title: Ivan Serov

text: Serov was born on 13 August 1905, in Afimskoe, a village in the Vologda Governorate of the Russian Empire, in a Russian family. Major changes in Russia occurred during his childhood, culminating in the Bolshevik Revolution in November 1917. In 1923, when he was 18, he joined the Red Army shortly after the end of the Russian Civil War; in 1926, he became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and graduated from the Artillery Officers' School of Leningrad in 1928. A major step in his career as a Red Army officer was the attendance in the mid-1930s of Higher Academic Courses in the prestigious Frunze Military Academy. In 1939, Serov entered the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), in a major capacity.


title: Ivan Serov

text: Serov became the Ukrainian Commissar of the NKVD in 1939, and from this point onwards he played a major role in many of the actions of the Soviet secret police in World War II, helping to organize the deportation of the Chechens and people from the Baltic States, becoming Beria's primary lieutenant in 1941.


title: Ivan Serov

text: Serov was the Ukrainian commissar of the NKVD from 1939 to 1941. Time magazine has accused him of being responsible for the death of "hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian peasants" during this period. Serov was also a colleague in Ukraine of Nikita Khrushchev, the local Head of State, who himself was nicknamed the "Butcher of the Ukraine".


title: Ivan Serov

text: As well as performing his duties in this post, Serov was also responsible for the co-ordination of deportation from the Baltic States and Poland. He was one of the top ranked officials responsible for the Katyn massacre of Polish officer POWs.


title: Ivan Serov

text: In 1941, Serov was promoted to become Deputy Commissar of the NKVD as a whole, serving under Beria as one of his primary lieutenants; in this function, Serov was responsible for the deportation of a variety of Caucasian peoples. He issued the so-called Serov Instructions, which detailed procedures for mass deportations from the Baltic States (For some time confused with the NKVD Order No. 001223 by historians.). He also coordinated the mass expulsion of Crimean Tatars from the Crimean ASSR at the end of World War II.


title: Ivan Serov

text: Viktor Suvorov claims that in 1946, Serov personally took part in the execution of Andrey Vlasov, along with the rest of the command of the Russian Liberation Army, an organization that had co-operated with the Nazis in World War II.


title: Ivan Serov

text: Serov was one of the senior figures in SMERSH, the wartime counterintelligence department of the Red Army, Navy and NKVD troops, a deputy to Viktor Abakumov. It was in this function that Serov established the Polish Ministry of Public Security, the Polish secret police until 1956, acting as its main Soviet adviser and organizer.


title: Ivan Serov

text: Serov organized the persecution of the Armia Krajowa as Deputy Commissar, helping to bring about the Stalinist era of Polish history.


title: Ivan Serov

text: In 1945, Serov was transferred to the 2nd Belorussian Front and went to Berlin in May that year. He stayed there until 1947 and helped to organise the building of the Stasi, the


title: Ivan Serov

text: East German secret police. Serov was also there to monitor and spy on Marshall Zhukov, while acting as his political advisor.


title: Ivan Serov

text: After the death of Stalin, Serov, who had Beria's trust, betrayed him. He conspired with the officers of GRU against Beria to avoid his own downfall. Serov was one of the few senior members of the political police to survive the incident.


title: Ivan Serov

text: In 1954, Serov became Chairman of the KGB and so was the head of the greater part of the Soviet secret police. Serov organized security for the tours of Nikolai Bulganin and Nikita Khrushchev in Britain and he was decried by the British media as "Ivan the Terrible" and "the Butcher".


title: Ivan Serov

text: Serov played a key role in the Hungarian crisis, sending reports to the Kremlin from Budapest, and escorting visiting Soviet Presidium leaders Anastas Mikoyan and Mikhail Suslov via an armoured personnel carrier into Budapest on 24 October, as there was too much shooting in the streets.


title: Ivan Serov

text: In 1956, the Hungarian Revolution overthrew the incumbent communist Hungarian government, and in response, János Kádár formed a new government that was more loyal to Moscow, which received little popular support. Serov was responsible for arresting the supporters of Imre Nagy who were trying to negotiate with Soviet military officials.


title: Ivan Serov

text: Serov organized deportations of Hungarians, one being Nagy. Serov also tried stopping The Workers' Council of Budapest from negotiating for the return of deportees and political rights, using Soviet troops to prevent the council from meeting in the city's Sports Hall. Serov co-ordinated the abduction of Pál Maléter, the Hungarian general, and the disruption of peace talks between the Red Army and the Hungarian forces.


title: Ivan Serov

text: Serov was removed from his post as head of the KGB in 1958 after hints by Nikita Khrushchev, who had said that Western visitors could expect that they "wouldn't see so many policemen around the place" and that the Soviet police force would undergo a restructuring. Serov became the director of the GRU.


title: Ivan Serov

text: In the GRU, he was a participant in the Cuban Missile Crisis, helping the Soviet leadership with American intelligence.


title: Ivan Serov

text: After the failure of the Soviet Union to gain the upper hand in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Serov was dismissed. In 1965, he was stripped of his party membership. Serov's downfall from power has been linked to Oleg Penkovsky, his protégé, being an officer who became a double agent.


title: Ivan Serov

text: Serov died in 1990 at the Central Military Clinical Hospital in Krasnogorsk. He was buried at the cemetery in the village of Ilyinskoye in Krasnogorsky District, Moscow Oblast.


title: Ivan Serov

text: Serov's award of the Gold's Cross of the Virtuti Militari was posthumously deprived in 1995 by the decision of the President of Poland Lech Wałęsa.


title: Ivan Serov

text: In MI5 files about Serov, British agents who had met him called him "something of a ladies' man," good mannered, carefully dressed and a moderate drinker. He displayed a considerable familiarity with detective fiction such as Sherlock Holmes. His sense of humour was somewhat heavy, and his jokes were broadly sarcastic and, on occasion, strongly anti-Semitic.


title: Ivan Serov

text: Serov, although generally considered less significant than Beria in modern literature, helped to bring Stalinism to Europe and to Stalinise the Soviet Union. Serov's consolidation of Soviet power in Eastern Europe was helped by his organization of both the Urząd Bezpieczeństwa (Polish Intelligence Service) in Poland and the Stasi in East Germany.


title: Ivan Serov

text: Serov makes a brief appearance at the beginning of Ian Fleming's 1957 James Bond novel "From Russia, With Love." Fleming writes that he "was in every respect a bigger man than Beria" and that "he, with Bulganin and Khrushchev, now ruled Russia. One day, he might even stand on the peak, alone."


title: Ivan Serov

text: Serov also briefly features in the 1950s novel "Berlin" by the German anti-Nazi writer Theodor Plievier, who lived in the USSR throughout the Hitler years. Plievier says Serov was nicknamed "chramoi" (which he translates as "Old Cripple Foot"), a reference to a supposed deformity (presumably a club foot).


title: Hussain Dalal

text: Hussain Dalal is an Indian actor and writer who is known for (2022), "Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani" (2013), 2 States (2014), Kalank (2019), Dhindora (2021), Toofaan (2021), Bring On the Night (2012) and Margarita with a Straw (2014). In September 2017, he appeared as one of the three mentors along with Zakir Khan and Mallika Dua for the fifth season of "The Great Indian Laughter Challenge" which is judged by actor Akshay Kumar.


title: Yekaterina Lisina

text: Yekaterina Viktorovna Lisina (; born 15 October 1987), also known as Ekaterina Lisina, is a Russian model and former basketball player. She currently holds a Guinness World Record as the tallest professional model. Throughout her basketball career, she competed for the Russian National Team at the 2008 Summer Olympics, winning the bronze medal.


title: Yekaterina Lisina

text: Lisina held two world records: the record for the woman with the longest legs and for the tallest professional model , both noted in the Guinness World Records 2018. She also has been officially recognized as having the largest feet (EU 49, US 16) of a woman in Russia. In October 2020, the world record for woman with the longest legs (over 1.34 m) went to US teenager, Maci Currin.


title: Yekaterina Lisina

text: In addition to modeling, Lisina is a cosplayer who portrayed the "Resident Evil Village" antagonist Lady Dimitrescu. As of November 2022 she has a social media following that has surpassed 10,000,000 garnering over 117,000,000 "likes".


title: Yekaterina Lisina

text: Lisina is fond of reading and singing karaoke. She easily communicates on the Internet and loves to take pictures. Lisina used to embroider paintings.


title: Céline Tran

text: Céline Tran (born 9 April 1979) is a French actress, writer, martial artist, blogger, and former pornographic actress, previously known under the stage name Katsuni. She started her adult film career in 2001, working first in France, then in the United States.


title: Céline Tran

text: She received numerous awards in the course of the adult career, most notably the AVN Award for Female Foreign Performer of the Year which she has won three times.


title: Céline Tran

text: She retired from pornography in 2013 and returned to France to pursue a career in mainstream entertainment under her real name. Tran has appeared in films such as the French comedy "Porn in the Hood" (2012), and Cambodian action film "Jailbreak" (2017). She also released an autobiography, "Ne dis pas que tu aimes ça", in 2018.


title: Céline Tran

text: She studied for a year at Grenoble Institute of Political Studies. Finding herself ill-suited for political science, she dropped out and then studied literature for three years, envisioning a career as a teacher. During her studies, she did gigs as a go-go dancer, which led her to be spotted by a photographer working for "Penthouse". The magazine's French branch was then looking for actresses who would appear in its adult pictures. Tran accepted "Penthouse"'s proposal for a shoot as a manner of challenge and because she thought it might be an exciting experience.


title: Céline Tran

text: Having enjoyed her first experience, she decided to pursue a career in the adult film industry. For two years, she shot movies while continuing her studies but eventually renounced becoming a teacher and decided to pursue a career as a full-time adult actress.


title: Céline Tran

text: During her career in the pornography industry, which she began in 2001, she appeared in over 400 releases. In 2004, she was voted "the French's favorite porn actress" in a readers' poll organized by trade journal Hot Vidéo. She also appeared in several Italian and Spanish productions, working for directors such as Mario Salieri. She performed alongside Rocco Siffredi in "Who fucked Rocco ?", "Fashionistas Safado: The Challenge" and "Fashionistas Safado: Berlin", the latter two being directed by John Stagliano.


title: Céline Tran

text: She shot her first American films in 2003. In 2005, she decided to focus on her work in the United States whose industry offered better opportunities. During the next few years, she divided her time between France and the US, working mostly in the latter country. In December 2006, she became the first French actress to sign an exclusive performing contract with Digital Playground.


