals in the plastic that they eat is also a leading cause of the death of the turtles. If the turtles are close to laying eggs, the chemicals that they ingested from the plastic can seep into their eggs and affect their offspring. It is unlikely for the baby sea turtles to survive with those chemicals in their system.


title: Sea turtle

text: There is a large quantity of plastic in the ocean, 80% of which comes from landfills; the ratio of plankton to plastic in the ocean is one to six. The "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" is a swirl of garbage in the Pacific Ocean that is deep and contains 3.5 million tons of garbage. This is also known as the "plastic island".


title: Sea turtle

text: Climate change may also cause a threat to sea turtles. Since sand temperature at nesting beaches defines the sex of a sea turtle while developing in the egg, there is concern that rising temperatures may produce too many females. However, more research is needed to understand how climate change might affect sea turtle gender distribution and what other possible threats it may pose.


title: Sea turtle

text: Studies have shown that climate change in the world is making sea turtles gender change. The study that was in January 2018 "Current Biology" "Environmental Warning and Feminization of One of the Largest Sea Turtle Populations in the World", showed how baby sea turtles were being born female a lot more than being born male. Scientists took blood samples from many baby sea turtles near the Great Barrier Reef. Prior to this study, the ratio of male to female was pretty normal. There was a little more female than there was male but it was enough to keep reproduction and life cycle normal. The study showed that there was 99% more female sea turtles then male.


title: Sea turtle

text: The temperature of the sand has a big impact on the sex of the sea turtle. This is not common with other animals but it is with sea turtles. Warmer or hot sand usually makes the sea turtle female and the cooler the sand usually makes male. Climate change has made the temperatures much hotter than they should be. The temperature of the sand gets hotter every time it is time for sea turtles to lay their eggs. With that, adaption to the sand should occur but it would take generations for them to adapt to that one temperature. It would be hard because the temperature of the sand is always changing.


title: Sea turtle

text: The sand temperature is not the only thing that impacts sea turtles. The rise of the sea levels messes with their memory. They have an imprinted map in their memory that shows where they usually give birth and go after they do. With the rise in water levels, that map is getting messed up and is hard for them to get back to where they started. It is also taking away their beaches that they lay their eggs on. Climate change also has an impact on the number of storms and the severity of them. Storms can wipe out the sea turtles nesting ground and take out the eggs that already laid. The rising level of water is also a way for the nesting grounds to disappear. Sea turtles maps and their nesting grounds getting destroyed is harmful to them. That is because with their maps being messed up and not being able to lay eggs where they usually do makes it hard for them to find a new place to nest. They usually stick to a schedule and the messing up of a schedule messes them up.


title: Sea turtle

text: The temperature of the ocean is also rising. This impacts their diet and what they can eat. Coral reefs are majorly impacted by the rising temperatures and a lot of sea turtles diet is coral reefs or in the coral reef. Most animals that live in coral reefs need the reefs to survive. With the reefs dying, the sea life around it also does, impacting many animals.


title: Sea turtle

text: Sea turtles are very vulnerable to oil pollution, both because of the oil's tendency to linger on the water's surface, and because oil can affect them at every stage of their life cycle. Oil can poison the sea turtles upon entering their digestive system.


title: Sea turtle

text: Sea turtles have a cycle that they follow from birth. The cycle depends on the sex of the turtle but they follow it all the way through life. They start by hatching on the beach, they reach the water then move out to find food. They then start their breeding migration and then mate with another turtle. For females, they make their way to the beach to start it all over again. With males, they go back to feeding after mating and doing that over again. Oil spills can affect this cycle majorly. If the female was to go and lay eggs and ingest oil, the chemicals from the oil can get passed on to the offspring and will be hard for them to survive. The diet of the sea turtles can also be impacted by oil. If the things that they eat has oil on it or has ingested oil, it can get into their system and start attacking the insides of the turtle.


title: Sea turtle

text: Injured sea turtles are rescued and rehabilitated (and, if possible, released back to the ocean) by professional organizations, such as the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton, Florida, the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Surf City, North Carolina, and Sea Turtles 911 in Hainan, China.


title: Sea turtle

text: One rescued sea turtle, named Nickel for the coin that was found lodged in her throat, lives at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.


title: Sea turtle

text: Sea turtles are believed to have a commensal relationship with some barnacles, in which the barnacles benefit from growing on sea turtles without harming them. Barnacles are small, hard-shelled crustaceans found attached to multiple different substrates below or just above the ocean. The adult barnacle is a sessile organism, however in its larval stage it is planktonic and can move about the water column. The larval stage chooses where to settle and ultimately the habitat for its full adult life, which is typically between 5 and 10 years. However, estimates of age for a common sea turtle barnacle species, "Chelonibia testudinaria", suggest that this species lives for at least 21 months, with individuals older than this uncommon. "Chelonibia" barnacles have also been used to distinguish between the foraging areas of sea turtle hosts. By analyzing stable isotope ratios in barnacle shell material, scientist can identify differences in the water (temperature and salinity) that different hosts have been swimming through, and thus differentiate between the home areas of host sea turtles.


title: Sea turtle

text: A favorite settlement for barnacle larvae is the shell or skin around the neck of sea turtles. The larvae glue themselves to the chosen spot, a thin layer of flesh is wrapped around them and a shell is secreted. Many species of barnacles can settle on any substrate, however some species of barnacles have an obligatory commensal relationship with specific animals, which makes finding a suitable location harder. Around 29 species of "turtle barnacles" have been recorded. However it is not solely on sea turtles that barnacles can be found; other organisms also serve as a barnacle's settlements. These organisms include mollusks, whales, decapod crustaceans, manatees and several other groups related to these species.


title: Sea turtle

text: Sea turtle shells are an ideal habitat for adult barnacles for three reasons. Sea turtles tend to live long lives, greater than 70 years, so barnacles do not have to worry about host death. However, mortality in sea turtle barnacles is often driven by their host shedding the scutes on which the barnacle is attached, rather than the death of the sea turtle itself. Secondly, barnacles are suspension feeders. Sea turtles spend most of their lives swimming and following ocean currents and as water runs along the back of the sea turtle's shell it passes over the barnacles, providing an almost constant water flow and influx of food particles. Lastly, the long distances and inter-ocean travel these sea turtles swim throughout their lifetime offers the perfect mechanism for dispersal of barnacle larvae. Allowing the barnacle species to distribute themselves throughout global waters is a high fitness advantage of this commensalism.


title: Sea turtle

text: This relationship, however, is not truly commensal. While the barnacles are not directly parasitic to their hosts, they have negative effects to the sea turtles on which they choose to reside. The barnacles add extra weight and drag to the sea turtle, increasing the energy it needs for swimming and affecting its ability to capture prey, with the effect increasing with the quantity of barnacles affixed to its back.


title: Aimee Lou Wood

text: Aimée Lou Wood (born 3 February 1994) is an English actress. After early stage roles in "Mary Stuart" (2016–2017) and "People, Places and Things" (2017), Wood made her screen debut on the Netflix series "Sex Education" (2019–present), which won her a British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance from two nominations. She earned award nominations for her starring role in the play "Uncle Vanya" (2020), and appeared in the films "The Electrical Life of Louis Wain" (2021) and "Living" (2022).


title: Aimee Lou Wood

text: Wood is from Stockport, Greater Manchester. Her mother works for Childline and her father is a car dealer. Following her parents' divorce, she attended Cheadle Hulme School, and mostly retained her regional accent. Thereafter, she took a Foundation Course at the Oxford School of Drama, and went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Acting from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 2017.


title: Aimee Lou Wood

text: Wood's agent is Lizzie Newell, Independent Talent Group. During her time at RADA, Wood was involved in many productions, such as playing Margaret in a production of "Scuttlers" directed by Hannah Eidinow, and as Goody in "Vinegar Tom", directed by Cressida Brown. She began her professional acting career in 2016 by working on stage productions, making her debut as a handmaiden in the play "Mary Stuart", performed at the Almeida Theatre in London until 2017. Following this, she starred as Laura in the production "People, Places and Things", a role that was performed numerous times by Wood on a tour across the UK.


title: Aimee Lou Wood

text: In 2019, Wood made her screen debut as Aimee Gibbs, a main character in the Netflix comedy-drama series "Sex Education", where she co-stars alongside Asa Butterfield, Emma Mackey, Ncuti Gatwa and Gillian Anderson. She had originally auditioned for the part of Lily, which was ultimately given to Tanya Reynolds, but accepted the role of Aimee when she was offered. The series went on to receive critical acclaim, and Wood's performance earned praise. At the 2021 British Academy Television Awards, she won the British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance, which is both her first accolade and her first award received from a major association; she earned another nomination for the award at the 2022 British Academy Television Awards. Amidst her work on "Sex Education", Wood has continued to take roles in theatre, reasoning that "I know a lot of screen actors who think they left it too long to go back on stage and now they have really bad stage fright."


title: Aimee Lou Wood

text: In 2020, Wood played Jess in "Hen", a short film directed by James Larkin. That same year, she was cast in the pivotal role of Sonya in the production "Uncle Vanya", which was recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic at the Harold Pinter Theatre and obtained both a cinematic release as well as a BBC national release in the same year. "Uncle Vanya" and Wood's performance was lauded by critics. On her portrayal of Sonya, WhatsOnStage wrote that "she is a glorious, kind, gentle girl ... Her attempts at cheerfulness in the face of so much crushing disappointment are almost unbearable. [Wood] positively shines."


title: Aimee Lou Wood

text: In 2021, Wood joined the jury of the British Short Film Awards and had the honour of announcing the winner later that year. She made her feature film debut as Claire Wain in the 2021 biographical film "The Electrical Life of Louis Wain", which earned positive reviews from critics. She landed her first lead film role opposite Bill Nighy in the Oliver Hermanus drama feature "Living", an English remake of the 1952 Japanese film "Ikiru", which premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and earned acclaim.


