title: Japanese popular culture

text: Japanese popular culture includes Japanese cinema, cuisine, television programs, anime, manga, video games, music, and doujinshi, all of which retain older artistic and literary traditions; many of their themes and styles of presentation can be traced to traditional art forms. Contemporary forms of popular culture, much like the traditional forms, are not only forms of entertainment but also factors that distinguish contemporary Japan from the rest of the modern world. There is a large industry of music, films, and the products of a huge comic book industry, among other forms of entertainment. Game centers, bowling alleys, and karaoke parlors are well-known hangout places for teens while older people may play "shogi" or "go" in specialized parlors. Since the end of the US occupation of Japan in 1952, Japanese popular culture has been deeply influenced by American media. However, rather than being dominated by American products, Japan localised these influences by appropriating and absorbing foreign influences into local media industries. Today, Japanese popular culture stands as one of the most prominent popular cultures around the world.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: In as early as 1920, a discussion revolving around the use of culture and media communication was being used as a strategy to enhance the international understanding of Japan's perspective was set in place. The discussion began when Japan aspired to become an imperial and colonial power, one that was equivalent to their Euro-American counterparts. This idea was interrupted once Japan was defeated in World War II. With the economic struggles Japan faced after the war, the question about using culture and media communication was once again brought up. In order for Japan to reinvent themselves and allow others to see their true colors, Japan focused on projecting a selected national image by exporting appealing cultural products including, animation, television programs, popular music, films, and fashion. The public diplomacy wanted to allow other countries to understand their position on various issues by acting directly on the people of foreign countries. With the popularity of television emerging in Asian countries, they produced a show that was supposed to demonstrate the actual lives of Japanese people.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Before the popular television show "Oshin" aired in Asian countries, Japanese people were perceived as 'culturally odorless.' With this new TV drama, a sense of commonality began to form between Japan and other Asian nations. This show was a testimony to the capability media culture can have on enhancing the international understanding of negative historical memories of Japanese colonialism and the hostility regarding the country's economic exploitation of the region.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: The entertainment industry was vital to Japan's postwar reconstruction. The desire to create fantasies was present but, the economy drove the entertainment industry. Technology was the heart of Japan's rebuilding since, they believed it was the only reason they lost the war. Pop culture began to dominate the entertainment industry. For example, Japan used the resources they had in order to make toy cars that ultimately helped them rebuild the economy. After Japan was banned from using metal to make toys, they used old cans instead. In doing so, they were able to produce toys in exchange for food for the school children. The toy industry is just one of the industries that ultimately influenced pop culture during this era.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Prior to World War II Japanese cinema produced films that supported the war efforts and encouraged Japanese citizens to fight for their country. The movie industry produced inspirational patriotic tales that portrayed Japanese militia as victors, heroes, and people who sacrificed themselves for a greater cause. However, the first cinematic blockbuster of the postwar era was Gojira which, did not share the same support as other films. For Japan, this film represented a return to popular entertainment that catered to the move towards technology. Gojira showed the destruction of Tokyo and the atomic bomb that victimized Japan during the war in order to gain opposition towards the war. Japanese cinema was dominated by militaristic storytelling and was controlled by the policies and agendas of Japan's totalitarian state. Films during the postwar era were used to foster new idols and icons in order for Japanese people to begin to reimagine themselves. Japanese cinemas produced films that demonstrated why they should be against the war and all the destruction and casualties that came along with it. As time went on the film industry progressed from targeting adult audiences to targeting children.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Cool Japan (クールジャパン "Kūru Japan") refers to the rise of Japan's soft power and prevalence internationally as a cultural influence. These cultural elements project a message that markets and packages Japan as a nation of commerce and "pop culture diplomacy" as opposed to a militarily focused and driven country. Japan's actions during World War II made it necessary for the nation to rebuild their national image; moving away from a national image of military dominance and into an image of cultural diplomacy. Initiated by the Japanese government, the creation of the "soft power" image emerged, and Japan began to sell its pop culture as its new non-military image in order to promote its own culture and reestablish a healthy and peaceful diplomacy with other nations.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Otaku (Japanese: おたくor オタク) is a person who has strong interests or an obsession with Japanese pop subculture products and aesthetics.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Otaku culture is mainly looked down on within Japan, as most of them are known as people who do not contribute to society. Most of the justification behind this dislike of Otaku is heavily associated with Tsutomu Miyazaki, who was believed to have been an Otaku and had committed mass murders in the late 80s.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: The Japanese adjective "kawaii" can be translated as "cute" or "adorable" and is the drive behind one of Japan's most popular aesthetic cultures. "Kawaii" culture has its ties to another culture called "shōjo," a girl power type movement that has been commodified to sell the image of young girls alongside pop culture and the goods they might be interested in. "Shōjo" can be seen as Japan's version of "the girl next door" with the cute and innocent aspects of "kawaii". It has been associated with fancy goods (frilly and feminine type goods marketed toward young females), character goods (Sanrio, San-X, Studio Ghibli, anime/manga merchandise, etc. marketed to both males and females), entire fashion movements, and idols. As long as a product or person has "cute" elements, it can be seen as "kawaii". In 2008, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs moved away from just using traditional cultural aspects to promote their country and started using things like anime and "Kawaii" Ambassadors as well. The purpose of the "Kawaii" Ambassadors is to spread Japanese pop culture through their cute personas, using mostly fashion and music. This can also happen at the local level as seen by the mayor of Shibuya designating Kyary Pamyu Pamyu as the ""Kawaii" Ambassador of Harajuku", famously known as a hub of Japanese fashion, clothing stores, and youth culture.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Kawaii in Japan has been a growing trend for many Japanese markets; they have been used in a range of spaces ranging from schools all the way to large enterprises. The use of cute, childish figures representing certain groups allows for those potentially frightened by them to have these playful mascots that represent them to create a sense of humanity between them. An example would be the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department mascot known as Pipo-kun, which is an orange-skinned, elfin creature with rabbit ears that are made to listen to the people and an antenna to stay in tune with what is happening. The use of Kawaii in public relations has been a large factor for many and will continue to be used by those who want to have an optimistic view of them.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: One type of mascot in Japan noted for their 'Kawaii-ness' are advertising characters known as 'yuru-kiyara' (mascots representing their respective prefectures). Each year Japan celebrates a new winner; for example, 2011's champion was Kumamon (the Mon Bear) of Kumamoto prefecture, pulling in more than 2.5 billion yen in merchandise sales across the nation that year.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: "Purikura", a Japanese shorthand for "print club", are Japanese digital photo sticker booths. It has roots in Japanese "kawaii" culture, which involves an obsession with beautifying self-representation in photographic forms, particularly among females. By the 1990s, self-photography developed into a major preoccupation among Japanese schoolgirls, who took photos with friends and exchanged copies that could be pasted into kawaii albums.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Purikura originate from the Japanese video game arcade industry. It was conceived in 1994 by Sasaki Miho, inspired by the popularity of girl photo culture and photo stickers in 1990s Japan. She worked for a Japanese game company, Atlus, where she suggested the idea, but it was initially rejected by her male bosses. Atlus eventually decided to pursue Miho's idea, and developed it with the help of a leading Japanese video game company, Sega, which later became the owner of Atlus. Sega and Atlus introduced the Print Club (Purinto Kurabu), the first purikura, in February 1995, initially at game arcades, before expanding to other popular culture locations such as fast food shops, train stations, karaoke establishments and bowling alleys. The success of the original Sega-Atlus machine led to other Japanese arcade game companies producing their own purikura, including SNK's Neo Print in 1996 and Konami's Puri Puri Campus (Print Print Campus) in 1997.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Purikura produced what would later be called selfies. A purikura is essentially a cross between a traditional license/passport photo booth and an arcade video game, with a computer that is connected to a colour video camera and colour printer, and which allows the manipulation of digital images. It involves users posing in front of a camera within the compact booth, having their images taken, and then printing the photos with various effects designed to look kawaii. It presents a series of choices, such as desired backdrops, borders, insertable decorations, icons, text writing options, hair extensions, twinkling diamond tiaras, tenderized light effects, and predesigned decorative margins. These photographic filters were similar to the Snapchat filters that later appeared in the 2010s. Purikura became a popular form of entertainment among youths in Japan, and then across East Asia, in the 1990s.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Japanese popular culture is highly surrounded by idealized celebrities who appear on many different forms of mass media. One type of popular celebrity an Idol. These idols are mostly girls portrayed for their "cuteness" and "innocence"; they are mostly intended to be role models that everyone adores and to promote a desirable image of fantastical happiness They must maintain a perfect public image and always try to set a good example to young people.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Idols aim to play a wide range of roles as media personalities ("tarento"), e.g. pop or J-pop singers, panelists of variety programs, bit-part actors, models for magazines and advertisements. Alternative media idols include the emerging net idol, a form of idol in which growing ones popularity on the internet is its base foundation. Many net idol groups create a large standing online before transferring their career towards the professional Music Industry.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Momoiro Clover Z was ranked as the number one female idol group in 2013–2017 surveys. During 2016, about 636 thousand people attended their live concerts, which was the highest record of all female musicians in Japan. The group has been ranked as the most popular female idol group from 2013 to 2017.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: The interactions between the Idols and their fans range from live video streaming, concerts, and handshake events. Because of their promotion as Idols, these celebrities appeal to many different demographics throughout Japan. The emotional attraction to cuteness, including the cuteness these idols have, is seen all over the world. However, the cute kawaii culture is openly visible throughout Japanese society both visually in manga, fashion, and stuffed animals and internally in situations such as the relationship between idols and their fans.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Japan began to emulate Western fashion during the middle of the 19th century. By the beginning of the 21st century, this emulation has formed street fashion, a fashion style in which the wearer customizes outfits by adopting a mixture of current and traditional trends. Such clothes are generally home-made with the use of material purchased at stores.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: At present, there are many styles of dress in Japan, created from a mix of both local and foreign labels. Some of these styles are extreme and avant-garde, similar to the haute couture seen on European catwalks.Though the styles have changed over the years, street fashion is still prominent in Japan today. Young adults can often be found wearing subculture attire in large urban fashion districts such as Harajuku, Ginza, Odaiba, Shinjuku and Shibuya.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: "Geinōkai " (Japanese:芸能界), meaning "entertainment world" or "the world of show business", encompasses a wide variety of Japanese entertainment from movies and television (including talk shows, music shows, variety shows, etc.) to radio and now the Internet. "Geinōjin" is a term, often used interchangeably with "tarento" (タレント), which refers to members of the "Geinōkai". "Talent" refers to a rather large group of people who appear on television from night to night, but cannot be quite classified as actors, singers, or models, or comedians (and are thus given the more vague appellation of "talent" instead). Talents usually appear on variety shows or talk shows and may later move into acting or singing if they are successful.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: The demand for television had changed by the mid-1980s and the commonly viewed dramas such as family-oriented, historical, or mystery declined in popularity. These changes in demand were seen in national television throughout the world. Japan countered this decrease in demand by bringing in new celebrities known as "tarento" (タレント). These tarento celebrities are individuals whose influence stretches over different forms of entertainment such as contestants or hosts in game shows, commercials, or television dramas.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Japanese tokusatsu superhero shows (also known as sentai shows) have had a significant influence on global popular culture. Examples include the "Ultraman" franchise, the "Super Sentai" franchise which was localised as "Power Rangers" in the Western world, and the "Metal Hero" franchise which was localised as "VR Troopers" in the West.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: In the western world, dramas are known to be pieces of literature or plays that have a shocking twist or conflict that causes conflicting endings. However, in Japan, a television drama or "terebi dorama" (テレビドラマ) is commonly thought of as a "Television Show" which can include drama, romance, and or comedy.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: The "kaiju" film genre, which features giant monsters such as Godzilla, Gamera, and Ultraman, has become one of Japan's most prevalent film genres since the 1950s, around the same time that science fiction films such as "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956), and "The Blob" (1958), were booming in the United States. "kaiju" is a subgenre of "tokusatsu", a genre that encompasses all Japanese films using practical special effects, except for films using only computer-generated imagery (CGI). "tokusatsu" is credited to special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya, who co-created the "Godzilla" franchise as well as "Ultraman".