title: Céline Tran

text: She originally performed using the stage name "Katsumi" (a common given name in Japan for both sexes), but she was barred by a French judge in Créteil in January 2007 from using the name, after a woman named Mary Katsumi sued over the resemblance to her own name. Although she had informed the websites that she had changed her stage name, many outlets kept referring to her as "Katsumi". She was eventually sued again a few months later and, in September 2007, was fined €20,000, having been deemed responsible for various violations of the ban.


title: Céline Tran

text: In May 2006, she got breast implants. Her first film with her new breasts, "French ConneXion" of Marc Dorcel Productions, came out at the beginning of 2007. In the meantime, Tran also modelled for the cover of "Marquis" magazine, a leader in fetishism. She also continued working and touring as an exotic dancer in nightclubs of various countries.


title: Céline Tran

text: In July 2008, Tran released "My Fucking Life", a French-language film made for Marc Dorcel Studios. The movie is partly a documentary on Tran's daily life over a year, with a look at her shoots in Las Vegas, on set during filming in Porn Valley, along with a bit of her personal life. In 2008, she was part of the cast of "", one of the most expensive pornographic films ever produced. In 2012, she directed another feature for Dorcel, "In bed with Katsuni". In 2011, "Complex" ranked Tran fourteenth on their list of "The Top 100 Hottest Porn Stars Right Now" and third on their list of "The Top 50 Hottest Asian Porn Stars of All Time".


title: Céline Tran

text: In the mid-2010s, Tran hosted the weekly French TV show "En attendant minuit", broadcast by TPS Star.


title: Céline Tran

text: During her adult career, Tran's personality and success in the United States attracted the attention of the French mainstream medias. In October 2009 she was a guest in the popular talk show "On n'est pas couché". In the early 2010s, she wrote articles about the pornography industry for the magazines "Les Inrockuptibles" and "Le Nouvel Observateur".


title: Céline Tran

text: In 2010–2011, she hosted on the French channel MCM "Katsuni's sexy mangas", a TV show dedicated to hentai. The show was eventually canceled in March 2011 due to a decision of France's Superior Council of Audiovisual content. Among other appearances in the French mainstream media, she played herself in the successful comedy film "Porn in the Hood" (2012). In 2013, she was one of the porn stars interviewed in the American documentary film "Aroused", directed by photographer Deborah Anderson.


title: Céline Tran

text: On 14 August 2013 Tran announced that she was retiring from pornography to focus on "a new kind of entertainment". She relocated to France and has been using since then her birth name, Céline Tran. A few months after her retirement, she was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame.


title: Céline Tran

text: Tran has since appeared in several mainstream productions. In 2014, she played a recurring character in the French web fiction "Le Visiteur du futur". Also in 2014, she wrote the script for "Heart Breaker", the sixth volume of the French comic book horror series "DoggyBags". In 2016, she started working as a DJ and writing a blog focusing on cultural and sexual themes. She also underwent three years of martial arts training to secure roles in action films. In 2017, she hosted on Facebook Live, for the French community website "NextPLZ" a show about sexuality aimed at youngsters, published a second graphic novel in the "DoggyBags" collection, and created a YouTube channel dedicated to sports.


title: Céline Tran

text: Also in 2017, she made her debut in an action feature film by playing the main villainess in the Cambodian film "Jailbreak". "Screen Anarchy" reviewed her performance positively, commenting that she "displayed tremendous ability to handle the choreography and swordplay" and praising her fight scene with the film's female protagonist, Tharoth Sam.


title: Céline Tran

text: In 2018, her autobiography, titled "Ne dis pas que tu aimes ça" (Don't say you like it) was released in France. At the same time, she started working as a publisher for Glénat Editions.


title: Céline Tran

text: In 2022, she is announced in the credits of the series "" as the stunt double of the actress Michelle Yeoh.


title: Priyanka Bose

text: Priyanka Bose is an Indian actress and model. Active on stage and in films, she is best known for her role in the Italian film "Gangor," among others. Priyanka started her film career with small roles in "Love Sex aur Dhokha", "Sorry Bhai!", "Johnny Gaddar" and "Guzaarish". Her first film in a lead role was "Gangor" by the Italian director, Italo Spinelli in 2010. She gained recognition as an actress with her performance as a tribal woman in the film and went on to win the best actress award at the "New Jersey Independent South Asian Film Festival".


title: Priyanka Bose

text: Priyanka starred as the lead actress in the 2010 film Gangor directed by Italo Spinelli. Adapted from "Choli Ke Peeche", a short story by the acclaimed Indian writer Mahasweta Devi, Gangor won several awards at the New Jersey Independent South Asian Film Festival, including "Best Actress" for Bose.


title: Priyanka Bose

text: In 2013, Priyanka appeared in the advertisement for Tanishq, a jewellery retail brand, as a girl with a daughter who remarries, which drew much attention to her. The ad was hailed as "path-breaking", "courageous" and "unique", and became a talking point on Twitter and Facebook with thousands of hits on YouTube.


title: Priyanka Bose

text: She toured the world for the play "Nirbhaya", written and directed by the South African playwright Yael Farber, based on the 2012 Delhi gang rape. The much acclaimed play won the Scotsman Fringe First Award and Herald Angel Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award.


title: Priyanka Bose

text: Priyanka played the lead with Konkona Sen Sharma in the Bengali film, "Shunyo Awnko", directed by Goutam Ghose. "Gulaab Gang" is another film where she appeared along with Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla. Her performance has been noted in films in film festivals including "Sold", by director Jeffery D Brown, "Oass", directed by Abhinav Tiwari, and "Oonga" by Devashish Makhija.


title: Priyanka Bose

text: Priyanka co-starred in "Lion", directed by Garth Davis, along with Nicole Kidman, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Dev Patel. She started a production company, "PaapiPet Pictures", which has created short format films and music videos including "Dark and delicious" for "Hipnotribe", and "Bartender" with Mikey Mcleary, besides one for "Kailasa" of Kailash Kher.


title: Priyanka Bose

text: In 2016, Priyanka starred alongside Bhalchandra Kadam and Usha Naik in the Marathi film "Half Ticket". A remake of the Tamil film "Kaaka Muttai", "Half Ticket" was awarded the Ecumenical Jury Award at the 57th Zlin International Film Festival 2017 held in the Czech Republic. It was also picked for screening at the Indiwood Panorama Competition section at the 2nd edition of Indiwood Carnival 2016 in Hyderabad.


title: Priyanka Bose

text: Bose performed with David Arquette in the Hollywood movie "The MisEducation of Bindu" directed by Prarthana Mohan, produced by Edward Timpe, which the Duplass Brothers executive produced. She appeared in the 2018 film "Mortal" directed by André Øvredal which co-starred Nat Wolff. She appeared in Season 3 of "The Good Karma Hospital" starring alongside Amanda Redman, Sagar Radia, James Floyd, and Amrita Acharia.


title: Priyanka Bose

text: She alternates between Mumbai and Los Angeles to shoot for upcoming Indian and international productions.


title: Priyanka Bose

text: She currently stars in Amazon Prime Video's fantasy series "The Wheel of Time" as the supporting character Alanna Mosvani.


title: Racing game

text: Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic racing simulations and more fantastical arcade-style racing games. Kart racing games emerged in the 1990s as a popular sub-genre of the latter. Racing games may also fall under the category of sports video games.


title: Racing game

text: Arcade-style racing games put fun and a fast-paced experience above all else, as cars usually compete in unique ways. A key feature of arcade-style racers that specifically distinguishes them from simulation racers is their far more liberal physics. Whereas in real racing (and subsequently, the simulation equivalents) the driver must reduce their speed significantly to take most turns, arcade-style racing games generally encourage the player to "powerslide" the car to allow the player to keep up their speed by drifting through a turn. Collisions with other racers, track obstacles, or traffic vehicles is usually much more exaggerated than simulation racers as well. For the most part, arcade-style racers simply remove the precision and rigor required from the simulation experience and focus strictly on the racing element itself. They often license real cars and leagues, but are equally open to more exotic settings and vehicles. Races take place on highways, windy roads, or in cities; they can be multiple-lap circuits or point-to-point sprints, with one or multiple paths sometimes with checkpoints, or other types of competition, like demolition derby, jumping, or testing driving skills. Popular arcade-style racing franchises include "Out Run", "Ridge Racer", "Daytona USA", "Need for Speed", "Sega Rally", "Cruis'n", "Burnout", "Rush", "Midnight Club", and "MotorStorm".


title: Racing game

text: Conversely, many arcade racing games in amusement arcades frequently use hydraulic motion simulator arcade cabinets that simulate the look and feel of driving or riding a vehicle. For example, a motorbike that the player sits on and moves around to control the on-screen action, or a car-like cabinet (with seats, steering wheel, pedals and gear stick) that moves around in sync with the on-screen action. This has been especially common for arcade racing games from Sega since the 1980s. However, this can typically only be found in arcade racing games for amusement arcades, rather than arcade-style racing games for home systems.


title: Racing game

text: During the mid-late 2000s there was a trend of new street racing; imitating the import scene, one can tune sport compacts and sports cars and race them on the streets. The most widely known ones are the "" and the "Midnight Club" series, certain entries in the "Need for Speed" series, "Initial D" series, and the "Juiced" series.


title: Racing game

text: Some arcade-style racing games increase the competition between racers by adding weapons that can be used against opponents to slow them down or otherwise impede their progress so they can be passed. This is a staple feature in kart racing games such as the "Mario Kart" series, but this kind of game mechanic also appears in standard, car-based racing games as well. Weapons can range from projectile attacks to traps as well as non-combative items like speed boosts. Weapon-based racing games include games such as "Full Auto", "Rumble Racing", and "Blur".


title: Racing game

text: Simulation style racing games strive to convincingly replicate the handling of an automobile. They often license real cars or racing leagues, but will sometimes use fantasy cars built to resemble real ones if unable to acquire an official license for them. Vehicular behavior physics are a key factor in the experience. The rigors of being a professional race driver are usually also included (such as having to deal with a car's tire condition and fuel level). Proper cornering technique and precision racing maneuvers (such as trail braking) are given priority in simulation racing games.


title: Racing game

text: Although these racing simulators are specifically built for people with a high grade of driving skill, it is not uncommon to find aids that can be enabled from the game menu. The most common aids are traction control (TC), anti-lock brakes (ABS), steering assistance, damage resistance, clutch assistance, and automatic gear changes.


