Biography.

Early life.

Born Kenule Tsaro-Wiwa, Saro-Wiwa was the son of Chief Jim Wiwa, a forest ranger that held a title in the Nigerian chieftaincy system, and his third wife Widu. He officially changed his name to "Saro-Wiwa" after the Nigerian Civil war. He was married to Maria Saro Wiwa. His father's hometown was the village of Bori, Ogoniland, whose residents speak the Khana dialect of the Ogoni language. Saro-Wiwa spent his childhood in an Anglican home and eventually proved himself to be an excellent student; he received primary education at a Native Authority school in Bori, then attended secondary school at Government College Umuahia. A distinguished student, Saro-Wiwa was captain of the table tennis team and amassed school prizes in history and English. At Umuahia, he was the only student from Ogoni land but fellow students were mandated to speak English which made Saro-Wiwa feel Nigerian; he embraced the language as a useful way to communicate to a larger audience at home and abroad. On completion of secondary education, he obtained a scholarship to study English at the University of Ibadan. At Ibadan, he plunged into academic and cultural interests, he won departmental prizes in 1963 and 1965 and worked for a drama troupe. The travelling drama troupe performed in Kano, Benin Ilorin and Lagos and collaborated with the Nottingham Playhouse theatre group that included a young Judi Dench. He briefly became a teaching assistant at the University of Lagos and later at University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Saro-Wiwa was an African literature lecturer in Nsukka when the Civil war broke out, he supported the Federal Government and had to leave the region for his hometown of Bori. On his journey to Port-Harcourt, he witnessed the multitudes of refugees returning to the East, a scene he described as a "sorry sight to see". Three days after his arrival, nearby Bonny was liberated by federal troops. He and his family then stayed in Bonny, he travelled back to Lagos and took a position at the University of Lagos which did not last long as he was called back to Bonny.  He was called back to become the Civilian Administrator for the port city of Bonny in the Niger Delta and during the Nigerian Civil War positioned himself as an Ogoni leader dedicated to the Federal cause. He followed his job as an administrator with an appointment as a commissioner in the old Rivers State. His best known novel, "", tells the story of a naive village boy recruited to the army during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970, and intimates the political corruption and patronage in Nigeria's military regime of the time. Saro-Wiwa's war diaries, "On a Darkling Plain", document his experience during the war. He was also a successful businessman and television producer. His satirical television series, "Basi & Company", was wildly popular, with an estimated audience of 30 million.  In the early 1970s, Saro-Wiwa served as the Regional Commissioner for Education in the Rivers State Cabinet, but was dismissed in 1973 because of his support for Ogoni autonomy. In the late 1970s, he established a number of successful business ventures in retail and real estate, and during the 1980s concentrated primarily on his writing, journalism and television production. In 1977, he became involved in the political arena running as the candidate to represent Ogoni in the Constituent Assembly. Saro-Wiwa lost the election in a narrow margin. It was during this time he had a fall out with his friend Edwards Kobani.  His intellectual work was interrupted in 1987 when he re-entered the political scene, having been appointed by the newly installed dictator Ibrahim Babangida to aid the country's transition to democracy. But Saro-Wiwa soon resigned because he felt Babangida's supposed plans for a return to democracy were disingenuous. Saro-Wiwa's sentiments were proven correct in the coming years, as Babangida failed to relinquish power. In 1993, Babangida annulled Nigeria's general elections that would have transferred power to a civilian government, sparking mass civil unrest and eventually forcing him to step down, at least officially, that same year.

Works.

Saro-Wiwa's works include TV, drama and prose writing. His earlier works from 1970s to 1980s are mostly satirical displays that portrays a counter-image of Nigerian society but his later writings were more inspired by political dimensions such as environmental and social justice than satire.  "Transistor Radio", one of his best known plays was written for a revue during his university days at Ibadan but still resonated well with Nigerian society and was adapted into a television series. Some of his works drew inspiration from the play. In 1972, a radio version of the play was produced and in 1985, he produced, Basi and Company, a successful screen adaption of the play. Saro-Wiwa included the play in "Four Farcical Plays" and " Basi and Company: Four Television Plays". "Basi and company", an adaptation of "Transistor Radio" ran on television from 1985 to 1990. A farcical comedy, the show chronicles city life and is anchored by the protagonist, Basi, a resourceful and street wise character looking for ways to achieve his goal of obtaining millions which always ends to become an illusive mission.  In 1985, the Biafran Civil War novel "Sozaboy" was published. The protagonist's language was written in nonstandard English or what Saro-Wiwa called "Rotten English", a hybrid language of pidgin English, standard English and broken English.

Activism.

In 1990, Saro-Wiwa began devoting most of his time to human rights and environmental causes, particularly in Ogoniland. He was one of the earliest members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), which advocated for the rights of the Ogoni people. The Ogoni Bill of Rights, written by MOSOP, set out the movement's demands, including increased autonomy for the Ogoni people, a fair share of the proceeds of oil extraction, and remediation of environmental damage to Ogoni lands. In particular, MOSOP struggled against the degradation of Ogoni lands by Royal Dutch Shell.  In 1992, Saro-Wiwa was imprisoned for several months, without trial, by the Nigerian military government.  Saro-Wiwa was Vice Chair of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) General Assembly from 1993 to 1995. UNPO is an international, nonviolent, and democratic organisation (of which MOSOP is a member). Its members are indigenous peoples, minorities, and unrecognised or occupied territories who have joined together to protect and promote their human and cultural rights, to preserve their environments and to find nonviolent solutions to conflicts which affect them.  In January 1993, MOSOP organised peaceful marches of around 300,000 Ogoni people – more than half of the Ogoni population – through four Ogoni urban centres, drawing international attention to their people's plight. The same year the Nigerian government occupied the region militarily.

Arrest and execution.

Saro-Wiwa was arrested again and detained by Nigerian authorities in June 1993 but was released after a month. On 21 May 1994 four Ogoni chiefs (all on the conservative side of a schism within MOSOP over strategy) were brutally murdered. Saro-Wiwa had been denied entry to Ogoniland on the day of the murders, but he was arrested and accused of incitement to them. He denied the charges but was imprisoned for over a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by a specially convened tribunal. The same happened to eight other MOSOP leaders who, along with Saro-Wiwa, became known as the Ogoni Nine.  Some of the defendants' lawyers resigned in protest against the alleged rigging of the trial by the Abacha regime. The resignations left the defendants to their own means against the tribunal, which continued to bring witnesses to testify against Saro-Wiwa and his peers. Many of these supposed witnesses later admitted that they had been bribed by the Nigerian government to support the criminal allegations. At least two witnesses who testified that Saro-Wiwa was involved in the murders of the Ogoni elders later recanted, stating that they had been bribed with money and offers of jobs with Shell to give false testimony, in the presence of Shell's lawyer.  The trial was widely criticised by human rights organisations and, half a year later, Ken Saro-Wiwa received the Right Livelihood Award for his courage, as well as the Goldman Environmental Prize.  On 10 November 1995, Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni Nine were taken from the army base where they were being held to a prison in Port Harcourt and executed by hanging by a team of executioners flown in from Sokoto. They were executed one by one, with Saro-Wiwa being the first. It took five tries to execute Saro-Wiwa. His last words were "Lord take my soul, but the struggle continues." After the executions, the bodies were taken to the Port Harcourt Cemetery under armed guard and buried.  In his 1989 short story "Africa Kills Her Sun", Saro-Wiwa in a resigned, melancholic mood, foreshadowed his own execution.

Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation.

The foundation was established in 2017 to work towards improved access to basic resources such as electricity and Internet for entrepreneurs in Port Harcourt. The association founded the Ken Junior Award, named for Saro-Wiwa's son Ken Wiwa, who died in October 2016. The award is presented to innovative start-up technology companies in Port Harcourt.

Family lawsuits against Royal Dutch Shell.

Beginning in 1996, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Earth Rights International (ERI), Paul Hoffman of Schonbrun, DeSimone, Seplow, Harris & Hoffman and other human rights attorneys have brought a series of cases to hold Shell accountable for alleged human rights violations in Nigeria, including summary execution, crimes against humanity, torture, inhumane treatment and arbitrary arrest and detention. The lawsuits are brought against Royal Dutch Shell and Brian Anderson, the head of its Nigerian operation.  The cases were brought under the Alien Tort Statute, a 1978 statute giving non-US citizens the right to file suits in US courts for international human rights violations, and the Torture Victim Protection Act, which allows individuals to seek damages in the US for torture or extrajudicial killing, regardless of where the violations take place.  The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York set a trial date of June 2009. On 9 June 2009 Shell agreed to an out-of-court settlement of US$15.5 million to victims' families. However, the company denied any liability for the deaths, stating that the payment was part of a reconciliation process. In a statement given after the settlement, Shell suggested that the money was being provided to the relatives of Saro-Wiwa and the eight other victims, to cover the legal costs of the case and also in recognition of the events that took place in the region. Some of the funding is also expected to be used to set up a development trust for the Ogoni people, who inhabit the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The settlement was made just days before the trial, which had been brought by Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, was due to begin in New York.

