Career.

Bandini was born in Barce, Cyrenaica, Italian Libya, then an Italian colony. The family returned to Italy in 1939 and resided near Florence. When he was 15 his father died. Bandini left home and found a job as an apprentice mechanic in the Freddi workshop in Milan.  He made his way into auto racing from competing on motorcycles. He started racing cars in 1957 in a borrowed Fiat 1100. Goliardo Freddi, acknowledging Bandini's talent, decided to support him. Bandini would later marry Freddi's daughter, Margherita, in 1963, and remained involved with the family's garage in Milan.  He achieved a first class victory at the Mille Miglia, in a Lancia Appia Zagato, in 1958, and a class win the same year in the 500cc Berkeley in the 12-hour race at Monza. He then raced in Formula Junior until 1961. Bandini purchased a Volpini Formula Junior car and placed third in his first race in Sicily. In 1959 and 1960 he drove a Formula Junior Stanguellini. In 1960 he placed fourth in the Formula Junior World Championship.  In 1961 Bandini and fellow Italian driver Giancarlo Baghetti were both in contention for a seat at Ferrari. Ferrari opted for Baghetti, and Bandini went to drive for Guglielmo "Mimmo" Dei's Scuderia Centro Sud. At a non-championship race, he finished third at Pau. Bandini drove his first world championship race at Spa later in 1961. He retired with engine failure. During the winter of 1961-1962 he drove in the "Tasman" races in Australia and New Zealand.  In 1962 Bandini was hired by Ferrari for the 1962 and 1963 seasons, and moved to Maranello, near the team's headquarters. His debut in a works Ferrari at the Monaco Grand Prix, finishing third.  For 1963 Bandini was retained by Ferrari for sports car races only. Along with Ludovico Scarfiotti, he won the Le Mans 24 Hours race and placed second in the Targa Florio that year, occasionally racing in Formula One for Scuderia Centro Sud. His string of good results, including a fifth place at the British Grand Prix, convinced Ferrari to retain him as a Formula One driver as well for the rest of the season.  In 1964 Bandini had his best Formula One season. He won the first Austrian Grand Prix at the Zeltweg circuit and scored two more podiums in Germany and Italy. At the Mexican Grand Prix, Bandini was running second when he decided to let his teammate John Surtees pass, enabling him to score enough points to win the World Championship.  In 1965 Bandini won the Targa Florio.  In 1966 Surtees left Ferrari in mid-season. Bandini was promoted to team leader. He was unlucky not to win the French and US Grands Prix that year which he dominated before mechanical problems intervened while he was holding a huge lead. Bandini's best finish was a second place at the Monaco Grand Prix in a 2.4 liter V-6 Ferrari behind Jackie Stewart's BRM. Later in the season Bandini helped director John Frankenheimer with his movie "Grand Prix". Bandini recommended the location at the harbour chicane for a crash scene in the movie filmed at the Monte Carlo circuit. In "The Making of Grand Prix", actress Eva Marie Saint noted that, bitterly, this spot would be the site of Bandini's death in the race one year later.  In 1967 Bandini won the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 1,000 km of Monza, both with Chris Amon.

Accident and death.

On 7 May 1967 Bandini was racing at the Monaco Grand Prix, running second to Denny Hulme on the 82nd lap, when he lost control of his car at the harbour chicane. He had just entered the chicane when his Ferrari's left rear wheel hit the guard rail, sending him into an erratic skid. It impacted a light pole and overturned. The car hit straw bales which lined the harbour side, rupturing the fuel tank, and sparks ignited the fuel as the car rolled over, with Bandini trapped beneath it. Marshals flipped his car upright and pulled Bandini, unconscious, out from the flaming Ferrari. It is thought that, during the effort to right the overturned car, fuel leaked on the hot brake line or the exhaust pipe and exploded. A second fire occurred when the fuel tank exploded after Bandini had been pulled away from the Ferrari.  Bandini sustained third degree burns covering more than 70% of his body, as well as a chest wound and ten chest fractures. Three days after the crash, Bandini succumbed to his injuries at Princess Grace Polyclinic Hospital in Monte Carlo.  There were concerns about the promptness of Bandini's rescue. However, investigators from the Principality of Monaco ruled on 10 May that "the security operation had functioned properly." The straw bales, having been banned from all Formula One races in response to the accident, were replaced by an extended guard-rail the following year.  Bandini's funeral was held in Reggiolo on 13 May. 100,000 people attended the funeral. He was later buried in the Lambrate cemetery, in Milan.

In popular culture.

Bandini is portrayed by Francesco Bauco in "Ford v Ferrari", a 2019 film about the rivalry between Ford and Ferrari at the 1966 Le Mans auto race.

Lorenzo Bandini (21 December 193510 May 1967) was an Italian motor racing driver who raced in Formula One for the Scuderia Centro Sud and Ferrari teams.

洛伦佐·班迪尼(,1935年-12月21日-1967年-5月10日)是一位意大利赛车手,曾代表中南车队和法拉利车队参加一级方程序赛车。


Language.

Prinmi, the Pumi language, belongs to the Qiangic branch of the Tibeto-Burman family. In the past, it was noted that the Pumi in the Muli and Ninglang areas used the Tibetan script mainly for religious purposes, although gradually the Tibetan script fell into disuse and oblivion. In modern times, the Pumi receive education in Chinese. A pinyin-based Roman script has been proposed, but the orthography has yet to be promoted.

History.

The Pumi have a long history and their path of migration is historically traceable. Originally, they lived as nomads inhabiting the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau. Later, they moved to the warmer areas along valleys within the Hengduan Mountain Range in the 4th century B.C. Their ancestors probably are the ancient Qiang people, a nomadic tribe on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.  Subsequently, they moved to Northern Sichuan in the 7th century, and subsequently to northwest Yunnan in the 14th century. Many of them settled down to become farmers, and local landlords dominated the Pumi economy in Lanping and Lijiang counties. Except for a small number of common areas, the landlords held large areas of lands and collected rental fees from the peasants. This accounted for at least 50 per cent of the harvest. Pumi landlords and Nakhi chiefs also traded domestic slaves.  With the coming of the Cultural Revolution, the landlords' powers were severely weakened. The coming of modern facilities and technologies, such as hospitals and factories, have also greatly changed the lifestyle of the Pumi.

Religion.

Due to their contact with Tibetans, the religion of the Pumi has been heavily influenced by Tibetan Buddhism and the older practice of Bön. Today, this amalgamation is known as Hangui (韩规) and shares much in common with the Dongba practices of the Nakhi people. A form of ancestor worship is also present among the Pumi.  Through the efforts of Tibetan Buddhist missionaries from Tibet, a significant proportion have adopted the Gelugpa and Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, much of whom are those in Sichuan.  The Zanbala religion, also locally known as Dingba, literally means white earth. It is noted that the Pumi around Ninglang still install Zanbala altars in their home, which were worshipped by the older generations. The Zanbala religion consists of the veneration of three gods and ancestral spirits, in which only the old men preside over the rituals and prayers.  Almost all Pumi villages have their own local mountain gods, which are worshipped during festive seasons. On those days, the entire family will give food offerings and pray for the good health and prosperity of the family. On the 15th day of each month, the minor mountain god is worshipped, and a grand ceremony is held on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month to venerate the Great Mountain God.  In many of the Pumi homes, a cooking fire ring plays an important part of Pumi beliefs. The ring should never be touched by guests. A Guazei, which consists of small stone towers, is located behind the fire rings. During mealtime, the oldest male will take a spoonful of the food, which will subsequently be placed on every tower. One spoonful will be thrown into the fire, which acts as a symbolic gesture to feed the spirits of their ancestors.

Culture.

Because of their origins, the Pumi are culturally influenced by the Tibetans. The Lunar New Year is also celebrated on the first fifteen days of the new year based on the lunar calendar. Losar is also celebrated by some as well.  Especially in Ninglang and Yongsheng, Pumi women often wear jackets with buttons down one side. Long and pleated skirts, multi-colored wide belts are worn. Owing to its cold weather, a goatskin is draped over their backs. However, in the case of the Lanping and Weixi areas, the womenfolk tend to wear colored long-sleeved jackets under their vests, along with long trousers which are fastened with embroidered belts. Like the Tibetans, Pumi women plait their hair with yak tail hairs and silk threads. Subsequently, their heads are wrapped in large cloths. Prized jewellery, such as silver earrings and bracelets are worn among the rich as well.  Pumi men tend to wear either sleeveless goatskin or linen jackets with and long trousers, which is accompanied by the Tibetan hat. Especially in the case of the hunters and warriors, a long Tibetan sword and deerskin bags may be carried. Upon reaching thirteen, the Pumi boys will go through the ablution rites of manhood and only after ablution may they put on adult clothing and take part in society's activities.

Lifestyle.

Owing to its cold weather and its close proximity to Tibet, the lifestyle of Prinmi-speaking Tibetans closely resembles to that of the Tibetans. On the other hand, the Pumi living in Yunnan have adopted a liftstyle similar to that of Han Chinese. For instance, rice has become the staple food for most Pumi. Even in villages where the climate is too cold to grow the crop, many will trade rice for potatoes at the market place. A variety of vegetables and fruits such as the Chinese cabbage, beans, eggplant and melons serve as supplements.  Generally, the Pumi are a patrilineal and monogamous society, although polygamy is accepted in places like Yongning in northern Ninglang. Alongside the Mosuo, the Pumi here adopt a matriarchal system linked to the Azhu system, which literally means friendship, and families are formed by virtue of consanguinity instead of marriage.  The traditional way to preserve pork is to remove all the inner organs and the feet of a large pig. Lean meat is made into sausages while the entire slaughtered pig is sewed up after salt is added inside the body. The sewed-up salty body wrapped in pork skin, large in the bottom and small in the head, resembles the shape of a pipa after it is dried up. It is thus known by the Chinese nickname of "Pipa meat" and the whole body can be preserved for years.  A traditional beer-like drink called "pri" is brewed by every Pumi family in villages. It is an essential drink at wedding ceremony and hence the word for 'to marry' is expressed as 'to drink "pri"' in Prinmi.

The Pumi (also Primi) people (Tibetan: བོད་མི་, Wylie: bod mi,, own name: ) are an ethnic group. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by China.

普米族 ()是中国云南的一个少数民族,主要聚居于怒江傈僳族自治州的兰坪白族普米族自治县和丽江市的宁蒗、玉龙、永胜等地以及迪庆藏族自治州的维西傈僳族自治县。2010年人口为42861人。


Overview.

