title: Sawfish

text: Sawfish have two relatively high and distinct dorsal fins, wing-like pectoral and pelvic fins, and a tail with a distinct upper lobe and a variably sized lower lobe (lower lobe relatively large in "Anoxypristis"; small to absent in "Pristis" sawfish). The position of the first dorsal fin compared to the pelvic fins varies and is a useful feature for separating some of the species. There are no anal fins.


title: Sawfish

text: Like other elasmobranches, sawfish lack a swim bladder (instead controlling their buoyancy with a large oil-rich liver), have a skeleton consisting of cartilage, and the males have claspers, a pair of elongated structures used for mating and positioned on the underside at the pelvic fins. The claspers are small and indistinct in young males.


title: Sawfish

text: Their small intestines contain an internal partition shaped like a corkscrew, called a spiral valve, which increases the surface area available for food absorption.


title: Sawfish

text: Sawfish are large to very large fish, but the maximum size of each species is generally uncertain. The smalltooth sawfish, largetooth sawfish and green sawfish are among the world's largest fish. They can certainly all reach about in total length and there are reports of individuals larger than , but these are often labeled with some uncertainty. Typically reported maximum total lengths of these three are from . Large individuals may weigh as much as , or possibly even more. Old unconfirmed and highly questionable reports of much larger individuals do exist, including one that reputedly had a length of , another that had a weight of , and a third that was long and weighed .


title: Sawfish

text: The two remaining species, the dwarf sawfish and narrow sawfish, are considerably smaller, but are still large fish with a maximum total length of at least and respectively. In the past it was often reported that the dwarf sawfish only reaches about , but this is now known to be incorrect.


title: Sawfish

text: Historically they ranged in the East Atlantic from Morocco to South Africa, and in the West Atlantic from New York (United States) to Uruguay, including the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. There are old reports (last in the late 1950s or shortly after) from the Mediterranean and these have typically been regarded as vagrants, but a review of records strongly suggests that this sea had a breeding population. In the East Pacific they ranged from Mazatlán (Mexico) to northern Peru. Although the Gulf of California occasionally has been included in their range, the only known Pacific Mexican records of sawfish are from south of its mouth. They were widespread in the western and central Indo-Pacific, ranging from South Africa to the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, east and north to Korea and southern Japan, through Southeast Asia to Papua New Guinea and Australia. Today sawfish have disappeared from much of their historical range.


title: Sawfish

text: Sawfish are primarily found in coastal marine and estuarine brackish waters, but they are euryhaline (can adapt to various salinities) and also found in freshwater. The largetooth sawfish, alternatively called the freshwater sawfish, has the greatest affinity for freshwater. For example, it has been reported as far as up the Amazon River and in Lake Nicaragua, and its young spend the first years of their life in freshwater. In contrast, the smalltooth, green and dwarf sawfish typically avoid pure freshwater, but may occasionally move far up rivers, especially during periods when there is an increased salinity. There are reports of narrow sawfish seen far upriver, but these need confirmation and may involve misidentifications of other species of sawfish.


title: Sawfish

text: Sawfish are mostly found in relatively shallow waters, typically at depths less than , and occasionally less than . Young prefer very shallow places and are often found in water only deep. Sawfish can occur offshore, but are rare deeper than . An unidentified sawfish (either a largetooth or smalltooth sawfish) was captured off Central America at a depth in excess of .


title: Sawfish

text: The dwarf and largetooth sawfish are strictly warm-water species that generally live in waters that are and respectively. The green and smalltooth sawfish also occur in colder waters, in the latter down to , as illustrated by their (original) distributions that ranged further north and south of the strictly warm-water species. Sawfish are bottom-dwellers, but in captivity it has been noted that at least the largetooth and green sawfish readily take food from the water surface. Sawfish are mostly found in places with soft bottoms such as mud or sand, but may also occur over hard rocky bottoms or at coral reefs. They are often found in areas with seagrass or mangrove.


title: Sawfish

text: Sawsharks are typically found much deeper, often at depths in excess of , and when shallower mostly in colder subtropical or temperate waters than sawfish.


title: Sawfish

text: Relatively little is known about the reproductive habits of the sawfish, but all species are ovoviviparous with the adult females giving birth to live young once a year or every second year. In general, males appear to reach sexual maturity at a slightly younger age and smaller size than females. As far as known, sexual maturity is reached at an age of 7–12 years in "Pristis" and 2–3 years in "Anoxypristis". In the smalltooth and green sawfish this equals a total length of , in the largetooth sawfish at , in the dwarf sawfish about , and in the narrow sawfish at . This means that the generation length is about 4.6 years in the narrow sawfish and 14.6–17.2 years in the remaining species.


title: Sawfish

text: Mating involves the male inserting a clasper, organs at the pelvic fins, into the female to fertilize the eggs. As known from many elasmobranchs, the mating appears to be rough, with the sawfish often sustaining lacerations from its partner's saw. However, through genetic testing it has been shown that at least the smalltooth sawfish also can reproduce by parthenogenesis where no male is involved and the offspring are clones of their mother. In Florida, United States, it appears that about 3% of the smalltooth sawfish offspring are the result of parthenogenesis. It is speculated that this may be in response to being unable to find a partner, allowing the females to reproduce anyway.


title: Sawfish

text: The pregnancy lasts several months. There are 1–23 young in each sawfish litter, which are long at birth. In the embryos the rostrum is flexible and it only hardens shortly before birth. To protect the mother the saws of the young have a soft cover, which falls off shortly after birth. The pupping grounds are in coastal and estuarine waters. In most species the young generally stay there for the first part of their lives, occasionally moving upriver when there is an increase in salinity. The exception is the largetooth sawfish where the young move upriver into freshwater where they stay for 3–5 years, sometimes as much as from the sea. In at least the smalltooth sawfish the young show a degree of site fidelity, generally staying in the same fairly small area in the first part of their lives. In the green and dwarf sawfish there are indications that both sexes remain in the same overall region throughout their lives with little mixing between the subpopulations. In the largetooth sawfish the males appear to move more freely between the subpopulations, while mothers return to the region where they were born to give birth to their own young.


title: Sawfish

text: The length of the full lifespan of sawfish is labeled with considerable uncertainty. A green sawfish caught as a juvenile lived for 35 years in captivity, and a smalltooth sawfish lived for more than 42 years in captivity. In the narrow sawfish it has been estimated that the lifespan is about 9 years, and in the "Pristis" sawfish it has been estimated that it varies from about 30 to more than 50 years depending on the exact species.


title: Sawfish

text: The rostrum (saw), unique among jawed fish, plays a significant role in both locating and capturing prey. The head and rostrum contain thousands of sensory organs, the ampullae of Lorenzini, that allow the sawfish to detect and monitor the movements of other organisms by measuring the electric fields they emit. Electroreception is found in all cartilaginous fishes and some bony fishes. In sawfish the sensory organs are packed most densely on the upper- and underside of the rostrum, varying in position and numbers depending on the species. Utilizing their saw as an extended sensing device, sawfish are able to examine their entire surroundings from a position close to the seafloor. It appears that sawfish can detect potential prey by electroreception from a distance of about . Some waters where sawfish live are very murky, limiting the possibility of hunting by sight.


title: Sawfish

text: Sawfish are predators that feed on fish, crustaceans and molluscs. Old stories of sawfish attacking large prey such as whales and dolphins by cutting out pieces of flesh are now considered to be wholly unsubstantiated. Humans are far too large to be considered potential prey. In captivity they are typically fed "ad libitum" or in set amounts that (per week) equal 1–4% of the total weight of the sawfish, but there are indications that captives grow considerably faster than their wild counterparts.


title: Sawfish

text: Exactly how they use their saw after the prey has been located has been debated, and some scholarship on the subject has been based on speculations rather than real observations. In 2012 it was shown that there are three primary techniques, informally called "saw in water", "saw on substrate" and "pin". If a prey item such as a fish is located in the open water, the sawfish uses the first method, making a rapid swipe at the prey with its saw to incapacitate it. It is then brought to the seabed and eaten. The "saw on substrate" is similar, but used on prey at the seabed. The saw is highly streamlined and when swiped it causes very little water movement. The final method involves pinning the prey against the seabed with the underside of the saw, in a manner similar to that seen in guitarfish. The "pin" is also used to manipulate the position of the prey, allowing fish to be swallowed head-first and thus without engaging any possible fin spines. The spines of catfish, a common prey, have been found imbedded in the rostrum of sawfish. Schools of mullets have been observed trying to escape sawfish. Prey fish are typically swallowed whole and not cut into small pieces with the saw, although on occasion one may be split in half during capture by the slashing motion. Prey choice is therefore limited by the size of the mouth. A sawfish had a catfish in its stomach.


title: Sawfish

text: It had been suggested that sawfish use their saw to dig/rake in the bottom for prey, but this was not observed during a 2012 study, or supported by later hydrodynamic studies. Large sawfish often have rostral teeth with tips that are notably worn.


title: Sawfish

text: Old stories often describe sawfish as highly dangerous to humans, sinking ships and cutting people in half, but today these are considered myths and not factual. Sawfish are actually docile and harmless to humans, except when captured, where they can inflict serious injuries when defending themselves by thrashing the saw from side-to-side. The saw is also used in self-defense against predators such as sharks that may eat sawfish. In captivity, they have been seen using their saws during fights over hierarchy or food.


title: Sawfish

text: The largetooth sawfish was among the species formally described by Carl Linnaeus (as ""Squalus pristis"") in "Systema Naturae" in 1758, but sawfish were already known thousands of years earlier.