Legacy.

Saro-Wiwa's death provoked international outrage and the immediate suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as the calling back of many foreign diplomats for consultation. The United States and other countries considered imposing economic sanctions. Other tributes to him include:

Maynooth University and Ken Saro-Wiwa.

A collection of handwritten letters by Ken Saro-Wiwa were donated to Maynooth University by Sister Majella McCarron, also in the collection are 27 poems, recordings of visits and meetings with family and friends after Saro-Wiwa's death, a collection of photographs and other documents.  The letters are now in the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI).  The Ken Saro-Wiwa Archive is housed in Special Collections at Maynooth University.

Films.

Aki Kaurismäki's 1996 film "Drifting Clouds" includes a scene where the main character hears of Saro-Wiwa's death from the television news.  Ken Saro-Wiwa lives on! - direct by Elisa Dassoler (BRAZIL). 2017, color. 82 min. The film is available on the internet.

Personal life.

Saro-Wiwa and his wife Maria had five children, who grew up with their mother in the United Kingdom while their father remained in Nigeria. They include Ken Wiwa and Noo Saro-Wiwa, both journalists and writers, and Noo's twin Zina Saro-Wiwa, a journalist and filmmaker. In addition, Saro-Wiwa had two daughters (Singto & Adele) with another woman. He also had another son, Kwame Saro-Wiwa, who was only 1 year old when his father was executed. Adele saro wiwa later on had two children.

Kenule Beeson "Ken" Saro-Wiwa (10 October 1941 – 10 November 1995) was a Nigerian writer, television producer, environmental activist, and winner of the Right Livelihood Award for "exemplary courage in striving non-violently for civil, economic and environmental rights" and the Goldman Environmental Prize. Saro-Wiwa was a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority in Nigeria whose homeland, Ogoniland, in the Niger Delta has been targeted for crude oil extraction since the 1950s and which has suffered extreme environmental damage from decades of indiscriminate petroleum waste dumping. Initially as spokesperson, and then as president, of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Saro-Wiwa led a nonviolent campaign against environmental degradation of the land and waters of Ogoniland by the operations of the multinational petroleum industry, especially the Royal Dutch Shell company. He was also an outspoken critic of the Nigerian government, which he viewed as reluctant to enforce environmental regulations on the foreign petroleum companies operating in the area.

Ken Saro-Wiwa (celým jménem Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa (10. října 1941 – 10. listopadu 1995) byl nigerijský scenárista a spisovatel, který se věnoval ochraně práv obyvatel delty řeky Niger.


Definitions.

Scientific.

Life extension technologies promise a path to complete rejuvenation. Cryonics holds out the hope that the dead can be revived in the future, following sufficient medical advancements. While, as shown with creatures such as hydra and planarian worms, it is indeed possible for a

Religious.

The belief in an "afterlife" is a fundamental tenet of most religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Islam, Judaism, and the Bahá'í Faith; however, the concept of an

Alchemy.

Alchemists strive to solve the mystery of immortality with the Philosopher's Stone and elixir of life. They believe through the application of alchemical processes,

Physical immortality.

Physical immortality is a state of life that allows a person to avoid death and maintain conscious thought. It can mean the unending existence of a person from a physical source other than organic life, such as a computer. Active pursuit of physical immortality can either be based on scientific trends, such as cryonics, digital immortality, breakthroughs in rejuvenation or predictions of an impending technological singularity, or because of a spiritual belief, such as those held by Rastafarians or Rebirthers.

Causes of death.

There are three main causes of death: aging, disease and physical trauma. Such issues can be resolved with the solutions provided in research to any end providing such alternate theories at present that require unification.

Aging.

Aubrey de Grey, a leading researcher in the field, defines aging as "a collection of cumulative changes to the molecular and cellular structure of an adult organism, which result in essential metabolic processes, but which also, once they progress far enough, increasingly disrupt metabolism, resulting in pathology and death." The

Disease.

Disease is theoretically surmountable via technology. In short, it is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism, something the body shouldn't typically have to deal with its natural make up. Human understanding of genetics is leading to cures and treatments for a myriad of previously incurable diseases. The mechanisms by which other diseases do damage are becoming better understood. Sophisticated methods of

Trauma.

Physical trauma would remain as a threat to perpetual physical life, as an otherwise immortal person would still be subject to unforeseen accidents or catastrophes. The speed and quality of paramedic response remains a determining factor in surviving severe trauma. A body

Environmental change.

Organisms otherwise unaffected by these causes of death would still face the problem of obtaining sustenance (whether from currently available agricultural processes or from hypothetical future technological processes) in the face of changing availability of suitable resources as environmental conditions change. After avoiding aging, disease, and trauma, you could still starve to death.  If there is no limitation on the degree of gradual mitigation of risk then it is possible that the cumulative probability of death over an infinite horizon is less than certainty, even when the risk of fatal trauma in any finite period is greater than zero. Mathematically, this is an aspect of achieving "actuarial escape velocity"

Biological immortality.

Biological immortality is an absence of aging. Specifically it is the absence of a sustained increase in rate of mortality as a function of chronological age. A cell or organism that does not experience aging, or ceases to age at some point, is biologically immortal.  Biologists have chosen the word "immortal" to designate cells that are not limited by the Hayflick limit, where cells no longer divide because of DNA damage or shortened telomeres. The first and still most widely used immortal cell line is HeLa, developed from cells taken from the malignant cervical tumor of Henrietta Lacks without her consent in 1951. Prior to the 1961

Biologically immortal species.

Life defined as biologically immortal is still susceptible to causes

Evolution of aging.

As the existence of biologically immortal species demonstrates, there is no thermodynamic necessity for senescence: a defining feature of life is that it takes in free energy from the environment and unloads its entropy as waste. Living systems can even build themselves up from seed, and routinely repair themselves. Aging is therefore presumed to be a byproduct of evolution, but why mortality should be selected for remains a subject of research and debate. Programmed cell death and the telomere "end replication problem" are found even in the earliest and simplest of organisms. This may be a tradeoff between selecting for cancer and selecting for aging.  Modern theories on the evolution of aging include the following:

Prospects for human biological immortality.

Life-extending substances.

Some scientists believe that boosting the amount or proportion of telomerase in the body, a naturally forming enzyme that helps maintain the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes, could prevent cells from dying and so may ultimately lead to extended, healthier lifespans. A team of researchers at the Spanish National Cancer Centre (Madrid) tested the hypothesis on mice. It was found that those mice which were "genetically engineered to produce 10 times the normal levels of telomerase lived 50% longer than normal mice".  In normal circumstances, without the presence

Technological immortality, biological machines, and "swallowing the doctor".

Technological immortality is the prospect for much longer life spans made possible by scientific advances in a variety of fields: nanotechnology, emergency room procedures, genetics, biological engineering, regenerative medicine, microbiology, and others. Contemporary life spans in the advanced industrial societies are already markedly longer than those of the past because of better nutrition, availability of health care, standard of living and bio-medical scientific advances. Technological immortality predicts further progress for the same reasons over the near term. An important aspect of current scientific thinking about immortality is that some combination of human cloning, cryonics or nanotechnology will play an essential role in extreme life extension. Robert Freitas, a nanorobotics theorist, suggests tiny medical nanorobots could be created to go through human bloodstreams, find dangerous things like cancer cells and bacteria, and destroy them. Freitas anticipates that gene-therapies and nanotechnology

Cryonics.

Cryonics, the practice of preserving organisms (either intact specimens or only their brains) for possible future revival by storing them at cryogenic temperatures where metabolism and decay are almost completely stopped, can be used to 'pause' for those who believe that life extension technologies will not develop sufficiently within their lifetime. Ideally, cryonics

Mind-to-computer uploading.

One idea that has been advanced involves uploading an individual's habits and memories via direct mind-computer interface. The individual's memory may be loaded to a computer or to a new organic body. Extropian futurists like Moravec and Kurzweil have proposed that, thanks to exponentially growing computing power, it will someday be possible to upload human consciousness onto a computer system, and exist indefinitely in a virtual environment. This could be accomplished via advanced cybernetics, where computer hardware would initially be installed in the brain to help sort memory or accelerate thought processes. Components would be added gradually until the person's entire brain functions were handled by artificial devices, avoiding sharp transitions that would lead to issues of identity, thus running the risk of the person to be declared dead and thus not be a legitimate owner of his or her property. After this point, the human body could be treated as an optional accessory and the program implementing the person could be transferred to any sufficiently powerful computer. Another possible mechanism for mind upload is to perform a detailed scan of an individual's original, organic brain

Cybernetics.

Transforming a human into a cyborg can include brain implants or extracting a human processing unit and placing it in a robotic life-support system. Even replacing biological organs with robotic ones could increase life span (e.g. pace makers) and depending on the definition, many technological upgrades to the body, like genetic modifications or the addition of nanobots would qualify an individual as a cyborg. Some people believe that such modifications would make one impervious to aging and disease and theoretically immortal unless killed or destroyed.