The series revolved initially around the life of the Harper brothers Charlie and Alan, and Alan's son Jake. Charlie is a bachelor who writes commercial jingles for a living while leading a hedonistic lifestyle. When Alan's wife, Judith, decides to divorce him, he moves into Charlie's Malibu beach house (due to Charlie's selfishly scorning Alan's female divorce-lawyer) with Jake coming to stay over the weekends. Charlie's housekeeper is Berta (Conchata Ferrell), a sharp-tongued woman who initially resists the change to the household, but grudgingly accepts it. Charlie's one-night stand Rose (Melanie Lynskey) was first introduced as his stalker in the pilot episode.  The first five seasons find Charlie in casual sexual relationships with numerous women until the sixth season, when he becomes engaged to Chelsea, but the relationship does not last as Chelsea breaks off their engagement. Afterwards, Charlie flies to Paris in the show's "de facto" eighth-season finale with his stalker Rose. However, in the ninth-season premiere, Charlie was said to have died after he fell in front of a Paris subway train. Suggestions were made that Rose accidentally pushed Charlie into the train's path after learning that he had cheated on her.  Alan's experiences are somewhat different. Throughout the series, Alan continues to deal with his son Jake's growing up, and the aftermath of his divorce, while having little success with women. His marriage to Kandi (April Bowlby) at the end of the third season was short-lived. In the fourth season, Alan is back at the beach house paying alimony to two women out of his meager earnings as a chiropractor. In the seventh season, he begins a relationship with Lyndsey McElroy (Courtney Thorne-Smith), the mother of one of Jake's friends. Their relationship is temporarily suspended when Alan cheats on her and accidentally burns down her house, but the relationship eventually resumes.  In the ninth-season premiere (after Charlie's death), the beach house is sold to Walden Schmidt (Ashton Kutcher), an Internet billionaire going through a divorce from Bridget (Judy Greer). Alan leaves to live with his mother Evelyn (Holland Taylor) when the house is sold, but Walden invites both Alan and Jake back to live in the beach house. He needs friends and the three form a tightknit surrogate family.  At the end of the ninth season, Jake joins the US Army; he appears occasionally during season 10, briefly dating Tammy (Jaime Pressly), who is 17 years his senior and has three kids, as well as Tammy's daughter Ashley (Emily Osment). In the 10th season, Walden proposes to his English girlfriend Zoey (Sophie Winkleman), only to be turned down, and discovers she has another man. He becomes depressed. Meanwhile, Alan gets engaged to his girlfriend Lyndsey, while Judith leaves her second husband Herb Melnick (Ryan Stiles) (to whom she had been married since the fourth season) after he cheats on her with his receptionist (they later reconcile). Alan and Lyndsey's relationship of three years ends as she wants to move on. Rose returns and briefly dates Walden, later stalking him as she did to Charlie. Walden begins to date a poor but ambitious woman named Kate (Brooke D'Orsay) and changes his name to "Sam Wilson", pretending to be poor to find someone who wants him for him, not for his money. They later break up when he reveals who he really is, though Kate realizes that Walden's money helped her become a successful clothing designer. Jake announces he is being shipped to Japan for at least a year, so Alan and he go on a father-son bonding trip. Other than a cameo in the series finale, this is the last time Jake appears on the show, though verbal references are made to him.  In the 11th season, a young woman arrives at the beach house, announcing that she is Charlie Harper's biological daughter, Jenny (Amber Tamblyn). She moves in with Walden and Alan, later displaying many of Charlie's traits, including a love of women and alcohol. Lyndsey begins dating a man named Larry (D. B. Sweeney), and in an attempt to learn more about Larry, Alan takes on the pseudonym "Jeff Strongman". His double-life becomes complicated when "Jeff" begins dating Larry's sister, Gretchen (Kimberly Williams-Paisley).  In the 12th season, Walden decides to reprioritize his life after a health scare by deciding to adopt a baby. He realizes that the only way to do this is to be married, but does not know anyone who will do it, so he asks Alan to marry him and pretend that they are a gay couple, thus ensuring success at adopting. Jenny moves out of the house and moves in with Evelyn due to Walden and Alan preparing to adopt. They adopt an African American child, Louis (Edan Alexander), and subsequently divorce to pursue relationships with women. Alan proposes to Lyndsey a second time, and she accepts, while Walden begins a relationship with Louis' social worker, Ms. McMartin (Maggie Lawson). Charlie is revealed to be still alive, having been kept prisoner by Rose until escaping, but he is killed before he can reunite with Walden and Alan.

Production.

Sheen's dismissal and replacement.

Following a February 2010 announcement that Sheen was entering drug rehabilitation, filming of the show was put on hiatus, but resumed the following month. On April 1, 2010, "People" reported that after seven seasons, Sheen announced he was considering leaving the show. According to one source, Sheen quit the show after filming the final episode of season seven, purportedly due to his rejection of CBS's offer of $1 million per episode as too low. Sheen eventually stated that he would be back for two more seasons. On May 18, 2010, the New Zealand website Stuff.co.nz reported that a press release issued by Sheen's publicist confirmed that Sheen had signed a new contract for two years at $1.78 million per episode. "To put a fitting end on the two and one-half months of whirlwind speculation, I'm looking forward to returning to my CBS home on Monday nights," Sheen was quoted as saying.  On January 28, 2011, Sheen entered a rehabilitation center voluntarily for the third time in 12 months. According to Warner Bros. Television and CBS, the show was put on hiatus for an indefinite period of time.  The following month, after Sheen's verbal denunciations against Chuck Lorre during a radio interview with Alex Jones and an online interview with TMZ.com, CBS announced that "Two and a Half Men" would cease production for the rest of its eighth season. This affected an estimated 200 employees, and caused Warner Bros., CBS, Lorre, Sheen and other profit participants a loss of an estimated $10 million due to expected revenue from the unmade eight remaining episodes. Afterward, Sheen was interviewed on ABC's "20/20", NBC's "Today", and CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight", where he continued to criticize Lorre and CBS. On March 7, CBS and Warner Bros. Television jointly announced that they had terminated Sheen's "Two and a Half Men" contract, citing "moral turpitude" as a main cause of separation. No decision about the future of the show was announced at that time.  Cast members Marin Hinkle and Holland Taylor expressed sadness at Sheen's departure and personal problems. Jon Cryer did not publicly comment on the matter and in response, Sheen called him "a turncoat, a traitor, [and] a troll" in an E! Online interview, although he later issued a "half-apology" to Cryer for the remarks. Sheen sued Lorre and Warner Bros. Television for $100 million, saying that he had filed the lawsuit on behalf of himself and "Two and a Half Men"'s cast and crew; however, only Sheen was named as a plaintiff in court documents.  In April 2011, Sheen mentioned during a radio interview after his tour's stop in Boston that CBS and he were talking about a possible return to the show.<ref name="http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2011/04/charlie-sheen-discussions-about-two-and-a-half-men-return-really.html"></ref> Lorre announced that same month that he had developed an idea for "Two and a Half Men" to be redone that would exclude Sheen and have Cryer in a key role alongside a new character. On May 13, CBS announced Ashton Kutcher would join the cast. Kutcher was quoted as saying, "I can't replace Charlie Sheen but I'm going to work my ass off to entertain the hell out of people!"  On August 2, 2011, it was reported that the season nine premiere would begin with Sheen's character having been killed off and his ex-girlfriends attending his funeral. Afterward, Charlie's Malibu home would be put up for sale and interested buyers would include celebrities from Lorre's other sitcoms and John Stamos, as well as Kutcher's character, Walden Schmidt, "an Internet billionaire with a broken heart." Critics compared this situation to what happened in 1987 to Valerie Harper, who was fired from the sitcom, "Valerie" (later titled "Valerie's Family: The Hogans" and then "The Hogan Family"). Her character was killed off-screen, and she was replaced the following season.  Sheen said he would watch his "fake funeral attended by [his] fake ex-girlfriends, from [his] very, very real movie theater, with [his] very real hotties in tow." Sheen's response to the season-nine premiere was very positive. He reportedly felt Charlie Harper's funeral was "eerie but fun". Sheen also felt that the introduction of Kutcher's character in a cloud of his own character's ashes was particularly enjoyable.  The attention "Two and a Half Men" received due to the change in characters gave the series a boost. Average total viewers during the 2011–2012 season rose 13% to 15 million, and the 5.2 rating in the 18–49 demographic rose by 27%. Kutcher's debut as the character Walden Schmidt, in the episode entitled "Nice to Meet You, Walden Schmidt", was seen by 28.7 million people on September 19, 2011. The Nielsen ratings company reported that figure was higher than for any episode in the show's first eight seasons, when the series starred Sheen. At the 2012 Emmys, "Two and a Half Men" was nominated for four awards and won three of them, the most Emmys the show has won in a single year since it began. In 2012, Kutcher replaced Sheen as the highest-paid U.S. actor, receiving $700,000 per episode. For Kutcher's second season, the show moved to the 8:30 pm Thursday time slot, replacing "Rules of Engagement." "Two and a Half Men" improved ratings for this time slot, which were up from the previous year. Jennifer Graham Kizer of "IVillage" thought that the series changed tone in the Kutcher era of the show, saying it felt "less evil". Lorre, Cryer, Hinkle, Taylor, Ferrell and Lynskey had nothing but praise for Kutcher, believing he had "saved the show."  Kutcher was the highest-paid actor on television for four years according to "Forbes", earning an estimated $24 million between June 2012 and June 2013, $750,000 per episode. Cryer was the second-highest-paid star on American television, earning $600,000–$700,000 per episode.

Jones' departure and religious conversion.

In a November 2012 interview with a Christian website, Angus T. Jones (Jake) said he had recently converted to Christianity and joined a Seventh-day Adventist church. He attacked the show as "filth that contradicts his moral values" and said that he was sick of being a part of it. He also begged fans to stop watching the show. Producers explained that Jones was not expected back on the set until 2013, as his character was not scheduled to appear in the final two episodes before the winter hiatus. In response to the controversy, Sheen issued a public statement claiming that "Jones' outburst isn’t an isolated incident but rather a symptom of the toxic environment surrounding the show" and blamed Chuck Lorre for the outburst. The following day, Jones issued a public apology for his remarks, and explained that he "cannot address everything that has been said or right every misstatement or misunderstanding." Jones left the series at the end of the 2012–2013 season and did not appear in season 11 despite initial reports that he would continue in a recurring, rather than a starring role. The role of youngest family member was filled by Amber Tamblyn, who plays Jenny, the long-lost illegitimate daughter of Charlie Harper, and later by Edan Alexander, who plays Louis, Walden Schmidt's adopted son. On March 18, 2014, Angus T. Jones officially announced his departure from the show, stating he had been "a paid hypocrite". Nevertheless, he appeared in a cameo in the series finale on February 19, 2015.

Praises.