title: Sawfish

text: Sawfish were occasionally mentioned in antiquity, in works such as Pliny's "Natural History" (77–79 AD). "Pristis", the scientific name formalised for sawfish by Linnaeus in 1758, was also in use as a name even before his publication. For example, sawfish or ""priste"" were included in "Libri de piscibus marinis in quibus verae piscium effigies expressae sunt" by Guillaume Rondelet in 1554, and ""pristi"" were included in "De piscibus libri V, et De cetis lib. vnus" by Ulisse Aldrovandi in 1613. Outside Europe, sawfish are mentioned in old Persian texts, such as 13th century writings by Zakariya al-Qazwini.


title: Sawfish

text: Sawfish have been found among archaeological remains in several parts of the world, including the Persian Gulf region, the Pacific coast of Panama, coastal Brazil and elsewhere.


title: Sawfish

text: The cultural significance of sawfish varies significantly. The Aztecs in what is currently Mexico often included depictions of sawfish rostra (saws), notably as the striker/sword of the monster Cipactli. Numerous sawfish rostra have been found buried at the Templo Mayor and two locations in coastal Veracruz had Aztec names referring to sawfish. In the same general region, sawfish teeth have been found in Mayan graves. The saw of sawfish is part of the dancing masks of the Huave and Zapotecs in Oaxaca, Mexico. The Kuna people on the Caribbean coast of Panama and Colombia considers sawfish as rescuers of drowning people and protectors against dangerous sea creatures. Also in Panama sawfish were recognized as containing powerful spirits that could protect humans against supernatural enemies.


title: Sawfish

text: In the Bissagos Islands off West Africa dancing dressed as sawfish and other sea creatures is part of men's coming-of-age ceremonies. In Gambia the saws indicate courage; the more on display at a house the more courageous the owner. In Senegal the Lebu people believe the saw can protect their family, house and livestock. In the same general region they are recognized as ancestral spirits with the saw as a magic weapon. The Akan people of Ghana see sawfish as an authority symbol. There are proverbs with sawfish in the African language Duala. In some other parts of coastal Africa, sawfish are considered extremely dangerous and supernatural, but their powers can be used by humans as their saw retains the powers against disease, bad luck and evil. Among most African groups consumption of meat from sawfish is entirely acceptable, but in a few (in West Africa the Fula, Serer and Wolof people) it is taboo. In the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria, the saws of sawfish (known as "oki" in Ijaw and neighbouring languages) are often used in masquerades.


title: Sawfish

text: In Asia, sawfish are a powerful symbol in many cultures. Asian shamans use sawfish rostrums for exorcisms and in other ceremonies to repel demons and disease. They are believed to protect houses from ghosts when hung over doorways. Illustrations of sawfish are often found at Buddhist temples in Thailand. In the Sepik region of New Guinea locals admire sawfish, but also see them as punishers that will unleash heavy rainstorms on anyone breaking fishing taboos. Among the Warnindhilyagwa, a group of Indigenous Australians, the ancestral sawfish "Yukwurrirrindangwa" and rays created the land. The ancestral sawfish carved out the river of Groote Eylandt with their saw. Among European sailors sawfish were often feared as animals that could sink ships by piercing/sawing in the hull with their saw (claims now known to be entirely untrue), but there are also stories of them saving people. In one case it was described how a ship almost sank during a storm in Italy in 1573. The sailors prayed and made it safely ashore where they discovered a sawfish that had "plugged" a hole in the ship with its saw. A sawfish rostrum said to be from this miraculous event is kept at the Sanctuary of Carmine Maggiore in Naples.


title: Sawfish

text: Sawfish have been used as symbols in recent history. During World War II, illustrations of sawfish were placed on navy ships, and used as symbols by both American and Nazi German submarines. Sawfish served as the emblem of the German U-96 submarine, known for its portrayal in "Das Boot", and was later the symbol of the 9th U-boat Flotilla. The German World War II (Battle Badge of Small Combat Units) depicted a sawfish.


title: Sawfish

text: In cartoons and humorous popular culture, the sawfish—particularly its rostrum ("nose")—has been employed as a sort of living tool. Examples of this can be found in "Vicke Viking" and "Fighting Fantasy" volume "Demons of the Deep".


title: Sawfish

text: A stylized sawfish was chosen by the Central Bank of the West African States to appear on coins and banknotes of the CFA currency. This was due to the mythological value representing fecundity and prosperity. The image takes its form from an Akan and Baoule bronze weight used for exchanges in the commercial trade of gold powder.


title: Sawfish

text: Sawfish are popular in public aquariums, but require very large tanks. In a review of 10 North American and European public aquariums that kept sawfish, their tanks were all very large and ranged from about . Individuals in public aquariums often function as "ambassadors" for sawfish and their conservation plight. In captivity they are quite robust, appear to grow faster than their wild counterparts (perhaps due to consistent access to food) and individuals have lived for decades, but breeding them has proven difficult. In 2012, four smalltooth sawfish pups were born at Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas and this remains the only time a member of this family has been successfully bred in captivity (unsuccessful breeding attempts had happened earlier at the same facility, including a miscarriage in 2003). Nevertheless, it is hoped that this success may be the first step in a captive breeding program for the threatened sawfish. It is speculated that seasonal variations in water temperature, salinity and photoperiod are necessary to encourage breeding. Artificial insemination, as already has been done in a few captive sharks, is also being considered. Tracking studies indicate that if sawfish are released to the wild after spending a period in captivity (for example, if they outgrow their exhibit), they rapidly adopt a movement pattern similar to that of fully wild sawfish.


title: Sawfish

text: Among the five sawfish species, only the four "Pristis" species are known to be kept in public aquariums. The most common is the largetooth sawfish with studbooks including 16 individuals in North America in 2014, 5 individuals in Europe in 2013 and 13 individuals in Australia in 2017, followed by the green sawfish with 13 individuals in North America and 6 in Europe. Both these species are also kept at public aquariums in Asia and the only captive dwarf sawfish are in Japan. In 2014, studbooks included 12 smalltooth sawfish in North America, and the only kept elsewhere are at a public aquarium in Colombia.


title: Sawfish

text: Sawfish were once common, with habitat found along the coastline of 90 countries, locally even abundant, but they have declined drastically and are now among the most threatened groups of marine fish.


title: Sawfish

text: Sawfish and their parts have been used for numerous things. In approximate order of impact, the four most serious threats today are use in shark fin soup, as traditional medicine, rostral teeth for cockfighting spurs and the saw as a novelty item. Despite being rays rather than sharks, sawfish have some of most prized fins for use in shark fin soup, on level with tiger, mako, blue, porbeagle, thresher, hammerhead, blacktip, sandbar and bull shark. As traditional medicine (especially Chinese medicine, but also known from Mexico, Brazil, Kenya, Eritrea, Yemen, Iran, India and Bangladesh) sawfish parts, oil or powder have been claimed to work against respiratory ailments, eye problems, rheumatism, pain, inflammation, scabies, skin ulcers, diarrhea and stomach problems, but there is no evidence supporting any of these uses. The saws are used in ceremonies and as curiosities. Until relatively recently many saws were sold to visiting tourists, or through antique stores or shell shops, but they are now mostly sold online, often illegally. In 2007 it was estimated that the fins and saw from a single sawfish potentially could earn a fisher more than US$5,000 in Kenya and in 2014 a single rostral tooth sold as cockfighting spurs in Peru or Ecuador had a value of up to US$220. Secondary uses are the meat for consumption and the skin for leather. Historically the saws were used as weapons (large saws) and combs (small saws). Oil from the liver was prized for use in boat repairs and street lights, and as recent as the 1920s in Florida it was regarded as the best fish oil for consumption.


title: Sawfish

text: Sawfish fishing goes back several thousand years, but until relatively recently it typically involved traditional low-intensity methods such as simple hook-and-line or spearing. In most regions the major population decline in sawfish started in the 1960s–1980s. This coincided with a major growth in demand of fins for shark fin soup, the expansion of the international shark finning fishing fleet, and a proliferation of modern nylon fishing nets. The exception is the dwarf sawfish which was relatively widespread in the Indo-Pacific, but by the early 1900s it had already disappeared from most of its range, only surviving for certain in Australia (there is a single recent possible record from the Arabian region). The saw has been described as sawfish's Achilles' heel, as it easily becomes entangled in fishing nets. Sawfish can also be difficult or dangerous to release from nets, meaning that some fishers will kill them even before bringing them aboard the boat, or cut off the saw to keep it/release the fish. Because it is their main hunting device, the long-term survival of saw-less sawfish is highly questionable. In Australia where sawfish have to be released if caught, the narrow sawfish has the highest mortality rate, but it is still almost 50% for dwarf sawfish caught in gill nets. In an attempt of lowering this, a guide to sawfish release has been published.


title: Sawfish

text: Although fishing is the main cause of the drastic decline in sawfish, another serious problem is habitat destruction. Coastal and estuarine habitats, including mangrove and seagrass meadows, are often degraded by human developments and pollution, and these are important habitats for sawfish, especially their young. In a study of juvenile sawfish in Western Australia's Fitzroy River about 60% had bite marks from bull sharks or crocodiles. Changes to river flows, such as by dams or droughts, can increase the risk faced by sawfish young by bringing them into more contact with predators.


title: Sawfish

text: The combined range of the five sawfish species encompassed 90 countries, but today they have certainly disappeared entirely from 20 of these and possibly disappeared from several others. Many more have lost at least one of their species, leaving only one or two remaining. Of the five species of sawfish, three are critically endangered and two are endangered according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species. The sawfish is now presumed extinct in 55 nations (including China, Iraq, Haiti, Japan, Timor-Leste, EL Salvador, Taiwan, Djibouti and Brunei), with 18 countries with at least one species of sawfish missing and 28 countries with at least two. The United States and Australia appear to be the last strongholds of the species, where sawfish are better protected. Science Advances identifies Cuba, Tanzania, Colombia, Madagascar, Panama, Brazil, Mexico and Sri Lanka as the nations where urgent action could make a big contribution to saving the species.