Religious views.

As late as 1952, the editorial staff of the "" found in their compilation of the Great Books of the Western World, that "The philosophical issue concerning immortality cannot be separated from issues concerning the existence and nature of man's soul." Thus, the vast majority of speculation regarding immortality before the 21st century was regarding the nature of the afterlife.

Ancient Greek religion.

Immortality in ancient Greek religion originally always included an eternal union of body and soul as can be seen in Homer, Hesiod, and various other ancient texts. The soul was considered to have an eternal existence in Hades, but without the body the soul was considered dead. Although almost everybody had nothing to look forward to but an eternal existence as a disembodied dead soul, a number of men and women were considered to have gained physical immortality and been brought to live forever in either Elysium, the Islands of the Blessed, heaven, the ocean or literally right under the ground. Among these were Amphiaraus, Ganymede, Ino, Iphigenia, Menelaus, Peleus, and a great part of those who fought in the Trojan and Theban wars. Some were considered to have died and been resurrected before they achieved physical immortality. Asclepius was killed by Zeus only to be resurrected and transformed into a major deity. In some versions of the Trojan War myth, Achilles, after being killed, was snatched from his funeral

Buddhism.

According to one Tibetan Buddhist teaching, Dzogchen, individuals can

Christianity.

Christian theology holds that Adam and Eve lost physical immortality for themselves and all their descendants in the Fall of man, although this initial "imperishability of the bodily frame of man" was "a preternatural condition". Christians who profess the Nicene Creed believe that every dead person (whether they believed in Christ or not) will be resurrected from the dead at the Second Coming, and this belief is known as Universal resurrection.  N.T. Wright, a theologian and former Bishop of Durham, has said many people forget the physical aspect of what Jesus promised.

Hinduism.

Hindus believe in an immortal soul which is reincarnated after death. According to Hinduism, people repeat a process of life, death, and rebirth in a cycle called "samsara". If they live their life well, their "karma" improves and their station in the next life will be higher, and conversely lower if they live their life poorly. After many life times of perfecting its karma, the soul is freed from the cycle and lives in perpetual bliss. There is no place of eternal torment in Hinduism, although if a soul consistently lives very evil lives, it could work its way down to the very bottom of the cycle.  There are explicit renderings in the Upanishads alluding to a physically immortal state brought about by purification, and sublimation of the 5 elements that make up the body. For example, in

Judaism.

The traditional concept of an immaterial and immortal soul distinct from the body was not found in Judaism before the Babylonian exile, but developed as a result of interaction with Persian and Hellenistic philosophies. Accordingly, the Hebrew word "nephesh", although translated as "soul" in some older English Bibles, actually has a meaning closer to "living being". "Nephesh" was rendered in the Septuagint as "" ("psūchê"), the Greek word for soul.  The only Hebrew word traditionally translated "soul" ("nephesh") in English language Bibles refers to a living, breathing conscious body, rather than to an immortal soul. In the New Testament, the Greek word traditionally translated "soul" () has substantially the same meaning as the Hebrew, without reference to an immortal soul. ‘Soul’ may refer to the whole person, the self: ‘three thousand souls’ were converted in Acts 2:41 (see Acts 3:23).  The Hebrew Bible speaks about "Sheol" (שאול), originally a synonym of the grave-the repository of the dead or the cessation of existence until the resurrection of the dead. This doctrine of resurrection is mentioned explicitly only in although it may be implied in several other texts. New theories arose

Taoism.

It is repeatedly stated in the "Lüshi Chunqiu" that death is unavoidable. Henri Maspero noted that many scholarly works frame Taoism as a school of thought focused on the quest for immortality. Isabelle Robinet asserts that Taoism is better understood as a "way of life" than as a religion, and that its adherents do not approach

Zoroastrianism.

Zoroastrians believe that on the fourth day after death, the human soul leaves the body and the body remains as an empty shell. Souls would go to either heaven or hell; these concepts of the afterlife in Zoroastrianism

Philosophical arguments for the immortality of the soul.

Alcmaeon of Croton.

Alcmaeon of Croton argued that the soul is continuously and ceaselessly in motion.

Plato.

Plato's "Phaedo" advances four

Plotinus.

Plotinus offers a version of the argument that Kant calls "The Achilles of Rationalist Psychology". Plotinus first argues that the soul is

Metochites.

Theodore Metochites argues that part of the soul's nature is to move itself, but that a given

Avicenna.

Avicenna argued for the distinctness of the

Aquinas.

The full argument for the immortality of the soul and Thomas Aquinas'

Descartes.

René Descartes endorses the claim that the soul is simple, and also

Leibniz.

In early work, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz endorses a version of the argument from the simplicity of the soul to its

Moses Mendelssohn.

Moses Mendelssohn's "Phaedon" is a defense of the simplicity and immortality of the soul. It is a series of three dialogues, revisiting the Platonic dialogue "Phaedo", in which Socrates argues for the immortality of the soul, in preparation for his own death. Many philosophers, including Plotinus, Descartes, and Leibniz, argue that

Ethics.

The possibility of clinical immortality raises a host of medical, philosophical, and religious issues and ethical questions. These include persistent vegetative states, the nature of personality over time, technology to mimic or copy the mind or its processes, social and economic disparities created by longevity, and survival of the heat death of the universe.

Undesirability.

Physical immortality has also been imagined as a form of eternal torment, as in Mary Shelley's short story "The Mortal Immortal", the protagonist of which witnesses everyone he cares about dying around him. Jorge Luis Borges explored the idea that life gets its meaning from death in the short story "The Immortal"; an entire society having achieved immortality, they found time becoming infinite, and so found no motivation for any action. In his book "Thursday's Fictions", and the stage and film adaptations of it, Richard James Allen tells the story of a

Sociology.

If human beings were to achieve immortality, there would most likely be a change in the world's social structures. Sociologists argue that human beings' awareness of their own mortality shapes their behavior. With the advancements in medical technology in extending human life, there may need to be serious

Politics.

Although some scientists state that radical life extension, delaying and stopping aging are achievable, there are no international or national programs focused on stopping aging or on radical life extension. In 2012 in Russia, and then in the United

Symbols.

There are numerous symbols representing immortality. The ankh is an Egyptian symbol of life that holds connotations of immortality when depicted in the hands of the and pharaohs, who were seen as having control over the journey of life. The Möbius strip in

Fiction.

Immortality is a popular subject in fiction, as it explores humanity's deep-seated fears and comprehension of its own mortality. Immortal beings and species abound in fiction, especially fantasy fiction, and the meaning of "immortal" tends to vary. The "Epic of Gilgamesh", one of the first literary works, is primarily a quest of a hero seeking to become immortal.  Some fictional beings are completely immortal (or very nearly so) in that they are immune to death by injury, disease and age. Sometimes such powerful immortals can only be killed by each other, as is the case with the Q from the "Star Trek" series. Even if something can't be killed, a common plot device involves putting an immortal being into a slumber or limbo, as is done with Morgoth in J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Silmarillion" and the Dreaming God of "Pathways Into Darkness". Storytellers often make it a point to give weaknesses to even the most indestructible of beings. For instance, Superman is supposed to be invulnerable, yet his enemies were able to exploit his now-infamous weakness: Kryptonite. (See also Achilles' heel.)  Many fictitious species are said to be immortal if they cannot die of old age, even though they can be killed through other means, such as injury. Modern fantasy elves often exhibit this form of immortality. Other creatures, such as vampires and the immortals in the film "Highlander", can only die from beheading. The classic and stereotypical vampire is typically slain by one of several very specific means, including a silver bullet (or piercing with other silver weapons), a stake through the heart (perhaps made of consecrated wood), or by exposing them to sunlight.  The 2018 science fiction TV series Ad Vitam explored the social impact of biological immortality.

Immortality is eternal life, being exempt from death; unending existence. Some modern species may possess biological immortality. Certain scientists, futurists, and philosophers have theorized about the immortality of the human body, with some suggesting that human immortality may be achievable in the first few decades of the 21st century. Other advocates believe that life extension is a more achievable goal in the short term, with immortality awaiting further research breakthroughs. The absence of ageing would provide humans with biological immortality, but not invulnerability to death by disease or physical trauma; although mind uploading could solve that if it proved possible. Whether the process of internal endoimmortality is delivered within the upcoming years depends chiefly on research (and in neuron research in the case of endoimmortality through an immortalized cell line) in the former view and perhaps is an awaited goal in the latter case.

Jako nesmrtelnost se označuje nemožnost úmrtí, věčný život ve fyzické nebo spirituální formě. V užším smyslu se jako nesmrtelnost označuje nemožnost úmrtí věkem. Nesmrtelnost je pouze hypotetická vlastnost, která nebyla prokázána, nicméně se často objevuje v mytologii, pověstech a také v kultuře. Někdy je chápána pozitivně, ale často je věčný život považován za prokletí.


