title: Flag of Iraq

text: On 22 January 2008, the Council of Representatives of Iraq approved its new design for the national flag, confirmed by Law 9 of 2008 as the compromising temporary replacement for the Ba'athist Saddam-era flag. In this current version, the three stars were removed. The removal of the three stars was demanded by the Kurdish population of Iraq, which associated the three stars with the Al-Anfal genocide. But their removal provoked criticism among non-Kurdish Iraqis, mainly Iraqi Arabs, who argued that the stars did not represent the Ba’athist regime, and the city of Fallujah refused to fly the temporary flag that year unless instructed otherwise. The parliament intended for the new design to last one year, after which a final decision on the flag would be made. However, the flag law was reviewed in parliament on 30 August 2009.


title: Flag of Iraq

text: The Iraqi flag consists of four colors: red, white, green and black, inspired by the poetic verse of Safi al-Din al-Hilli:(Our actions are bright, our battlefields are dark, our lands are green, and our swords are red with the blood of our enemies).


title: Flag of Iraq

text: The flag is in the form of a rectangle, the width of which is two-thirds of its length, and it consists of three horizontal bands of equal dimensions, the top in red, the middle in white, and the bottom in black, and the green word ʾAllāhu ʾakbar “الله اكبر” in Kufic script is in the middle of the middle white rectangle. The ratio of knowledge is 2:3.


title: Flag of Iraq

text: Following the military intervention in Iraq by the United States in 2003, the Iraqi government was overthrown, and the Ba'ath party was outlawed. Strong speculation followed that the U.S. government would press for a change in the Iraqi flag to remove its pan-Arab symbolism, and to make a definitive break with the period of Ba'athist rule. To a degree, this view was shared by some groups in Iraq. In addition to some displeasure among Iraqis who had suffered under Saddam Hussein to retaining national symbols used by his government, there was also strong aversion to the flag from Iraq's Kurdish minority, who resented its evocation of pan-Arabism. However, Iraqi opponents of changing the flag argued that since the flag had been used since 1963, long before Saddam Hussein's presidency, it was unfair to characterise it as a "Saddamist" flag. They also stressed that pan-Arabism has been a dominant popular principle among Iraqi's majority population for decades prior to Iraqi independence in 1932.


title: Flag of Iraq

text: On 14 August 2004 the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) announced a new flag during Saddam's Iraq. The IGC stated that, from around 30 competing entries, it had chosen a design by the distinguished Iraqi artist-architect Rifat Chadirji, who lived in London, and is a brother of a member of the IGC. Chadirji commented that the guidelines stipulated that Iraq should be portrayed as part of the Western world, with historical elements included. His design was inspired by the flags of Canada and Switzerland.


title: Flag of Iraq

text: The design marked a notable break with the three flags of modern Iraqi history (namely the Arab Revolt-inspired flag of the Kingdom, the flag introduced by Abd al-Karim Qasim, and the Arab Liberation inspired flag of 1963), all of which were based on the four Pan-Arab colors. Indeed, of these colours, only white was represented in the IGC design. Moreover, Islamic crescents are usually depicted in green or red in Arab heraldry. The proposed change provoked an intensely negative reaction across groups of Iraq's Arab majority, including those vehemently opposed to Saddam Hussein. Those opposed to the U.S. occupation, including Shi'a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, decried the design as an attempt by the U.S. government to strip Iraq of its identity, and its historically prominent role in the Arab world. In particular, critics lamented the proposed abandonment of the Arab Liberation Flag, the omission of the traditional colors of pan-Arabism, and the removal of the "takbīr".


title: Flag of Iraq

text: Additionally, the new flag's predominantly blue-on-white appearance immediately antagonised many in Iraq because of its alleged resemblance to the flag of the State of Israel, considered hostile to Iraq since the former's establishment in 1948.


title: Flag of Iraq

text: The new flag was reported to have been burned by insurgents in Fallujah on 27 April 2004, the day before its planned official adoption.


title: Flag of Iraq

text: On 28 April 2004, IGC President Masoud Barzani formally presented a modified version of the flag in which the originally very light shade of blue as reported by the press on 26 April 2004 had been changed to a darker tone. It was unclear whether this was a change made because of the protests made against the original design or, as the Council claimed, a rectification of printing errors in the earlier news reports. Barzani also explained that the flag was a temporary design, to be used over the ensuing months until the adoption of a definitive flag.


title: Flag of Iraq

text: In the face of the overwhelming public outcry, adoption of the blue crescent flag was abandoned entirely.


title: Flag of Iraq

text: Despite the compromise in 2004, opposition to the flag persisted from Kurdish groups. In January 2008, a new design was proposed, removing the three green stars, instead placing a green eight pointed star around a yellow circle in the middle of the "takbīr", which is written in the Kufic script and prized as a Mesopotamian Arabic style, having originated in Iraq.


title: Flag of Iraq

text: In July 2008, the Iraqi parliament launched a contest to design a new Iraqi flag. The contest ran until September 2008, with 50 designs submitted. Six designs were chosen and sent to the parliament which was to choose a new flag before the end of 2008.


title: Flag of Iraq

text: Another proposed design was also similar to the 2004–2008 flag, but the script was changed to yellow to represent the Kurdish people in northern Iraq. The meaning of the three stars would be changed to symbolize peace, tolerance and justice.


title: Gram panchayat

text: Gram Panchayat () is a basic village-governing institute in Indian villages. It is a democratic structure at the grass-roots level in India. It is a political institute, acting as cabinet of the village. The Gram Sabha work as the general body of the Gram Panchayat. The members of the Gram Panchayat are elected by the Gram Sabha.


title: Gram panchayat

text: Established in various states of India, the Panchayat Raj system has three tiers: Zila Parishad, at the district level; Panchayat Samiti, at the block level; and Gram Panchayat, at the village level. Rajasthan was the first state to establish Gram Panchayat, Bagdari Village (Nagaur District) being the first village where Gram Panchayat was established, on 2 October 1959.


title: Gram panchayat

text: The failed attempts to deal with local matters at the national level caused, in 1992, the reintroduction of Panchayats for their previously used purpose as an organisation for local self-governance.


title: Gram panchayat

text: Gram Panchayats are at the lowest level of Panchayat Raj institutions (PRIs), whose legal authority is the 73rd Constitutional Amendment of 1992, which is concerned with rural local governments.


title: Gram panchayat

text: The Gram Panchayat is divided into wards and each ward is represented by a Ward Member or Commissioner, also referred to as a Panch or Panchayat Member, who is directly elected by the villagers. The Panchayat is chaired by the president of the village, known as a Sarpanch. The term of the elected representatives is five years. The Secretary of the Panchayat is a non-elected representative, appointed by the state government, to oversee Panchayat activities.


title: Gram panchayat

text: According to Section. 6 (3) of the "Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act of 1994", that state's gram sabha has to conduct a meeting at least twice a year.


title: Gram panchayat

text: A Gram panchyat's term of office is five years. Every five years elections take place in the village. All people over the age of 18 who are residents of the territory of that village's Gram panchayat can vote.


title: Gram panchayat

text: For women's empowerment and to encourage participation of women in the democratic process, the government of India has set some restrictions on Gram panchayat elections, reserving one-third of the seats for women, as well as reserving seats for scheduled castes and tribes.


title: Snake venom

text: Snake venom is a highly toxic saliva containing zootoxins that facilitates in the immobilization and digestion of prey. This also provides defense against threats. Snake venom is injected by unique fangs during a bite, whereas some species are also able to spit venom.


title: Snake venom

text: The glands that secrete zootoxins are a modification of the parotid salivary glands found in other vertebrates and are usually located on each side of the head, below and behind the eye, and enclosed in a muscular sheath. The venom is stored in large glands called alveoli in which it's stored before being conveyed by a duct to the base of channeled or tubular fangs through which it's ejected.


title: Snake venom

text: Venom contains more than 20 different compounds, which are mostly proteins and polypeptides. The complex mixture of proteins, enzymes, and various other substances has toxic and lethal properties. Venom serves to immobilize prey. Enzymes in venom play an important role in the digestion of prey, and various other substances are responsible for important but non-lethal biological effects. Some of the proteins in snake venom have very specific effects on various biological functions, including blood coagulation, blood pressure regulation, and transmission of nerve or muscle impulses. These venoms have been studied and developed for use as pharmacological or diagnostic tools, and even drugs.


title: Snake venom

text: Proteins constitute 90-95% of venom's dry weight and are responsible for almost all of its biological effects. The hundreds, even thousands, of proteins found in venom include toxins, neurotoxins in particular, as well as nontoxic proteins (which also have pharmacological properties), and many enzymes, especially hydrolytic ones. Enzymes (molecular weight 13-150 KDa) make up 80-90% of viperid and 25-70% of elapid venoms, including digestive hydrolases, L-amino-acid oxidase, phospholipases, thrombin-like pro-coagulant, and kallikrein-like serine proteases and metalloproteinases (hemorrhagins), which damage vascular endothelium. Polypeptide toxins (molecular weight 5-10 KDa) include cytotoxins, cardiotoxins, and postsynaptic neurotoxins (such as α-bungarotoxin and α-Cobratoxin), which bind to acetylcholine receptors at neuromuscular junctions. Compounds with low molecular weight (up to 1.5 KDa) include metals, peptides, lipids, nucleosides, carbohydrates, amines, and oligopeptides, which inhibit angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and potentiate bradykinin (BPP). Inter- and intra-species variation in venom chemical composition is geographical and ontogenic. Phosphodiesterases interfere with the prey's cardiac system, mainly to lower the blood pressure. Phospholipase A2 causes hemolysis by lysing the phospholipid cell membranes of red blood cells. Amino acid oxidases and proteases are used for digestion. Amino acid oxidase also triggers some other enzymes and is responsible for the yellow colour of the venom of some species. Hyaluronidase increases tissue permeability to accelerate the absorption of other enzymes into tissues. Some snake venoms carry fasciculins, like the mambas ("Dendroaspis"), which inhibit cholinesterase to make the prey lose muscle control.


title: Snake venom

text: Snake toxins vary greatly in their functions. The two broad classes of toxins found in snake venoms are neurotoxins (mostly found in elapids) and hemotoxins (mostly found in viperids). However, exceptions occur – the venom of the black-necked spitting cobra ("Naja nigricollis"), an elapid, consists mainly of cytotoxins, while that of the Mojave rattlesnake ("Crotalus scutulatus"), a viperid, is primarily neurotoxic. Both elapids and viperids may carry numerous other types of toxins.