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Japanese cinema gained international recognition in 1950 with the release of "Rashomon", which remains one of the most well-known Japanese films. The film's director, Akira Kurosawa is one of the world's most acclaimed and influential film directors. Several of his subsequent films, such as "Seven Samurai" (1954) and "Ran" (1985), are considered among the greatest films ever made. Other noteworthy directors in this era of Japanese cinema include Yasujirō Ozu, Masaki Kobayashi, Kenji Mizoguchi, Kon Ichikawa, Keisuke Kinoshita and Ishirō Honda.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Anime (Japanese: アニメ) is a movie or television episode of sorts which utilizes animation as an art style iconic to Japan in order to convey a story. Unlike western cartoons, anime can be distinguished by its detail in character design, large array of facial expressions, in-depth character development, wide target audience and rare use of talking animals. These traits are used in order to better the connection between a viewer and the characters. Most of the time, anime is based on animated comics called manga, which is an ancient form of comic writing which dates back to the 12th century.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: The world of animated films in Japanese popular culture has been a growing trend since the 1920s. Influenced by Walt Disney and his animated characters, Osamu Tezuka (1925–1989), also known as "manga no kamisama" (which means, "God of Comics") would begin his forty-year evolution of animation, or anime, that would change the content of Japanese comic books. With the creation of his first animated character Astro Boy that was unlike any other animated character; he found the hearts of the Japanese public with a robotic boy who has spiky hair, eyes as big as fists, with rockets on his feet.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Studio Ghibli, a Japanese animation film studio, also contributed to anime's worldwide success through films including "My Neighbor Totoro", "Ponyo", and "Spirited Away" (winner of the Golden Bear award in 2002 and the Academy Award for Best Animation Film in 2003). For these works, the studio's current president Hayao Miyazaki is often credited as a visionary in animation.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: The success of the Pokémon franchise has been credited by people such as Nissim Otmazgin and sociologist Anne Alison as popularizing anime in the United States. The anime market has also been described as owing greatly to the crucial role of fans as cultural agents, the deterritorializing effects of globalization, the domestication and heavy editing of anime to suit local tastes, and being part of the wider global flow of Japanese pop culture and "soft power". Otmazgin argues that the rise of anime in the United States is a result of the sophisticated graphic quality, a wide thematic diversity, and an inclination to reject the Disney convention of a happy ending. He further states that anime was a tool in which Japan could gain popularity with their pop culture and give Americans a taste of something unique and interesting in the media.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: The growing international popularity of anime has led to various animation studios from other countries making their own anime-influenced works.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: As anime has grown in its variety of viewers, genres, and themes, the industry has become more prevalent in society. In modern Japan, anime has become so popular that memorable characters have frequently been made into byproducts such as figurines and video games.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: The word Manga, when translated directly, means "whimsical drawings". Manga aren't typically 'comic books' as the West understands them; rather, they represent pieces of Japanese culture and history. The 'manga' style has an extensive history, beginning sometime in the 10th century; scrolls from that period depict animals as part of the 'upper class', behaving as a typical human would in similar situations. Such scrolls would go on to be known as the Chōjū giga or "The Animal Scrolls".


