title: Wolfdog

text: Wolfdogs display a wide variety of appearances, ranging from a resemblance to dogs without wolf blood to animals that are often mistaken for full-blooded wolves. A lengthy study by DEFRA and the RSPCA found several examples of misrepresentation by breeders and indeterminate levels of actual wolf pedigree in many animals sold as wolfdogs. The report noted that uneducated citizens misidentify dogs with wolf-like appearance as wolfdogs. Wolfdogs tend to have somewhat smaller heads than pure wolves, with larger, pointier ears that lack the dense fur commonly seen in those of wolves. Fur markings also tend to be very distinctive and not well blended. Black-colored wolfdogs tend to retain black pigment longer as they age, compared to black wolves.


title: Wolfdog

text: In some cases, the presence of dewclaws on the hind feet is considered a useful, but not absolute, indicator of dog gene contamination in wild wolves. Dewclaws are the vestigial first toes, which are common on the hind legs of domestic dogs but thought absent from pure wolves, which only have four hind toes.


title: Wolfdog

text: Observations on wild wolfdogs in the former Soviet Union indicate that in a wild state these may form larger packs than pure wolves, and have greater endurance when chasing prey. High wolf-content wolfdogs typically have longer canine teeth than dogs of comparable size, with some officers in the South African Defence Force commenting that the animals are capable of biting through the toughest padding "like a knife through butter".


title: Wolfdog

text: Tests undertaken in the Perm Institute of Interior Forces in Russia demonstrated that high wolf-content wolfdogs took 15–20 seconds to track down a target in training sessions, whereas ordinary police dogs took 3–4 minutes.


title: Wolfdog

text: The scientific evidence to support the claims by wolfdog researchers is minimal, and more research has been called for.


title: Wolfdog

text: Wolfdogs are generally said to be naturally healthy animals, and are affected by fewer inherited diseases than most breeds of dog. Wolfdogs are usually healthier than either parent due to heterosis. There is some controversy over the effectiveness of the standard dog/cat rabies vaccine on a wolfdog. The USDA has not to date approved any rabies vaccine for use in wolfdogs, though they do recommend an off-label use of the vaccine.


title: Wolfdog

text: Wolfdog owners and breeders purport that the lack of official approval is a political move to prevent condoning wolfdog ownership.


title: Wolfdog

text: Wolfdogs are a mixture of genetic traits, which results in less predictable behavior patterns compared to either the wolf or dog. The adult behavior of wolfdog pups also cannot be predicted with comparable certainty to dog pups, even in third-generation pups produced by wolfdog mating with dogs or from the behavior of the parent animals. Thus, though the behavior of a single individual wolfdog may be predictable, the behavior of the type as a whole is not.


title: Wolfdog

text: Due to the variability inherent to their admixture, whether a wolf–dog cross should be considered more dangerous than a dog depends on behavior specific to the individual alone rather than to wolfdogs as a group.


title: Wolfdog

text: The view that aggressive characteristics are inherently a part of wolfdog temperament has been contested in recent years by wolfdog breeders and other advocates of wolfdogs as pets.


title: Tankōbon

text: Major publishing imprints for include Jump Comics (for serials in Shueisha's "Weekly Shōnen Jump" and other "Jump" magazines), Kodansha's Shōnen Magazine Comics, and Shogakukan's Shōnen Sunday Comics.


title: Tankōbon

text: manga came to be published in thick, phone-book-sized weekly or monthly anthology manga magazines (such as "Weekly Shōnen Magazine" or "Weekly Shōnen Jump"). These anthologies often have hundreds of pages and dozens of individual series by multiple authors. They are printed on cheap newsprint and are considered disposable. Since the 1930s, though, comic strips had been compiled into collecting multiple installments from a single series and reprinting them in a roughly paperback-sized volume on higher quality paper than in the original magazine printing. Strips in manga magazines and tankobon are typically printed in black and white, but sometimes certain sections may be printed in color or using colored inks or paper.


title: Tankōbon

text: In English, while a translation is usually marketed as a "graphic novel" or "trade paperback", the transliterated terms and are sometimes used amongst online communities. Japanese speakers frequently refer to manga by the English loanword , although it is more widespread for being used in place of the word "manga", as they are the same thing. The term also refers to the format itself—a comic collection in a trade paperback sized (roughly ) book (as opposed to the larger format used by traditional American graphic novels). Although Japanese manga tankobon may be in various sizes, the most common are Japanese B6 () and ISO A5 (). The format has made inroads in the American comics market, with several major publishers opting to release some of their titles in this smaller format, which is sometimes also called "digest format" or "digest size". In the United States, many manga are released in the so-called "Tokyopop trim" or "Tokyopop size" (approximately ).


title: Tankōbon

text: An is a collector's edition volume. These volumes are generally more expensive and lavished with special features such as special covers created specifically for the edition. A special paper used for the cover, higher quality paper, a special slipcase, etc. are generally printed in a limited run, thereby increasing the value and collectability of those few copies made. The format has begun to make inroads into the US market, with titles such as "Fruits Basket" and "" being reissued in a similar format. Generally, only the most popular manga are released in this format.


title: Tankōbon

text: A edition refers to a printed in "bunko" format, or a typical Japanese novel-sized volume. are generally A6 size () and thicker than and, in the case of manga, usually have a new cover designed specifically for the release. In the case of manga, a tends to contain considerably more pages than a and usually is a republication of of the same title which may or may not have been out of print. Thus, the edition of a given manga will consist of fewer volumes. For example, "Please Save My Earth" was published in 21 volumes, and then re-released in 12 volumes. If the original manga was a "wide-ban" release, the release will generally have the same number of volumes. The term is commonly abbreviated in Japanese to just (without the -).


title: Tankōbon

text: The is yet another term sometimes used to denote a type of special release. A release is generally A5 size () and will typically reproduce individual chapter covers, color pages, and side-stories from its original magazine run, features that are often omitted or converted to grayscale in standard releases. While the appellation emphasizes the value of the volumes, the term emphasizes their completeness, though it is generally reserved for more popular manga.


title: Tankōbon

text: Similar to a "wide-ban", a is a new edition released with (usually) a new cover. The volumes in such a release usually have new color pages and other extras. For example, in 2002, "Sailor Moon" was re-edited; some pages were completely redrawn, and most dialogues were rewritten by the author. Plus, the chapters were redivided to fit into 12 volumes instead of 18.


title: Tankōbon

text: The is a relatively new format published by Shueisha beginning in 2008. A edition is B5 size (), larger than a , and similarly reproduces chapter covers and color pages while also including a variety of bonus features such as posters and interviews. The majority of releases are for popular manga with ongoing serializations. They also contain far more pages than a standard and thus feature more chapters in fewer volumes; "Naruto" Part I was originally published in 27 volumes, but was completed in just eight volumes.


title: Tankōbon

text: A wide-ban or edition is larger (A5 size) than a regular . Many manga, particularly and manga, are published in "wide-ban" editions after magazine serialization, and are never released in the format that is common in manga and manga. When a series originally published in format is re-released in "wide-ban" format, each volume will contain more pages than in the original edition, and therefore the series will consist of fewer volumes. For example, "Maison Ikkoku" was originally released in 15 volumes, but was republished as 10 "wide-ban" volumes.


title: Siddharth Anand

text: Siddharth Anand (born 31 July 1978) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known for directing action thriller films like "Bang Bang!" (2014), "War" (2019) and "Pathaan" (2023).