title: Snake venom

text: Myotoxins are small, basic peptides found in rattlesnake and lizard (e.g. Mexican beaded lizard) venoms. This involves a non-enzymatic mechanism that leads to severe skeletal muscle necrosis. These peptides act very quickly, causing instantaneous paralysis to prevent prey from escaping and eventually death due to diaphragmatic paralysis.


title: Snake venom

text: The first myotoxin to be identified and isolated was crotamine, discovered in the 1950s by Brazilian scientist José Moura Gonçalves from the venom of tropical South American rattlesnake "Crotalus durissus terrificus". Its biological actions, molecular structure and gene responsible for its synthesis were all elucidated in the last two decades.


title: Snake venom

text: Snake venom toxicity is assessed by a toxicological test called the median lethal dose, LD, (abbreviated as "lethal dose, 50%"), which determines the concentration of a toxin required to kill half the members of a tested population. The potency of wild snake venom varies considerably because of assorted influences such as biophysical environment, physiological status, ecological variables, genetic variation (either adaptive or incidental), and other molecular and ecological evolutionary factors. This is true even for members of one species. Such variation is smaller in captive populations in laboratory settings, though it cannot be eliminated. However, studies to determine snake venom potency must be designed to minimize variability.


title: Snake venom

text: Several techniques have been designed to this end. One approach is to use 0.1% bovine serum albumin (also known as "fraction V" in Cohn process) as a diluent in determining LD values. It results in more accurate and consistent LD determinations than using 0.1% saline as a diluent. For example, fraction V produces about 95% purified albumin (dried crude venom). Saline as a diluent consistently produces widely varying LD results for nearly all venomous snakes. It produces unpredictable variation in precipitate purity (35-60%). Fraction V is structurally stable because it has seventeen disulfide bonds; it's unique in that it has the highest solubility and lowest isoelectric point of major plasma proteins. This makes it the final fraction to be precipitated from its solution. Bovine serum albumin is located in fraction V. The precipitation of albumin is done by reducing the pH to 4.8, near the pH of the proteins, and maintaining the ethanol concentration at 40%, with a protein concentration of 1%. Thus, only 1% of the original plasma remains in the fifth fraction.


title: Snake venom

text: When the ultimate goal of plasma processing is a purified plasma component for injection or transfusion, the plasma component must be highly pure. The first practical large-scale method of blood plasma fractionation was developed by Edwin J. Cohn during World War II. it's known as the Cohn process (or Cohn method). This process is also known as cold ethanol fractionation, as it involves gradually increasing the concentration of ethanol in the solution at 5 °C and 3 °C. The Cohn Process exploits differences in plasma proteins properties, specifically, the high solubility and low pI of albumin. As the ethanol concentration is increased in stages from 0 to 40%, the pH declines from neutral (pH ~ 7) to about 4.8, which is near the pI of albumin. At each stage, proteins are precipitated out of the solution and removed. The final precipitate is purified albumin. Several variations to this process exist, including an adapted method by Nitschmann and Kistler that uses fewer steps, and replaces centrifugation and bulk freezing with filtration and diafiltration. Some newer methods of albumin purification add additional purification steps to the Cohn process and its variations. Chromatographic albumin processing emerged in the 1980s, however, it was not widely adopted until later due to the scarity of large-scale chromatography equipment. Methods incorporating chromatography generally begin with cryo-depleted plasma undergoing buffer exchange via either diafiltration or buffer exchange chromatography, to prepare the plasma for following ion exchange chromatography steps. After ion exchange, generally purification steps and buffer exchange occur.


title: Snake venom

text: However, chromatographic methods began to be adopted in the 1980s. Developments were ongoing between when Cohn fractionation started emerge in 1946, and when chromatography emerged, in 1983. In 1962, the Kistler and Nistchmann process was created as a spin-off of the Cohn process. In the 1990s, the Zenalb and the CSL Albumex processes were created, which incorporated chromatography with variations. The general approach to using chromatography for plasma fractionation for albumin is: recovery of supernatant I, delipidation, anion exchange chromatography, cation exchange chromatography, and gel filtration chromatography. The recovered purified material is formulated with combinations of sodium octanoate and sodium N-acetyl tryptophanate and then subjected to viral inactivation procedures, including pasteurization at 60 °C. This is a more efficient alternative than the Cohn process because:


title: Snake venom

text: Compared with the Cohn process, albumin purity increased from about 95% to 98% using chromatography, and the yield increased from about 65% to 85%. Small percentage increases make a difference in regard to sensitive measurements such as purity. The big drawback has to do with the economics. Although the method offered efficient, acquiring the necessary equipment was difficult. Large machinery is necessary, and for a long time, the lack of equipment availability limited its widespread use.


title: Snake venom

text: Venom evolved just once among all Toxicofera about 170 million years ago, and then diversified into the huge venom diversity seen today. The original toxicoferan venom was a very simple set of proteins that were assembled in a pair of glands. Subsequently, this set of proteins evolved independently in the various lineages of toxicoferans, including Serpentes, Anguimorpha, and Iguania. Several snake lineages have since lost the ability to produce venom, often due to a change in diet or a change in predatory tactics. In addition to this, venom strength and composition has changed due to changes in the prey of certain snake species. For example, the venom of the marbled sea snake ("Aipysurus eydouxii") became significantly less toxic after the diet of this species changed from fish to strictly fish eggs. The evolution of venom is thought to be responsible for the enormous expansion of snakes across the globe.


title: Snake venom

text: The mechanism of evolution in most cases has been gene duplication in tissues unrelated to the venom. Pre-existing salivary proteins are the likely ancestors of most venom toxin genes. Expression of the new protein in the venom gland followed duplication. Then proceeded natural selection for adaptive traits following the birth-and-death model, where duplication is followed by functional diversification, resulting in the creation of structurally related proteins that have slightly different functions. The study of venom evolution has been a high priority for scientists in terms of scientific research, due to the medical relevance of snake venom, in terms of making antivenom and cancer research. Knowing more about the composition of venom and the ways it can potentially evolve is very beneficial. Three main factors that affect venom evolution have been closely studied: predators of the snake that are resistant to snake venom, prey that are in an evolutionary arms race with snakes, and the specific diets that affect the intraspecific evolution of venom. Venoms continue to evolve as specific toxins and are modified to target a specific prey, and toxins are found to vary according to diet in some species.


title: Snake venom

text: Rapid venom evolution can also be explained by the arms race between venom-targeted molecules in resistant predators, such as the opossum, and the snake venom that targets the molecules. Scientists performed experiments on the opossums and found that multiple trials showed replacement to silent substitutions in the von Willebrand factor ("vWf") gene that encodes for a venom-targeted hemostatic blood protein. These substitutions are thought to weaken the connection between vWf and a toxic snake venom ligand (botrocetin), which changes the net charge and hydrophobicity. These results are significant to the venom evolution because it's the first citation of rapid evolution in a venom-targeted molecule. This shows that an evolutionary arms race may be occurring in terms of defensive purposes. Alternative hypotheses suggest that venom evolution is due to trophic adaption, whereas these scientists believe, in this case, that selection would occur on traits that help with prey survival in terms of venom evolution instead of predation success. Several other predators of the pit viper (mongooses and hedgehogs) show the same type of relationship between snakes, which helps to support the hypothesis that venom has a very strong defensive role along with a trophic role. Which in turn supports the idea that predation on the snakes can be the arms race that produces snake venom evolution.


title: Snake venom

text: Some of the various adaptations produced by this process include venom more toxic to specific prey in several lineages, proteins that pre-digest prey, as well as a method to track down prey after a bite. Though venom function has evolved to be specific to prey class (e.g. particular coagulatory effects), the evolution of broad toxicological effects (e.g. neurotoxicity or coagulotoxicity) does not appear to be broadly affected by prey type. The presence of digestive enzymes in snake venom was once believed to be an adaptation to assist digestion. However, studies of the western diamondback rattlesnake ("Crotalus atrox"), a snake with highly proteolytic venom, show that venom has no impact on the time required for food to pass through the gut. These various adaptations of venom have also led to considerable debate about the definition of venom and venomous snakes.


title: Snake venom

text: In vipers, which have the most highly developed venom-delivery apparatus, the venom gland is very large and is surrounded by the masseter or temporal muscle, which consists of two bands, the superior arising from behind the eye, the inferior extending from the gland to the mandible. A duct carries venom from the gland to the fang. In vipers and elapids, this groove is completely closed, forming a hypodermic needle-like tube. In other species, the grooves are not covered, or only partially covered. From the anterior extremity of the gland, the duct passes below the eye and above the maxillary bone, to the basal orifice of the venom fang, which is ensheathed in a thick fold of mucous membrane. By means of the movable maxillary bone hinged to the prefrontal bone and connected with the transverse bone, which is pushed forward by muscles set in action by the opening of the mouth, the fang is erected and the venom discharged through the distal orifice. When the snake bites, the jaws close and the muscles surrounding the gland contract, causing venom to be ejected via the fangs.


title: Snake venom

text: In the proteroglyphous elapids, the fangs are tubular, but are short and do not possess the mobility seen in vipers.


title: Snake venom

text: Opisthoglyphous colubrids have enlarged, grooved teeth situated at the posterior extremity of the maxilla, where a small posterior portion of the upper labial or salivary gland produces venom.


title: Snake venom

text: Several genera, including Asian coral snakes ("Calliophis"), burrowing asps ("Atractaspis"), and night adders ("Causus"), are remarkable for having exceptionally long venom glands, extending along each side of the body, in some cases extending posterially as far as the heart. Instead of the muscles of the temporal region serving to press out the venom into the duct, this action is performed by those of the side of the body.


title: Snake venom

text: Considerable variability in biting behavior is seen among snakes. When biting, viperid snakes often strike quickly, discharging venom as the fangs penetrate the skin, and then immediately release. Alternatively, as in the case of a feeding response, some viperids (e.g. "Lachesis") bite and hold. A proteroglyph or opisthoglyph may close its jaws and bite or chew firmly for a considerable time.