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Scrolls found later on in the 12th century would depict images of religion such as the Gaki Zoshi (Hungry Ghost Scrolls) and the Jigoku zoshi (Hell Scrolls). While both dealt with various aspects of religion, unlike "The Animal Scrolls", these provided a more instructive viewpoint, rather than a comedic style.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Manga are more significant, culturally, than Western comic books (though many fill the same role). Originally, manga were printed in daily newspapers; in the Second World War, newsprint rationing caused a downsurge in manga popularity. In the post-war 1950s, they made a resurgence in the form of "picture card shows", which were a style of storytelling supplemented by the use of illustrations, and the highly popular "rental manga" that would allow their readers to rent these illustrated books for a period of time.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Doujinshi is a Japanese word which refers to amateur manga and fanfictions. They follow the same steps of creation that manga have, and are often created by amateur authors who are manga fans. Doujinshi enable fans to create their own amateur manga involving their favorite manga characters in it. Fanfictions are really popular in Japan, where there is a biannual fair dedicated to doujinshi in Tokyo called Comiket.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Video gaming is a major industry in Japan. Japanese game development is often identified with the golden age of video games, including Nintendo under Shigeru Miyamoto and Hiroshi Yamauchi, Sega during the same time period, and other companies such as Taito, Namco, Capcom, and Square Enix, among others.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: A good number of japanese video game franchises such as Super Smash Bros., Pokémon, Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing, , Resident Evil, Dark Souls, Final Fantasy and Monster Hunter have gained critical acclaim and continue to garner a large international following. The Japanese game development engine RPG Maker has also gained popularity, with hundreds of games being created with it and released on Steam by the late 2010s.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Visual kei (Japanese: ヴィジュアル系), also known as "visual style", is a prominent wave in Japan's music world that encapsulates bands with androgynous appearances who play a variety of music styles ranging from heavy metal to electronic. Similar to cosplay, visual kei artists typically cross- dress and flaunt very embellished costumes, make-up, and hairstyles. Not many of the bands include female members, however a majority of their audiences are young females.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Starting in the 1980s and rising to popularity in the 1990s, the first generation of visual kei was heavily influenced by western rock and metal musicians such as Kiss. One of the pioneers is a band called X Japan who are still active. Although, the first wave of visual kei came to an end at the time of X Japan's lead guitarists death in 1999. A few years later, the second wave called neo- visual kei transpired and took the genre onto a slightly different path than before.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Internet in Japan didn't take off until 1993 when the nation's government approved and installed its first commercial Internet service provider. Japan was the 14th country in the world to start using the internet; many reasons have been cited as the reason behind its slow movement such as bad timing, the government deeming internet access was more for academic use, fear of change and taking risks, an initial lack of competition in the telecommunications field, the difficulty of using a keyboard with a 2,000+ kanji-based language, and high rates causing hefty bills after just a few hours of internet usage. Until the mid-1990s, it was hard for Japanese society to access the internet and there wasn't much for them to do once they did get on. Once it did kick off, mobile phones were preferred over PCs or laptop computers, which has shaped how Japan's internet culture is interfaced, having to adapt to smaller screens and having a more leisurely attitude towards it.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Internet cafés in Japan are on the rise in popularity, not just as a place to hang out but as a place to live. These cafes offer internet access in small, private rooms the size of a cubicle with some offering services such as unlimited drinks, doubling as a manga cafe, showers, blankets, and use of the address to those that choose to live there. Internet cafes are now a haven for Net cafe refugees of all ages who would otherwise be homeless; many people can afford to rent out a room at one considering they are not expected to pay other bills that come with an apartment such as deposits, fees, furnishing a living space, and utilities. In 2018 the Tokyo Metropolitan Government conducted a survey using 502 internet and manga cafes in the Tokyo area and found through the information provided that an estimated 15,000 people stay at these cafes during the week with roughly 4,000 of this number being those that are homeless and the rest using the cafe instead of a hotel. A third of the guests claim to have unstable jobs. By age, the bulk of the guests are in their 30s with a smaller but still significant portion of people in their 50s. In 2008, the Health, Labor, and Welfare Ministry requested the budget for a program that would help internet cafe refugees gain permanent employment by offering a loan program for living expenses as long as they take classes on vocational job skills and training.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: Keitai Shousetsu (lit. cell phone novel) was a phenomenon originally unique to Japan but spread quickly to other countries like China, India, Italy, Switzerland, Finland, South Africa, the US, and Brazil. Because of Japan's preference for mobile phones over computers, cell phone novels were an inexpensive way for amateur authors to get their works out into the world either by text message or email, eventually evolving into subscriptions via websites. Deep Love was the first of its kind, written in 2002 by Yoshi; it was adapted into manga series, a television show, and a film. The works were put out in short installments due to the character limit capability of a cell phone which is ideal for commuters to read in between train stops. Oftentimes, these works are put into print; in 2007, Japan saw ten of that year's bestselling novels derived from a cell phone novel. Considering they are mostly written by teenagers and young adults, they center on themes like relationships, drug use, pregnancy, rape, and prostitution. It is a trend that older adults are finding hard to indulge in because of the seemingly violent themes, use of emojis to convey emotion and save space, along with the absence of diverse and lengthy vocabulary.


title: Japanese popular culture

text: The modern selfie has origins in Japanese "kawaii" culture, particularly the "purikura" phenomenon of 1990s Japan. To capitalize on the purikura phenomenon, Japanese mobile phones began including a front-facing camera, which facilitated the creation of selfies, during the late 1990s to early 2000s. The iPhone 4 (2010) adopted the front-facing camera feature from earlier Japanese and Korean camera phones, and helped popularize the selfie internationally outside of East Asia. Photographic features in purikura were later adopted by smartphone apps such as Instagram and Snapchat, including scribbling graffiti or typing text over selfies, adding features that beautify the image, and photo editing options such as cat whiskers or bunny ears.


title: The Company of Wolves

text: The Company of Wolves is a 1984 British gothic fantasy horror film directed by Neil Jordan and starring Angela Lansbury, David Warner, Micha Bergese and Sarah Patterson in her film debut. The screenplay was written by Jordan and Angela Carter, and adapted by Carter from her short story of the same name (featured in her 1979 short story collection "The Bloody Chamber") and its 1980 radio adaptation. Carter's first draft of the screenplay, which contains some differences from the finished film, has been published in her anthology "The Curious Room" (1996).


title: The Company of Wolves

text: The film begins in the present day, within a country house. A young girl named Rosaleen (Sarah Patterson) dreams that she lives in a fairytale forest during the late 18th century with her parents (Tusse Silberg and David Warner) and sister Alice (Georgia Slowe). But one night Alice is chased down and killed by wolves. While her parents are mourning, Rosaleen goes to stay with her grandmother (Angela Lansbury), who knits a bright red shawl for her granddaughter to wear. The superstitious old woman gives Rosaleen an ominous warning, "Never stray from the path, never eat a windfall apple, and never trust a man whose eyebrows meet." Rosaleen returns to her village, but finds that she must deal with the advances of an amorous boy (Shane Johnstone). Rosaleen and the boy take a walk through the forest, but the boy discovers that the village's cattle have come under attack from a wolf. The villagers set out to hunt the wolf; but once caught and killed, the wolf's corpse transforms into that of a human being.


title: The Company of Wolves

text: Rosaleen later takes a basket of goods through the woods to her grandmother's cottage; but on her way, she encounters an attractive huntsman (Micha Bergese) whose eyebrows meet. He challenges her, saying that he can find his way to her grandmother's house before she can, and the pair set off. The hunter arrives at Rosaleen's grandmother's house first, where he reveals his bestial nature and kills her. Rosaleen arrives later and discovers the carnage, but her need to protect herself is complicated by her desire for the hunter. In the ensuing exchange, Rosaleen accidentally injures the huntsman with his own rifle. Upon this blow, the hunter contorts in pain and transforms into his wolf shape. A deeply remorseful Rosaleen apologizes and takes pity on the wounded beast, musing that his pack could leave him behind in his state. She sits down and begins petting the wolf caringly and tenderly, comforting him while telling him a story.


title: The Company of Wolves

text: Ultimately the villagers arrive at the house sometime later, looking for a werewolf within. Instead, they discover that Rosaleen herself has become a werewolf. Together, she and the huntsman, her new mate, escape to the forest, joined by a growing pack. The wolves seem to stream into the real world, breaking into Rosaleen's house and gathering outside her bedroom. Rosaleen awakes with a scream as one leaps in through the window and sends her toys crashing to the floor, symbolizing the end of her childhood innocence.