title: Racing game

text: Some of these racing simulators are customizable, as game fans have decoded the tracks, cars, and executable files. Internet communities have grown around the simulators regarded as the most realistic and many websites host internet championships. Some of these racing simulators consist of "Forza Motorsport", "Gran Turismo", "Assetto Corsa", "Project CARS, Forza Horizon" and many more.


title: Racing game

text: Kart racing games have simplified driving mechanics while adding obstacles, unusual track designs and various action elements. Kart racers are also known to cast characters known from various platform games or cartoon television series as the drivers of "wacky" vehicles. Kart racing games are a more arcade-like experience than other racing games and usually offer modes in which player characters can shoot projectiles at one another or collect power-ups. Typically, in such games, vehicles move more alike go-karts, lacking anything along the lines of a gear stick and clutch pedal.


title: Racing game

text: While car combat elements date back to earlier titles such as Taito's "Crashing Race" in 1976, the kart racing subgenre was popularized by Nintendo's "Super Mario Kart" in 1992 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), which spawned the "Mario Kart" series. The game was slower than other racing games of the time due to hardware limitations, prompting the developers to use a go-kart theme for the game. Since then, over 50 kart racing games have been released, featuring characters ranging from Nicktoons to "South Park".


title: Racing game

text: Futuristic racing games are a type of racing game where players use science fiction vehicles, such as sci-fi cars or other sci-fi vehicles, to race against the clock or other vehicles. A number of futuristic racing games may also feature vehicular combat elements.


title: Racing game

text: In the arcades, futuristic racing games date back to the 1980s. The laserdisc games "Star Rider" (1983) and "Cosmos Circuit" (1984) featured animated racing, using animated laserdisc video for the backgrounds. Alpha Denshi's "Splendor Blast" (1985) combined "Pole Position" style racing with "Zaxxon" style sci-fi vehicles, space settings and shoot 'em up elements. "STUN Runner" (1989) by Atari Games featured 3D polygon graphics and allowed players to blast other vehicles.


title: Racing game

text: On home consoles, futuristic racing games were defined by Nintendo's "F-Zero" (1990) for the SNES, which spawned the "F-Zero" series. The PlayStation game "Wipeout" (1995) by Psygnosis featured 3D polygon graphics and spawned the "Wipeout" series. The "F-Zero" series subsequently made the transition to 3D polygon graphics with "F-Zero X" (1998) for the Nintendo 64.


title: Racing game

text: The basis for racing video games were arcade driving electro-mechanical games (EM games). The earliest mechanical racing arcade game dates back to 1900, when the London-based Automatic Sports Company manufactured a mechanical yacht racing game, "Yacht Racer". Mechanical car driving games later originated from British amusement arcades in the 1930s. In the United States, International Mutoscope Reel Company adapted these British arcade driving games into the electro-mechanical game "Drive Mobile" (1941), which had an upright arcade cabinet similar to what arcade video games would later use. A steering wheel was used to control a model car over a road painted on a metal drum, with the goal being to keep the car centered as the road shifts left and right. Kasco introduced this type of driving game to Japan as "Mini Drive" in 1958. Capitol Projector's 1954 machine "Auto Test" was a driving test simulation that used film reel to project pre-recorded driving video footage, awarding the player points for making correct decisions as the footage is played. These early EM driving games consisted of only the player vehicle on the road, with no rival cars to race against.


title: Racing game

text: EM driving games later evolved in Japan, with Kasco's 1968 racing game "Indy 500", which was licensed by Chicago Coin for release in North America as "Speedway" in 1969. It had a circular racetrack with rival cars painted on individual rotating discs illuminated by a lamp, which produced colorful graphics projected using mirrors to give a pseudo-3D first-person perspective on a screen, resembling a windscreen view. The gameplay involved players driving down a circular road while dodging cars to avoid crashing, and it resembled a prototypical arcade racing video game, with an upright cabinet, yellow marquee, three-digit scoring, coin box, steering wheel and accelerator pedal. "Indy 500" sold over 2,000 arcade cabinets in Japan, while "Speedway" sold over 10,000 cabinets in North America, becoming one of the biggest arcade hits of the 1960s. Taito's similar 1970 rear-projection driving game "Super Road 7" involved driving a car down an endlessly scrolling road while having to dodge cars, which formed the basis for Taito's 1974 racing video game "Speed Race".


title: Racing game

text: One of the last successful electro-mechanical arcade games was "F-1", a racing game developed and released by Namco in 1976, and distributed in North America by Atari the same year. The gameplay is viewed from the perspective of the driver's viewpoint, which is displayed on the screen using a projector system. It was Japan's highest-grossing arcade game for two years in a row, in 1976 and 1977. "F-1" is believed to have been influenced by "Indy 500", and would in turn be influential on Namco's racing video games in the 1980s. Another notable EM game from the 1970s was "The Driver", a racing-action game released by Kasco (Kansai Seiki Seisakusho Co.) that used 16 mm film to project full motion video on screen, though its gameplay had limited interaction, requiring the player to match their steering wheel, gas pedal and brakes with movements shown on screen, much like the sequences in later LaserDisc games.


title: Racing game

text: The BBC television program Tomorrow's World broadcast a mainframe computer racing game played between TV presenter Raymond Baxter and British two-time Formula One world champion Graham Hill on their 1970 Christmas special, broadcast on Christmas Eve, 1970. The game was written by IBM-employee, Ray Bradshaw, using and required two data centre operators to input the instructions.


title: Racing game

text: Atari founder Nolan Bushnell had the idea for a driving video game in the early 1970s. When he was a college student, he worked at an arcade where he became familiar with EM driving games, watching customers play and helping to maintain the machinery, while learning how it worked and developing his understanding of how the game business operates. When he founded Atari, Bushnell had originally planned to develop a driving video game, influenced by "Speedway", but they ended up developing "Pong" (1972) instead.


title: Racing game

text: The earliest rudimentary racing video game to be released dates back to 1972, with the release of the first video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey. It included a game called "Wipeout", where the player moves a dot around a race track that is outlined by an overlay placed on the television screen. It required the use of physical items to play, including a race game board, screen overlay, car tokens and pit stop cards. In 1973, Atari released "Space Race", an arcade video game where players control spaceships that race against opposing ships, while avoiding comets and meteors. It is a competitive two-player game with black and white graphics and controlled with a two-way joystick. The following year, Atari released the first driving video game in the arcades, "Gran Trak 10", which presents an overhead single-screen view of the track in low resolution white-on-black graphics. It inspired the Kee Games clone "Formula K", which sold 5,000 arcade cabinets.


title: Racing game

text: In late 1974, Taito released "Speed Race" designed by Tomohiro Nishikado (of "Space Invaders" fame), in which the player drives down a straight track dodging other cars. The game used vertical scrolling, inspired by two older electro-mechanical games: Kasco's "Mini Drive" and Taito's "Super Road 7". "Speed Race" was re-branded as "Wheels" by Midway Games for release in North America and was influential on later racing games. Midway also released another version, "Racer", with a sit-down cabinet. "Speed Race" became a hit in Japan, while "Wheels" and "Wheels II" sold 10,000 cabinets in the United States. Its use of vertical scrolling was adopted by Atari's "Hi-way" (1975), which introduced a sit-down cabinet similar to older electro-mechanical games.


title: Racing game

text: In 1977, Atari released "Super Bug", a racing game historically significant as "the first game to feature a scrolling playfield" in multiple directions. Sega's "Monaco GP" (1979) was one of the most successful traditional 2D racing games, becoming the most popular arcade driving game in the US in 1981, and among the highest-grossing games that year, while making a record number of appearances on the "RePlay" arcade charts through 1987. In 1980, Namco's overhead-view driving game "Rally-X" was one of the first games to have background music, and allowed scrolling in multiple directions, both vertical and horizontal. It also uses a radar, to show the rally car's location on the map.


title: Racing game

text: In February 1976, Sega released the arcade game "Road Race", which was re-worked into a motorbike variant "Moto-Cross", also known as "Man T.T." (released August 1976). It was then re-branded as "Fonz" in the US, as a tie-in for the popular sitcom "Happy Days". The game featured a three-dimensional perspective view, as well as haptic feedback, which caused the motorcycle handlebars to vibrate during a collision with another vehicle. In Spring 1976, the arcade game "Nürburgring 1" presented a first-person view. Considered the first "scandalous" arcade game, Exidy's "Death Race" (1976) was widely criticized in the media for its violent content, which only served to substantially increase its popularity. Sega released a two-player version of "Man T.T." called "Twin Course T.T." in January 1977. 1979 saw the release of Vectorbeam's "Speed Freak", a three-dimensional vector racing game, which Killer List of Videogames calls "very impressive and ahead of their time". "Turbo", released by Sega in 1981, was the first racing game to use sprite scaling with full-color graphics.


title: Racing game

text: "Pole Position", developed by Namco and released by Atari in North America, was released in 1982. It is considered "arguably the most important racing game ever made." It was an evolution of Namco's earlier racing electro-mechanical games, notably "F-1" (1976), whose designer Sho Osugi worked on "Pole Position". "Pole Position" was the first video game to be based on a real racing circuit, and the first with a qualifying lap, where the player needs to complete a time trial before they can compete in Grand Prix races. While not the first third-person racing video game (it was predated by Sega's "Turbo"), "Pole Position" established the conventions of the genre and its success inspired numerous imitators. According to "Electronic Games", for "the first time in the amusement parlors, a first-person racing game gives a higher reward for passing cars and finishing among the leaders rather than just for keeping all four wheels on the road". According to IGN, it also "introduced checkpoints," and its success, as "the highest-grossing arcade game of 1983 in North America, cemented the genre in place for decades to come and inspired a horde of other racing games". It sold over 21,000 arcade cabinets in the US by 1983, and again became the highest-grossing arcade game of 1984 in the US.


title: Racing game

text: Taito's "Laser Grand Prix", introduced in July 1983, was the first racing laserdisc game, using pre-recorded live-action footage. In 1984, several other racing laserdisc games followed, including Sega's "GP World" with live-action footage and Universal's "Top Gear" featuring 3D animated race car driving. The same year, Irem's "The Battle-Road" was a vehicle combat racing game with branching paths and up to 32 possible routes. Geoff Crammond, who later developed the "Grandprix" series (Known collectively as GPX to its fanbase), produced what is considered the first attempt at a racing simulator on a home system, "REVS", released for the BBC Microcomputer. The game offered an unofficial (and hence with no official team or driver names associated with the series) recreation of British Formula 3. The hardware capabilities limited the depth of the simulation and restricted it (initially) to one track, but it offered a semi-realistic driving experience with more detail than most other racing games at the time.