title: Snake venom

text: Differences in fang length between the various venomous snakes are likely due to the evolution of different striking strategies. Additionally, it has been shown that the fangs of different species of venomous snakes have different sizes and shapes depending on the biomechanical properties of the snake's prey.


title: Snake venom

text: Spitting cobras of the genera "Naja" and "Hemachatus", when irritated or threatened, may eject streams or a spray of venom a distance of 4 to 8 ft. These snakes' fangs have been modified for the purposes of spitting; inside the fangs, the channel makes a 90° bend to the lower front of the fang. Spitters may spit repeatedly and still be able to deliver a fatal bite.


title: Snake venom

text: Spitting is a defensive reaction only. The snakes tend to aim for the eyes of a perceived threat. A direct hit can cause temporary shock and blindness through severe inflammation of the cornea and conjunctiva. Although usually no serious symptoms result if the venom is washed away immediately with plenty of water, blindness can become permanent if left untreated. Brief contact with the skin is not immediately dangerous, but open wounds may be vectors for envenomation.


title: Snake venom

text: The effect of the venom of proteroglyphous snakes (sea snakes, kraits, mambas, black snakes, tiger snakes, and death adders) is mainly on the nervous system, respiratory paralysis being quickly produced by bringing the venom into contact with the central nervous mechanism that controls respiration; the pain and local swelling that follow a bite are not usually severe. The bite of all the proteroglyphous elapids, even of the smallest and gentlest, such as the coral snakes, is, so far as known, deadly to humans. However, some mildly venomous elapids remain, such as the hooded snakes ("Parasuta"), bandy-bandies ("Vermicella"), etc.


title: Snake venom

text: Viper venom (Russell's viper, saw-scaled vipers, bushmasters, and rattlesnakes) acts more on the vascular system, bringing about coagulation of the blood and clotting of the pulmonary arteries; its action on the nervous system is not great, no individual group of nerve-cells appears to be picked out, and the effect upon respiration is not so direct; the influence upon the circulation explains the great depression, which is a symptom of viperine envenomation. The pain of the wound is severe and is rapidly followed by swelling and discoloration. The symptoms produced by the bite of the European vipers are thus described by Martin and Lamb:


title: Snake venom

text: The Viperidae differ much among themselves in the toxicity of their venoms. Some, such as the Indian Russell's viper ("Daboia russelli") and saw-scaled viper ("E. carinatus"); the American rattlesnakes ("Crotalus" spp.), bushmasters ("Lachesis" spp.), and lanceheads ("Bothrops" spp.); and the African adders ("Bitis" spp.), night adders ("Causus" spp.), and horned vipers ("Cerastes" spp.), cause fatal results unless a remedy is speedily applied. The bite of the larger European vipers may be very dangerous, and followed by fatal results, especially in children, at least in the hotter parts of the Continent; whilst the small meadow viper ("Vipera ursinii"), which hardly ever bites unless roughly handled, does not seem to be possessed of a very virulent venom, and although very common in some parts of Austria and Hungary, is not known to have ever caused a serious accident.


title: Snake venom

text: Biologists had long known that some snakes had rear fangs, 'inferior' venom injection mechanisms that might immobilize prey; although a few fatalities were on record, until 1957, the possibility that such snakes were deadly to humans seemed at most remote. The deaths of two prominent herpetologists, Robert Mertens and Karl Schmidt, from African colubrid bites, changed that assessment, and recent events reveal that several other species of rear-fanged snakes have venoms that are potentially lethal to large vertebrates.


title: Snake venom

text: Boomslang ("Dispholidus typus") and twig snake ("Thelotornis" spp.) venoms are toxic to blood cells and thin the blood (hemotoxic, hemorrhagic). Early symptoms include headaches, nausea, diarrhea, lethargy, mental disorientation, bruising, and bleeding at the site and all body openings. Exsanguination is the main cause of death from such a bite.


title: Snake venom

text: The boomslang's venom is the most potent of all rear-fanged snakes in the world based on LD. Although its venom may be more potent than some vipers and elapids, it causes fewer fatalities owing to various factors (for example, the fangs' effectiveness is not high compared with many other snakes, the venom dose delivered is low, and boomslangs are generally less aggressive in comparison to other venomous snakes such as cobras and mambas). Symptoms of a bite from these snakes include nausea and internal bleeding, and one could die from a brain hemorrhage and respiratory collapse.


title: Snake venom

text: Experiments made with the secretion of the parotid gland of "Rhabdophis" and "Zamenis" have shown that even aglyphous snakes are not entirely devoid of venom, and point to the conclusion that the physiological difference between so-called harmless and venomous snakes is only one of degree, just as various steps exist in the transformation of an ordinary parotid gland into a venom gland or of a solid tooth into a tubular or grooved fang.


title: Snake venom

text: Given that snake venom contains many biologically active ingredients, some may be useful to treat disease.


title: Snake venom

text: For instance, phospholipases type A2 (PLA2s) from the Tunisian vipers "Cerastes cerastes" and "Macrovipera lebetina" have been found to have antitumor activity. Anticancer activity has been also reported for other compounds in snake venom. PLA2s hydrolyze phospholipids, thus could act on bacterial cell surfaces, providing novel antimicrobial (antibiotic) activities.


title: Snake venom

text: The analgesic (pain-killing) activity of many snake venom proteins has been long known. The main challenge, however, is how to deliver protein to the nerve cells: proteins usually are not applicable as pills.


title: Snake venom

text: The question whether individual snakes are immune to their own venom has not yet been definitively settled, though an example is known of a cobra that self-envenomated, resulting in a large abscess requiring surgical intervention, but showing none of the other effects that would have proven rapidly lethal in prey species or humans. Furthermore, certain harmless species, such as the North American common kingsnake ("Lampropeltis getula") and the Central and South American mussurana ("Clelia" spp.), are proof against the venom of the crotalines, which frequent the same districts, and which they are able to overpower and feed upon. The chicken snake ("Spilotes pullatus") is the enemy of the fer-de-lance ("Bothrops caribbaeus") in St. Lucia, and in their encounters, the chicken snake is invariably the victor. Repeated experiments have shown the European grass snake ("Natrix natrix") not to be affected by the bite of the European adder ("Vipera berus") and the European asp ("Vipera aspis"), this being due to the presence, in the blood of the harmless snake, of toxic principles secreted by the parotid and labial glands, and analogous to those of the venom of these vipers. Several North American species of rat snakes, as well as king snakes, have proven to be immune or highly resistant to the venom of rattlesnake species. The king cobra, which does prey on cobras, is said to be immune to their venom.


title: Snake venom

text: The hedgehog (Erinaceidae), the mongoose (Herpestidae), the honey badger ("Mellivora capensis") and the opossum are known to be immune to a dose of snake venom. Recently, the honey badger and domestic pig were found to have convergently evolved amino-acid replacements in their nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, which are known to confer resistance to alpha-neurotoxins in hedgehogs. Whether the pig may be considered immune is still uncertain, though early studies show endogenous resistance in pigs tested against neurotoxins. Though the pig's subcutaneous layer of fat may protect it against snake venom, most venoms pass easily through vascular fat layers, making this unlikely to contribute to its ability to resist venoms. The garden dormouse ("Eliomys quercinus") has recently been added to the list of animals refractory to viper venom. Some populations of California ground squirrel ("Otospermophilus beecheyi") are at least partially immune to rattlesnake venom as adults.


title: Snake venom

text: The acquisition of human immunity against snake venom is ancient (from around 60 CE, Psylli tribe). Research into development of vaccines that will lead to immunity is ongoing. Bill Haast, owner and director of the Miami Serpentarium, injected himself with snake venom during most of his adult life, in an effort to build up an immunity to a broad array of venomous snakes, in a practice known as mithridatism. Haast lived to age 100, and survived a reported 172 snake bites. He donated his blood to be used in treating snake-bite patients when a suitable antivenom was not available. More than 20 so-treated individuals recovered. Amateur researcher Tim Friede also lets venomous snakes bite him in the hopes of a vaccine against snake venom being developed, and has survived over 160 bites from different species as of January 2016.


title: Snake venom

text: The World Health Organization estimates that 80% of the world's population depends on traditional medicine for their primary health-care needs. Methods of traditional treatments of snakebites, although of questionable efficacy and perhaps even harmful, are nonetheless relevant.


title: Snake venom

text: Plants used to treat snakebites in Trinidad and Tobago are made into tinctures with alcohol or olive oil and kept in rum flasks called snake bottles, which contain several different plants and/or insects. The plants used include the vine called monkey ladder ("Bauhinia cumanensis" or "Bauhinia excisa", Fabaceae), which is pounded and put on the bite. Alternatively, a tincture is made with a piece of the vine and kept in a snake bottle. Other plants used include mat root ("Aristolochia rugosa"), cat's claw ("Pithecellobim unguis-cati"), tobacco ("Nicotiana tabacum"), snake bush ("Barleria lupulina"), obie seed ("Cola nitida"), and wild gri gri root ("Acrocomia aculeata"). Some snake bottles also contain the caterpillars ("Battus polydamas", Papilionidae) that eat tree leaves ("Aristolochia trilobata"). Emergency snake medicines are obtained by chewing a three-inch piece of the root of bois canôt ("Cecropia peltata") and administering this chewed-root solution to the bitten subject (usually a hunting dog). This is a common native plant of Latin America and the Caribbean, which makes it appropriate as an emergency remedy. Another native plant used is mardi gras ("Renealmia alpinia") (berries), which are crushed together with the juice of wild cane ("Costus scaber") and given to the bitten. Quick fixes have included applying chewed tobacco from cigarettes, cigars, or pipes. Making cuts around the puncture or sucking out the venom had been thought helpful in the past, but this course of treatment is now strongly discouraged, due to the risk of self-envenomation through knife cuts or cuts in the mouth (suction cups from snake bite kits can be used, but suctioning seldom provides any measurable benefit).


title: Snake venom

text: Serotherapy using antivenom is a common current treatment and has been described back in 1913. Both adaptive immunity and serotherapy are specific to the type of snake; venom with identical physiological action do not cross-neutralize. Boulenger 1913 describes the following cases:


title: Snake venom

text: A European in Australia who had become immune to the venom of the deadly Australian tiger snake ("Notechis scutatus"), manipulating these snakes with impunity, and was under the impression that his immunity extended also to other species, when bitten by a lowland copperhead ("Austrelaps superbus"), an allied elapine, died the following day.


