title: Jean-Baptiste Colbert

text: Much more serious difficulties met his attempts to introduce equality in the pressure of the taxes on the various classes. To diminish the number of the privileged proved impossible, but Colbert firmly resisted false claims for exemption, and lightened the unjust direct taxation by increasing the indirect taxes, from which the privileged could not escape. At the same time he immensely improved the mode of collection on his own.


title: Jean-Baptiste Colbert

text: His relentless hard work and thrift made him an esteemed minister. He achieved a reputation for his work of improving the state of French manufacturing and bringing the economy back from the brink of bankruptcy. Historians note that, despite Colbert's efforts, France actually became increasingly impoverished because of the King's excessive spending on wars.


title: Jean-Baptiste Colbert

text: Having thus introduced a measure of order and economy into the workings of the government, Colbert now called for the enrichment of the country by commerce. The state, through Colbert's "dirigiste" policies, fostered manufacturing enterprises in a wide variety of fields. The authorities established new industries, protected inventors, invited in workmen from foreign countries, and prohibited French workmen from emigrating.


title: Jean-Baptiste Colbert

text: To maintain the character of French goods in foreign markets, as well as to afford a guarantee to the home consumer, Colbert had the quality and measure of each article fixed by law, punishing breaches of the regulations by public exposure of the delinquent and by destruction of the goods concerned, and, on the third offense, by the pillory. Colbert prohibited the production of qualities which would have suited many purposes of consumption, and the odious supervision which became necessary involved great waste of time and a stereotyped regularity which resisted all improvements. Other parts of Colbert's schemes have met with less equivocal condemnation.


title: Jean-Baptiste Colbert

text: By his firm maintenance of the corporation system, each industry remained in the hands of certain privileged "bourgeois"; while the lower classes found opportunities of advancement closed. He did, however, wisely consult the interests of internal commerce.


title: Jean-Baptiste Colbert

text: Unable to abolish the duties on the passage of goods from province to province, he did what he could to induce the provinces to equalize them. Currency exchange rates still remained between these provinces despite a policy focusing on the unification of French trade. His régime improved roads and canals. Pierre Paul Riquet (1604–1680) planned and constructed the Canal du Midi under Colbert's patronage.


title: Jean-Baptiste Colbert

text: To encourage overseas trade with the Levant, Senegal, Guinea and other places, Colbert granted privileges to companies, but, like the noted French East India Company, all proved unsuccessful.


title: Jean-Baptiste Colbert

text: Colbert took much interest in art and literature. He possessed a remarkably fine private library, which he delighted to fill with valuable manuscripts from every part of Europe and the Near East where France had placed a consul. He employed Pierre de Carcavi and Étienne Baluze as librarians. Colbert's grandson sold the manuscript collection in 1732 to the Bibliothèque Royale.


title: Jean-Baptiste Colbert

text: He reorganised the Academy of Painting and Sculpture which Mazarin had established. Wishing to increase the prestige of the image of France and the French royal family, Colbert played an active role in bringing the great Italian architect-sculptor, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, to Paris (June–October 1665), in order to design the new East Facade of the Louvre. This was a striking coup and caused a sensation because Bernini, the most famous artist in all of Europe, had never before (or after) consented to travel any significant distance to meet a patron, however highly ranked, but had to agree in this case for reasons of diplomacy between France and the Holy See. While in France, Bernini also sculpted a marble portrait bust of Louis XIV (Versailles palace). However the relations between the two strong-willed men, Colbert and Bernini, proved melodramatically stormy. Bernini's Louvre design was ultimately rejected.


title: Jean-Baptiste Colbert

text: Colbert himself became a member of the Académie française; and proposed one very characteristic rule with the intention of expediting the great "Dictionary", in which he had a great interest: no one could count as present at any meeting unless he arrived before the hour of commencement and remained till the hour for leaving. In 1673 Colbert presided over the first exhibition of the works of living painters; and he enriched the Louvre with hundreds of pictures and statues.


title: Jean-Baptiste Colbert

text: He gave many pensions to men of letters, among whom we find Molière, Corneille, Racine, Boileau, P D Huet (1630–1721) and Antoine Varillas (1626–1696); and even foreigners, as Huygens, Carlo Roberto Dati the Dellacruscan. Evidence exists to show that by this munificence he hoped to draw out praises of his sovereign and himself; but this motive certainly does not account for all the splendid, if in some cases specious, services that he rendered to literature, science and art.


title: Jean-Baptiste Colbert

text: Colbert worked incessantly hard until his final hours. Work was his religion; he once pondered whether it was better to rise early and work or retire very late and work. He concluded that rising early and retiring late would be the ideal combination. Towards the end of his life he suffered from stomach aches, which caused him much distress. He was reduced to eating moist bread dipped in chicken broth for his meals.


title: Jean-Baptiste Colbert

text: By 64 he was bedridden and died seven days after his birthday. The surgeons who examined him found that he had been suffering from kidney stones. A huge stone was found in his urinary tract, which would explain his pain.


title: Jean-Baptiste Colbert

text: Colbert played a subordinate role in the struggle between the king and the papacy as to the royal rights over vacant bishoprics, and he seems to have sympathised with the proposal that suggested seizing part of the wealth of the clergy. In his hatred of idleness he ventured to suppress no less than seventeen "fêtes", and he had a project for reducing the number of persons devoted to clerical and monastic life, by increasing the age for taking the vows.


title: Jean-Baptiste Colbert

text: He showed himself at first unwilling to interfere with heresy, for he realised the commercial value of the Huguenots (French Protestants), who were well represented among the merchant classes; but when the king resolved to make all France Roman Catholic and revoked the Edict of Nantes, he followed him and urged his subordinates to do all that they could to promote conversions.


title: Jean-Baptiste Colbert

text: Of his children, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Marquis de Seignelay, followed his father as Secretary of State of the Navy while Jacques-Nicolas Colbert was Archbishop of Rouen.


title: Jean-Baptiste Colbert

text: His policies inspired those of Alexander Hamilton, the first treasury secretary of the United States.


title: Jean-Baptiste Colbert

text: In literature, the power struggle between Colbert and Fouquet is one of the main plotlines of Alexandre Dumas, père's novel "", the second sequel to "The Three Musketeers". Dumas paints Colbert as an uncouth and ruthless schemer who stops at little, in contrast to the more refined Fouquet, counselled by Aramis, but also as a visionary patriot.


title: Jean-Baptiste Colbert

text: Colbert's statue stands outside the Assemblée nationale. It was vandalized in 2020 due to Colbert's part in drafting the Code noir.


title: Birth defect

text: A birth defect, also known as a congenital disorder, is an abnormal condition that is present at birth regardless of its cause. Birth defects may result in disabilities that may be physical, intellectual, or developmental. The disabilities can range from mild to severe. Birth defects are divided into two main types: structural disorders in which problems are seen with the shape of a body part and functional disorders in which problems exist with how a body part works. Functional disorders include metabolic and degenerative disorders. Some birth defects include both structural and functional disorders.


title: Birth defect

text: Birth defects may result from genetic or chromosomal disorders, exposure to certain medications or chemicals, or certain infections during pregnancy. Risk factors include folate deficiency, drinking alcohol or smoking during pregnancy, poorly controlled diabetes, and a mother over the age of 35 years old. Many are believed to involve multiple factors. Birth defects may be visible at birth or diagnosed by screening tests. A number of defects can be detected before birth by different prenatal tests.


title: Birth defect

text: Treatment varies depending on the defect in question. This may include therapy, medication, surgery, or assistive technology. Birth defects affected about 96 million people . In the United States, they occur in about 3% of newborns. They resulted in about 628,000 deaths in 2015, down from 751,000 in 1990. The types with the greatest numbers of deaths are congenital heart disease (303,000), followed by neural tube defects (65,000).


title: Birth defect

text: Much of the language used for describing congenital conditions antedates genome mapping, and structural conditions are often considered separately from other congenital conditions. Many metabolic conditions are now known to have subtle structural expression, and structural conditions often have genetic links. Still, congenital conditions are often classified on a structural basis, organized when possible by primary organ system affected.


title: Birth defect

text: Several terms are used to describe congenital abnormalities. (Some of these are also used to describe noncongenital conditions, and more than one term may apply in an individual condition.)


title: Birth defect

text: A limb anomaly is called a dysmelia. These include all forms of limbs anomalies, such as amelia, ectrodactyly, phocomelia, polymelia, polydactyly, syndactyly, polysyndactyly, oligodactyly, brachydactyly, achondroplasia, congenital aplasia or hypoplasia, amniotic band syndrome, and cleidocranial dysostosis.


title: Birth defect

text: Congenital heart defects include patent ductus arteriosus, atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect, and tetralogy of Fallot.


title: Birth defect

text: Congenital anomalies of the nervous system include neural tube defects such as spina bifida, encephalocele, and anencephaly. Other congenital anomalies of the nervous system include the Arnold–Chiari malformation, the Dandy–Walker malformation, hydrocephalus, microencephaly, megalencephaly, lissencephaly, polymicrogyria, holoprosencephaly, and agenesis of the corpus callosum.


title: Birth defect

text: Congenital anomalies of the gastrointestinal system include numerous forms of stenosis and atresia, and perforation, such as gastroschisis.


title: Birth defect

text: Congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract include renal parenchyma, kidneys, and urinary collecting system.


title: Birth defect

text: A congenital metabolic disease is also referred to as an inborn error of metabolism. Most of these are single-gene defects, usually heritable. Many affect the structure of body parts, but some simply affect the function.


title: Birth defect

text: Other well-defined genetic conditions may affect the production of hormones, receptors, structural proteins, and ion channels.


title: Birth defect

text: The mother's consumption of alcohol during pregnancy can cause a continuum of various permanent birth defects: craniofacial abnormalities, brain damage, intellectual disability, heart disease, kidney abnormality, skeletal anomalies, ocular abnormalities.