title: Racing game

text: Since the mid-1980s, it became a trend for arcade racing games to use hydraulic motion simulator arcade cabinets. The trend was sparked by Sega's "taikan" games, with "taikan" meaning "body sensation" in Japanese. The "taikan" trend began when Yu Suzuki's team at Sega (later known as Sega AM2) developed "Hang-On" (1985), a racing video game where the player sits on and moves a motorbike replica to control the in-game actions. "Hang-On" was a Grand Prix style motorbike racer. It used force feedback technology and was also one of the first arcade games to use 16-bit graphics and Sega's "Super Scaler" technology that allowed pseudo-3D sprite-scaling at high frame rates. "Hang-On" became the highest-grossing arcade game of 1986 in the United States, and one of the year's highest-grossing arcade games in Japan and London.


title: Racing game

text: Suzuki's team at Sega followed it with hydraulic motion simulator cockpit cabinets for later racing games, notably "Out Run" (1986). It was one of the most graphically impressive games of its time, known for its pseudo-3D sprite-based driving engine, and it became an instant classic that spawned many sequels. It was also notable for giving the player the non-linear choice of which route to take through the game and the choice of soundtrack to listen to while driving, represented as radio stations. The game has up to five endings depending on the route taken, and each one was an ending sequence rather than a simple "Congratulations" as was common in game endings at the time. It became Sega's best-selling arcade cabinet of the 1980s, with over 30,000 arcade cabinets sold worldwide. The same year, Durell released "Turbo Esprit", which had an official Lotus license, and working car indicator lights.


title: Racing game

text: In 1987, Square released "Rad Racer", one of the first stereoscopic 3D games. In the same year, Atari produced "RoadBlasters", a driving game that also involved a bit of shooting.


title: Racing game

text: One of the last successful pseudo-3D arcade racers was Sega's "Super Monaco GP" (1989), a simulation of the Monaco Grand Prix. It was the third highest-grossing arcade game of 1989 in Japan, and again the third highest-grossing arcade game of 1990 in Japan. In 1992, Nintendo released "Super Mario Kart", but it was known that it was pseudo-3D racing. Here it has items to affect players from racing and the referee, Lakitu will help you out to know the rules and rescue racers from falling down.


title: Racing game

text: In 1988, Namco released "Winning Run", which used 3D polygon graphics. It became the second highest-grossing arcade game of 1989 in Japan. In 1989, Atari released "Hard Drivin'", another arcade driving game that used 3D polygon graphics. It uses force feedback, where the wheel fights the player during aggressive turns, and a crash replay camera view.


title: Racing game

text: Sega produced "Virtua Racing" in 1992. While not the first arcade racing game with 3D graphics (it was predated by "Winning Run", "Hard Drivin'" and "Stunts"), it was able to combine the best features of games at the time, along with multiplayer machine linking and clean 3D graphics to produce a game that was above and beyond the arcade market standard of its time, laying the foundations for subsequent 3D racing games. It improved on earlier 3D racing games with more complex 3D models and backdrops, higher frame rate, and switchable camera angles including chase-cam and first-person views. IGN considers it the third most influential racing game of all time.


title: Racing game

text: In 1993, Namco released "Ridge Racer". Its 3D polygon graphics stood out for the use of Gouraud shading and texture mapping. And thus began the polygon war of driving games. Sega later released "Daytona USA", which featured 3D polygon graphics with texture filtering. The following year, Electronic Arts produced "The Need for Speed", which would later spawn one of the world's most successful racing game series and one of the most successful video game series. In the same year, Midway introduced "Crusin' USA".


title: Racing game

text: The now defunct Papyrus Design Group produced their first attempt at a racing simulator in 1989, the critically acclaimed "", designed by David Kaemmer and Omar Khudari. The game is generally regarded as the first true auto racing simulation on a personal computer. Accurately replicating the 1989 Indianapolis 500 grid, it offered advanced 3D graphics for its time, setup options, car failures and handling. Unlike most other racing games at the time, "Indianapolis 500" attempted to simulate realistic physics and telemetry, such as its portrayal of the relationship between the four contact patches and the pavement, as well as the loss of grip when making a high-speed turn, forcing the player to adopt a proper racing line and believable throttle-to-brake interaction. It includes a garage facility to allow players to enact modifications to their vehicle, including adjustments to the tires, shocks and wings. The damage modelling, while not accurate by today's standards, was capable of producing some spectacular and entertaining pile-ups.


title: Racing game

text: Crammond's "Formula One Grand Prix" in 1992 became the new champion of sim racing, until the release of Papyrus' "IndyCar Racing" the following year. "Formula One Grand Prix" boasted detail that was unparalleled for a computer game at the time as well as a full recreation of the drivers, cars and circuits of the 1991 Formula One World Championship. However, the U.S. version (known as "World Circuit") was not granted an official license by the FIA, so teams and drivers were renamed (though all could be changed back to their real names using the Driver/Team selection menu): Ayrton Senna became "Carlos Sanchez", for example.


title: Racing game

text: In 1995, "Sega Rally Championship" introduced rally racing and featured cooperative gameplay alongside the usual competitive multiplayer. "Sega Rally" was also the first to feature driving on different surfaces (including asphalt, gravel, and mud) with different friction properties and the car's handling changing accordingly, making it an important milestone in the genre.


title: Racing game

text: During the early-to-mid-1990s, Sega and Namco largely had a monopoly on high-end arcade racing games with realistic 3D visuals. In 1996, a number of competitors attempted to challenge their dominance in the field, including Atari Games with "", Gaelco with "Speed Up", Jaleco with "Super GT 24h", and Konami with "Winding Heat". In 1996, Nintendo created a 3D game called "Mario Kart 64", a sequel to "Super Mario Kart" and has an action so that Lakitu needs to either reverse, rev up your engines to Rocket Start, or rescue players. "Mario Kart 64" focused more on the items used. Atari didn't join the 3D craze until 1997, when it introduced "".


title: Racing game

text: In 1997, "Gran Turismo" was released for the PlayStation, after being in production for five years since 1992. It was considered the most realistic racing simulation game in its time, combined with playability, enabling players of all skill levels to play. It offered a wealth of meticulous tuning options and introduced an open-ended career mode where players had to undertake driving tests to acquire driving licenses, earn their way into races and choose their own career path. The "Gran Turismo" series has since become the second-most successful racing game franchise of all time, selling over 80 million units worldwide as of April 2018.


title: Racing game

text: By 1997, the typical PC was capable of matching an arcade machine in terms of graphical quality, mainly due to the introduction of first generation 3D accelerators such as 3DFX Voodoo. The faster CPUs were capable of simulating increasingly realistic physics, car control, and graphics.


title: Racing game

text: "Colin McRae Rally" was introduced in 1998 to the PC world, and was a successful semi-simulation of the world of rally driving, previously only available in the less serious "Sega Rally Championship". "Motorhead", a PC game, was later adapted back to arcade. In the same year, Sega releases "Daytona USA 2" (Battle On The Edge and Power Edition), which is one of the first racing games to feature realistic crashes and graphics.


title: Racing game

text: 1999 introduced "Crash Team Racing", a kart racing game featuring the characters from Crash Bandicoot. It was praised for its controls and courses. Crash Bandicoot and its racing series has continued, with the most recent game being "". (June 2019) 1999 also marked a change of games into more "free form" worlds. "Midtown Madness" for the PC allows the player to explore a simplified version of the city of Chicago using a variety of vehicles and any path that they desire. In the arcade world, Sega introduced "Crazy Taxi", a sandbox racing game where you are a taxi driver that needed to get the client to the destination in the shortest amount of time. A similar game also from Sega is "Emergency Call Ambulance", with almost the same gameplay (pick up patient, drop off at hospital, as fast as possible). Games are becoming more and more realistic visually. Some arcade games are now featuring 3 screens to provide a surround view.


title: Racing game

text: In 2000, Angel Studios (now Rockstar San Diego) introduced the first free-roaming, or the former "free form", racing game on video game consoles and handheld game consoles with "" which released on the PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance. The game allowed the player to drive anywhere around virtual recreations of London and New York. Instead of using enclosed tracks for races, the game uses various checkpoints on the free roam map as the pathway of the race, giving the player the option to take various shortcuts or any other route to the checkpoints of the race.


title: Racing game

text: In 2001 Namco released "Wangan Midnight" to the arcade and later released an upgrade called Wangan Midnight R. Wangan Midnight R was also ported to the PlayStation 2 by Genki as just Wangan Midnight.


title: Racing game

text: In 2003, Rockstar San Diego's "Midnight Club II" was the first racing game to feature both playable cars and playable motorcycles. Namco released a sort of sequel to "Wangan Midnight R" called "Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune".


title: Racing game

text: There is a wide gamut of driving games ranging from simple action-arcade racers like "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe" (for Nintendo Switch) and "Nicktoon Racers" to ultra-realistic simulators like "Grand Prix Legends", iRacing, "Virtual Grand Prix 3", "Live for Speed", "NetKar Pro", "GT Legends", "GTR2", "rFactor", "X Motor Racing" and iPad 3D racer "Exhilarace" — and everything in between.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Antiandrogens, also known as androgen antagonists or testosterone blockers, are a class of drugs that prevent androgens like testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) from mediating their biological effects in the body. They act by blocking the androgen receptor (AR) and/or inhibiting or suppressing androgen production. They can be thought of as the functional opposites of AR agonists, for instance androgens and anabolic steroids (AAS) like testosterone, DHT, and nandrolone and selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) like enobosarm. Antiandrogens are one of three types of sex hormone antagonists, the others being antiestrogens and antiprogestogens.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Antiandrogens are used to treat an assortment of androgen-dependent conditions. In men, antiandrogens are used in the treatment of prostate cancer, enlarged prostate, scalp hair loss, overly high sex drive, unusual and problematic sexual urges, and early puberty. In women, antiandrogens are used to treat acne, seborrhea, excessive hair growth, scalp hair loss, and high androgen levels, such as those that occur in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Antiandrogens are also used as a component of feminizing hormone therapy for transgender women and as puberty blockers in transgender girls.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Side effects of antiandrogens depend on the type of antiandrogen and the specific antiandrogen in question. In any case, common side effects of antiandrogens in men include breast tenderness, breast enlargement, feminization, hot flashes, sexual dysfunction, infertility, and osteoporosis. In women, antiandrogens are much better tolerated, and antiandrogens that work only by directly blocking androgens are associated with minimal side effects. However, because estrogens are made from androgens in the body, antiandrogens that suppress androgen production can cause low estrogen levels and associated symptoms like hot flashes, menstrual irregularities, and osteoporosis in premenopausal women.