title: Snake venom

text: In India, the serum prepared with the venom of monocled cobra "Naja kaouthia" has been found to be without effect on the venom of two species of kraits ("Bungarus"), Russell's viper ("Daboia russelli"), saw-scaled viper ("Echis carinatus"), and Pope's pit viper ("Trimeresurus popeiorum"). Russell's viper serum is without effect on colubrine venoms, or those of "Echis" and "Trimeresurus".


title: Snake venom

text: In Brazil, serum prepared with the venom of lanceheads ("Bothrops" spp.) is without action on rattlesnake ("Crotalus" spp.) venom.


title: Snake venom

text: Antivenom snakebite treatment must be matched as the type of envenomation that has occurred. In the Americas, polyvalent antivenoms are available that are effective against the bites of most pit vipers. Crofab is the antivenom developed to treat the bite of North American pit vipers. These are not effective against coral snake envenomation, which requires a specific antivenom to their neurotoxic venom. The situation is even more complex in countries such as India, with its rich mix of vipers (Viperidae) and highly neurotoxic cobras and kraits of the Elapidae.


title: Naruto: Shippuden (season 1)

text: The first season of the "" anime series is directed by Hayato Date, and produced by Pierrot and TV Tokyo. They are based on Part II for Masashi Kishimoto's manga series. The season is set two and a half years later, with Naruto Uzumaki and his team rescuing Gaara from the criminal organization Akatsuki. The first season aired from February to October 2007 on TV Tokyo. It was also released on DVD in Japan over eight discs between August 1, 2007 and March 5, 2008 under the name . There is also a special feature included with the seventh "Naruto: Shippuden" compilation DVD based on the second ending of the series called .


title: Naruto: Shippuden (season 1)

text: The first season premiered from October 28, 2009 to April 21, 2010 on Disney XD. The season ran on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block from January 5 to August 10, 2014.


title: Naruto: Shippuden (season 1)

text: A series of eight DVDs of the season was released in North America between September 29, 2009 and April 6, 2010. The last volume also contained episodes from the second season. Viz also collected the season in three DVD boxes between January 26 and August 3, 2010, also sharing the third volume with the second season. In the United Kingdom, Manga Entertainment released it in three DVD volumes from June 14 to October 4, 2010, while a DVD box containing the first 52 episodes was released on March 7, 2011.


title: Naruto: Shippuden (season 1)

text: The series' first season used five musical themes: two openings and three endings. The first opening theme, "Hero's Come Back!!" by nobodyknows+, is used from episodes 1 to 30, while the second opening theme "Distance" by Long Shot Party, was used for episodes 31 and 32. The first ending theme, by Home Made Kazoku is used from episodes 1 to 18, the second ending theme, by Alüto is used from episodes 19 to 30. The third ending theme, by Little by Little, is used for episodes 31 and 32. The first film, "Naruto Shippuden the Movie", based on the "Naruto: Shippuden" series, was released on August 4, 2007. The broadcast versions of episodes from 24 to 27 included scenes from the film in both the opening and ending themes, while it retained the original music.


title: Emilie Schindler

text: Emilie Schindler (née Pelzl; ; 22 October 1907 – 5 October 2001) was a Sudeten German-born woman who, with her husband Oskar Schindler, helped to save the lives of 1,200 Jews during World War II by employing them in his enamelware and munitions factories, providing them immunity from the Nazis. She was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Israel's Yad Vashem in 1994.


title: Emilie Schindler

text: She was born in the village of Alt Moletein (today Maletín in the Czech Republic), to Sudeten German farmers Josef and Marie Pelzl. She had an older brother, Franz, with whom she was very close.


title: Emilie Schindler

text: Schindler's early life in Alt Moletein was idyllic, and she was quite fond of nature and animals. She was also interested in the Gypsies who would camp near the village for a few days at a time; their nomadic lifestyle, their music, and their stories fascinated her.


title: Emilie Schindler

text: Emilie Pelzl first met Oskar Schindler in 1928, when he came to Alt Moletein to sell electric motors to her father. After dating for six weeks, the couple married on 6 March 1928 in an inn on the outskirts of Svitavy, Schindler's hometown.


title: Emilie Schindler

text: In 1938, the unemployed Oskar Schindler joined the Nazi Party and moved to Kraków, leaving his wife in Svitavy. There he gained ownership of an enamelware factory that had lain idle and in bankruptcy for many years and that he renamed "Deutsche Emaillewaren-Fabrik", where he principally employed Jewish workers because they were the cheapest. However, he soon realized the true brutalities of the Nazis, and the Schindlers started protecting his Jewish laborers. Initially, they saved the workers by bribing the SS guards; later, they listed their employees as essential factory workers, manufacturing munitions for the Reich. When conditions worsened and they started running out of money, she sold her jewels to buy food, clothes, and medicine. She looked after sick workers in a secret sanatorium in the camp in Brněnec, Czech Protectorate, with medical equipment purchased on the black market.


title: Emilie Schindler

text: The Schindlers saved more than 1,200 Jews from extermination camps. In May 1945, when the Soviets moved into Brünnlitz, the Schindlers left the Jews in the factory and went into hiding, in fear of being prosecuted because of Oskar's ties with the Nazi party.


title: Emilie Schindler

text: The Schindlers fled to Buenos Aires, Argentina, with a dozen of the Schindler Jews. In 1949, they settled there as farmers and were supported financially by a Jewish organization.


title: Emilie Schindler

text: In 1957, a bankrupt Oskar Schindler abandoned his wife and returned to Germany, where he died in 1974. Although they never divorced, they also never saw each other again. In 1993, during the production of the film "Schindler's List", Emilie Schindler and a number of surviving Schindler Jews visited her husband's grave in Jerusalem; she was accompanied by Caroline Goodall, the actress who portrayed her in the film.


title: Emilie Schindler

text: After the film's release, Emilie's close friend and biographer, Erika Rosenberg, quoted Emilie in her book as saying that the filmmakers had paid "not a penny" to Emilie for her contributions to the film. These claims were disputed by Thomas Keneally, author of "Schindler's Ark", who claimed he had recently sent Emilie a cheque of his own, and that he had gotten into an argument with Rosenberg over this issue before Emilie angrily told Rosenberg to drop the subject. In his 2001 film "In Praise of Love", filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard accuses Steven Spielberg of neglecting Emilie while she was supposedly dying, impoverished, in Argentina. In response to Godard, film critic Roger Ebert mused, "Has Godard, having also used her, sent her any money?" and "Has Godard or any other director living or dead done more than Spielberg, with his Holocaust Project, to honor and preserve the memories of the survivors?"


title: Emilie Schindler

text: Schindler lived with her 50 pets for many years in her small house in San Vicente, 40 kilometres south-west of Buenos Aires. She received a small pension from Israel and Germany. Uniformed Argentinian police were posted 24 hours a day to protect her from anti-Semitic extremist groups. She formed friendships with many of the soldiers.


title: Emilie Schindler

text: In July 2001, during a visit to Berlin, Schindler told reporters that it was her "greatest and last wish" to spend her final years in Germany, adding that she had become increasingly homesick. She died at the age of 93 from the effects of a stroke in Märkisch-Oderland Hospital, Strausberg, on the night of 5 October 2001, 2½ weeks before her 94th birthday. Her only relative was a niece in Bavaria. She is buried at the cemetery in Waldkraiburg, Germany, about an hour away from Munich. Her tombstone includes the words from the Mishnah, Sanhedrin 4:5, "Wer einen Menschen rettet, rettet die Ganze Welt" ("Whoever saves one life, saves the entire world.").


title: Emilie Schindler

text: Schindler was honored by several Jewish organizations for her efforts during World War II. In May 1994, she and her husband received the Righteous Among the Nations award from Yad Vashem, along with Miep Gies, the woman who hid Anne Frank and her family in the Netherlands during the war. In 1995, she was decorated with the Order of May, the highest honor given to foreigners who are not heads of state in Argentina. Her life inspired Erika Rosenberg's book "Where Light and Shadow Meet", first published in Spanish in 1992 and later made available in English and German translations.


title: Emilie Schindler

text: She appears in the Thomas Keneally novel "Schindler's Ark" and the 1993 film based on it, "Schindler's List", in which she is played by Caroline Goodall.


title: Emilie Schindler

text: She is the subject of the opera "Frau Schindler" by composer Thomas Morse, which premiered in 2017 at the Gärtnerplatz Theater in Munich. The following year a new production of the opera, directed by Vladimir Alenikov, was produced at the Stanislavsky Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre for their hundredth anniversary season.


title: Delian League

text: The Delian League, founded in 478 BC, was an association of Greek city-states, numbering between 150 and 330, under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Plataea at the end of the Second Persian invasion of Greece.


title: Delian League

text: The League's modern name derives from its official meeting place, the island of Delos, where congresses were held in the temple and where the treasury stood until, in a symbolic gesture, Pericles moved it to Athens in 454 BC.


title: Delian League

text: Shortly after its inception, Athens began to use the League's funds for its own purposes, which led to conflicts between Athens and the less powerful members of the League. By 431 BC, the threat the League presented to Spartan hegemony combined with Athens's heavy-handed control of the Delian League prompted the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War; the League was dissolved upon the war's conclusion in 404 BC under the direction of Lysander, the Spartan commander.


title: Delian League

text: The Greco-Persian Wars had their roots in the conquest of the Greek cities of Asia Minor, and particularly Ionia, by the Achaemenid Persian Empire of Cyrus the Great shortly after 550 BC. The Persians found the Ionians difficult to rule, eventually settling for sponsoring a tyrant in each Ionian city. While Greek states had in the past often been ruled by tyrants, this form of government was on the decline. By 500 BC, Ionia appears to have been ripe for rebellion against these Persian clients. The simmering tension finally broke into open revolt due to the actions of the tyrant of Miletus, Aristagoras. Attempting to save himself after a disastrous Persian-sponsored expedition in 499 BC, Aristagoras chose to declare Miletus a democracy. This triggered similar revolutions across Ionia, extending to Doris and Aeolis, beginning the Ionian Revolt.