Terminology.

A flyer is also called a "circular", "handbill", "pamphlet", "poster", "lit'" (literature), "weekly ad", "catalogue" or "leaflet".

Usage.

Flyers may be used by individuals, businesses, not-for-profit organizations or governments to:  Like postcards, pamphlets and small posters, flyers are a low-cost form of mass marketing or communication. There are many different flyer formats. Some examples include: Flyers are inexpensive to produce and they required only a basic printing press from the 18th century to the 20th century. Their widespread use intensified in the 1990s with the spread of less expensive desktop publishing systems. In the 2010s, inexpensive black and white flyers can be produced with just a personal computer and a computer printer. In the 2010s, the ordering of flyers through traditional printing services has been supplanted by Internet services. Customers send designs, review proofs online or via e-mail and receive the final products by mail.  Flyers are not a new medium: prior to the War of American Independence some colonists were outraged with the Stamp Act (1765) and gathered together in anti-stamp act congresses and meetings. In these congresses they had to win support, and issued handbills and leaflets, pamphlets, along with other written paraphernalia, to do so.  In the 2000s, some jurisdictions have laws or ordinances banning or restricting leafleting or flyering in certain locations. Owners of private property may put up signs saying "Post No Bills"; this occurs particularly on wooden fences surrounding building sites or vacant lots.

Distribution and use.

Flyers are handed out on the street (a practice known as "flyering" or "leafleting"), distributed door-to-door through the mail, posted on bulletin boards, put under windshield wipers of cars, given away at events or on the street, or affixed to telephone poles, walls, or other surfaces. Bulletin boards are found on college campuses, in cafés, community meeting houses, laundromats and small markets. Cheap to produce, contemporary flyers are frequently produced in 300 g/m glossy card, whereas a leaflet might be produced on a 130 g/m–170 g/m weight paper and can be a very effective form of direct marketing.  In the 2010s, some individuals and organizations send flyers through e-mail, a tactic that avoids spending money on paper, printing and mailing or hiring people to post the flyers on telephone poles or hand them out. The electronic may be embedded into the body of the e-mail or added as an attachment to be opened.

A flyer (or flier) is a form of paper advertisement intended for wide distribution and typically posted or distributed in a public place, handed out to individuals or sent through the mail. In the 2010s, flyers range from inexpensively photocopied leaflets to expensive, glossy, full-color circulars.

Leták je zpravidla tištěný dokument propagující nějaký výrobek, činnost, firmu, myšlenku, politickou stranu apod. (Více o reklamních (akčních) letácích) Jedná se o neperiodickou tiskovinu, zpravidla jednoúčelově zaměřenou. V dobách nesvobody může být jedním z levných nástrojů politického odboje, neboť jeho provizorní výroba v primitivních podmínkách není příliš náročná.


Innate.

The innate immune response is an organism's first response to foreign invaders. This immune response is evolutionary conserved across many different species with all multi-cellular organisms having some sort of variation of an innate response. The innate immune system consists of physical barriers such as skin and mucous membranes, various cell types like neutrophils, macrophages, and monocytes, and soluble factors including cytokines and complement. In contrast to the adaptive immune response, the innate response is not specific to any one foreign invader and as a result, works quickly to rid the body of pathogens.  Pathogens are recognized and detected via pattern recognition receptors (PRR). These receptors are structures on the surface of macrophages which are capable of binding foreign invaders and thus initiating cell signalling within the immune cell. Specifically, the PRRs identify pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) which are integral structural components of pathogens. Examples of PAMPs include the peptidoglycan cell wall or LPS, both of which are essential components of bacteria and are therefore evolutionarily conserved across many different bacterial species.  When a foreign pathogen bypasses the physical barriers and enters an organism, the PRRs on macrophages will recognize and bind to specific PAMPs. This binding results in the activation of a signalling pathway which allows for the transcription factor NF-κB to enter the nucleus of the macrophage and initiate the transcription and eventual secretion of various cytokines such as Il-8, Il-1, and TNFα. Release of these cytokines is necessary for the entry of neutrophils from the blood vessels to the infected tissue. Once neutrophils enter the tissue, like macrophages, they are able to phagocytize and kill any pathogens or microbes.  Complement, another component of the innate immune system, consists of three pathways that are activated in distinct ways. Each of the three pathways ensures that complement will still be functional if one pathway ceases to work or a foreign invader is able to evade one of these pathways.

Adaptive.

The adaptive immune response is the body's second line of defense. The cells of the adaptive immune system are extremely specific because during early developmental stages the B and T cells develop antigen receptors that are specific to only certain antigens. This is extremely important for B and T cell activation. B and T cells are extremely dangerous cells, and if they are able to attack without undergoing a rigorous process of activation, a faulty B or T cell can begin exterminating the host's own healthy cells. Activation of naïve helper T cells occurs when antigen-presenting cells (APCs) present foreign antigen via MHC class II molecules on their cell surface. These APCs include dendritic cells, B cells, and macrophages which are specially equipped not only with MHC class II but also with co-stimulatory ligands which are recognized by co-stimulatory receptors on helper T cells. Without the co-stimulatory molecules, the adaptive immune response would be inefficient and T cells would become anergic. Several T cell subgroups can be activated by professional APCs, and each T cell is specially equipped to deal with each unique microbial pathogen. The type of T cell activated and the type of response generated depends, in part, on the context in which the APC first encountered the antigen. Once helper T cells are activated, they are able to activate naïve B cells in the lymph node. However, B cell activation is a two-step process. Firstly, B cell receptors, which are just IgM and IgD antibodies specific to the particular B cell, must bind to the antigen which then results in internal processing so that it is presented on the MHC class II molecules of the B cell. Once this happens a T helper cell which is able to identify the antigen bound to the MHC interacts with its co-stimulatory molecule and activates the B cell. As a result, the B cell becomes a plasma cell which secretes antibodies that act as an opsonin against invaders.  Specificity in the adaptive branch is due to the fact that every B and T cell is different. Thus there is a diverse community of cells ready to recognize and attack a full range of invaders. The trade-off, however, is that the adaptive immune response is much slower than the body's innate response because its cells are extremely specific and activation is required before it is able to actually act. In addition to specificity, the adaptive immune response is also known for immunological memory. After encountering an antigen, the immune system produces memory T and B cells which allow for a speedier, more robust immune response in the case that the organism ever encounters the same antigen again.

An immune response is a reaction which occurs within an organism for the purpose of defending against foreign invaders. These invaders include a wide variety of different microorganisms including viruses, bacteria, parasites, and fungi which could cause serious problems to the health of the host organism if not cleared from the body. There are two distinct aspects of the immune response, the innate and the adaptive, which work together to protect against pathogens. The innate branch—the body's first reaction to an invader—is known to be a non-specific and quick response to any sort of pathogen. Components of the innate immune response include physical barriers like the skin and mucous membranes, immune cells such as neutrophils, macrophages, and monocytes, and soluble factors including cytokines and complement. On the other hand, the adaptive branch is the body's immune response which is catered against specific antigens and thus, it takes longer to activate the components involved. The adaptive branch include cells such as dendritic cells, T cell, and B cells as well as antibodies—also known as immunoglobulins—which directly interact with antigen and are a very important component for a strong response against an invader.

Imunitní reakce či také imunitní odpověď je souhrn procesů, jimiž tělo reaguje na setkání s antigeny. Zahrnuje životně důležité funkce imunitního systému (imunita vůči patogenům atp.), ale i tělu nebezpečné autoimunitní a alergické reakce.


Kashubian studies.

Hilferding is credited with having coined the term Slovincians (Polish, Słowińcy) to describe the Lutheranized Wends of Hinter Pomerania (also sometimes called "Lebakaschuben"). The story has spread all over the Internet, but it seems unlikely that he actually did so. The term Slovincian evidently existed long before Hilferding's time. The Lutheran pastors Simon Krofey (1586) and Michael Pontanus (German, Brüggemann; 1643) speak of a "slowinzischen" language (which they call "wendisch" in German and—by mistaken association—"vandalicus" in Latin). Friederich von Dreger, Prussian "Kriegs- und Domänenrat" in Pomerania, wrote in 1748: “Die meisten Dörfer, sonderlich in Hinterpommern, sind von Wenden bewohnt geblieben, wie denn auch jenseits dem Stolpischen Fluss die wendische Sprache von den Bauern noch gebraucht, auch noch der Gottesdienst in selbiger gehalten wird, welche Sprache man irrig die cassubische heisst, weil Cassuben, Pommern, Pohlen zwar eine sprache gehabt, das eigentliche cassubische Land aber gewesen, wo nun Belgard... Neustettin, Dramburg und Schievelbein belegen ist.” (Most villages [in the region], especially in Hinter Pomerania, remain inhabited by Wends, who also still use the Wendish tongue of the peasants on the other side of the river Stolp [Polish, Słupia River], and church services are held in the same, a language wrongly called Cassubian, because Cassubians, Pomeranias, [and] Poles indeed had one language, but the actual Cassubian lands were where Belgard... Neustettin, Dramburg and Schievelbein lie.) The Slovincians seem, however, to have used the name of themselves as merely a synonym for Cassubian, saying, when asked: "Wir sind Slowinzen, Slowinzen und Kaschuben ist dasselbe" (We are Slovincians, Slovincians and Kassubians are the same). Florian Ceynowa and Hilferding were not the only ones to study the language and legends of the Kashubians, but they had the greatest influence and prompted others to take up investigations. The individual character of the Kashubian character and language was first described by Hilferding, to whom we are indebted for the first data about the range of Kashubian dialects. In 1856 he travelled to the Kashubia and demarcated the borders of contemporary Kashubian Pomerania. He researched the Kashubian language, describing its properties and origins.