title: Aimee Lou Wood

text: Wood was in a relationship with her "Sex Education" co-star Connor Swindells, who in the series portrays Adam Groff, from January 2019 to sometime before March 2020. She has struggled with her body image, revealing in a 2020 interview with "Glamour" magazine that "I have suffered with body dysmorphia my whole life. ... I remember before the first sex scene (in "Sex Education"), I thought, 'Right, okay. I'll start eating salads every day,' and I just didn't. That was such a turning point for me, making that decision to go, 'Actually, I'm not going to alter how my body looks before this scene because this is how my body looks.'"


title: Krafton

text: Krafton Inc. () is a South Korean video game holding company based in Bundang-gu, Seongnam. It was created in November 2018 to serve as the parent company for Bluehole, founded by Chang-Byung-gyu in Seoul in March 2007, and its subsidiaries. The company has produced or owns to rights to several notable video game titles including "TERA", "", "New State Mobile," and "Moonbreaker". According to "Forbes", Chang has a net worth of $2.9 billion and is one of the seven gaming billionaires in South Korea.


title: Krafton

text: Following the success of "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" which had led to both investment from Tencent Holdings and expansion and acquisition of studios, Bluehole opted to establish Krafton on 5 November 2018 to serve as a holding company for its video game properties. "Krafton" was selected based on the names of craft guilds of the Middle Ages. Kim Chang-han, the CEO of the PUBG Corporation (current PUBG Studios) that developed "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds", was named as CEO for Krafton.


title: Krafton

text: The company announced its plans to file for an initial public offering in July 2021, filing its initial approval for listing on the Korea Stock Exchange in April 2021. The firm plans to raise (US$5 billion) at a market valuation of (). The IPO was held on 10 August 2021; while its value dropped by 8.8% from the original asking price at the end of trading, it still ended with Krafton being valued at .


title: Krafton

text: Shares of several Chinese and foreign video game companies, including Tencent, which is the largest video game company in China and a provider for foreign companies to publish games in their country, fell due to new restrictions imposed by the Chinese government. Video games are viewed as an 'electronic drug' and a 'spiritual opium', especially shooting videogames, which according to the Chinese government promote violence. China is a very important market for video games due to its population density, hence the collapse of companies is devastating for every videogame company, including Krafton.


title: Krafton

text: Bluehole has acquired several development studios since its founding. On 5 November 2018, all subsidiaries were reorganized under one parent company: Krafton Game Union.


title: Krafton

text: Bluehole Studio was founded in Seoul in March 2007 by Chang Byung-gyu. Chang previously established Neowiz in 1997, along seven other co-founders, moved on to found search engine developer First Snow in 2005, and sold that venture in 2006. The company announced on 22 April 2015 that they had changed their name to simply Bluehole.


title: Krafton

text: In August 2017, Chinese holding company Tencent announced that it had, following a rejected acquisition bid, invested an undisclosed amount of money into Bluehole. Bluehole initially denied that any investment had been made, but later stated that they were in talks with Tencent in multiple partnerships, including the acquisition of an equity stake in Bluehole by Tencent. Subsequently, Tencent acquired 1.5% of Bluehole for a total of . Tencent reaffirmed their intents to fully acquire Bluehole in November 2017. Korean magazine The Korea Times suggested that an initial public offering, through which Bluehole would become a public company, was "out of question" due to Chang Byung-gyu's position as chairman of both Bluehole and the Fourth Industrial Revolution committee. At the time, 38 Communications, a company that tracks unlisted Korean stocks, valued the company at . Tencent plans to invest further to acquire further 10% ownership, raising their total stake to 11.5%.


title: Krafton

text: PUBG Studios (formerly Ginno Games, Bluehole Ginno Games and PUBG Corporation) is an internal studio of Bluehole's that developed one of the establishing battle royale games, "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" ("PUBG"), based on user mods in other games by Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene and who was hired by PUBG Studios to develop it into a full title. Originally, Ginno Games had been founded by Kim Chang-han to develop MMOs, but around 2014, he had been forced to lay off a third of his staff as their last product had not performed well. He sold Ginno Games to Bluehole on 27 January 2015, with the sale to close on 27 March that year. At the time, Ginno Games employed 60 people. Ginno Games changed their corporate name to Bluehole Ginno Games in May 2015. Shortly after Bluehole's acquisition in 2015, Chang-ha reached out to Greene to offer him support to build out his battle royale at Bluehole Ginno, which Greene accepted. "PUBG" was first released in early access in March 2017 as a highly popular game. Following the success of "PUBG" in 2017, Bluehole Ginno Games was renamed PUBG Corporation in September 2017.


title: Krafton

text: A second office was established in Madison, Wisconsin in late 2017, with two further offices in Amsterdam and Japan opened later. On 12 March 2018, PUBG Corporation acquired New York-based studio MadGlory, which was renamed PUBG MadGlory.


title: Krafton

text: Greene, having been based in the Seoul offices of PUBG Corporation, left that division in March 2019 to lead a new subsidiary, PUBG Special Projects, at the Amsterdam office, later renamed to PUBG Productions. PUBG Productions announced their first game "Prologue" at The Game Awards 2019 in December. Unrelated to "Battlegrounds", "Prologue" is called an exploration of gameplay and technology, and said "to give players unique and memorable experiences, each and every time they play".


title: Krafton

text: At the end of 2019 Tencent Games announced some big plans for PUBG in India's upcoming future, as well as its general eSports.


title: Krafton

text: Krafton fully merged PUBG Corporation into their internal studio system in December 2020, rebranding the team as PUBG Studios.


title: Krafton

text: On 9 November 2020, it was announced that Krafton will participate in "G-Star 2020" to introduce their upcoming multiplayer online game Elyon through "Krafton", an e-sports reality show where celebrities and streamers entered a special school that specialized in battlegrounds conduct episodes and talk related to PUBG Series 3. Celebrities (G)I-dle's Song Yuqi and Ailee and streamers Chyo Man and Choi Kwang-won appeared in the show.


title: Krafton

text: In September 2020, the Government of India banned PUBG Mobile in the country along with several apps published by Chinese vendors, in this case Tencent Games, due to data privacy issues. To relaunch the game back in India, Krafton took back the control of Intellectual Property (IP) of the game for the Indian region from Tencent. An aesthetically new version of PUBG Mobile, Battlegrounds Mobile India, was launched on 2 July 2021 for Android and on 18 August 2021 for iOS. This time the game was published by Krafton, Inc.


title: Krafton

text: In February 2021, PUBG Studios announced the development of , the second installment in the "PUBG Universe", set in the future (2051). Drones, shields, weapon customization, neon sights, reviving teammates and 'recruiting' knocked out enemies are just some of the new mechanics in "PUBG: New State". The game released on 11 November 2021, and reported through a presentation that to date the game had exceeded 55 million pre-registrations on Google Play and App Store. On 27 January, 2022, a name change was announced, going from being called ""PUBG: New State"" to being called ""New State Mobile"". According to Krafton this was done to create a unique mobile-centric experience, and through that change they were putting it into practice.


title: Krafton

text: In June 2019, a new studio called Striking Distance was opened in conjunction with Glen Schofield, the co-founder of Sledgehammer Games. Striking Distance, headed by Schofield as chief executive officer, is set to develop narrative-driven games based on "PUBG". The studio's first game is "The Callisto Protocol", a survival horror game originally (but no longer) set within the "PUBG" universe. It was released on December 2 2022.


title: Krafton

text: RisingWings is a game development company formed by the merger of Pnix and Delusion. RisingWings is responsible for Archery King, Golf King, Castle Craft: World War and other mobile games. RisingWings in based in Seoul.


title: Krafton

text: Dreamotion is a South Korean video game development company founded in July 2016. They are the developer and publisher of GunStrider: Tap Strike, Road to Valor: World War II and Ronin: The Last Samurai, and others. Dreamotion was acquired by Krafton on 13 May 2021.


title: Krafton

text: Thingsflow Inc. an interactive content production company known for Hellobot, a chat-based content platform that allows users to engage with bot-driven characters through dedicated apps and messenger services. As of May 2021, Hellobot has more than four million users throughout Korea and Japan. On 29 June 2021 this company was acquired by Krafton.


title: Krafton

text: Unknown Worlds Entertainment, based in San Francisco, California, is a company founded in 2001 known for having developed games such as "Natural Selection" and "Subnautica". This company was acquired by Krafton in October 2021. In August 2022, it was announced that the company will develop "Moonbreaker", a turn based role-playing game which will be published by Krafton.


title: Krafton

text: 5minlab is a South Korean company founded in 2013, known for developing Smash Legends, Baam Squad, Toy Clash, among others. It is also known for developing live Q&A broadcast systems and providing AR/VR software and content to large corporations and broadcast companies. This company was acquired by Krafton in February 2022.


title: Krafton

text: In November 2022, it was announced Krafton had acquired the Uppsala-based developer of "The Ascent", Neon Giant.


title: Krafton

text: L-Time Games was founded in June 2009. The company attracted a and a investment from Knet Investment Partners and IMM Investments, respectively. L-Time Games was acquired by and merged into Bluehole in January 2014.


title: Krafton

text: Maui Games was a mobile game developer founded in 2013 by Woonghee Cho, previously head of business development for Neowiz. Bluehole Studio announced on 16 January 2015 that they were acquiring the company, which was completed in October that year. At Bluehole's January 2017 shareholders' meeting, it was decided that Maui Games would enter liquidation, which was effective immediately. Nine staff members of Maui Games, a fraction of that company's total employee count, were reemployed directly within Bluehole.


title: Krafton

text: Pnix (formerly Bluehole Pnix) was a mobile game developer. The company was founded as Pnix Games in 2012. Bluehole announced that they had acquired Pnix Games, alongside Squall, on 22 April 2015. Pnix Games changed their corporate name to Bluehole Pnix in June 2016. Corporate name again changed to Pnix in 2018 after being a subsidiary of Krafton. In 2020 Pnix was merged with Delusion to form a RisingWings.


title: Krafton

text: Squall (formerly Bluehole Squall) was a mobile game developer. The company was founded as Squall by Park Jin-seok, a founding member of Neowiz, in 2013. Bluehole announced that they had acquired Squall, alongside Pnix Games, on 22 April 2015. Squall changed their corporate name to Bluehole Squall in March 2016. Corporate name again changed to Squall in 2018 after being a subsidiary of Krafton. It was shut down by Krafton after internal conflicts in 2020.