title: Antiandrogen

text: There are a few different major types of antiandrogens. These include AR antagonists, androgen synthesis inhibitors, and antigonadotropins. AR antagonists work by directly blocking the effects of androgens, while androgen synthesis inhibitors and antigonadotropins work by lowering androgen levels. AR antagonists can be further divided into steroidal antiandrogens and nonsteroidal antiandrogens; androgen synthesis inhibitors can be further divided mostly into CYP17A1 inhibitors and 5α-reductase inhibitors; and antigonadotropins can be further divided into gonadotropin-releasing hormone modulators (GnRH modulators), progestogens, and estrogens.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Antiandrogens are used in the treatment of an assortment of androgen-dependent conditions in both males and females. They are used to treat men with prostate cancer, benign prostatic hyperplasia, pattern hair loss, hypersexuality, paraphilias, and priapism, as well as boys with precocious puberty. In women and girls, antiandrogens are used to treat acne, seborrhea, hidradenitis suppurativa, hirsutism, and hyperandrogenism. Antiandrogens are also used in transgender women as a component of feminizing hormone therapy and as puberty blockers in transgender girls.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Androgens like testosterone and particularly DHT are importantly involved in the development and progression of prostate cancer. They act as growth factors in the prostate gland, stimulating cell division and tissue growth. In accordance, therapeutic modalities that reduce androgen signaling in the prostate gland, referred to collectively as androgen deprivation therapy, are able to significantly slow the course of prostate cancer and extend life in men with the disease. Although antiandrogens are effective in slowing the progression of prostate cancer, they are not generally curative, and with time, the disease adapts and androgen deprivation therapy eventually becomes ineffective. When this occurs, other treatment approaches, such as chemotherapy, may be considered.


title: Antiandrogen

text: The most common methods of androgen deprivation therapy currently employed to treat prostate cancer are castration (with a GnRH modulator or orchiectomy), nonsteroidal antiandrogens, and the androgen synthesis inhibitor abiraterone acetate. Castration may be used alone or in combination with one of the other two treatments. When castration is combined with a nonsteroidal antiandrogen like bicalutamide, this strategy is referred to as combined androgen blockade (also known as complete or maximal androgen blockade). Enzalutamide, apalutamide, and abiraterone acetate are specifically approved for use in combination with castration to treat castration-resistant prostate cancer. Monotherapy with the nonsteroidal antiandrogen bicalutamide is also used in the treatment of prostate cancer as an alternative to castration with comparable effectiveness but with a different and potentially advantageous side effect profile.


title: Antiandrogen

text: High-dose estrogen was the first functional antiandrogen used to treat prostate cancer. It was widely used, but has largely been abandoned for this indication in favor of newer agents with improved safety profiles and fewer feminizing side effects. Cyproterone acetate was developed subsequently to high-dose estrogen and is the only steroidal antiandrogen that has been widely used in the treatment of prostate cancer, but it has largely been replaced by nonsteroidal antiandrogens, which are newer and have greater effectiveness, tolerability, and safety. Bicalutamide, as well as enzalutamide, have largely replaced the earlier nonsteroidal antiandrogens flutamide and nilutamide, which are now little used. The earlier androgen synthesis inhibitors aminoglutethimide and ketoconazole have only limitedly been used in the treatment of prostate cancer due to toxicity concerns and have been replaced by abiraterone acetate.


title: Antiandrogen

text: In addition to active treatment of prostate cancer, antiandrogens are effective as prophylaxis (preventatives) in reducing the risk of ever developing prostate cancer. Antiandrogens have only limitedly been assessed for this purpose, but the 5α-reductase inhibitors finasteride and dutasteride and the steroidal AR antagonist spironolactone have been associated with significantly reduced risk of prostate cancer. In addition, it is notable that prostate cancer is extremely rare in transgender women who have been on feminizing hormone therapy for an extended period of time.


title: Antiandrogen

text: The 5α-reductase inhibitors finasteride and dutasteride are used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia, a condition in which the prostate becomes enlarged and this results in urinary obstruction and discomfort. They are effective because androgens act as growth factors in the prostate gland. The antiandrogens chlormadinone acetate and oxendolone and the functional antiandrogens allylestrenol and gestonorone caproate are also approved in some countries for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia.


title: Antiandrogen

text: 5α-Reductase inhibitors like finasteride, dutasteride, and alfatradiol and the topical nonsteroidal AR antagonist topilutamide (fluridil) are approved for the treatment of pattern hair loss, also known as scalp hair loss or baldness. This condition is generally caused by androgens, so antiandrogens can slow or halt its progression. Systemic antiandrogens besides 5α-reductase inhibitors are not generally used to treat scalp hair loss in males due to risks like feminization (e.g., gynecomastia) and sexual dysfunction. However, they have been assessed and reported to be effective for this indication.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Antiandrogens are generally not used to treat acne in males due to their high risk of feminization (e.g., gynecomastia) and sexual dysfunction. However, they have been studied for acne in males and found to be effective. Clascoterone, a topical antiandrogen, is effective for acne in males and may become approved for this indication in the future.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Androgens increase sex drive, and for this reason, antiandrogens are able to reduce sex drive in men. In accordance, antiandrogens are used in the treatment of conditions of sexual deviance such as hypersexuality (excessively high sex drive) and paraphilias (atypical and sometimes societally unacceptable sexual interests) like pedophilia (sexual attraction to children). They have been used to decrease sex drive in sex offenders so as to reduce the likelihood of recidivism (repeat offenses). Antiandrogens used for these indications include cyproterone acetate, medroxyprogesterone acetate, and GnRH modulators.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Antiandrogens are used to treat precocious puberty in boys. They work by opposing the effects of androgens and delaying the development of secondary sexual characteristics and onset of changes in sex drive and function until a more appropriate age. Antiandrogens that have been used for this purpose include cyproterone acetate, medroxyprogesterone acetate, GnRH modulators, spironolactone, bicalutamide, and ketoconazole. Spironolactone and bicalutamide require combination with an aromatase inhibitor to prevent the effects of unopposed estrogens, while the others can be used alone.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Antiandrogens are effective in the treatment of recurrent priapism (potentially painful penile erections that last more than four hours).


title: Antiandrogen

text: Antiandrogens are used in the treatment of androgen-dependent skin and hair conditions including acne, seborrhea, hidradenitis suppurativa, hirsutism, and pattern hair loss in women. All of these conditions are dependent on androgens, and for this reason, antiandrogens are effective in treating them. The most commonly used antiandrogens for these indications are cyproterone acetate and spironolactone. Flutamide has also been studied extensively for such uses, but has fallen out of favor due to its association with hepatotoxicity. Bicalutamide, which has a relatively minimal risk of hepatotoxicity, has been evaluated for the treatment of hirsutism and found effective similarly to flutamide and may be used instead of it. In addition to AR antagonists, oral contraceptives containing ethinylestradiol are effective in treating these conditions, and may be combined with AR antagonists.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Hyperandrogenism is a condition in women in which androgen levels are excessively and abnormally high. It is commonly seen in women with PCOS, and also occurs in women with intersex conditions like congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Hyperandrogenism is associated with virilization – that is, the development of masculine secondary sexual characteristics like male-pattern facial and body hair growth (or hirsutism), voice deepening, increased muscle mass and strength, and broadening of the shoulders, among others. Androgen-dependent skin and hair conditions like acne and pattern hair loss may also occur in hyperandrogenism, and menstrual disturbances, like amenorrhea, are commonly seen. Although antiandrogens do not treat the underlying cause of hyperandrogenism (e.g., PCOS), they are able to prevent and reverse its manifestation and effects. As with androgen-dependent skin and hair conditions, the most commonly used antiandrogens in the treatment of hyperandrogenism in women are cyproterone acetate and spironolactone. Other antiandrogens, like bicalutamide, may be used alternatively.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Antiandrogens are used to prevent or reverse masculinization and to facilitate feminization in transgender women who are undergoing hormone therapy and who have not undergone sex reassignment surgery or orchiectomy. Besides estrogens, the main antiandrogens that have been used for this purpose are cyproterone acetate, spironolactone, and GnRH modulators. Nonsteroidal antiandrogens like bicalutamide are also used for this indication. In addition to use in transgender women, antiandrogens, mainly GnRH modulators, are used as puberty blockers to prevent puberty in transgender girls until they are older and ready to begin hormone therapy. There is insufficient evidence to determine the efficacy or safety of hormonal treatment approaches for transgender women in transition.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Certain antiandrogens combine multiple of the above mechanisms. An example is the steroidal antiandrogen cyproterone acetate, which is a potent AR antagonist, a potent progestogen and hence antigonadotropin, a weak glucocorticoid and hence anticorticotropin, and a weak androgen synthesis inhibitor.


title: Antiandrogen

text: The side effects of antiandrogens vary depending on the type of antiandrogen – namely whether it is a selective AR antagonist or lowers androgen levels – as well as the presence of off-target activity in the antiandrogen in question. For instance, whereas antigonadotropic antiandrogens like GnRH modulators and cyproterone acetate are associated with pronounced sexual dysfunction and osteoporosis in men, selective AR antagonists like bicalutamide are not associated with osteoporosis and have been associated with only minimal sexual dysfunction. These differences are thought related to the fact that antigonadotropins suppress androgen levels and by extension levels of bioactive metabolites of androgens like estrogens and neurosteroids whereas selective AR antagonists similarly neutralize the effects of androgens but leave levels of androgens and hence their metabolites intact (and in fact can even increase them as a result of their progonadotropic effects). As another example, the steroidal antiandrogens cyproterone acetate and spironolactone possess off-target actions including progestogenic, antimineralocorticoid, and/or glucocorticoid activity in addition to their antiandrogen activity, and these off-target activities can result in additional side effects.