title: Sawfish

text: The only remaining stronghold of the four species in the Indo-Pacific region (narrow, dwarf, largetooth and green sawfish) is in Northern Australia, but they have also experienced a decline there. "Pristis" sawfish are protected in Australia and only Indigenous Australians can legally catch them. Violations can result in a fine of up to AU$121,900. The narrow sawfish does not receive the same level of protection as the "Pristis" sawfish. Under CITES regulations, Australia was the only country that could export wild-caught sawfish for the aquarium trade from 2007 to 2013 (no country afterwards). This strictly involved the largetooth sawfish where the Australian population remains relatively robust, and only living individuals "to appropriate and acceptable aquaria for primarily conservation purposes". Numbers traded were very low (eight between 2007 and 2011), and following a review Australia did not export any after 2011.


title: Sawfish

text: Largetooth sawfish have been monitored in Fitzroy River, Western Australia, a primary stronghold for the species, since 2000. In December 2018, the largest recorded mass fish death in the river occurred when more than 40 sawfish died, mainly because of heat and a severe lack of rainfall during a poor wet season. A 14-day research expedition in Far North Queensland in October 2019 did not spot a single sawfish. Expert Dr Peter Kyne of Charles Darwin University said that habitat change in the south and gillnet fishing in the north had contributed to the decline in numbers, but now that fishers had started working with the conservationists, dams and water diversions to the river flows had become a bigger problem in the north. Also, impact of successful saltwater crocodile conservation is a negative one on sawfish populations. However, there were still good populations in the Adelaide River and Daly River in the Northern Territory, and the Fitzroy River in the Kimberley.


title: Sawfish

text: A study by Murdoch University researchers and Indigenous rangers, which captured more than 500 sawfish between 2002 and 2018, concluded that the survival of the sawfish could be at risk from dams or major water diversions on the Fitzroy River. It found that the fish are completely reliant on the Kimberley's wet season floods to complete their breeding cycle; in recent drier years, the population has suffered. There has been debate about using water from the river for agriculture and to grow fodder crops for cattle in the region.


title: Sawfish

text: Sharks and Rays Australia (SARA) are conducting a citizen science investigation to understand the sawfish's historical habitats. Citizen can report their sawfish sighting online.


title: Sawfish

text: Except for Australia, sawfish have been extirpated or only survive in very low numbers in the Indo-Pacific region. For example, among the four species only two (narrow and largetooth sawfish) certainly survive in South Asia, and only two (narrow and green sawfish) certainly survive in Southeast Asia.


title: Sawfish

text: The status of the two species of the Atlantic region, the smalltooth and largetooth sawfish, is comparable to the Indo-Pacific. For example, sawfish have been entirely extirpated from most of the Atlantic coast of Africa (only survives for certain in Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone), as well as South Africa. The only relatively large remaining population of the largetooth sawfish in the Atlantic region is at the Amazon estuary in Brazil, but there are smaller in Central America and West Africa, and this species is also found in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The smalltooth sawfish is only found in the Atlantic region and it is possibly the most threatened of all the species, as it had the smallest original range (range ) and has experienced the greatest contraction (disappeared from c. 81% of its original range). It only survives for certain in six countries, and it is possible that the only remaining viable population is in the United States. In the United States the smalltooth sawfish once occurred from Texas to New York, but its numbers have declined by at least 95% and today it is essentially restricted to Florida. However, the Florida population retains a high genetic diversity, has now stabilised and appears to be slowly increasing. A Recovery Plan for the smalltooth sawfish has been in effect since 2002. It has been strictly protected in the United States since 2003 when it was added to the Endangered Species Act as the first marine fish. This makes it "illegal to harm, harass, hook, or net sawfish in any way, except with a permit or in a permitted fishery". The fine is up to US$10,000 for the first violation alone. If accidentally caught, the sawfish has to be released as carefully as possible and a basic how-to guide has been published. In 2003 an attempt of adding the largetooth sawfish to the Endangered Species Act was denied, in part because this species does not occur in the United States anymore (last confirmed US record in 1961). However, it was added in 2011, and all the remaining sawfish species were added in 2014, restricting trade in them and their parts in the United States. In 2020, a Florida fisherman used a power saw to remove a smalltooth sawfish’s rostrum and then released the maimed fish; he received a fine, community service and probation.


title: Sawfish

text: Since 2007, all sawfish species have been listed on CITES Appendix I, which prohibits international trade in them and their parts. The only exception was the relatively robust Australian population of the largetooth sawfish that was listed on CITES Appendix II, which allowed trade to public aquariums only. Following reviews Australia did not use this option after 2011 and in 2013 it too was moved to Appendix I. In addition to Australia and the United States, sawfish are protected in the European Union, Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Guinea, Senegal and South Africa, but they are likely already functionally extirpated or entirely extirpated from several of these countries. Illegal fishing continues and in many countries enforcement of fishing laws is lacking. Even in Australia where relatively well-protected, people are occasionally caught illegally trying to sell sawfish parts, especially the saw. The saw is distinctive, but it can be difficult to identify flesh or fins as originating from sawfish when cut up for sale at fish markets. This can be resolved with DNA testing. If protected their relatively low reproduction rates make these animals especially slow to recover from overfishing. An example of this is the largetooth sawfish in Lake Nicaragua where once abundant. The population rapidly crashed during the 1970s when tens of thousands were caught. It was protected by the Nicaraguan government in the early 1980s, but remains rare today. Nevertheless, there are indications that at least the smalltooth sawfish population may be able to recover at a faster pace than formerly believed, if well-protected. Uniquely in this family, the narrow sawfish has a relatively fast reproduction rate (generation length about 4.6 years, less than one-third the time of the other species), it has experienced the smallest contraction of its range (30%) and it is one of only two species considered Endangered rather than Critically Endangered by the IUCN. The other rated as Endangered is the dwarf sawfish, but this primarily reflects that its main decline happened at least 100 years ago and IUCN ratings are based on the time period of the last three generations (estimated about 49 years in dwarf sawfish).


title: Sawfish

text: There are several research projects aimed at sawfish in Australia and North America, but also a few in other continents. The Florida Museum of Natural History maintains the International Sawfish Encounter Database where people worldwide are encouraged to report any sawfish encounters, whether it was living or a rostrum seen for sale in a shop/online. Its data is used by biologists and conservationists for evaluating the habitat, range and abundance of sawfish around the world. In an attempt of increasing the knowledge of their plight the first "Sawfish Day" was held on 17 October 2017, and this was repeated on the same date in 2018.


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: Biopsychosocial models are a class of trans-disciplinary models which look at the interconnection between biology, psychology, and socio-environmental factors. These models specifically examine how these aspects play a role in topics ranging from human development, to health and disease, to information processing, and to conflict.


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: The term was first used to describe a model advocated by George L. Engel in 1977. It now also refers to any model which takes a similar approach, and has become an alternative to the biomedical and/or psychological dominance of many health care systems.


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: George L. Engel and Jon Romano of the University of Rochester in 1977, are widely credited with being the first to propose a biopsychosocial model. However, it had been proposed 100 years earlier and by others. Engel struggled with the then-prevailing biomedical approach to medicine as he strove for a more holistic approach by recognizing that each patient has their own thoughts, feelings, and history. In developing his model, Engel framed it for both illnesses and psychological problems.


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: Engel's biopsychosocial model reflects the development of illness through the complex interaction of biological factors (genetic, biochemical, etc.), psychological factors (mood, personality, behaviour, etc.) and social factors (cultural, familial, socioeconomic, medical, etc.). For example, a person may have a genetic predisposition for depression, but they must have social factors such as extreme stress at work and family life and psychological factors such as a perfectionistic tendencies which all trigger this genetic code for depression. A person may have a genetic predisposition for a disease, but social and cognitive factors must trigger the illness.


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: Specifically, Engel revolutionized medical thinking by re-proposing a separation of body and mind. The idea of mind–body dualism goes back at least to René Descartes, but was forgotten during the biomedical approach. Engel emphasized that the biomedical approach is flawed because the body alone does not contribute to illness. Instead, the individual mind (psychological and social factors) plays a significant role in how an illness is caused and how it is treated. Engel proposes a dialogue between the patient and the doctor in order to find the most effective treatment solution.


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: Similarly, materialistic and reductionist ideas proposed with the biomedical model are flawed because they cannot be verified on a cellular level (according to Engel). Instead, the proposed model focuses on the research of past psychologists such as Urie Bronfenbrenner, popularized by his belief that social factors play a role in developing illnesses and behaviors. Simply, Engel used Bronfenbrenner's research as a column of his biopsychosocial model and framed this model to display health at the center of social, psychological, and biological aspects.


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: After publication, the biopsychosocial model was adopted by the World Health Organization in 2002 as a basis for the International Classification of Function (ICF).


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: Engel's biopsychosocial (BPS) model is still widely used as both a philosophy of clinical care and a practical clinical guide useful for broadening the scope of a clinician's gaze. Dr. Borrell-Carrió and colleagues reviewed Engel's model 25 years on. They proposed the model had evolved into a BPS and relationship-centered framework for physicians. They proposed three clarifications to the model, and identified seven established principles.


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: Gatchel and colleagues argued in 2007 the biopsychosocial model is the most widely accepted as the most heuristic approach to understanding and treating chronic pain.


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: Other theorists and researchers are using the term biopsychosocial, or sometimes bio-psycho-social to distinguish Engel's model.


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: Lumley and colleagues used a non-Engel model to conduct a biopsychosocial assessment of the relationship between and pain and emotion. Zucker and Gomberg used a non-Engel biopsychosocial perspective to asses the etiology of alcoholism in 1986.


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: Crittenden considers the Dynamic-Maturational Model of Attachment and Adaptation (DMM), to be a biopsychosocial model. It incorporates many disciplines to understand human development and information processing.