Comparative linguistics.

As Hilferding is mostly known for his works on Slovincians, the other important side of his work - research into the relations of Slavonic to Sanskrit is often overlooked. Soon after graduating the St. Petersburg University in 1853 he wrote an Essay "О сродстве языка славянского с санскритским/O srodstve jazyka slavjanskogo s sanskritskim" (On cognation of Slavonic language with Sanskrit). In this work he made the first scientific and systematic comparison of the phonetic correspondences between the two languages and provided a list of several hundred cognate words. It is particularly important that, being an expert in many Slavonic languages and not just Russian, and having knowledge of the Russian dialects, Hilferding did not limit this list to Russian but it embraced all the principal Slavonic languages. Although some of his etymologies have been proven incorrect, his essay stands unsurpassed even today and is unduly forgotten. These are some quotes from the Introduction to this book:  "Linguistics is yet a very young science. Therefore, although it has attained great achievements in the course of its 36 year existence, there are still considerable gaps in it. One of the most significant gaps is the Slavonic language. The science of Linguistics had its start in Germany and it owes to the German scholars its most important discoveries. It is natural that they, while keeping as the base Sanskrit - the language that has preserved most truthfully the primordial state of the Indo-European tongue, dispersed, distorted or lost in other cognate languages, mainly expounded the languages that were better known to them, namely Greek, Latin and all German dialects. Other languages attracted much less of their attention. Yet it is strange that out of all other languages Slavonic takes the last place in their works. They would rather base their conclusions on the Zend language or Lithuanian or Celtic then on the rich and flourishing language of the tribe occupying the Eastern part of Europe. This phenomenon is hard to explain: they are either unable to lean the Slavonic language (yet they could indeed learn a language which was not known to anybody with an unknown writing - the Ancient Persian), or they are lost in the multitude of Slavonic dialects having equal importance for a scientist, or they do not want to touch the subject which should be developed by Slavs themselves. Whatever it was, the comparative linguistics, created in the West by German scientists, does not have the knowledge of the Slavonic language; it only knows that there is a rather rich language in the Indo-European family known as Slavonic. But what is this language? What is its relation to the cognate languages? Do not ask this from the Linguistics of our Western neighbours."  Hilferding believed that it was imperative to study the relations of Slavonic to other Indo-European languages after clearing up the relation between Slavonic and Sanskrit. He planned to make a number of essays on this subject and particularly on the relations between Lithuanian and Sanskrit. Unfortunately, this work was interrupted by the untimely death in 1872.

Alexander Hilferding (; 14 July 1831 in Warsaw, Congress Poland – 2 July 1872 in Kargopol) was a Russian linguist and folklorist of German descent who collected some 318 bylinas in the Russian North. A native of Warsaw, he assisted Nikolay Milyutin in reforming the administration of Congress Poland. In the late 1850s, he was a Russian diplomatic agent in Bosnia; he published several books about the country and its folklore, thanks to the collaborative efforts of Prokopije Čokorilo. Hilferding was elected into the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1856. He died of typhoid while collecting folk songs in Kargopol, in the north of European Russia, and was later reburied in the Novodevichy Cemetery, St. Petersburg. Hilferding's collection of Slavonic manuscripts is preserved in the Russian National Library.

Aleksandr Fjodorovič Hilferding, také "Gilferding" (, 14. července 1831, Varšava – 2. července 1872, Kargopol) byl ruský slavista a jazykovědec německého původu. Je autorem díla "Ostatki Slavjan na južnom beregu Baltijskogo morja".


Geological definition.

The Western Carpathians are separated from the Alps by the valley of the river Danube (only from the geographical point of view; the geological boundary is the so-called Carnuntum gate) and the Raaba line. To the east, the boundary with the Eastern Carpathians is placed formally in the valley of the river Uzh, but many tectonic divisions consider the Hornád fault system on the line Košice – Prešov the real geological boundary. The northern boundary is the thrust front that separates the nappes from the Carpathian Foredeep. In Bohemia the line Znojmo-Přerov-Karviná approximately forms the western boundary of the Western Carpathians. The southern boundary is not distinct (because of the interfingering boundary between the Carpathians and lowlands of the Pannonian Basin). According to some views it is south of the Bükk and Mátra mountains in Hungary.

Geological structure.

There are several interpretations of the tectonic structure of the Western Carpathians. For quite a long time, the triple division has been used (Outer, Central and Inner Western Carpathians), while some geologists prefer the classical double division (Outer and Inner Carpathians). Other ideas of division may differ, such as morphotectonic (based on geology and geomorphology) or regional geology. Tectonic division applied in this article is based on the division of Plašienka and others in 1997, later modified in 1999 and in 2002 together with Kováč, although it cannot be considered definitive.  The three main areas of the Inner, Central, and Outer Western Carpathians are divided by two sutures. The Meliata suture is an area of closure of the Triassic-Jurassic Meliata Ocean during the Kimmerian phase. It constitutes the boundary between the Central and Inner Western Carpathians. The position of the boundary is disputable; different authors place the Meliata suture in different areas. It is identified with the Rožňava line, Lubeník-Margecany Line, or possibly placed even more to the South. The second important suture is called the Peri-Pieninic lineament, roughly copying the structure of Pieniny Klippen Belt. This important dislocation divides the Central and Outer Western Carpathians. Deeper under the sediments it constitutes the boundary between the Central Carpathian basement rocks and the foreland – the Bohemian Massif and East European craton (Podolia platform). Since the 1980s the dividing line has been considered the suture of the Vahic Ocean – the Eastern continuation of the Piemont-Liguria Ocean.

Foreland.

The foreland of the Western Carpathians in the West and North is composed of the Bohemian Massif and Cracow Plateau. In the Northeast it is formed by the rock of the East European craton. These areas were consolidated earlier than the Carpathians. The Bohemian Massif, which is the youngest part of the foreland, evolved during the Hercynian orogeny about 200 million years before the orogeny in the Carpathians.

Outer Western Carpathians.

The Outer Western Carpathians were formed during orogeny that took part since the Upper Cretaceous (Senonian) and Miocene periods, which is later than the Central Western Carpathians. Pieniny Klippen Belt was affected by thrusting together with the Central Carpathians and later folded and thrusted again together with the Flysch Belt.

Foredeep.

Thrust of the Carpathians on their foreland caused a flexure of the lower continental plate under the frontal part of the nappes. This flexured area, called the Carpathian Foredeep, was filled by thick formations of molasse, prevailingly marls, sandstones and conglomerates that were formed in the Oligocene to Miocene periods by erosion of the growing Carpathians. Nevertheless, the foredeep is not generally folded; flysch nappes thrusted from the south partially folded the rock underneath. The whole zone of the foredeep is developed in the foreland of the Alps, and runs through the Moravia to the Ostrava Basin and further East to Poland, Ukraine, and Romania.

Flysch Belt.

The Flysch Belt was named after a characteristic alteration of sandstone and claystone, so called flysch, occurring in the Cretaceous to Paleogene (possibly Miocene) age in the area. The belt is the accretionary wedge of the Carpathians. The Flysch Belt also contains a small volume of Cenozoic volcanic rocks. The zone originally consisted of a set of more sedimentary basins that were in constant tectonic transformation. Raised parts of the basins formed elevations, which were eroded and supplied deeper parts of the basin with clastic sediments that were brought by turbidity currents. Orogeny affected the area at the end of the Paleogene and in the beginning of the Neogene in the so-called Savian phase. Other portions were also affected by the Styrian phase, which caused partial thrusting over the Foredeep. Nappes were formed by gradual compression of the sedimentary basins that caused their inversion and separation of sedimentary successions from their basement and their movement for distance of 20 – 30 km, and possibly more. Nappes were formed in two phases: the outer (Northern) or lower group of nappes called the Silezia-Krosno Belt, and the overriding internal (Southern) Magura Belt. Nappes are thrust over their foreland in the form of tectonic slices. At least part of the Flysch Belt was an Eastern continuation of the Alpine Penninic Zone, probably the Valais branch. A direct continuation of the Alpine Rhine-Danube Flysch can be seen. The Flysch Belt continues through Bohemia, Slovakia, and Poland, and joins the Moldavian Flysch in the Ukraine and Romania.