title: The Company of Wolves

text: Perrault's "Le Petit Chaperon Rouge" is then heard being read, with the moral warning girls to beware of charming strangers.


title: The Company of Wolves

text: Throughout the course of the film, a number of stories are interspersed into the main narrative as tales told by several of the characters:


title: The Company of Wolves

text: Angela Carter, author of the original short story "The Company of Wolves", worked with director Neil Jordan on the script for the film. This was Carter's first experience of writing for film. However, it was also only Jordan's second feature film as director.


title: The Company of Wolves

text: Whilst ultimately based upon the short story of the same name from "The Bloody Chamber", the plot of the film bears closer resemblance to Angela Carter's 1980 adaptation of "The Company of Wolves" for radio, which introduced such elements as the additional stories being told within the narrative by the characters themselves, such as Granny. Originally, these stories had been placed before the main narrative.


title: The Company of Wolves

text: Carter and Jordan met in Dublin in 1982 to discuss extending Carter's radio drama adaptation of her own story, which Jordan called "too short for a feature film".


title: The Company of Wolves

text: In an "L.A. Weekly" interview published to correspond with the film's US debut, Jordan said: "In a normal film you have a story with different movements that program, develop, go a little bit off the trunk, come back, and end. In this film, the different movements of the plot are actually separate stories. You start with an introduction and then move into different stories that relate to the main theme, all building to the fairy tale that everybody knows. The opening element of the dreamer gave us the freedom to move from story to story." According to Jordan, it was he who suggested adding the frame story to the narrative: that of the dreaming girl Rosaleen in the modern day. This makes clear the story's focus on subconscious fears and desires. It also gives the film what Jordan called "a Chinese box structure." This structure was supposedly based upon the structure of the film "The Saragossa Manuscript", which both Jordan and Carter had seen.


title: The Company of Wolves

text: Carter's proposed ending for the film would have featured Rosaleen diving into the floor of her bedroom and being swallowed up as by water. In the DVD commentary for the film, Jordan notes that the limited technology of the time prevented the production of such a sequence, whereas later CGI effects would in fact make it quite simple. The original screenplay (as presented in "The Curious Room") also featured an additional story being told by the huntsman, a very different final tale by Rosaleen (reminiscent of Carter's "Peter and the Wolf" from her collection "Black Venus") and a scene set in a church with an animal congregation.


title: The Company of Wolves

text: "The Company of Wolves" was filmed in Shepperton Studios in England. The film's cast was primarily made up of British actors. Sarah Patterson made her screen debut, despite being much younger than the kind of actress the casting director had been looking for, and likely too young to understand some of the film's more adult concepts. Her youth also meant having to make special arrangements with her school in order for her to be away for nine weeks while shooting took place. Northern Irish actor Stephen Rea had already worked with director Neil Jordan in "Angel" and would later work with him again in "The Crying Game", "Interview with the Vampire" and "Breakfast on Pluto", amongst others.


title: The Company of Wolves

text: Jordan worked for several weeks in pre-production with artist filmmakers Nichola Bruce and Michael Coulson to create hundreds of detailed storyboard drawings. Also involved with production was production designer Anton Furst and his draftsman Nigel Phelps, who would later go on to work on Tim Burton's "Batman". The film's visuals were of particular importance, as Jordan explains:The visual design was an integral part of the script. It was written and imagined with a heightened sense of reality in mind. In the DVD commentary, Jordan notes the difficulty of having to create the look of the film on a limited budget, having to create a fairytale forest out of essentially "twelve trees". He nevertheless succeeded in creating a sunless, mystical, wondrous and claustrophobic setting saturated with fantastic elements and symbols.


title: The Company of Wolves

text: The script calls for a great number of wolves to appear. Due to budgetary constraints and other factors such as cast safety, most of the 'wolves' shown in the film are in fact evidently Belgian Shepherd Dogs, mainly Terveurens and Groenendals, whose fur was specially dyed. In the DVD commentary for the film, Jordan notes the bravery of young star Sarah Patterson when acting amongst the genuine wolves. Using particular light angles, the eyes of both real and "shepherd" wolves are made to glow dramatically in the film.


title: The Company of Wolves

text: Jordan notes how Carter was "thrilled with the process" of making a film, as she "had never really been involved with one." After the film, Jordan and Carter looked for other projects which they could work on together. However, no others came to fruition, partly because of Carter's later illness. According to Jordan, he and Carter discussed a possible adaptation of "Vampirella", Carter's radio play which served as the original version of her short story "The Lady of the House of Love" from "The Bloody Chamber". This is not to be confused with the actual film "Vampirella", released in 1996 and based upon the comic book character of the same name.


title: The Company of Wolves

text: The film received its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada on 15 September 1984. It was released in the United Kingdom on 21 September and was released in the United States on 19 April 1985 where it was shown in 995 theatres.


title: The Company of Wolves

text: The film was distributed in the United States by Cannon Films. Jordan notes that Cannon pushed the concept of the film as primarily a horror film. Jordan maintains that it is not a horror film and that such a label might actually be misleading to audiences.


title: The Company of Wolves

text: The film was later released on VHS in numerous countries. A Region 1 DVD release came several years later on 15 October 2002. A Region 2 special edition version of the film was released on 17 October 2005, approximately 20 years after the film's initial release in theatres. This special edition came in a metal case and included an audio commentary by director Neil Jordan, stills galleries, the film's theatrical trailer and a printed "Behind the Scenes Dossier". This special edition version was also released on Universal Media Disc for the Sony PlayStation Portable on 30 January 2006. The film was released on Blu-ray in 2007 in United Kingdom by ITV.


title: The Company of Wolves

text: Feminist critic Maggie Anwell decried the film for its over-emphasis on bloody werewolf special effects, but another, Charlotte Crofts, argues that the film is a sensitive adaptation of Carter's reworking of Charles Perrault's "Little Red Riding Hood" fairy tale.


title: The Company of Wolves

text: Colin Greenland reviewed "The Company of Wolves" for "Imagine" magazine, and stated that "It's a Freudian fairytale with deliciously gruesome transformation scenes and deep, vigorous imagery, but not without twee patches."


title: The Company of Wolves

text: In April 1985, upon the film's US debut, Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four, and called it a "disturbing and stylish attempt to collect some of the nightmares that lie beneath the surface of "'Little Red Riding Hood'".


title: The Company of Wolves

text: Years later, Louise Watson, writing for BFI Screenonline, said Neil Jordan "evokes an eerie, dreamlike atmosphere for the film's heightened reality. Its otherworldly scenery and costumes seem to have been inspired by fairytale illustrations, mixed with the studio-bound visual style of Hammer horror. The Hammer-like theatrical forest creates a sense of brooding claustrophobia where no sunlight can reach, accentuating Rosaleen's trapped existence. An intensely visual film, teeming with rich symbolism and imagery... settings and special effects dominate the film, often at the expense of the (perhaps deliberately) underdeveloped characters."


title: The Company of Wolves

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 85% based on , with a weighted average rating of 6.8/10.


title: The Company of Wolves

text: Financially, the film only just broke even on its opening weekend in the US, having been made for approximately $2 million and taking $2,234,776 in 995 theatres. However, in total, the film took over $4 million in the US


title: The Company of Wolves

text: Critics generally responded especially positively to the film's aesthetics. The film won one award for best film and best special effects at the 1985 International Fantasy Film Awards and was nominated for four BAFTAs for costume design, make up, production design/art direction and special visual effects.


title: The Company of Wolves

text: A soundtrack album, featuring the George Fenton score from the film, was released in 1985 on Varèse Sarabande Records.


title: The Company of Wolves

text: The soundtrack was later released on cd on That's Entertainment Records in the UK and Ireland in 1990 and then on Jay Records on cd in Europe in 2000.