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: Kozlowska's Functional Somatic Symptoms model uses a biopsychosocial approach to understand somatic symptoms. Siegel's Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) model is similar, although, perhaps to distinguish IPNB from Engel's model, he describes how the brain, mind, and relationships are part of one reality rather three separate elements. Most trauma -and violence-informed care models are biopsychosocial models.


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: Wickrama and colleagues have conducted several biopsychosocial-based studies examining marital dynamics. In a longitudinal study of women divorced midlife they found that divorce contributed to an adverse biopsychosocial process for the women. In another study of enduring marriages, they looked to see if hostile marital interactions in the early middle years could wear down couples regulator systems through greater psychological distress, more health-risk behaviors, and a higher body mass index (BMI). Their findings confirmed negative outcomes and increased vulnerability to later physical health problems for both husbands and wives.


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: Kovacs and colleagues meta-study examined the biopsychosocial experiences of adults with congenital heart disease. Zhang and colleagues used a biopsychosocial approach to examine parents own physiological response when facing children’s negative emotions, and how it related to parents’ ability to engage in sensitive and supportive behaviors. They found parents’ physiological regulatory functioning was an important factor in shaping parenting behaviors directed toward children’s emotions.


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: A biopsychosocial approach was used to assess race and ethnic differences in aging and to develop the Michigan Cognitive Aging Project. Banerjee and colleagues used a biopsychosocial narrative to describe the dual pandemic of suicide and COVID-19.


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: When Engel first proposed the biopsychosocial model it was for the purpose of better understanding health and illness. While this application still holds true the model is relevant to topics such as health, medicine, and development. Firstly, as proposed by Engel, it helps physicians better understand their whole patient. Considering not only physiological and medical aspects but also psychological and sociological well-being. Furthermore, this model is closely tied to health psychology. Health psychology examines the reciprocal influences of biology, psychology, behavioral, and social factors on health and illness.


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: One application of the biopsychosocial model within health and medicine relates to pain, such that several factors outside an individual's health may affect their perception of pain. For example, a 2019 study linked genetic and biopsychosocial factors to increased post-operative shoulder pain. Future studies are needed to model and further explore the relationship between biopsychosocial factors and pain.


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: The developmental applications of this model are equally relevant. One particular advantage of applying the biopsychosocial model to developmental psychology is that it allows for an intersection within the nature versus nurture debate. This model provides developmental psychologists a theoretical basis for the interplay of both hereditary and psychosocial factors on an individuals' development.


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: There have been a number of criticisms of Engel's biopsychosocial model. Benning summarized the arguments against the model including that it lacked philosophical coherence, was insensitive to patients' subjective experience, was unfaithful to the general systems theory that Engel claimed it be rooted in, and that it engendered an undisciplined eclecticism that provides no safeguards against either the dominance or the under-representation of any one of the three domains of bio, psycho, or social.


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: Psychiatrist Hamid Tavakoli argues that Engel's BPS model should be avoided because it unintentionally promotes an artificial distinction between biology and psychology, and merely causes confusion in psychiatric assessments and training programs, and that ultimately it has not helped the cause of trying to de-stigmatize mental health. The perspectives model does not make that arbitrary distinction.


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: A number of these criticisms have been addressed over recent years. For example, the BPS-Pathways model describes how it is possible to conceptually separate, define, and measure biological, psychological, and social factors, and thereby seek detailed interrelationships among these factors.


title: Biopsychosocial model

text: While Engel's call to arms for a biopsychosocial model has been taken up in several healthcare fields and developed in related models, it has not been adopted in acute medical and surgical domains, as of 2017.


title: Julie Chen Moonves

text: Julie Suzanne Chen Moonves ( Chen; born January 6, 1970) is an American television personality, news anchor, and producer for CBS. She has been the host of the American version of the CBS reality-television program "Big Brother" since its debut in July 2000.


title: Julie Chen Moonves

text: From 2002 to 2010, she was a co-anchor of "The Early Show" on CBS. In 2004, Chen married CBS executive Les Moonves. Starting in 2010, Chen Moonves was a co-host and the moderator of the CBS Daytime talk show "The Talk", until 2018 when she left the show following multiple sexual assault and sexual harassment allegations against her husband Les Moonves that came to light. Following this, she began using her married name with the September 13, 2018 episode of "Big Brother", signing off with, "I'm Julie Chen Moonves, goodnight." This broke her established pattern where previously she would sign off simply as Julie Chen.


title: Julie Chen Moonves

text: In 2018, Chen Moonves authored her first children's book, "When I Grow Up", dedicated to her son, Charlie.


title: Julie Chen Moonves

text: The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Julie Chen was born in Queens, New York City. Chen's mother, Wang Ling Chen, grew up in Rangoon, Burma. Her father, David Chen, was born in China, and subsequently fled to Taiwan following the Chinese Civil War. Chen's maternal grandfather, Lou Gaw Tong, grew up "dirt poor" in the rural village of Penglai in Fujian province of China, and became wealthy through a chain of grocery stores and ultimately became a polygamist with nine wives and 11 children. Julie has two older sisters, Gladys and Victoria.


title: Julie Chen Moonves

text: Chen attended junior high school in the Whitestone area of Queens. Chen went on to graduate from St. Francis Preparatory School in 1987. She attended the University of Southern California and graduated in 1991, majoring in broadcast journalism and English.


title: Julie Chen Moonves

text: One of her earlier jobs came in June 1990, interning at "CBS Morning News" alongside Andy Cohen the series which she would anchor a decade later where she answered phones and copied faxes for distribution. The following year, while still in school, she worked for ABC NewsOne for one season as a desk assistant. She was subsequently promoted to work as a producer for the next three years. The following year, she relocated to Dayton, Ohio, to work as a local news reporter for WDTN-TV, from 1995 to 1997.


title: Julie Chen Moonves

text: In 2015, Chen revealed on "The Talk" that during her time in Dayton her news director had told her that she would never become a news anchor because of her "Asian eyes". After a "big-time agent" agreed and advised her to get plastic surgery, she made the decision to have a surgical procedure to reduce the epicanthic folds of her eyes.


title: Julie Chen Moonves

text: From 1999 to 2002, Chen was the anchor of "CBS Morning News" and news anchor of "CBS This Morning" and later "The Early Show", alongside Bryant Gumbel, Jane Clayson, Hannah Storm, Harry Smith, Maggie Rodriguez, Erica Hill, and Rene Syler. From 2002 to 2010, she was a co-host of "The Early Show" on CBS, before leaving the daily position but remaining as a special contributing anchor of the program until its cancelation. Before CBS News, she was a reporter and weekend anchor at WCBS-TV in New York City.


title: Julie Chen Moonves

text: Since 2000, she has also been the host of the American version of "Big Brother". During the first season (2000), Chen was widely criticized for her heavily scripted, wooden delivery in her interaction with the studio audience and in the interviews on the live programs, earning her the nickname "Chenbot." She has indicated in two interviews that she takes no personal offense at the term, adding that it may derive from her "precise on-air style" which comes from "a desire to be objective." She again acknowledged the nickname while discussing mugs made in her likeness when she proudly proclaimed, "I am the Chenbot!" in a segment on "The Early Show".


title: Julie Chen Moonves

text: Chen was the moderator and co-host of the CBS Daytime talk show, "The Talk", which premiered on October 18, 2010. The show featured Chen, the show creator Sara Gilbert, Sharon Osbourne, Leah Remini, Holly Robinson Peete and Marissa Jaret Winokur. On September 18, 2018, Chen announced in a prerecorded tape that she would not be returning to "The Talk" because she needed "to spend more time at home with [her] husband", after a number of sexual assault allegations surfaced against her husband Les Moonves.


title: Julie Chen Moonves

text: Following her graduation from the University of Southern California as a broadcasting and English major, she became a news assistant for ABC News in Los Angeles, in September 1991. There, she met her future longtime boyfriend, television news editor Gary Donahue, though their relationship did not last. She began dating Les Moonves, president and chief executive officer of CBS Television, during his marriage to Nancy Wiesenfeld Moonves, and on April 22, 2003, a week after Les Moonves signed a five-year, multimillion-dollar contract with Viacom, his wife filed for divorce in Los Angeles Superior Court citing irreconcilable differences. Divorce proceedings were delayed for almost two years because of financial settlement disagreements. On December 10, 2004, Moonves got a court to grant an early divorce, leaving spousal support and child support to be determined at a later date.


title: Julie Chen Moonves

text: On December 23, 2004, Chen and Moonves were married in a private ceremony in Acapulco, Mexico. On September 24, 2009, Chen gave birth to their son, Charlie.


title: Julie Chen Moonves

text: In September 2013, during the first week of Season 4 of "The Talk", Chen revealed that she had undergone blepharoplasty early in her career after being pressured by her previous news director and a high-profile agent. Chen said that her decision "divided" her family, but stated she must "live with every decision that I've made and it got me to where we are today. And I'm not going to look back."


title: Julie Chen Moonves

text: Following a series of sexual misconduct allegations against her husband Les Moonves in 2018, she began using her married name beginning with the September 13, 2018 episode of "Big Brother", signing off with, "I'm Julie Chen Moonves, goodnight." This broke her established pattern where previously she would sign off simply as Julie Chen. The sign-off received a mixed response from viewers and fans on social media. CBS officially confirmed she would return to host the second season of "Celebrity Big Brother" in a press release on November 27, 2018, using the name "Julie Chen Moonves".


title: Murder by Death

text: Murder by Death is a 1976 American comedy mystery film directed by Robert Moore and written by Neil Simon. The film stars Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote, James Coco, Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, Elsa Lanchester, David Niven, Peter Sellers, Maggie Smith, Nancy Walker, and Estelle Winwood.