title: Krafton

text: Red Sahara Studio was a mobile game developer headed by Lee Ji-hoon. On 12 March 2018, Bluehole completed the acquisition of the studio in a stock swap deal. Red Sahara was developing a mobile game based on "TERA".


title: Krafton

text: Delusion Studio was founded in April 2011 and is headed by Kang Moon-chul. On 22 June 2018, Bluehole announced the acquisition of the studio. Delusion developed mobile games such as "Guardian Stone", "Jellipo", "House of Mice" and, most notably, "Castle Burn".


title: Krafton

text: En Masse Entertainment was Krafton's North American publishing arm. The company was established as Bluehole Interactive in June 2008. On 26 February 2010, the company announced that it had changed its corporate name to En Masse Entertainment.


title: Krafton

text: In September 2020, En Masse Entertainment announced that it would be shutting down its offices after 10 years of service in the gaming industry, where it was decided that Krafton would be publishing TERA's Console version globally - taking over a self-publishing role, in place of En Masse Entertainment, whereas the PC version would be published by Gameforge.


title: Type 99 tank

text: The Type 99 () or ZTZ-99 is a Chinese third generation main battle tank (MBT). The vehicle was a replacement for the aging Type 88 introduced in the late 1980s. The Type 99 MBT was China's first mass-produced third-generation main battle tank. Combining modular composite armour and tandem-charge defeating ERA, 125 mm smoothbore gun with ATGM-capability, high mobility, digital systems and optics, the Type 99 represents a shift towards rapid modernization by the PLA.


title: Type 99 tank

text: The tank entered People's Liberation Army (PLA) service in 2001. The People's Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF) is the sole operator of the Type 99. Three main versions of the Type 99 have been deployed, the Type 98 prototype, Type 99 and the Type 99A. The Type 99 forms the core of China’s modern maneuver combat capabilities, with over 1,200 tanks built for the past two decades.


title: Type 99 tank

text: The development of China's domestic third generation MBT was started in 1989, under China's eighth five-year plan. In the early 1990s China produced one of its second generation prototypes, the Type 90-II series. The Type 90-II was designed by studying the T-72 tank. The chassis was to be based on the T-72's hull but with Chinese subsystems. The Type 90-II had a 125mm smoothbore cannon with an autoloader, modular composite armor and a centered driver position. While the Type 90-II series ultimately did not enter PLA service, it saw success as an export tank and was built under license in Pakistan as the Al-Khalid.


title: Type 99 tank

text: The Type 98 or WZ-123 was China's domestic Type 90-II derivative. It was first seen in rehearsals for the 1999 National Day parade and was officially revealed on 1 October 1999.


title: Type 99 tank

text: An updated Type 99 model was officially introduced at the 2015 Victory Day Parade as the Type 99A. This variant had previously been used by PLA troops during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) military exercises in 2014.


title: Type 99 tank

text: By 2008, 200 Type 98 and Type 99 tanks may have been deployed to the Beijing and Shenyang Military Regions. The Type 99 has seen less deployment than other tanks in PLA service due to cost factors. By 2020, more than 1200 units of Type 99 and Type 99A have been deployed into the PLAGF service, forming the core maneuvering force of the PLA heavy combined arms brigades.


title: Type 99 tank

text: The main armament is a 2-plane stabilized ZPT-98 125 mm smoothbore gun with a carousel-style autoloader. The weapon system is derived from Russian 2A46 tank gun and MZ autoloader in the T-72. The gun may be fired under computerized or manual control. The tank can carry 42 rounds including 22 in the autoloader. The rate of fire is 8 rounds per minute using the autoloader, and 2 rounds per minute with manual loading. The Type 99A mounts an improved 125 mm gun, with a new autoloader capable of firing 10 rounds per minute.


title: Type 99 tank

text: The 125 mm gun of the Type 99 is capable of firing APFSDS-T, HEAT, Frag-HE-T, and gun-launched anti-tank missiles (ATGM). The gun may fire a range of Chinese, Russian, and ex-Warsaw Pact ammunition. The Type 99 can fire tandem shaped charged GP125 ATGMs similar to the Russian Invar with a range of up to 5 kilometres. The 9M119 ATGMs were approved for domestic licensed production by Russia.


title: Type 99 tank

text: The DTW-125 Type II APFSDS ammunition is estimated to be able to penetrate 700 mm of RHA (rolled homogeneous armor) at 1000 meters and at least 600 mm of RHA at 2000 meters. The HEAT ammunition is estimated to penetrate 500 mm of armor. The missile has a range of 5000 meters during daylight and a range of 4000 meters during night operation. On Type 99A, an improved variant of DTW-125 features lengthened dart penetrator of long and denser structure material. U.S. TRADOC and an internal document at Norinco describes the new DTC10-125 is capable of penetrating 960 mm of RHA at 1000 meters and 800 mm of RHA at 2000 meters due to self-sharpening.


title: Type 99 tank

text: Secondary armament consists of a QJC-88 12.7 mm machine gun on the commander's cupola and a coaxial 7.62 mm MG. The 12.7 mm machine gun has an elevation of -4 to 75 degrees.


title: Type 99 tank

text: The Type 99 has hunter-killer capabilities, operating an ISFCS-212 fire control system with an IR automatic target tracker. It is capable of firing on the move with a dual-axis stabilized main gun, stabilized gunner thermal sight, an advanced ballistic computer and a laser range finder. The gunner has a maximum target acquisition range of 5 kilometres. The gunner's thermal sight has optical magnification at 5x and 11.4x. The commander also has access to an independent thermal sight with auto-tracking targeting capabilities. A wide range of sensor data is displayed through a computer system to achieve quicker command response.


title: Type 99 tank

text: The Type 99A MBT is equipped with an improved fire control system (which includes a new 3rd generation thermal imaging sight, ballistic computer and weather measurement sensors) thus improving ballistic trajectory under adverse conditions. The commander also has an independent panoramic sight with laser range-finding function that can rotate 360 degrees. Both the gunner and commander sight is fully stabilized and capable of day/night operations.


title: Type 99 tank

text: Type 99A is fitted with ST-16 millimeter wave radar suite, designed for target identification (IFF), acquisition and track. The original Type 99 utilizes the onboard active laser defense system for identification friend or foe application, but the function may be compromised under adverse weather condition. The radar system instead offers a more reliable all-weather operation capability. Type 99A's fire control computer can also automatically measure, indentify and correct firing errors with muzzle reference system (MRS) mounted at the tip of the gun barrel as well as position sensitive detector (PSD) situated at the base of the barrel underneath the millimeter-wave radar panel, ensuring greater hit probability in sophisticated battlefield environments.


title: Type 99 tank

text: Type 99 and Type 99A are fitted with digital map interface, BeiDou global positioning system, UHF/VHF radio, encrypted laser communication system, and other form of communication devices along with an inertial navigation system as well as a C4ISR battle management system used in conjunction with the data-link and communication systems to coordinate combat with other forces such as aircraft and infantry.


title: Type 99 tank

text: The tank's welded turret is of an angular design with spaced modular armor and composite panels. Applique armor consists of modular armor mentioned above and track skirts. The Type 99A may mount 3rd generation (Relikt-type) ERA that provides protection against tandem-charge warheads. It has a nuclear-biological-chemical protection system as well as fire detection and suppression system. The storage baskets on the turret sides and rear are buffer spaces, and are protected by ERA. The tank is also equipped with an active protection system. Type 99A's protection performance, in combination of the traditional armor, composite mix and reactive armor, is equivalent to more than 1000mm of rolled homogeneous armor (RHA), according to an interview with the tank's commander.


title: Type 99 tank

text: The tank features multiple countermeasure systems for additional protection, including laser-based self defense weapon (LSDW) system, laser warning receiver system, twelve 81-mm smoke grenade launchers, and smoke screen generated by injecting fuel into the engines.


title: Type 99 tank

text: The box-shaped JD-3 (also known as ZM87) active laser self-defense weapon (LSDW) is installed on the rotating platform behind the tank commander hatch for all Type 99 variants. First seen on the Type 98 prototype, consecutive improvements are introduced over the years. Type 99A features a smaller, more compact LSDW. After the laser warning receiver receives enemy laser illumination, the system would automatically alert the crew, and activate low-intensity laser to search and locate the enemy's laser source, then intensifying the beam to blind the enemy gunner, damage or destroy enemy's optic sensors. The high-powered laser can engage both ground vehicles and helicopters, disrupting guidance signal or damaging gunner's eyesight. The jammer is able to interfere anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) utilizing SACLOS such as the MILAN. The LSDW has a reported effective range of on Type 99, and on Type 99A. JD-3 (ZM87) system also integrates laser transmitter, serving for both the line-of-sight (LOS) communication and the identification friend or foe (IFF) purpose.


title: Type 99 tank

text: The driver sits in the center front of the hull. The latest Type 99A shows the driver's hatch in the center left of the hull. Type 99 features torsion bar suspension system consists of six rubber tired road wheels on each side with power sprocket at the rear. The first, second and sixth road wheels are fitted with special hydraulic shock-buffer. The Type 99A tank is powered by a HP150 1500 hp diesel engine giving it a power-to-weight ratio of about 27.78 hp/ton. The original Type 99 had a manual transmission but later Type 99 variants have a CH1000 hydraulic-mechanical semi-automatic transmission with six forward gears and two reverse gears. The maximum road and off-road speeds are 80 km/h and 60 km/h respectively. The cruising range is 500 km. The Type 99A is controlled by a steering wheel/yoke with stick-shift transmission capable of manual and automatic modes. The tank also uses gas and brake pedals similar to that of a standard motor vehicle.


title: Type 99 tank

text: The tank can be equipped with a snorkel for deep fording. With the deep fording kit, the Type 99A can cross waters up to 4.5 meters in depth.


title: Type 99 tank

text: Also known as the Type 98, WZ-123. The early pre-production (small batch production) prototype was called Project 9910. Features included composite armor panels and a 1200 hp diesel engine. 1st generation ERA may have been an option. The armor layout of the early pre-production prototype may have been similar to the T-80U and T-80UK.