title: Siddharth Anand

text: Apart from action thriller films, he has directed and scripted few romantic comedy films namely "Hum Tum" (2004), "Salaam Namaste" (2005), "Bachna Ae Haseeno" (2008) and "Anjaana Anjaani" (2010) among others.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: Philipp Lahm (; born 11 November 1983) is a German former professional footballer who played as a full-back. Considered by many to be one of the greatest full-backs of all time, Lahm was the captain of Bayern Munich, having led them to numerous honours including the 2013 UEFA Champions League as part of the Treble. He is also a former captain of his national team, which he led to win the 2014 FIFA World Cup, before retiring from international football.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: Lahm was included in the World Cup team of the tournament in 2006, 2010, and 2014, and the UEFA Team of the Tournament in 2008 and 2012 and in the UEFA Team of the Year 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013 and 2014.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: Lahm developed into a professional football player within the Bayern Munich Junior Team. He joined the team at the age of 11 after a youth coach, Jan Pienta, had scouted him several times while he was playing for the local youth team in his hometown Gern, Munich. He was already considered very talented; one of his coaches, Hermann Hummels, even stated that "If Philipp Lahm will not make it in the Bundesliga, nobody will anymore." He twice won the Bundesliga youth title, the second time as captain of his team, and then was introduced into the B team at the age of 17. His former amateur coach Hermann Gerland considers Lahm to be the most talented player he has ever coached and made him the captain of the B team during his second season. Up to this point Lahm played as a defensive midfielder, right midfielder or right full-back.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: On 13 November 2002, Lahm made his debut for the Bayern Munich first team as a 92nd-minute substitute in a 3–3 draw with RC Lens in the group stage of the Champions League. However, since Willy Sagnol and Bixente Lizarazu were established as Bayern's first choice full-backs, and the club's midfield was also well-staffed, Lahm made no further appearances during the 2002–03 season and was loaned to VfB Stuttgart for the 2003–04 and 2004–05 seasons to gain first team experience in the Bundesliga.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: Lahm was originally signed as a back-up for Andreas Hinkel, who played as right back, but coach Felix Magath moved him to the left back position, on which he toppled the German international Heiko Gerber. He made his Bundesliga debut on the first day of the season 2003–04 against Hansa Rostock as he came in as a substitute left back in the 76th minute for midfielder Silvio Meissner. He made his first professional start as a left back on the fourth matchday as a 63rd-minute substitute for Gerber and his first game over the full 90 minutes followed on the sixth matchday against Borussia Dortmund. Thereafter he established himself as a regular left back for Stuttgart. On 29 September 2003, Lahm made his first Champions League appearance as a starter against Manchester United. On 3 April 2004, he scored his first ever Bundesliga goal in a 5–1 away win for Stuttgart against VfL Wolfsburg. During the 2003–04 season Lahm appeared for Stuttgart in 31 Bundesliga and seven Champions League matches overall and came second in the election for the Germany Footballer of the year.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: During his second season in Stuttgart, Lahm had substantially more difficult time. After the Euro 2004 tournament and the resulting shorter vacation and pre-season training he had difficulties getting off the ground and also in conforming with the tactics and system of the new coach Matthias Sammer. However, he still made 16 Bundesliga appearances for Stuttgart before the Christmas break, 14 of them over the full 90 minutes, and six appearances in the UEFA Cup. In January 2005, Lahm suffered a stress-fracture on his right foot and was thus sidelined for four months, making his comeback on 9 April 2005, against FC Schalke 04. Only around five weeks later, he was injured again, this time suffering a torn cruciate ligament which ended his season and simultaneously his career in Stuttgart.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: In July 2005, Lahm returned to Bayern Munich. However, the torn cruciate ligament he had suffered just before his return forced him to start his professional time in FC Bayern on rehabilitation. He returned to the field at the end of November playing first twice for the B team and thereafter making his first professional Bundesliga appearance for Bayern in November 2005 against Arminia Bielefeld. During the 2005–06 season he appeared for Bayern 20 times in the Bundesliga and thrice in the Champions League, contending over field-time evenly with Bixente Lizarazu.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: During the season 2006–07, Lahm played in all of Bayern's 34 Bundesliga games and in nine of the ten Champions League games and was only substituted twice, mainly because Lahm was the only left back in the team but also due to his sufficiently solid performances during a season that was one of the worst for Bayern in many years. On 20 August 2006, in Bayern's first away match of the season, a 2–1 win over VfL Bochum, he scored his first goal for the club.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: For the 2007–08 season, Bayern bought the German international left back Marcell Jansen and Lahm was supposed to revert to right, both to accommodate Jansen and to replace French right back Willy Sagnol. Due to injuries (both his and Jansen's) he still mainly ended up playing left for Bayern and remained left for the end of the season, although he uttered his wish to play on right several times during the year 2008. During the whole season there were various rumors suggesting that Lahm would leave Bayern in the summer of 2008 to join FC Barcelona and the transfer seemed to be almost a done deal. However, on 16 May 2008 FC Bayern signed a new contract with Lahm. His new contract kept him in Munich through 20 June 2012.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: Lahm had his most prolific goalscoring season in 2008–09, scoring three times in the Bundesliga and once in the DFB-Pokal. However, the season was a poor one for Bayern, leading to the sacking of head coach Jürgen Klinsmann after less than a year in charge.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: On 8 November 2009, Lahm was given the highest fine in the history of Bayern Munich to date (estimated to be over €25,000) after giving an unauthorised interview in the "Süddeutsche Zeitung". He criticised the transfer policy of the club and the lack of game philosophy and strategic planning. Back in May 2008 Lahm had turned down lucrative offers from Manchester United and F.C. Barcelona to stay with Bayern as club president Uli Hoeneß promised to build a team that could challenge in Europe. This incident drew mixed reactions from fans and the media, both local and foreign, with some saying that Lahm should have kept his opinions to himself and others praising him for his honesty. Although he was fined and heavily criticised by the club hierarchy, he kept his place in the Bayern starting line-up and went on to have a good season.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: During the 2009–10 season under the new coach Louis van Gaal, Lahm was able to play in his preferred position as a right back. After some difficulties in early games he played one of his best seasons ever, forming an excellent partnership on the right wing with Arjen Robben, scoring one goal and giving 12 assists in all of his games. Lahm was also chosen as vice-captain by Van Gaal, and played full-time in all of Bayern's competitive matches apart from the first-round game in the DFB-Pokal. Bayern went on to win the league and cup double and reached the 2010 UEFA Champions League Final, where Lahm played 90 minutes at right-back as they lost to Inter Milan 2–0.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: After the departure of captain Mark van Bommel in January 2011, Lahm was made the new captain for the remainder of the 2010–11 season and eventually named club captain.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: On 19 May 2012, Lahm captained Bayern in the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final against Chelsea at the Allianz Arena. He scored the team's first penalty in the shootout but Bayern finished as runner-up for the second time in three seasons.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: In the 2012–13 season, Lahm captained Bayern to an historic treble of the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and Champions League. In the final of the Champions League on 25 May 2013, Lahm helped his side to a 2–1 victory over fellow Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund at historic Wembley Stadium in London. After the game, he revealed how happy he was at winning the title, saying "It's incredible – a huge joy and huge relief. The pressure was enormous after losing in the Champions League final twice."


title: Philipp Lahm

text: From the start of the 2013–14 season, under new manager Pep Guardiola, Lahm has been utilised as a defensive midfielder. Guardiola said of Lahm: "[He] is perhaps the most intelligent player I have ever trained in my career. He is at another level." That season brought a new milestone for Lahm and the club, as he captained Bayern to a record 24th Bundesliga title and the earliest league championship in Bundesliga history, retaining the title with seven games to spare, which beat the mark set by the club in the previous season.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: In June 2014, Lahm signed a new contract keeping him at Bayern until 2018. On 18 October, he scored the first brace of his career in a 6–0 defeat of SV Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga. On 26 April 2015, Bayern were confirmed as Bundesliga champions for the third consecutive season, giving Lahm the seventh league championship of his career.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: On 28 April 2015, Lahm was one of four Bayern players to miss in a 2–0 penalty shootout defeat to Borussia Dortmund in the DFB-Pokal semi-final.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: Leading up to the 2015–16 season, Bayern head coach Pep Guardiola stated that Lahm could return to his role at fullback with the arrivals of Arturo Vidal and Joshua Kimmich.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: On 24 February 2016, Lahm made his 100th UEFA Champions League appearance in a 2–2 draw with Juventus in Turin. He equaled Kahn's record "in Germany" of 103 matches on 13 April 2016. The 2015–16 season ended with Lahm captaining Bayern to a fourth consecutive Bundesliga title; the first time a team had won four back-to-back championships in the competition's history.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: On 4 February 2017, Lahm made his 500th appearance for FC Bayern in a 1–1 Bundesliga draw with Schalke 04. Three days later, Lahm confirmed that he would be retiring at the end of the 2016–17 season. He had rejected an offer from the club to become a sporting director.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: On 20 May 2017, Lahm, along with teammate Xabi Alonso, made their final career appearance before retiring, Lahm captaining Bayern as they ended the season as champions for the fifth consecutive year. He was substituted in the 87th minute and received a standing ovation from the Allianz Arena crowd in a 4–1 win over SC Freiburg. It was confirmed on 19 July that Manuel Neuer will succeed Lahm as club captain.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: Lahm entered Bayern Munich's Hall of Fame on 27 May 2017; he won eight Bundesliga titles and the Champions League while playing for the club.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: Lahm started his international career in the U19 national team. He was part of the team that won silver for Germany in the 2002 UEFA European Under-19 Championship playing in all games in the final tournament and scoring a crucial goal in the 90th minute (2–3) against England in a game that ended 3–3. Afterwards he played a few U20 and U21 matches for Germany before impressing Rudi Völler enough to hand the youngster his debut on 18 February 2004, at 20 years of age. His first game was a 2–1 win over Croatia, where he played the full 90 minutes and was chosen as the man of the match by German football magazine Kicker. He was also part of Germany's team in UEFA Euro 2004 in Portugal and played full 90 minutes in all three games. Although Germany did not make it past the group stage, Lahm's performance was considered very promising and many German papers saw this as the sole positive aspect in Germany's lack of accomplishment in the tournament.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: Lahm missed more than a year of international football between January 2005 and March 2006 due to injuries (stress-fracture on foot and a torn cruciate ligament), including the 2005 Confederations Cup, but after his recovery he immediately made it back to the starting line-up. Even though he injured his elbow in a friendly game right before the 2006 FIFA World Cup and thus had to wear a special cast on his left arm, Jürgen Klinsmann still chose him as first option for the left back position. He scored the first goal in the opening game of the World Cup in Germany against Costa Rica in the sixth minute, cutting inside the area and launching a right foot shot into the top-right corner of the net. He was awarded Man of the Match for his performance in the second group game against Poland. He was also the only German player to play the complete 690 minutes of the World Cup and was also elected to the All Star Team of the tournament.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: During UEFA Euro 2008 he was in Germany's starting line-up in all games and was only substituted in the final after getting a cut needing stitches on his foot. Lahm started the tournament as a right back but replaced the under-performing Jansen as left back midway through the second game. On 25 June 2008, he scored the winning goal of the Euro 2008 semi-final against Turkey in the 90th minute. He described this as the most important goal of his career and although he was elected "Man of the Match", he himself did not consider this as well-deserved. On 29 June 2008 – in the Euro 2008 final against Spain – on 33 minutes Xavi played a piercing ball through the German defence and a lack of communication between Lahm and German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann allowed Fernando Torres to net the decisive goal in the game; Spain prevailed 1–0 to win its second European Championship title in 44 years.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: Lahm was ever present during Germany's 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign and was the only player to play every single minute.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: Following the withdrawal of regular captain Michael Ballack from the 2010 FIFA World Cup squad due to injury, Lahm was chosen to captain the team at the upcoming tournament. On 13 June 2010, he captained the national team in the opening game of the 2010 FIFA World Cup against Australia, becoming the youngest player to captain a German side in a World Cup tournament. The team advanced all the way to the semi-finals, where they were defeated by Spain 1–0. Lahm did not play in the third-place (bronze) match against Uruguay due to an infection, so in his absence Bastian Schweinsteiger captained the team which won 3–2.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: Lahm's captaincy would later become permanent, when coach Joachim Löw announced that Ballack would not be considered to play for Germany anymore.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: Captain Lahm's solid defending helped Germany win all ten qualification matches for UEFA Euro 2012, and he also provided one assist each for Mesut Özil and Mario Gómez. He was an ever-present in the German defence that attracted praise from a variety of sources. Germany won all three group games against Portugal, Netherlands, and Denmark. Lahm scored the opening goal in their 4–2 victory over Greece in the quarter-finals. Germany was eliminated 2–1 by Italy in the semi-finals.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: On 6 September 2013, Lahm was awarded his 100th cap for the German national team in a 3–0 win over Austria during qualification for the 2014 World Cup.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: On 16 June 2014, Lahm started for Germany in central midfield in their first match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, a 4–0 defeat of Portugal in Salvador, and remained in the position for the other two group games and the round of 16 match against Algeria.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: Lahm reverted to right back for the quarter-final against France, and remained there in Germany's 7–1 defeat of Brazil in the semi-final. On 11 July 2014, Lahm was named on the 10-man shortlist for FIFA's Golden Ball award for the tournament's best player.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: On 13 July 2014, Lahm led Germany to a World Cup victory, a 1–0 win against Argentina in the final, the fourth time Germany have won the competition and the first for a reunified Germany. Fritz Walter, Franz Beckenbauer, and Lothar Matthäus had skippered West Germany to the World Cup title.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: On 18 July 2014, Lahm, at the age of 30, announced his retirement from international football. He had scored five goals in 113 appearances. On 2 September 2014, Bastian Schweinsteiger succeeded Lahm as captain of the German national team.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: On 8 December 2017, Lahm was named honorary ambassador for Germany's bid to host the UEFA Euro 2024. Lahm was a UEFA Euro 2020 ambassador and later became the tournament director for UEFA Euro 2024. In August 2022, Lahm criticised the awarding of the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Qatar, citing human rights violations in the country and claimed that he would boycott the tournament.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: Although Lahm is right-footed, and normally played as a right-back, he was able to play on both sides of the pitch, either as a full-back/wing-back or wide midfielder, due to his tactical intelligence, crossing ability, and versatility. He often cut from the flank to the inside of the pitch to either shoot and/or pass. In particular, he was renowned for his pace, technique, stamina, and precise tackling abilities, as well as his small stature, which earned him the nickname the "Magic Dwarf"; despite his size and playing role, he was described in 2010 by Matthew Scianitti of "CBC Sports" as having "deceptive strength and impressive shooting skills," which allowed him to assist his teams both offensively and defensively. During his time under manager Pep Guardiola, Lahm also occasionally played as a central or defensive midfielder, in a pivot role in a 3–4–3 formation, which has been likened to that of a "metodista" ("centre-half," in Italian football jargon), due to his ability to dictate play in midfield and act as a playmaker by starting attacks in addition to assisting his team defensively by winning back possession. Owing to his positioning, tactical sense, and tackling ability despite his small stature, as well as his wide range of skills, such as ability to read the game, leadership qualities, consistency, and ability on the ball, he is widely regarded by pundits as one of the best full-backs of all time. Guardiola once described Lahm as "perhaps the most intelligent player" he had ever coached.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: During their time together at Bayern Munich, Lahm also formed an efficient partnership with winger Arjen Robben along the right flank. Robben's improved defensive work–rate at the club allowed him to track back and cover for Lahm's overlapping runs.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: Lahm is known as a private person who maintains a low-profile outside of football; his best friend Andreas Ottl was the only footballer present at his wedding to Claudia Schattenberg. The couple have a son, Julian, and a daughter, Lenia. A Munich native, Lahm is a lifelong Bayern fan and served as a ball boy at the Olympic Stadium.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: Lahm is involved in many charity campaigns and events. In June 2007, FIFA announced that Lahm and Owen Hargreaves would visit South Africa in advance to support the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Although Hargreaves never managed to take part in the trip due to injury, Lahm and German national teammate Piotr Trochowski visited the country taking time not only to visit the 2010 FIFA World Cup organizers but also to visit a local SOS Children's Village and to take part in the Kick-AIDS event.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: Lahm has established a foundation, Philipp Lahm-Stiftung, to support underprivileged children and is also an official ambassador representing "FIFA for SOS Children's Villages". In addition he was an ambassador of the 2007, 2008 and 2009 World AIDS Day. He has also taken part in a campaign against speeding and various others such as "Bündnis für Kinder", a campaign against child abuse.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: Lahm was awarded a Tolerantia-Preis on 20 September 2008, due to his outstanding contribution against intolerance and homophobia in sports, particularly in football. He also stated that it's a "pity that being gay in football is still a taboo subject" and he would have no problem with a homosexual teammate and is "not afraid of homosexuals". However, Lahm does not advise footballers to publicly admit to being homosexual, because of the abuse they would suffer.