title: Murder by Death

text: The plot is a broad parody or spoof of the traditional country-house whodunit, familiar to mystery fiction fans of classics such as Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None". The cast is an ensemble of British and American actors playing send-ups of well-known fictional sleuths, including Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Charlie Chan, Nick and Nora Charles, and Sam Spade. It also features a rare acting performance by author Truman Capote.


title: Murder by Death

text: A group of five renowned detectives, each accompanied by a relative or associate, is invited to "dinner and a murder" by the mysterious Lionel Twain. Having lured his guests to his mansion managed by a blind butler named Jamessir Bensonmum, who is later joined by a deaf, mute, and illiterate cook named Yetta, Twain joins his guests at dinner. He presses a button which seals off the house. Twain announces that he is the greatest criminologist in the world. To prove his claim, he challenges the guests to solve a murder that will occur at midnight; a reward of $1 million will be presented to the winner.


title: Murder by Death

text: Before midnight, the butler is found dead. Twain disappears, only to re-appear immediately after midnight, stabbed twelve times in the back with a butcher knife. The cook is also discovered to have been an animated mannequin, now packed in a storage crate. The party spends the rest of the night investigating and bickering. They are manipulated by a mysterious behind-the-scenes force, confused by red herrings, and baffled by the "mechanical marvel" that is Twain's house. They ultimately find their own lives threatened. Each sleuth presents his or her theory on the case, pointing out the others' past connections to Twain and their possible motives for murdering him.


title: Murder by Death

text: When they retire to their guest rooms for the night, the guests are each confronted by things that threaten to kill them: a deadly snake, a venomous scorpion, a descending ceiling, poison gas, and a bomb. They all survive, and in the morning, they gather in the office, where they find the butler waiting, very much alive and not blind. Each detective presents a different piece of evidence with which they each independently solved the mystery, and in each case, they accuse the butler of being one of Twain's former associates.


title: Murder by Death

text: At first, the butler plays the part of each person with whom he is identified, but then he pulls off a mask to reveal Lionel Twain himself, alive. Twain disparages the detectives—and metafictionally, the authors who created them—for the way their adventures have been handled. He points out such authorial misdeeds as introducing crucial characters at the last minute for the traditional "twist in the tale" (something the assembled detectives had been doing a few minutes earlier) and withholding clues and information to make it impossible for the reader to solve the mystery. Each of the detectives departs the house empty-handed, none of them having won the $1 million. When asked whether there had been a murder, Wang replies, "Yes: killed good weekend."


title: Murder by Death

text: Alone, Twain pulls off yet another mask to reveal Yetta, who lights a cigarette and laughs maniacally while rings of tobacco smoke fill the screen.


title: Murder by Death

text: The story takes place in and around the isolated country home populated by eccentric multi-millionaire Lionel Twain (Truman Capote), his blind butler Jamessir Bensonmum (Alec Guinness), and a deaf-mute cook named Yetta (Nancy Walker). "Lionel Twain" is a pun on "Lionel Train". The participants are all pastiches of famous fictional detectives:


title: Murder by Death

text: The film was shot entirely at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California, then named "The Burbank Studios".


title: Murder by Death

text: Charles Addams, creator of "The Addams Family", drew the art and caricatures displayed at the beginning, during the end credits, and on the poster.


title: Murder by Death

text: An additional scene, not in the theatrical version but shown in some television versions, shows Sherlock Holmes (Keith McConnell) and Doctor Watson (Richard Peel) arriving as the other guests are leaving. Author Ron Haydock states that an early draft of Neil Simon's script featured Holmes and Watson actually solving the mystery, but their roles were reduced to a cameo appearance and finally deleted, as the lead actors felt they were being "upstaged".


title: Murder by Death

text: A novelization based on Neil Simon's script was written by H.R.F. Keating and published in the United States by Warner Books () and by Star Books in the United Kingdom. The novelization contains the deleted Tess Skeffington and Willie Wang scenes, as well as a totally different ending in which Bensonmum is revealed to be still alive and Twain admits that although the detectives failed, they failed brilliantly and have made him love them all again.


title: Murder by Death

text: Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" wrote that the film had one of Simon's "nicest, breeziest screenplays," with James Coco "very, very funny as the somewhat prissy take-off on Hercule Poirot" and David Niven and Maggie Smith "marvelous as Dick and Dora Charleston, though they haven't enough to do." Arthur D. Murphy of "Variety" called it "a very good silly-funny Neil Simon satirical comedy, with a super all-star cast," adding, "It's the sort of film one could see more than once and pick up on comedy bits unnoticed at first. Dave Grusin's music is another highlight." Charles Champlin of the "Los Angeles Times" found the film "amusing" but added, "Why it is only amusing, and not hilarious, madcap, riotous, rip-roaring, or richly romping, I don't entirely know. It's a short movie (94 minutes) but a slow one, surprisingly so when you'd have said knockabout speed was called for." Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" gave the film three stars out of four and wrote that "after getting off to a shaky start, the picture quickly hits a speedball comedy pace it doesn't lose until the unsatisfactory unravelling of the mystery." Gary Arnold of "The Washington Post" stated that "this burlesque whodunit is probably too static and thinly contrived to generate a lasting sense of pleasure, but it's the kind of skillfully obvious, mock-innocent spoof that seems good fun while it lasts, and the fun is enhanced by the most adept and attractive comedy cast in recent memory." John Simon wrote, "Murder by Death is not a movie to write or read about, but to be seen and modestly enjoyed".


title: Prakrit

text: The Prakrits (; ; ; ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usually applied to the middle period of Middle Indo-Aryan languages, excluding earlier inscriptions and the later Pali.


title: Prakrit

text: "Prākṛta" literally means "natural", as opposed to "saṃskṛta", which literally means "constructed" or "refined". Prakrits were considered the regional spoken (informal) languages of people, and Sanskrit was considered the standardized (formal) language used for literary, official and religious purposes across Indian kingdoms of the subcontinent. Literary registers of Prakrits were also used contemporaneously (predominantly by śramaṇa traditions) alongside Classical Sanskrit of higher social classes.


title: Prakrit

text: The dictionary of Monier Monier-Williams (1819–1899), and other modern authors however, interpret the word in the opposite sense: "the most frequent meanings of the term ', from which the word "prakrit" is derived, are "original, natural, normal" and the term is derived from ', "making or placing before or at first, the original or natural form or condition of anything, original or primary substance".


title: Prakrit

text: Most native prākrit grammarians identify prākṛta to be named so because they originate in the source language (prakṛti)


title: Prakrit

text: Some modern scholars include all Middle Indo-Aryan languages under the rubric of 'Prakrits', while others emphasize the independent development of these languages, often separated from the history of Sanskrit by wide divisions of caste, religion, and geography.


title: Prakrit

text: The broadest definition uses the term "Prakrit" to describe any Middle Indo-Aryan language that deviates from Sanskrit in any manner. American scholar Andrew Ollett points out that this unsatisfactory definition makes "Prakrit" a cover term for languages that were not actually called Prakrit in ancient India, such as:


title: Prakrit

text: According to some scholars, such as German Indologists Richard Pischel and Oskar von Hinüber, the term "Prakrit" refers to a smaller set of languages that were used exclusively in literature:


title: Prakrit

text: According to Sanskrit and Prakrit scholar Sh. Shreyansh Kumar Jain Shastri and A. C. Woolner, the Ardhamagadhi (or simply Magadhi) Prakrit, which was used extensively to write the scriptures of Jainism, is often considered to be the definitive form of Prakrit, while others are considered variants of it. Prakrit grammarians would give the full grammar of Ardhamagadhi first, and then define the other grammars with relation to it. For this reason, courses teaching 'Prakrit' are often regarded as teaching Ardhamagadhi.


title: Prakrit

text: Medieval grammarians such as Markandeya (late 16th century) describe a highly systematized Prakrit grammar, but the surviving Prakrit texts do not adhere to this grammar. For example, according to Vishvanatha (14th century), in a Sanskrit drama, the characters should speak Maharashtri Prakrit in verse and Shauraseni Prakrit in prose. But the 10th century Sanskrit dramatist Rajashekhara does not abide by this rule. Markandeya, as well as later scholars such as Sten Konow, find faults with the Prakrit portions of Rajashekhara's writings, but it is not clear if the rule enunciated by Vishvanatha existed during Rajashekhara's time. Rajashekhara himself imagines Prakrit as a single language or a single kind of language, alongside Sanskrit, Apabhramsha, and Paishachi.


title: Prakrit

text: German Indologist Theodor Bloch (1894) dismissed the medieval Prakrit grammarians as unreliable, arguing that they were not qualified to describe the language of the texts composed centuries before them. Other scholars such as Sten Konow, Richard Pischel and Alfred Hillebrandt disagree with Bloch. It is possible that the grammarians sought to codify only the language of the earliest classics of the Prakrit literature, such as the "Gaha Sattasai". Another explanation is that the extant Prakrit manuscripts contain scribal errors. Most of the surviving Prakrit manuscripts were produced in a variety of regional scripts during 1300–1800 CE. It appears that the scribes who made these copies from the earlier manuscripts did not have a good command of the original language of the texts, as several of the extant Prakrit texts contain inaccuracies or are incomprehensible.


title: Prakrit

text: Also, like Sanskrit and other ancient languages Prakrit was spoken and written long before grammars were written for it. The Vedas do not follow Panini's Sanskrit grammar which is now the basis for all Sanskrit grammar. Similarly, the Agamas, and texts like Shatkhandagama, do not follow the modern Prakrit grammar.


title: Prakrit

text: Prakrit literature was produced across a wide area of South Asia. Outside India, the language was also known in Cambodia and Java.