title: Type 99 tank

text: Also known as the Type 99G and Type 99A1. Upgradable from small batch pre-production prototype. The tank features a new wedge-shaped turret and applique armor panels on turret front and sides, and upgraded to third generation ERA and second generation thermal sight, and a semi-automatic transmission. Type 99 officially went into service in 2001 as ZTZ-99. A mid-life upgrade was commenced around 2008, called ZTZ-99 Phase-II to distinguish it from the initial production model. The new iteration featured a new angled turret and revised ERA blocks.


title: Type 99 tank

text: Improved Type 99. In 2003, the 99A model was developed. Prototype testing was underway by August 2007 and believed to be the standard deployed Type 99 variant in 2011. The position of the driver's hatch was moved from the centre left to the centre right of the hull. The improved main gun carries a Invar-type ATGM. It mounts 3rd generation ERA, and an active protection system. The tank has a new larger arrow shaped turret with applique ERA armor. The larger turret has improved armour and a commander's periscope, and the tank has an integrated propulsion system. The 1200 hp engine is replaced with a 1500 hp engine. The tank also features a laser warning receiver.


title: Blue balls

text: Blue balls is slang for an uncomfortable testicular sensation that can occur during a state of male sexual arousal. The term is thought to have originated in the United States, first appearing in 1916. Another slang term used for the condition is lover's nuts. Some urologists call this condition epididymal hypertension or sexual arousal orchialgia.


title: Blue balls

text: Most often it describes a temporary fluid congestion (vasocongestion) in the testicles, caused by prolonged sexual arousal in the human male without ejaculation.


title: Blue balls

text: The phenomenon is sometimes associated with certain demographics, such as men who are experiencing and practicing delayed, multiple or inhibited ejaculation.


title: Blue balls

text: A brief article by Chalett and Nerenberg in "Pediatrics" agrees that little formal data exists regarding the condition. The article concludes that "the treatment is sexual release, or perhaps straining to move a very heavy object—in essence doing a Valsalva maneuver."


title: Blue balls

text: The cause of blue balls is a large amount of blood circulation to the genital area, specifically the penis and testicles, without the release of tension associated with orgasm/ejaculation. When a large amount of blood flows to the genital region, the penis becomes erect and the testicles also experience increased blood flow and swelling.


title: Blue balls

text: The following indications and symptoms in the testicles may be experienced by people with blue balls:


title: Jason Ralph

text: Jason Ralph (born April 7, 1986) is an American actor and theater producer. Ralph began his career in theater, most notably performing in "Peter and the Starcatcher" on Broadway and off-Broadway and producing "The Woodsman". From 2015 to 2019, he starred as Quentin Coldwater in the Syfy television series "The Magicians". He has also had recurring roles on shows including "Aquarius" and "Younger".


title: Jason Ralph

text: Jason Ralph was born in West Palm Beach, Florida. He was raised in McKinney, Texas, a city outside of Dallas, and attended McKinney High School, graduating in 2004. He studied acting at Collin College and then attended State University of New York at Purchase, where he graduated with a BFA degree in 2010.


title: Jason Ralph

text: In 2010, he co-founded the theater company named Strangemen Theater Company, now Strangemen & Co., with his peers from Purchase College. As an artistic director of his company, Strangemen produced several plays including the Obie Award-winning production of "The Woodsman" by James Ortiz and Edward W. Hardy. In the 2010s, Strangemen produced off-Broadway productions and workshops of "The Little Mermaid", "Free Delivery", "On the Head of a Pin", "The Woodsman", and "Bernie and Mikey's Trip To the Moon", as well as an annual theater festival. In 2015 and 2018, they produced various workshops at the Guild Hall of East Hampton. As of 2018, Ralph serves as the company's Artistic Director and President.


title: Jason Ralph

text: In 2014, he starred in the comedy-drama movie "I'm Obsessed with You" alongside Manish Dayal, Rachel Brosnahan and Thomas McDonell. Also that year, he played the role of Ian Thompson in the film "A Most Violent Year" and starred in the pilot episode of "Looking".


title: Jason Ralph

text: In 2015, he played the role of Harrison Dalton, the son of President Dalton in the CBS TV series "Madam Secretary" and as Mike Vickery in the NBC TV series "Aquarius". He also played Stan in "Manhattan". The same year, Ralph was cast as Quentin Coldwater, the lead role in the Syfy fantasy drama series "The Magicians", which premiered on December 16, 2015. He starred in the show from 2015 to 2019.


title: Jason Ralph

text: It was reported in 2018 that Ralph had married actress Rachel Brosnahan, but Brosnahan later revealed in early 2019 that they had been married "for years" before their relationship became public. Both attended the Golden Globe Awards ceremony in 2019, where she thanked him during her acceptance speech.


title: Jiang Qing

text: Jiang Qing (19 March 191414 May 1991), also known as Madame Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary, actress, and major political figure during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). She was the fourth wife of Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Communist Party and Paramount leader of China. She used the stage name Lan Ping () during her acting career (which ended in 1938), and was known by many other names. She married Mao in Yan'an in November 1938 and served as the inaugural "First Lady" of the People's Republic of China. Jiang was best known for playing a major role in the Cultural Revolution and for forming the radical political alliance known as the "Gang of Four". Jiang served as Mao's personal secretary in the 1940s and was head of the Film Section of the Communist Party's Propaganda Department in the 1950s. She served as an important emissary for Mao in the early stages of the Cultural Revolution. In 1966, she was appointed deputy director of the Central Cultural Revolution Group. She collaborated with Lin Biao to advance Mao's unique brand of Communist ideology as well as Mao's cult of personality. At the height of the Cultural Revolution, Jiang held significant influence in the affairs of state, particularly in the realm of culture and the arts, and was idolized in propaganda posters as the "Great Flagbearer of the Proletarian Revolution". In 1969, Jiang gained a seat on the Politburo. Before Mao's death, the Gang of Four controlled many of China's political institutions, including the media and propaganda. However, Jiang, deriving most of her political legitimacy from Mao, often found herself at odds with other top leaders. Mao's death in 1976 dealt a significant blow to Jiang's political fortunes. She was arrested in October 1976 by Hua Guofeng and his allies, and was subsequently condemned by party authorities. Since then, Jiang has been officially branded as having been part of the "Lin Biao and Jiang Qing Counter-Revolutionary Cliques" (), to which most of the blame for the damage and devastation caused by the Cultural Revolution was assigned. Though she was initially sentenced to death, her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1983. After being released for medical treatment, Jiang died by suicide in May 1991.


title: Jiang Qing

text: Jiang Qing was born in Zhucheng, Shandong province, on 19 March 1914. Her birth name was Li Shumeng (). Her father was Li Dewen (), a carpenter, and her mother, whose name is unknown, was Li's subsidiary wife, or concubine. Her father had his own carpentry and cabinet making workshop. After Jiang's parents had a violent argument, her mother found work as a domestic servant (some accounts cite that Jiang's mother also worked as a prostitute) and her husband separated from her.


title: Jiang Qing

text: When Jiang enrolled in elementary school, she took the name Li Yunhe (), meaning "Crane in the Clouds", by which she was known for much of her early life. Due to her socioeconomic status and the fact that she was an illegitimate child, she was looked down upon by her schoolmates and she and her mother moved in with her maternal grandparents when she started middle school. In 1926, when she was 12 years old, her father died. Her mother relocated them to Tianjin where Jiang worked as a child laborer in a cigarette factory for several months. Two years later, Jiang and her mother settled in Jinan. The following summer, she entered an experimental theater and drama school. Her talent brought her to the attention of administrators who selected her to join a drama club in Beijing where she advanced her acting skills. She returned to Jinan in May 1931 and married Pei Minglun, the wealthy son of a businessman.


title: Jiang Qing

text: From July 1931 to April 1933, Jiang attended National Qingdao University (renamed National Shandong University in 1932) in Qingdao. She met Yu Qiwei, a physics student three years her senior, who was an underground member of the Communist Party Propaganda Department. By 1932, they had fallen in love and were living together. She joined the "Communist Cultural Front", a circle of artists, writers, and actors, and performed in "Put Down Your Whip", a renowned popular play about a woman who escapes from Japanese-occupied north-eastern China and performs in the streets to survive. In February 1933, Jiang took the oath of the Chinese Communist Party with Yu at her side, and she was appointed member of the Chinese Communist Party youth wing. Yu was arrested in April the same year and Jiang was subsequently shunned by his family. She fled to her parents' home and returned to the drama school in Jinan. Through friendships she had previously established, she received an introduction to attend Shanghai University for the summer where she also taught some general literacy classes. In October, she rejoined the Communist Youth League and, at the same time, began participating in an amateur drama troupe.


title: Jiang Qing

text: In September 1934, Jiang was arrested and jailed for her political activities in Shanghai, but was released three months later, in December of the same year. She then traveled to Beijing where she reunited with Yu Qiwei who had just been released following his prison sentence, and the two began living together again.


title: Jiang Qing

text: Jiang returned to Shanghai in March 1935, and became a professional actress, adopting the stage name "Lan Ping" (meaning "Blue Apple", Chinese: ). She appeared in numerous films and plays, including "Goddess of Freedom", "Scenes of City Life", "Blood on Wolf Mountain" and "Wang Laowu". In Ibsen's play "A Doll's House", Jiang played the role of Nora.


title: Jiang Qing

text: With her career established, she became involved with actor/director Tang Na, with whom she appeared in "Scenes of City Life" and "Goddess of Freedom". They were married in Hangzhou in March 1936; however, he soon discovered she was continuing her relationship with Yu Qiwei. The scandal became public knowledge and he made two suicide attempts before their divorce became final. In 1937, Jiang joined the Lianhua Film Company and starred in the drama "Big Thunderstorm" (). She reportedly had an affair with director, Zhang Min; however, she denied it in her autobiographical writings.