The premise of "Two and a Half Men" depicts two broken characters that suffer from mental issues such as anxiety, depression, and alcoholism. This has garnered praises from Lee Aronsohn who has stated that the premise of "Two and a Half Men" was created amidst many other TV series centered around mainly women, which he viewed as a serious problem in television. The exact words he used attracted criticism, with Aronsohn accused of being a misogynist. Some critics also claim that women are still in an extremely disadvantageous position and the comment is misleading.

Cast and characters.

Recurring.

The following appeared in recurring roles or story arcs spanning multiple episodes:

Guest stars.

Guest stars have included:  As part of a from the writers and executive producer of "", George Eads made a brief cameo appearance on the May 5, 2008, episode.  Charlie Sheen's real-life brother Emilio Estevez has guest-starred as an old friend of Charlie's; his father Martin Sheen has appeared as Rose's father. Sam Sheen, the real-life daughter of Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen, appeared as Lisa's daughter on November 22, 2004. Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher's fiancée and later wife, appeared on the show as his love interest in season 11.

Broadcast.

Episodes.

Each episode's title is a dialogue fragment from the episode itself, usually offering no clue to the episode's actual plotline. The show's 100th episode ("City of Great Racks") aired on October 15, 2007. To celebrate this, a casino-inspired party was held at West Hollywood's Pacific Design Center. Warner Bros. Television also distributed blue Micargi Rover bicycles adorned with the "Two and a Half Men" logo along with the words "100 Episodes". Each bicycle came with a note saying, "You've made us very proud. Here's to a long ride together." The cast also gave the crew sterling silver key rings from Tiffany & Co. The key rings were attached to small pendants with "100" inscribed on one side and "Two and a Half Men" on the other.  Seasons one through four, six, and nine consist of 24 episodes. Season five was reduced to 19 episodes due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. Due to Sheen's personal life problems, season seven had 22 episodes. Season eight premiered on September 20, 2010, at 9:00 pm ET. CBS initially ordered 24 episodes for the season, but again due to Sheen's personal life, the show was put on hiatus after 16 episodes were produced, with production scheduled to resume on February 28. After a series of comments made by Sheen on February 24, 2011, CBS and Warner Bros. cancelled the remainder of the season.  On May 13, 2011, actor Ashton Kutcher was widely reported to be replacing Charlie Sheen as the lead on the show. The show's ninth season premiered on September 19, 2011. The first episode, "Nice to Meet You, Walden Schmidt", begins with Charlie Harper's funeral, and introduces Kutcher as billionaire Walden Schmidt, who buys Harper's house. On May 12, 2012, CBS renewed "Two and a Half Men" for a 10th season, moving it to Thursday nights at 8:30 pm, following "The Big Bang Theory". For the 2013–14 season, the show was moved to the Thursday 9:30–10:00 pm Eastern slot. As of February 27, 2014, the series' time slot was moved to a half-hour earlier at the 9:00–9:30 slot.

Syndication and streaming.

"Two and a Half Men" entered local United States broadcast syndication in 2007, with the first four seasons available to local stations (largely CW affiliates in the major U.S. television markets through major deals with Tribune Broadcasting and the Sinclair Broadcast Group). From September 6, 2010, to November 24, 2017, FX aired the series daily nationwide (Charlie Sheen most recently starred on "Anger Management" on the same network from 2012 to 2014). Syndicated shows are sold in multiyear cycles, with the first cycle the most expensive. "Two and a Half Men"'s first cycle is nine years in length. If no ninth season had occurred because of Sheen's departure, due to the first cycle's premature end, Warner Bros. would not have received about $80 million in license fees. While local stations would prefer to have as many episodes as possible available to them, an early start to the second cycle would lower the cost of the show for them. The series began airing on Viacom-owned networks Nick at Nite and Paramount Network (at the time still called Spike) in December 2017 and on IFC on January 1, 2018. As of July 2, 2018, the series has moved from Nick at Nite to TV Land, switching places with Mom. As of August 6, 2019, the series has started airing on AMC.  The show is available in the US for streaming on Peacock.

International.

The series airs in over 50 countries. In Australia, it airs on Nine Network, 9Go!, TV Hits, Fox8 and 111 funny. In Bulgaria it airs on bTV and bTV Comedy. In Canada it airs on CTV, CTV Two, and City. It airs on ATV World in Hong Kong. In India, Singapore, the Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Malaysia, the series airs on ZCafé and on the WB Channel Comedy central Colours infinity. In Israel, it airs on yes Comedy. In Ireland, it airs on RTÉ Two. It airs on Duke in New Zealand. In the Philippines, it also airs on Studio 23 (now aired on Jack TV), and in South Africa, it airs on SABC3 and M-net. It airs on Comedy Central, Comedy Central Extra, 5Star, and ITV2 weeknights at 8pm in the United Kingdom.

Crossovers and other appearances.

"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation".

In 2007, "Two and a Half Men" creator Chuck Lorre contacted "" executive producer Carol Mendelsohn about a crossover. At first, the idea seemed unlikely to receive approval; however, it resurfaced when Mendelsohn and Lorre were at the World Television Festival in Canada and they decided to get approval and run with it. When Mendelsohn was giving a talk, she accidentally mentioned the crossover, that same day "Variety" was already inquiring about the crossover episodes. Mendelsohn later stated: "We're all used to being in control and in charge of our own shows and even though this was a freelance-type situation... there was an expectation and also a desire on all of our parts to really have a true collaboration. You have to give a little. It was sort of a life lesson, I think."  "The biggest challenge for us was doing a comedy with a murder in it. Generally, our stories are a little lighter," stated Lorre in an interview. "Would our audience go with a dead body in it? There was a moment where it could have gone either way. I think the results were spectacular. It turned out to be a really funny episode." The "Two and a Half Men" episode "Fish in a Drawer" was the first part of the crossover to air, on May 5, 2008, written by "CSI" writers Sarah Goldfinger, Evan Dunsky, Carol Mendelsohn, and Naren Shankar. George Eads is the only "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" cast member to make a cameo in this episode.  Three days later, the second part of the crossover aired, the "CSI" episode "Two and a Half Deaths". Gil Grissom (William Petersen) investigated the murder of a sitcom diva named Annabelle (Katey Sagal), who was found murdered while she was filming her show in Las Vegas. The episode was written by "Two and a Half Men" creators Lorre and Aronsohn; Sheen, Cryer, and Jones all make uncredited cameos in this episode as themselves, in the same clothes their characters were wearing in "Fish in a Drawer".

"Due Date".

At the end of 2010 film "Due Date", a scene from "Two and a Half Men" is shown, in which Sheen and Cryer appear as their characters, while Ethan Chase (played by Zach Galifianakis in the movie) plays Stu, Jake's tutor.

Reception.

Critical reception.

"Two and a Half Men" received mostly mixed reviews from critics throughout its run. The "New York Daily News" has described the sitcom as "solid, well-acted and occasionally funny." Conversely Graeme Blundell, writing for "The Australian", described it as a "sometimes creepy, misogynistic comedy". Ashton Kutcher's debut was met with mixed reviews, and reviews for season nine were also mixed. However, it has been labeled as "one of America's most successful comedy shows." Ellen Gray of "Daily News" praised the shows' legacy just before the premiere of the finale. The show is credited as being the reason "The Big Bang Theory", "Mike & Molly", and "Mom" were all made. "Men"s success was what enabled these other Chuck Lorre shows to be made and be successful. Following the filming of the final episode, Stage 26 of the Warner Brothers lot was renamed the "Two and a Half Men stage". After the finale, "Two and a Half Men" fans launched a global petition under the name "Yes To "The Harpers"", to have Charlie Sheen reprise the role of Charlie Harper alongside his former co-star Jon Cryer. This came to be after Chuck Lorre's vanity card in which he mentions Charlie Sheen's idea of a spinoff show named "The Harpers".

Ratings.

American television ratings.

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of "Two and a Half Men" on CBS:  "Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps."

Awards and nominations.

The show has received multiple award nominations. It has been nominated for 46 Primetime Emmy Awards (winning six technical awards, one for Kathy Bates for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series as The Ghost of Charlie Harper, and two for Jon Cryer as Alan Harper), and has also received two Golden Globe Award nominations for Charlie Sheen for Best Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy. The show won the award for Favorite TV Comedy at the 35th People's Choice Awards.

Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS for twelve seasons from September 22, 2003, to February 19, 2015. Originally starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the series was about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper, his uptight brother, Alan, and Alan's troublesome son, Jake. After Alan divorces, he and Jake move into Charlie's beachfront Malibu house and complicate Charlie's freewheeling life. Sheen reunited with Cryer, the first time since "Hot Shots!" was released in 1991.

《好汉两个半》(英语:Two and a Half Men)是一部美国情景喜剧,于2003年9月22日周一晚9:30(美国东部时间/太平洋时间)在哥伦比亚广播公司首播,共有十二季。这部剧集由查理,一个随心所欲的单身汉展开。当他新近经历分居的弟弟艾伦和艾伦的儿子杰克搬来一起住时,查理无忧无虑的生活被打断。本剧由查克·洛尔及李·阿伦森共同创作,查理·辛(自第九季起由艾希顿·库奇代替)、乔恩·克莱尔和安格斯·琼斯主演。自2005年9月起,《好汉两个半》的播放时间被调至每周一晚上9点(原《人人都爱雷蒙德》的时段)。2007年9月,《好汉两个半》开始地方联合播放,并于2010年起在FX频道实现联合播放。2007年11月6日,因美国编剧大罢工,该剧的制作一度中止。2008年3月17日,该剧重新开播,用接下来的9集结束了第五季。哥伦比亚广播公司随后续约了第六季,并于2008年9月22日开始播放,刚好是这部剧首播五周年的日子。《好汉两个半》原本于2009年3月获得哥伦比亚广播公司续约了三季,即七、八、九季,将至少播到2012年,但在第八季的拍摄期间,查理·辛不仅因过量吸毒而被送到康复中心,还对该剧主创查克·洛尔发表不当言论。因此,在第八季播放结束后,查理·辛正式被剧组开除,被影星艾希顿·库奇替代。2011年,纽约时报刊发文章称《好汉两个半》是几十年以来最火爆的情景喜剧。2012年5月12日,哥伦比亚广播公司宣布续约《好汉两个半》的第十季,并将播放时间改为每周四晚上8:30。2015年2月19日,播出第十二季剧终集,同时也是该剧完结集。


Signs and symptoms.