title: Prakrit

text: Prakrit is often wrongly assumed to have been a language (or languages) spoken by the common people, because it is different from Sanskrit, which is the predominant language of the ancient Indian literature. Several modern scholars, such as George Abraham Grierson and Richard Pischel, have asserted that the literary Prakrit does not represent the actual languages spoken by the common people of ancient India. This theory is corroborated by a market scene in Uddyotana's "Kuvalaya-mala" (779 CE), in which the narrator speaks a few words in 18 different languages: some of these languages sound similar to the languages spoken in modern India; but none of them resemble the language that Uddyotana identifies as "Prakrit" and uses for narration throughout the text.


title: Prakrit

text: Literary Prakrit was among the main languages of the classical Indian culture. Dandin's "Kavya-darsha" (c. 700) mentions four kinds of literary languages: Sanskrit, Prakrit, Apabhramsha, and mixed. Bhoja's "Sarasvati-Kanthabharana" (11th century) lists Prakrit among the few languages suitable for composition of literature. Mirza Khan's "Tuhfat al-hind" (1676) names Prakrit among the three kinds of literary languages native to India, the other two being Sanskrit and the vernacular languages. It describes Prakrit as a mixture of Sanskrit and vernacular languages, and adds that Prakrit was "mostly employed in the praise of kings, ministers, and chiefs".


title: Prakrit

text: During a large period of the first millennium, literary Prakrit was the preferred language for the fictional romance in India. Its use as a language of systematic knowledge was limited, because of Sanskrit's dominance in this area, but nevertheless, Prakrit texts exist on topics such as grammar, lexicography, metrics, alchemy, medicine, divination, and gemology. In addition, the Jains used Prakrit for religious literature, including commentaries on the Jain canonical literature, stories about Jain figures, moral stories, hymns and expositions of Jain doctrine. Prakrit is also the language of some Shaiva "tantras" and Vaishnava hymns.


title: Prakrit

text: Besides being the primary language of several texts, Prakrit also features as the language of low-class men and most women in the Sanskrit stage plays. American scholar Andrew Ollett traces the origin of the Sanskrit Kavya to Prakrit poems.


title: Prakrit

text: Some 19th-20th century European scholars, such as Hermann Jacobi and Ernst Leumann, made a distinction between Jain and non-Jain Prakrit literature. Jacobi used the term "Jain Prakrit" (or "Jain Maharashtri", as he called it) to denote the language of relatively late and relatively more Sanskrit-influenced narrative literature, as opposed to the earlier Prakrit court poetry. Later scholars used the term "Jain Prakrit" for any variety of Prakrit used by Jain authors, including the one used in early texts such as "Tarangavati" and "Vasudeva-Hindi" ("Wanderings of Vasudeva"). However, the works written by Jain authors do not necessarily belong to an exclusively Jain history, and do not show any specific literary features resulting from their belief in Jainism. Therefore, the division of Prakrit literature into Jain and non-Jain categories is no longer considered tenable.


title: Prakrit

text: Dramatic Prakrits were those that were used in dramas and other literature. Whenever dialogue was written in a Prakrit, the reader would also be provided with a Sanskrit translation.


title: Prakrit

text: The phrase "Dramatic Prakrits" often refers to three most prominent of them: Shauraseni Prakrit, Magadhi Prakrit, and Maharashtri Prakrit. However, there were a slew of other less commonly used Prakrits that also fall into this category. These include Prachya, Bahliki, Dakshinatya, Shakari, Chandali, Shabari, Abhiri, Dramili, and Odri. There was a strict structure to the use of these different Prakrits in dramas. Characters each spoke a different Prakrit based on their role and background; for example, Dramili was the language of "forest-dwellers", Sauraseni was spoken by "the heroine and her female friends", and Avanti was spoken by "cheats and rogues". Maharashtri and Shaurseni Prakrit were more common and were used in literature extensively.


title: Prakrit

text: Under the Mauryan Empire various Prakrits enjoyed the status of royal language. Pali was the language of Emperor Ashoka who was patron of Buddhism.


title: Prakrit

text: Prakrit languages are said to have held a lower social status than Sanskrit in classical India. In the Sanskrit stage plays, such as Kalidasa's "Shakuntala", lead characters typically speak Sanskrit, while the unimportant characters and most female characters typically speak Prakrit.


title: Prakrit

text: While Prakrits were originally seen as 'lower' forms of language, the influence they had on Sanskrit - allowing it to be more easily used by the common people - as well as the converse influence of Sanskrit on the Prakrits, gave Prakrits progressively higher cultural cachet.


title: Prakrit

text: Mirza Khan's "Tuhfat al-hind" (1676) characterizes Prakrit as the language of "the lowest of the low", stating that the language was known as "Patal-bani" ("Language of the underground") or "Nag-bani" ("Language of the snakes"). The 16th-century "Ain-e-Akbari" relates that Akbar was illiterate due to his father's exile and prolonged wars; therefore he spoke a broken language which cannot be termed as "higher status language".


title: Prakrit

text: Among modern scholars, Prakrit literature has received less attention than Sanskrit. Few modern Prakrit texts have survived in modern times, and even fewer have been published or attracted critical scholarship. Prakrit has not been designated as a classical language by the Government of India, although the earliest Prakrit texts are older than literature of most of the languages designated as such. One of the reasons behind this neglect of Prakrit is that it is not tied to a regional, national, ethnic, or religious identity.


title: Prakrit

text: In 1955, government of Bihar established at Vaishali, the Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology and Ahimsa with the aim to promote research work in Prakrit.


title: Prakrit

text: The National Institute of Prakrit Study and Research is located in Shravanabelagola, Karnataka, India.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: Chapel Hill is a town in Orange, Durham and Chatham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 census, making Chapel Hill the 17th-largest municipality in the state. Chapel Hill, Durham, and the state capital, Raleigh, make up the corners of the Research Triangle (officially the Raleigh–Durham–Cary combined statistical area), with a total population of 1,998,808.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: The town was founded in 1793 and is centered on Franklin Street, covering . It contains several districts and buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care are a major part of the economy and town influence. Local artists have created many murals.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: The area was the home place of early settler William Barbee of Middlesex County, Virginia, whose 1753 grant of 585 acres from John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville was the first of two land grants in what is now the Chapel Hill-Durham area. Though William Barbee died shortly after settling there, one of his eight children, Christopher Barbee, became an important contributor to his father's adopted community and to the fledgling University of North Carolina.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: Chapel Hill has developed along a hill; the crest was the original site of a small Anglican "chapel of ease", built in 1752, known as New Hope Chapel. The Carolina Inn now occupies this site. In 1819, the town was founded to serve the University of North Carolina and developed around it. The town was chartered in 1851, and its main street, Franklin Street, was named in memory of Benjamin Franklin.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: In 1969, a year after the city fully integrated its schools, Chapel Hill elected Howard Lee as mayor. It was the first majority-white municipality in the South to elect an African-American mayor. Serving from 1969 to 1975, Lee helped establish Chapel Hill Transit, the town's bus system.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: Some 30 years later, in 2002, the state passed legislation to provide free service to all riders on local buses. The bus operations are funded through Chapel Hill and Carrboro town taxes, federal grants, and UNC student tuition. The change has resulted in a large increase in ridership, taking many cars off the roads. Several hybrid and articulated buses have been added recently. All buses carry GPS transmitters to report their location in real-time to a tracking web site. Buses can transport bicycles and have wheelchair lifts.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: In 1993, the town celebrated its bicentennial and founded the Chapel Hill Museum. This cultural community resource "exhibiting the character and characters of Chapel Hill, North Carolina" includes among its permanent exhibits "Alexander Julian", "History of the Chapel Hill Fire Department", "Chapel Hill's 1914 Fire Truck", "The James Taylor Story", "Farmer/James Pottery", and "The Paul Green Legacy".


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: In addition to the Carolina Inn, the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House, Chapel Hill Historic District, Chapel Hill Town Hall, Chapel of the Cross, Gimghoul Neighborhood Historic District, Alexander Hogan Plantation, Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, Old East, University of North Carolina, Playmakers Theatre, Rocky Ridge Farm Historic District, and West Chapel Hill Historic District are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: Chapel Hill is located in the southeast corner of Orange County. It is bounded on the west by the town of Carrboro and on the northeast by the city of Durham. However, most of Chapel Hill's borders are adjacent to unincorporated portions of Orange and Durham Counties rather than shared with another municipality. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and is covered by water. University Lake is part of the town's public water supply.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: Durham, North Carolina, is the core of the four-county Durham-Chapel Hill MSA, which has a population of 504,357 as of Census 2010. The US Office of Management and Budget also includes Chapel Hill as a part of the Raleigh-Durham-Cary Combined Statistical Area, which has a population of 1,749,525 as of Census 2010. Effective June 6, 2003, the Office of Management and Budget redefined the federal statistical areas and dismantled what had been for decades the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill MSA, and split them into two separate MSAs, though the region functions as a single metropolitan area.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: As of the 2020 United States census, there were 61,960 people, 20,369 households, and 10,552 families residing in the town.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 57,233 people in 20,564 households resided in Chapel Hill. The population density was 2,687 people per square mile (1037/km). The racial composition of the town was 72.8% White, 9.7% African American, 0.3% Native American, 11.9% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 2.7% some other race, and 2.7% of two or more races. About 6.4% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: Of the 20,564 households, 51.1% were families, 26.2% of all households had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.2% were headed by married couples living together, 8.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 48.9% were not families. About 30.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.98.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: In the town, the population was distributed as 17.4% under the age of 18, 31.5% from 18 to 24, 23.6% from 25 to 44, 18.4% from 45 to 64, and 9.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 25.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.6 males.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: According to estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau, over the three-year period of 2005 through 2007, the median income for a household in the town was $51,690, and for a family was $91,049. Males had a median income of $50,258 versus $32,917 for females. The "per capita" income for the town was $35,796. About 8.6% of families and 19.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.6% of those under age 18 and 5.6% of those age 65 or over.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: Chapel Hill is North Carolina's best-educated municipality, proportionately, with 77% of adult residents (25 and older) holding an associate degree or higher, and 73% of adults possessing a baccalaureate degree or higher.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: Chapel Hill uses a council-manager form of government. The community elects a mayor and eight council members. Mayors serve two-year terms, and council members serve staggered four-year terms. Mayor Pam Hemminger, a former board of education member, was elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2017, 2019, and 2021. She is currently serving her fourth term. She defeated incumbent Mark Kleinschmidt, who in 2009 had been elected the first openly gay mayor of Chapel Hill, succeeding outgoing four-term Mayor Kevin Foy.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: The town adopted its flag in 1990. According to flag designer Spring Davis, the blue represents the town and the University of North Carolina (whose colors are Carolina blue and white); the green represents "environmental awareness"; and the "townscape" in the inverted chevron represents "a sense of home, friends, and community."