title: Philipp Lahm

text: In August 2011 at age 27 he released his autobiography, "Der feine Unterschied: Wie man heute Spitzenfußballer wird" (The Subtle Difference – How to Become a Top Footballer), reviewing his football career and personal experiences, the general football environment, football in the social context and the effectiveness of different coaching and training methods. The No.1 bestselling book received extensive media attention in Germany, and has been criticized for parts of the book in which he discerningly analyzed his former coaches' work, among the critics were Rudi Völler (himself criticized by Lahm in the book) and Ottmar Hitzfeld.


title: Leaf

text: A leaf (: leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, flower, and fruit collectively form the shoot system. In most leaves, the primary photosynthetic tissue is the palisade mesophyll and is located on the upper side of the blade or lamina of the leaf but in some species, including the mature foliage of "Eucalyptus", palisade mesophyll is present on both sides and the leaves are said to be isobilateral. Most leaves are flattened and have distinct upper (adaxial) and lower (abaxial) surfaces that differ in color, hairiness, the number of stomata (pores that intake and output gases), the amount and structure of epicuticular wax and other features. Leaves are mostly green in color due to the presence of a compound called chlorophyll that is essential for photosynthesis as it absorbs light energy from the sun. A leaf with lighter-colored or white patches or edges is called a variegated leaf.


title: Leaf

text: Leaves can have many different shapes, sizes, textures and colors. The broad, flat leaves with complex venation of flowering plants are known as "megaphylls" and the species that bear them, the majority, as broad-leaved or megaphyllous plants, which also includes acrogymnosperms and ferns. In the lycopods, with different evolutionary origins, the leaves are simple (with only a single vein) and are known as "microphylls". Some leaves, such as bulb scales, are not above ground. In many aquatic species, the leaves are submerged in water. Succulent plants often have thick juicy leaves, but some leaves are without major photosynthetic function and may be dead at maturity, as in some cataphylls and spines. Furthermore, several kinds of leaf-like structures found in vascular plants are not totally homologous with them. Examples include flattened plant stems called phylloclades and cladodes, and flattened leaf stems called phyllodes which differ from leaves both in their structure and origin. Some structures of non-vascular plants look and function much like leaves. Examples include the phyllids of mosses and liverworts.


title: Leaf

text: Leaves are the most important organs of most vascular plants. Green plants are autotrophic, meaning that they do not obtain food from other living things but instead create their own food by photosynthesis. They capture the energy in sunlight and use it to make simple sugars, such as glucose and sucrose, from carbon dioxide and water. The sugars are then stored as starch, further processed by chemical synthesis into more complex organic molecules such as proteins or cellulose, the basic structural material in plant cell walls, or metabolized by cellular respiration to provide chemical energy to run cellular processes. The leaves draw water from the ground in the transpiration stream through a vascular conducting system known as xylem and obtain carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by diffusion through openings called stomata in the outer covering layer of the leaf (epidermis), while leaves are orientated to maximize their exposure to sunlight. Once sugar has been synthesized, it needs to be transported to areas of active growth such as the plant shoots and roots. Vascular plants transport sucrose in a special tissue called the phloem. The phloem and xylem are parallel to each other, but the transport of materials is usually in opposite directions. Within the leaf these vascular systems branch (ramify) to form veins which supply as much of the leaf as possible, ensuring that cells carrying out photosynthesis are close to the transportation system.


title: Leaf

text: Typically leaves are broad, flat and thin (dorsiventrally flattened), thereby maximising the surface area directly exposed to light and enabling the light to penetrate the tissues and reach the chloroplasts, thus promoting photosynthesis. They are arranged on the plant so as to expose their surfaces to light as efficiently as possible without shading each other, but there are many exceptions and complications. For instance, plants adapted to windy conditions may have pendent leaves, such as in many willows and eucalypts. The flat, or laminar, shape also maximizes thermal contact with the surrounding air, promoting cooling. Functionally, in addition to carrying out photosynthesis, the leaf is the principal site of transpiration, providing the energy required to draw the transpiration stream up from the roots, and guttation.


title: Leaf

text: Many conifers have thin needle-like or scale-like leaves that can be advantageous in cold climates with frequent snow and frost. These are interpreted as reduced from megaphyllous leaves of their Devonian ancestors. Some leaf forms are adapted to modulate the amount of light they absorb to avoid or mitigate excessive heat, ultraviolet damage, or desiccation, or to sacrifice light-absorption efficiency in favor of protection from herbivory. For xerophytes the major constraint is not light flux or intensity, but drought. Some window plants such as "Fenestraria" species and some "Haworthia" species such as "Haworthia tesselata" and "Haworthia truncata" are examples of xerophytes. and "Bulbine mesembryanthemoides".


title: Leaf

text: Leaves also function to store chemical energy and water (especially in succulents) and may become specialized organs serving other functions, such as tendrils of peas and other legumes, the protective spines of cacti and the insect traps in carnivorous plants such as "Nepenthes" and "Sarracenia". Leaves are the fundamental structural units from which cones are constructed in gymnosperms (each cone scale is a modified megaphyll leaf known as a sporophyll) and from which flowers are constructed in flowering plants.