title: Delian League

text: The Greek states of Athens and Eretria allowed themselves to be drawn into this conflict by Aristagoras, and during their only campaigning season (498 BC) they contributed to the capture and burning of the Persian regional capital of Sardis. After this, the Ionian revolt carried on (without further outside aid) for a further five years, until it was finally completely crushed by the Persians. However, in a decision of great historic significance, the Persian king Darius the Great decided that, despite having subdued the revolt, there remained the unfinished business of exacting punishment on Athens and Eretria for supporting the revolt. The Ionian revolt had severely threatened the stability of Darius's empire, and the states of mainland Greece would continue to threaten that stability unless dealt with. Darius thus began to contemplate the complete conquest of Greece, beginning with the destruction of Athens and Eretria.


title: Delian League

text: In the next two decades, there would be two Persian invasions of Greece, occasioning, thanks to Greek historians, some of the most famous battles in history. During the first invasion, Thrace, Macedon and the Aegean Islands were added to the Persian Empire, and Eretria was duly destroyed. However, the invasion ended in 490 BC with the decisive Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon. After this invasion, Darius died, and responsibility for the war passed to his son Xerxes I.


title: Delian League

text: Xerxes then personally led a second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC, taking an enormous (although oft-exaggerated) army and navy to Greece. Those Greeks who chose to resist (the 'Allies') were defeated in the twin simultaneous battles of Thermopylae on land and Artemisium at sea. All of Greece except the Peloponnesus thus having fallen into Persian hands, the Persians then seeking to destroy the Allied navy once and for all, suffered a decisive defeat at the Battle of Salamis. The following year, 479 BC, the Allies assembled the largest Greek army yet seen and defeated the Persian invasion force at the Battle of Plataea, ending the invasion and the threat to Greece.


title: Delian League

text: The Allied fleet defeated the remnants of the Persian fleet in the Battle of Mycale near the island of Samos—on the same day as Plataea, according to tradition. This action marks the end of the Persian invasion, and the beginning of the next phase in the Greco-Persian wars, the Greek counterattack. After Mycale, the Greek cities of Asia Minor again revolted, with the Persians now powerless to stop them. The Allied fleet then sailed to the Thracian Chersonese, still held by the Persians, and besieged and captured the town of Sestos. The following year, 478 BC, the Allies sent a force to capture the city of Byzantion (modern day Istanbul). The siege was successful, but the behaviour of the Spartan general Pausanias alienated many of the Allies, and resulted in Pausanias's recall.


title: Delian League

text: After Byzantion, Sparta was eager to end its involvement in the war. The Spartans greatly feared the rise of the Athenians as a challenge to their power. Additionally, the Spartans were of the view that, with the liberation of mainland Greece, and the Greek cities of Asia Minor, the war's purpose had already been achieved. There was also perhaps a feeling that establishing long-term security for the Asian Greeks would prove impossible. In the aftermath of Mycale, the Spartan king Leotychidas had proposed transplanting all the Greeks from Asia Minor to Europe as the only method of permanently freeing them from Persian dominion.


title: Delian League

text: Xanthippus, the Athenian commander at Mycale, had furiously rejected this; the Ionian cities had been Athenian colonies, and the Athenians, if no one else, would protect the Ionians. This marked the point at which the leadership of the Greek alliance effectively passed to the Athenians. With the Spartan withdrawal after Byzantion, the leadership of the Athenians became explicit.


title: Delian League

text: The loose alliance of city states which had fought against Xerxes's invasion had been dominated by Sparta and the Peloponnesian league. With the withdrawal of these states, a congress was called on the holy island of Delos to institute a new alliance to continue the fight against the Persians; hence the modern designation "Delian League". According to Thucydides, the official aim of the League was to "avenge the wrongs they suffered by ravaging the territory of the king."


title: Delian League

text: In reality, this goal was divided into three main efforts—to prepare for future invasion, to seek revenge against Persia, and to organize a means of dividing spoils of war. The members were given a choice of either offering armed forces or paying a tax to the joint treasury; most states chose the tax. League members swore to have the same friends and enemies, and dropped ingots of iron into the sea to symbolize the permanence of their alliance. The Athenian politician Aristides would spend the rest of his life occupied in the affairs of the alliance, dying (according to Plutarch) a few years later in Pontus, whilst determining what the tax of new members was to be.


title: Delian League

text: In the first ten years of the league's existence, Cimon/Kimon forced Karystos in Euboea to join the league, conquered the island of Skyros and sent Athenian colonists there.


title: Delian League

text: Over time, especially with the suppression of rebellions, Athens exercised hegemony over the rest of the league. Thucydides describes how Athens's control over the League grew:


title: Delian League

text: The first member of the league to attempt to secede was the island of Naxos in c. 471 BC. After being defeated, Naxos is believed (based on similar, later revolts) to have been forced to tear down its walls along with losing its fleet and vote in the League.


title: Delian League

text: In 465 BC, Athens founded the colony of Amphipolis on the Strymon river. Thasos, a member of the League, saw her interests in the mines of Mt. Pangaion threatened and defected from the League to Persia. She called to Sparta for assistance but was denied, as Sparta was facing the largest helot revolt in its history.


title: Delian League

text: After more than two years of siege, Thasos surrendered to the Athenian leader Aristides and was forced back into the league. As a result, the fortification walls of Thasos were torn down, and they had to pay yearly tribute and fines. Additionally, their land, naval ships, and the mines of Thasos were confiscated by Athens. The siege of Thasos marks the transformation of the Delian league from an alliance into, in the words of Thucydides, a hegemony.


title: Delian League

text: In 461 BC, Cimon was ostracized and was succeeded in his influence by democrats such as Ephialtes and Pericles. This signaled a complete change in Athenian foreign policy, neglecting the alliance with the Spartans and instead allying with her enemies, Argos and Thessaly. Megara deserted the Spartan-led Peloponnesian League and allied herself with Athens, allowing construction of a double line of walls across the Isthmus of Corinth and protecting Athens from attack from that quarter. Roughly a decade earlier, due to encouragement from influential speaker Themistocles, the Athenians had also constructed the Long Walls connecting their city to the Piraeus, its port, making it effectively invulnerable to attack by land.


title: Delian League

text: In 454 BC, the Athenian general Pericles moved the Delian League's treasury from Delos to Athens, allegedly to keep it safe from Persia. However, Plutarch indicates that many of Pericles's rivals viewed the transfer to Athens as usurping monetary resources to fund elaborate building projects. Athens also switched from accepting ships, men and weapons as dues from league members, to only accepting money.


title: Delian League

text: The new treasury established in Athens was used for many purposes, not all relating to the defence of members of the league. It was from tribute paid to the league that Pericles set to building the Parthenon on the Acropolis, replacing an older temple, as well as many other non-defense related expenditures. The Delian League was turning from an alliance into an empire.


title: Delian League

text: War with the Persians continued. In 460 BC, Egypt revolted under local leaders the Hellenes called Inaros and Amyrtaeus, who requested aid from Athens. Pericles led 250 ships, intended to attack Cyprus, to their aid because it would further damage Persia. After four years, however, the Egyptian rebellion was defeated by the Achaemenid general Megabyzus, who captured the greater part of the Athenian forces. In fact, according to Isocrates, the Athenians and their allies lost some 20,000 men in the expedition, while modern estimates place the figure at 50,000 men and 250 ships including reinforcements. The remainder escaped to Cyrene and thence returned home.


title: Delian League

text: This was the Athenians' main (public) reason for moving the treasury of the League from Delos to Athens, further consolidating their control over the League. The Persians followed up their victory by sending a fleet to re-establish their control over Cyprus, and 200 ships were sent out to counter them under Cimon, who returned from ostracism in 451 BC. He died during the blockade of Citium, though the fleet won a double victory by land and sea over the Persians off Salamis, Cyprus.


title: Delian League

text: This battle was the last major one fought against the Persians. Many writers report that a peace treaty, known as the Peace of Callias, was formalized in 450 BC, but some writers believe that the treaty was a myth created later to inflate the stature of Athens. However, an understanding was definitely reached, enabling the Athenians to focus their attention on events in Greece proper.


title: Delian League

text: Soon, war with the Peloponnesians broke out. In 458 BC, the Athenians blockaded the island of Aegina, and simultaneously defended Megara from the Corinthians by sending out an army composed of those too young or old for regular military service. The following year, Sparta sent an army into Boeotia, reviving the power of Thebes in order to help hold the Athenians in check. Their return was blocked, and they resolved to march on Athens, where the Long Walls were not yet completed, winning a victory at the Battle of Tanagra. All this accomplished, however, was to allow them to return home via the Megarid. Two months later, the Athenians under Myronides invaded Boeotia, and winning the Battle of Oenophyta gained control of the whole country except Thebes.


title: Delian League

text: Reverses followed peace with Persia in 449 BC. The Battle of Coronea, in 447 BC, led to the abandonment of Boeotia. Euboea and Megara revolted, and while the former was restored to its status as a tributary ally, the latter was a permanent loss. The Delian and Peloponnesian Leagues signed a peace treaty, which was set to endure for thirty years. It only lasted until 431 BC, when the Peloponnesian War broke out.


title: Delian League

text: Those who revolted unsuccessfully during the war saw the example made of the Mytilenians, the principal people on Lesbos. After an unsuccessful revolt, the Athenians ordered the death of the entire male population. After some thought, they rescinded this order, and only put to death the leading 1000 ringleaders of the revolt, and redistributed the land of the entire island to Athenian shareholders, who were sent out to reside on Lesbos.


title: Delian League

text: This type of treatment was not reserved solely for those who revolted. Thucydides documents the example of Melos, a small island, neutral in the war, though founded by Spartans. The Melians were offered a choice to join the Athenians, or be conquered. Choosing to resist, their town was besieged and conquered; the males were put to death and the women sold into slavery (see Melian dialogue).


title: Delian League

text: By 454 BC, the Delian League could be fairly characterised as an Athenian Empire; a key event of 454 BC was the moving of the treasury of the Delian League from Delos to Athens. This is often seen as a key marker of the transition from alliance to empire, but while it is significant, it is important to view the period as a whole when considering the development of Athenian imperialism, and not to focus on a single event as being the main contributor to it. At the start of the Peloponnesian War, only Chios and Lesbos were left to contribute ships, and these states were by now far too weak to secede without support. Lesbos tried to revolt first, and failed completely. Chios, the most powerful of the original members of the Delian League save Athens, was the last to revolt, and in the aftermath of the Syracusan Expedition enjoyed success for several years, inspiring all of Ionia to revolt. Athens was nonetheless eventually able to suppress these revolts.