Symptom onset is usually rapid, often occurring within minutes of elevated serotonin levels. Serotonin syndrome encompasses a wide range of clinical findings. Mild symptoms may consist of increased heart rate, shivering, sweating, dilated pupils, myoclonus (intermittent jerking or twitching), as well as overresponsive reflexes. However, many of these symptoms may be side effects of the drug or drug interaction causing excessive levels of serotonin; not an effect of elevated serotonin itself. Tremor is a common side effect of MDMA's action on dopamine, whereas hyperreflexia is symptomatic of exposure to serotonin agonists. Moderate intoxication includes additional abnormalities such as hyperactive bowel sounds, high blood pressure and hyperthermia; a temperature as high as. The overactive reflexes and clonus in moderate cases may be greater in the lower limbs than in the upper limbs. Mental changes include hypervigilance or insomnia and agitation. Severe symptoms include severe increases in heart rate and blood pressure that may lead to shock. Temperature may rise to above in life-threatening cases. Other abnormalities include metabolic acidosis, rhabdomyolysis, seizures, kidney failure, and disseminated intravascular coagulation; these effects usually arising as a consequence of hyperthermia.  The symptoms are often described as a clinical triad of abnormalities:

Cause.

A large number of medications and street drugs can cause serotonin syndrome when taken alone at high doses or in combination with other serotonergic drugs. The table below lists some of these drugs. Many cases of serotonin toxicity occur in people who have ingested drug combinations that synergistically increase synaptic serotonin. It may also occur due to an overdose of a single serotonergic agent. The combination of MAOIs with precursors such as L-tryptophan or 5-HTP pose a particularly acute risk of life-threatening serotonin syndrome. The case of combination of MAOIs with tryptamine agonists (commonly known as ayahuasca) can present similar dangers as their combination with precursors, but this phenomenon has been described in general terms as the "cheese effect". Many MAOIs irreversibly inhibit monoamine oxidase. It can take at least four weeks for this enzyme to be replaced by the body in the instance of irreversible inhibitors. With respect to tricyclic antidepressants only clomipramine and imipramine have a risk of causing SS.  Many medications may have been incorrectly thought to cause serotonin syndrome. For example, some case reports have implicated atypical antipsychotics in serotonin syndrome, but it appears based on their pharmacology that they are unlikely to cause the syndrome. It has also been suggested that mirtazapine has no significant serotonergic effects, and is therefore not a dual action drug. Bupropion has also been suggested to cause serotonin syndrome, although as there is no evidence that it has any significant serotonergic activity, it is thought unlikely to produce the syndrome. In 2006 the United States Food and Drug Administration issued an alert suggesting that the combined use of SSRIs or SNRIs and triptan medications or sibutramine could potentially lead to severe cases of serotonin syndrome. This has been disputed by other researchers as none of the cases reported by the FDA met the Hunter criteria for serotonin syndrome. The condition has however occurred in surprising clinical situations, and because of phenotypic variations among individuals, it has been associated with unexpected drugs, including mirtazapine.  The relative risk and severity of serotonergic side effects and serotonin toxicity, with individual drugs and combinations, is complex. Serotonin syndrome has been reported in patients of all ages, including the elderly, children, and even newborn infants due to in utero exposure. The serotonergic toxicity of SSRIs increases with dose, but even in over-dose it is insufficient to cause fatalities from serotonin syndrome in healthy adults. Elevations of central nervous system serotonin will typically only reach potentially fatal levels when drugs with different mechanisms of action are mixed together. Various drugs, other than SSRIs, also have clinically significant potency as serotonin reuptake inhibitors, (e.g. tramadol, amphetamine, and MDMA) and are associated with severe cases of the syndrome.

Pathophysiology.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter involved in multiple biologically complex processes including aggression, pain, sleep, appetite, anxiety, depression, migraine, and vomiting. In humans the effects of excess serotonin were first noted in 1960 in patients receiving a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) and tryptophan. The syndrome is caused by increased serotonin in the central nervous system. It was originally suspected that agonism of 5-HT receptors in central grey nuclei and the medulla was responsible for the development of the syndrome. Further study has determined that overstimulation of primarily the 5-HT receptors appears to contribute substantially to the condition. The 5-HT receptor may still contribute through a pharmacodynamic interaction in which increased synaptic concentrations of a serotonin agonist saturate all receptor subtypes. Additionally, noradrenergic CNS hyperactivity may play a role as CNS norepinephrine concentrations are increased in serotonin syndrome and levels appear to correlate with the clinical outcome. Other neurotransmitters may also play a role; NMDA receptor antagonists and GABA have been suggested as affecting the development of the syndrome. Serotonin toxicity is more pronounced following supra-therapeutic doses and overdoses, and they merge in a continuum with the toxic effects of overdose.

Spectrum concept.

A postulated "spectrum concept" of serotonin toxicity emphasises the role that progressively increasing serotonin levels play in mediating the clinical picture as side effects merge into toxicity. The dose-effect relationship is the effects of progressive elevation of serotonin, either by raising the dose of one drug, or combining it with another serotonergic drug which may produce large elevations in serotonin levels. Some experts prefer the terms serotonin toxicity or serotonin toxidrome, to more accurately reflect that it is a form of poisoning.

Diagnosis.

There is no specific test for serotonin syndrome. Diagnosis is by symptom observation and investigation of the person's history. Several criteria have been proposed. The first evaluated criteria were introduced in 1991 by Harvey Sternbach. Researchers later developed the Hunter Toxicity Criteria Decision Rules, which have better sensitivity and specificity, 84% and 97%, respectively, when compared with the gold standard of diagnosis by a medical toxicologist. As of 2007, Sternbach's criteria were still the most commonly used.  The most important symptoms for diagnosing serotonin syndrome are tremor, extreme aggressiveness, akathisia, or clonus (spontaneous, inducible and ocular). Physical examination of the patient should include assessment of deep-tendon reflexes and muscle rigidity, the dryness of the mucosa of the mouth, the size and reactivity of the pupils, the intensity of bowel sounds, skin color, and the presence or absence of sweating. The patient's history also plays an important role in diagnosis, investigations should include inquiries about the use of prescription and over-the-counter drugs, illicit substances, and dietary supplements, as all these agents have been implicated in the development of serotonin syndrome. To fulfill the Hunter Criteria, a patient must have taken a serotonergic agent and meet one of the following conditions:

Differential diagnosis.

Serotonin toxicity has a characteristic picture which is generally hard to confuse with other medical conditions, but in some situations it may go unrecognized because it may be mistaken for a viral illness, anxiety disorders, neurological disorder, anticholinergic poisoning, sympathomimetic toxicity, or worsening psychiatric condition. The condition most often confused with serotonin syndrome is neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS). The clinical features of neuroleptic malignant syndrome and serotonin syndrome share some features which can make differentiating them difficult. In both conditions, autonomic dysfunction and altered mental status develop. However, they are actually very different conditions with different underlying dysfunction (serotonin excess vs dopamine blockade). Both the time course and the clinical features of NMS differ significantly from those of serotonin toxicity. Serotonin toxicity has a rapid onset after the administration of a serotonergic drug and responds to serotonin blockade such as drugs like chlorpromazine and cyproheptadine. Dopamine receptor blockade (NMS) has a slow onset, typically evolves over several days after administration of a neuroleptic drug, and responds to dopamine agonists such as bromocriptine.  Differential diagnosis may become difficult in patients recently exposed to both serotonergic and neuroleptic drugs. Bradykinesia and extrapyramidal "lead pipe" rigidity are classically present in NMS, whereas serotonin syndrome causes hyperkinesia and clonus; these distinct symptoms can aid in differentiation.

Management.

Management is based primarily on stopping the usage of the precipitating drugs, the administration of serotonin antagonists such as cyproheptadine, and supportive care including the control of agitation, the control of autonomic instability, and the control of hyperthermia. Additionally, those who ingest large doses of serotonergic agents may benefit from gastrointestinal decontamination with activated charcoal if it can be administered within an hour of overdose. The intensity of therapy depends on the severity of symptoms. If the symptoms are mild, treatment may only consist of discontinuation of the offending medication or medications, offering supportive measures, giving benzodiazepines for myoclonus, and waiting for the symptoms to resolve. Moderate cases should have all thermal and cardiorespiratory abnormalities corrected and can benefit from serotonin antagonists. The serotonin antagonist cyproheptadine is the recommended initial therapy, although there have been no controlled trials demonstrating its efficacy for serotonin syndrome. Despite the absence of controlled trials, there are a number of case reports detailing apparent improvement after people have been administered cyproheptadine. Animal experiments also suggest a benefit from serotonin antagonists. Cyproheptadine is only available as tablets and therefore can only be administered orally or via a nasogastric tube; it is unlikely to be effective in people administered activated charcoal and has limited use in severe cases. Cyproheptadine can be stopped when the person is no longer experiencing symptoms and the half life of serotonergic medications already passed.  Additional pharmacological treatment for severe case includes administering atypical antipsychotic drugs with serotonin antagonist activity such as olanzapine. Critically ill people should receive the above therapies as well as sedation or neuromuscular paralysis. People who have autonomic instability such as low blood pressure require treatment with direct-acting sympathomimetics such as epinephrine, norepinephrine, or phenylephrine. Conversely, hypertension or tachycardia can be treated with short-acting antihypertensive drugs such as nitroprusside or esmolol; longer acting drugs such as propranolol should be avoided as they may lead to hypotension and shock. The cause of serotonin toxicity or accumulation is an important factor in determining the course of treatment. Serotonin is catabolized by monoamine oxidase A in the presence of oxygen, so if care is taken to prevent an unsafe spike in body temperature or metabolic acidosis, oxygenation will assist in dispatching the excess serotonin. The same principle applies to alcohol intoxication. In cases of serotonin syndrome caused by monoamine oxidase inhibitors oxygenation will not help to dispatch serotonin. In such instances, hydration is the main concern until the enzyme is regenerated.

Agitation.

Specific treatment for some symptoms may be required. One of the most important treatments is the control of agitation due to the extreme possibility of injury to the person themselves or caregivers, benzodiazepines should be administered at first sign of this. Physical restraints are not recommended for agitation or delirium as they may contribute to mortality by enforcing isometric muscle contractions that are associated with severe lactic acidosis and hyperthermia. If physical restraints are necessary for severe agitation they must be rapidly replaced with pharmacological sedation. The agitation can cause a large amount of muscle breakdown. This breakdown can cause severe damage to the kidneys through a condition called rhabdomyolysis.

Hyperthermia.

Treatment for hyperthermia includes reducing muscle overactivity via sedation with a benzodiazepine. More severe cases may require muscular paralysis with vecuronium, intubation, and artificial ventilation. Suxamethonium is not recommended for muscular paralysis as it may increase the risk of cardiac dysrhythmia from hyperkalemia associated with rhabdomyolysis. Antipyretic agents are not recommended as the increase in body temperature is due to muscular activity, not a hypothalamic temperature set point abnormality.

Prognosis.