title: Leaf

text: The internal organization of most kinds of leaves has evolved to maximize exposure of the photosynthetic organelles, the chloroplasts, to light and to increase the absorption of carbon dioxide while at the same time controlling water loss. Their surfaces are waterproofed by the plant cuticle and gas exchange between the mesophyll cells and the atmosphere is controlled by minute (length and width measured in tens of µm) openings called stomata which open or close to regulate the rate exchange of carbon dioxide, oxygen, and water vapor into and out of the internal intercellular space system. Stomatal opening is controlled by the turgor pressure in a pair of guard cells that surround the stomatal aperture. In any square centimeter of a plant leaf, there may be from 1,000 to 100,000 stomata.


title: Leaf

text: The shape and structure of leaves vary considerably from species to species of plant, depending largely on their adaptation to climate and available light, but also to other factors such as grazing animals (such as deer), available nutrients, and ecological competition from other plants. Considerable changes in leaf type occur within species, too, for example as a plant matures; as a case in point "Eucalyptus" species commonly have isobilateral, pendent leaves when mature and dominating their neighbors; however, such trees tend to have erect or horizontal dorsiventral leaves as seedlings, when their growth is limited by the available light. Other factors include the need to balance water loss at high temperature and low humidity against the need to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide. In most plants, leaves also are the primary organs responsible for transpiration and guttation (beads of fluid forming at leaf margins).


title: Leaf

text: Leaves can also store food and water, and are modified accordingly to meet these functions, for example in the leaves of succulent plants and in bulb scales. The concentration of photosynthetic structures in leaves requires that they be richer in protein, minerals, and sugars than, say, woody stem tissues. Accordingly, leaves are prominent in the diet of many animals.


title: Leaf

text: Correspondingly, leaves represent heavy investment on the part of the plants bearing them, and their retention or disposition are the subject of elaborate strategies for dealing with pest pressures, seasonal conditions, and protective measures such as the growth of thorns and the production of phytoliths, lignins, tannins and poisons.


title: Leaf

text: Deciduous plants in frigid or cold temperate regions typically shed their leaves in autumn, whereas in areas with a severe dry season, some plants may shed their leaves until the dry season ends. In either case, the shed leaves may be expected to contribute their retained nutrients to the soil where they fall.


title: Leaf

text: In contrast, many other non-seasonal plants, such as palms and conifers, retain their leaves for long periods; "Welwitschia" retains its two main leaves throughout a lifetime that may exceed a thousand years.


title: Leaf

text: The leaf-like organs of bryophytes (e.g., mosses and liverworts), known as phyllids, differ heavily morphologically from the leaves of vascular plants. In most cases, they lack vascular tissue, are only a single cell thick, and have no cuticle, stomata, or internal system of intercellular spaces. (The phyllids of the moss family Polytrichaceae are notable exceptions.) The phyllids of bryophytes are only present on the gametophytes, while in contrast the leaves of vascular plants are only present on the sporophytes. These can further develop into either vegetative or reproductive structures.


title: Leaf

text: Simple, vascularized leaves (microphylls), such as those of the early Devonian lycopsid "Baragwanathia", first evolved as enations, extensions of the stem. True leaves or euphylls of larger size and with more complex venation did not become widespread in other groups until the Devonian period, by which time the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere had dropped significantly. This occurred independently in several separate lineages of vascular plants, in progymnosperms like "Archaeopteris", in Sphenopsida, ferns and later in the gymnosperms and angiosperms. Euphylls are also referred to as macrophylls or megaphylls (large leaves).


title: Leaf

text: A structurally complete leaf of an angiosperm consists of a petiole (leaf stalk), a lamina (leaf blade), stipules (small structures located to either side of the base of the petiole) and a sheath. Not every species produces leaves with all of these structural components. The proximal stalk or petiole is called a stipe in ferns. The lamina is the expanded, flat component of the leaf which contains the chloroplasts. The sheath is a structure, typically at the base that fully or partially clasps the stem above the node, where the latter is attached. Leaf sheathes typically occur in Poaceae (grasses) and Apiaceae (umbellifers). Between the sheath and the lamina, there may be a pseudopetiole, a petiole like structure. Pseudopetioles occur in some monocotyledons including bananas, palms and bamboos. Stipules may be conspicuous (e.g. beans and roses), soon falling or otherwise not obvious as in Moraceae or absent altogether as in the Magnoliaceae. A petiole may be absent (apetiolate), or the blade may not be laminar (flattened). The tremendous variety shown in leaf structure (anatomy) from species to species is presented in detail below under morphology. The petiole mechanically links the leaf to the plant and provides the route for transfer of water and sugars to and from the leaf. The lamina is typically the location of the majority of photosynthesis. The upper (adaxial) angle between a leaf and a stem is known as the axil of the leaf. It is often the location of a bud. Structures located there are called "axillary".


title: Leaf

text: External leaf characteristics, such as shape, margin, hairs, the petiole, and the presence of stipules and glands, are frequently important for identifying plants to family, genus or species levels, and botanists have developed a rich terminology for describing leaf characteristics. Leaves almost always have determinate growth. They grow to a specific pattern and shape and then stop. Other plant parts like stems or roots have non-determinate growth, and will usually continue to grow as long as they have the resources to do so.


title: Leaf

text: The type of leaf is usually characteristic of a species (monomorphic), although some species produce more than one type of leaf (dimorphic or polymorphic). The longest leaves are those of the Raffia palm, "R. regalis" which may be up to long and wide. The terminology associated with the description of leaf morphology is presented, in illustrated form, at .


title: Leaf

text: Perennial plants whose leaves are shed annually are said to have deciduous leaves, while leaves that remain through winter are evergreens.


title: Leaf

text: Leaves attached to stems by stalks (known as petioles) are called petiolate, and if attached directly to the stem with no petiole they are called sessile.


title: Leaf

text: Dicot leaves have blades with pinnate vegetation (where major veins diverge from one large mid-vein and have smaller connecting networks between them). Less commonly, dicot leaf blades may have palmate venation (several large veins diverging from petiole to leaf edges). Finally, some exhibit parallel venation.


title: Leaf

text: Monocot leaves in temperate climates usually have narrow blades, and usually parallel venation converging at leaf tips or edges. Some also have pinnate venation.


title: Leaf

text: The arrangement of leaves on the stem is known as phyllotaxis. A large variety of phyllotactic patterns occur in nature:


title: Leaf

text: In the simplest mathematical models of phyllotaxis, the apex of the stem is represented as a circle. Each new node is formed at the apex, and it is rotated by a constant angle from the previous node. This angle is called the "divergence angle". The number of leaves that grow from a node depends on the plant species. When a single leaf grows from each node, and when the stem is held straight, the leaves form a helix.


title: Leaf

text: The divergence angle is often represented as a fraction of a full rotation around the stem. A rotation fraction of 1/2 (a divergence angle of 180°) produces an alternate arrangement, such as in Gasteria or the fan-aloe Kumara plicatilis. Rotation fractions of 1/3 (divergence angles of 120°) occur in beech and hazel. Oak and apricot rotate by 2/5, sunflowers, poplar, and pear by 3/8, and in willow and almond the fraction is 5/13. These arrangements are periodic. The denominator of the rotation fraction indicates the number of leaves in one period, while the numerator indicates the number of complete turns or "gyres" made in one period. For example:


title: Leaf

text: Most divergence angles are related to the sequence of Fibonacci numbers . This sequence begins 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13; each term is the sum of the previous two. Rotation fractions are often quotients of a Fibonacci number by the number two terms later in the sequence. This is the case for the fractions 1/2, 1/3, 2/5, 3/8, and 5/13. The ratio between successive Fibonacci numbers tends to the golden ratio . When a circle is divided into two arcs whose lengths are in the ratio , the angle formed by the smaller arc is the golden angle, which is . Because of this, many divergence angles are approximately .


title: Leaf

text: In plants where a pair of opposite leaves grows from each node, the leaves form a double helix. If the nodes do not rotate (a rotation fraction of zero and a divergence angle of 0°), the two helices become a pair of parallel lines, creating a distichous arrangement as in maple or olive trees. More common in a decussate pattern, in which each node rotates by 1/4 (90°) as in the herb basil. The leaves of tricussate plants such as Nerium oleander form a triple helix.


title: Leaf

text: The leaves of some plants do not form helices. In some plants, the divergence angle changes as the plant grows. In orixate phyllotaxis, named after "Orixa japonica", the divergence angle is not constant. Instead, it is periodic and follows the sequence 180°, 90°, 180°, 270°.


title: Leaf

text: Two basic forms of leaves can be described considering the way the blade (lamina) is divided. A simple leaf has an undivided blade. However, the leaf may be "dissected" to form lobes, but the gaps between lobes do not reach to the main vein. A compound leaf has a fully subdivided blade, each leaflet of the blade being separated along a main or secondary vein. The leaflets may have petiolules and stipels, the equivalents of the petioles and stipules of leaves. Because each leaflet can appear to be a simple leaf, it is important to recognize where the petiole occurs to identify a compound leaf. Compound leaves are a characteristic of some families of higher plants, such as the Fabaceae. The middle vein of a compound leaf or a frond, when it is present, is called a rachis.


title: Leaf

text: Sessile (epetiolate) leaves have no petiole and the blade attaches directly to the stem. Subpetiolate leaves are nearly petiolate or have an extremely short petiole and may appear to be sessile.


title: Leaf

text: When the leaf base completely surrounds the stem, the leaves are said to be perfoliate, such as in "Eupatorium perfoliatum".


title: Leaf

text: In some "Acacia" species, such as the koa tree ("Acacia koa"), the petioles are expanded or broadened and function like leaf blades; these are called phyllodes. There may or may not be normal pinnate leaves at the tip of the phyllode.


title: Leaf

text: A stipule, present on the leaves of many dicotyledons, is an appendage on each side at the base of the petiole, resembling a small leaf. Stipules may be lasting and not be shed (a stipulate leaf, such as in roses and beans), or be shed as the leaf expands, leaving a stipule scar on the twig (an exstipulate leaf).