title: M50 Reising

text: The .45 Reising submachine gun was manufactured by Harrington & Richardson (H&R) Arms Company in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA, and was designed and patented by Eugene Reising in 1940. The three versions of the weapon were the Model 50, the folding stock Model 55, and the semiautomatic Model 60 rifle. Over 100,000 Reisings were ordered during World War II, and were initially used by the United States Navy, Marine Corps, and the United States Coast Guard, though some were shipped to Canadian, Soviet, and other allied forces to fight the Axis powers.


title: M50 Reising

text: The Reising submachine gun was innovative for its time, and in comparison to its main rival, the famous Thompson Model 1928 submachine gun, it possessed similar firepower, better accuracy, excellent balance, a lighter weight, plus a much lower cost and greater ease of manufacture. But the poor combat performance of the Reising contrasted with favorable combat and law enforcement use of the Thompson forever mired the weapon in controversy.


title: M50 Reising

text: Reising was an assistant to firearm inventor John M. Browning. In this role, Reising contributed to the final design of the US .45 Colt M1911 pistol. Reising then designed a number of commercial rifles and pistols on his own, when in 1938, he turned his attention to designing a submachine gun as threats of war rapidly grew in Europe.


title: M50 Reising

text: Two years later he submitted his completed design to the Harrington & Richardson Arms Company (H&R) in Worcester, Massachusetts. It was accepted, and in March 1941, H&R started manufacturing the Model 50 submachine gun. Months later, production began on the Model 55 (identical to the Model 50 other than having a folding wire buttstock, no compensator, and a barrel half an inch shorter); and the Model 60 semiautomatic rifle that also resembled a Model 50, but had a 7.75 inch longer barrel without cooling fins or compensator.


title: M50 Reising

text: H&R promoted the submachine guns for police and military use, and the Model 60 for security guards. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 the US was suddenly in desperate need of thousands of modern automatic weapons. Reising's only competitor was the .45 ACP Thompson Model 1928A1 submachine gun.


title: M50 Reising

text: The US Army first tested the Reising in November 1941 at Fort Benning, Georgia, and that found several parts failed due to poor construction. Once this was corrected, a second test was made in 1942 at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. In that test, 3,500 rounds were fired, resulting in two malfunctions: one from the ammunition, the other from a bolt malfunction. As a result, the Army didn't adopt the Reising, but the Navy and Marines did, due to insufficient supply of Thompsons.


title: M50 Reising

text: The Reising was far less costly ($62) compared to the Thompson ($200). It was much lighter (seven vs. eleven pounds). And, the Model 55 was more compact (about twenty-two vs. thirty-three inches in length).


title: M50 Reising

text: The Reising cost less than the Thompson because its metal components were mostly stampings instead of machined parts. This also allowed it to be lighter, as did its firing mechanism. Like the 1928A1 Thompson, its operating principle was delayed blowback, but the Thompson's Blish lock system was far less mechanically effective and so, like a simple blowback weapon, the Thompson was dependent on high bolt mass or more specifically bolt inertia to provide an acceptably low rate of fire. That is, a lighter bolt, as used in earlier models of the Thompson, would have reciprocated faster and produced too great a firing speed. This in turn meant that the Thompson could not be radically lightened without a deterioration in its controllability, as a heavy gun was necessary in automatic fire, to counteract and stabilize the effects on control and accuracy of its heavy bolt moving back and forwards. The Reising's bolt is much lighter due to its delayed blowback mechanism being the main determinant of the automatic rate of fire; and consequently the whole gun could be correspondingly light without detracting from accuracy and controllability.


title: M50 Reising

text: The M50 Reising's delayed blowback operation, often classified as hesitation lock, works as follows: as the cartridge is chambered, the rear end of the bolt is pushed up into a recess, in a manner similar to tilting-bolt locked breech guns; but whereas such weapons rely on an additional mechanism to unlock them, in the case of the Reising the end of the bolt that pushes against the back wall of this recess, is subtly rounded, while the wall is correspondingly curved. On firing, the extreme pressure from the propellant gases is thereby able to force the bolt-end down, back to the horizontal. From here the bolt can move to the rear removing the cartridge from the chamber; but the combination of mechanical disadvantage and friction the force of the gases must overcome to push the end of the bolt down has achieved a delay of a fraction of a second, allowing pressure in the barrel to drop to a level sufficiently low for safe and efficient cartridge extraction.


title: M50 Reising

text: The Reising fired from a closed bolt with its return spring as part of its cocking handle underneath the barrel. It notably used a linear hammer in the main receiver.


title: M50 Reising

text: The Reising was more balanced than the Thompson because the barrel-and-receiver-group rested concentrically within the stock. It had smoother lines in that the stock was of conventional shape, and because the cocking handle (action bar) was placed inside the forearm. In addition, it was more accurate both in semi-auto and at the onset of automatic fire, because due to it being a closed bolt gun, only the linear hammer and firing pin moved at the moment the trigger was squeezed, whereas the Thompson slammed home a heavy bolt and actuator.


title: M50 Reising

text: The Reising was made in selective fire versions that could be switched between semi-automatic or full-automatic fire as needed and in semi-auto only versions to be used for marksmanship training and police and guard use. The Reising had a designed full-auto cyclic rate of 450–600 rounds per minute but it was reported that the true full-auto rate was closer to 750–850 rounds per minute. At those rates, the twenty round magazine could be emptied in less than two seconds. In 1941, the Reising was priced at approximately $50 per weapon as opposed to $225 for the standard military issue Thompson submachine gun.


title: M50 Reising

text: There were four versions of the Reising, two selective fire models: the M50 and M55, and two semi-automatic only variants: the M60, a .45 ACP carbine, and the M65, chambered for the .22 Long Rifle rimfire cartridge designed for training purposes.


title: M50 Reising

text: There were two differences between the M50 and the M55, those being the elimination of the compensator and the addition of a folding wire buttstock making the M55 lighter and shorter. M55 was originally issued to Marine parachute infantry and armored vehicle crews.


title: M50 Reising

text: The M60 was a long-barreled, semi-automatic carbine model designed primarily for military training and police use. However, few of these were ever sold. Although mechanically near-identical to the submachine variants, the concept was borne out from H&R's ill-fated .30 carbine light rifle prototype that was trialed against the M1 carbine. The Marines used M60s for training, guard duty, and other non-combat roles. Some M60s were believed to have been issued to Marine officers at Guadalcanal. The remaining guns were passed on to State Guards and civilian law enforcement agencies. The M65 was developed as a sub-caliber training rifle version of the M60, produced only from 1944 to 1946. H&R later made updates to the M65 and sold them on the civilian market (and to the Marines in small numbers) as the MC-58 and M150/151/165 Leatherneck.


title: M50 Reising

text: The Reising entered military service primarily because of uncertainty of supply of sufficient quantities of the Thompson submachine gun. In the testing stage, it won out over some other competing designs. It was very light and quite accurate in aimed fire, and "capable of intensive fire against personnel within a range of 300 yards." This was attributed to its better stock fit and intricate closed bolt, delayed blowback design. Most submachine guns fire from the open bolt position, meaning the full mass of the bolt slams forward when the trigger is pulled; with the closed-bolt system employed by the Reising there is much less movement involving far lighter components, and the resulting improved control in the moment before shooting gives better accuracy, both for semi-automatic and at the onset of full automatic fire. Less advantageously though, this more accurate firepower was somewhat limited due to the 20-round capacity of its largest magazine.


title: M50 Reising

text: The U.S. Marines adopted the Reising in 1941 with 4,200 authorized per division with approximately 500 authorized per each infantry regiment. Most Reisings were originally issued to Marine officers and NCOs in lieu of a compact and light carbine, since the newly introduced M1 carbine was not yet being issued to the Marines. Although the Thompson submachine gun was available, this weapon frequently proved too heavy and bulky for jungle patrols, and initially it, too, was in short supply.