title: Birth defect

text: However, recent animal research has shown a correlation between paternal alcohol exposure and decreased offspring birth weight. Behavioral and cognitive disorders, including difficulties with learning and memory, hyperactivity, and lowered stress tolerance have been linked to paternal alcohol ingestion. The compromised stress management skills of animals whose male parent was exposed to alcohol are similar to the exaggerated responses to stress that children with fetal alcohol syndrome display because of maternal alcohol use. These birth defects and behavioral disorders were found in cases of both long- and short-term paternal alcohol ingestion. In the same animal study, paternal alcohol exposure was correlated with a significant difference in organ size and the increased risk of the offspring displaying ventricular septal defects at birth.


title: Birth defect

text: Substances whose toxicity can cause congenital disorders are called teratogens, and include certain pharmaceutical and recreational drugs in pregnancy, as well as many environmental toxins in pregnancy.


title: Birth defect

text: A review published in 2010 identified six main teratogenic mechanisms associated with medication use: folate antagonism, neural crest cell disruption, endocrine disruption, oxidative stress, vascular disruption, and specific receptor- or enzyme-mediated teratogenesis.


title: Birth defect

text: An estimated 10% of all birth defects are caused by prenatal exposure to a teratogenic agent. These exposures include medication or drug exposures, maternal infections and diseases, and environmental and occupational exposures. Paternal smoking has also been linked to an increased risk of birth defects and childhood cancer for the offspring, where the paternal germline undergoes oxidative damage due to cigarette use. Teratogen-caused birth defects are potentially preventable. Nearly 50% of pregnant women have been exposed to at least one medication during gestation. During pregnancy, a woman can also be exposed to teratogens from contaminated clothing or toxins within the seminal fluid of a partner. An additional study found that of 200 individuals referred for genetic counseling for a teratogenic exposure, 52% were exposed to more than one potential teratogen.


title: Birth defect

text: The United States Environmental Protection Agency studied 1,065 chemical and drug substances in their ToxCast program (part of the CompTox Chemicals Dashboard) using "in silico" modeling and a human pluripotent stem cell-based assay to predict in vivo developmental intoxicants based on changes in cellular metabolism following chemical exposure. Findings of the study published in 2020 were that 19% of the 1065 chemicals yielded a prediction of developmental toxicity.


title: Birth defect

text: Probably, the most well-known teratogenic drug is thalidomide. It was developed near the end of the 1950s by Chemie Grünenthal as a sleep-inducing aid and antiemetic. Because of its ability to prevent nausea, it was prescribed for pregnant women in almost 50 countries worldwide between 1956 and 1962. Until William McBride published the study leading to its withdrawal from the market in 1961, about 8,000 to 10,000 severely malformed children were born. The most typical disorders induced by thalidomide were reductional deformities of the long bones of the extremities. Phocomelia, otherwise a rare deformity, therefore helped to recognise the teratogenic effect of the new drug. Among other malformations caused by thalidomide were those of ears, eyes, brain, kidney, heart, and digestive and respiratory tracts; 40% of the prenatally affected children died soon after birth. As thalidomide is used today as a treatment for multiple myeloma and leprosy, several births of affected children were described in spite of the strictly required use of contraception among female patients treated by it.


title: Birth defect

text: Vitamin A is the sole vitamin that is embryotoxic even in a therapeutic dose, for example in multivitamins, because its metabolite, retinoic acid, plays an important role as a signal molecule in the development of several tissues and organs. Its natural precursor, β-carotene, is considered safe, whereas the consumption of animal liver can lead to malformation, as the liver stores lipophilic vitamins, including retinol. Isotretinoin (13-cis-retinoic-acid; brand name Roaccutane), vitamin A analog, which is often used to treat severe acne, is such a strong teratogen that just a single dose taken by a pregnant woman (even transdermally) may result in serious birth defects. Because of this effect, most countries have systems in place to ensure that it is not given to pregnant women and that the patient is aware of how important it is to prevent pregnancy during and at least one month after treatment. Medical guidelines also suggest that pregnant women should limit vitamin A intake to about 700 μg/day, as it has teratogenic potential when consumed in excess. Vitamin A and similar substances can induce spontaneous abortions, premature births, defects of eyes (microphthalmia), ears, thymus, face deformities, and neurological (hydrocephalus, microcephalia) and cardiovascular defects, as well as intellectual disability.


title: Birth defect

text: Tetracycline, an antibiotic, should never be prescribed to women of reproductive age or to children, because of its negative impact on bone mineralization and teeth mineralization. The "tetracycline teeth" have brown or grey colour as a result of a defective development of both the dentine and the enamel of teeth.


title: Birth defect

text: Several anticonvulsants are known to be highly teratogenic. Phenytoin, also known as diphenylhydantoin, along with carbamazepine, is responsible for the fetal hydantoin syndrome, which may typically include broad nose base, cleft lip and/or palate, microcephalia, nails and fingers hypoplasia, intrauterine growth restriction, and intellectual disability. Trimethadione taken during pregnancy is responsible for the fetal trimethadione syndrome, characterized by craniofacial, cardiovascular, renal, and spine malformations, along with a delay in mental and physical development. Valproate has antifolate effects, leading to neural tube closure-related defects such as spina bifida. Lower IQ and autism have recently also been reported as a result of intrauterine valproate exposure.


title: Birth defect

text: Hormonal contraception is considered harmless for the embryo. Peterka and Novotná do, however, state that synthetic progestins used to prevent miscarriage in the past frequently caused masculinization of the outer reproductive organs of female newborns due to their androgenic activity. Diethylstilbestrol is a synthetic estrogen used from the 1940s to 1971, when the prenatal exposition has been linked to the clear-cell adenocarcinoma of the vagina. Following studies showed elevated risks for other tumors and congenital malformations of the sex organs for both sexes.


title: Birth defect

text: All cytostatics are strong teratogens; abortion is usually recommended when pregnancy is discovered during or before chemotherapy. Aminopterin, a cytostatic drug with antifolate effect, was used during the 1950s and 1960s to induce therapeutic abortions. In some cases, the abortion did not happen, but the newborns had a fetal aminopterin syndrome consisting of growth retardation, craniosynostosis, hydrocephalus, facial dismorphities, intellectual disability, or leg deformities


title: Birth defect

text: Drinking water is often a medium through which harmful toxins travel. Heavy metals, elements, nitrates, nitrites, and fluoride can be carried through water and cause congenital disorders.


title: Birth defect

text: Nitrate, which is found mostly in drinking water from ground sources, is a powerful teratogen. A case-control study in rural Australia that was conducted following frequent reports of prenatal mortality and congenital malformations found that those who drank the nitrate-containing groundwater, as opposed to rain water, ran the risk of giving birth to children with central nervous system disorders, muscoskeletal defects, and cardiac defects.


title: Birth defect

text: Chlorinated and aromatic solvents such as benzene and trichloroethylene sometimes enter the water supply due to oversights in waste disposal. A case-control study on the area found that by 1986, leukemia was occurring in the children of Woburn, Massachusetts, at a rate that was four times the expected rate of incidence. Further investigation revealed a connection between the high occurrence of leukemia and an error in water distribution that delivered water to the town with significant contamination with manufacturing waste containing trichloroethylene.


title: Birth defect

text: As an endocrine disruptor, DDT was shown to induce miscarriages, interfere with the development of the female reproductive system, cause the congenital hypothyroidism, and suspectably childhood obesity.


title: Birth defect

text: Fluoride, when transmitted through water at high levels, can also act as a teratogen. Two reports on fluoride exposure from China, which were controlled to account for the education level of parents, found that children born to parents who were exposed to 4.12 ppm fluoride grew to have IQs that were, on average, seven points lower than their counterparts whose parents consumed water that contained 0.91 ppm fluoride. In studies conducted on rats, higher fluoride in drinking water led to increased acetylcholinesterase levels, which can alter prenatal brain development. The most significant effects were noted at a level of 5 ppm.


title: Birth defect

text: The fetus is even more susceptible to damage from carbon monoxide intake, which can be harmful when inhaled during pregnancy, usually through first- or second-hand tobacco smoke. The concentration of carbon monoxide in the infant born to a nonsmoking mother is around 2%, and this concentration drastically increases to a range of 6%–9% if the mother smoked tobacco. Other possible sources of prenatal carbon monoxide intoxication are exhaust gas from combustion motors, use of dichloromethane (paint thinner, varnish removers) in enclosed areas, defective gas water heaters, indoor barbeques, open flames in poorly ventilated areas, and atmospheric exposure in highly polluted areas.


title: Birth defect

text: Exposure to carbon monoxide at toxic levels during the first two trimesters of pregnancy can lead to intrauterine growth restriction, leading to a baby who has stunted growth and is born smaller than 90% of other babies at the same gestational age. The effect of chronic exposure to carbon monoxide can depend on the stage of pregnancy in which the mother is exposed. Exposure during the embryonic stage can have neurological consequences, such as telencephalic dysgenesis, behavioral difficulties during infancy, and reduction of cerebellum volume. Also, possible skeletal defects could result from exposure to carbon monoxide during the embryonic stage, such as hand and foot malformations, hip dysplasia, hip subluxation, agenesis of a limb, and inferior maxillary atresia with glossoptosis. Also, carbon monoxide exposure between days 35 and 40 of embryonic development can lead to an increased risk of the child developing a cleft palate. Exposure to carbon monoxide or polluted ozone exposure can also lead to cardiac defects of the ventrical septal, pulmonary artery, and heart valves. The effects of carbon monoxide exposure are decreased later in fetal development during the fetal stage, but they may still lead to anoxic encephalopathy.