title: Leaf

text: Veins (sometimes referred to as nerves) constitute one of the most visible features of leaves. The veins in a leaf represent the vascular structure of the organ, extending into the leaf via the petiole and providing transportation of water and nutrients between leaf and stem, and play a crucial role in the maintenance of leaf water status and photosynthetic capacity. They also play a role in the mechanical support of the leaf. Within the lamina of the leaf, while some vascular plants possess only a single vein, in most this vasculature generally divides (ramifies) according to a variety of patterns (venation) and form cylindrical bundles, usually lying in the median plane of the mesophyll, between the two layers of epidermis. This pattern is often specific to taxa, and of which angiosperms possess two main types, parallel and reticulate (net like). In general, parallel venation is typical of monocots, while reticulate is more typical of eudicots and magnoliids ("dicots"), though there are many exceptions.


title: Leaf

text: The vein or veins entering the leaf from the petiole are called primary or first-order veins. The veins branching from these are secondary or second-order veins. These primary and secondary veins are considered major veins or lower order veins, though some authors include third order. Each subsequent branching is sequentially numbered, and these are the higher order veins, each branching being associated with a narrower vein diameter. In parallel veined leaves, the primary veins run parallel and equidistant to each other for most of the length of the leaf and then converge or fuse (anastomose) towards the apex. Usually, many smaller minor veins interconnect these primary veins, but may terminate with very fine vein endings in the mesophyll. Minor veins are more typical of angiosperms, which may have as many as four higher orders. In contrast, leaves with reticulate venation there is a single (sometimes more) primary vein in the centre of the leaf, referred to as the midrib or costa and is continuous with the vasculature of the petiole more proximally. The midrib then branches to a number of smaller secondary veins, also known as second order veins, that extend toward the leaf margins. These often terminate in a hydathode, a secretory organ, at the margin. In turn, smaller veins branch from the secondary veins, known as tertiary or third order (or higher order) veins, forming a dense reticulate pattern. The areas or islands of mesophyll lying between the higher order veins, are called areoles. Some of the smallest veins (veinlets) may have their endings in the areoles, a process known as areolation. These minor veins act as the sites of exchange between the mesophyll and the plant's vascular system. Thus, minor veins collect the products of photosynthesis (photosynthate) from the cells where it takes place, while major veins are responsible for its transport outside of the leaf. At the same time water is being transported in the opposite direction.


title: Leaf

text: The number of vein endings is very variable, as is whether second order veins end at the margin, or link back to other veins. There are many elaborate variations on the patterns that the leaf veins form, and these have functional implications. Of these, angiosperms have the greatest diversity. Within these the major veins function as the support and distribution network for leaves and are correlated with leaf shape. For instance, the parallel venation found in most monocots correlates with their elongated leaf shape and wide leaf base, while reticulate venation is seen in simple entire leaves, while digitate leaves typically have venation in which three or more primary veins diverge radially from a single point.


title: Leaf

text: In evolutionary terms, early emerging taxa tend to have dichotomous branching with reticulate systems emerging later. Veins appeared in the Permian period (299–252 mya), prior to the appearance of angiosperms in the Triassic (252–201 mya), during which vein hierarchy appeared enabling higher function, larger leaf size and adaption to a wider variety of climatic conditions. Although it is the more complex pattern, branching veins appear to be plesiomorphic and in some form were present in ancient seed plants as long as 250 million years ago. A pseudo-reticulate venation that is actually a highly modified penniparallel one is an autapomorphy of some Melanthiaceae, which are monocots; e.g., "Paris quadrifolia" (True-lover's Knot). In leaves with reticulate venation, veins form a scaffolding matrix imparting mechanical rigidity to leaves.


title: Leaf

text: Leaves are normally extensively vascularized and typically have networks of vascular bundles containing xylem, which supplies water for photosynthesis, and phloem, which transports the sugars produced by photosynthesis. Many leaves are covered in trichomes (small hairs) which have diverse structures and functions.


title: Leaf

text: These three tissue systems typically form a regular organization at the cellular scale. Specialized cells that differ markedly from surrounding cells, and which often synthesize specialized products such as crystals, are termed idioblasts.


title: Leaf

text: The epidermis is the outer layer of cells covering the leaf. It is covered with a waxy cuticle which is impermeable to liquid water and water vapor and forms the boundary separating the plant's inner cells from the external world. The cuticle is in some cases thinner on the lower epidermis than on the upper epidermis, and is generally thicker on leaves from dry climates as compared with those from wet climates. The epidermis serves several functions: protection against water loss by way of transpiration, regulation of gas exchange and secretion of metabolic compounds. Most leaves show dorsoventral anatomy: The upper (adaxial) and lower (abaxial) surfaces have somewhat different construction and may serve different functions.


title: Leaf

text: The epidermis tissue includes several differentiated cell types; epidermal cells, epidermal hair cells (trichomes), cells in the stomatal complex; guard cells and subsidiary cells. The epidermal cells are the most numerous, largest, and least specialized and form the majority of the epidermis. They are typically more elongated in the leaves of monocots than in those of dicots.


title: Leaf

text: Chloroplasts are generally absent in epidermal cells, the exception being the guard cells of the stomata. The stomatal pores perforate the epidermis and are surrounded on each side by chloroplast-containing guard cells, and two to four subsidiary cells that lack chloroplasts, forming a specialized cell group known as the stomatal complex. The opening and closing of the stomatal aperture is controlled by the stomatal complex and regulates the exchange of gases and water vapor between the outside air and the interior of the leaf. Stomata therefore play the important role in allowing photosynthesis without letting the leaf dry out. In a typical leaf, the stomata are more numerous over the abaxial (lower) epidermis than the adaxial (upper) epidermis and are more numerous in plants from cooler climates.


title: Leaf

text: Most of the interior of the leaf between the upper and lower layers of epidermis is a "parenchyma" (ground tissue) or "chlorenchyma" tissue called the mesophyll (Greek for "middle leaf"). This assimilation tissue is the primary location of photosynthesis in the plant. The products of photosynthesis are called "assimilates".


title: Leaf

text: Leaves are normally green, due to chlorophyll in chloroplasts in the mesophyll cells. Plants that lack chlorophyll cannot photosynthesize.


title: Leaf

text: The veins are the vascular tissue of the leaf and are located in the spongy layer of the mesophyll. The pattern of the veins is called venation. In angiosperms the venation is typically parallel in monocotyledons and forms an interconnecting network in broad-leaved plants. They were once thought to be typical examples of pattern formation through ramification, but they may instead exemplify a pattern formed in a stress tensor field.


title: Leaf

text: The xylem typically lies on the adaxial side of the vascular bundle and the phloem typically lies on the abaxial side. Both are embedded in a dense parenchyma tissue, called the sheath, which usually includes some structural collenchyma tissue.


title: Leaf

text: According to Agnes Arber's partial-shoot theory of the leaf, leaves are partial shoots, being derived from leaf primordia of the shoot apex. Early in development they are dorsiventrally flattened with both dorsal and ventral surfaces. Compound leaves are closer to shoots than simple leaves. Developmental studies have shown that compound leaves, like shoots, may branch in three dimensions. On the basis of molecular genetics, Eckardt and Baum (2010) concluded that "it is now generally accepted that compound leaves express both leaf and shoot properties."


title: Leaf

text: Plants respond and adapt to environmental factors, such as light and mechanical stress from wind. Leaves need to support their own mass and align themselves in such a way as to optimize their exposure to the sun, generally more or less horizontally. However, horizontal alignment maximizes exposure to bending forces and failure from stresses such as wind, snow, hail, falling debris, animals, and abrasion from surrounding foliage and plant structures. Overall leaves are relatively flimsy with regard to other plant structures such as stems, branches and roots.


title: Leaf

text: Both leaf blade and petiole structure influence the leaf's response to forces such as wind, allowing a degree of repositioning to minimize drag and damage, as opposed to resistance. Leaf movement like this may also increase turbulence of the air close to the surface of the leaf, which thins the boundary layer of air immediately adjacent to the surface, increasing the capacity for gas and heat exchange, as well as photosynthesis. Strong wind forces may result in diminished leaf number and surface area, which while reducing drag, involves a trade off of also reducing photosynthesis. Thus, leaf design may involve compromise between carbon gain, thermoregulation and water loss on the one hand, and the cost of sustaining both static and dynamic loads. In vascular plants, perpendicular forces are spread over a larger area and are relatively flexible in both bending and torsion, enabling elastic deforming without damage.


title: Leaf

text: Many leaves rely on hydrostatic support arranged around a skeleton of vascular tissue for their strength, which depends on maintaining leaf water status. Both the mechanics and architecture of the leaf reflect the need for transportation and support. Read and Stokes (2006) consider two basic models, the "hydrostatic" and "I-beam leaf" form (see Fig 1). Hydrostatic leaves such as in "Prostanthera lasianthos" are large and thin, and may involve the need for multiple leaves rather single large leaves because of the amount of veins needed to support the periphery of large leaves. But large leaf size favors efficiency in photosynthesis and water conservation, involving further trade offs. On the other hand, I-beam leaves such as "Banksia marginata" involve specialized structures to stiffen them. These I-beams are formed from bundle sheath extensions of sclerenchyma meeting stiffened sub-epidermal layers. This shifts the balance from reliance on hydrostatic pressure to structural support, an obvious advantage where water is relatively scarce.


title: Leaf

text: Although not as nutritious as other organs such as fruit, leaves provide a food source for many organisms. The leaf is a vital source of energy production for the plant, and plants have evolved protection against animals that consume leaves, such as tannins, chemicals which hinder the digestion of proteins and have an unpleasant taste. Animals that are specialized to eat leaves are known as folivores.


title: Leaf

text: Some species have cryptic adaptations by which they use leaves in avoiding predators. For example, the caterpillars of some leaf-roller moths will create a small home in the leaf by folding it over themselves. Some sawflies similarly roll the leaves of their food plants into tubes. Females of the Attelabidae, so-called leaf-rolling weevils, lay their eggs into leaves that they then roll up as means of protection. Other herbivores and their predators mimic the appearance of the leaf. Reptiles such as some chameleons, and insects such as some katydids, also mimic the oscillating movements of leaves in the wind, moving from side to side or back and forth while evading a possible threat.