Central Western Carpathians.

The Central Western Carpathians, sometimes referred as the Slovakocarpathian system, are a zone bounded by the Pieniny Klippen Belt from the North and the Meliata Belt from the South. The Pieniny Klippen Belt is a relatively thin but important dividing line separating the Outer Western Carpathians from the internal zones of orogeny. Together with the similar units of the Peri-Klippen zone it constitutes the Považie-Pieniny Belt. The largest portion of the Western Carpathians consists of the zone built of granitic and metamorphic rock (that metamorphic grade is generally higher in the North and lower in the South), and sedimentary cover overridden by thrust nappes of Mesozoic carbonate rocks. The zone consists of the Tatra-Fatra Belt of core mountains, the Vepor Belt, and the Gemer Belt. In their predominantly crystalline basement zones called the Tatric, Veporic, and Gemeric, thrusting (thick-skinned) is also present, but not as apparent. Geophysical investigation confirmed that the Gemeric is thrusted over the Veporic, and the Veporic over the Tatric. The Central Western Carpathians formerly constituted a portion of the East European craton continental shelf, and were situated more to the West, in the area of the present Switzerland, laterally joining the Outer Carpathians (represented by the Oravic). During the release of tension within the Alpine collision tectonic events, the stress was released to the flanks of the thrust belt, which caused the tectonic escape of the material. Central Western Carpathians were consequently pushed in the Northeast direction from the Alpine to Carpathian domain.

Považie-Pieniny Belt.

The Považie-Pieniny Belt has a complicated imbricated structure, represented especially by the Pieniny Klippen Belt. It consists of Oravic, Gossau Group, and Magura units, as well as Inner-Carpathian units (e.g. Manín and Drietoma unit etc.). Placement of the Pieniny Klippen Belt into the Central Western Carpathians is ambiguous, because most authors consider Pieniny Klippen Belt as part of the Outer Carpathians. The Považie-Pieniny Belt is divided into three zones: the Brezová, Peri-Klippen, and Klippen zones. Relatively thin and complicated, the Pieniny Klippen Belt creates a boundary, a tectonic suture, between the Outer and Central Western Carpathians. Only rock younger than the Triassic is known in this zone. Exclusively nonmetamorphic sedimentary successions are composed especially of limestones and marls. In the Jurassic period, the ocean that opened in the area of the Pieniny Klippen Belt is called the Vahic Ocean (or the South Penninic). Its preserved sedimentary successions are in the present erosion cut known only from the Vahic unit. The Vahic domain was bounded from the North by the slopes of the Oravic, and from the South by the Tatric unit. The subsiding part of the Oravic unit formed the Kysuca Basin. The most shallow part of the Oravic unit was characterized by deposition of shallow water limestones of Czorsztyn unit. To the South, closer to the deep water Kysuca Basin, other transitional units were deposited. In the deepest part of the Kysuca Basin, sediments of Kysuca-Pieniny unit were deposited. The Vahic domain had extended and deepened during its history. In the Upper Cretaceous to Paleocene, the thrusting of the southern units of Tatric caused inversion or subduction of the Vahic Ocean that was followed by collision of the Oravic and Tatric units. As a result of these processes, deformation and North vergent thrusting of the Oravic units in the form of nappes occurred. After the end of compression, marly and flysch-like sedimentation (so-called klippe envelope sediments) continued on the top of the nappe stack. Later in the Paleogene, another phase of orogeny affected the Pieniny Klippen Belt. It squeezed the former nappe stack and the rocks of different rheology (competent limestones, soft flysch, and marls) were deformed in different ways, which caused the rupture of more dense rock and ductile deformation of the less dense rock. Complicated arrangement of particular tectonic units was later affected by strike-slip motion in the area of the Peri-Pieniny Lineament in the Miocene. Consequent erosion dissected the rigid limestone tectonic lenses to the shape of protruding klippes (e.g. Vršatské bradlá in Western Slovakia). The zone of klippes stretches almost uninterrupted from the Podbranč in Western Slovakia to the Poiana Botizei in Northeastern Romanian.

Tatra-Fatra Belt of core mountains.

South of the Pieniny Klippen Belt, the zone of core mountains is present. The core is formed by the Tatric unit composed predominantly by Paleozoic metamorphic rock, younger plutonic rock, and Carboniferous to Mesozoic sedimentary cover. Basement rock was formed during the Hercynian orogeny when a strong regional metamorphism affected the area. Paragneisses and amphibolites are most abundant, but low grade metamorphic rock is also present. Later, at the end of Hercynian orogeny in the Carboniferous and Permian, the area was intruded by granitic rock and strongly affected by erosion, which affected even the deeply situated granites. The autochthonous Carboniferous, Permian and most commonly Mesozoic sediments are onlaping the crystalline basement. They are represented by greywackes, quartz sandstones, shales, limestones, and marls. Sedimentary cover of the Tatric unit is overridden by Mesozoic nappes. Nappes are large slabs of the Mesozoic carbonate rock with similar sedimentary sequence as present in the Tatric cover. There are two so-called Subtatric nappes: the lower called the Kížna nappe (or the Fatric) and the upper called Choč nappe (or the Hronic). The Fatric is characterised by the occurrence of thicker formations of the Carpathian Keuper. The Hronic is typical with the occurrence of Permian andesitic-basalts (so called Ipoltica Group) and a larger thickness of variable Triassic carbonate rock. Thrusting of the nappes took place in the Upper Cretaceous, probably during the Turonian. The whole area was not so rangy as it is today. Uplift of the mountains took place at the end of the Oligocene and in the Miocene. It caused the uplift of the horsts, usually asymmetric, on the South flank, steeply bounded by normal faults and slightly declining to the North flank. The crystalline basement is usually uncovered on the South flank of the horsts. The horsts form two rows of mountains. The northern (outer) row consists of the Malé Karpaty Mts. (Pezinok part and Hainburg Mts.), Považský Inovec Mts., Strážovské vrchy Mts., Malá Fatra Mts., and Tatra Mts. The Southern row of core mountains includes the Tríbeč Mts., Žiar Mts., Veľká Fatra Mts., Chočské vrchy Mts., The Eastern part of Nízke Tatry Mts. (so called Ďumbierske Tatry) and Branisko Mts..

Vepor Belt.

The Vepor Belt is a zone South of the belt of core mountains. The dividing line is called the Čertovica line. A characteristic feature of the Vepor belt is medium Alpine regional metamorphism. The largest area of this zone is formed by the Veporic unit. Crystalline basement rock is most abundant in this area, and the largest granitic pluton in the Western Carpathians is present here. It was formed during the Hercynian orogeny. Mesozoic sedimentary cover is preserved only locally. The Veporic unit was the root area of the Krížna nappe (Fatric) that was formerly situated in the inverted Zliechov Basin on the northern rim of the Veporic, close to the Tatric. Inversion of the basin took place in the Upper Cretaceous and was accompanied by intrusion of a small body of granite. In addition to nappe outliers of the Choč nappe (Hronic) and part of the Krížna nappe (Fatric), there is also a large body of Muráň nappe (Silicic unit). The Veporic is partially thrusted over the Tatric and lies under the Gemeric unit. The nappe stack of the Veporic and Gemeric later collapsed and evolved in the Veporic metamorphic core complex. The Vepor Belt forms the Eastern part of the Nízke Tatry Mts. (Kráľovohoľské Tatry), Vepor Mts., Kozie chrbty Mts., southern portion of the Branisko Mts. and Čierna hora Mts.. On the South it is divided from the Slovak Ore Mountains by the Lubeník-Margecany Line that is a gently dipping thrust fault.

Gemer Belt.

The Gemer Belt is a zone of predominantly crystalline rock, partially thrusted over the Veporic. The most important portion of the zone is the Gemeric unit, unlike the other Carpathian units with signs of low grade (greenschist facies) Hercynian metamorphic overprint. The Gemeric is the uppermost basement-involved unit of the Central Western Carpathians. It is made by phyllites, quartzites, porphyrys and limestones commonly metamorphosed to siderite and magnesite. Granites are less abundant. Permian volcanic activity formed the uraninite mineralization. Later, during the Mesozoic, limestones and dolomite were deposited. In the Upper Jurassic, after the closure of the Meliata Ocean, nappes of the Meliatic and Tornaic were thrust from the South. In the Upper Cretaceous, Silicic nappe was thrust over the previous. At the end of Paleogene, the Gemeric Belt was deformed and uplifted. This zone forms the Slovak Ore Mountains, Galmus, and Slovak Karst.

Internal Western Carpathians.