title: Antiandrogen

text: In males, the major side effects of antiandrogens are demasculinization and feminization. These side effects include breast pain/tenderness and gynecomastia (breast development/enlargement), reduced body hair growth/density, decreased muscle mass and strength, feminine changes in fat mass and distribution, and reduced penile length and testicular size. The rates of gynecomastia in men with selective AR antagonist monotherapy have been found to range from 30 to 85%. In addition, antiandrogens can cause infertility, osteoporosis, hot flashes, sexual dysfunction (including loss of libido and erectile dysfunction), depression, fatigue, anemia, and decreased semen/ejaculate volume in males. Conversely, the side effects of selective AR antagonists in women are minimal. However, antigonadotropic antiandrogens like cyproterone acetate can produce hypoestrogenism, amenorrhea, and osteoporosis in premenopausal women, among other side effects.


title: Antiandrogen

text: A number of antiandrogens have been associated with hepatotoxicity. These include, to varying extents, cyproterone acetate, flutamide, nilutamide, bicalutamide, aminoglutethimide, and ketoconazole. In contrast, spironolactone, enzalutamide, and other antiandrogens are not associated with significant rates of hepatotoxicity. However, although they do not pose a risk of hepatotoxicity, spironolactone has a risk of hyperkalemia and enzalutamide has a risk of seizures.


title: Antiandrogen

text: In women who are pregnant, antiandrogens can interfere with the androgen-mediated sexual differentiation of the genitalia and brain of male fetuses. This manifests primarily as ambiguous genitalia – that is, undervirilized or feminized genitalia, which, anatomically, are a cross between a penis and a vagina – and theoretically also as femininity. As such, antiandrogens are teratogens, and women who are pregnant should not be treated with an antiandrogen. Moreover, women who can or may become pregnant are strongly recommended to take an antiandrogen only in combination with proper contraception.


title: Antiandrogen

text: AR antagonists act by directly binding to and competitively displacing androgens like testosterone and DHT from the AR, thereby preventing them from activating the receptor and mediating their biological effects. AR antagonists are classified into two types, based on chemical structure: steroidal and nonsteroidal. Steroidal AR antagonists are structurally related to steroid hormones like testosterone and progesterone, whereas nonsteroidal AR antagonists are not steroids and are structurally distinct. Steroidal AR antagonists tend to have off-target hormonal actions due to their structural similarity to other steroid hormones. In contrast, nonsteroidal AR antagonists are selective for the AR and have no off-target hormonal activity. For this reason, they are sometimes described as "pure" antiandrogens.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Although they are described as antiandrogens and indeed show only such effects generally, most or all steroidal AR antagonists are actually not silent antagonists of the AR but rather are weak partial agonists and are able to activate the receptor in the absence of more potent AR agonists like testosterone and DHT. This may have clinical implications in the specific context of prostate cancer treatment. As an example, steroidal AR antagonists are able to increase prostate weight and accelerate prostate cancer cell growth in the absence of more potent AR agonists, and spironolactone has been found to accelerate progression of prostate cancer in case reports. In addition, whereas cyproterone acetate produces ambiguous genitalia via feminization in male fetuses when administered to pregnant animals, it has been found to produce masculinization of the genitalia of female fetuses of pregnant animals. In contrast to steroidal AR antagonists, nonsteroidal AR antagonists are silent antagonists of the AR and do not activate the receptor. This may be why they have greater efficacy than steroidal AR antagonists in the treatment of prostate cancer and is an important reason as to why they have largely replaced them for this indication in medicine.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Nonsteroidal antiandrogens have relatively low affinity for the AR compared to steroidal AR ligands. For example, bicalutamide has around 2% of the affinity of DHT for the AR and around 20% of the affinity of CPA for the AR. Despite their low affinity for the AR however, the lack of weak partial agonist activity of NSAAs appears to improve their potency relative to steroidal antiandrogens. For example, although flutamide has about 10-fold lower affinity for the AR than CPA, it shows equal or slightly greater potency to CPA as an antiandrogen in bioassays. In addition, circulating therapeutic concentrations of nonsteroidal antiandrogens are very high, on the order of thousands of times higher than those of testosterone and DHT, and this allows them to efficaciously compete and block AR signaling.


title: Antiandrogen

text: AR antagonists may not bind to or block membrane androgen receptors (mARs), which are distinct from the classical nuclear AR. However, the mARs do not appear to be involved in masculinization. This is evidenced by the perfectly female phenotype of women with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome. These women have a 46,XY karyotype (i.e., are genetically "male") and high levels of androgens but possess a defective AR and for this reason never masculinize. They are described as highly feminine, both physically as well as mentally and behaviorally.


title: Antiandrogen

text: N-Terminal domain AR antagonists are a new type of AR antagonist that, unlike all currently marketed AR antagonists, bind to the N-terminal domain (NTD) of the AR rather than the ligand-binding domain (LBD). Whereas conventional AR antagonists bind to the LBD of the AR and competitively displace androgens, thereby preventing them from activating the receptor, AR NTD antagonists bind covalently to the NTD of the AR and prevent protein–protein interactions subsequent to activation that are required for transcriptional activity. As such, they are non-competitive and irreversible antagonists of the AR. Examples of AR NTD antagonists include bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (BADGE) and its derivatives EPI-001, ralaniten (EPI-002), and ralaniten acetate (EPI-506). AR NTD antagonists are under investigation for the potential treatment of prostate cancer, and it is thought that they may have greater efficacy as antiandrogens relative to conventional AR antagonists. In accordance with this notion, AR NTD antagonists are active against splice variants of the AR, which conventional AR antagonists are not, and AR NTD antagonists are immune to gain-of-function mutations in the AR LBD that convert AR antagonists into AR agonists and commonly occur in prostate cancer.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Selective androgen receptor degraders (SARDs) are another new type of antiandrogen that has recently been developed. They work by enhancing the degradation of the AR, and are analogous to selective estrogen receptor degraders (SERDs) like fulvestrant (a drug used to treat estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer). Similarly to AR NTD antagonists, it is thought that SARDs may have greater efficacy than conventional AR antagonists, and for this reason, they are under investigation for the treatment of prostate cancer. An example of a SARD is dimethylcurcumin (ASC-J9), which is under development as a topical medication for the potential treatment of acne. SARDs like dimethylcurcumin differ from conventional AR antagonists and AR NTD antagonists in that they may not necessarily bind directly to the AR.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Androgen synthesis inhibitors are enzyme inhibitors that prevent the biosynthesis of androgens. This process occurs mainly in the gonads and adrenal glands, but also occurs in other tissues like the prostate gland, skin, and hair follicles. These drugs include aminoglutethimide, ketoconazole, and abiraterone acetate. Aminoglutethimide inhibits cholesterol side-chain cleavage enzyme, also known as P450scc or CYP11A1, which is responsible for the conversion of cholesterol into pregnenolone and by extension the production of all steroid hormones, including the androgens. Ketoconazole and abiraterone acetate are inhibitors of the enzyme CYP17A1, also known as 17α-hydroxylase/17,20-lyase, which is responsible for the conversion of pregnane steroids into androgens, as well as the conversion of mineralocorticoids into glucocorticoids. Because these drugs all prevent the formation of glucocorticoids in addition to androgens, they must be combined with a glucocorticoid like prednisone to avoid adrenal insufficiency. A newer drug currently under development for treatment of prostate cancer, seviteronel, is selective for inhibition of the 17,20-lyase functionality of CYP17A1, and for this reason, unlike earlier drugs, does not require concomitant treatment with a glucocorticoid.


title: Antiandrogen

text: 5α-Reductase inhibitors such as finasteride and dutasteride are inhibitors of 5α-reductase, an enzyme that is responsible for the formation of DHT from testosterone. DHT is between 2.5- and 10-fold more potent than testosterone as an androgen and is produced in a tissue-selective manner based on expression of 5α-reductase. Tissues in which DHT forms at a high rate include the prostate gland, skin, and hair follicles. In accordance, DHT is involved in the pathophysiology of benign prostatic hyperplasia, pattern hair loss, and hirsutism, and 5α-reductase inhibitors are used to treat these conditions.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Antigonadotropins are drugs that suppress the GnRH-mediated secretion of gonadotropins from the pituitary gland. Gonadotropins include luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and are peptide hormones that signal the gonads to produce sex hormones. By suppressing gonadotropin secretion, antigonadotropins suppress gonadal sex hormone production and by extension circulating androgen levels. GnRH modulators, including both GnRH agonists and GnRH antagonists, are powerful antigonadotropins that are able to suppress androgen levels by 95% in men. In addition, estrogens and progestogens are antigonadotropins via exertion of negative feedback on the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis (HPG axis). High-dose estrogens are able to suppress androgen levels to castrate levels in men similarly to GnRH modulators, while high-dose progestogens are able to suppress androgen levels by up to approximately 70 to 80% in men.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Examples of GnRH agonists include leuprorelin (leuprolide) and goserelin, while an example of a GnRH antagonist is cetrorelix. Estrogens that are or that have been used as antigonadotropins include estradiol, estradiol esters like estradiol valerate, estradiol undecylate, and polyestradiol phosphate, conjugated estrogens, ethinylestradiol, diethylstilbestrol (no longer widely used), and bifluranol. Progestogens that are used as antigonadotropins include chlormadinone acetate, cyproterone acetate, gestonorone caproate, hydroxyprogesterone caproate, medroxyprogesterone acetate, megestrol acetate, and oxendolone.


title: Antiandrogen

text: In addition to their antigonadotropic effects, estrogens are also functional antiandrogens by decreasing free concentrations of androgens via increasing the hepatic production of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) and by extension circulating SHBG levels. Combined oral contraceptives containing ethinylestradiol have been found to increase circulating SHBG levels by 2- to 4-fold in women and to reduce free testosterone concentrations by 40 to 80%. However, combined oral contraceptives that contain the particularly androgenic progestin levonorgestrel have been found to increase SHBG levels by only 50 to 100%, which is likely because activation of the AR in the liver has the opposite effect of estrogen and suppresses production of SHBG. Levonorgestrel and certain other 19-nortestosterone progestins used in combined oral contraceptives like norethisterone also directly bind to and displace androgens from SHBG, which may additionally antagonize the functional antiandrogenic effects of ethinylestradiol. In men, a study found that treatment with a relatively low dosage of 20 μg/day ethinylestradiol for 5 weeks increased circulating SHBG levels by 150% and, due to the accompanying decrease free testosterone levels, increased total circulating levels of testosterone by 50% (via reduced negative feedback by androgens on the HPG axis).