title: Leaf

text: Leaves in temperate, boreal, and seasonally dry zones may be seasonally deciduous (falling off or dying for the inclement season). This mechanism to shed leaves is called abscission. When the leaf is shed, it leaves a leaf scar on the twig. In cold autumns, they sometimes change color, and turn yellow, bright-orange, or red, as various accessory pigments (carotenoids and xanthophylls) are revealed when the tree responds to cold and reduced sunlight by curtailing chlorophyll production. Red anthocyanin pigments are now thought to be produced in the leaf as it dies, possibly to mask the yellow hue left when the chlorophyll is lost—yellow leaves appear to attract herbivores such as aphids. Optical masking of chlorophyll by anthocyanins reduces risk of photo-oxidative damage to leaf cells as they senesce, which otherwise may lower the efficiency of nutrient retrieval from senescing autumn leaves.


title: Leaf

text: The leaf surface is also host to a large variety of microorganisms; in this context it is referred to as the phyllosphere.


title: Leaf

text: "Hairs" on plants are properly called trichomes. Leaves can show several degrees of hairiness. The meaning of several of the following terms can overlap.


title: Leaf

text: A number of different classification systems of the patterns of leaf veins (venation or veination) have been described, starting with Ettingshausen (1861), together with many different descriptive terms, and the terminology has been described as "formidable". One of the commonest among these is the Hickey system, originally developed for "dicotyledons" and using a number of Ettingshausen's terms derived from Greek (1973–1979): ("see also": Simpson Figure 9.12, p. 468)


title: Leaf

text: Types 4–6 may similarly be subclassified as basal (primaries joined at the base of the blade) or suprabasal (diverging above the blade base), and perfect or imperfect, but also flabellate.


title: Leaf

text: At about the same time, Melville (1976) described a system applicable to all Angiosperms and using Latin and English terminology. Melville also had six divisions, based on the order in which veins develop.


title: Leaf

text: A modified form of the Hickey system was later incorporated into the Smithsonian classification (1999) which proposed seven main types of venation, based on the architecture of the primary veins, adding Flabellate as an additional main type. Further classification was then made on the basis of secondary veins, with 12 further types, such as;


title: Leaf

text: Further descriptions included the higher order, or minor veins and the patterns of areoles ("see" Leaf Architecture Working Group, Figures 28–29).


title: Leaf

text: Analyses of vein patterns often fall into consideration of the vein orders, primary vein type, secondary vein type (major veins), and minor vein density. A number of authors have adopted simplified versions of these schemes. At its simplest the primary vein types can be considered in three or four groups depending on the plant divisions being considered;


title: Leaf

text: where palmate refers to multiple primary veins that radiate from the petiole, as opposed to branching from the central main vein in the pinnate form, and encompasses both of Hickey types 4 and 5, which are preserved as subtypes; e.g., palmate-acrodromous ("see" National Park Service Leaf Guide).


title: Leaf

text: However, these simplified systems allow for further division into multiple subtypes. Simpson, (and others) divides parallel and netted (and some use only these two terms for Angiosperms) on the basis of the number of primary veins (costa) as follows;


title: Leaf

text: These complex systems are not used much in morphological descriptions of taxa, but have usefulness in plant identification,


title: Leaf

text: There are also many other descriptive terms, often with very specialized usage and confined to specific taxonomic groups. The conspicuousness of veins depends on a number of features. These include the width of the veins, their prominence in relation to the lamina surface and the degree of opacity of the surface, which may hide finer veins. In this regard, veins are called obscure and the order of veins that are obscured and whether upper, lower or both surfaces, further specified.


title: Leaf

text: Terms that describe vein prominence include bullate, channelled, flat, guttered, impressed, prominent and recessed ("Fig". 6.1 Hawthorne & Lawrence 2013). Veins may show different types of prominence in different areas of the leaf. For instance "Pimenta racemosa" has a channelled midrib on the upper surface, but this is prominent on the lower surface.


title: Leaf

text: The terms megaphyll, macrophyll, mesophyll, notophyll, microphyll, nanophyll and leptophyll are used to describe leaf sizes (in descending order), in a classification devised in 1934 by Christen C. Raunkiær and since modified by others.


title: Population

text: Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a census, a process of collecting, analysing, compiling, and publishing data regarding a population.


title: Population

text: In sociology and population geography, population refers to a group of human beings with some predefined criterion in common, such as location, race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion. Demography is a social science which entails the statistical study of populations.


title: Population

text: In ecology, a population is a group of organisms of the same species who inhabit the same particular geographical area and are capable of interbreeding. The area of a sexual population is the area where inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals from other areas.


title: Population

text: In ecology, the population of a certain species in a certain area can be estimated using the Lincoln index.


title: Population

text: "In genetics, a population is often defined as a set of organisms in which any pair of members can breed together. This means that they can regularly exchange gametes to produce normally-fertile offspring, and such a breeding group is also known therefore as a gamodeme. This also implies that all members belong to the same species.


title: Population

text: If the gamodeme is very large (theoretically, approaching infinity), and all gene alleles are uniformly distributed by the gametes within it, the gamodeme is said to be panmictic. Under this state, allele (gamete) frequencies can be converted to genotype (zygote) frequencies by expanding an appropriate quadratic equation, as shown by Sir Ronald Fisher in his establishment of quantitative genetics."


title: Population

text: "This seldom occurs in nature: localization of gamete exchange – through dispersal limitations, preferential mating, cataclysm, or other cause – may lead to small actual gamodemes which exchange gametes reasonably uniformly within themselves but are virtually separated from their neighboring gamodemes. However, there may be low frequencies of exchange with these neighbors. This may be viewed as the breaking up of a large sexual population (panmictic) into smaller overlapping sexual populations. This failure of panmixia leads to two important changes in overall population structure: (1) the component gamodemes vary (through gamete sampling) in their allele frequencies when compared with each other and with the theoretical panmictic original (this is known as dispersion, and its details can be estimated using expansion of an appropriate binomial equation); and (2) the level of homozygosity rises in the entire collection of gamodemes. The overall rise in homozygosity is quantified by the inbreeding coefficient (f or φ). Note that all homozygotes are increased in frequency – both the deleterious and the desirable. The mean phenotype of the gamodemes collection is lower than that of the panmictic original – which is known as inbreeding depression. It is most important to note, however, that some dispersion lines will be superior to the panmictic original, while some will be about the same, and some will be inferior. The probabilities of each can be estimated from those binomial equations. In plant and animal breeding, procedures have been developed which deliberately utilize the effects of dispersion (such as line breeding, pure-line breeding, backcrossing). It can be shown that dispersion-assisted selection leads to the greatest genetic advance (ΔG=change in the phenotypic mean), and is much more powerful than selection acting without attendant dispersion. This is so for both allogamous (random fertilization) and autogamous (self-fertilization) gamodemes."


title: Population

text: According to the UN the world's population surpassed 8 billion on 15 November 2022 and that the 7 billion number was surpassed on 12 March 2012. According to a separate estimate by the United Nations, Earth's population exceeded seven billion in October 2011, a milestone that offers unprecedented challenges and opportunities to all of humanity, according to UNFPA.


title: Population

text: According to papers published by the United States Census Bureau, the world population hit 6.5 billion on 24 February 2006. The United Nations Population Fund designated 12 October 1999 as the approximate day on which world population reached 6 billion. This was about 12 years after the world population reached 5 billion in 1987, and six years after the world population reached 5.5 billion in 1993. The population of countries such as Nigeria is not even known to the nearest million, so there is a considerable margin of error in such estimates.


title: Population

text: Researcher Carl Haub calculated that a total of over 100 billion people have probably been born in the last 2000 years.


title: Population

text: Population growth increased significantly as the Industrial Revolution gathered pace from 1700 onwards. The last 50 years have seen a yet more rapid increase in the rate of population growth due to medical advances and substantial increases in agricultural productivity, particularly beginning in the 1960s, made by the Green Revolution. In 2017 the United Nations Population Division projected that the world's population will reach about 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100.


title: Population

text: In the future, the world's population is expected to peak, after which it will decline due to economic reasons, health concerns, land exhaustion and environmental hazards. According to one report, it is very likely that the world's population will stop growing before the end of the 21st century. Further, there is some likelihood that population will actually decline before 2100. Population has already declined in the last decade or two in Eastern Europe, the Baltics and in the Commonwealth of Independent States.


title: Population

text: The population pattern of less-developed regions of the world in recent years has been marked by gradually declining birth rates. These followed an earlier sharp reduction in death rates. This transition from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates is often referred to as the demographic transition.


title: Population

text: Human population planning is the practice of altering the rate of growth of a human population. Historically, human population control has been implemented with the goal of limiting the rate of population growth. In the period from the 1950s to the 1980s, concerns about global population growth and its effects on poverty, environmental degradation, and political stability led to efforts to reduce population growth rates. While population control can involve measures that improve people's lives by giving them greater control of their reproduction, a few programs, most notably the Chinese government's one-child per family policy, have resorted to coercive measures.


title: Population

text: In the 1970s, tension grew between population control advocates and women's health activists who advanced women's reproductive rights as part of a human rights-based approach. Growing opposition to the narrow population control focus led to a significant change in population control policies in the early 1980s.


title: Philippe Petit

text: Philippe Petit (; born 13 August 1949) is a French high-wire artist who gained fame for his unauthorized high-wire walks between the towers of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in 1971 and of Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1973, as well as between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City on the morning of 7 August 1974. For his unauthorized feat above the ground – which he referred to as "le coup" – he rigged a cable and used a custom-made long, balancing pole. He performed for 45 minutes, making eight passes along the wire.