title: Jiang Qing

text: In 1967, at the beginning of China's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, Jiang declared eight works of performance art to be the new models for proletarian literature and art. These "model operas", or "revolutionary operas""," were designed to glorify Mao Zedong, The People's Liberation Army, and the revolutionary struggles. The ballets "White-Haired Girl", "Red Detachment of Women", and "Shajiabang" ("Revolutionary Symphonic Music") were included in the list of eight, and were closely associated with Jiang, because of their inclusion of elements from Chinese and Western opera, dance, and music. During Richard Nixon's famous visit to China in February 1972, he watched "Red Detachment of Women", and was impressed by the opera. He famously asked Jiang who the writer, director, and composer were, to which she replied it was "created by the masses."


title: Jiang Qing

text: Following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on 7 July 1937, and the Japanese invasion of Shanghai, which destroyed most of its movie industry, Jiang left her celebrity life on the stage behind. She went first to Xi'an, then to the Chinese Communist headquarters in Yan'an to "join the revolution" and the war to resist the Japanese invasion. In November, she enrolled in the "Counter-Japanese Military and Political University" (Marxist–Leninist Institute) for study. The Lu Xun Academy of Arts was newly founded in Yan'an on 10 April 1938, and Jiang became a drama department instructor, teaching and performing in college plays and operas.


title: Jiang Qing

text: Shortly after arriving in Yan'an, Jiang became involved with Mao Zedong. Some communist leaders were scandalized by the relationship once it became public. At 45, Mao was nearly twice Jiang's age, and Jiang had lived a highly bourgeois lifestyle before coming to Yan'an. Mao was still married to He Zizhen, a lifelong Communist who had previously completed the Long March with him, and with whom Mao had five children. Eventually, Mao arranged a compromise with the other leaders of the CCP: Mao was granted a divorce and permitted to marry Jiang, but she was required to stay out of public politics for twenty years. Jiang abided by this agreement. However, thirty years later, at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, Jiang became active in politics.


title: Jiang Qing

text: On 28 November 1938, Jiang and Mao married in a small private ceremony following approval by the Party's Central Committee. Because Mao's marriage to He had not yet ended, Jiang was reportedly made to sign a marital contract which stipulated that she would not appear in public with Mao as her escort. Jiang and Mao's only child together, a daughter named Li Na, was born in 1940.


title: Jiang Qing

text: After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Jiang became the nation's first lady. She worked as Director of Film in the Central Propaganda Department, and as a member of the Ministry of Culture steering committee for the film industry. An uproar in 1950 led to the investigation of "The Life of Wu Xun", a film about a 19th-century beggar who raised money to educate the poor. Jiang supported criticism of the film for celebrating counter-revolutionary ideas.


title: Jiang Qing

text: Following the Great Leap Forward (1958–61), Mao was highly criticized within the CPC, and turned to Jiang, among others, to support him and persecute his enemies. After Mao wrote a pamphlet questioning the persistence of "feudal and bourgeois" traditional opera, Jiang took this as a license to systematically purge Chinese media and literature of everything but political propaganda. The result ended up being a near-total suppression of all creative works in China aside from rigidly-prescribed "revolutionary" material.


title: Jiang Qing

text: Backed by her husband, she was appointed deputy director of the Central Cultural Revolution Group (CCRG) in 1966 and emerged as a serious political figure in the summer of that year. At the 9th Party Congress in April 1969, she was elevated to the Politburo. By then, she had established a close political working relationship with the other members of what later became known as the Gang of Four: Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan and Wang Hongwen. She was one of the most powerful and controversial figures in China during Mao's last years.


title: Jiang Qing

text: During this period, Mao galvanized students and young workers as his paramilitary organization the Red Guards to attack what he termed as revisionists in the party. Mao told them the revolution was in danger and that they must do all they could to stop the emergence of a privileged class in China. He argued this is what had happened in the Soviet Union under Khrushchev.


title: Jiang Qing

text: With time, Jiang began playing an increasingly active political role in the movement. She took part in most important Party and government activities. She was supported by a radical coterie, dubbed, by Mao himself, the Gang of Four. Although a prominent member of the Central Cultural Revolution Group and a major player in Chinese politics from 1966 to 1976, she essentially remained on the sidelines.


title: Jiang Qing

text: The initial storm of the Cultural Revolution came to an end when President Liu Shaoqi was forced from all his posts on 13 October 1968. Lin Biao now became Mao's designated successor. Chairman Mao now gave his support to the Gang of Four. These four radicals occupied powerful positions in the Politburo after the Tenth Party Congress of 1973.


title: Jiang Qing

text: Jiang also directed operas and ballets with communist and revolutionary content as part of an effort to transform China's culture. She dominated the Chinese arts, and in particular attempted to reform the Beijing Opera. She developed a new form of art called the Eight model plays or "revolutionary opera" which depicted the world in simple, binary terms: the positive characters ("good guys") were predominantly farmers, workers and revolutionary soldiers, whilst the negative characters ("bad guys") were landlords and anti-revolutionaries. The negative characters, in contrast to their proletarian foils who performed boldly center stage, were identifiable by their darker make-up and relegation to the outskirts of the stage until direct conflict with a positive character. Critics would argue that her influence on art was too restrictive, because she replaced nearly all earlier works of art with revolutionary Maoist works. After the fall of the Gang of Four in the late 1970s, traditional Chinese opera and literature, as well as select foreign media, was permitted once again.


title: Jiang Qing

text: Jiang first collaborated with then second-in-charge Lin Biao, but after Lin Biao's death in 1971, she turned against him publicly in the Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius Campaign. By the mid 1970s, Jiang also spearheaded the campaign against Deng Xiaoping (afterwards saying that this was inspired by Mao). The Chinese public became intensely discontented at this time and chose to blame Jiang, a more accessible and easier target than Chairman Mao. By 1973, although unreported due to it being a personal matter, Mao and his wife Jiang had separated:


title: Jiang Qing

text: It was reported that Mao Tsetung and Chiang Ching were separated in 1973. Most people, however, did not know this. Hence Chiang Ching was still able to use her position as Mao's wife to deceive people. Because of her relations to Mao, it was particularly difficult for the Party to deal with her.


title: Jiang Qing

text: Jiang's hobbies included photography, playing cards, and holding screenings of classic Hollywood films, especially those featuring Greta Garbo, one of her favorite actresses, even as they were banned for the average Chinese citizen as a symbol of bourgeois decadence. When touring a troupe of young girls excelling in marksmanship, she "discovered" Joan Chen, then 14 years old, launching Joan's career as a Chinese and then international actress.


title: Jiang Qing

text: When Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda visited China in 1974, Jiang was said to be "extremely jealous" of the latter's flashy clothing, hair, and makeup.


title: Jiang Qing

text: She developed severe hypochondriasis and erratic nerves. She required two sedatives over the course of a day and three sleeping pills to fall asleep. Staff were assigned to chase away birds and cicadas from her Imperial Fishing Villa. She ordered house servants to cut down on noise by removing their shoes and preventing clothes from rustling.


title: Jiang Qing

text: Jiang took advantage of the Cultural Revolution to wreak vengeance on her personal enemies, including people who had slighted her during her acting career in the 1930s. She incited radical youths organized as Red Guards against other senior political leaders and government officials, including Liu Shaoqi, the President at the time, and Deng Xiaoping, the Vice Premier. Internally divided into factions both to the "left" and "right" of Jiang and Mao, not all Red Guards were friendly to Jiang.


title: Jiang Qing

text: Jiang's rivalry with, and personal dislike of, Zhou Enlai led Jiang to hurt Zhou where he was most vulnerable. In 1968, Jiang had Zhou's adopted son (Sun Yang) and daughter (Sun Weishi) tortured and murdered by Red Guards. Sun Yang was murdered in the basement of Renmin University. After Sun Weishi died following seven months of torture in a secret prison (at Jiang's direction), Jiang made sure that Sun's body was cremated and disposed of so that no autopsy could be performed and Sun's family could not have her ashes. In 1968, Jiang forced Zhou to sign an arrest warrant for his own brother. In 1973 and 1974, Jiang directed the "Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius" campaign against premier Zhou because Zhou was viewed as one of Jiang's primary political opponents. In 1975, Jiang initiated a campaign named "Criticizing Song Jiang, Evaluating the Water Margin", which encouraged the use of Zhou as an example of a political loser. After Zhou Enlai died in 1976, Jiang initiated the "Five Nos" campaign in order to discourage and prohibit any public mourning for Zhou.


title: Jiang Qing

text: On 5 September 1976, Mao's failing health turned critical when he suffered a heart attack, far more serious than his previous two earlier in the year.


title: Jiang Qing

text: Mao's death occurred just after midnight at 00:10 hours on 9 September 1976. Mao's chosen successor, Hua Guofeng, became the chairman of his funeral committee. It was believed Hua was a compromise candidate between the free-marketeers and the party orthodox. Some argue this may have been due to his ambivalence and his low-key profile, particularly compared to Deng Xiaoping, the preferred candidate of the market-oriented factions. The party apparatus, under orders from Jiang and Zhang Chunqiao, wrote a eulogy affirming Mao's achievements in order to justify their claims to power.


title: Jiang Qing

text: By this time, state media was effectively under the control of the Gang of Four. State newspapers continued to denounce Deng shortly after Mao's death. Jiang was little-concerned about the weak Hua Guofeng, but she feared Deng Xiaoping greatly. In numerous documents published in the 1970s, it was claimed that Jiang was conspiring to make herself the new Chairman of the Communist Party.


title: Jiang Qing

text: Jiang showed few signs of sorrow during the days following Mao's death. It was uncertain who controlled the Communist Party's central organs during this transition period. Hua Guofeng, as Mao's designated successor, held the titular power as the acting Chairman of the Communist Party and as Premier. However, Hua was not very influential. Some sources indicate that Mao mentioned Jiang Qing before his death in a note to Hua Guofeng, telling him to "go and consult her" if he runs into problems ().


title: Jiang Qing

text: Jiang believed that upholding the status quo, where she was one of the highest-ranked members of the central authorities, would mean that she would effectively hold on to power. In addition, she believed that her status as Mao's widow would make it difficult for her to be removed. She continued to invoke Mao's name in her major decisions, and acted as first-in-charge.