title: Birth defect

text: Industrial pollution can also lead to congenital defects. Over a period of 37 years, the Chisso Corporation, a petrochemical and plastics company, contaminated the waters of Minamata Bay with an estimated 27 tons of methylmercury, contaminating the local water supply. This led many people in the area to develop what became known as the "Minamata disease". Because methylmercury is a teratogen, the mercury poisoning of those residing by the bay resulted in neurological defects in the offspring. Infants exposed to mercury poisoning "in utero" showed predispositions to cerebral palsy, ataxia, inhibited psychomotor development, and intellectual disability.


title: Birth defect

text: Landfill sites have been shown to have adverse effects on fetal development. Extensive research has shown that landfills have several negative effects on babies born to mothers living near landfill sites: low birth weight, birth defects, spontaneous abortion, and fetal and infant mortality. Studies done around the Love Canal site near Niagara Falls and the Lipari Landfill in New Jersey have shown a higher proportion of low birth-weight babies than communities farther away from landfills. A study done in California showed a positive correlation between time and quantity of dumping and low birth weights and neonatal deaths. A study in the United Kingdom showed a correlation between pregnant women living near landfill sites and an increased risk of congenital disorders, such as neural tube defects, hypospadias, epispadia, and abdominal wall defects, such as gastroschisis and exomphalos. A study conducted on a Welsh community also showed an increased incidence of gastroschisis. Another study on 21 European hazardous-waste sites showed that those living within 3 km had an increased risk of giving birth to infants with birth defects and that as distance from the land increased, the risk decreased. These birth defects included neural tube defects, malformations of the cardiac septa, anomalies of arteries and veins, and chromosomal anomalies. Looking at communities that live near landfill sites brings up environmental justice. A vast majority of sites are located near poor, mostly black, communities. For example, between the early 1920s and 1978, about 25% of Houston's population was black. However, over 80% of landfills and incinerators during this time were located in these black communities.


title: Birth defect

text: Another issue regarding environmental justice is lead poisoning. A fetus exposed to lead during the pregnancy can result in learning difficulties and slowed growth. Some paints (before 1978) and pipes contain lead. Therefore, pregnant women who live in homes with lead paint inhale the dust containing lead, leading to lead exposure in the fetus. When lead pipes are used for drinking water and cooking water, this water is ingested, along with the lead, exposing the fetus to this toxin. This issue is more prevalent in poorer communities because more well-off families are able to afford to have their homes repainted and pipes renovated.


title: Birth defect

text: Paternal smoking prior to conception has been linked with the increased risk of congenital abnormalities in offspring.


title: Birth defect

text: Smoking causes DNA mutations in the germline of the father, which can be inherited by the offspring. Cigarette smoke acts as a chemical mutagen on germ cell DNA. The germ cells suffer oxidative damage, and the effects can be seen in altered mRNA production, infertility issues, and side effects in the embryonic and fetal stages of development. This oxidative damage may result in epigenetic or genetic modifications of the father's germline. Fetal lymphocytes have been damaged as a result of a father's smoking habits prior to conception.


title: Birth defect

text: Correlations between paternal smoking and the increased risk of offspring developing childhood cancers (including acute leukemia, brain tumors, and lymphoma) before age five have been established. Little is currently known about how paternal smoking damages the fetus, and what window of time in which the father smokes is most harmful to offspring.


title: Birth defect

text: A vertically transmitted infection is an infection caused by bacteria, viruses, or in rare cases, parasites transmitted directly from the mother to an embryo, fetus, or baby during pregnancy or childbirth.


title: Birth defect

text: Congenital disorders were initially believed to be the result of only hereditary factors. However, in the early 1940s, Australian pediatric ophthalmologist Norman Gregg began recognizing a pattern in which the infants arriving at his surgery were developing congenital cataracts at a higher rate than those who developed it from hereditary factors. On October 15, 1941, Gregg delivered a paper that explained his findings-68 out of the 78 children with congenital cataracts had been exposed" in utero" to rubella due to an outbreak in Australian army camps. These findings confirmed, to Gregg, that, in fact, environmental causes for congenital disorders could exist.


title: Birth defect

text: Rubella is known to cause abnormalities of the eye, internal ear, heart, and sometimes the teeth. More specifically, fetal exposure to rubella during weeks five to ten of development (the sixth week particularly) can cause cataracts and microphthalmia in the eyes. If the mother is infected with rubella during the ninth week, a crucial week for internal ear development, destruction of the organ of Corti can occur, causing deafness. In the heart, the ductus arteriosus can remain after birth, leading to hypertension. Rubella can also lead to atrial and ventricular septal defects in the heart. If exposed to rubella in the second trimester, the fetus can develop central nervous system malformations. However, because infections of rubella may remain undetected, misdiagnosed, or unrecognized in the mother, and/or some abnormalities are not evident until later in the child's life, precise incidence of birth defects due to rubella are not entirely known. The timing of the mother's infection during fetal development determines the risk and type of birth defect. As the embryo develops, the risk of abnormalities decreases. If exposed to the rubella virus during the first four weeks, the risk of malformations is 47%. Exposure during weeks five through eight creates a 22% chance, while weeks 9–12, a 7% chance exists, followed by 6% if the exposure is during the 13th-16th weeks. Exposure during the first eight weeks of development can also lead to premature birth and fetal death. These numbers are calculated from immediate inspection of the infant after birth. Therefore, mental defects are not accounted for in the percentages because they are not evident until later in the child's life. If they were to be included, these numbers would be much higher.


title: Birth defect

text: Other infectious agents include cytomegalovirus, the herpes simplex virus, hyperthermia, toxoplasmosis, and syphilis. Maternal exposure to cytomegalovirus can cause microcephaly, cerebral calcifications, blindness, chorioretinitis (which can cause blindness), hepatosplenomegaly, and meningoencephalitis in fetuses. Microcephaly is a disorder in which the fetus has an atypically small head, cerebral calcifications means certain areas of the brain have atypical calcium deposits, and meningoencephalitis is the enlargement of the brain. All three disorders cause abnormal brain function or intellectual disability. Hepatosplenomegaly is the enlargement of the liver and spleen which causes digestive problems. It can also cause some kernicterus and petechiae. Kernicterus causes yellow pigmentation of the skin, brain damage, and deafness. Petechaie is when the capillaries bleed resulting in red/purple spots on the skin. However, cytomegalovirus is often fatal in the embryo. The Zika virus can also be transmitted from the pregnant mother to her baby and cause microcephaly.


title: Birth defect

text: The herpes simplex virus can cause microcephaly, microphthalmus (abnormally small eyeballs), retinal dysplasia, hepatosplenomegaly, and intellectual disability. Both microphthalmus and retinal dysplasia can cause blindness. However, the most common symptom in infants is an inflammatory response that develops during the first three weeks of life. Hyperthermia causes anencephaly, which is when part of the brain and skull are absent in the infant. Mother exposure to toxoplasmosis can cause cerebral calcification, hydrocephalus (causes mental disabilities), and intellectual disability in infants. Other birth abnormalities have been reported as well, such as chorioretinitis, microphthalmus, and ocular defects. Syphilis causes congenital deafness, intellectual disability, and diffuse fibrosis in organs, such as the liver and lungs, if the embryo is exposed.


title: Birth defect

text: For example, a lack of folic acid, a B vitamin, in the diet of a mother can cause cellular neural tube deformities that result in spina bifida. Congenital disorders such as a neural tube deformity can be prevented by 72% if the mother consumes 4 mg of folic acid before the conception and after twelve weeks of pregnancy. Folic acid, or vitamin B, aids the development of the foetal nervous system.


title: Birth defect

text: Studies with mice have found that food deprivation of the male mouse prior to conception leads to the offspring displaying significantly lower blood glucose levels.


title: Birth defect

text: External physical shocks or constraints due to growth in a restricted space may result in unintended deformation or separation of cellular structures resulting in an abnormal final shape or damaged structures unable to function as expected. An example is Potter syndrome due to oligohydramnios. This finding is important for future understanding of how genetics may predispose individuals for diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and cancer.


title: Birth defect

text: For multicellular organisms that develop in a womb, the physical interference or presence of other similarly developing organisms such as twins can result in the two cellular masses being integrated into a larger whole, with the combined cells attempting to continue to develop in a manner that satisfies the intended growth patterns of both cell masses. The two cellular masses can compete with each other, and may either duplicate or merge various structures. This results in conditions such as conjoined twins, and the resulting merged organism may die at birth when it must leave the life-sustaining environment of the womb and must attempt to sustain its biological processes independently.


title: Birth defect

text: Genetic causes of birth defects include inheritance of abnormal genes from the mother or the father, as well as new mutations in one of the germ cells that gave rise to the fetus. Male germ cells mutate at a much faster rate than female germ cells, and as the father ages, the DNA of the germ cells mutates quickly. If an egg is fertilized with sperm that has damaged DNA, a possibility exists that the fetus could develop abnormally.


title: Birth defect

text: Genetic disorders are all congenital (present at birth), though they may not be expressed or recognized until later in life. Genetic disorders may be grouped into single-gene defects, multiple-gene disorders, or chromosomal defects. Single-gene defects may arise from abnormalities of both copies of an autosomal gene (a recessive disorder) or of only one of the two copies (a dominant disorder). Some conditions result from deletions or abnormalities of a few genes located contiguously on a chromosome. Chromosomal disorders involve the loss or duplication of larger portions of a chromosome (or an entire chromosome) containing hundreds of genes. Large chromosomal abnormalities always produce effects on many different body parts and organ systems.