Upon the discontinuation of serotonergic drugs, most cases of serotonin syndrome resolve within 24 hours, although in some cases delirium may persist for a number of days. Symptoms typically persist for a longer time frame in patients taking drugs which have a long elimination half-life, active metabolites, or a protracted duration of action.  Cases have reported muscle pain and weakness persisting for months, and antidepressant discontinuation may contribute to ongoing features. Following appropriate medical management, serotonin syndrome is generally associated with a favorable prognosis.

Epidemiology.

Epidemiological studies of serotonin syndrome are difficult as many physicians are unaware of the diagnosis or they may miss the syndrome due to its variable manifestations. In 1998 a survey conducted in England found that 85% of the general practitioners that had prescribed the antidepressant nefazodone were unaware of serotonin syndrome. The incidence may be increasing as a larger number of pro-serotonergic drugs (drugs which increase serotonin levels) are now being used in clinical practice. One postmarketing surveillance study identified an incidence of 0.4 cases per 1000 patient-months for patients who were taking nefazodone. Additionally, around 14 to 16 percent of persons who overdose on SSRIs are thought to develop serotonin syndrome.

Notable cases.

The most widely recognized example of serotonin syndrome was the death of Libby Zion in 1984. Zion was a freshman at Bennington College at her death on March 5, 1984, at age 18. She died within 8 hours of her emergency admission to the New York Hospital Cornell Medical Center. She had an ongoing history of depression, and came to the Manhattan hospital on the evening of March 4, 1984, with a fever, agitation and "strange jerking motions" of her body. She also seemed disoriented at times. The emergency room physicians were unable to diagnose her condition definitively but admitted her for hydration and observation. Her death was caused by a combination of pethidine and phenelzine. A medical intern prescribed the pethidine. The case influenced graduate medical education and residency work hours. Limits were set on working hours for medical postgraduates, commonly referred to as interns or residents, in hospital training programs, and they also now require closer senior physician supervision.

Serotonin syndrome (SS) is a group of symptoms that may occur with the use of certain serotonergic medications or drugs. The degree of symptoms can range from mild to severe. Symptoms in mild cases include high blood pressure and a fast heart rate; usually without a fever. Symptoms in moderate cases include high body temperature, agitation, increased reflexes, tremor, sweating, dilated pupils, and diarrhea. In severe cases body temperature can increase to greater than. Complications may include seizures and extensive muscle breakdown. Serotonin syndrome is typically caused by the use of two or more serotonergic medications or drugs. This may include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI), monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI), tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), amphetamines, pethidine (meperidine), tramadol, dextromethorphan, buspirone, L-tryptophan, 5-HTP, St. John's wort, triptans, ecstasy (MDMA), metoclopramide, ondansetron, or cocaine. It occurs in about 15% of SSRI overdoses. It is a predictable consequence of excess serotonin on the central nervous system (CNS). Onset of symptoms is typically within a day of the extra serotonin. Diagnosis is based on a person's symptoms and history of medication use. Other conditions that can produce similar symptoms such as neuroleptic malignant syndrome, malignant hyperthermia, anticholinergic toxicity, heat stroke, and meningitis should be ruled out. No laboratory tests can confirm the diagnosis. Initial treatment consists of discontinuing medications which may be contributing. In those who are agitated, benzodiazepines may be used. If this is not sufficient, a serotonin antagonist such as cyproheptadine may be used. In those with a high body temperature active cooling measures may be needed. The number of cases of serotonin syndrome that occur each year is unclear. With appropriate treatment the risk of death is less than one percent. The high-profile case of Libby Zion, who is generally accepted to have died from serotonin syndrome, resulted in changes to graduate medical education in New York State.

血清素症候群(Serotonin syndrome)是在使用血清素类药物或是物质后,可能会出现的一些症状。症状的程度从轻微到严重不等。症状包括高烧、激动、反射亢进、颤抖、瞳孔放大及腹泻,体温可能会超过41.1 °C(106.0 °F)。并发症包括癫痫发作及横纹肌溶解症。 血清素症候群一般是使用二种或二种以上的血清素类药物或是物质所造成的。这类药物包括选择性5-羟色胺再摄取抑制剂(SSRI)、5-羟色胺和去甲肾上腺素再摄取抑制剂(SNRI)、单胺氧化酶抑制剂(MAOI)、三环类抗抑郁药(TCA)、苯丙胺、哌替啶、曲马多、右美马拉特·萨芬、丁螺环酮、L-色氨酸、5-羟色氨酸、圣约翰草、翠普登、MDMA、美托拉麦、昂丹司琼或是可卡因。在SSRI用药过量的案例中,有15%出现血清素综合症。血清素综合症是针对中枢神经系统过量使用血清素后,可预期的结果。症状一般会在用药过量之后的一天发生。 诊断是依照病患的症断以及以往使用药物为准,诊断需要先排除其他类似症状的疾病,例如抗精神病药物恶性症候群、恶性高热、抗胆碱毒性、中暑及脑膜炎等症状。无法用医学检查来验证其诊断。 初步的治疗包括停用可能造成血清素症候群的药物,若是病患躁动,可以使用苯二氮䓬类药物,若药效还是不足,会使用是像是希普利敏之类的血清素拮抗剂。若是发高烧的病患,需要主动降温。目前没有每年血清素症候群病例的数据。若配合适当的治疗,其死亡率小于1%。发生在1984年的莉比·锡安之死,一般认为是因为血清素症候群而导致死亡,因此也改变了纽约州的毕业后医学教育。


Description.

"Ichthyosaurus" was smaller than most of its relatives, with individuals measuring up to in length. Hundreds of well-preserved, fossilised skeletons have been found in Jurassic rock at Holzmaden, Germany. Some of the bones were still articulated. Some fossils still had baby specimens inside them, indicating that "Ichthyosaurus" was viviparous. Similar finds in the related "Stenopterygius" also show this. The German fossils also featured the outline of "Ichthyosaurus"'s skin, revealing that it had a fleshy dorsal fin on its back and a large caudal fin. Other ichthyosaur fossils showed this feature was not limited to "Ichthyosaurus".

History of discovery.

"Ichthyosaurus" was the first complete fossil to be discovered in the early 19th century by Mary Anning in England.  "I. anningae", described in 2015 from a fossil found in the early 1980s in Dorset, England, was named after Anning. The fossil was acquired by Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery, where it was misidentifed as a plaster cast. In 2008, Dean Lomax, from the University of Manchester, recognised it as genuine and worked with Judy Massare, of the State University of New York, to establish it as a new species.

Classification.

This cladogram below follows the topology from a 2010 analysis by Patrick S. Druckenmiller and Erin E. Maxwell.

Palaeobiology.

"Ichthyosaurus" ear bones were solid, probably transferring water vibrations to the inner ear. Even so, anatomical features demonstrate that it was a visually-oriented predator; it had huge, sensitive eyes, protected by bony shields. Coprolites of "Ichthyosaurus" reveal that its diet consisted of fish and squid.  It was initially believed that "Ichthyosaurus" laid eggs on land, but fossil evidence shows that in fact the females gave birth to live young. As such, they were well-adapted to life as fully pelagic organisms (i.e. they never came onto land). The babies were born tail first to prevent them from drowning in the water.

Cultural significance.

Joseph Victor von Scheffels poem "Der Ichthyosaurus" describes its extinction in humouristic verses. A monument on Hohentwiel cites it as well. The poem has been translated among others by Charles Godfrey Leland Some of the stanzas: =

Ichthyosaurus (derived from Greek "ἰχθύς" () meaning 'fish' and "σαῦρος" () meaning 'lizard') is a genus of ichthyosaurs from the late Triassic and early Jurassic (Rhaetian - Pliensbachian) of Europe (Belgium, England, Germany, Switzerland) and Asia (Indonesia). It is among the best known ichthyosaur genera, as it is the type genus of the order Ichthyosauria.

鱼龙属(属名:),希腊文意思为“鱼类蜥蜴”,是种已灭绝海生爬行动物。鱼龙的化石发现于比利时、英格兰、德国、瑞士,生存年代为侏罗纪早期(赫唐阶到锡内穆阶)。鱼龙属于鱼龙目,该目名称来自于本属动物。牠们是鱼龙类最著名的属。 鱼龙的第一个完整化石,是在1800年代早期发现,由玛丽·安宁(Mary Anning)发现于英格兰。


In humans.

Structure.

The glans penis is the expanded cap of the corpus spongiosum. It is moulded on the rounded ends of the corpora cavernosa penis, extending farther on their upper than on their lower surfaces. At the summit of the glans is the slit-like vertical external urethral orifice. The circumference of the base of the glans forms a rounded projecting border, the corona glandis, overhanging a deep retroglandular sulcus (the "coronal sulcus"), behind which is the neck of the penis. The proportional size of the glans penis can vary greatly. On some penises it is much wider in circumference than the shaft, giving the penis a mushroom-like appearance, and on others it is narrower and more akin to a probe in shape. The soft cushiony texture of the glans is intended to absorb impact during rigorous instances of copulation.  The foreskin maintains the mucosa in a moist environment. Circumcised penises have a glans which is permanently exposed and dry. Several studies have suggested the glans is equally sensitive in both circumcised and uncircumcised penises, while others have reported it is more sensitive in people who are not circumcised.  Halata & Munger (1986) report that the density of genital corpuscles is greatest in the corona glandis, while Yang & Bradley's (1998) report "showed no areas in the glans to be more densely innervated than others."  Halata & Spathe (1997) reported; "the glans penis contains a predominance of free nerve endings, numerous genital end bulbs and rarely Pacinian and Ruffinian corpuscles. Merkel nerve endings and Meissner's corpuscles are not present."  Yang & Bradley argue; "the distinct pattern of innervation of the glans emphasizes the role of the glans as a sensory structure". Some researchers have suggested that the glans has evolved to become acorn, mushroom or cone shaped so that during copulation it acts as a semen-removal device in the vagina of previous sex partners, but this is not supported when looking at primate relatives who have different mating behaviors.

Clinical significance.

The meatus (opening) of the urethra is located at the tip of the glans penis.  The epithelium of the glans penis is mucocutaneous tissue. Birley "et al." report that excessive washing with soap may dry the mucous membrane which covers the glans penis and cause non-specific dermatitis.  Inflammation of the glans penis is known as balanitis, and, occurs in 3–11% of males (up to 35% of diabetic males). Edwards reported that it is generally more common in males who have poor hygiene habits or have not been circumcised. It has many causes, including irritation, or infection with a wide variety of pathogens. Careful identification of the cause with the aid of patient history, physical examination, swabs and cultures, and biopsy are essential in order to determine the proper treatment.  Meatal stenosis is a late complication of circumcision, which occurs in about 2 to 20 percent of circumcised boys.

Other animals.