title: Antiandrogen

text: Estrogens at high doses can partially suppress adrenal androgen production. A study found that treatment with a high-dose ethinylestradiol (100 μg/day) reduced levels of major circulating adrenal androgens by 27 to 48% in transgender women. Decreased adrenal androgens with estrogens is apparent with oral and synthetic estrogens like ethinylestradiol and estramustine phosphate but is minimal with parenteral bioidentical estradiol forms like polyestradiol phosphate. It is thought to be mediated via a hepatic mechanism, probably increased corticosteroid-binding globulin (CBG) production and levels and compensatory changes in adrenal steroid production (e.g., shunting of adrenal androgen synthesis to cortisol production). It is notable in this regard that oral and synthetic estrogens, due to the oral first pass and resistance to hepatic metabolism, have much stronger influences on liver protein synthesis than parenteral estradiol. The decrease in adrenal androgen levels with high-dose estrogen therapy may be beneficial in the treatment of prostate cancer.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Anticorticotropins such as glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids work by exerting negative feedback on the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA axis), thereby inhibiting the secretion of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and hence adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH; corticotropin) and consequently suppressing the production of androgen prohormones like dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), and androstenedione in the adrenal gland. They are rarely used clinically as functional antiandrogens, but are used as such in the case of congenital adrenal hyperplasia in girls and women, in which there are excessive production and levels of adrenal androgens due to glucocorticoid deficiency and hence HPA axis overactivity.


title: Antiandrogen

text: In women with insulin resistance, such as those with polycystic ovary syndrome, androgen levels are often elevated. Metformin, an insulin-sensitizing medication, has indirect antiandrogenic effects in such women, decreasing testosterone levels by as much as 50% secondary to its beneficial effects on insulin sensitivity.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Ovandrotone albumin (Fecundin, Ovastim) and Androvax (androstenedione albumin) are immunogens and vaccines against androstenedione that are used in veterinary medicine to improve fecundity (reproductive rate) in ewes (adult female sheep). The generation of antibodies against androstenedione by these agents is thought to decrease circulating levels of androstenedione and its metabolites (e.g., testosterone and estrogens), which in turn increases the activity of the HPG axis via reduced negative feedback and increases the rate of ovulation, resulting in greater fertility and fecundity.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Antiandrogens can be divided into several different types based on chemical structure, including steroidal antiandrogens, nonsteroidal antiandrogens, and peptides. Steroidal antiandrogens include compounds like cyproterone acetate, spironolactone, estradiol, abiraterone acetate, and finasteride; nonsteroidal antiandrogens include compounds like bicalutamide, elagolix, diethylstilbestrol, aminoglutethimide, and ketoconazole; and peptides include GnRH analogues like leuprorelin and cetrorelix.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Antigonadotropins like estrogens and progestogens were both first introduced in the 1930s. The beneficial effects of androgen deprivation via surgical castration or high-dose estrogen therapy on prostate cancer were discovered in 1941. AR antagonists were first discovered in the early 1960s. The steroidal antiandrogen cyproterone acetate was discovered in 1961 and introduced in 1973 and is often described as the first antiandrogen to have been marketed. However, spironolactone was introduced in 1959, although its antiandrogen effects were not recognized or taken advantage of until later and were originally an unintended off-target action of the drug. In addition to spironolactone, chlormadinone acetate and megestrol acetate are steroidal antiandrogens that are weaker than cyproterone acetate but were also introduced earlier, in the 1960s. Other early steroidal antiandrogens that were developed around this time but were never marketed include benorterone (SKF-7690; 17α-methyl-"B"-nortestosterone), BOMT (Ro 7–2340), cyproterone (SH-80881), and trimethyltrienolone (R-2956).


title: Antiandrogen

text: The nonsteroidal antiandrogen flutamide was first reported in 1967. It was introduced in 1983 and was the first nonsteroidal antiandrogen marketed. Another early nonsteroidal antiandrogen, DIMP (Ro 7–8117), which is structurally related to thalidomide and is a relatively weak antiandrogen, was first described in 1973 and was never marketed. Flutamide was followed by nilutamide in 1989 and bicalutamide in 1995. In addition to these three drugs, which have been regarded as first-generation nonsteroidal antiandrogens, the second-generation nonsteroidal antiandrogens enzalutamide and apalutamide were introduced in 2012 and 2018, respectively. They differ from the earlier nonsteroidal antiandrogens namely in that they are much more efficacious in comparison.


title: Antiandrogen

text: The androgen synthesis inhibitors aminoglutethimide and ketoconazole were first marketed in 1960 and 1977, respectively, and the newer drug abiraterone acetate was introduced in 2011. GnRH modulators were first introduced in the 1980s. The 5α-reductase inhibitors finasteride and dutasteride were introduced in 1992 and 2002, respectively. Elagolix, the first orally active GnRH modulator to be marketed, was introduced in 2018.


title: Antiandrogen

text: The term "antiandrogen" is generally used to refer specifically to AR antagonists, as described by Dorfman (1970):


title: Antiandrogen

text: However, in spite of the above, the term may also be used to describe "functional" antiandrogens like androgen synthesis inhibitors and antigonadotropins, including even estrogens and progestogens. For example, the progestogen and hence antigonadotropin medroxyprogesterone acetate is sometimes described as a steroidal antiandrogen, even though it is not an antagonist of the AR.


title: Antiandrogen

text: There has been much interest and effort in the development of topical AR antagonists to treat androgen-dependent conditions like acne and pattern hair loss in males. Unfortunately, whereas systemic administration of antiandrogens is very effective in treating these conditions, topical administration has disappointingly been found generally to possess limited and only modest effectiveness, even when high-affinity steroidal AR antagonists like cyproterone acetate and spironolactone have been employed. Moreover, in the specific case of acne treatment, topical AR antagonists have been found much less effective compared to established treatments like benzoyl peroxide and antibiotics.


title: Antiandrogen

text: A variety of AR antagonists have been developed for topical use but have not completed development and hence have never been marketed. These include the steroidal AR antagonists clascoterone, cyproterone, rosterolone, and topterone and the nonsteroidal AR antagonists cioteronel, inocoterone acetate, RU-22930, RU-58642, and RU-58841. However, one topical AR antagonist, topilutamide (fluridil), has been introduced in a few European countries for the treatment of pattern hair loss in men. In addition, a topical 5α-reductase inhibitor and weak estrogen, alfatradiol, has also been introduced in some European countries for the same indication, although its effectiveness is controversial. Spironolactone has been marketed in Italy in the form of a topical cream under the brand name Spiroderm for the treatment of acne and hirsutism, but this formulation was discontinued and hence is no longer available.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Antiandrogens, such as cyproterone acetate, have been studied for potential use as male hormonal contraceptives. While effective in suppressing male fertility, their use as monotherapies is precluded by side effects, such as androgen deficiency (e.g., demasculinization, sexual dysfunction, hot flashes, osteoporosis) and feminization (e.g., gynecomastia). The combination of a primary antigonadotropin such as cyproterone acetate to prevent fertility and an androgen like testosterone to prevent systemic androgen deficiency, resulting in a selective antiandrogenic action locally in the testes, has been extensively studied and has shown promising results, but has not been approved for clinical use at this time. Dimethandrolone undecanoate (developmental code name CDB-4521), an orally active dual AAS and progestogen, is under investigation as a potential male contraceptive and as the first male birth control pill.


title: Antiandrogen

text: Antiandrogens such as bicalutamide, enzalutamide, and abiraterone acetate are under investigation for the potential treatment of breast cancer, including AR-expressing triple-negative breast cancer and other types of AR-expressing breast cancer.


title: Islamic flags

text: An Islamic flag is a flag either representing an Islamic Caliphate or religious order, state, civil society, military force or other entity associated with Islam. Islamic flags have a distinct history due to the Islamic prescription on aniconism, making particular colours, inscriptions or symbols such as crescent-and-star popular choices. Since the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, flags with certain colours were associated with Islam according to the traditions. Since then, historical Caliphates, modern nation states, certain denominations as well as religious movements have adopted flags to symbolize their Islamic identity.


title: Islamic flags

text: Before the advent of Islam, banners as tools for signaling had already been employed by the pre-Islamic Arab tribes and the Byzantines. Early Muslim army naturally deployed banners for the same purpose. Early Islamic flags, however, greatly simplified its design by using plain color, due to the Islamic prescriptions on aniconism. According to the Islamic traditions, the Quraysh had a black banner and a white-and-black banner. It further states that Muhammad had a banner in white nicknamed "the Young Eagle" (, ); and a flag in black, said to be made from his wife Aisha's head-cloth. This larger flag was known as the "Banner of the Eagle" (), as well as the "Black Banner" (). Other examples are the prominent Arab military commander 'Amr ibn al-'As using a red banner, and the Khawarij rebels using a red banner as well. Banners of the early Muslim armies in general, however, employed a variety of colors, both singly and in combination.


title: Islamic flags

text: The Umayyad Caliphate adopted white flags. During the Abbasid Revolution, the Abbasids incorporated the Black Standard based on the early Islamic eschatological saying that "a people coming from the East with black banners" would herald the arrival of the messianic figure Mahdi. The Shiite Alids chose the color of white to distinguish themselves from the Abbasids, but also adopted green flags. Thus in 817, when the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun adopted the Alid Ali al-Ridha a his heir apparent, he also changed the dynastic color from black to green. The change was reverted al-Ma'mun had Ali killed, and returned to Baghdad in 819. The Abbasids continued to use black as their dynastic color. However, their caliphal banner was made of white silk with the Quranic inscriptions. The white color was then adopted, in deliberate opposition to the Abbasids, by the Ismaili Shiite Fatimid Caliphate, and cemented the association of black and white with Sunni and Shia respectively. The Fatimid caliphal banner was decorated in red and yellow, sometimes emblazoned with a picture of a lion.


title: Islamic flags

text: The Ayyubids and Mamluks, succeeding the Fatimid caliphate, retained the association with yellow. The Ayyubid founder Saladin carried a yellow flag adorned with an eagle. Mamluk sultanic banners were yellow, but on occasion they used red banners. Mongol and Turkic dynasties to the east, including the Ilkhanate, Oghuz Turks and the Seljuq dynasty, preferred the white banner. Religious flags with inscriptions were in use in the medieval period, as shown in miniatures by 13th-century illustrator Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti. 14th-century illustrations of the "History of the Tatars" by Hayton of Corycus (1243) shows both Mongols and Seljuqs using a variety of war ensigns.