title: Birth defect

text: A low socioeconomic status in a deprived neighborhood may include exposure to "environmental stressors and risk factors". Socioeconomic inequalities are commonly measured by the Cartairs-Morris score, Index of Multiple Deprivation, Townsend deprivation index, and the Jarman score. The Jarman score, for example, considers "unemployment, overcrowding, single parents, under-fives, elderly living alone, ethnicity, low social class and residential mobility". In Vos' meta-analysis these indices are used to view the effect of low SES neighborhoods on maternal health. In the meta-analysis, data from individual studies were collected from 1985 up until 2008. Vos concludes that a correlation exists between prenatal adversities and deprived neighborhoods. Other studies have shown that low SES is closely associated with the development of the fetus in utero and growth retardation. Studies also suggest that children born in low SES families are "likely to be born prematurely, at low birth weight, or with asphyxia, a birth defect, a disability, fetal alcohol syndrome, or AIDS". Bradley and Corwyn also suggest that congenital disorders arise from the mother's lack of nutrition, a poor lifestyle, maternal substance abuse and "living in a neighborhood that contains hazards affecting fetal development (toxic waste dumps)". In a meta-analysis that viewed how inequalities influenced maternal health, it was suggested that deprived neighborhoods often promoted behaviors such as smoking, drug and alcohol use. After controlling for socioeconomic factors and ethnicity, several individual studies demonstrated an association with outcomes such as perinatal mortality and preterm birth.


title: Birth defect

text: For the survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who are known as the "Hibakusha", no statistically demonstrable increase of birth defects/congenital malformations was found among their later conceived children, or found in the later conceived children of cancer survivors who had previously received radiotherapy.


title: Birth defect

text: The surviving women of Hiroshima and Nagasaki who were able to conceive, though exposed to substantial amounts of radiation, later had children with no higher incidence of abnormalities/birth defects than in the Japanese population as a whole.


title: Birth defect

text: Relatively few studies have researched the effects of paternal radiation exposure on offspring. Following the Chernobyl disaster, it was assumed in the 1990s that the germ line of irradiated fathers suffered minisatellite mutations in the DNA, which was inherited by descendants. More recently, however, the World Health Organization states, "children conceived before or after their father's exposure showed no statistically significant differences in mutation frequencies". This statistically insignificant increase was also seen by independent researchers analyzing the children of the liquidators. Animal studies have shown that incomparably "massive" doses of X-ray irradiation of male mice resulted in birth defects of the offspring.


title: Birth defect

text: In the 1980s, a relatively high prevalence of pediatric leukemia cases in children living near a nuclear processing plant in West Cumbria, UK, led researchers to investigate whether the cancer was a result of paternal radiation exposure. A significant association between paternal irradiation and offspring cancer was found, but further research areas close to other nuclear processing plants did not produce the same results. Later this was determined to be the Seascale cluster in which the leading hypothesis is the influx of foreign workers, who have a different rate of leukemia within their race than the British average, resulted in the observed cluster of 6 children more than expected around Cumbria.


title: Birth defect

text: Certain birth complications can occur more often in advanced maternal age (greater than 35 years). Complications include fetal growth restriction, preeclampsia, placental abruption, pre-mature births, and stillbirth. These complications not only may put the child at risk, but also the mother.


title: Birth defect

text: The effects of the father's age on offspring are not yet well understood and are studied far less extensively than the effects of the mother's age. Fathers contribute proportionally more DNA mutations to their offspring via their germ cells than the mother, with the paternal age governing how many mutations are passed on. This is because, as humans age, male germ cells acquire mutations at a much faster rate than female germ cells.


title: Birth defect

text: Around a 5% increase in the incidence of ventricular septal defects, atrial septal defects, and patent ductus arteriosus in offspring has been found to be correlated with advanced paternal age. Advanced paternal age has also been linked to increased risk of achondroplasia and Apert syndrome. Offspring born to fathers under the age of 20 show increased risk of being affected by patent ductus arteriosus, ventricular septal defects, and the tetralogy of Fallot. It is hypothesized that this may be due to environmental exposures or lifestyle choices.


title: Birth defect

text: Research has found that there is a correlation between advanced paternal age and risk of birth defects such as limb anomalies, syndromes involving multiple systems, and Down syndrome. Recent studies have concluded that 5-9% of Down syndrome cases are due to paternal effects, but these findings are controversial.


title: Birth defect

text: There is concrete evidence that advanced paternal age is associated with the increased likelihood that a mother will have a miscarriage or that fetal death will occur.


title: Birth defect

text: Although significant progress has been made in identifying the etiology of some birth defects, approximately 65% have no known or identifiable cause. These are referred to as sporadic, a term that implies an unknown cause, random occurrence regardless of maternal living conditions, and a low recurrence risk for future children. For 20-25% of anomalies there seems to be a "multifactorial" cause, meaning a complex interaction of multiple minor genetic anomalies with environmental risk factors. Another 10–13% of anomalies have a purely environmental cause (e.g. infections, illness, or drug abuse in the mother). Only 12–25% of anomalies have a purely genetic cause. Of these, the majority are chromosomal anomalies.


title: Birth defect

text: Folate supplements decrease the risk of neural tube defects. Tentative evidence supports the role of L-arginine in decreasing the risk of intrauterine growth restriction.


title: Birth defect

text: Newborn screening tests were introduced in the early 1960s and initially dealt with just two disorders. Since then tandem mass spectrometry, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, and DNA analysis has made it possible for a much larger range of disorders to be screened. Newborn screening mostly measures metabolite and enzyme activity using a dried blood spot sample. Screening tests are carried out in order to detect serious disorders that may be treatable to some extent. Early diagnosis makes possible the readiness of therapeutic dietary information, enzyme replacement therapy and organ transplants. Different countries support the screening for a number of metabolic disorders (inborn errors of metabolism (IEM)), and genetic disorders including cystic fibrosis and Duchenne muscular dystrophy.


title: Birth defect

text: Tandem mass spectroscopy can also be used for IEM, and investigation of sudden infant death, and shaken baby syndrome.


title: Birth defect

text: Screening can also be carried out prenatally and can include obstetric ultrasonography to give scans such as the nuchal scan. 3D ultrasound scans can give detailed information of structural anomalies.


title: Birth defect

text: Congenital anomalies resulted in about 632,000 deaths per year in 2013 down from 751,000 in 1990. The types with the greatest death are congenital heart defects (323,000), followed by neural tube defects (69,000).


title: Birth defect

text: Many studies have found that the frequency of occurrence of certain congenital malformations depends on the sex of the child (table). For example, pyloric stenosis occurs more often in males while congenital hip dislocation is four to five times more likely to occur in females. Among children with one kidney, there are approximately twice as many males, whereas among children with three kidneys there are approximately 2.5 times more females. The same pattern is observed among infants with excessive number of ribs, vertebrae, teeth and other organs which in a process of evolution have undergone reduction—among them there are more females. Contrarily, among the infants with their scarcity, there are more males. Anencephaly is shown to occur approximately twice as frequently in females. The number of boys born with 6 fingers is two times higher than the number of girls. Now various techniques are available to detect congenital anomalies in fetus before birth.


title: Birth defect

text: About 3% of newborns have a "major physical anomaly", meaning a physical anomaly that has cosmetic or functional significance.


title: Birth defect

text: Physical congenital abnormalities are the leading cause of infant mortality in the United States, accounting for more than 20% of all infant deaths. Seven to ten percent of all children will require extensive medical care to diagnose or treat a birth defect.


title: Birth defect

text: P. M. Rajewski and A. L. Sherman (1976) have analyzed the frequency of congenital anomalies in relation to the system of the organism. Prevalence of men was recorded for the anomalies of phylogenetically younger organs and systems.


title: Birth defect

text: In respect of an etiology, sexual distinctions can be divided on appearing before and after differentiation of male's gonads during embryonic development, which begins from the eighteenth week. The testosterone level in male embryos thus raises considerably. The subsequent hormonal and physiological distinctions of male and female embryos can explain some sexual differences in frequency of congenital defects. It is difficult to explain the observed differences in the frequency of birth defects between the sexes by the details of the reproductive functions or the influence of environmental and social factors.


title: Birth defect

text: The CDC and National Birth Defect Project studied the incidence of birth defects in the US. Key findings include:


title: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

text: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is the 2017 debut novel by Gail Honeyman, and the winner of the 2017 Costa Debut Novel Award. The story centres on Eleanor Oliphant, a social misfit with a traumatic past who becomes enamoured with a singer, whom she believes she is destined to be with. The novel deals with themes of isolation and loneliness, and depicts Eleanor's transformational journey towards a fuller understanding of self and life.


title: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

text: Eleanor Oliphant, the novel's protagonist and narrator, lives in Glasgow, Scotland, and works as a finance clerk for a graphic design company. At the novel's outset, she is 29 years old. She is academically intelligent, with a degree in Classics and high standards of literacy. Every day on her lunch break she completes the "Daily Telegraph" crossword. However, she is socially awkward and leads a solitary lifestyle. She has no friends or social contacts, and every weekend consumes two bottles of vodka. She takes little interest in her appearance, having gone without a haircut since she was 13.


title: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

text: Not considering that she has a problem, Eleanor repeatedly describes herself as "absolutely fine", and even when obvious moments of awkwardness arise in her interactions with others, she tends to blame the other person's "underdeveloped social skills". Her colleagues regard her as a bit of a joke, and refer to her as "Wacko Jacko" or "Harry Potter"; while she regards them as "shirkers and idiots".


title: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

text: Clues gradually emerge to Eleanor's troubled past. She has a badly scarred face; knows nothing about her father; spent much of her childhood in foster care and children's homes; and, as a student, spent two years living with an abusive boyfriend who regularly physically assaulted her. Twice yearly she receives a routine visit from a social worker to monitor her progress. Her mother now appears to be confined to an unidentified institution: she phones Eleanor for a 15-minute conversation on Wednesday evenings. It is clear that Eleanor's mother is both vindictive and manipulative.


title: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

text: Several developments advance the narrative. Eleanor develops a crush on Johnnie Lomond, lead singer in a local band, having won tickets to a concert in a work raffle. She becomes convinced that he is the "love of [her] life" and "husband material". She starts to follow his Twitter feed, discovers where he lives, and visits his building. In anticipation of meeting him, she begins an unprecedented regime of personal grooming: she has a bikini wax, and later a manicure and haircut, buys new clothes, and visits a Bobbi Brown beauty store for makeup advice.