The Internal Western Carpathians are divided from the Central Western Carpathians by the Rožňava line, which is partly covered by the décollement nappes. The Rožňava line is largely a conceptual one and is perceived differently by different authors. According to assumptions, the fault joins the Raaba-Hurbanovo line on the West. Other problem of exact definition of boundary between the Internal and Central Western Carpathians are views of the structure of the Meliatic unit. The Internal Western Carpathians are composed generally of the tectonic units originating from the area of the former Meliata-Halstatt Ocean or South of it. This zone is built of the Meliata, Bükk, Transdanubian, and Zemplín Belt. There are large nappes of Mesozoic carbonates (Silicic, Meliatic, Tornaic), which are not affected by metamorphism and are characteristic with typical affinity to the South Alps-Dinaride facies.

Meliata Belt.

The Meliata Belt is a remnant of the Triassic-Jurassic Meliata ocean (or back-arc basin). The principal structural unit of the belt is Meliatic, composed of rocks of the subduction mélange – deep water shales, radiolarites, basalts of oceanic type and marbles. The unit of the uncertain arrangement, which is according to some authors part of the Meliatic, is the Bôrka Nappe, composed of the obducted blueschists. The Silicic and Tornaic unit probably originate from the Southern continental shelf of the Meliata Ocean. The Silicic is the nappe characteristic with larger thickness of shallow water limestones of Wetterstein facies. The Tornaic nappe was probably a transitional area between the Silicic and Meliatic. Nappes in the Meliata Belt were thrust to the North and now consist mostly of outliers lying on the Gemeric and Veporic units, constituting the Slovak Karst and Aggtelek Karst on the Slovak-Hungarian border.

Bükk Belt.

To the south of the previous area there is the Bükkic unit, which bears the signs of the transitional zone between the Western Carpathians and the Dinarides. Rock of the Bükkic occurs in the north Hungarian mountain Bükk. It consists generally of the Paleozoic shales, carbonates, and sandstones, but also overlying younger Mesozoic carbonates and volcanic rocks. Sedimentation continued to the Jurassic when the nappes of unclear vergence were thrust. The zone was later in the Cretaceous affected by low grade metamorphism. During the subduction of the Meliata-Halstatt Ocean in the Upper Jurassic, the back-arc basin evolved. This basin was later inverted and it was probably the root zone of the Mónosbél-Szarvaskő nappe.

Transdanubian Belt.

The Transdanubian or the Bakony Belt principal tectonic unit called the Transdanubicum occurs in the Transdanubian Mountains (Bakony, Gerecse, Vértes, and Buda Mountains). It consists of the low grade metamorphic Paleozoic and Mesozoic rock and Cenozoic sedimentary cover.

Zemplín Belt.

A tectonic unit of uncertain position is the Zemplinic in the horst of the Zemplín Mts., emerging from the Cenozoic sedimentary fill of the Eastern Slovakia Basin. The Zemplinic is according to some authors either assigned to the separate belts (Zemplín Belt or Sub-Vihorlat Belt) or considered as a part of the separate terrane Tisia-Dacia. Some geologists assign it to the Southern Veporic, the Gemeric unit, or even to the Eastern Carpathians. The Zemplinic is the only place of occurrence of the Precambrian rock in the Western Carpathians. They are composed of the paragneisses, amphibolites, and migmatites, together with Post-Hercynian Carboniferous and Permian conglomerates and thin beds of black coal.

Post-nappe units.

The Jurassic-Cretaceous tectonic structure was later changed by various types of the overstep complexes: the Central Carpathian Paleogene Basin, Buda Paleogene Basin, Vienna Basin (Neogene, pull-apart type), Pannonian Basin (or the Danube Basin), and the volcanic complexes: Neogene volcanics of Carpathians (or just Neovolcanis).

Volcanism.

Paleozoic and Mesozoic volcanism.

The oldest forms of volcanism, which affected the area of the Western Carpathians, are hardly recognized because of later tectonic processes and destruction by erosion.  Significant volcanic activity took place in the Lower Paleozoic in the Malé Karpaty Mts., where the relicts are seen in the rock of the Pernek Group with typical basic volcanism. Large volumes of volcanic rock, considered a product of stratovolcanos, significantly changed by metamorphism, are present in the Gemeric. Basic volcanism is recognized in the Carboniferous and Permian rock. Among the Permian rock the Ipoltica Group of the Hronic nappe is best known. The lower part of the group is called the Malužiná Formation. It is characteristic of synsedimentary dacite to andesite volcanism in the lower part and andesitic-basalts close to the Tholeitic type in the upper part. Nodules of hydrothermal agate are common in the cavities of these rocks, widely known as the melaphyres. According to some authors, Permian volcanism in Hronic has polyphase linear character.  Mesozoic volcanic processes are more distinct and known from all zones of the Western Carpathians. There are Triassic effusives in the rock of Fatric and Hronic of the Malá Fatra Mts. and Nízke Tatry Mts. Picrites are known around Banská Bystrica. Cretaceous těšínites (subvolcanic alcalic gabbro) were found in the Slesian zone of the Flysch Belt. Remnants of destructed ophiolites with N-MORB basalts in the upper part are present in the rock of the Meliatic.

Cenozoic volcanism.

Post nappe volcanic activity in the Carpathians is simply called Neovolcanism. It took place from the Neogene (Lower Badenian) to the Quaternary, mostly in the internal portion of the Carpathian arc (on a smaller scale also in the external Carpathians). Three main phases of the volcanic activity are distinguished:

Metamorphism.

The occurrence of metamorphosed crystalline rock in the Western Carpathians is known from the Tatric, Veporic, Gemeric, and Zemplinic zones. Existing research has clearly demonstrated traces of the Hercynian and Alpine orogeny. Although some authors suggest the possible presence of the older Cadomian or Caledonian metamorphic cycles, existence of the Precambrian metamorphic cycles was not confirmed because of the later metamorphic overprint.  Caledonian metamorphism has not been clearly proved, but some signs are present in amphibolites of the Malé Karpaty Mts. (about 395 million years old) or the granite of Sihla type in the Veporic (about 370–380 million years old). More common is the Hercynian metamorphism, which is associated with regional and periplutonic metamorphism caused by intrusions of granitic rock, diapthoresis and low grade metamorphism of volcanosedimentary formations of several tectonic units to the greenschist facies. Signs of the Alpine metamorphism, which took place 75–107 million years ago, are well preserved in the Mesozoic formations of the Tatric, Gemeric, and especially Veporic. Special subduction related metamorphism to blueschist facies is known from the Bôrka nappe.

Earthquakes.

The Western Carpathians are from the neotectonic point of view part of the ALCAPA block. Main earthquakes in the ALCAPA were located in the subduction arc of the Hellenides and Calabrids. Deep focus earthquakes are known only from the zone of Vrancea, where the subduction is still active. No deep focused earthquakes related to subduction were recorded in the Western Carpathians. A period of significant continental collision and shortening of the crust affected the area in the Miocene. Later, primarily extensional and strike-slip movement in the Neogene generated new or reactivated older faults. There are five principal earthquake zones located in the area of the Western Carpathians: the Pezinok-Pernek zone, which is a continuation of the faults responsible for formation of the Vienna Basin, the Dobrá Voda zone with the most intensive and most shallow earthquakes around the Dobrá Voda fault, the Komáro zone of earthquakes, which joins the Rába-Hurbanovo-Darnó fault (also known as Raaba linie), separating the Pelso unit from the Inner Carpathian crystalline basement, the Žilina zone of earthquakes, related to the ongoing collision and strike-slip movement in the Pieniny Klippen Belt, and the Central Slovakia zone, which is probably the result of tectonic activity of the Central Slovak fault.

The Western Carpathians are an arc-shaped mountain range, the northern branch of the Alpine-Himalayan fold and thrust system called the Alpide belt, which evolved during the Alpine orogeny. In particular, their pre-Cenozoic evolution is very similar to that of the Eastern Alps, and they constitute a transition between the Eastern Alps and the Eastern Carpathians.

Západní Karpaty jsou pásemné pohoří obloukového tvaru. Jsou součástí alpsko-himálajské vrásově-příkrovové soustavy, hlavně její severní větve, které jsou označovány jako alpidy. Západní Karpaty (někdy v geologické literatuře označované i jako Severní Karpaty) jsou nejseverněji položeným alpinským pohořím. Západní Karpaty, hlavně jejich předterciérní vývoj je velmi blízký východním Alpám a tvoří přechodný celek mezi Alpami a východními Karpaty.


Folklore.

Description and attributes.