title: Philippe Petit

text: Since then, Petit has lived in New York, where he has been artist-in-residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, also a location of other aerial performances. He has done wire walking as part of official celebrations in New York, across the United States, and in France and other countries, as well as teaching workshops on the art. In 2008, "Man on Wire", a documentary directed by James Marsh about Petit's walk between the towers, won numerous awards. He was also the subject of a children's book and an animated adaptation of it, released in 2005. "The Walk", a film based on Petit's walk, was released in September 2015, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Petit and directed by Robert Zemeckis.


title: Philippe Petit

text: He also became adept at equestrianism, juggling, fencing, carpentry, rock-climbing, and bullfighting. Spurning circuses and their formulaic performances, he created his street persona on the sidewalks of Paris. In the early 1970s, he visited New York City, where he frequently juggled and worked on a slackline in Washington Square Park.


title: Philippe Petit

text: Petit was born in Nemours, Seine-et-Marne, France; his father Edmond Petit was an author and an Army Pilot. At an early age, Petit discovered magic and juggling. He loved to climb, and at 16, he took his first steps on a tightrope wire. He told a reporter,


title: Philippe Petit

text: Within one year, I taught myself to do all the things you could do on a wire. I learned the backward somersault, the front somersault, the unicycle, the bicycle, the chair on the wire, jumping through hoops. But I thought, "What is the big deal here? It looks almost ugly." So I started to discard those tricks and to reinvent my art.


title: Philippe Petit

text: In June 1971, Petit secretly installed a cable between the two towers of Notre Dame de Paris. On the morning of 26 June 1971, he "juggled balls" and "pranced back and forth" as he crossed the wire on foot to the applause of the crowd below.


title: Philippe Petit

text: Petit became known to New Yorkers in the early 1970s for his frequent tightrope-walking performances and magic shows in the city parks, especially Washington Square Park. Petit's most famous performance was in August 1974, conducted on a wire between the roofs of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA, above the ground. The towers were still under construction and had not yet been fully occupied. He performed for 45 minutes, making eight passes along the wire, during which he walked, danced, lay down on the wire, and saluted watchers from a kneeling position. Office workers, construction crews and policemen cheered him on.


title: Philippe Petit

text: Petit conceived his "coup" when he was 18, when he first read about the proposed construction of the Twin Towers and saw drawings of the project in a magazine, which he read in 1968 while sitting at a dentist's office. Petit was seized by the idea of performing there, and began collecting articles on the Towers whenever he could.


title: Philippe Petit

text: What was called the "artistic crime of the century" took Petit six years' planning. During this period, he learned everything he could about the buildings and their construction. In the same period, he began to perform high-wire walking at other famous places. Rigging his wire secretly, he performed as a combination of circus act and public display. In 1971, he performed his first such walk between the towers of the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, while priests were being ordained inside the building. In 1973, he walked a wire rigged between the two north pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.


title: Philippe Petit

text: In planning for the Twin Towers walk, Petit had to learn how to accommodate issues such as the swaying of the high towers due to wind, which was part of their design; effects of wind and weather on the wire at that height, how to rig a steel cable across the gap between the towers (at a height of ), and how to gain entry with his collaborators, first to scope out the conditions and lastly to stage the project. They had to bring heavy equipment to the rooftops. He traveled to New York on numerous occasions to make first-hand observations.


title: Philippe Petit

text: Since the towers were still under construction, Petit and one of his collaborators, New York-based photographer Jim Moore, rented a helicopter to take aerial photographs of the buildings. Two more collaborators, Jean-François and Jean-Louis, helped him practice in a field in France, and accompanied him to take part in the final rigging of the project, as well as to photograph it. Francis Brunn, a German juggler, provided financial support for the proposed project and its planning.


title: Philippe Petit

text: Petit and his crew gained entry into the towers several times and hid in upper floors and on the roofs of the unfinished buildings to study security measures. They also analyzed the construction and identified places to anchor the wire and cavalletti. Using his own observations, drawings, and Moore's photographs, Petit constructed a scale model of the towers to design the needed rigging for the wire walk.


title: Philippe Petit

text: Working from the ID of an American who worked in the building, Petit made fake identification cards for himself and his collaborators (claiming they were contractors who were installing an electrified fence on the roof) to gain access to the buildings. Prior to this, Petit had carefully observed the clothes worn by construction workers and the kinds of tools they carried. He also took note of the clothing of office workers so that some of his collaborators could pose as white-collar workers. He observed what time the workers arrived and left, so he could determine when he would have roof access.


title: Philippe Petit

text: As the target date of his "coup" approached, he claimed to be a journalist with "Metropolis", a French architecture magazine, so that he could gain permission to interview the workers on the roof. The Port Authority allowed Petit to conduct the interviews, which he used as a pretext to make more observations.


title: Philippe Petit

text: On the night of Tuesday, 6 August 1974, Petit and his crew had a lucky break and got a ride in a freight elevator to the 104th floor with their equipment. They stored it 19 steps below the roof. To pass the cable across the void, Petit and his crew had settled on using a bow and arrow attached to a rope. They had to practice this many times to perfect their technique. They first shot across a fishing line, which was attached to larger ropes, and finally to the steel cable. The team was delayed when the heavy cable sank too fast, and had to be pulled up manually for hours. Petit had already identified points at which to anchor two tiranti (guy lines) to other points to stabilize the cable and keep the swaying of the wire to a minimum.


title: Philippe Petit

text: Shortly after 7 am local time, Petit stepped out on the wire and started to perform. He was above the ground. He performed for 45 minutes, making eight passes along the wire, during which he walked, danced, lay down on the wire, and knelt to salute watchers. Crowds gathered on the streets below. He said later that he could hear their murmuring and cheers.


title: Philippe Petit

text: When New York Police Department and Port Authority of New York police officers learned of his stunt, they came up to the roofs of both buildings to try to persuade him to leave the wire. They threatened to pluck him off by helicopter. Petit got off when it started to rain.


title: Philippe Petit

text: There was extensive news coverage and public appreciation of Petit's high-wire walk. The district attorney dropped all formal charges of trespassing and other items relating to his walk on condition that Petit gives a free aerial show for children in Central Park. He performed on a high-wire walk in the park above Belvedere Lake (now known as Turtle Pond).


title: Philippe Petit

text: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey gave Petit a lifetime pass to the Twin Towers' Observation Deck. He autographed a steel beam close to the point where he began his walk.


title: Philippe Petit

text: Petit's high-wire walk is credited with bringing the Twin Towers much-needed attention and even affection, as they initially had been unpopular. Critics such as historian Lewis Mumford had regarded them as ugly and utilitarian in design, and too large a development for the area. The Port Authority was having trouble renting out all of the office space.


title: Philippe Petit

text: Petit's World Trade Center stunt was the subject of Sandi Sissel's 1984 half-hour documentary, "High Wire", which featured music from Philip Glass's "Glassworks".


title: Philippe Petit

text: Mordicai Gerstein wrote and illustrated a children's book, "The Man Who Walked Between The Towers" (2003), which won a Caldecott Medal for his art. It was adapted and produced as an animated short film by the same title, directed by Michael Sporn and released in 2005, which won several awards.


title: Philippe Petit

text: The documentary film "Man on Wire" (2008), by UK director James Marsh, is about Petit and his 1974 WTC performance. It won both the World Cinema Jury and Audience awards at the Sundance Film Festival 2008. It combines historical footage with re-enactment and has the spirit of a heist film. It won awards at the 2008 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina, and the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2009. On stage with Marsh to accept the Oscar award, Petit made a coin vanish in his hands while thanking the Academy "for believing in magic". He balanced the Oscar by its head on his chin to cheers from the audience.


title: Philippe Petit

text: The same stunt was fictionalized in a biographical drama entitled "The Walk" (2015), directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Petit.


title: Philippe Petit

text: Author Colum McCann fictionalized Petit's appearance above New York as a unifying thread throughout his 2009 novel Let the Great World Spin.


title: Philippe Petit

text: Petit has made dozens of public high-wire performances in his career. For example, in 1986 he re-enacted the crossing of the Niagara River by Blondin for an IMAX film. In 1989, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution, mayor Jacques Chirac invited him to walk an inclined wire strung from the ground at the Place du Trocadéro to the second level of the Eiffel Tower, crossing the Seine.


title: Philippe Petit

text: Petit briefly headlined with the Ringling Brothers Circus, but preferred staging his own performances. During his stint with the circus and a practice walk, he suffered his only fall, from , breaking several ribs. He says he has never fallen during a performance. "If I had, I wouldn't be here talking about it."


title: Philippe Petit

text: Petit regularly gives lectures and workshops internationally on a variety of topics and subjects. He single-handedly built a barn in the Catskill Mountains using the methods and tools of 18th-century timber framers. In 2011, he published his eighth book, "A Square Peg". He has also created an ebook for TED Books, entitled "Cheating the Impossible: Ideas and Recipes from a Rebellious High-Wire Artist". Petit divides his time between New York City, where he is an artist in residence at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, and a hideaway in the Catskill Mountains.


title: Philippe Petit

text: Among those who have associated with some of his projects are such artists as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Werner Herzog, Annie Leibovitz, Miloš Forman, Volker Schlöndorff, Twyla Tharp, Peter Beard, Marcel Marceau, Paul Auster, Paul Winter, Debra Winger, Robin Williams and Sting.


title: Philippe Petit

text: Director James Signorelli assisted with creation of Petit's book "To Reach the Clouds" (2002), about the Twin Towers walk. Petit not only wrote about his feat, and events that led to the performance, but also expressed his emotions following the September 11 attacks, during which the Twin Towers were destroyed. He wrote that on that morning, "My towers became our towers. I saw them collapse – hurling, crushing thousands of lives. Disbelief preceded sorrow for the obliteration of the buildings, perplexity descended before rage at the unbearable loss of life." Petit paid tribute to those who were killed and supported rebuilding the towers, promising that "When the towers again twin-tickle the clouds, I offer to walk again, to be the expression of the builders' collective voice. Together, we will rejoice in an aerial song of victory." However, a different complex of buildings has been developed on the site, and does not offer this opportunity.