title: M50 Reising

text: During World War II, the Reising first saw action on August 7, 1942, exactly eight months to the day after Pearl Harbor, when 11,000 men from the 1st Marine Division stormed the beaches of Guadalcanal, in the Solomon Islands. The same date of Guadalcanal's invasion, the Model 50 and 55 saw action with the 1st Marine Raiders on the small outlying islands of Tulagi and Tanambogo to the north. Two companies of Marine paratroopers also used Model 55s, to attack the island of Gavutu, between Tulagi and Tanambogo. Paramarines and armored crewmen were issued the folding stock M55, and this version included a notable flaw: its wire-frame stock was poorly designed, crude and flimsy, and had a tendency to fold while firing. Moreover, other serious shortcomings in both guns were becoming apparent. The reality was that the Reising was designed as a civilian police weapon and was not suited to the stresses of harsh battle conditions encountered in the Solomon Islands—namely, sand, saltwater that easily rusted the commercial blued finish, and the difficulty in keeping the weapon clean enough to function properly. Tests at Aberdeen Proving Ground and at Fort Benning, Georgia, had found difficulties in blindfold reassembly of the Reising, indicating the design was complicated and difficult to maintain.


title: M50 Reising

text: The producer, H&R, had not yet mastered mass-production technologies in 1940-1941, and many of the parts were hand fitted at the factory just like the company did with their commercial firearms; this lack of parts interchangeability was not a problem for a civilian security or police firearm, and the Marines had to accept it in order to get the weapons quickly, but it was very problematic when Reisings were maintained in the field under combat conditions; the Marines were not told not to mix up the parts during communal cleaning, as they were used to.


title: M50 Reising

text: While more accurate than the Thompson, particularly in semi-automatic mode, the Reising had a tendency to jam. This was in part due to its overly complex delayed-blowback design. This design used a system of levers within the receiver to release a fragile firing pin that could break, rust, or freeze in the humid jungle climate. Another problem with this form of delayed blowback was the recess in which the bolt lodged when in battery. If this accumulated dirt or fouling these could prevent the bolt from seating in it properly; and if this happened the trigger disconnector automatically prevented firing. In addition, the magazine was a staggered-column, single-cartridge feed design, and slight damage to the feed lips or debris in the magazine would render the magazine unusable. A partial solution to the magazine problem was the later introduction of a single-column magazine that reduced the capacity from 20 to 12 rounds.


title: M50 Reising

text: The Reising earned a dismal reputation for reliability in the combat conditions of Guadalcanal. The M1 carbine eventually became available and was often chosen over both the Reising and the Thompson in the wet tropical conditions, as the M1928 Thompson's built-in oiling pads in the receiver were a liability.


title: M50 Reising

text: In late 1943 following numerous complaints, the Reising was withdrawn from Fleet Marine Force (FMF) units and assigned to Stateside guard detachments and ship detachments. After the Marines proved reluctant to accept more Reisings, and with the increased issue of the .30-caliber M1 carbine, the U.S. government passed some Reising submachine guns to the OSS and to various foreign governments (as Lend-Lease aid). Canada purchased some Model 50 SMGs and these were issued to 2nd Battalions in Canada where the 1st Battalions of regiments were serving overseas. They were issued along with .30-06 M1917 Enfields and .30-06 Lewis machine guns. One such unit to receive them was the 2nd Bn, Seaforth Highlanders of Canada. The Veteran's Guard of Canada were issued the weapon to guard German prisoners of war. Others were given to various anti-Axis resistance forces operating around the world.


title: M50 Reising

text: Many Reisings (particularly the semiautomatic M60 rifle) were issued to State Guards for guarding war plants, bridges, and other strategic resources. After the war, thousands of Reising Model 50 submachine guns were acquired by state, county, and local U.S. law enforcement agencies. The weapon proved much more successful in this role, in contrast to its wartime reputation.


title: M50 Reising

text: H&R was justifiably proud of the Reising's superior accuracy and balance, lighter weight, and ease of manufacturing when compared to the Thompson. However, the Reising's close tolerances and delicate magazine proved unreliable in the sand and mud of the Solomons, unless kept scrupulously clean. The gun quickly became despised by front-line Marines, and Lieutenant Colonel Merritt A. Edson, Commander, 1st Marine Raider Battalion, ordered that his troops' Reisings be flung into Guadalcanal's crocodile-infested Lunga River, as his troops resorted to reliable bolt-action Springfield rifles.


title: M50 Reising

text: This failure made a mockery of H&R's company slogan, "Six-and-one-half pounds of controlled dynamite. The H&R Reising will get a bullet there when you need it!"


title: M50 Reising

text: There are other reasons for its failure. Foremost was the Reising's complex design of many small pins, plungers, springs and levers. Disassembly and assembly was difficult even under normal conditions. Simple maintenance was problematic as there was no bolt hold-open device. Chambering a cartridge was awkward as the action bar was hard to grasp in the forearm and could be obstructed by the sling. Worse, the safety/selector switch couldn't be sensed by feel at night if it was in the safe, semi, or automatic position.


title: M50 Reising

text: "Filing-to-fit" of certain parts during production limited interchangeability. The exposed rear sight had no protective ears and was vulnerable to breakage. The adjustable front sight could be lost if the retaining screw wasn't tightly secured. The weapon was susceptible to jamming if grime clogged the bolt's locking recess in the receiver. The two small magazine guide retaining pins and corresponding receiver stud holes were tapered allowing disassembly and assembly only from one direction—right to left for disassembly, and left to right for assembly; adding unacceptable levels of complexity in a combat environment. The retaining pins had to be delicately tapped out whenever the bolt needed to be removed for cleaning; again, an awkwardly involved task whilst under fire. And afterwards when the pins had to be put back during the reassembly process, if they were inserted either too far or not far enough, the receiver might not fit back into the tight confines of the stock.


title: M50 Reising

text: What constitutes a "commercial" and "military" Model 50 is amorphous. First, H&R never made a distinction; the distinction is made by collectors. This confusion stems from a period in production where early Model 50s were manufactured with commercial characteristics and H&R's wartime practice of randomly installing old parts in stock throughout production.


title: M50 Reising

text: While there is not one factor that distinguishes the so-called commercial from the military model, the commercial model is usually blued. It commonly has a fixed front sight and a rear sight with no retaining screw. It often has 28 fins on the barrel, a one piece magazine release, no outward flanges on the safety/selector switch, and no sling swivels. Lastly, the commercial model commonly has a smooth take-down screw, a two-hole trigger guard, and serial numbers ranging from one to 20,000.


title: M50 Reising

text: Military Reisings are usually parkerized. They often have an adjustable front sight with an Allen screw and a rear sight with a retaining screw. They routinely have 14 fins on the barrel, a two-piece magazine release, outward flanges on the safety/selector switch, sling swivels, stock ties (crossbolts through the forearm), and a knurled take-down screw. Finally, the military model commonly has a three-hole trigger guard, proofmarks like "PH" or "Pm2" above the chamber, and serial numbers ranging from 20,000 to 120,000.


title: M50 Reising

text: There are three types of H&R magazines. The first and second models are both smooth body, are blued, and are twenty-shot double column. The first model is distinguished by five cartridge peep holes on the left side, a feature eliminated on the second model to prevent mud and sand from entering. In contrast, the third model is parkerized, has two long indentations on the sides to reduce its capacity to a twelve-shot single column magazine because of feeding problems experienced with former models.


title: M50 Reising

text: Production of the Model 50 and 55 submachine guns ceased in 1945 at the end of World War II. Nearly 120,000 submachine guns were made of which two-thirds went to the Marines. H&R continued production of the Model 60 semiautomatic rifle in hopes of domestic sales, but with little demand, production of the Model 60 stopped in 1949 with over 3,000 manufactured. H&R sold their remaining inventory of submachine guns to police and correctional agencies across America who were interested in the Reising's selective-fire capability, semi-auto accuracy, and low cost relative to a Thompson. Then, faced with continued demand, H&R resumed production of the Model 50 in 1950 which sputtered to a halt in 1957 with nearly 5,500 additional submachine guns manufactured. But just when the Reising story seemed to end, a final foreign order was received in the 1960s for nearly 2,000 more Model 60s.