The each-uisge, a supernatural water horse found in the Scottish Highlands, has been described as "perhaps the fiercest and most dangerous of all the water-horses" by the folklorist Katharine Briggs. Often mistaken for the kelpie (which inhabits streams and rivers), the each-uisge lives in the sea, sea lochs, and fresh water lochs. The each-uisge is a shape-shifter, disguising itself as a fine horse, pony, a handsome man or an enormous bird such as a boobrie. If, while in horse form, a man mounts it, he is only safe as long as the each-uisge is ridden in the interior of land. However, the merest glimpse or smell of water means the end of the rider, for the each-uisge's skin becomes adhesive and the creature immediately goes to the deepest part of the loch with its victim. After the victim has drowned, the each-uisge tears him apart and devours the entire body except for the liver, which floats to the surface.  In its human form it is said to appear as a handsome man, and can be recognised as a mythological creature only by the water weeds or profuse sand and mud in its hair. Because of this, people in the Highlands were often wary of lone animals and strangers by the water's edge, near where the each-uisge was reputed to live.  Cnoc-na-Bèist ("Hillock of the Monster") is the name of a knoll on the Isle of Lewis where an each-uisge was slain by the brother of a woman it tried to seduce, by the freshwater Loch a’ Mhuileinn ("Loch of the Mill").  Along with its human victims, cattle and sheep were also often prey to the each-uisge, and it could be lured out of the water by the smell of roasted meat. One story from John McKay's "More West Highland Tales" runs thus: The Scottish folklorist John Gregorson Campbell recorded numerous tales and traditions concerning the each-uisge. In one account a man who was about to be carried by the water horse into the loch was able to save himself by placing both feet on either side of a narrow gateway the horse was running through, thereby wrenching himself off its back through sheer force. A boy who had touched the horse with his finger and gotten stuck was able to save himself by cutting it off. A Highland freebooter encountered a water horse in its human form and fired his gun at it twice with no effect, but when he loaded it with a coin made of silver and fired again the man retreated and plunged back into the loch. The each-uisge is unpredictable. It has been known to venture forth on land and attack solitary individuals, while in other accounts it will allow itself to be used as farm labour until its owner gets on its back and is carried into the loch. In their predatory hunger water horses may even turn on their own kind if the scent of a previous human rider is strong enough on the monster's body.

Water horses and women.

The each-uisge also has a particular desire for human women. Campbell states that "any woman upon whom it set its mark was certain at last to become its victim." A young woman herding cattle encountered a water horse in the form of a handsome young man who laid his head in her lap and fell asleep. When he stretched himself she discovered that he had horse's hooves and quietly made her escape (in variations of the tale she finds the presence of water weeds or sand in his hair). In another account a water horse in human shape came to a woman's house where she was alone and attempted to court her, but all he got for his unwanted advances was boiling water hurled between his legs. He ran from the house roaring in pain. In a third tale a father and his three sons conspired to kill a water horse that came to the house to see the daughter. When they grabbed the young man he reverted to his equine form and would have carried them into the loch, but in the struggle they managed to slay him with their dirks. Despite its amorous tendencies, however, the each-uisge is just as likely to simply devour women in the same manner as its male victims.

Variants.

The aughisky or Irish water horse is similar in many respects to the Scottish version. It sometimes comes out of the water to gallop on land and, despite the danger, if the aughisky can be caught and tamed then it will make the finest of steeds provided it is not allowed to glimpse the ocean.  The cabyll-ushtey (or cabbyl-ushtey), the Manx water horse, is just as ravenous as the each-uisge though there are not as many tales told about it. One of them recounts how a cabbyl-ushtey emerged from the Awin Dhoo (Black River) and devoured a farmer's cow, then later it took his teenaged daughter.

Origins.

The appearance of the each-uisge on the Isle of Skye was described by Gordon in 1995 as having a parrot-like beak, and this, with its habit of diving suddenly, could be from real-life encounters with a sea turtle such as the leatherback sea turtle.

The each-uisge (, literally "water horse") is a water spirit in Scottish folklore, known as the each-uisce (anglicized as "aughisky" or "ech-ushkya") in Ireland and cabyll-ushtey on the Isle of Man. It usually takes the form of a horse, and is similar to the kelpie but far more vicious.

Each uisge (nebo také vodní kůň) je mýtický, skotský vodní duch, v Irsku je například nazývaný "Aughisky". Je defakto stejný jako kelpie, ale mnohem nebezpečnější.


Medical uses.

Bed wetting.

Desmopressin is used to treat nocturnal enuresis (bedwetting). It is usually prescribed in the form of desmopressin acetate, by mouth. Children taking DDAVP have 2.2 fewer wet nights per week and are 4.5 times more likely to sleep without disruption compared with placebo.

Nighttime urination.

Desmopressin has some benefit in adults who have problems with night time urination (known as nocturia). The FDA approved this use for those who make excess urine in 2017.

Bleeding disorders.

Desmopressin (DDAVP) is usually the first line treatment for mild to moderate type 1 von Willebrand disease. It is not recommended in severe disease or in those with abnormal factor VIII. Usefulness in type 2A, 2M, or 2N von Willebrand disease is variable. Generally not recommended in 2B and type 3 von Willebrand disease.  Desmopressin is only recommended in mild hemophilia A. It may be used both for bleeding due to trauma or to try to prevent bleeding due to surgery. It is not effective in the treatment of hemophilia B (factor IX deficiency) or severe hemophilia A. May also be used in uremia induced bleeding.

Diabetes insipidus.

Desmopressin is used in the treatment of central diabetes insipidus (DI) as a replacement for endogenous antidiuretic hormone (ADH) that is in insufficient quantity due to decreased or non-existent secretion or production of ADH by the posterior pituitary or hypothalamus, respectively. It is also used in the diagnostic workup for diabetes insipidus, in order to distinguish central from DI due to the kidneys. Desmopressin is not effective at treating nephrogenic DI, thus a positive response is generally indicative of central DI.

Side effects.

US drug regulators added warning to the "nasal sprays" after two people died and fifty-nine other people had seizures. This occurred due to hyponatremia, a deficit of the body's sodium levels, and the nasal spray is no longer approved for use in children in the United States. However, US drug regulators have said that desmopressin tablets can still be considered safe for treatment of nocturnal enuresis in children as long as the person is otherwise healthy.  Patients must stop taking desmopressin if they develop severe vomiting and diarrhea, fever, the flu, or severe cold. Patients should also be very cautious about taking desmopressin during hot weather conditions or following strenuous exercise, as these conditions can place stress on the body's electrolyte and water balance.  A body needs to maintain a balance of water and (sodium). If sodium levels become too low (hyponatremia) – either as a result of increased water take-up or reduced salt levels – a person may have seizures and, in extreme cases, may die.

Mechanism of action.

Desmopressin works by limiting the amount of water that is eliminated in the urine; that is, it is an antidiuretic. It works at the level of the renal collecting duct by binding to V2 receptors, which signal for the translocation of aquaporin channels via cytosolic vesicles to the apical membrane of the collecting duct. The presence of these aquaporin channels in the distal nephron causes increasing water reabsorption from the urine, which becomes passively re-distributed from the nephron to systemic circulation by way of basolateral membrane channels. Desmopressin also stimulates release of von Willebrand factor from endothelial cells by acting on the V2 receptor.  Desmopressin is degraded more slowly than recombinant vasopressin, and requires less frequent administration. In addition, it has little effect on blood pressure, while vasopressin may cause arterial hypertension. Vasopressin stimulates the release of ACTH, which indirectly increases responsiveness of alpha-1 receptor in blood vessel smooth muscle, increasing vessel tone and blood pressure. Several studies have shown that Desmopressin does not stimulate ACTH release (except in Cushing's Disease), and therefore does not directly raise blood pressure, however, one study showed that it stimulates ACTH release in over 50% of healthy subjects. Additionally, desmopressin is able to enhance ACTH and cortisol release in normal subjects following oCRH administration, but not in patients with anorexia nervosa.

Chemistry.

Desmopressin ("1-deamino-8--arginine vasopressin") is a man-made form of the normal human hormone arginine vasopressin (the antidiuretic hormone, or ADH), a peptide containing nine amino acids.  Compared to vasopressin, desmopressin's first amino acid has been deaminated, and the arginine at the eighth position is in the "dextro" rather than the "levo" form (see stereochemistry).

Desmopressin, sold under the trade name DDAVP among others, is a medication used to treat diabetes insipidus, bedwetting, hemophilia A, von Willebrand disease, and high blood urea levels. In hemophilia A and von Willebrand disease, it should only be used for mild to moderate cases. It may be given in the nose, by injection into a vein, by mouth, or under the tongue. Common side effects include headaches, diarrhea, and low blood sodium. The low blood sodium that results may cause seizures. It should not be used in people with significant kidney problems or low blood sodium. It appears to be safe to use during pregnancy. It is a synthetic version of vasopressin, the hormone that reduces urine production. Desmopressin was approved for medical use in the United States in 1978. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, the safest and most effective medicines needed in a health system. It is available as a generic medication. In the United States, a typical month's supply costs 100 to 200.

Desmopresin (DDAVP) je syntetický analog antidiuretického hormonu (vasopresinu). Používá se v léčbě onemocnění způsobených nedostatkem přirozeného vasopresinu v lidském těle. DDAVP má významnou schopnost zahušťovat moč a tedy snižovat její množství. Používá se v léčbě nočního pomočování (enurézy) a nykturie. Dále při léčbě mírnějších forem hemofilie A a von Willebrandova syndromu, urémií, vážných ledvinových onemocněních a při chirurgických zákrocích.