Male felids are able to urinate backwards by curving the tip of the glans penis backward. In cats, the glans penis is covered with spines, but in dogs, the glans is smooth. Penile spines also occur on the glans of male and female spotted hyenas.  In male dogs, the glans penis consists of two parts called the "bulbus glandis" and "pars longa glandis". The glans of a fossa's penis extends about halfway down the shaft and is spiny except at the tip. In comparison, the glans of felids is short and spiny, while that of viverrids is smooth and long. The shape of the glans varies among different marsupial species. In most marsupials, the glans is divided, but male macropods have an undivided glans penis. The glans penis is also divided into two parts in platypuses and echidnas.  The glans penis of the marsh rice rat is long and robust, averaging 7.3 mm (0.29 in) long and 4.6 mm (0.18 in) broad.  In "Thomasomys ucucha" the glans penis is rounded, short, and small and is superficially divided into left and right halves by a trough at the top and a ridge at the bottom. Most of the glans is covered with spines, except for an area near the tip.  Winkelmann's mouse can most readily be distinguished from its close relatives by its partially corrugated glans penis.  When erect, the glans of a horse's penis increases by 3 to. The urethra opens within the urethral fossa, a small pouch at the distal end of the glans. Unlike the human glans, the glans of a horse's penis extends backwards on its shaft.  Males of Racey's pipistrelle bat have a narrow, egg-shaped glans penis.  The glans penis of a male cape ground squirrel is large with a prominent baculum.

The glans penis, more commonly referred to as the glans, is a structure at the distal end of the penis in male mammals. It is the sensitive bulbous structure at the end of the human penis, and is anatomically homologous to the clitoral glans of the human female. The glans penis may be smooth, spiny, elongated, or divided in other mammals.

龟头又称阴茎头,指雄性哺乳动物阴茎前端的球状物,由尿道海绵体前端膨大而成,前端尽头有尿道口,是尿液和精液的共同出口。男性龟头是女性阴蒂的同源组织。


Signs and symptoms.

Substernal or left precordial pleuritic chest pain with radiation to the trapezius ridge (the bottom portion of scapula on the back) is the characteristic pain of pericarditis. The pain is usually relieved by sitting up or bending forward, and worsened by lying down (both recumbent and supine positions) or by inspiration (taking a breath in). The pain may resemble that of angina but differs in that pericarditis pain changes with body position, where heart attack pain is generally constant and pressure-like. Other symptoms of pericarditis may include dry cough, fever, fatigue, and anxiety.  Due to its similarity to the pain of myocardial infarction (heart attack), pericarditis can be misdiagnosed as a heart attack. Acute myocardial infarction can also cause pericarditis, but the presenting symptoms often differ enough to warrant diagnosis. The following table organizes the clinical presentation of pericarditis differential to myocardial infarction:

Physical examinations.

The classic sign of pericarditis is a friction rub heard with a stethoscope on the cardiovascular examination, usually on the lower left sternal border. Other physical signs include a person in distress, positional chest pain, diaphoresis (excessive sweating); possibility of heart failure in form of pericardial tamponade causing pulsus paradoxus, and the Beck's triad of low blood pressure (due to decreased cardiac output), distant (muffled) heart sounds, and distension of the jugular vein (JVD).

Complications.

Pericarditis can progress to pericardial effusion and eventually cardiac tamponade. This can be seen in people who are experiencing the classic signs of pericarditis but then show signs of relief, and progress to show signs of cardiac tamponade which include decreased alertness and lethargy, pulsus paradoxus (decrease of at least 10 mmHg of the systolic blood pressure upon inspiration), low blood pressure (due to decreased cardiac index), (jugular vein distention from right sided heart failure and fluid overload), distant heart sounds on auscultation, and equilibration of all the diastolic blood pressures on cardiac catheterization due to the constriction of the pericardium by the fluid.  In such cases of cardiac tamponade, EKG or Holter monitor will then depict electrical alternans indicating wobbling of the heart in the fluid filled pericardium, and the capillary refill might decrease, as well as severe vascular collapse and altered mental status due to hypoperfusion of body organs by a heart that can not pump out blood effectively.  The diagnosis of tamponade can be confirmed with trans-thoracic echocardiography (TTE), which should show a large pericardial effusion and diastolic collapse of the right ventricle and right atrium. Chest X-ray usually shows an enlarged cardiac silhouette ("water bottle" appearance) and clear lungs. Pulmonary congestion is typically not seen because equalization of diastolic pressures constrains the pulmonary capillary wedge pressure to the intra-pericardial pressure (and all other diastolic pressures).

Causes.

Infectious.

Pericarditis may be caused by viral, bacterial, or fungal infection.  In the developed world, viruses are believed to be the cause of about 85% of cases. In the developing world tuberculosis is a common cause but it is rare in the developed world. Viral causes include coxsackievirus, herpesvirus, mumps virus, and HIV among others.  Pneumococcus or tuberculous pericarditis are the most common bacterial forms. Anaerobic bacteria can also be a rare cause. Fungal pericarditis is usually due to histoplasmosis, or in immunocompromised hosts Aspergillus, Candida, and Coccidioides. The most common cause of pericarditis worldwide is infectious pericarditis with tuberculosis.

Diagnosis.

Laboratory test.

Laboratory values can show increased urea (BUN), or increased blood creatinine in cases of uremic pericarditis. Generally however, laboratory values are normal, but if there is a concurrent myocardial infarction (heart attack) or great stress to the heart, laboratory values may show increased cardiac markers like Troponin (I, T), CK-MB, Myoglobin, and LDH1 (lactase dehydrogenase isotype 1).  The preferred initial diagnostic testing is the ECG, which may demonstrate a 12-lead electrocardiogram with diffuse, non-specific, concave ("saddle-shaped"), ST-segment elevations in all leads except aVR and V1 and PR-segment depression possible in any lead "except aVR"; sinus tachycardia, and low-voltage QRS complexes can also be seen if there is subsymptomatic levels of pericardial effusion. The PR depression is often seen early in the process as the thin atria are affected more easily than the ventricles by the inflammatory process of the pericardium.  Since the mid-19th century, retrospective diagnosis of pericarditis has been made upon the finding of adhesions of the pericardium.  When pericarditis is diagnosed clinically, the underlying cause is often never known; it may be discovered in only 16–22 percent of people with acute pericarditis.

Classification.

Pericarditis can be classified according to the composition of the fluid that accumulates around the heart.  Types of pericarditis include the following:

Acute vs. chronic.

Depending on the time of presentation and duration, pericarditis is divided into "acute" and "chronic" forms. Acute pericarditis is more common than chronic pericarditis, and can occur as a complication of infections, immunologic conditions, or even as a result of a heart attack (myocardial infarction), as Dressler's syndrome. Chronic pericarditis however is less common, a form of which is constrictive pericarditis. The following is the clinical classification of acute vs. chronic:

Treatment.

The treatment in viral or idiopathic pericarditis is with aspirin, or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs such as ibuprofen). Colchicine may be added to the above as it decreases the risk of further episodes of pericarditis.  Severe cases may require one or more of the following:

Epidemiology.

About 30% of people with viral pericarditis or pericarditis of an unknown cause have one or several recurrent episodes.

Pericarditis is inflammation of the pericardium (the fibrous sac surrounding the heart). Symptoms typically include sudden onset of sharp chest pain. The pain may also be felt in the shoulders, neck, or back. It is typically better sitting up and worse when lying down or breathing deeply. Other symptoms may include fever, weakness, palpitations, and shortness of breath. Occasionally onset of symptoms is gradual. The cause of pericarditis is believed to be most often due to a viral infection. Other causes include bacterial infections such as tuberculosis, uremic pericarditis, following a heart attack, cancer, autoimmune disorders, and chest trauma. The cause often remains unknown. Diagnosis is based on the chest pain, a pericardial rub, specific electrocardiogram (ECG) changes, and fluid around the heart. Other conditions that may produce similar symptoms include a heart attack. Treatment in most cases is with NSAIDs and possibly colchicine. Steroids may be used if those are not appropriate. Typically symptoms improve in a few days to weeks but can occasionally last months. Complications can include cardiac tamponade, myocarditis, and constrictive pericarditis. It is a less common cause of chest pain. About 3 per 10,000 people are affected per year. Those most commonly affected are males between the ages of 20 and 50. Up to 30% of those affected have more than one episode.

心包炎(英语:Pericarditis)是心包(心脏周围的纤维囊)炎症的症状,症状多半是突然出现的急性胸痛,疼痛的部位也会出现在肩膀、颈部或是背部,若坐姿较直,疼痛会比较和缓,若躺下或是深呼吸,其疼痛会加剧。其他症状包括有发烧、虚弱、心悸及呼吸困难,偶尔也有渐进式发作的症状。 一般认为心包炎是由于病毒疾病造成,其他的病因包括像是结核病造成的细菌感染、尿毒症性心包炎,或是因为心肌梗死、癌症、自体免疫性疾病、胸腔外伤之后的影响。不过不太容易诊断心包炎的病因。诊断一般是以胸痛、心包摩擦音、特定的心电图(ECG)变化、心包积液为基础,像心肌梗死也会有类似的症状。 治疗方式主要会使用非甾体抗炎药,也可能使用秋水仙素,若不适合使用上述药物,则会使用皮质类固醇,若是典型的症状,治疗会在几天内改善,不过偶尔也有持续数月的情形。其并发症包括心包填塞、心肌炎及缩窄性心包炎,心包炎会是胸痛的原因,不过并不常见。,每一千人中,一年内有罹患心包炎比例的人约为3人,最容易罹患心包炎的是20岁至50岁的男性,其中有不到30%以下的人会罹患一次以上的心包炎。


Structure.

For the different types of optic chiasm, see  In all vertebrates, the optic nerves of the left and the right eye meet in the body midline, ventral to the brain. In many vertebrates the left optic nerve crosses over the right one without fusing with it.  In vertebrates with a large overlap of the visual fields of the two eyes, i.e., most mammals and birds, but also amphibians, reptilians such as chameleons, the two optic nerves merge in the optic chiasm. In such a merged optic chiasm, part of the nerve fibres do not cross the midline, but continue towards the optic tract of the ipsilateral side. By this partial decussation, the part of the visual field that is covered by both eyes is fused so that the processing of binocular depth perception by Stereopsis is enabled (see Figure 2).  In the case of such partial decussation, the optic nerve fibres on the medial sides of each retina (which correspond to the lateral side of each visual hemifield, because the image is inverted) cross over to the opposite side of the body midline. The inferonasal retina are related to the anterior portion of the optic chiasm whereas superonasal retinal fibers are related to the posterior portion of the optic chiasm.  The partial crossing over of optic nerve fibres at the optic chiasm allows the visual cortex to receive the same hemispheric visual field from both eyes. Superimposing and processing these monocular visual signals allow the visual cortex to generate binocular and stereoscopic vision. The net result is that the right cerebral hemisphere processes left visual hemifield, and the left cerebral hemisphere processes the right visual hemifield.  Beyond the optic chiasm, with crossed and uncrossed fibers, the optic nerves are called optic tracts. The optic tract inserts on the optic tectum (in mammals known as superior colliculus) of the midbrain. In mammals they also branch off to the lateral geniculate body of the thalamus, in turn giving them to the occipital cortex of the cerebrum.