title: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

text: On leaving work one day with a new colleague, Raymond Gibbons, they witness an elderly man, Sammy Thom, collapse in the street. At Raymond's insistence, they call an ambulance, and help save his life. They are subsequently drawn into a series of encounters with Sammy and his grateful family, and in the process an embryonic friendship grows between Eleanor and Raymond.


title: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

text: Eleanor attends another long-anticipated Johnnie Lomond concert, certain that this is the moment at which they will meet, and the pieces of her life will start to fall into place. Instead, she finds that she is hidden in the crowd, and that Johnnie is unaware of her presence. When, to fill a gap in the performance, he moons the audience, she realises that he is not the refined soul-mate she had imagined. A dry ice stage effect stirs disturbing recollections of a traumatic fire in her past. She returns to her flat in despair, retreating into an intense three-day drinking binge and assembling materials for a suicide attempt – a hoard of painkillers; a bread knife; and a bottle of drain cleaner.


title: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

text: Eleanor is found by Raymond, sent by their boss to investigate her absence from work. He helps clean her up, puts her on the road to recovery, and continues to visit regularly over the following days. He even brings her an abandoned cat for company, which Eleanor appreciates. At Raymond's urging, she visits her GP, who refers her to a mental health counsellor. Eleanor eventually returns to work, where she is warmly greeted. Gradually, with the help of both the counsellor and Raymond, she ends her weekly contact with her mother, and her full childhood story emerges, including details that she had suppressed. When she was 10, her mother had started a house fire with the intention of killing both Eleanor and her four-year-old sister, Marianne. Although Eleanor survived, her mother and Marianne died. The weekly phone conversations with her mother have been entirely in Eleanor's imagination.


title: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

text: The novel deals with themes of loneliness, prejudice, trauma recovery, small acts of kindness, and friendship. In an interview with Costa, Honeyman said:I read a newspaper article about loneliness and unusually this article contained an interview with a young woman and she said she'd often leave work on Friday night at 5 o'clock and wouldn't talk to another human being until she went back to work on Monday morning. I was really struck by that because I hadn't really heard of a young person's perspective on it before and it was very contrary to the media portrayal of people in their twenties often that life is just one big, long party – nights out, very social. So from that little seed, the character and then the story of Eleanor Oliphant emerged.It is written from the perspective of an unreliable narrator, though not one motivated by malice or a desire to deceive – as is often the case – but rather as a reflection of the character's lack of self-awareness caused by psychological scars from a traumatic past.


title: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

text: Humour is used to lighten and contrast with the darker themes. The novel has been identified as a notable example of "up lit", referring to uplifting literature which features stories of kindness, compassion, and hope. It has also been credited with raising the popularity of uplifting literature among the public, as since its publication a marked rise has been observed in the number of up lit novels making best-seller lists.


title: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

text: According to the review aggregator website, Bookmarks, the novel received mostly positive reception. Jenny Colgan, reviewing for "The Guardian", described the novel as "a narrative full of quiet warmth and deep and unspoken sadness" with a "wonderful, joyful" ultimate message. Allan Massie of "The Scotsman" noted the book's unusual emphasis on "the importance of kindness", and found it to be reminiscent of a Jane Austen novel in its depiction of the "moral education of her heroine": it was, he said, and "an uncommonly intelligent and sympathetic novel". Sarah Gilmartin of "The Irish Times" called the title character "one of the most unusual and thought-provoking heroines of recent contemporary fiction".


title: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

text: The novel received the 2017 Costa Debut Novel Award. For the British Book Awards for 2018, "Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine" won the "Début Book of the Year" and "Overall Winner" awards (the latter chosen by public vote), and also the "Marketing Strategy of the Year" award.


title: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

text: The audio version of the book, narrated by Cathleen McCarron and published by Penguin Audio, won the 2018 US Audie Award for Fiction and AudioFile Magazine's AudioFile Earphones Award in 2017. "Publishers Weekly" described McCarron's performance as "award-worthy", and her portrayal of Eleanor as "by turns comical in her obliviousness to basic things and utterly heartbreaking in discussing her past".


title: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

text: In May 2017 the film rights were optioned by Reese Witherspoon's company Hello Sunshine. In December 2018 it was announced that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer would also be involved in the production.


title: Malayan tiger

text: The Malayan tiger is a tiger from a specific population of the "Panthera tigris tigris" subspecies that is native to Peninsular Malaysia. This population inhabits the southern and central parts of the Malay Peninsula and has been classified as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2015. , the population was estimated at 80 to 120 mature individuals with a continuous declining trend.


title: Malayan tiger

text: In the Malay language, the tiger is called "harimau", also abbreviated to "rimau". It is also known as the southern Indochinese tiger, to distinguish it from tiger populations in northern parts of Indochina, which are genetically different to this population.


title: Malayan tiger

text: "Panthera tigris corbetti" was proposed by Vratislav Mazák in 1968 for the tiger subspecies in Southeast Asia. "Panthera tigris jacksoni" was proposed in 2004 as a subspecies as a genetic analysis indicated differences in mtDNA and micro-satellite sequences to "P. t. corbetti". Since revision of felid taxonomy in 2017, the Malayan tiger is recognised as a "P. t. tigris" population. However, a genetic study published in 2018 supported six monophyletic clades based on whole-genome sequencing analysis of 32 specimens. The Malayan tiger appeared to be distinct from other mainland Asian tiger specimens, thus supporting the concept of six subspecies.


title: Malayan tiger

text: When the tiger population of the Malay Peninsula was accepted as a distinct subspecies in 2004, the chairman of the "Malaysian Association of Zoos, Parks and Aquaria" argued that the new subspecies should be named "Panthera tigris malayensis" to reflect the geographical region of its range. As a compromise, it received the vernacular name "Malayan tiger", and the scientific name "jacksoni", which honours the tiger conservationist Peter Jackson. Nevertheless, "P. t. malayensis" was used by other authors.


title: Malayan tiger

text: There is no clear difference between the Malayan and the Indochinese tigers, when specimens from the two regions are compared cranially or in pelage. No type specimen was designated. Malayan tigers appear to be smaller than Bengal tigers. From measurements of 11 males and 8 females, the average length of a male is , and of a female .


title: Malayan tiger

text: Body length of 16 female tigers in the State of Terengganu ranged from and averaged . Their height ranged from , and their body weight from . Data from 21 males showed that total length ranged from , with an average of . Their height ranged from , and their body weight from .


title: Malayan tiger

text: The geographic division between Malayan and Indochinese tigers is unclear as tiger populations in northern Malaysia are contiguous with those in southern Thailand.


title: Malayan tiger

text: Tigers abounded on Singapore Island in the 1830s when it was still a dense jungle and were also seen crossing the Strait of Johor. The first fatal attack of a tiger on a human was reported in 1831. Tiger hunting became a sport in those years. The expansion of plantations on Singapore Island led to more encounters between humans and tigers; daily tiger attacks were reported in the late 1840s. Local authorities organized tiger bounties, and the tiger population in Singapore decreased significantly. Tigers were extirpated on Singapore Island by the 1950s, and the last one was shot in 1932.


title: Malayan tiger

text: In Malaysia, tiger signs were reported in early-succession vegetation fields between 1991 and 2003, agricultural areas outside forests in Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, and Johor, and many riparian habitats outside forests in Pahang, Perak, Kelantan, Terengganu, and Johor. Most of the major rivers that drain into the South China Sea had some evidence of tigers, whereas those draining into the Strait of Malacca in the west did not. The total potential tiger habitat was , which comprised of confirmed tiger habitat, of expected tiger habitat and of possible tiger habitat. All the protected areas greater than in size had tigers.


title: Malayan tiger

text: In September 2014, two conservation organisations announced that camera trap surveys in seven sites in three separate habitats from 2010 to 2013 had produced an estimate of the surviving population of 250–340 individuals, with a few additional isolated small pockets probable. The decline meant that the population might have to be moved to the "Critically Endangered" category in the IUCN Red List. As of 2019, poaching and depletion of prey has caused the tiger population in Belum-Temengor Forest Reserve to decline about 60% over a period of 7–8 years, from approximately 60 to 23.


title: Malayan tiger

text: Malayan tigers prey on sambar deer, barking deer, wild boar, Bornean bearded pigs and serow. Malayan tigers also prey on sun bears, young elephants and rhinoceros calves. Whether their principal prey includes adult gaur and tapir is unknown. Occasionally, livestock is also taken; however, tiger predation reduces the numbers of wild boar which can become a serious pest in plantations and other croplands. Studies indicate that in areas where large predators (tigers and leopards) are extinct, wild pigs are over 10 times more numerous than in areas where tigers and leopards are still present.


title: Malayan tiger

text: Tigers occur at very low densities of 1.1–1.98 tigers per in the rainforest as a result of low prey densities, thus to maintain viable tiger populations of minimum of 6 breeding females, reserves need to be larger than . Information on dietary preference, morphological measurements, demographic parameters, social structure, communication, home range sizes, dispersal capabilities are all lacking.


title: Malayan tiger

text: Habitat fragmentation because of development projects and agriculture is a serious threat. Between 1988 and 2012, an area of about natural forest was lost in Peninsular Malaysia. Nearly was converted to large-scale industrial plantations, primarily for palm oil production. An area of around constituted prime tiger habitat.


title: Malayan tiger

text: Commercial poaching occurs at varying levels in all tiger range states. In Malaysia there is a substantial domestic market in recent years for tiger meat and manufactured tiger bone medicines. Between 2001 and 2012, body parts from at least 100 tigers were confiscated in Malaysia. In 2008, police found 19 frozen tiger cubs in a zoo. In 2012, skins and bones of 22 tigers were seized. The demand for tiger body parts used in Chinese traditional medicine apparently also attracts poachers from Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia. Between 2014 and 2019, anti-poaching units removed around 1,400 snares from protected areas.