title: M50 Reising

text: Decades later, in 1986, H&R closed their doors and Numrich Arms (aka Gun Parts Corporation) purchased their entire inventory. Acquiring a number of Model 50 receivers, Numrich assembled them with parts. These weapons all have an "S" preceding the serial number and were sold domestically in the early 1990s after reparkerization and fitting with newly manufactured walnut stocks. These stocks are distinguished from originals by their wider than normal sling swivels and buttstocks, by the fact they have no stock ties, and have H&R marked plastic buttplates (originals were unmarked metal).


title: M50 Reising

text: In New Zealand in December 1963, two men thought to have been operating an illegal beerhouse business were murdered execution-style with a Reising submachine gun. At the time, machine guns were not thought to be in the hands of civilians in the country.


title: Nikita Kucherov

text: Nikita Igorevich Kucherov (; born 17 June 1993) is a Russian professional ice hockey right winger for the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League (NHL). Regarded as one of the best players in the world, Kucherov won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player, Art Ross Trophy as the league's leading scorer and the Ted Lindsay Award as the best player voted by fellow NHL players, for the 2018–19 season.


title: Nikita Kucherov

text: Kucherov won the Stanley Cup twice with the Lightning, in 2020 and 2021, leading the playoffs in scoring both times. Kucherov holds the record for most points by a Russian-born player in a single season (128), as well as the Lightning franchise playoff record for most points; goals and assists.


title: Nikita Kucherov

text: Kucherov played for Krasnaya Armiya of the Russian Junior Hockey League, the junior team of CSKA Moscow starting in the 2009–10. He spent three seasons with the team, and made his professional debut in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) during this time, playing 27 KHL games over the 2010–11 and 2011–12 seasons. In the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, he was selected 58th overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning. In an attempt to transition to the North American style, Kucherov played major junior hockey with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). He signed a three-year entry level contract with the Lightning on 10 September 2012 while playing in the QMJHL.


title: Nikita Kucherov

text: Kucherov made his NHL debut on 25 November 2013 against the New York Rangers. He scored a goal on his first shot, on his first shift, against Henrik Lundqvist; he was the seventh player in Lightning history to score a goal in his NHL debut. On 28 October 2014, he recorded his first career hat trick against Mike Smith of the Arizona Coyotes.


title: Nikita Kucherov

text: During the 2014–15 season, Kucherov had a breakout season with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Playing on a line with Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat (later dubbed the "Triplets" line), Kucherov posted 29 goals, 36 assists, and 65 points. Kucherov also tied for the NHL lead in plus-minus with Max Pacioretty at a +38 rating. The +38 rating also set the Lightning single season franchise record for +/- rating. On 20 May 2015, Kucherov joined Martin St. Louis as the only players in Lightning history to record two game-winning goals in overtime in a single playoff year, having scored a winner that evening against the New York Rangers; he had scored one in Game 1 of the prior round against the Montreal Canadiens. Kucherov and the Triplets would prove to be one of the most dangerous lines in hockey during Tampa Bay's run to the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals, in which they would lose to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games. During the run, Kucherov scored 10 goals and 22 points.


title: Nikita Kucherov

text: On 11 October 2016, the Lightning re-signed Kucherov to a three-year, $14.3 million contract. In the previous season, Kucherov led the team in points (66) and was second in assists (36) and goals (30). Kucherov also set a career high in goals, points, power-play goals (9) and game-winning goals (4). He also ranked second on the team in shots (209) and power-play goals, while also leading the team with 19 multi-point games. He also skated in 17 Stanley Cup playoff games with the Lightning last season, scoring 11 goals and 19 points to go along with a +13 rating. He led the team during the playoffs in goals and points. He also finished second for goals and sixth for points in playoff scoring. On 10 January 2017, Kucherov was named to the 2017 NHL All-Star game as a member of the Atlantic Division team. On 21 February, Kucherov recorded his 200th career NHL point. On 27 February, Kucherov recorded his second career hat-trick, which was the 10th natural hat-trick in Lightning history. It was also the first ever in team history to have all three goals scored during the power plays. On 18 March, Kucherov recorded his 100th career NHL goal. On 23 March, Kucherov also recorded his second hat trick in less than a month apart from his first in the 2016–17 season. This also became his third hat trick in his NHL career. On 27 March, Kucherov had two assists, setting a Lightning record for most points in a single month with 22. On 7 April, Kucherov scored his 40th goal of the season, setting a new career high. With his 40th goal, Kucherov joined Steven Stamkos, Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, and Brian Bradley as the only players in Lightning history with 40-goal seasons. Additionally, Kucherov joined Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Pavel Bure, and Alexander Mogilny as the only Russian-born players with a 40-goal season at age 23 or younger. On 21 June, Kucherov was named a NHL second team All-Star for the 2016–17 season.


title: Nikita Kucherov

text: On 12 October 2017, Kucherov also became the first player in franchise history to record a goal in five consecutive games to start a season. On 16 October, Kucherov recorded two more goals, which extended the streak to six games. In doing so, Kucherov joined Mario Lemieux, Keith Tkachuk, and Steve Yzerman as the only players in the last 30-years to score a goal in each of their first six games. On the very next night, Kucherov extended his goal scoring streak to seven games. In doing so, Kucherov became the sixth player in the modern era (since 1943−1944) to score in each of their team's first seven games. Kucherov's goal scoring streak was ended the following game. On 26 October, Kucherov recorded a point in his 11th consecutive game to start the season. In doing so, Kucherov tied Martin St. Louis for the longest season-opening point streak in Lightning history. Kucherov's streak was ended the following game. On 10 January 2018, Kucherov was named to the 2018 NHL All-Star Game, which was played at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. On 8 February, Kucherov recorded a three-point night in a 5-2 Lightning victory over the visiting Vancouver Canucks. On 22 April, Kucherov recorded a goal in a 3–1 Lightning series clinching over the New Jersey Devils. The goal was his 10th point of the series, which established a new franchise record for most points in a single series.


title: Nikita Kucherov

text: On 10 July 2018, Kucherov signed an eight-year, $76 million contract extension with the Lightning. On 18 October, Kucherov recorded his 190th career NHL assist in a 3–1 Lightning victory over the visiting Detroit Red Wings. In December 2018, Kucherov set the franchise record for most assists (21) and points (30) in a single calendar month. On 2 January 2019, Kucherov was named to the 2019 National Hockey League All-Star Game. This was Kucherov's third consecutive selection to the All-Star Game. On 18 February, Kucherov recorded a 5-point night in a 5–1 Lightning win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena. Three of his five points came as assists, which gave Kucherov the Lightning single season record for assists (70), breaking the mark of 68, by Brad Richards and Martin St. Louis. On 9 March, Kucherov set the Lightning single season record for points in a season with his 109th point. The point came in a 3–2 Lightning win over the Detroit Red Wings at Amalie Arena. On 20 March, Kucherov recorded two power-play goals to give him the most power-play points by a Lightning player in a single season (47). Kucherov scored his 40th goal of the season on 5 April 2019 and recorded his 126th point, setting the record for most points in an NHL season during the salary cap era (since 2005), a record previously held by Joe Thornton. At the conclusion of the regular season, Kucherov had amassed 128 points (41 goals and 87 assists), surpassing Alexander Mogilny for most points in a season by a Russian-born player. Kucherov's 87 assists also tied Jaromir Jagr for the most assists in a single NHL season by a wing. Having amassed the most points for the regular season Kucherov was awarded the Art Ross Trophy. On 12 April, following the Lightning's game one loss in the first round of the playoffs against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Kucherov was suspended one game for boarding Markus Nutivaara during the team's game two loss. On 19 June, Kucherov was awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy, voted by hockey writers and the Ted Lindsay Award, voted by the players, as the most valuable player at the 2019 NHL Awards.