Development in mammals.

During development, the crossing of the optic nerves is guided primarily by cues such as netrin, slit, semaphorin and ephrin; and by morphogens such as sonic hedgehog (Shh) and Wnt. This navigation is mediated by the neuronal growth cone, a structure that responds to the cues by ligand-receptor signalling systems that activate downstream pathways inducing changes in the cytoskeleton. Retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons leaving the eye through the optic nerve are blocked from exiting the developing pathway by Slit2 and Sema5A inhibition, expressed bordering the optic nerve pathway. Ssh expressed at the central nervous system midline inhibits crossing prior to the chiasm, where it is downregulated. The organization of RGC axons changes from retinotopic to a flat sheet-like orientation as they approach the chiasm site.  Most RGC axons cross the midline at the ventral diencephalon and continue to the contralateral superior colliculus. The number of axons that do not cross the midline and project ipsilaterally depends on the degree of binocular vision of the animal (3% in mice and 45% in humans do not cross). Ephrin-B2 is expressed at the chiasm midline by radial glia and acts as a repulsive signal to axons originating from the ventrotemporal retina expressing EphB1 receptor protein, giving rise to the ipsilateral, or uncrossed, projection. RGC axons that do cross at the optic chiasm are guided by the vascular endothelial growth factor, VEGF-A, expressed at the midline, which signals through the receptor Neuropilin-1 (NRP1) expressed on RGC axons. Chiasm crossing is also promoted by Nr-CAM (Ng-CAM-related cell adhesion molecule) and Semaphorin6D (Sema6D) expressed at the midline, which form a complex that signals to Nr-CAM/Plexin-A1 receptors on crossing RGC axons.

Other animals.

Mammals.

Since all vertebrates, even the earliest fossils and modern jawless ones, possess an optic chiasm, it is not known how it evolved. A number of theories have been proposed for the function of the optic chiasm in vertebrates (see theories). According to the axial twist hypothesis the optic chiasm develops as a consequence of a twist in the early embryo.  In Siamese cats with certain genotypes of the albino gene, the wiring is disrupted, with more of the nerve-crossing than normal. Since siamese cats, like albino tigers, also tend to cross their eyes (strabismus), it has been proposed that this behavior might compensate the abnormal amount of decussation.

Cephalopods and insects.

In cephalopods and insects the optic tracts do not cross the body midline, so each side of the brain processes the ipsilateral eye.

History.

The crossing of nerve fibres, and the impact on vision that this had, was probably first identified by Persian physician "Esmail Jorjani", who appears to be Zayn al-Din Gorgani (1042–1137).

The optic chiasm, or optic chiasma (; Greek:, "crossing", from the Greek, "to mark with an X", after the Greek letter "Chi"), is the part of the brain where the optic nerves cross. It is located at the bottom of the brain immediately inferior to the hypothalamus. The optic chiasm is found in all vertebrates, although in cyclostomes (lampreys and hagfishes), it is located within the brain.

视交叉为一呈长方形的神经纤维块,位于蝶骨视神经沟之后上方,第三脑室前壁和底部的交界处,构成第三脑室隐窝的向前延伸部。在脚间池前部,略呈倾斜,后缘比前缘高。在垂体上部,除其后缘之外均浸在脑脊液中。由于视神经颅内段长短不同以及汇成视交叉的角度大小不同,故其与垂体的位置关系因人而异。其横径约12mm,前后径约8mm,厚约3~5mm。若以垂体为位置对比的基点,则统计资料表明,约79%位于垂体的后上方,即轻度后置位;12%偏于垂体的前部,即轻度前置;5%极度前置,位于视交叉沟之前;4%极度后置到鞍背。视交叉与鞍背并不直接接触,两者相距5~10mm,其间隔有脚间池。


Nomenclature.

The convention that arose for designating pulsars was that of using the letters PSR (Pulsating Source of Radio) followed by the pulsar's right ascension and degrees of declination. The modern convention prefixes the older numbers with a B meaning the coordinates are for the 1950.0 epoch. All new pulsars have a J indicating 2000.0 coordinates and also have declination including minutes. Pulsars that were discovered before 1993 tend to retain their B names rather than use their J names, but all pulsars have a J name that provides more precise coordinates of its location in the sky.  On their discovery, the planets were designated PSR 1257+12 A, B, and C, ordered by increasing distance. They were discovered before the convention that extrasolar planets receive designations consisting of the star's name followed by lower-case Roman letters starting from "b", in order of discovery, was established. However, they are listed under the latter convention on astronomical databases such as SIMBAD and the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia, with A becoming b, B becoming c, and C becoming d.  In July 2014, the International Astronomical Union launched a process for giving proper names to certain exoplanets and their host stars. The process involved public nomination and voting for the new names. In December 2015, the IAU announced the winning names, submitted by the Planetarium Südtirol Alto Adige in Karneid, Italy, were Lich for the pulsar and Draugr, Poltergeist and Phobetor for planets A, B and C, respectively:  In 2016, the IAU organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars (including stellar remnants). In its first bulletin of July 2016, the WGSN explicitly recognized the names of exoplanets and their host stars approved by the Executive Committee Working Group Public Naming of Planets and Planetary Satellites, including the names of stars adopted during the 2015 NameExoWorlds campaign. This stellar remnant is now so entered in the IAU Catalog of Star Names.

Pulsar.

Discovery.

PSR B1257+12 was discovered by the Polish astronomer Aleksander Wolszczan on 9 February 1990 using the Arecibo radio telescope. It is a millisecond pulsar, a kind of neutron star, with a rotation period of 6.22 milliseconds (9,650 rpm), and was found to have anomalies in the pulsation period, which led to investigations as to the cause of the irregular pulses. In 1992 Wolszczan and Dale Frail published a famous paper on the first confirmed discovery of planets outside our solar system. Using refined methods one more planet was found orbiting this pulsar in 1994.

Characteristics.

The pulsar is estimated to have a mass of 1.4, which is typical for most neutron stars and pulsars. The radius is estimated to be around 10 kilometres (~0.000015 ), also common for pulsars and neutron stars. The pulsar is extremely hot, with a surface temperature of up to around 28,856 K. It formed about one to three billion years ago as the result of a white dwarf transforming into a rapidly spinning neutron star during the process of two white dwarfs merging with each other.  The discovery stimulated a search for planets orbiting other pulsars, but it turned out such planets are rare; only four other pulsar planets, orbiting PSR B1620−26, PSR B0943+10, and PSR B0329+54, have been confirmed.

Planetary system.

Planets.

In 1992, Wolszczan and Frail discovered that the pulsar had two planets. These were the first discovery of extrasolar planets to be confirmed; as pulsar planets, they surprised many astronomers who expected to find planets only around main-sequence stars. Additional uncertainty surrounded the system, because of a claim of an earlier pulsar planet around PSR 1829-10 that had to be retracted due to errors in calculations. In 1994, an additional planet was discovered. Additionally, this system may have an asteroid belt or a Kuiper belt.  The planets are believed to be the result of a second round of planetary system formation as a result of two white dwarfs merging with each other into a pulsar and a resulting disk of material in orbit around the star. Other scenarios include unusual supernova remnants or a quark-nova. However, the white dwarf–white dwarf merge model seems to be the most likely cause of the formation of the planets.

Retracted claim of fourth orbital body.

In 1996, a possible Saturn-like (100 Earth mass) gas giant was announced orbiting the pulsar at a distance of about 40 AU. The original hypothesis was retracted and a reinterpretation of the data led to a new hypothesis of a dwarf planet one fifth the size of Pluto orbiting PSR B1257+12 at an average orbital distance of 2.4 AU with an orbital period of approximately 4.6 years. The dwarf planet hypothesis was also retracted because further observations showed that the pulsation anomalies previously thought to reveal a fourth orbital body are "not periodic and can be fully explained in terms of slow changes in the pulsar's dispersion measure".

PSR B1257+12, previously designated PSR 1257+12, alternatively designated PSR J1300+1240, is a pulsar located 2,300 light-years from the Sun in the constellation of Virgo. It is also named Lich, after a powerful, fictional undead creature of the same name.

PSR B1257+12,前称为PSR 1257+12,又称为PSR J1300+1240,又名「巫妖星」(Lich),是一颗位于室女座的脉冲星,距离太阳大约2,300光年。


Early life and work.

Ames was born in River Falls, Wisconsin, to Carleton Cecil Ames and Rachel Ames (née Aldrich). His father was a college lecturer at the Wisconsin State College-River Falls and his mother a high school English teacher. Aldrich was the eldest of three children and the only son. In 1952, his father began working for the CIA's Directorate of Operations in Virginia, and in 1953 was posted to Southeast Asia for three years, accompanied by his family. Carleton received a "particularly negative performance appraisal" in part because of serious alcoholism and spent the remainder of his career at CIA headquarters.  Ames attended high school at McLean High School in McLean, Virginia. Beginning in 1957, following his sophomore year, he worked for the CIA for three summers as a low-ranking (GS-3) records analyst, marking classified documents for filing. In 1959, Ames entered the University of Chicago planning to study foreign cultures and history, but his "long-time passion" for drama resulted in failing grades, and he did not finish his sophomore year. Ames worked at the CIA during the summer of 1960 as a laborer/painter. He then became an assistant technical director at a Chicago theater until February 1962. Returning to the Washington area, Ames took full-time employment at the CIA doing the same sort of clerical jobs he had performed in high school.

CIA career.