title: Delian League

text: To further strengthen Athens's grip on its empire, Pericles in 450 BC began a policy of establishing "kleruchiai"—quasi-colonies that remained tied to Athens and which served as garrisons to maintain control of the League's vast territory. Furthermore, Pericles employed a number of offices to maintain Athens' empire: "proxenoi", who fostered good relations between Athens and League members; "episkopoi" and "archontes", who oversaw the collection of tribute; and "hellenotamiai", who received the tribute on Athens' behalf.


title: Delian League

text: Athens's empire was not very stable and after 27 years of war, the Spartans, aided by the Persians and Athenian internal strife, were able to defeat it. However, it did not remain defeated for long. The Second Athenian League, a maritime self-defense league, was founded in 377 BC and was led by Athens. The Athenians would never recover the full extent of their power, and their enemies were now far stronger and more varied.


title: Amoebiasis

text: Amoebiasis, or amoebic dysentery, is an infection of the intestines caused by a parasitic amoeba "Entamoeba histolytica". Amoebiasis can be present with no, mild, or severe symptoms. Symptoms may include lethargy, loss of weight, colonic ulcerations, abdominal pain, diarrhea, or bloody diarrhea. Complications can include inflammation and ulceration of the colon with tissue death or perforation, which may result in peritonitis. Anemia may develop due to prolonged gastric bleeding.


title: Amoebiasis

text: Cysts of "Entamoeba" can survive for up to a month in soil or for up to 45 minutes under fingernails. Invasion of the intestinal lining results in bloody diarrhea. If the parasite reaches the bloodstream it can spread through the body, most frequently ending up in the liver where it can cause amoebic liver abscesses. Liver abscesses can occur without previous diarrhea. Diagnosis is typically made by stool examination using microscopy, but it can be difficult to distinguish "E. hystolitica" from other harmless "entamoeba" species. An increased white blood cell count may be present in severe cases. The most accurate test is finding specific antibodies in the blood, but it may remain positive following treatment. Bacterial colitis can result in similar symptoms.


title: Amoebiasis

text: Prevention of amoebiasis is by improved sanitation, including separating food and water from faeces. There is no vaccine. There are two treatment options depending on the location of the infection. Amoebiasis in tissues is treated with either metronidazole, tinidazole, nitazoxanide, dehydroemetine or chloroquine, while luminal infection is treated with diloxanide furoate or iodoquinoline. Effective treatment against all stages of the disease may require a combination of medications. Infections without symptoms may be treated with just one antibiotic, and infections with symptoms are treated with two antibiotics.


title: Amoebiasis

text: Amoebiasis is present all over the world, though most cases occur in the developing world. About 480 million people are currently infected with about 40 million new cases per year with significant symptoms. This results in the death of between 40,000–100,000 people a year. The first case of amoebiasis was documented in 1875 and in 1891 the disease was described in detail, resulting in the terms "amoebic dysentery" and "amoebic liver abscess". Further evidence from the Philippines in 1913 found that upon swallowing cysts of "E. histolytica" volunteers developed the disease.


title: Amoebiasis

text: Most infected people, about 90%, are asymptomatic, but this disease has the potential to become serious. It is estimated that about 40,000 to 100,000 people worldwide die annually due to amoebiasis.


title: Amoebiasis

text: Infections can sometimes last for years if there is no treatment. Symptoms take from a few days to a few weeks to develop and manifest themselves, but usually it is about two to four weeks. Symptoms can range from mild diarrhea to dysentery with blood, coupled with intense abdominal pains. Extra-intestinal complications might also arise as a result of invasive infection which includes colitis, liver, lung, or brain abscesses. The blood comes from bleeding lesions created by the amoebae invading the lining of the colon. In about 10% of invasive cases the amoebae enter the bloodstream and may travel to other organs in the body. Most commonly this means the liver, as this is where blood from the intestine reaches first, but they can end up almost anywhere in the body.


title: Amoebiasis

text: Onset time is highly variable and the average asymptomatic infection persists for over a year. It is theorized that the absence of symptoms or their intensity may vary with such factors as strain of amoeba, immune response of the host, and perhaps associated bacteria and viruses.


title: Amoebiasis

text: In asymptomatic infections, the amoeba lives by eating and digesting bacteria and food particles in the gut, a part of the gastrointestinal tract. It does not usually come in contact with the intestine itself due to the protective layer of mucus that lines the gut. Disease occurs when amoeba comes in contact with the cells lining the intestine. It then secretes the same substances it uses to digest bacteria, which include enzymes that destroy cell membranes and proteins. This process can lead to penetration and digestion of human tissues, resulting first in flask-shaped ulcerations in the intestine. "Entamoeba histolytica" ingests the destroyed cells by phagocytosis and is often seen with red blood cells (a process known as erythrophagocytosis) inside when viewed in stool samples. Especially in Latin America, a granulomatous mass (known as an amoeboma) may form in the wall of the ascending colon or rectum due to long-lasting immunological cellular response, and is sometimes confused with cancer.


title: Amoebiasis

text: Steroid therapy can occasionally provoke severe amoebic colitis in people with any "E. histolytica" infection. This bears high mortality: on average more than 50% with severe colitis die.


title: Amoebiasis

text: Amoebiasis is usually transmitted by the fecal-oral route, but it can also be transmitted indirectly through contact with dirty hands or objects as well as by anal-oral contact. Infection is spread through ingestion of the cyst form of the parasite, a semi-dormant and hardy structure found in feces. Any non-encysted amoebae, or "trophozoites", die quickly after leaving the body but may also be present in stool: these are rarely the source of new infections. Since amoebiasis is transmitted through contaminated food and water, it is often endemic in regions of the world with limited modern sanitation systems, including México, Central America, western South America, South Asia, and western and southern Africa.


title: Amoebiasis

text: Amoebic dysentery is one form of traveler's diarrhea, although most traveler's diarrhea is bacterial or viral in origin.


title: Amoebiasis

text: "E. histolytica" causes tissue damage by three main events: direct host cell killing, inflammation, and parasite invasion.


title: Amoebiasis

text: The pathogenesis of amoebiasis involves interplay of various molecules secreted by E. histolytica such as LPPG, lectins, cysteine proteases, and amoebapores. Lectins help in the attachment of the parasite to the mucosal layer of the host during invasion. The amoebapores destroy the ingested bacteria present in the colonic environment. Cysteine proteases lyse the host tissues. Other molecules such as PATMK, myosins, G proteins, C2PK, CaBP3, and EhAK1 play an important role in the process of phagocytosis.


title: Amoebiasis

text: With colonoscopy it is possible to detect small ulcers of between 3–5mm, but diagnosis may be difficult as the mucous membrane between these areas can look either healthy or inflamed.


title: Amoebiasis

text: Trophozoites may be identified at the ulcer edge or within the tissue, using immunohistochemical staining with specific anti-E. histolytica antibodies.


title: Amoebiasis

text: Asymptomatic human infections are usually diagnosed by finding cysts shed in the stool. Various flotation or sedimentation procedures have been developed to recover the cysts from fecal matter and stains help to visualize the isolated cysts for microscopic examination. Since cysts are not shed constantly, a minimum of three stools are examined. In symptomatic infections, the motile form (the trophozoite) is often seen in fresh feces. Serological tests exist, and most infected individuals (with symptoms or not) test positive for the presence of antibodies. The levels of antibody are much higher in individuals with liver abscesses. Serology only becomes positive about two weeks after infection. More recent developments include a kit that detects the presence of amoeba proteins in the feces, and another that detects ameba DNA in feces. These tests are not in widespread use due to their expense.


title: Amoebiasis

text: Microscopy is still by far the most widespread method of diagnosis around the world. However it is not as sensitive or accurate in diagnosis as the other tests available. It is important to distinguish the "E. histolytica" cyst from the cysts of nonpathogenic intestinal protozoa such as "Entamoeba coli" by its appearance. "E. histolytica" cysts have a maximum of four nuclei, while the commensal "Entamoeba coli" cyst has up to 8 nuclei. Additionally, in "E. histolytica," the endosome is centrally located in the nucleus, while it is usually off-center in "Entamoeba coli." Finally, chromatoidal bodies in "E. histolytica" cysts are rounded, while they are jagged in "Entamoeba coli". However, other species, "Entamoeba dispar" and "E. moshkovskii", are also commensals and cannot be distinguished from "E. histolytica" under the microscope. As "E. dispar" is much more common than "E. histolytica" in most parts of the world this means that there is a lot of incorrect diagnosis of "E. histolytica" infection taking place. The WHO recommends that infections diagnosed by microscopy alone should not be treated if they are asymptomatic and there is no other reason to suspect that the infection is actually "E. histolytica". Detection of cysts or trophozoites stools under microscope may require examination of several samples over several days to determine if they are present, because cysts are shed intermittently and may not show up in every sample.


title: Amoebiasis

text: Typically, the organism can no longer be found in the feces once the disease goes extra-intestinal. Serological tests are useful in detecting infection by "E. histolytica" if the organism goes extra-intestinal and in excluding the organism from the diagnosis of other disorders. An Ova & Parasite (O&P) test or an "E. histolytica" fecal antigen assay is the proper assay for intestinal infections. Since antibodies may persist for years after clinical cure, a positive serological result may not necessarily indicate an active infection. A negative serological result, however, can be equally important in excluding suspected tissue invasion by "E. histolytica".


title: Amoebiasis

text: Stool antigen detection tests have helped to overcome some of the limitations of stool microscopy. Antigen detection tests are easy to use, but they have variable sensitivity and specificity, especially in low-endemic areas.


title: Amoebiasis

text: Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is considered the gold standard for diagnosis but remains underutilized.


title: Amoebiasis

text: Good sanitary practice, as well as responsible sewage disposal or treatment, are necessary for the prevention of "E. histolytica" infection on an endemic level. "E.histolytica" cysts are usually resistant to chlorination, therefore sedimentation and filtration of water supplies are necessary to reduce the incidence of infection.


title: Amoebiasis

text: "E. histolytica" cysts may be recovered from contaminated food by methods similar to those used for recovering "Giardia lamblia" cysts from feces. Filtration is probably the most practical method for recovery from drinking water and liquid foods. "E. histolytica" cysts must be distinguished from cysts of other parasitic (but nonpathogenic) protozoa and from cysts of free-living protozoa as discussed above. Recovery procedures are not very accurate; cysts are easily lost or damaged beyond recognition, which leads to many falsely negative results in recovery tests.