title: Jiang Qing

text: Her political ambitions became notorious within the Central Committee. Ye Jianying, a renowned general, met in private with Hua Guofeng and Wang Dongxing, commander of a secret service-like organization called the 8341 Special Regiment. They determined that Jiang and her associates must be removed by force in order to restore stability.


title: Jiang Qing

text: On the morning of 6 October 1976, Jiang came to Mao's former residence in Zhongnanhai, gathered her close aides and Mao's former personal aides in a "Study Mao's Work" session. According to Du Xiuxian, her photographer, Jiang remarked that she knew people within the Central Committee were plotting against her.


title: Jiang Qing

text: After the session, Jiang took several aides to Jingshan Park to pick apples. In the evening, Jiang, Zhang Chunqiao, Wang Hongwen, and Yao Wenyuan were brutally beaten, arrested and kept in the lower level of Zhongnanhai where they were starved, tortured and interrogated. According to Zhang Yaoci, who carried out the arrest, Jiang did not say much when she was arrested. It was reported that one of her servants spat at her as she was being taken away under a flurry of blows by onlookers and police. In a bloodless coup d'état, the Gang of Four were charged with attempts to seize power by organizing militant coups in Shanghai and Beijing, subverting the government, counter-revolutionary activity, and treason.


title: Jiang Qing

text: After her arrest, Jiang was sent to the Qincheng Prison and detained for five years where she was further beaten, starved, tortured and interrogated. In both official and civilian accounts of the period, the fall of the Gang was met with celebrations all over China.


title: Jiang Qing

text: In 1980, the trials of the Gang of Four began. The trials were televised nationwide. By showing the way the Gang of Four was tried, Deng Xiaoping wanted the people to realize that a new era had begun.


title: Jiang Qing

text: Portions of the 20,000-word indictment were printed in China's press before the trial started; they accused the defendants of a host of heinous crimes that took place during the Cultural Revolution. The charges specify that 727,420 Chinese were "persecuted" during that period, and that 34,274 died, though the often vague indictment did not specify exactly how. Among the chief victims: one-time President Liu Shaoqi's widow Wang Guangmei, herself imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution for 12 years, attended the trial as an observer.


title: Jiang Qing

text: The indictment described two plots by the "Jiang Qing-Lin Biao Counter-revolutionary Clique" to seize power. Jiang was not accused of conspiring with Lin Biao, or with other members of the Gang of Four who allegedly planned an armed rebellion to "usurp power" in 1976, when Mao was close to death. Instead, the charges against her focused on her systematic persecution of creative artists during the Cultural Revolution. Amongst other things, she was accused of hiring 40 people in Shanghai to disguise themselves as Red Guards and ransack the homes of writers and performers. The apparent purpose was said to find and destroy letters, photos and other potentially damaging materials on Jiang's early career in Shanghai, which she wanted to keep secret.


title: Jiang Qing

text: Despite the seriousness of the accusations against her, Jiang appeared unrepentant. She did not confess her guilt, something that the Chinese press emphasized to show her bad attitude. There had been reports that she planned to defend herself by cloaking herself in Mao's mantle, saying that she did only what he approved. As the trial got under way, Jiang dismissed her assigned lawyers, deciding instead to represent herself. During her public trials at the "Special Court", Jiang was the only member of the Gang of Four who argued on her own behalf. The defense's argument was that she obeyed the orders of Mao at all times. Jiang maintained that all she had done was to defend Chairman Mao. It was at this trial that Jiang made the famous quote: "I was Chairman Mao's dog. I bit whomever he asked me to bite." ()


title: Jiang Qing

text: Jiang was sentenced to death, with a reprieve of two years, in 1981. By 1983, her death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. During this time, she made several requests to visit Mao Zedong's embalmed body in Beijing, but they were turned down. When the Tiananmen Square protests occurred, Jiang believed that the student activists were liberals rather than Maoists, but she blamed them on Deng Xiaoping, writing that "He let in all those Western ideas!"


title: Jiang Qing

text: While in prison, Jiang was diagnosed with throat cancer, but she refused an operation. She was eventually released, on medical grounds, in 1991.


title: Jiang Qing

text: At the hospital, Jiang used the name Lǐ Rùnqīng (). She died by suicide on 14 May 1991, at the age of 77, by hanging herself in a bathroom of her hospital. She penned a suicide note reading, "Today the revolution has been stolen by the revisionist clique of Deng, Peng Zhen, and Yang Shangkun. Chairman Mao exterminated Liu Shaoqi, but not Deng, and the result of this omission is that unending evils have been unleashed on the Chinese people and nation. Chairman, your student and fighter is coming to see you!" Her suicide occurred two days before the 25th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution.


title: Jiang Qing

text: She wished for her remains to be buried in her home province of Shandong, but in consideration of possible future vandalism to her tomb, the state decided to have her remains moved to a safer common cemetery in Beijing. Jiang is buried in Futian Cemetery in the western hills of Beijing. Her grave is marked by a tall white stone inscribed with her school name, not the name by which she was famously known, which reads: "Tomb of Late Mother, Li Yunhe, 1914–1991" ().


title: Jiang Qing

text: There are several reasons for Jiang's large repertoire of names. A large part of it has to do with the fluctuating period she lived in. At the time of her birth, many female children never received given names or formal education.


title: Jiang Qing

text: Her father named her Li Jinhai (To Receive A Boy) because he wanted a son, but this was altered after her birth to Li Shumeng (Dim Lady). She enrolled in school under a more dignified name, Li Yunhe (Cloud Crane) and simply changed it for convenience to Li He.


title: Jiang Qing

text: As was customary for Chinese actors during that time, she chose a stage name, which was used in all the plays and films that credited her roles. Lan Ping (Blue Apple) was the name she was known by within Chinese film circles and a name she came to identify with.


title: Jiang Qing

text: It is unclear when she changed her name to Jiang Qing (Blue River), but it probably occurred before her arrival in Yan'an. It is believed that the character "Qing" was chosen because it related to the concept of Blue ("Lan"). There is some evidence that the name signified her status as a communist and a severance from her "bourgeois" past. She also used Li Jin to pen a number of articles she wrote during the Cultural Revolution.


title: Jiang Qing

text: Eventually, to protect her identity, she used Li Runqing (Shining Blue) when she was hospitalized after being released from prison. Her tombstone bears the name "Li Yunhe".


title: Jiang Qing

text: In English, many contemporary articles used the Wade–Giles romanization system to spell Chinese names. For this reason, some sources – especially older ones – spell her name "Chiang Ch'ing".


title: HeLa

text: HeLa (; also Hela or hela) is an immortalized cell line used in scientific research. It is the oldest and most commonly used human cell line. The line is derived from cervical cancer cells taken on February 8, 1951, named after Henrietta Lacks, a 31-year-old African-American mother of five, who died of cancer on October 4, 1951. The cell line was found to be remarkably durable and prolific, which allows it to be used extensively in scientific study.


title: HeLa

text: The cells from Lacks's cancerous cervical tumor were taken without her knowledge or consent, which was common practice in the United States at the time. Cell biologist George Otto Gey found that they could be kept alive, and developed a cell line. Previously, cells cultured from other human cells would only survive for a few days. Cells from Lacks's tumor behaved differently.


title: HeLa

text: In 1951, a patient named Henrietta Lacks was admitted to the Johns Hopkins Hospital with symptoms of irregular vaginal bleeding, and was subsequently treated for cervical cancer. Her first treatment was performed by Lawrence Wharton Jr., who at this time collected tissue samples from her cervix without her consent. Her cervical biopsy supplied samples of tissue for clinical evaluation and research by George Otto Gey, head of the Tissue Culture Laboratory, as was done with other surgical procedures. Gey's lab assistant Mary Kubicek used the roller-tube technique to place the cells into culture. It was observed that the cells grew robustly, doubling every 20–24 hours unlike previous specimens that died out.


title: HeLa

text: The cells were propagated by Gey shortly before Lacks died of her cancer in 1951. This was the first human cell line to prove successful in vitro, which was a scientific achievement with profound future benefit to medical research. Gey freely donated these cells along with the tools and processes that his lab developed to any scientist requesting them simply for the benefit of science. Neither Lacks nor her family gave permission to harvest the cells but, at that time, permission was neither required nor customarily sought. The cells were later commercialized, although never patented in their original form. There was no requirement at that time to inform patients or their relatives about such matters because discarded material or material obtained during surgery, diagnosis, or therapy was the property of the physician or the medical institution.


title: HeLa

text: As was custom for Gey's lab assistant, the culture was named after the first two letters of the Henrietta Lacks's first and last name. Before a leak to the public in the 1970s which revealed her true name, the "HeLa" cell line was mistakenly believed to have been named after a "Helen Lane" or "Helen Larson".


title: HeLa

text: Other cell cultures were being invaded by suspected HeLa cells, so one research group contacted the Lacks family seeking DNA samples to help identify contaminating cell lines. The family never understood the purpose of the visit, but they were distressed by their understanding of what the researchers told them. These cells are treated as cancer cells, as they are descended from a biopsy taken from a visible lesion on the cervix as part of Lacks's diagnosis of cancer.


title: HeLa

text: HeLa cells, like other cell lines, are termed "immortal" in that they can divide an unlimited number of times in a laboratory cell culture plate as long as fundamental cell survival conditions are met (i.e. being maintained and sustained in a suitable environment). There are many strains of HeLa cells as they continue to mutate in cell cultures, but all HeLa cells are descended from the same tumor cells removed from Lacks. The total number of HeLa cells that have been propagated in cell culture far exceeds the total number of cells that were in Henrietta Lacks's body.


title: HeLa

text: Lacks's case is one of many examples of the lack of informed consent in 20th century medicine. Communication between tissue donors and doctors was virtually nonexistent (i.e. cells were taken without patient consent, nor were they told what the cells would be used for). Johns Hopkins Hospital, where Lacks received treatment and had her tissue harvested, was the only hospital in the Baltimore area where African American patients could receive free care. The patients receiving free care from this segregated sect of the hospital often became research subjects without their knowledge. Lacks's family also had no access to her patient files and had no say in who received HeLa cells or what they would be used for. Additionally, as HeLa cells were popularized and used more frequently throughout the scientific community, Lacks's relatives received no financial benefit and continued to live with limited access to healthcare.