Five years after first working for the CIA, Ames completed a bachelor's degree in history at the George Washington University. He did not originally plan to have a career with the CIA, but after attaining the grade of GS-7, and receiving good performance appraisals, he was accepted into the Career Trainee Program, despite several alcohol-related brushes with the police. In 1969, Ames married fellow CIA officer, Nancy Segebarth, whom he had met in the Career Trainee Program.  When Ames was assigned to Ankara, Turkey, Nancy resigned from the CIA because of a rule that prohibited married partners from working from the same office. Ames's job in Turkey was to target Soviet intelligence officers for recruitment, and he succeeded in infiltrating the Communist Dev-Genç organization through a roommate of student activist Deniz Gezmiş. In spite of this success, Ames's performance was rated only "satisfactory", and Ames, discouraged by the critical assessment, considered leaving the CIA.  In 1972, Ames returned to CIA headquarters and spent the next four years in the Soviet-East European (SE) Division. His performance reviews were "generally enthusiastic", apparently because he was better at managing paperwork and planning field operations than at agent recruiting. Nevertheless, his excessive drinking was also noted, and two "eyes only" memoranda were placed in his file.  In 1976, Ames was assigned to New York City where he handled two important Soviet assets. His performance was excellent, and he received several promotions and bonuses, being ranked above most operations officers in his pay grade. However, his tendency to procrastinate in submissions of financial accounting was noted. Ames's inattention to detail also led him to commit two important security violations, including once leaving a briefcase of classified operational materials on the subway. Ames apparently received only a verbal reprimand.  In 1981, Ames accepted a posting to Mexico City while his wife remained in New York. His evaluations in Mexico were mediocre at best, and he engaged in at least three extramarital affairs. In October 1982, Ames began an affair with María del Rosario Casas Dupuy (), a cultural attaché in the Colombian Embassy and a CIA informant. Despite CIA regulations, Ames did not report his romance with a foreign national to his superiors, even though some of his colleagues were well aware of it. Ames's lackluster performance reviews were in part the result of heavy drinking. At a diplomatic reception in Mexico City, Ames got into a loud, drunken argument with a Cuban official that "caused alarm" among his superiors.  Nevertheless, in September 1983, the CIA assigned Ames back to the SE division in Washington. His reassignment placed him "in the most sensitive element" of the Department of Operations, which was responsible for Soviet counterintelligence. Ames had access to all CIA plans and operations against the KGB and the GRU, Soviet military intelligence. In October, Ames formally separated from Nancy, and, in November, he submitted an "outside activity" report to the CIA noting his romantic relationship with Rosario. As part of his divorce settlement, Ames agreed to pay the couple's debts plus provide Nancy monthly support for three-and-a-half years, a total of about $46,000. Ames thought the divorce might bankrupt him, and later said that this financial pressure was what had first led him to consider spying for the Soviet Union. Rosario also proved to be a heavy spender, phoning her family in Colombia at a cost of $400 a month, and going on shopping sprees – after her arrest the FBI discovered sixty purses in the Ames's house, more than five hundred pairs of shoes, and 165 unopened boxes of pantyhose.

Espionage.

Ames routinely assisted another CIA office that assessed Soviet embassy officials as potential intelligence assets. As part of this responsibility, and with the knowledge of both the CIA and the FBI, Ames began making contacts within the Soviet Embassy. In April 1985, Ames provided information to the Soviets that he believed was "essentially valueless" but would establish his credentials as a CIA insider. He also asked for $50,000, which the Soviets paid quickly. Ames later claimed that he had not prepared for more than the initial "con game" to satisfy his immediate indebtedness, but having "crossed a line" he "could never step back".  Ames soon identified more than ten top-level CIA and FBI sources who were reporting on Soviet activities. Not only did Ames believe that there was "as much money as [he] could ever use" in betraying these intelligence assets, but their elimination would also reduce the chance of his own espionage being discovered. By 1985, the CIA's network of Soviet-bloc agents began disappearing at an alarming rate. The CIA realized something was wrong but was reluctant to consider the possibility of an agency mole. Initial investigations focused on possible breaches caused by Soviet bugs, or a code which had been broken.  The CIA initially blamed asset losses on another former CIA agent, Edward Lee Howard, who had also been passing information to the Soviets. But when the CIA lost three other important sources of information about whom Howard could have known nothing, it was clear that the arrests (and executions) were the result of information provided by another source. As one CIA officer put it, the Soviets "were wrapping up our cases with reckless abandon", which was highly unusual because the "prevailing wisdom among the Agency's professional'spy catchers'" was that suddenly eliminating all the assets known to the mole would put him in danger. In fact, Ames's KGB handlers apologized to him, saying they disagreed with that course of action, but that the decision to immediately eliminate all American assets had been made at the highest political levels.  Meanwhile, Ames continued to meet openly with his contact at the Soviet embassy, Sergey Dmitriyevich Chuvakhin. For a time, Ames summarized for the CIA and FBI the progress of what he portrayed as an attempt to recruit the Soviet. Ames received $20,000 to $50,000 every time the two had lunch. Ultimately, Ames received $4.6 million from the Soviets, which allowed him to enjoy a lifestyle well beyond the means of a CIA officer. In August 1985, when Ames's divorce became final, he immediately married Rosario. Understanding that his new wealth would raise eyebrows, he developed a cover story that his prosperity was the result of money given to him by his Colombian wife's wealthy family. To assist with that fabrication, Ames wired considerable amounts of his espionage payments to his new in-laws in Bogotá, to help improve their impoverished status.  In 1986, following the loss of several CIA assets, Ames told the KGB that he feared he would be a suspect. The KGB threw U.S. investigators off Ames's trail by constructing an elaborate diversion, in which a Soviet case officer told a CIA contact that the mole was stationed at Warrenton Training Center (WTC), a secret CIA communications facility in Virginia. U.S. mole hunters investigated 90 employees at WTC for almost a year and came up with ten suspects, although the lead investigator noted that "there are so many problem personalities that no one stands out".  In 1986, Ames was posted to Rome. There, his performance once again ranged from mediocre to poor and included evidence of problematic drinking. Nevertheless, in 1990–1991, he was reassigned to the CIA's Counterintelligence Center Analysis Group, providing him with access to "extremely sensitive data", including information on U.S. double agents.

CIA response.

In late 1986, the CIA assembled a team to investigate the source of the leaks. Led by Paul Redmond, and consisting of Jeanne Vertefeuille, Sandra Grimes, Diana Worthen, and Dan Payne, the team examined different possible causes, including the possibilities that the KGB had bugged the agency, or intercepted its communications, or had a mole in place. By 1990, the CIA was certain that there was a mole in the agency, but could not find the source. Recruitment of new Soviet agents came to a virtual halt, as the agency feared it could not protect its current assets.  Prior to that, in November 1989, a fellow employee reported that Ames seemed to be enjoying a lifestyle well beyond the means of a CIA officer, and that his wife's family was less wealthy than he had claimed. Diana Worthen, who had known Rosario Ames prior to her marriage, had met with Rosario one day to discuss installing drapes in the Ames residence. Worthen, who had recently installed drapes in her own home, knew they could be expensive and asked which room to concentrate upon first, at which Rosario laughed and said "Do not worry about the price, we are going to have the whole house done at once!" Worthen also knew that Rosario's parents had little money, but a CIA contact in Bogotá observed that her family was now well-off. Nevertheless, the CIA moved slowly. When the investigator assigned to look at Ames's finances began a two-month training course, no one immediately replaced him. Investigators were also diverted by a false story from a CIA officer abroad who claimed that the Soviets had penetrated the CIA with an employee born in the USSR.  In 1986 and 1991, Ames passed two polygraph examinations while spying for the Soviet Union and Russia, respectively. Ames was initially "terrified" at the prospect of taking the test, but he was advised by the KGB "to just relax". Ames's test demonstrated deceptive answers to some questions but the examiners passed him, perhaps, in the later opinion of the CIA, because the examiners were "overly friendly" and therefore did not induce the proper physiological response.  The CIA finally focused on Ames after co-workers noted his sharper personal appearance, including:  The CIA also realized that, despite Ames's annual salary being $60,000, he could afford:

Arrest.

In March 1993, the CIA and FBI began an intensive investigation of Ames that included electronic surveillance, combing through his trash, and a monitor installed in his car to track his movements. From November 1993 until his arrest, Ames was kept under virtually constant physical surveillance. When, in early 1994, he was scheduled to attend a conference in Moscow, the FBI believed it could wait no longer, and he and his wife were arrested on February 21, 1994. At his arrest, Ames told the officers, "You're making a big mistake! You must have the wrong man!"  On February 22, 1994, Ames and his wife were formally charged by the Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union and Russia. Ames's betrayal resulted in the deaths of a number of CIA assets. He pleaded guilty on April 28 and received a sentence of life imprisonment. As part of a plea bargain by Ames, his wife received a five-year prison sentence for tax evasion and conspiracy to commit espionage.  In court, Ames admitted that he had compromised "virtually all Soviet agents of the CIA and other American and foreign services known to me", and had provided the USSR and Russia with a "huge quantity of information on United States foreign, defense and security policies". It is estimated that information Ames provided to the Soviets led to the compromise of at least a hundred U.S. intelligence operations and to the execution of at least ten U.S. sources. Furthermore, Ames's betrayal of CIA methods allowed the KGB to use "controlled agents" to feed the U.S. both genuine intelligence and disinformation from 1986 to 1993. Some of this "feed material" was incorporated into CIA intelligence reports, several of which even reached three Presidents.  Ames said he was not afraid of being caught by the FBI or CIA but was afraid of Soviet defectors, saying, "Virtually every American who has been jailed in connection with espionage has been fingered by a Soviet source".  Additionally, when asked about the polygraph tests, Ames said, "There's no special magic. Confidence is what does it. Confidence and a friendly relationship with the examiner. Rapport, where you smile and you make him think that you like him."

Post-sentence.

Ames is Federal Bureau of Prisons prisoner #40087-083, serving his life sentence in the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Terre Haute, Indiana.  The CIA was criticized for not focusing on Ames sooner, given the obvious increase in his standard of living. There was a "huge uproar" in Congress when CIA Director James Woolsey decided that no one in the agency would be dismissed or demoted. "Some have clamored for heads to roll in order that we could say that heads have rolled," Woolsey declared. "Sorry, that's not my way." Woolsey resigned under pressure.  Ames's attorney, Plato Cacheris, had threatened to litigate the legality of FBI searches and seizures in Ames's home and office without traditional search warrants, although Ames's guilty plea made the threat moot. Congress then passed a new law giving that specific power to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Aldrich Ames and Jonathan Pollard.

Ames allegedly caused a shift to "blame Mr. Pollard for exposing the American agents to clear himself of suspicion." The same source "said that Mr. Pollard never exposed American agents in the Soviet Union or elsewhere."

Aldrich Hazen "Rick" Ames (; born May 26, 1941) is a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer turned KGB double agent, who was convicted of espionage in 1994. He is serving a life sentence, without the possibility of parole, in the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States. Ames was formerly a 31-year CIA counterintelligence officer who committed espionage against the U.S. by spying for the Soviet Union and Russia. At the time of his arrest, Ames had compromised more highly classified CIA assets than any other officer in history until Robert Hanssen's arrest seven years later in 2001.

奥德里奇·艾姆斯(英语:Aldrich Ames,1941年-5月26日),前美国中央情报局官员和情报分析员,因向前苏联和俄罗斯出售美国情报于1994年2月被捕。艾姆斯从出卖情报中获得的利益达到400万美元,而且大量美国在苏行动受破坏、秘密情报网络瘫痪。艾姆斯最终被判处终生监禁。