title: Amoebiasis

text: "E. histolytica" infections occur in both the intestine and (in people with symptoms) in tissue of the intestine and/or liver. Those with symptoms require treatment with two medications, an amoebicidal tissue-active agent and a luminal cysticidal agent. Individuals that are asymptomatic only need a luminal cysticidal agent.


title: Amoebiasis

text: In the majority of cases, amoebas remain in the gastrointestinal tract of the hosts. Severe ulceration of the gastrointestinal mucosal surfaces occurs in less than 16% of cases. In fewer cases, the parasite invades the soft tissues, most commonly the liver. Only rarely are masses formed (amoebomas) that lead to intestinal obstruction.(Mistaken for Ca caecum and appendicular mass) Other local complications include bloody diarrhea, pericolic and pericaecal abscess.


title: Amoebiasis

text: Complications of hepatic amoebiasis includes subdiaphragmatic abscess, perforation of diaphragm to pericardium and pleural cavity, perforation to abdominal cavital "(amoebic peritonitis)" and perforation of skin "(amoebiasis cutis)".


title: Amoebiasis

text: Pulmonary amoebiasis can occur from liver lesions by spread through the blood or by perforation of pleural cavity and lung. It can cause lung abscess, pulmono pleural fistula, empyema lung and broncho pleural fistula. It can also reach the brain through blood vessels and cause amoebic brain abscess and amoebic meningoencephalitis. Cutaneous amoebiasis can also occur in skin around sites of colostomy wound, perianal region, region overlying visceral lesion and at the site of drainage of liver abscess.


title: Amoebiasis

text: Urogenital tract amoebiasis derived from intestinal lesion can cause amoebic vulvovaginitis "(May's disease)", rectovesicle fistula and rectovaginal fistula.


title: Amoebiasis

text: "Entamoeba histolytica" infection is associated with malnutrition and stunting of growth in children.


title: Amoebiasis

text: In older textbooks it is often stated that 10% of the world's population is infected with "Entamoeba histolytica". Nevertheless, this means that there are up to 50 million true "E. histolytica" infections and approximately seventy thousand die each year, mostly from liver abscesses or other complications. Although usually considered a tropical parasite, the first case reported (in 1875) was actually in St Petersburg in Russia, near the Arctic Circle. Infection is more common in warmer areas, but this is because of both poorer hygiene and the parasitic cysts surviving longer in warm moist conditions.


title: Amoebiasis

text: Amoebiasis was first described by Fedor A. Lösch in 1875, in northern Russia. The most dramatic incident in the US was the Chicago World's Fair outbreak in 1933, caused by contaminated drinking water. There were more than a thousand cases, with 98 deaths. It has been known since 1897 that at least one non-disease-causing species of "Entamoeba" existed ("Entamoeba coli"), but it was first formally recognized by the WHO in 1997 that "E. histolytica" was two species, despite this having first been proposed in 1925. In addition to the now-recognized "E. dispar", evidence shows there are at least two other species of "Entamoeba" that look the same in humans: "E. moshkovskii" and "Entamoeba bangladeshi". The reason these species haven't been differentiated until recently is because of the reliance on appearance.


title: Amoebiasis

text: Joel Connolly of the Chicago Bureau of Sanitary Engineering brought the outbreak to an end when he found that defective plumbing permitted sewage to contaminate drinking water. In 1998 there was an outbreak of amoebiasis in the Republic of Georgia. Between 26 May and 3 September 1998, 177 cases were reported, including 71 cases of intestinal amoebiasis and 106 probable cases of liver abscess.


title: Amoebiasis

text: The Nicobarese people have attested to the medicinal properties found in "Glochidion calocarpum", a plant common to India, saying that its bark and seed are most effective in curing abdominal disorders associated with amoebiasis.


title: Tale of Ragnar's Sons

text: When Sigurd Ring dies, Ragnar Lodbrok succeeds him as the king of Sweden and Denmark. Many foreign kings come to take parts of his kingdom as they think Ragnar is too young to defend it.


title: Tale of Ragnar's Sons

text: Herrauðr, the earl of Götaland and one of Ragnar's vassals had a daughter, Þóra Borgarhjǫrtr, who was very beautiful. He gave her a lindworm, but after some time, it encircles her tower and threatens anyone who approaches it, except for her servants who fed it an ox every day. At his symbel, Herrauðr promises his daughter to the man who kills the serpent.


title: Tale of Ragnar's Sons

text: When Ragnar hears of this, he goes to Västergötland and dresses in shaggy clothes that he had treated with tar and sand. He took a spear and approached the serpent, which then blew poison at him. Ragnar protected himself with his shield and speared the serpent through its heart. He then cut off the serpent's head, and when the people found out what had happened, he married Thora. Then, he proceeded to liberate his kingdom.


title: Tale of Ragnar's Sons

text: Ragnar and Thora had two sons, Eric and Agnar, before Thora fell ill and died when the sons were only a few years old. Ragnar then married Aslaug, also known as Randalin, the daughter of Sigurd and Brynhildr. They had four sons, Ivar the Boneless, Björn Ironside, Hvitserk and Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye (thus called because there was a mark in his eye, as if a snake lay around the pupil).


title: Tale of Ragnar's Sons

text: Ragnar's sons grow up and in order to show themselves the equals of their father, they war far and wide. They conquer Zealand, Reidgotaland (here Jutland), Gotland, Öland and all the small islands. Ivar, the eldest and cleverest, is their leader and he installs himself at Lejre.


title: Tale of Ragnar's Sons

text: As Ragnar does not want his sons to overshadow him, he appoints Eysteinn Beli as the king of Sweden and tells him to protect it from his sons. One summer when Ragnar is pillaging in the Baltic region, his sons Eric and Agnar came into the lake Mälaren. They send a messenger to Gamla Uppsala asking Eysteinn to meet them. They then demand that Eysteinn be their vassal and that he give his daughter Borghild as wife to Eric. Eysteinn consults the Swedish chieftains and they decide to attack Eric and Agnar. After a long battle against overwhelming numbers, Eric is captured and Agnar was slain.


title: Tale of Ragnar's Sons

text: Eysteinn wants peace and offers his daughter to Eric and as much of Uppsala öd (the network of royal estates that financed the Swedish monarchy) as he wanted. Eric declares that after such a defeat he does not wish to live and asks to be raised on spearpoints above the slain so that he will be pierced and killed. His wish is granted.


title: Tale of Ragnar's Sons

text: When Aslaug and her sons hear the news in Zealand, they decide to avenge the dead brothers. Aslaug calls herself Randalin and rides with 1500 warriors across land, while her sons go in ships. After a long battle, Eysteinn dies and Eric and Agnar were avenged.


title: Tale of Ragnar's Sons

text: Ragnar is not happy that his sons have taken revenge without his help, and decides to conquer England with only two knarrs, in order to show himself a better warrior than his sons. The ships are built in Vestfold as his kingdom reached Dovre and Lindesnes, and they are enormous ships. Aslaug does not approve of the idea as the English coast was not fit for such ships, only for longships, but Ragnar does not listen to her advice.


title: Tale of Ragnar's Sons

text: When king Ælla of Northumbria learns of the pillaging army, he musters an overwhelming force and defeats Ragnar's army. Ragnar is dressed in a silken jacket which Aslaug had made and nothing can pierce it. Finally, he is taken prisoner and thrown into a snake pit. However, as the snakes could not bite him, the Englishmen take off his clothes and then the snakes kill him.


title: Tale of Ragnar's Sons

text: Ragnar's sons attack England but Ivar does not want to fight as the English army is too large; he fears they will lose and will have to go home again. Ivar, however, stays in England and asks Ælla for weregild, claiming that he can not go home without some compensation to show his brothers. Ivar only asks for as much land as he can cover with an ox's hide. He cuts it into such a fine long string of hide that he can encircle an area so large that he is able to capture the already existing fortress of York which was the capital of Northumbria, When this is done, he allies himself with all of England and finally all the chieftains in the region become loyal to Ivar and his brothers.


title: Tale of Ragnar's Sons

text: Then, Ivar tells his brothers to attack England. During the battle, Ivar sides with his brothers and so do many of the English chieftains with their people, out of loyalty to Ivar. Ælla is taken captive and in revenge, Ragnar's sons carve the blood eagle on him.


title: Tale of Ragnar's Sons

text: Ivar becomes king over north-eastern England which his forefathers had owned (i.e. Ivar Vidfamne and Sigurd Ring), and he has two sons, Yngvar and Husto. They obey their father Ivar and torture king Edmund the Martyr and take his realm.


title: Tale of Ragnar's Sons

text: Ragnar's sons pillage in England, Wales, France and Italy, until they come to the town of Luna in Italy. When they come back to Scandinavia, they divide the kingdom so that Björn Ironside has Uppsala and Sweden, Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye has Zealand, Scania, Halland, Viken, Agder, all the way to Lindesnes and most of Oppland, and Hvitserk receives Reidgotaland (Jutland) and Wendland.


title: Tale of Ragnar's Sons

text: Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye marries king Ælla's daughter Blaeja and they have a son named Harthacnut, who succeeds his father as the king of Zealand, Scania and Halland, but Viken rebels and breaks loose. Harthacanute has a son named Gorm, who is big and strong but not as wise as his ancestors.


title: Tale of Ragnar's Sons

text: Sigurd's great-granddaughter marries the Hedmark king Halfdan the Black and the saga concludes with saying that their son eventually became the first king of Norway: Harald Fairhair.


title: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

text: The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a ministerial office in the Government of the United Kingdom. The position is the second highest ranking minister in the Cabinet Office, immediately after the Prime Minister, and senior to the Minister for the Cabinet Office. The role includes as part of its duties the administration of the estates and rents of the Duchy of Lancaster.


title: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

text: Formally, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is appointed by the Sovereign on the advice of the prime minister, and is answerable to Parliament for the governance of the Duchy. In modern times, however, the involvement of the chancellor in the running of the day-to-day affairs of the Duchy is slight, and the office is held by a senior politician whose main role is usually quite different. In practical terms, it is a sinecure, allowing the prime minister to appoint an additional minister without portfolio to the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. In September 2021 the role was endowed with responsibility for advising the prime minister on policy development and implementation, particularly around Brexit.