title: Malayan tiger

text: The tiger is included on CITES Appendix I, banning international trade. All tiger range states and countries with consumer markets have banned domestic trade as well. The Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers (MYCAT) is "an alliance of non-governmental organisations comprising the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS), Traffic Southeast Asia, Wildlife Conservation Society-Malaysia Programme and WWF-Malaysia." It also includes the Department of Wildlife and National Parks. In 2007, they implemented a hotline to report tiger-related crimes, such as poaching. In order to deter poaching, they organize "Cat Walks", a citizen patrol in danger zones. MYCAT has a goal of increasing the tiger population.


title: Malayan tiger

text: In November 2021, the Cabinet of Malaysia announced the initiation of nine conservation strategies (through 2030) to ensure the survival of the Malayan tiger; the strategies include enforcement of patrols, preservation and conservation of the Malayan tiger's natural habitat; establishment of a National Task Force for its conservation under the Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia's Tiger Conservation Unit; the wildlife crime bureau under the Royal Malaysia Police and the National Wildlife Forensics Laboratory were emboldened for its ex situ conservation, and provisions for a Malayan tiger habitat accreditation schemes enabled. The government also cooperates with zoos and universities in other countries to further research into inbreeding, and establishes a Malayan Tiger conservation centre to temporarily accommodate tigers before releasing them into the wild. The moratorium ban on deer hunting was extended further.


title: Malayan tiger

text: The Cincinnati Zoo was the first zoo in North America to begin a captive breeding program for Malayan tigers with the importation of a male and three females from Asia between 1990 and 1992. There are also a few Malayan tigers in Johor Zoo, Zoo Negara in Kuala Lumpur, and Taiping Zoo. As of 2011 there were 54 of this subspecies in North American zoos, located in 25 institutions and are descended from only 11 founders. Therefore, the plan of retaining a target of 90% genetic diversity over the next century is not possible unless other founders are added.


title: Malayan tiger

text: In Emilio Salgari's cycle of novels on the 19th century fictional pirate Sandokan, the protagonist is known as "The Tiger of Malaysia".


title: Malayan tiger

text: Two tigers are depicted as supporters in the coat of arms of Malaysia and the coat of arms of Johor. The coat of arms of Singapore features both a lion, being the namesake of the city-state, and a Malayan tiger, as a symbol of its cultural and historical ties to the Malay Peninsula. The tiger appears in various heraldry of Malaysian public institutions such as the Royal Malaysia Police and Football Association of Malaysia. The tiger symbolises bravery and strength among Malaysians. It is also the nickname for the Malaysia national football team. The tiger has been given various nicknames by Malaysians, notably ""Pak Belang"," which literally means "Uncle Stripes." "Pak Belang" features prominently in folklore as one of the adversaries of Sang Kancil (the mouse deer).


title: Malayan tiger

text: Within the private sector of the region, the tiger is also depicted within the iconic emblems of Maybank, Proton and Tiger Beer.


title: Major Tom (Coming Home)

text: "Major Tom (Coming Home)" (, 'Major Tom [completely detached]') is a song by singer Peter Schilling from his album "Error in the System". With a character unofficially related to "Major Tom", the protagonist of David Bowie's 1969 song "Space Oddity", the song is about the character breaking off contact with ground control and traveling off into space.


title: Major Tom (Coming Home)

text: The song was originally recorded in German and released in West Germany on 3 January 1983. It reached No. 1 in West Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The English version was first released in the United States on 24 September 1983. It reached No. 1 in Canada, No. 4 in South Africa and peaked at No. 14 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 Singles chart the week of 24 December 1983. The English-language version of the song also reached No. 2 on the dance chart in the US.


title: Major Tom (Coming Home)

text: In 1994, Schilling made and released a remixed version along with Boom-Bastic, titled "Major Tom 94". Other remixes were released in 2000, titled "Major Tom 2000", and in 2003, titled "Major Tom 2003".


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: The 2019–20 NHL season was the 103rd season of operation (102nd season of play) of the National Hockey League. The regular season began on October 2, 2019, with playoffs originally planned for April and the Stanley Cup Finals planned for June. The season was suspended indefinitely on March 12, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: On May 22, 2020, the NHL and National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) agreed to a framework for the resumption of play, which would see the remainder of the regular season scrapped, and the top 12 teams in each conference (by points percentage) competing in a modified and expanded Stanley Cup playoffs, which the NHL planned to hold in two centralized "hub cities", Toronto's Scotiabank Arena and Edmonton's Rogers Place, with no spectators and only essential staff present.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: The playoffs began on August 1, 2020, and ended on September 28, with the Tampa Bay Lightning defeating the Dallas Stars in the Stanley Cup Finals in six games, winning their second Stanley Cup in franchise history.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: The collective bargaining agreement (CBA), previously signed to end the 2012–13 NHL lockout, entered into its eighth season. Before the season started, both the NHL and the NHLPA had the choice to opt out of the CBA on September 1 and September 16, 2019, respectively. If either of them had opted out, the CBA would have expired at the end of this season instead of at the end of 2021–22. The NHL announced on August 30 that they would not opt out, and the NHLPA then also agreed on September 16 not to opt out.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the christening of the Seattle Kraken was delayed to July 23, 2020. The expansion team, set to begin play during the 2021–22 season, originally planned to announce the club's name in early 2020.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: To put more emphasis on teams winning in regulation, "regulation wins" (tracked in an additional "RW" column in the league standings) will now precede "regulation and overtime wins" ("ROW") in the tie-breaking procedure. The league also added goals scored as a new tiebreaker.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: After testing at the 2019 National Hockey League All-Star Game, the NHL planned to deploy player and puck tracking systems to all 31 NHL arenas prior to the start of the 2019–20 season. This technology was developed in collaboration with a German Fraunhofer Institute using transmitters embedded inside pucks and jerseys. It enables on-air features such as speed displays, puck tracking graphics (reminiscent of the FoxTrax graphics utilized in the late 1990s by previous U.S. national NHL broadcaster Fox, also developed by Sportvision), and marker graphics hovering above players.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: On September 5, 2019, it was reported that the league replaced its primary technology partner in its tracking technology, and thus the system likely would not be up and running until the 2020 playoffs at the earliest.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: This is the ninth season under the NHL's ten-year deal with NBC Sports and sixth season of its twelve-year Canadian rights deal with Sportsnet and TVA Sports.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: Both NBC Sports and Sportsnet celebrated International Women's Day on March 8, 2020, by featuring all-female broadcasting crews on their respective telecasts of St. Louis Blues–Chicago Blackhawks and Vegas Golden Knights–Calgary Flames.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: On January 2, 2019, the Chicago Blackhawks agreed to an exclusive multi-year deal with NBC Sports Chicago beginning with the 2019–20 season, ending the team's broadcasts on WGN-TV.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios combined to purchase the former Fox Sports regional networks (FSN). Twelve of the NHL's 31 teams (Anaheim, Arizona, Carolina, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Florida, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis, and Tampa Bay) carry their television broadcasts through FSN. FSN was one of the properties Fox Corporation's predecessor 21st Century Fox divested in its sale to The Walt Disney Company, but which The Walt Disney Company could not keep due to antitrust concerns. This is Entertainment Studios' first entry into sports, while Sinclair has had a sports operation since 2014 that currently distributes the free-to-air network Stadium and is concurrently expanding into the regional sports network business with its stakes in these networks, YES Network and the upcoming Chicago-based Marquee Sports Network. The FSN networks will continue to temporarily use the Fox Sports name under a transitional license agreement while Sinclair explores rebranding options.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: In August 2019, the Vegas Golden Knights agreed to a deal with Las Vegas broadcast television station KTNV-TV to locally televise all of the team's 2019 preseason games over-the-air.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: In September 2019, the New York Islanders agreed to a two-year deal with WEPN-AM and WEPN-FM to broadcast a majority of their games. Since the two stations also broadcast New York Rangers and the NBA's New York Knicks games, WRHU of Hofstra University will continue to be used by the Islanders as an overflow station.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: This is the final season of Sportsnet's regional rights to the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers. In December 2019, after having aired the first-ever NHL broadcast in the language earlier in the year, it was announced that the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) would air six of Sportsnet's "Hometown Hockey" games per season in Plains Cree over the next three years.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: On November 11, 2019, Sportsnet fired studio commentator Don Cherry for comments that suggested Canadian immigrants benefit from the sacrifices of veterans but do not wear Remembrance Day poppies. The segment "Coach's Corner" on "Hockey Night in Canada" was canceled the following week.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: This was the final season for lead NBC play-by-play announcer Mike Emrick. Emrick announced his retirement from broadcasting on October 19, 2020, after a 47-year career.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: Carolina Hurricanes play-by-play announcer John Forslund was replaced by rinkside reporter Mike Maniscalco prior to the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs. Forslund had been the television voice of the Whalers/Hurricanes franchise since 1995, and added radio play-by-play in 2018 after the team removed Chuck Kaiton from the position.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: As part of its renovations, the Philadelphia Flyers and Wells Fargo Center announced that Rivers Casino Philadelphia (then SugarHouse Casino) would become the venue's official sportsbook partner, with the venue adding two lounge areas with odds boards to promote the casino's sports betting app.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: The 2019 NHL Entry Draft was held on June 21 and 22, 2019, with Jack Hughes being selected first overall by the New Jersey Devils.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: Two preseason games were played in Europe. The Chicago Blackhawks played against Eisbären Berlin at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin, Germany, on September 29, 2019. The Philadelphia Flyers played against Lausanne HC at Vaudoise Aréna in Lausanne, Switzerland on September 30, 2019.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: On November 19, 2019, the NHL announced it would rename the General Manager of the Year Award in honour of Jim Gregory, the recently deceased former general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs and former NHL executive. The official name is changed to the "Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award."