title: HeLa

text: This issue of who owns tissue samples taken for research was brought up in the Supreme Court of California case of "Moore v. Regents of the University of California". The court ruled that a person's discarded tissue and cells are not his or her property and can be commercialized.


title: HeLa

text: Lacks's case influenced the establishment of the Common Rule in 1981. The Common Rule enforces informed consent by ensuring that doctors inform patients if they plan to use any details of the patient's case in research and give them the choice of disclosing the details or not. Tissues connected to their donors' names are also strictly regulated under this rule, and samples are no longer named using donor initials, but rather by code numbers. To further resolve the issue of patient privacy, Johns Hopkins established a joint committee with the NIH and several of Lacks's family members to determine who receives access to Henrietta Lacks's genome.


title: HeLa

text: In 2021 Henrietta Lacks's estate sued to get past and future payments for the alleged unauthorized and widely known sale of HeLa cells by Thermo Fisher Scientific. Lacks's family hired an attorney to seek compensation from upwards of 100 pharmaceutical companies that have used and profited from HeLa cells.


title: HeLa

text: HeLa cells were the first human cells to be successfully cloned in 1953 by Theodore Puck and Philip I. Marcus at the University of Colorado, Denver. Since that time, HeLa cells have "continually been used for research into cancer, AIDS, the effects of radiation and toxic substances, gene mapping, and countless other scientific pursuits." According to author Rebecca Skloot, by 2009, "more than 60,000 scientific articles had been published about research done on HeLa, and that number was increasing steadily at a rate of more than 300 papers each month."


title: HeLa

text: HeLa cells were used by Jonas Salk to test the first polio vaccine in the 1950s. They were observed to be easily infected by poliomyelitis, causing infected cells to die. This made HeLa cells highly desirable for polio vaccine testing since results could be easily obtained. A large volume of HeLa cells were needed for the testing of Salk's polio vaccine, prompting the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP) to find a facility capable of mass-producing HeLa cells. In the spring of 1953, a cell culture factory was established at Tuskegee University to supply Salk and other labs with HeLa cells. Less than a year later, Salk's vaccine was ready for human trials.


title: HeLa

text: HeLa cells have been used in testing how parvovirus infects cells of humans, dogs, and cats. These cells have also been used to study viruses such as the oropouche virus (OROV). OROV causes the disruption of cells in culture, where cells begin to degenerate shortly after they are infected, causing viral induction of apoptosis. HeLa cells have been used to study the expression of the papillomavirus E2 and apoptosis. HeLa cells have also been used to study canine distemper virus' ability to induce apoptosis in cancer cell lines, which could play an important role in developing treatments for tumor cells resistant to radiation and chemotherapy.


title: HeLa

text: HeLa cells have also been instrumental in the development of human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccines. In the 1980s, Harald zur Hausen found that Lacks's cells from the original biopsy contained HPV-18, which was later found to be the cause of the aggressive cancer that killed Henrietta Lacks. His work in linking HPV with cervical cancer won him a Nobel Prize and led to the development of HPV vaccines that are predicted to reduce the number of deaths from cervical cancer by 70%.


title: HeLa

text: Over the years, HeLa cells have been infected with various types of viruses including HIV, Zika, herpes, and mumps to test and develop new vaccines and drugs. Dr. Richard Axel discovered that by adding the CD4 protein to HeLa cells, they were able to be infected with HIV, allowing the virus to be studied. In 1979, scientists learned that the measles virus constantly mutates when it infects HeLa cells and in 2019, found that Zika cannot multiply in HeLa cells.


title: HeLa

text: HeLa cells have been used in a number of cancer studies, including those involving sex steroid hormones such as estradiol, estrogen, and estrogen receptors, along with estrogen-like compounds such as quercetin and its cancer-reducing properties. There have also been studies on HeLa cells, the effects of flavonoids and antioxidants with estradiol on cancer cell proliferation.


title: HeLa

text: In 2011, HeLa cells were used in tests of novel heptamethine dyes IR-808 and other analogs which are currently being explored for their unique uses in medical diagnostics, the development of theranostics, the individualized treatment of cancer patients with the aid of PDT, co-administration with other drugs, and irradiation. HeLa cells have been used in research involving fullerenes to induce apoptosis as a part of photodynamic therapy, as well as in "in vitro" cancer research using cell lines. Further HeLa cells have also been used to define cancer markers in RNA, and have been used to establish an RNAi Based Identification System and Interference of Specific Cancer Cells.


title: HeLa

text: HeLa was shown in 2014 to be a viable cell line for tumor xenografts in C57BL/6 nude mice, and was subsequently used to examine the "in vivo" effects of fluoxetine and cisplatin on cervical cancer.


title: HeLa

text: In 1953, a lab mistake involving mixing HeLa cells with the wrong liquid allowed researchers to see and count each chromosome clearly in the HeLa cells they were working with for the first time. The accidental discovery led scientists Joe Hin Tjio and Albert Levan to develop better techniques for staining and counting chromosomes. They were the first to accurately describe that humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes rather than 24, as was previously believed. This was important for the study of developmental disorders such as Down syndrome that involved the number of chromosomes.


title: HeLa

text: In 1965, Henry Harris and John Watkins created the first human-animal hybrid by fusing HeLa cells with mouse embryo cells. This enabled advancements in mapping genes to specific chromosomes, which would eventually lead to the Human Genome Project.


title: HeLa

text: In the 1960s, HeLa cells were sent on the Soviet satellite Sputnik-6 and human space missions to determine the long term effects of space travel on living cells and tissue. Scientists discovered that HeLa cells divided even more quickly in zero gravity.


title: HeLa

text: The HeLa cell line was derived for use in cancer research. These cells proliferate abnormally rapidly, even compared to other cancer cells. Like many other cancer cells, HeLa cells have an active version of telomerase during cell division, which copies telomeres over and over again. This prevents the incremental shortening of telomeres that is implicated in aging and eventual cell death. In this way, the cells circumvent the Hayflick limit, which is the limited number of cell divisions that most normal cells can undergo before becoming senescent. The result is unlimited cell division and immortality.


title: HeLa

text: Horizontal gene transfer from human papillomavirus 18 (HPV18) to human cervical cells created the HeLa genome, which is different from Henrietta Lacks's genome in various ways, including its number of chromosomes. HeLa cells are rapidly dividing cancer cells, and the number of chromosomes varied during cancer formation and cell culture. The current estimate (excluding very tiny fragments) is a "hypertriploid chromosome number (3n+)" which means 76 to 80 total chromosomes (rather than the normal diploid number of 46) with 22–25 clonally abnormal chromosomes, known as "HeLa signature chromosomes". The signature chromosomes can be derived from multiple original chromosomes, making challenging summary counts based on original numbering. Researchers have also noted how stable these aberrant karyotypes can be. Studies that combined spectral karyotyping, FISH, and conventional cytogenic techniques revealed that the detected chromosomal aberrations may be representative of advanced cervical carcinomas and have likely been present in the primary tumor, since the HeLa genome has remained stable even after years of continued cultivation.


title: HeLa

text: The complete genome of the HeLa cells was sequenced and published on 11 March 2013 without the Lacks family's knowledge. Concerns were raised by the family, so the authors voluntarily withheld access to the sequence data. Jay Shendure led a HeLa sequencing project at the University of Washington which produced a paper that had been accepted for publication in March 2013 – but that was also put on hold while the Lacks family's privacy concerns were being addressed. On August 7, 2013, NIH director Francis Collins announced a policy of controlled access to the cell line genome based on an agreement reached after three meetings with the Lacks family. A data-access committee will review requests from researchers for access to the genome sequence under the criteria that the study is for medical research and the users will abide by terms in the HeLa Genome Data Use Agreement, which includes that all NIH-funded researchers will deposit the data into a single database for future sharing. The committee consists of six members including representatives from the medical, scientific, and bioethics fields, as well as two members of the Lacks family. In an interview, Collins praised the Lacks family's willingness to participate in this situation that was thrust upon them. He described the whole experience with them as "powerful", saying that it brought together "science, scientific history and ethical concerns" in a unique way.


title: HeLa

text: HeLa cells are sometimes difficult to control because of their adaptation to growth in tissue culture plates and ability to invade and outcompete other cell lines. Through improper maintenance, they have been known to contaminate other cell cultures in the same laboratory, interfering with biological research and forcing researchers to declare many results invalid. The degree of HeLa cell contamination among other cell types is unknown because few researchers test the identity or purity of already established cell lines. It has been demonstrated that a substantial fraction of "in vitro" cell lines are contaminated with HeLa cells; estimates range from 10% to 20%. Stanley Gartler (1967) and Walter Nelson-Rees (1975) were the first to publish on the contamination of various cell lines by HeLa. Gartler noted that "With the continued expansion of cell culture technology, it is almost certain that both interspecific and intraspecific contamination will occur."


title: HeLa

text: HeLa cell contamination has become a pervasive worldwide problem – affecting even the laboratories of many notable physicians, scientists, and researchers, including Jonas Salk. The HeLa contamination problem also contributed to Cold War tensions. The USSR and the USA had begun to cooperate in the war on cancer launched by President Richard Nixon, only to find that the exchanged cells were contaminated by HeLa.


title: HeLa

text: Rather than focus on how to resolve the problem of HeLa cell contamination, many scientists and science writers continue to document this problem as simply a contamination issue – caused not by human error or shortcomings but by the hardiness, proliferating, or overpowering nature of HeLa. Recent data suggest that cross-contaminations are still a major ongoing problem with modern cell cultures. The International Cell Line Authentication Committee (ICLAC) notes that many cases of cell line misidentification are the result of cross-contamination of the culture by another faster growing cell line. This calls into question the validity of the research done using the contaminated cell lines, as certain attributes of the contaminant, which may come from an entirely different species or tissue, may be misattributed to the cell line under investigation.