title: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

text: Originally, the chancellor was the chief officer in the daily management of the Duchy of Lancaster and the County Palatine of Lancaster (a county palatine merged into the Crown in 1399), but that estate is now run by a deputy, leaving the chancellor as a member of the Cabinet with little obligation in regard to the chancellorship. The position has often been given to a junior Cabinet minister with responsibilities in a particular area of policy for which there is no department with an appropriate portfolio.


title: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

text: In 1491 the office of Vice-Chancellor of the County Palatine of Lancaster was created. The position is now held by a judge of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice, who sits in the north west of England, and is no longer appointed to that position as legal officer of the Duchy.


title: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

text: Under the Promissory Oaths Act 1868, the chancellor is required to take the oath of allegiance and the Official Oath. The holder of the sinecure is a minister without portfolio; Sir Oswald Mosley, for example, focused on unemployment after being appointed to the position in 1929 during the second MacDonald ministry.


title: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

text: After the Dardanelles campaign, Winston Churchill was in 1915 appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, a humiliating loss of the trappings of power.


title: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

text: The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is entitled to a salary under the Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975, but section 3 of the Act provides that the salary "shall be reduced by the amount of the salary payable to him otherwise than out of moneys so provided in respect of his office". The Office of the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is part of the Cabinet Office.


title: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

text: From 1997 until 2009, the holder of the title also served as the Minister for the Cabinet Office. This applied in the case of Alan Milburn, who was given the title by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2004 and at the same time rejoined the Cabinet. However, in the reshuffle of 5 June 2009, the chancellorship went to the Leader of the House of Lords, the Baroness Royall. In David Cameron's first cabinet, the chancellorship remained with the leader of the House of Lords until 2014.


title: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

text: When David Lidington was appointed Chancellor on 8 January 2018, the position of Minister for the Cabinet Office was once again held concurrently. This continued until Michael Gove was appointed Chancellor in July 2019. Michael Gove was given responsibility over the Cabinet Office, but did not initially hold the ministerial position of Minister for the Cabinet Office (which is not on a statutory footing), though he was later granted that title in the 2020 Cabinet reshuffle.


title: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

text: Steve Barclay was appointed to the post on 15 September 2021 as part of the 2021 reshuffle. He had previously been the last Secretary of State for the Department for Exiting the European Union. Steve Barclay held the office concurrently with the Minister for the Cabinet Office until February 2022 when he was appointed Downing Street Chief of Staff. The position of Minister for the Cabinet Office was given to Michael Ellis instead whilst Barclay retained the post of Chancellor of the Duchy.


title: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

text: Nadhim Zahawi was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 6 September 2022, under the UK's shortest-serving Prime Minister, Liz Truss.


title: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

text: Oliver Dowden was appointed to the role, in new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's first cabinet, on 25 October 2022.


title: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

text: In addition to administering the estates and rents of the Duchy of Lancaster, the chancellor is also a member of the cabinet and advises the prime minister on the development and implementation of government policy. In addition, the Chancellor is presently responsible for:


title: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

text: This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright.


title: G4S

text: G4S is a British multinational private security company headquartered in London, England. The company was set up in 2004 when London-based Securicor amalgamated with Danish firm Group 4 Falck. The company offers a range of services, including the supply of security personnel, monitoring equipment, response units and secure prisoner transportation. G4S also works with governments overseas to deliver security services.


title: G4S

text: G4S is the world's largest security company measured by revenues. It has operations in more than 85 countries. With over 533,000 employees, by 2012 it was the largest European and African private employer.


title: G4S

text: The company has been criticized and involved in numerous controversies. Formerly a dual-listed company with listings on the Copenhagen and London stock exchanges, G4S was purchased by Allied Universal in April 2021.


title: G4S

text: G4S has its origins in a guarding business founded in Copenhagen in 1901 by Marius Hogrefe, originally known as "København Frederiksberg Nattevagt" ("Copenhagen and Frederiksberg Night Watch") and subsequently renamed Falck.


title: G4S

text: In 2000, Group 4, a security firm formed in the 1960s, merged with Falck to form Group 4 Falck and by 2000 the company was described as "the world's largest private security systems company". In 2002 Group 4 Falck went on to buy The Wackenhut Corporation in the United States.


title: G4S

text: G4S was formed in July 2004, when Group 4 Falck's security business merged with Securicor to create Group 4 Securicor and began trading on both the Copenhagen and London Stock Exchanges. In 2005, Lars Nørby Johansen was succeeded as chief executive by Nick Buckles and, in 2006, the new G4S brand identity, designed by Russell Johnson of UK design agency Stylus, was rolled out across its business worldwide. In the same year, Alf Duch-Pedersen succeeded Jorgen Philip-Sorensen to become the non-executive chairman of the business.


title: G4S

text: In 2006, 2007 and 2008, G4S was the subject of a global campaign by union workers alleging that its subsidiaries undermine labour and human rights standards. Some of these groups were organised under the banner of the SEIU-funded Focus on Group 4 Securicor. This group supported protests at Group 4 Securicor's annual general meeting in London in 2005.


title: G4S

text: The 2006, "US State Department Report on Human Rights in Indonesia", released in March 2006, featured the ongoing dispute in Jakarta with Group4/Securicor. In July 2006, the Indonesian Securicor workers had a substantial win – but the campaigners continue to support other Group 4 Securicor workers. The company disputed these claims and pointed to its strong relationships with unions around the world, including the GMB in Britain. In March 2008, it was announced that G4S were taking over Scottish Rock Steady Group – who steward at major sporting and music events mostly in the UK. Rock Steady events have included Live8 concerts in London, Scottish Cup Final and the Download Festival. In April 2008, G4S acquired RONCO Consulting Corporation, one of the world's premier humanitarian and commercial mine action, ordnance disposal and security companies.


title: G4S

text: In May 2008, G4S acquired ArmorGroup International. GSL, a provider of outsourced justice services, was also acquired by G4S in May 2008. Also, in the same month, G4S acquired Serbian company Progard Securitas. In 2008, G4S also acquired Touchcom, Inc. for US$23 million. Touchcom, Inc. is located in the Burlington/Bedford, Massachusetts, area. The rebranding of Touchcom, Inc. to G4S was completed by 1 January 2012. In December 2008, G4S and UNI Global Union, announced the launch of an "Ethical Employment Partnership", which will drive improvements in standards across the global security industry. Simultaneous to this, G4S and the SEIU reached an agreement to end their long dispute and establish a framework to work together in the interest of employees.


title: G4S

text: In 2009, G4S continued to acquire companies: Secura Monde International and Shiremoor International Engineering, together, the UK's leading specialist banknote and high security technical and commercial advisory companies; All Star International for $60 million, one of the premier facilities management and base operations support companies providing services to the US government; Adesta, US-based provider of integrated security systems and communication systems; and Hill & Associates Consultants Limited, Asia's leading provider of specialist risk-mitigation consulting services. The Västberga helicopter robbery occurred on 23 September 2009 at 05:15 CET when a G4S cash service depot was robbed in Västberga in southern Stockholm, Sweden. In the autumn of 2009, G4S personnel in Australia went on strike, arguing that the company had subjected them to low pay and poor working conditions. The strike imperiled the operations of the court system in the state of Victoria. The guards provided entry-point screening for weapons and bombs in both the County Court and Magistrates Court, as well as additional security in the court rooms themselves.


title: G4S

text: G4S acquired the South African cash in transit company Skycom in September 2010. Then in April 2011, it bought the Cotswold Group, a surveillance and investigations company.


title: G4S

text: In April 2011, G4S acquired Guidance Monitoring, an international designer and manufacturer of electronic monitoring technologies, including hardware and software used for offender monitoring and tracking. In December 2011, G4S acquired the assets of Chubb Emergency Response, a large key holding company in the UK. The deal was finalised on 17 December 2011. The business has now been integrated into their existing key holding and response service.


title: G4S

text: On 17 October 2011, G4S announced it would purchase the Denmark-based facilities management group ISS for £5.2 billion. The acquisition would have created the world's largest facilities management company. Within two weeks, the deal was dropped due to lack of shareholder support. G4S's chief, Nick Buckles, recounted the events of the failed acquisition, which cost the company tens of millions of dollars, as "...one of the most bruising experiences of my life". A combination of institutional investors who led the response and the minority shareholders who followed, objected to a variety of factors, not the least of which was the additional leverage and debt the deal would introduce to G4S's balance sheet. General consensus is that lack of planning for shareholder response on the G4S side doomed the deal. Furthermore, many investors and analysts questioned why the company would want to purchase a firm so far removed from its area of expertise. Alf Duch-Pedersen resigned as G4S chairman after the failure of this acquisition and was replaced by John Connolly.


title: G4S

text: In March 2012, G4S announced that it would sell the "struggling" G4S Government Solutions business (the former Wackenhut (WSI) and All Star business) to exit the US government services. In May 2013, Buckles resigned as chief executive of G4S with £1.2 million payoff and was replaced by Ashley Almanza.


title: G4S

text: On 12 July 2012, it was announced that 3,500 British troops would be deployed at the 2012 Summer Olympics due to a shortage of adequately trained G4S security staff, with Labour MP Keith Vaz claiming that, "G4S has let the country down and we have literally had to send in the troops". Shares in G4S later dropped nine percent after the firm claimed it faced a possible £50 million loss as a result of failing to provide sufficient trained staff for the 2012 Olympic Games. On 17 July, the company's chief executive, Nick Buckles, appeared before the Home Affairs Select Committee, where he apologised for the organisational failings, expressed regret at having taken on the Olympic security contract, and agreed in principle to pay bonuses to soldiers drafted at the last moment as replacement security staff. Pressed by Labour MP David Winnick, he was forced to admit that organisational situation had become a "humiliating shambles".


title: G4S

text: In Scotland, G4S was stripped of the security role with it passing to Strathclyde Police. At Dorney Lake, the Olympic rowing and canoeing venue, a G4S manager reported G4S radios were not working, so staff were relying on personal mobile phones to communicate; G4S confirmed the venue was being manned by military personnel after 66 percent of rostered G4S staff were failing to show. The venue manager reported parts of the CCTV system had already been replaced by Army patrols and a complete army takeover was "on the cards".