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: The regular season began on October 2, 2019, and was originally supposed to end on April 4, 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the season was suspended on March 12, 2020. On May 26, 2020, it was announced that the regular season would not be finished.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: Three regular season games, branded as the "NHL Global Series", were played in Europe. The Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers played their regular season opening game on October 4, 2019, at O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic. The Buffalo Sabres and Tampa Bay Lightning played two games at Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden, on November 8 and 9, 2019.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: The 2020 National Hockey League All-Star Game was held in St. Louis, Missouri, at Enterprise Center, the home of the St. Louis Blues, on January 25, 2020.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: The St. Louis Blues – Anaheim Ducks game on February 11, 2020, was suspended at a 1−1 tie with 7:50 left in the first period after Blues defenceman Jay Bouwmeester collapsed on the bench in a medical emergency due to a cardiac episode. He eventually had an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator procedure and was placed on injured reserve. The game was made up on March 11. This resulted in the Blues' home game against the Florida Panthers being moved one day earlier from March 10 to March 9.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe, concern began to build that large crowds at sporting events would spread the virus that causes COVID-19. In early March 2020, the NHL suspended media access to the locker rooms, saying that only official personnel would be allowed in after the games to limit person-to-person contact. The San Jose Sharks were planning to play three home games without fans from March 19, following San Francisco's order prohibiting assemblies larger than 1,000 individuals. Meanwhile, the Columbus Blue Jackets had also proposed to play home games without fans, due to Ohio governor Mike DeWine banning mass gatherings in the state.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: But after the National Basketball Association (NBA) suspended all games when Rudy Gobert and another player tested positive for COVID-19 on the day that the World Health Organization declared the disease to be a pandemic, the NHL scheduled a meeting to discuss pausing the season. On March 12, morning practice sessions and media access for all teams were cancelled. Shortly after, they announced that the 2019–20 season had been paused indefinitely. This became the biggest interruption to regular NHL season games since the 2012–13 NHL lockout. All players and hockey staff were asked to self-quarantine in their home cities until further notice.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: One of the players from the Ottawa Senators had tested positive for COVID-19 on March 17. Four days later, on March 21, it was announced that a second Senators player tested positive for COVID-19. Two Colorado Avalanche players also tested positive for the virus. On April 4, the originally intended date for the final games of the regular season, Commissioner Gary Bettman participated in a call with U.S. president Donald Trump and other sport commissioners on the state of the sport world.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: On May 22, the league and the NHLPA agreed on a basic framework to stage a 24-team playoff tournament behind closed doors. The details of the plan were announced publicly on May 26. The seeds would be based on each club's points percentage when the season paused on March 12 (effectively scrapping the remainder of the regular season and making this the first season in NHL history where some teams played more regular season games than others in a year that did not have a team fold during the regular season). The top four seeds in each conference would get a bye, while the next eight seeds in each conference would play in a best-of-five series. Many of the logistics still needed to be negotiated, including COVID-19 testing protocols, visas, and whether these games would be held in one or more "hub" cities as the Canada–United States border would remain closed to non-essential travel until June 21. That same day, the U.S. government announced that foreign athletes would be exempted from pandemic-related travel bans still in effect.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: On May 26, Bettman formally discussed aspects of the "Return to Play Plan", including the proposed 24-team playoff format (with the top four teams in each conference playing a round robin tournament under regular season overtime rules to determine their seeds), and modifications to the procedures for the Draft Lottery. Aspects of the format (including the possibility of a best-of-five format for the first and second round, and changes to bracketing) were still being negotiated, but it was stated that the conference finals and Stanley Cup Finals would still use a best-of-seven series. Bettman stated that at least two hub cities would be used for the playoffs, shortlisting hosts such as Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Vancouver. Health, testing, and security protocols would be in place at these sites.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: On June 4, it was announced that the NHL and NHLPA had approved aspects of the format that had not yet been finalized during the May 26 briefing, with the first and second rounds proper using a best-of-seven format as usual, and all teams being reseeded after each round (to account for the lack of home advantage due to all games being played at a neutral site).


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: It was reported that the NHL planned to have one American host and one Canadian host. As Canada's "Quarantine Act" at the time required all travellers entering the country to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly stated that this may impact the ability to use Canadian host cities unless these issues can be addressed. On June 10, British Columbia Premier John Horgan stated that the province's medical officer Bonnie Henry had endorsed proposed protocols developed by the Vancouver Canucks in collaboration with local officials, and that they were being sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for federal approval. These included allowing the NHL to "cohort" players and restrict their access to the general public.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: Phase 2 of the "Return to Play Plan" began on June 8. Players were allowed to resume use of team practice facilities in small groups (no more than six), with only players allowed on-ice and no other agents or press admitted. Players had to self-isolate for 14 days if they used public transport, and were regularly monitored and tested for COVID-19. If a player tests positive, they could not attend training until they had been cleared, with teams suggested to use guidelines issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Training camps (phase 3) were planned to reopen on July 10. Amidst an intense growth of new cases in Florida, the Tampa Bay Lightning temporarily closed their training facility on June 19 after several staff members and three players tested positive for COVID-19.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: On June 24, Sportsnet reported that Vancouver's bid had been complicated by disagreements over protocols for positive cases. The next day, Global BC's Richard Zussman reported that the NHL had "moved on [for now]" from Vancouver, and was increasing its focus on Edmonton and Toronto as potential sites. While Las Vegas was initially considered a front-runner, a spike of cases in Nevada and other U.S. states led to reports on July 1 that the NHL had decided on Edmonton and Toronto as the sites.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: On July 10, the NHL confirmed that it had ratified agreements with the NHLPA to begin the playoffs on August 1 (concluding no later than early October), with games being hosted by Edmonton (Western Conference early rounds, Conference Finals, and Stanley Cup Finals) and Toronto (Eastern Conference early rounds). The league also renewed its collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for four additional seasons, which includes an increase to minimum player salaries and a 10% deference of player salaries for the 2020–21 season (to be paid out over three seasons beginning 2022–23).


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: The top four teams in each conference played in a separate seeding round-robin to determine their seeding in the First Round. These games were played with regular season overtime and shootout rules, with the clubs accumulating points like the regular season, and any ties in the round-robin standings were broken by the regular season points percentage.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: The following players led the league in regular season points at the completion of the regular season.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: The following goaltenders led the league in regular season goals against average at the conclusion of games played on March 11, 2020, while playing at least 1,740 minutes.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NHL will not hold an annual awards ceremony for this season. Instead, the individual awards will be handed out during the final two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Voting concluded immediately after the end of the regular season. Statistics-based awards such as the Art Ross Trophy, Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy, William M. Jennings Trophy and the Presidents' Trophy are announced at the end of the regular season. The Prince of Wales Trophy and the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl are presented at the end of the Eastern and Western Conference Finals respectively. The Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe Trophy are presented at the end of the Stanley Cup Finals. The Lester Patrick Trophy is announced following the conclusion of the playoffs and presented in the fall.