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: The current version of the town's seal, adopted in 1989, is in the process of being replaced with a similar but simpler version. All versions of the seal, dating back to the 1930s, depict Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and protector of cities.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: The Chapel Hill-Carrboro school district covers most of the towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, along with portions of unincorporated Orange County, and is recognized for its academic strengths. East Chapel Hill High School, Carrboro High School, and Chapel Hill High School have all received national recognition for excellence, with "Newsweek" in 2008 ranking East Chapel Hill High as the 88th-best high school in the nation, and the highest-ranked standard public high school in North Carolina. The small portion of Chapel Hill located in Durham County is part of Durham Public Schools.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: Founded in 1789, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university and is the flagship of the University of North Carolina system.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: Though Chapel Hill is a principal city of a large metropolitan area, it retains a relatively small-town feel. Combined with its close neighbor, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area has roughly 85,000 residents. Many large murals can be seen painted on the buildings. Most of these murals were painted by UNC alumnus Michael Brown. Also, for more than 30 years, Chapel Hill has sponsored the annual street fair, Festifall, in October. The fair offer booths to artists, craftsmakers, nonprofits, and food vendors. Performance space is also available for musicians, martial artists, and other groups. The fair is attended by tens of thousands each year.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: A variety of corporations are headquartered in Chapel Hill. Health insurance provider Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina was one of the town's 10 largest employers. Technology companies USAT Corp and Realtime Ops have made Chapel Hill their headquarters location. Journalistic, Inc., the publisher of the nationally acclaimed magazines "Fine Books & Collections", "QSR", and "FSR" recently relocated from Durham to Chapel Hill. New companies are selecting the town as their base of operations such as the service company Alpha Install.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: The Morehead Planetarium was the first planetarium built on a U.S. college campus. When it opened in 1949, it was one of six planetariums in the nation and has remained an important town landmark. During the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, astronauts were trained there. One of the town's hallmark features is the giant sundial, located in the rose gardens in front of the planetarium on Franklin Street.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: Influences of the university are seen throughout the town, even in the fire departments. Each fire station in Chapel Hill has a fire engine (numbers 31, 32, 33, 34, and 35) that is Carolina blue. These engines are also decorated with different UNC decals, including a firefighter Rameses.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: Chapel Hill also has some new urbanist village communities, such as Meadowmont Village and Southern Village. Meadowmont and Southern Village both have shopping centers, green space where concerts and movies take place, community pools, and schools. Also, a traditional-style mall with a mix of national and local retailers is located at University Place.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: Hailed as one of America's Foodiest Small Towns by "Bon Appétit", Chapel Hill is rapidly becoming a hot spot for pop American cuisine. Among the restaurants noted nationally are Al's Burger Shack, A Southern Season (now closed), Foster's Market ("Martha Stewart Living"), Mama Dip's (Food Network's "$40 A Day With Rachael Ray"), Crook's Corner, Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen ("The Splendid Table"), caffè Driade (Food Network's "$40 A Day With Rachael Ray"), Lantern Restaurant ("Food & Wine", "Southern Living", etc.), and Vimala's Curryblossom Cafe.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: In the realm of popular music, James Taylor, George Hamilton IV, Southern Culture on the Skids, Superchunk, Polvo, Archers of Loaf, Ben Folds Five, The Kingsbury Manx, Spider Bags and more recently Porter Robinson, are among the most notable musical artists and acts whose careers began in Chapel Hill. The town has also been a center for the modern revival of old-time music with such bands as the Ayr Mountaineers, Hollow Rock String band, Mandolin Orange, the Tug Creek Ramblers, Two Dollar Pistols, the Fuzzy Mountain String band, Big Fat Gap and the Red Clay Ramblers.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: Chapel Hill was also the founding home of now Durham-based Merge Records. Bruce Springsteen has made a point to visit the town on four occasions. His most recent appearance was on September 15, 2003, at Kenan Memorial Stadium with the E Street Band. U2 also performed at Kenan on the first American date of their 1983 War Tour, where Bono climbed up to the top of the stage, during pouring rain and lightning, holding up a white flag for peace. The 2011 John Craigie song, "Chapel Hill", is about the singer's first visit there. One song from "Dirty", a Sonic Youth album, is named after the town.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: The University of North Carolina has been very successful at college basketball and women's soccer, and a passion for these sports has been a distinctive feature of the town's culture, fueled by the Tobacco Road rivalry among North Carolina's four ACC teams: the North Carolina Tar Heels, the Duke Blue Devils, the NC State Wolfpack, and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: The two largest sports venues in the town both house UNC teams. The Dean Smith Center is home to the men's basketball team, while Kenan Memorial Stadium is home to the football team. In addition, Chapel Hill is also home to Carmichael Arena which formerly housed the UNC men's basketball team, and currently is home to the women's team, and to the new Dorrance Field, home to men's and women's soccer and lacrosse teams.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: Many walking/biking trails are in Chapel Hill. Some of these include Battle Branch Trail and Bolin Creek Trail.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: Chapel Hill has intracity bus service via Chapel Hill Transit. Go Triangle provides connection to the rest of the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, and Hillsborough), of which the Hillsborough service is operated by Chapel Hill Transit, and supplemented mid-day by a county shuttle.


title: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

text: The Durham–Orange Light Rail line, which would have run between Chapel Hill and Durham, entered planning and engineering phases in August 2017. The project was discontinued in April 2019.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: The Wendy Williams Show (often shortened to Wendy) is an American syndicated talk show created and hosted by Wendy Williams, and produced by Wendy Williams Productions, along with Perler Productions. The show is distributed by Debmar-Mercury and airs nationally, with Fox's owned-and-operated stations serving as its primary affiliate base. The talk show first aired on July 14, 2008 in select major U.S. markets and later expanded nationwide on July 13, 2009 due to loyal viewership which proved highly profitable. It aired its final episode on June 17, 2022, with reruns continuing on most TV stations until September 9.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: "Wendy" was broadcast live in front of a studio audience at Chelsea Studios in New York City on Mondays through Thursdays. The Friday shows were either a first-run episode originally taped after the Thursday for broadcast the next day, or a repeat of a previous episode. The show regularly competed with "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" as the top-ranked syndicated talk show and averaged more than 1.6 million viewers per day including 440,000 in the target demo of women 25–54.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: In 2021, Williams took an indefinite leave of absence from the show due to various medical issues, with the show regularly hosted by a variety of guest hosts since the beginning of its 13th season in October 2021 (which itself was delayed from September due to a COVID-19 infection). In February 2022, Debmar-Mercury announced that Sherri Shepherd would host a successor to "The Wendy Williams Show", "Sherri", beginning in the 2022–2023 season.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: The program is formatted as an entertainment-based talk show, focusing largely on celebrity news and gossip as well as lifestyle features.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: Each episode begins with "Hot Topics," an opening segment — usually running 18 to 21 minutes (originally lasting 10 to 12 minutes until the third season), depending on the number of stories featured — in which Williams mainly discusses tabloid headlines and celebrity news, provides her opinions, often addressing the celebrities directly and giving them advice to the camera. Williams also shares other stories about her life. The segment incorporates a heavier emphasis on stories about reality stars and African-American entertainers (particularly hip-hop, rap and R&B artists) than are covered on traditional entertainment newsmagazine programs. Occasionally, the topics incorporated into the segment may involve current issues and offbeat news items not related to the entertainment industry; Williams periodically deviates from the topic to elaborate on a particular aspect of it that relates to her own life. The studio audience (who are affectionately termed by Williams as her "co-hosts") have some active participation in the segment, with Williams often surveying them through applause about a particular point of the story being discussed.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: Periodic segments-within-a-segment are featured during "Hot Topics" including "Wendy's Got You Covered" (detailing cover stories from current issues of entertainment, fashion and lifestyle magazines), the "Hot Shot of the Day" (showcasing a particular celebrity photo), the "Clip of the Day" (usually featuring clips or promos from upcoming television programs) and "Celebrity Shout-Out" (detailing a celebrity-related story highlighting a particular milestone or accomplishment).