title: Islamic flags

text: The crescent appears in flags attributed to Tunis from as early as the 14th century "Book of Knowledge of All Kingdoms", long before Tunis fell under Ottoman rule in 1574. The Spanish Navy Museum in Madrid shows two Ottoman naval flags dated 1613; both are swallow-tailed, one green with a white crescent near the hoist, the other white with two red stripes near the edges of the flag and a red crescent near the hoist.


title: Islamic flags

text: The hexagram was also a popular symbol among the Islamic flags. It is known in Arabic as "Khātem Sulaymān" (Seal of Solomon; ) or "Najmat Dāūd" (Star of David; ). The "Seal of Solomon" may also be represented by a five-pointed star or pentagram. In the Qur'an, it is written that David and King Solomon (Arabic, "Suliman" or "Sulayman") were prophets and kings, and are figures revered by Muslims. The Medieval pre-Ottoman Hanafi Anatolian beyliks of the Karamanids and Jandarids used the star on their flag.


title: Islamic flags

text: The Mamluks served the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques during their reign. During this time, they deployed what was believed to be the genuine relic of the Islamic prophet Muhammad's banner. The banner was later captured by the Ottomans, who called the flag the "noble banner" ("Sancak-ı Şerif") and used it during their military campaign. The flag was made of black wool, according to the Ottoman historian Silahdar Findiklili Mehmed Agha, but there is no further information available.


title: Islamic flags

text: War flags came into use by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, gradually replacing (but long coexisting with) their traditional "tugh" or horse-tail standards. During the 16th and 17th centuries, war flags often depicted the bifurcated sword of Ali, Zulfiqar, which was often misinterpreted in Western literature as showing a pair of scissors. A Zulfiqar flag used by Selim I (d. 1520) is on exhibit in Topkapı Palace. Two Zulfiqar flags are also depicted in a plate dedicated to Turkish flags in vol. 7 of Bernard Picart's "Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde" (1737), attributed to the Janissaries and Sipahis.


title: Islamic flags

text: Tanzimat of 1844, the flags of the Ottoman Empire were redesigned in the style of European armies of the day. The flag of the Ottoman Navy was made red as red was to be the flag of secular institutions and green of religious ones. As the reforms abolished all the various sub-sultanates, pashaliks, beyliks and emirates, a single new flag was designed to replace all the various flags used by these entities with one single national flag. The result was the red and white flag with the crescent moon and star, which is the precursor to the modern Turkish flag. A plain red flag was introduced as the civil ensign for all Ottoman subjects.


title: Islamic flags

text: The Mughal Empire had a number of imperial flags and standards. The principal imperial standard of the Mughals was known as the "alam" ( ). It was primarily moss green. It displayed a lion and sun ( ) facing the hoist of the flag. The Mughals traced their use of the "alam" back to Timur. The imperial standard was displayed to the right of the throne and also at the entrance of the Emperor's encampment and in front of the emperor during military marches.


title: Islamic flags

text: According to the "Ain-i-Akbari", during Akbar's reign, whenever the emperor rode out, not less than five "alams" were carried along with the "qur" (a collection of flags and other insignia) wrapped up in scarlet cloth bags. They were unfurled on the days of festivity, and in battle. Edward Terry, chaplain to Sir Thomas Roe, who came during the reign of Jahangir, described in his "Voyage to East-India" (1655) that the royal standard, made of silk, with a crouching lion shadowing part of the body of the sun inscribed on it, was carried on an elephant whenever the emperor travelled.


title: Islamic flags

text: The Safavid dynasty (1501–1736) employed various "alams" and banners, especially during the reign of the first two kings, each with a different emblem. Ismail I, the first Safavid king, designed a green flag with a golden full moon. In 1524 Tahmasp I replaced the moon with an emblem of a sheep and sun; this flag was used until 1576. It was then that Ismail II adopted the first Lion and Sun device, embroidered in gold, which was to remain in use until the end of the Safavid era. During this period the Lion and Sun stood for two pillars of the society: the state and Islam.


title: Islamic flags

text: The Afsharid dynasty (1736–1796) had two royal standards, one with red, white, and blue stripes and one with red, blue, white, and yellow stripes. Nader Shah's personal flag was a yellow pennant with a red border and a lion and sun emblem in the centre. All three of these flags were triangular in shape. Nader Shah consciously avoided the using the colour green, as green was associated with Shia Islam and the Safavid dynasty.


title: Islamic flags

text: Muhammad Ahmad declared himself al-Mahdī al-Muntaẓar (the Expected Rightly-guided One, successor to the prophet Mohammed) in 1881 and lead an Islamic revolution against the Ottoman-Egyptian rule of Sudan until his death in 1885. During the Mahdist War, the followers of al-Mahdi ("Anṣār" or ‘helpers’) adapted a traditional form of flag used in prayer by followers of Sufi religious orders, for military purposes. Sufi flags typically feature the Muslim shahada – “There is no God but Allah; Muḥammad is Allah’s Messenger” – and the name of the sect's founder, an individual usually regarded as a saint. The traditional form of Sufi flag was adapted by adding a quotation from the Koran – “Yā allah yā ḥayy yā qayūm yā ḍhi’l-jalāl wa’l-ikrām” (O Allah! O Ever-living, O Everlasting, O Lord of Majesty and Generosity) – and the highly charged claim - “Muḥammad al-Mahdī khalifat rasūl Allah” (Muḥammad al-Mahdī is the successor of Allah's messenger). The flags were specifically colour coded to direct soldiers of the three main divisions of the Mahdist army – the Black, Green and Red Banners (rāyāt).


title: Islamic flags

text: By the mid 20th century, the star and crescent was used by a number successor states of the Ottoman Empire, including Algeria, Azerbaijan, Mauritania, Tunisia, Turkey, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and Libya. Because of its supposed "Turkic" associations, the symbol also came to be used in Central Asia, as in the flags of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.


title: Islamic flags

text: The star-and-crescent in the Flag of Pakistan is stated as symbolizing "progress and light" (while the green colour is stated as representing Islam). The star-and-crescent in these flags was not originally intended as religious symbolism, but an association of the symbol with Islam seems to have developed beginning in the 1950s or 1960s.


title: Islamic flags

text: By the 1970s, this symbol was embraced by both Arab nationalism or Islamism, such as the proposed Arab Islamic Republic (1974) and the American Nation of Islam (1973).


title: Islamic flags

text: The Pan-Arab colors were first introduced in 1916, with the Flag of the Arab Revolt. Although they represent secular Arab nationalism as opposed to Islamism, the choice of colours has been explained by Islamic symbolism in retrospect, so by Mahdi Abdul Hadi in "Evolution of the Arab Flag" (1986): black as the Black Standard of Muhammad, the Rashidun Caliphate and the Abbasid Caliphate, white as the flag of the Umayyad Caliphate, green as the flag of the Fatimid Caliphate and red as the flag of the Khawarij. On 30 1917 Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, leader of the Arab Revolt replaced his plain red flag with one horizontally striped in black, green, and white with a red triangular area at the hoist. This was seen as the birth of the pan-Arab flag. Since that time, many Arab nations, upon achieving independence or upon change of political regime, have used a combination of these colours in a design reflecting the Hejaz Revolt flag. These flags include the current flags of Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Palestinian National Authority, Algeria, and Sudan, and former flags of Iraq and Libya.


title: Islamic flags

text: The modern conceptualization of the Islamic state is attributed to Abul A'la Maududi (1903–1979), a Pakistani Muslim theologian who founded the political party Jamaat-e-Islami and inspired other Islamic revolutionaries such as Ruhollah Khomeini. Six internationally recognized states identify as Islamic states: Saudi Arabia (formed 1932 out of the Wahhabist predecessor states), Pakistan (since 1947), Mauritania (since 1958), Iran (since 1979), Yemen (since 1991). The majority of countries of the Arab world define Islam as their state religion. Most of these states have national flags that include Islamic symbolism. Besides, there are unrecognized jihadist de facto states, such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant controlling parts of Iraq and Syria, the unrecognized government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, and Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram ruling parts of Somalia and Nigeria respectively, which use jihadist flags.


title: Islamic flags

text: Some flags of Muslim states use inscribed flags, either with the "shahada", as in the flags of Saudi Arabia, or in the case of the 1979 Islamic Republic of Iran, stylized writing of the word "Allah". The flag of Iraq uses the pan-Arab colours since 1921, with the addition of the takbir since 1991. The practice of inscribing the shahada on flags may go back the 18th century, used by the Wahhabi religious movement. In 1902 Ibn Saud, leader of the House of Saud and the future founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, added a sword to this flag. The current flag of Saudi Arabia is a continuation of the flag Emirate of Nejd and Hasa introduced in 1902. The First East Turkestan Republic of 1933 used it on their flag, and the Taliban introduced it on their flag of Afghanistan in 1997.


title: Islamic flags

text: Although a flag representing Islam as a whole does not exist, some Islamic denominational branches and Sufi brotherhoods employ flags to symbolize themselves. Among specific Islamic branches, Nizari branch of Ismaili-Shia Islam employs an official flag made of green which represents Muhammad's standard and Ali's cloak, as well as a red stripe meaning blood and fire. The flag was ordained by the Aga Khan IV as a part of the new constitution in 1986. The flag is flown on the Ismaili Jamatkhana, a place for congregational worship for Ismaili Muslims during the festive occasions. The Ahmadiyya movement also employs an official flag ("Liwaa-i Ahmadiyya") with black and white colors, first hoisted in 1939. Mirza Tahir Ahmad, the fourth caliph of the Ahmadiyya Caliphate, explained the symbolism of the colours black and white in terms of the concept of revelation and prophethood. Muslim African-American religious movement Nation of Islam deploys an official flag known as "The Flag of Islam" which symbolizes universal peace and harmony.


title: Islamic flags

text: In Shia Muslim traditions, flags are a significant part of the rituals for the Mourning of Muharram. Mourners take round the flags or banners in the ritual known as "Alam Gardani" as a performance for the mourning ceremonies. Mourners also use flags to signal the beginning and the end of the mourning. All flags have guardians and they are passed down through generations.


title: Allah as a lunar deity

text: The postulation that Allah (the name of God in Islam) historically originates as a moon god (who was worshipped in pre-Islamic Arabia) originates in early 20th-century scholarship.


title: Allah as a lunar deity

text: The word 'Allah' is a common Arabic term for "The God" (as opposed to 'ilah', any god), and is widely used by Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews and also found in Arabic translations of the Bible.