title: HeLa

text: HeLa was described by evolutionary biologist Leigh Van Valen as an example of the contemporary creation of a new species, dubbed "Helacyton gartleri", due to their ability to replicate indefinitely, and their non-human number of chromosomes. The species was named after geneticist Stanley M. Gartler, whom van Valen credits with discovering "the remarkable success of this species". His argument for speciation depends on these points:


title: HeLa

text: Van Valen proposed the new family Helacytidae and the genus "Helacyton", as well as proposing a new species for HeLa cells in the same paper.


title: HeLa

text: However, this proposal has not been taken seriously by other prominent evolutionary biologists, nor by scientists in other disciplines. Van Valen's argument of HeLa being a new species does not fulfill the criteria for an independent unicellular asexually reproducing species because of the notorious instability of HeLa's karyotype and their lack of a strict ancestral-descendant lineage.


title: HeLa

text: The 1997 documentary "The Way of All Flesh" by Adam Curtis explains the history of HeLa and its implications in medicine and society.


title: HeLa

text: HeLa was the subject of a 2010 book by Rebecca Skloot, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", investigating the historical context of the cell line and how the Lacks family was involved in its use. A 2017 HBO film, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" was based on the book. The film stars Oprah Winfrey, Sylvia Grace Crim, Rocky Carroll and Renee Elise Goldsberry as Henrietta Lacks. Author Rebecca Skloot also appears as a character in the film, portrayed by Rose Byrne.


title: HeLa

text: A 2010 episode of Law & Order "Immortal" was heavily based on the story of Henrietta Lacks and the HeLa line, using the fictional "NaRo" cells as a stand-in.


title: HeLa

text: The story of how the HeLa line came to be was also the subject of a 2010 episode of the podcast Radiolab.


title: Dimethyl sulfoxide

text: Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is an organosulfur compound with the formula (CH). This colorless liquid is the sulfoxide most widely used commercially. It is an important polar aprotic solvent that dissolves both polar and nonpolar compounds and is miscible in a wide range of organic solvents as well as water. It has a relatively high boiling point. DMSO has the unusual property that many individuals perceive a garlic-like taste in the mouth after DMSO makes contact with their skin.


title: Dimethyl sulfoxide

text: In terms of chemical structure, the molecule has idealized C symmetry. It has a trigonal pyramidal molecular geometry consistent with other three-coordinate S(IV) compounds, with a nonbonded electron pair on the approximately tetrahedral sulfur atom.


title: Dimethyl sulfoxide

text: Dimethyl sulfoxide was first synthesized in 1866 by the Russian scientist Alexander Zaytsev, who reported his findings in 1867. Dimethyl sulfoxide is produced industrially from dimethyl sulfide, a by-product of the Kraft process, by oxidation with oxygen or nitrogen dioxide.


title: Dimethyl sulfoxide

text: The sulfur center in DMSO is nucleophilic toward soft electrophiles and the oxygen is nucleophilic toward hard electrophiles. With methyl iodide it forms trimethylsulfoxonium iodide, [(CH)SO]I:


title: Dimethyl sulfoxide

text: The methyl groups of DMSO are only weakly acidic, with a . For this reason, the basicities of many weakly basic organic compounds have been examined in this solvent.


title: Dimethyl sulfoxide

text: Deprotonation of DMSO requires strong bases like lithium diisopropylamide and sodium hydride. Stabilization of the resultant carbanion is provided by the S(O)R group. The sodium derivative of DMSO formed in this way is referred to as "dimsyl sodium". It is a base, e.g., for the deprotonation of ketones to form sodium enolates, phosphonium salts to form Wittig reagents, and formamidinium salts to form diaminocarbenes. It is also a potent nucleophile.


title: Dimethyl sulfoxide

text: In organic synthesis, DMSO is used as a mild oxidant. It forms the basis of several selective sulfonium-based oxidation reactions, including the Pfitzner–Moffatt oxidation, Corey–Kim oxidation, and Swern oxidation.


title: Dimethyl sulfoxide

text: The Kornblum oxidation is conceptually similar. These all involve formation of an intermediate sulfonium species (RSX where X is a heteroatom).


title: Dimethyl sulfoxide

text: Related to its ability to dissolve many salts, DMSO is a common ligand in coordination chemistry. Illustrative is the complex dichlorotetrakis(dimethyl sulfoxide)ruthenium(II) (RuCl(dmso)). In this complex, three DMSO ligands are bonded to ruthenium through sulfur. The fourth DMSO is bonded through oxygen. In general, the oxygen-bonded mode is more common.


title: Dimethyl sulfoxide

text: In carbon tetrachloride solutions DMSO functions as a Lewis base with a variety of Lewis acids such as I, phenols, trimethyltin chloride, metalloporphyrins, and the dimer RhCl(CO). The donor properties are discussed in the ECW model. The relative donor strength of DMSO toward a series of acids, versus other Lewis bases, can be illustrated by C-B plots.


title: Dimethyl sulfoxide

text: DMSO is a polar aprotic solvent and is less toxic than other members of this class, such as dimethylformamide, dimethylacetamide, "N"-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, and hexamethylphosphoramide (HMPA). DMSO is frequently used as a solvent for chemical reactions involving salts, most notably Finkelstein reactions and other nucleophilic substitutions. It is also extensively used as an extractant in biochemistry and cell biology. Because DMSO is only weakly acidic, it tolerates relatively strong bases and as such has been extensively used in the study of carbanions. A set of non-aqueous pKa values (C-H, O-H, S-H and N-H acidities) for thousands of organic compounds have been determined in DMSO solution.


title: Dimethyl sulfoxide

text: Because of its high boiling point, , DMSO evaporates slowly at normal atmospheric pressure. Samples dissolved in DMSO cannot be as easily recovered compared to other solvents, as it is very difficult to remove all traces of DMSO by conventional rotary evaporation. One technique to fully recover samples is removal of the organic solvent by evaporation followed by addition of water (to dissolve DMSO) and cryodesiccation to remove both DMSO and water. Reactions conducted in DMSO are often diluted with water to precipitate or phase-separate products. The relatively high freezing point of DMSO, , means that at, or just below, room temperature it is a solid, which can limit its utility in some chemical processes (e.g. crystallization with cooling).


title: Dimethyl sulfoxide

text: In its deuterated form (DMSO-"d"), it is a useful solvent for NMR spectroscopy, again due to its ability to dissolve a wide range of analytes, the simplicity of its own spectrum, and its suitability for high-temperature NMR spectroscopic studies. Disadvantages to the use of DMSO-"d" are its high viscosity, which broadens signals, and its hygroscopicity, which leads to an overwhelming HO resonance in the H-NMR spectrum. It is often mixed with CDCl or CDCl for lower viscosity and melting points.


title: Dimethyl sulfoxide

text: DMSO is also used to dissolve test compounds in "in vitro" drug discovery and drug design screening programs, including high-throughput screening programs. This is because it is able to dissolve both polar and nonpolar compounds, can be used to maintain stock solutions of test compounds (important when working with a large chemical library), is readily miscible with water and cell culture media, and has a high boiling point (this improves the accuracy of test compound concentrations by reducing room temperature evaporation). One limitation with DMSO is that it can affect cell line growth and viability, with low DMSO concentrations sometimes stimulating cell growth, and high DMSO concentrations sometimes inhibiting or killing cells.


title: Dimethyl sulfoxide

text: DMSO is used as a vehicle in "in vivo" studies of test compounds too. It has, for example, been employed as a co-solvent to assist absorption of the flavonol glycoside Icariin in the nematode worm "Caenorhabditis elegans". As with its use in "in vitro" studies, DMSO has some limitations in animal models. Pleiotropic effects can occur and, if DMSO control groups are not carefully planned, then solvent effects can falsely be attributed to the prospective drug. For example, even a very low dose of DMSO has a powerful protective effect against paracetamol (acetaminophen)-induced liver injury in mice.


title: Dimethyl sulfoxide

text: In addition to the above, DMSO is finding increased use in manufacturing processes to produce microelectronic devices. It is widely used to strip photoresist in TFT-LCD 'flat panel' displays and advanced packaging applications (such as wafer-level packaging / solder bump patterning). DMSO is an effective paint stripper too, being safer than many of the others such as nitromethane and dichloromethane.


title: Dimethyl sulfoxide

text: DMSO is used in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to inhibit secondary structures in the DNA template or the DNA primers. It is added to the PCR mix before reacting, where it interferes with the self-complementarity of the DNA, minimizing interfering reactions.


title: Dimethyl sulfoxide

text: DMSO in a PCR is applicable for supercoiled plasmids (to relax before amplification) or DNA templates with high GC-content (to decrease thermostability). For example, 10% final concentration of DMSO in the PCR mixture with Phusion decreases primer annealing temperature (i.e. primer melting temperature) by .


title: Dimethyl sulfoxide

text: DMSO may also be used as a cryoprotectant, added to cell media to reduce ice formation and thereby prevent cell death during the freezing process. Approximately 10% may be used with a slow-freeze method, and the cells may be frozen at or stored in liquid nitrogen safely.


title: Dimethyl sulfoxide

text: In cell culture, DMSO is used to induce differentiation of P19 embryonic carcinoma cells into cardiomyocytes and skeletal muscle cells.


title: Dimethyl sulfoxide

text: Use of DMSO in medicine dates from around 1963, when an Oregon Health & Science University Medical School team, headed by Stanley Jacob, discovered it could penetrate the skin and other membranes without damaging them and could carry other compounds into a biological system. In medicine, DMSO is predominantly used as a topical analgesic, a vehicle for topical application of pharmaceuticals, as an anti-inflammatory, and an antioxidant. Because DMSO increases the rate of absorption of some compounds through biological tissues, including skin, it is used in some transdermal drug delivery systems. Its effect may be enhanced with the addition of EDTA. It is frequently compounded with antifungal medications, enabling them to penetrate not just skin but also toenails and fingernails.


title: Dimethyl sulfoxide

text: DMSO has been examined for the treatment of numerous conditions and ailments, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its use only for the symptomatic relief of patients with interstitial cystitis. A 1978 study concluded that DMSO brought significant relief to the majority of the 213 patients with inflammatory genitourinary disorders that were studied. The authors recommended DMSO for genitourinary inflammatory conditions not caused by infection or tumor in which symptoms were severe or patients failed to respond to conventional therapy.