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: In addition to "Hot Topics", the program included other in-depth topical segments incorporating guest contributors including the:


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: On the Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday editions, Williams interviews a single featured celebrity guest; musical performances are featured occasionally. On Mondays, the show regularly features product giveaways, usually as part of "Trendy@Wendy", a weekly segment showcasing fashion/beauty products and electronics that are given to studio audience members, with at-home viewers being able to purchase the featured items through the show's website at a discount from their estimated retail price.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: The remainder of the program heavily incorporates feature segments (many of which are featured in the show's "B"-block) including:


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: On April 21, 2008, Fox Television Stations ordered a test run of the show for the group's Fox owned-and-operated stations to air after their local weekday morning newscasts. "The Wendy Williams Show" premiered on July 14, 2008 as a six-week trial run on four Fox-owned outlets: WNYW/New York City, KTTV/Los Angeles, WJBK/Detroit and KDFW/Dallas-Fort Worth.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: After the test run concluded, Debmar-Mercury picked up the program for a full nationwide launch, and through additional station group pickups (including stations owned by CBS Television Stations, NBC Owned Television Stations, Tribune Broadcasting, LIN TV Corporation, Cox Media Group, Local TV LLC, Raycom Media, New Vision Television and the Meredith Corporation), gained carriage on stations covering more than 95% of the country including all of the 20 largest media markets and 45 of the top 50 markets.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: On June 4, 2009, BET acquired the cable syndication rights to the show, airing it as part of the cable channel's late night schedule. "The Wendy Williams Show" entered into national syndication on broadcast stations and on BET from July 13, 2009. The show debuted outside the United States on BET International in July 2010 in Africa and the United Kingdom.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: "The Wendy Williams Show" went on a 17-city "Say It Like You Mean It" promotional tour across the United States in the summer of 2011, presenting mini-versions of the show at local malls. On May 4, 2013, Fox Television Stations announced a deal with Debmar-Mercury to renew the show through the 2016–17 television season.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: On October 31, 2017, Williams, dressed in a Statue of Liberty costume on the Halloween episode, unexpectedly fainted during the live telecast when she was about to announce the winners of the show's Halloween contest. The episode then went into an extended commercial break. Williams resumed stating, "That was not a stunt. I overheated and did pass out, but I'm a champ and I'm back." Williams and her spokesperson cited heat exhaustion from her costume as the cause.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: In February 2018, Williams canceled three shows due to illness. On February 21, Williams announced that she was taking a three-week hiatus, due to health issues. In March, actor Jerry O'Connell served as guest host for a week during her absence, despite Williams insisting in previous years her show would never utilize a guest host. Williams returned on March 19, 2018. That summer, Williams went on a 10-city tour to celebrate the tenth season of the show.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: Following further speculation on her health in late 2018, Williams went on an indefinite hiatus in January and February 2019 after a shoulder injury and worsening complications from Graves' disease and other personal issues. This time around, several guest hosts such as Jerry O'Connell, Nick Cannon, Keke Palmer, Michael Rapaport, Sherri Shepherd, and Jason Biggs filled the slot until Williams returned on March 4, 2019. Williams noted on the March 19 episode of her show that she had also begun treatment for a decades-old cocaine addiction and was living in a sober house when not hosting her show. In April 2019, Debmar-Mercury began distributing with CBS Television Studios, following 20th Century Fox being bought by Disney. On September 16, 2019, Williams announced on the eleventh-season premiere that the series had been renewed through 2022, bringing the series to its thirteenth season.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: In March 2020, production on the series was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From April to May 2020, the series returned virtually as "Wendy @ Home", with Williams filming the Hot Topics segment from her apartment and a short virtual interview. In July, it was announced that the show would return live for its twelfth season on September 21, 2020, with show staffers as studio audience members wearing masks and physically distancing. In June 2021, the show began using studio audience members again for the final six weeks of the season.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: The September 2021 premiere of the thirteenth and final season of "The Wendy Williams Show" was delayed by several weeks due to Williams contracting a breakthrough case of COVID-19 and ongoing complications from her Graves' disease and thyroid condition. It was later announced that the season would premiere on October 18, 2021, with guest hosts such as Leah Remini, Michelle Visage, Whitney Cummings, Michelle Buteau, Sherri Shepherd, Michael Rapaport, Kym Whitley, Finesse Mitchell, Jerry Springer, Steve Wilkos, Remy Ma, Fat Joe, Michael Yo, Devyn Simone, Bevy Smith, Terrence J, Carson Kressley, Vivica A. Fox, Bill Bellamy, and other panelists filling in for Williams until she was able to return to the show. On February 8, 2022, it was reported that Williams would miss the remainder of the season, and that Shepherd—whom Williams had endorsed as an interim host—had entered talks to potentially host a replacement program should Williams be unable to return.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: On February 22, 2022, Debmar-Mercury announced that "The Wendy Williams Show" would be replaced in the 2022–23 television season by the Sherri Shepherd-hosted "Sherri", with Fox Television Stations signing on to remain its core affiliate group. The show will retain its showrunner, executive producer, and segments such as "Hot Topics". Debmar-Mercury stated that "we believe it is best for our fans, stations and advertising partners to start making this transition now", and that "we hope to be able to work with Wendy again in the future, and continue to wish her a speedy and full recovery." The final episode aired on June 17, with Williams unable to appear. The show's YouTube channel and all the other social media accounts were deleted and related website domains were relinquished by early July.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: Reruns of Wendy continued to air weekdays on stations across the United States until September 9, 2022, when the show was pulled from syndication.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: Although Williams has stated her support for Beyoncé several times, she has made several comments that have upset the singer's fan group "The Beyhive". In 2012, while discussing Beyoncé's HBO docufilm "Life Is But a Dream", Williams stated she "needs subtitles" for the film because Beyoncé "talks like she has a fifth-grade education". Williams has also made comments several times stating Beyoncé "needs autotune" and is not a contemporary music icon.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: In a June 2021 "Inside Scoop" segment, Williams discussed testimony from Britney Spears regarding her conservatorship in which Spears described the conservatorship as "abusive" and spoke of trauma inflicted from her father Jamie Spears. Williams – who had been a supporter of both Spears' father and the conservatorship in general – said in response to Spears' testimony:


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: Her comments were met with shocked and disturbed reactions from her audience and staff, and Williams herself. Several outlets criticized Williams for the comments. The ""Death" to all of them" portion was edited out from online clips and later airings of the episode.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: On February 17, 2020, Williams made a joke about Amie Harwick, a Hollywood sex therapist who had died on February 15, 2020 after injuries sustained from being pushed off a three-story balcony. In reference to Harwick's former engagement to "The Price Is Right" host Drew Carey, Williams joked using Carey's catchphrase from the show, "Come on down!" and looked down, pretending to watch someone fall to the ground. The joke was met with heavy backlash, with many criticizing her for being insensitive and mocking Harwick's death.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: In a May 2021 segment discussing Ellen DeGeneres announcing her talk show would be ending the following year, Williams stated she believed that DeGeneres was actually leaving due to negative publicity surrounding a July 2020 investigation into allegations of the series' work environment; the investigation ultimately led to WarnerMedia firing three executive producers of the show. Williams commented "nineteen years on TV doesn't change your life, it exposes you for the person you really are," and revealed that, during an appearance on her show years earlier, she "wasn't happy [as a guest]." Several commentators found Williams' comments "shady" and disrespectful.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: On February 13, 2020, Williams was accused of homophobia and transphobia during a segment discussing the unofficial Galentine's Day holiday, where she told gay men to "stop wearing our skirts and heels" and that one must menstruate "to be a woman." Williams tearfully apologized for the comments in a video posted to social media, and again on her show.


title: The Wendy Williams Show

text: The show has been nominated for eleven Daytime Emmy Awards, winning one Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Hairstyling in 2011.


title: Lux Interior

text: Erick Lee Purkhiser (October 21, 1946 – February 4, 2009), better known by the stage name Lux Interior, was an American singer and a founding member of the American rock band the Cramps from 1972 until his death in 2009 at age 62.


title: Lux Interior

text: He met his wife Kristy Wallace, better known as Poison Ivy, a.k.a. Ivy Rorschach, in Sacramento in 1972, when he and a friend picked her up when she was hitchhiking. The couple founded the band after they moved from California to Ohio in 1973, and then to New York in 1975, where they soon became part of the flourishing punk scene.


title: Lux Interior

text: Lux Interior's name came "from an old car commercial", after he previously flirted with the names Vip Vop and Raven Beauty, while his wife's name change was inspired by "a vision she received in a dream". The couple called their musical style psychobilly, a word that appears in the lyrics of Johnny Cash's song, "One Piece at a Time", and gothabilly. The band later said that they were just using the phrases as "carny terms to drum up business."


title: Lux Interior

text: Interior was known for a frenetic and provocative stage show that included high heels, near-nudity and sexually suggestive movements. His speciality was the microphone blow job, where he could get the entire head of an SM-58 microphone into his mouth. The Cramps gave their last show in November 2006.


title: Lux Interior

text: In 2002 Lux Interior performed the voice of a character on "SpongeBob SquarePants" – the lead singer of an all-bird rock band called the Bird Brains. Tom Kenny, who voices SpongeBob, attended his memorial ceremony in 2009.


title: Lux Interior

text: Interior was also a painter (mainly in his college years) and visual artist. In particular he was a 3D camera collector and enthusiast who used his collection to create artworks and collages.


title: Lux Interior

text: Lux Interior died at 4:30 a.m. on February 4, 2009, at Glendale Memorial Hospital in California. The cause of death was aortic dissection. He was survived by his wife Ivy and two brothers, Michael Purkhiser and Ronald "Skip" Purkhiser, as well as a son from a previous marriage named Mischa Shane Graef. The memorial service for Lux was held on February 21 at the Windmill Chapel of the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine. Lux's brother Michael also provided insight into his relationship with Lux in a newspaper article.


title: Video game addiction

text: Video game addiction (VGA), also known as gaming disorder or internet gaming disorder, is generally defined as the problematic, compulsive use of video games that results in significant impairment to an individual's ability to function in various life domains over a prolonged period of time. This and associated concepts have been the subject of considerable research, debate, and discussion among experts in several disciplines and has generated controversy within the medical, scientific, and gaming communities. Such disorders can be diagnosed when an individual engages in gaming activities at the cost of fulfilling daily responsibilities or pursuing other interests without regard for the negative consequences. As defined by the ICD-11, the main criterion for this disorder is a lack of self control over gaming.


title: Video game addiction

text: The World Health Organization included gaming disorder in the 11th revision of its International Classification of Diseases (ICD). The American Psychiatric Association (APA), while stating there is insufficient evidence for the inclusion of Internet gaming disorder in the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" in 2013, considered it worthy of further study.