title: 2019–20 NHL season

text: The following is a list of notable players who played their first NHL game during the 2019–20 season, listed with their first team.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: Lassana Diarra (born 10 March 1985) is a French former professional footballer. His predominant position was as a defensive midfielder but he could also play in a more advanced role and has played at right back, which he occasionally has done for the France national football team. Diarra has, in his club footballing career, featured for Chelsea, Arsenal, Portsmouth, Real Madrid and most recently Paris Saint-Germain before retiring on 21 February 2019. The Frenchman has also played for Russian clubs Anzhi Makhachkala and Lokomotiv Moscow.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: Born in Paris, Diarra began playing football at the sports center on Rue Julien-Lacroix in Belleville, the district in which he grew up in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. After having started his youth club career at Paris FC, Diarra was turned down by multiple football clubs as a youngster; Nantes deemed him too "small and lightweight" to succeed at 170 cm and 58 kg (5'7" and 9 stone). He admitted he thought his "football career was over." His next stop was Le Mans UC, where Diarra claimed they "didn't seem to care" about him. He would also play shortly for Red Star 93 from the Paris-suburb of Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: Diarra's footballing career finally began at Le Havre, a former French top-flight football team. Outstanding in his defensive midfield role, his reputation started to grow and impressive performances saw his selection to the French under-21 squad. Along with the reputation came interest from other clubs, and Chelsea became potential suitors. With Chelsea's Claude Makélélé getting older, Chelsea's scouts tagged Diarra as the "new Makélélé". Diarra was spotted by Gwyn Williams playing for France in the 2005 Toulon Tournament and initially came on trial, before the club paid £1 million for his services in July 2005.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: Diarra was in Chelsea's first team squad in the 2005–06 season, but did not see much first-team football. His Chelsea debut came in the UEFA Champions League in October 2005, when he was given a brief run out as a substitute when Chelsea were 4–0 up against Real Betis. Learning from Claude Makélélé he played well against Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup third round, winning rave reviews from both managers, teammates, and media sources. He made his league debut when he came on as a substitute for Makélélé on 5 February 2006 in a 2–0 win over Liverpool. He became a big part player in Chelsea's first team and also completed the full 90 minutes in Chelsea's last two games of the season at Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United respectively, as manager José Mourinho rotated his squad. This meant Diarra ended the season with three league appearances as Chelsea won the 2005–06 FA Premier League. Diarra was named Chelsea's Young Player of the Season for 2005–06.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: Due to Chelsea's defensive injury setbacks during the 2006–07 season, he was often asked to play at right back. He played full Premier League games against Blackburn, Charlton Athletic and Middlesbrough, with some success. He also started in Chelsea's win over Arsenal in the League Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium. He was an unused substitute as Chelsea won the 2007 FA Cup Final against Manchester United. On 29 July, reports surfaced suggesting he could be on his way to Arsenal in pursuit of first-team football. Despite this, he came on as a substitute for Chelsea in the 2007 FA Community Shield. His contract with Chelsea was due to expire in January 2008, and having made no move to extend it, Chelsea sold him to Arsenal on 31 August 2007, before he could leave on a free transfer.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: On 31 August 2007, transfer deadline day, he signed for Arsenal for an undisclosed fee. He was given the number 8 shirt, vacated by the departure of winger Freddie Ljungberg. On his move across London, he cited Gunners manager Arsène Wenger as one of the main reasons for joining the club, along with the style of football played by Arsenal. Wenger had called the young Frenchman a "multi-functional player", and a good addition to the squad. Diarra made his Arsenal debut as a late substitute in the home leg of the 2007–08 Champions League group stage match against Sevilla, and his full debut against Newcastle United in the third round of the League Cup. He then started his first Premier League match for Arsenal against Wigan Athletic on 24 November 2007. With the emergence of defensive midfielder Mathieu Flamini in the Arsenal side, Diarra saw only limited action in the early months of the season. Having expressed concerns that he was not playing enough first team football, Diarra signed for Portsmouth in January 2008 after only five months at Arsenal for an undisclosed fee believed to be around £5.5 million.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: Diarra signed for Portsmouth on 17 January 2008. He was given his first start against Derby County, contributing to a 3–1 win at Fratton Park. He scored his first goal for the club in the following match, against FA Cup Fourth Round Championship opponents Plymouth Argyle, and his first Premier League goal two weeks later, a controversial late winner against Bolton Wanderers. Diarra went on to play in every minute of Portsmouth's remaining FA Cup matches en route to claiming the trophy in the final. He topped the season by being included in the France squad for UEFA Euro 2008; this and the FA Cup win arguably vindicated his decision to part company with Arsenal, Diarra himself saying that it had "more than justified my decision." He played in the 2008 Community Shield against Manchester United, missing in the penalty shootout, which was won by United. On 18 September 2008, he scored Pompey's first-ever goal in a major European competition against Vitória de Guimarães, his third and final goal for the club. The first red card of Diarra's Premier League career came on 28 September 2008 when he was booked twice against Tottenham Hotspur at Fratton Park.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: On 17 December 2008, Portsmouth agreed a fee with Real Madrid for the transfer of Diarra on 1 January 2009 for a fee of around €20 million (£18.88 million), subject to a medical. He was assigned the number 6 shirt of Mahamadou Diarra for domestic competitions, as the Malian midfielder was out with a season-ending injury and the vacant number 39 for the Champions League. He wore the name "Lass" on the back of his shirt to avoid confusion with Mahamadou. Lassana Diarra's transfer was officially completed on 1 January 2009, the opening of the transfer window. Madrid had planned to add both Diarra and fellow new signing Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to their 2008–09 Champions League squad, but both players had already featured in the same season's UEFA Cup for previous clubs Portsmouth and Ajax respectively; UEFA rules would allow only one of the pair to be registered by 1 February 2009, and eventually Diarra was selected to play in the competition.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: Diarra's performance for Real Madrid in his first few months earned him a spot among the starting eleven on UEFA's 2008–09 La Liga Breakthrough Team. The Madridista joined Sevilla's Diego Perotti as the only foreigner on the list. According to the UEFA website, he "joined Real Madrid in the winter transfer window with a very low profile, although in a few short months he managed to convince the demanding Madridista fan base."


title: Lassana Diarra

text: For the 2009–10 season he was assigned the number 10 shirt after Wesley Sneijder moved to Internazionale and Mahamadou Diarra came back from injury and reclaimed the number 6 shirt. Lassana Diarra scored his first official goal for Madrid in the 2009–10 La Liga opener against Deportivo de La Coruña, providing his side with their winning goal in a 3–2 victory.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: Manager José Mourinho included Diarra in his starting lineup for the first game of the 2010–11 La Liga season. Because Madrid bought Sami Khedira, Diarra faced further competition to get into the squad. However, Mourinho said he would not be leaving and said that he saw Diarra as a starter.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: After speculation of Diarra leaving Real Madrid during the summer 2011 transfer window, during which he did not participate in the team's pre-season, Diarra finally stayed at the club, wearing the number 24 jersey after Sami Khedira had taken number 6 and Mesut Özil number 10 during the summer.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: Diarra had a decent 2011–12 season, culminating in winning the La Liga title with the club. He participated in the team's 2012 pre-season, and won the 2012 Supercopa with the club. It seems he was forced out of the club alongside fellow midfield enforcer Esteban Granero to accommodate the stay of Kaká, despite the latter being linked with an exit.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: After falling down in the pecking order, Diarra was linked to join Russian side Spartak Moscow. On transfer deadline day, 31 August 2012, Diarra joined Anzhi Makhachkala on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee. He was originally meant to join merely on loan, but the club decided to make the deal permanent. After joining Anzhi, Diarra made an explanation that he joined the club, claiming that Samuel Eto'o persuaded him to join and insisted money was not the reason he joined.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: After Anzhi made their whole squad available for transfer due to cost-cutting, there was talk of a number of clubs interested in Diarra's services; Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain were thought to be interested in taking him back to France. However, he eventually signed a four-year contract with Lokomotiv Moscow on 20 August 2013, taking the number 85 shirt. He became the second most expensive transfer in Lokomotiv's history behind only Mbark Boussoufa, who was signed by the club from Anzhi Makhachkala in the summer of 2013 for €15m. Despite being sent off twice in his first matches for his new club against Zenit Saint Petersburg and Tom Tomsk respectively, Diarra quickly established himself in starting eleven, claiming one of two usual holding midfielder's posts alongside Dmitri Tarasov. In his first months at Lokomotiv, Diarra provided so many solid performances that someone even claimed that he was the strongest player in the history of the Russian Premier League. His growing influence in the team became acknowledged: in November and December 2013, he topped the monthly poll among Lokomotiv fans in social networks and received the Player of the Month award twice in a row. After the winter break, Diarra played only five out of eleven matches and his performances were a lot below the usual level.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: Things turned sour for Diarra at Lokomotiv in the summer of 2014, when he fell out with head coach Leonid Kuchuk. Matters came to a head when the club wanted to reduce Diarra's salary but he refused and even refused to turn up for training. Lokomotiv dismissed Diarra in August 2014 on the grounds of his refusal to show up for training, with his contract set to expire only in 2017. It even sought damages from Diarra for breach of contract and managed to get FIFA to ban him from playing professionally for another club as long as his contractual dispute with it was not settled. Kuchuk was eventually sacked by the club in September 2014.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: After Diarra left the club, there were several months of speculation linking him with numerous European football clubs, notably Celtic, Inter Milan, Newcastle United, Queens Park Rangers and West Ham United.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: On 28 May 2016, Diarra was ordered to pay a 10 million euro fine to Lokomotiv Moscow for breach of contract by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), along with €110,000 to the CAS. He was also given a 15-month suspension from playing professional football and a suspension of payment of salary, both of which he had already served.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: After his ban from football, on 24 July 2015 Diarra signed for French Ligue 1 side Marseille. He made his debut for Marseille on 23 August and scored his first goal in a 6–0 victory over Troyes, while also achieving a 100 percent pass completion. At the end of the 2015–16 season, he was named in the Ligue 1 Team of the Season by the UNFP.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: On 11 August 2016, Diarra was named as the club's new captain, replacing Steve Mandanda who had earlier joined Crystal Palace. Following Rudi Garcia's appointment as new Marseille manager in October, however, Diarra's commitment to the club was questioned and he was later stripped of his captaincy in favour of loanee, Bafétimbi Gomis. Having made only 11 league appearances for the season, Diarra was released by Marseille on 14 February 2017. Former manager José Anigo later claimed that the breakdown of relationship between club and player stemmed from then-chairman Vincent Labrune's failure to honour contractual promises to Diarra.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: On 19 April 2017, Diarra joined Emirati club Al Jazira. He made five appearances in the UAE Pro-League before mutually terminating his contract with the club on 24 December 2017.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: On 23 January 2018, Diarra joined Paris Saint-Germain on a one-and-a-half-year contract. The France international has become the 436th player to represent the capital club. He made his debut for the club under coach Unai Emery on 30 January 2018 in the 3–2 Coupe de la Ligue semi-final win against Stade Rennais On 21 February 2019, Diarra and PSG mutually terminated his contract with the club. He subsequently announced his retirement from professional football.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: Diarra won 18 caps for the France under-21s. Perhaps his most notable performance came in the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification play-offs second-leg match against England at the Stade Marcel Picot in November 2005. With the match several minutes from full-time and seemingly destined for extra time (the aggregate score was 2–2), he received the ball in the England penalty box, where a challenge from Kieran Richardson brought Diarra down. A penalty was given for the foul, and Diarra's teammate Jimmy Briand scored the penalty, shooting the ball past Scott Carson. France won the tie 3–2 on aggregate and thus qualified for the finals to be held in Portugal.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: Diarra was selected for the senior team by coach Raymond Domenech for a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier away to Lithuania on 24 March 2007. He started the match, alongside Claude Makélélé and Jérémy Toulalan in midfield, and played the full 90 minutes. He was also selected that year for a friendly match against Austria on 28 March 2007. Diarra's consistent club performances in 2008 resulted in him being picked for the France squad for Euro 2008, ahead of high-calibre players such as Djibril Cissé and Mathieu Flamini. France was eliminated in the group stage of Euro 2008 and Diarra did not feature in any of his country's three group stage matches.


title: Lassana Diarra

text: Following the international retirement of fellow defensive midfielder Claude Makélélé, Diarra was called up for Domenech's France squad in the 20 August 2008 friendly with Sweden. By the end of the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign, Diarra had made 26 appearances for France.