title: Sawyer Sweeten

text: Sawyer Storm Sweeten (May 12, 1995 – April 23, 2015) was an American child actor, known for playing Geoffrey Barone on the sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond".


title: Sawyer Sweeten

text: Sweeten was born in Brownwood, Texas, to parents Timothy Sweeten and Elizabeth Millsap. He had a sister Madylin, and an identical twin brother, Sullivan – all three starring on the CBS sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond" for 9 seasons.


title: Sawyer Sweeten

text: The Sweeten family moved to California when the twins were 6 months old; the siblings were cast less than a year later.


title: Sawyer Sweeten

text: On April 23, 2015, Sweeten died due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, almost three weeks before his 20th birthday. His death prompted public tributes by his "Everybody Loves Raymond" costars.


title: Sawyer Sweeten

text: His on-screen father Ray Romano was shocked by the news and said he was a "wonderful and sweet kid to be around". Sweeten's on-screen mother Patricia Heaton said that he was "a funny and exceptionally bright young man. He is gone from us far too soon."


title: Sawyer Sweeten

text: Brad Garrett, who portrayed Sweeten's on-screen Uncle Robert, released a statement that: "The Sweeten family was our family for those nine years on Raymond. My deepest condolences and love go out to them during this unimaginable time." Sweeten's on-screen grandmother Doris Roberts remembered Sawyer as "a very sweet young man" and reminded fans to "make sure your loved ones know how much you care about them. It's very important to keep in touch."


title: Sawyer Sweeten

text: Phil Rosenthal, creator of "Everybody Loves Raymond" and husband of co-star Monica Horan, remembered Sawyer, his twin brother Sullivan, and their older sister Madylin as "children that never failed to make us laugh, or remind us of how we feel about our own children".


title: Sawyer Sweeten

text: His on-screen/real life sister Madylin released a statement regarding her brother's death and pleaded for everyone "to reach out to the ones you love".


title: Just Dance 2022

text: Just Dance 2022 is a 2021 dance rhythm game developed and published by Ubisoft. It was unveiled on June 12, 2021, during the Ubisoft Forward E3 web presentation as the thirteenth main installment of the series, and was released on November 4, 2021, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Stadia. This is the final installment released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Stadia (before its closure on January 18, 2023), the final installment to support PlayStation Move and camera devices and the last known game overall to support Kinect.


title: Just Dance 2022

text: As with the previous installments of the franchise, players must mimic the on-screen dancer's choreography to a chosen song using either motion controllers (excluding the ninth generation consoles and Stadia) or the game's associated smartphone app. The Stadia version also allows the use of a gamepad and a keyboard for menu navigation.


title: Just Dance 2022

text: Its user interface and features are largely identical to those of "Just Dance 2019", "Just Dance 2020" and "Just Dance 2021", with the mechanics being the same as "2021".


title: Just Dance 2022

text: The following songs appear on the Kids Mode of the game, note that the following were previously featured on the Kids Mode of previous "Just Dance" games:


title: Just Dance 2022

text: "Just Dance Unlimited" continues to be offered on "2022" for eighth- and ninth-generation consoles, featuring a streaming library of new and existing songs.


title: Tampon

text: A tampon is a menstrual product designed to absorb blood and vaginal secretions by insertion into the vagina during menstruation. Unlike a pad, it is placed internally, inside of the vaginal canal. Once inserted correctly, a tampon is held in place by the vagina and expands as it soaks up menstrual blood. However, in addition to menstrual blood, the tampon also absorbs the vagina's natural lubrication and bacteria, which can change the normal pH, increasing the risk of infections from the bacterium "Staphylococcus aureus", which can lead to toxic shock syndrome (TSS). TSS is a rare but life-threatening infection that requires immediate medical attention.


title: Tampon

text: The majority of tampons sold are made of rayon, or a blend of rayon and cotton, along with synthetic fibers. Some tampons are made out of organic cotton. Tampons are available in several absorbency ratings. Brands include (but are not limited to) Kotex, Playtex, Tampax (Always), O.B., Cora, Lola, Sustain, Honest Company, Seventh Generation, Solimo, and Rael Tampons.


title: Tampon

text: Several countries regulate tampons as medical devices. In the United States, they are considered to be a Class II medical device by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). They are sometimes used for hemostasis in surgery.


title: Tampon

text: Tampon design varies between companies and across product lines in order to offer a variety of applicators, materials and absorbencies. There are two main categories of tampons based on the way of insertion - digital tampons inserted by finger, and applicator tampons. Tampon applicators may be made of plastic or cardboard, and are similar in design to a syringe. The applicator consists of two tubes, an "outer", or barrel, and "inner", or plunger. The outer tube has a smooth surface to aid insertion and sometimes comes with a rounded end that is petaled.


title: Tampon

text: Differences exist in the way tampons expand when in use: applicator tampons generally expand axially (increase in length), while digital tampons will expand radially (increase in diameter). Most tampons have a cord or string for removal. The majority of tampons sold are made of rayon, or a blend of rayon and cotton. Organic cotton tampons are made from only 100% cotton. Tampons may also come in scented or unscented varieties.


title: Tampon

text: Tampons are available in several absorbency ratings, which are consistent across manufacturers in the U.S. These differ in the amount of cotton in each product and are measured based on the amount of fluid they are able to absorb. The absorbency rates required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for manufacturer labeling are listed below:


title: Tampon

text: Absorbency ratings outside the US may be different. The majority of non-US manufacturers use absorbency rating and Code of Practice recommended by EDANA (European Disposables and Nonwovens Association).


title: Tampon

text: In the UK, the Absorbent Hygiene Product Manufacturers Association (AHPMA) has written a Tampon Code of Practice which companies can follow on a volunteer basis. According to this code, UK manufacturers should follow the (European) EDANA code (see above).


title: Tampon

text: A piece of test equipment referred to as a Syngyna (short for synthetic vagina) is usually used to test absorbency. The machine uses a condom into which the tampon is inserted, and synthetic menstrual fluid is fed into the test chamber.


title: Tampon

text: A novel way of testing was developed by feminist medical experts after the toxic shock syndrome (TSS) crisis, and used blood - rather than the industry standard blue saline - as a test material.


title: Tampon

text: The FDA requires the manufacturer to perform absorbency testing to determine the absorbency rating using the Syngyna method or other methods that are approved by the FDA. The manufacturer is also required to include on the package label the absorbency rating and a comparison to other absorbency ratings as an attempt to help consumers choose the right product and avoid complications of TSS. In addition, The following statement of association between tampons and TSS is required by the FDA to be on the package label as part of the labeling requirements: "Attention: Tampons are associated with Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS). TSS is a rare but serious disease that may cause death. Read and save the enclosed information."


title: Tampon

text: Such guidelines for package labeling are more lenient when it comes to tampons bought from vending machines. For example, tampons sold in vending machines are not required by the FDA to include labeling such as absorbency ratings or information about TSS.


title: Tampon

text: The average woman may use approximately 11,400 tampons in her lifetime (if using only tampons). Generally, a box of tampons costs can range from $6 to $10 USD and has 12 to 40 tampons per box. Thus, women could use around 9 boxes a year, leading to a total cost between $54 to $90 USD a year (around $0.20-$0.40 a tampon).


title: Tampon

text: Menstrual toxic shock syndrome (mTSS) is a life-threatening disease most commonly caused by infection of superantigen-producing "Staphylococcus aureus". The superantigen toxin secreted in "S. aureus" infections is TSS Toxin-1, or TSST-1. Incidence ranges from 0.03 to 0.50 cases per 100,000 people, with an overall mortality around 8%. mTSS signs and symptoms include fever (greater than or equal to 38.9 °C), rash, desquamation, hypotension (systolic blood pressure less than 90 mmHg), and multi-system organ involvement with at least three systems, such as gastrointestinal complications (vomiting), central nervous system (CNS) effects (disorientation), and myalgia.


title: Tampon

text: Toxic shock syndrome was named by James K. Todd in 1978. Philip M. Tierno Jr., Director of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology at the NYU Langone Medical Center, helped determine that tampons were behind toxic shock syndrome (TSS) cases in the early 1980s. Tierno blames the introduction of higher-absorbency tampons made with rayon in 1978, as well as the relatively recent decision by manufacturers to recommend that tampons can be worn overnight, for the surge in cases of TSS. However, a later meta-analysis found that the material composition of tampons is not directly correlated to the incidence of toxic shock syndrome, whereas oxygen and carbon dioxide content of menstrual fluid uptake is associated more strongly.


title: Tampon

text: In 1982, a liability case called "Kehm v. Proctor & Gamble" took place, where the family of Patricia Kehm sued Procter & Gamble for her death on September 6, 1982, from TSS, while using Rely brand tampons. The case was the first successful case to sue the company. Procter & Gamble paid $300,000 in compensatory damages to the Kehm family. This case can be attributed to the increase in regulations and safety protocol testing for current FDA requirements.


title: Tampon

text: Some risk factors identified for developing TSS include recent labor and delivery, tampon use, recent staphylococcus infection, recent surgery, and foreign objects inside the body.


title: Tampon

text: The FDA suggests the following guidelines for decreasing the risk of contracting TSS when using tampons:


title: Tampon

text: The FDA also advises those with a history of TSS not to use tampons and instead turn to other feminine hygiene products to control menstrual flow. Other menstrual hygiene products available include pads, menstrual cups, menstrual discs, and reusable period underwear.


title: Tampon

text: Cases of tampon-connected TSS are very rare in the United Kingdom and United States. A controversial study by Tierno found that all-cotton tampons were less likely than rayon tampons to produce the conditions in which TSS can grow. This was done using a direct comparison of 20 brands of tampons, including conventional cotton/rayon tampons and 100% organic cotton tampons. In a series of studies conducted after this initial claim, it was shown that all tampons (regardless of composition) are similar in their effect on TSS and that tampons made with rayon do not have an increased incidence of TSS. Instead, tampons should be selected based on minimum absorbency rating necessary to absorb flow corresponding to the individual.