title: Nikita Kucherov

text: On 19 August 2020, Kucherov recorded three assists in a Lightning first round series clinching win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. The three assists moved Kucherov past Martin St. Louis for the most points (70) in Lightning playoff history. On 26 August, Kucherov recorded his first career 4-point playoff game in a 7–1 Lightning victory over the Boston Bruins in the third game of their second round series. On 8 September, Kucherov recorded a goal and 4 assists for a 5-point night in an 8–2 Lightning win over the New York Islanders in the first game of the Eastern Conference Final. Kucherov's 5-point game established a new franchise record for points in a single playoff game. Kucherov's 4 assists set a new franchise record for most assists in a single playoff season (16). Kucherov's goal in that game moved him past St. Louis for the most goals in Lightning playoff history (34). On 21 September, Kucherov recorded two assists in game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. The two points moved Kucherov past Brad Richards for most points in a single playoff season in franchise history. That same day Kucherov was named as a Second Team All-Star for the 2019–20 season. Kucherov eventually won the Stanley Cup on 28 September 2020. He led the league in point (34) and assists (27) in the playoffs. Kucherov and Brayden Point also became the first teammates to have 30 playoff points (34 and 33 respectively) since Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin (31 and 37 respectively) in 2009.


title: Nikita Kucherov

text: On 23 December 2020, it was announced that Kucherov would undergo hip surgery and would miss the entirety of the 2020–21 regular season. He returned for the playoffs, and led the league in playoff scoring with 32 points in 23 games as the Lightning repeated as Stanley Cup champions. Kucherov also led his team in playoff assists (24) and shots on goal (62). After Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals, in which the Lightning defeated the Montreal Canadiens to clinch the series 4–1, Kucherov appeared at the podium drunk and shirtless to answer reporters' questions, during which time he expressed his elation at the Lightning's defense of the Stanley Cup and praised the performance of the Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. During the conference, Kucherov also coined the term "number one bullshit" in reference to Vasilevskiy losing the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender that season to Marc-André Fleury. At the ensuing Stanley Cup parade, Kucherov and several Lightning players wore shirts depicting Kucherov during his interview next to his famous "number one bullshit" quote.


title: Nikita Kucherov

text: Kucherov played in several international tournaments with the Russian national junior team, including the 2012 and 2013 World Junior Championships, where Russia won a silver and then bronze medal.


title: Nikita Kucherov

text: In 2016 Kucherov made his debut for the Russian national team, joining Lightning teammates Nikita Nesterov, Vladislav Namestnikov, and Andrei Vasilevskiy at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.


title: Nikita Kucherov

text: Kucherov, along with Vasilevskiy and Namestnikov played at the 2017 World Championship, where Russia won a bronze medal. He returned for the 2019 World Championship, again winning a bronze medal.


title: Nikita Kucherov

text: Kucherov was born in Maykop in southern Russia, but moved with his family to Moscow at a young age. His mother took up a job at a hockey rink, which is how Kucherov first started to play.


title: Ajay Ghosh

text: Ajay Ghosh is an Indian actor who primarily appears in Telugu and Tamil-language films in negative roles. He is known for his roles in "Jyothi Lakshmi" (2015) and "Visaranai" (2016), "Mookuthi Amman" (2020) and "" (2021).


title: Ajay Ghosh

text: Ajay Ghosh started his acting career in DD Telugu and found his way up to feature films before getting his breakthrough with Vetrimaaran's "Visaranai" (2016). In the film, he plays a strict police inspector from Guntur. In a review of the film by "The Times of India", the reviewer wrote that he "plays the ruthless inspector with glee". Ghosh went on to play negative characters in several films including "Jyothi Lakshmi" (2015), "" (2017) and "Mei" (2019). In a review of the film by the "New Indian Express", the reviewer stated that " Ajay Ghosh hams it up as his (Kishore's) subordinate".


title: Luke Kornet

text: Luke Francis Kornet (born July 15, 1995) is an American professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for Vanderbilt. He is the all-time leader for blocked shots in the school's history and the NCAA all-time leader for three-pointers made by any player 7 feet tall or taller.


title: Luke Kornet

text: Kornet averaged 8.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.64 blocks over 24.1 minutes in 128 games during his four-year career at Vanderbilt University. During his senior year with Commodores, he averaged 13.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.00 blocks in 35 starts, earning All-SEC and All-SEC Defensive honors. He holds the NCAA record for three-pointers made by a 7-footer with 150, and is the Commodores' all-time leading shot blocker with 210. On January 12, 2016, Kornet blocked a school-record 10 shots and finished with the second triple-double in Vanderbilt history with 11 points and 11 rebounds, helping the Commodores defeat Auburn 75–57.


title: Luke Kornet

text: After going undrafted in the 2017 NBA draft, Kornet joined the New York Knicks for the 2017 NBA Summer League. On July 3, 2017, he signed a two-way contract with the Knicks. On February 8, 2018, with his parents in attendance, Kornet made his National Basketball Association debut against the Toronto Raptors in Toronto. He finished with a double-double, scoring 11 points and 10 rebounds in 22 minutes, thus being the second Knicks rookie in history to debut with a double-double. He also finished with four blocks, making him the first player in NBA history to sink three three-pointers and have four blocks in his debut.


title: Luke Kornet

text: On July 6, 2018, Kornet signed a standard contract with the Knicks. On April 9, 2019, Kornet recorded a double-double with 12 points, 13 rebounds, and a career-high six blocks in the Knicks' 96–86 win over the Chicago Bulls.


title: Luke Kornet

text: On July 17, 2019, Kornet signed a fully guaranteed two-year contract for $4.5 million with the Chicago Bulls.


title: Luke Kornet

text: On March 25, 2021, Kornet was traded to the Boston Celtics in a three-team trade involving the Washington Wizards. He re-signed with the Celtics on October 16, but was waived that day.


title: Luke Kornet

text: On October 23, Kornet signed with the Maine Celtics as an affiliate player. In 10 games, he averaged 11.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.7 blocks in 27.4 minutes per contest.


title: Luke Kornet

text: On February 11, 2022, Kornet signed a rest-of-season contract with the Boston Celtics. He and the Celtics reached to the NBA Finals for the first time in Kornet's career, eventually losing to the Golden State Warriors in six games.


title: Luke Kornet

text: Kornet is the son of former Vanderbilt and NBA player Frank Kornet and Nashville television news anchor Tracy Kornet. His sister Nicole played basketball at Oklahoma and UCLA. He also has a brother named John. Kornet is an avid golfer and is said to have had the "most naturally athletic golf swing in Liberty Christian history", according to LCS golf coach Larry Frank.


title: Leishmania

text: Leishmania is a parasitic protozoan, a single-celled organism of the genus "Leishmania" that are responsible for the disease leishmaniasis. They are spread by sandflies of the genus "Phlebotomus" in the Old World, and of the genus "Lutzomyia" in the New World. At least 93 sandfly species are proven or probable vectors worldwide. Their primary hosts are vertebrates; "Leishmania" commonly infects hyraxes, canids, rodents, and humans.


title: Leishmania

text: Members of an ancient genus of the "Leishmania" parasite, "Paleoleishmania", have been detected in fossilized sand flies dating back to the early Cretaceous period. The first written reference to the conspicuous symptoms of cutaneous leishmaniasis surfaced in the Paleotropics within oriental texts dating back to the 7th century BC (allegedly transcribed from sources several hundred years older, between 1500 and 2000 BC). Due to its broad and persistent prevalence throughout antiquity as a mysterious disease of diverse symptomatic outcomes, leishmaniasis has been dubbed with various names ranging from "white leprosy" to "black fever". Some of these names suggest links to negative cultural beliefs or mythology, which still feed into the social stigmatization of leishmaniasis today.


title: Leishmania

text: In India, both cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis are caused by "Leishmania donovani". The first records of cutaneous leishmaniasis in India were from British medical officers in the early 19th century. The disease was by then known as "oriental sore" or "Delhi boil"; while the visceral form was variously called "Burdwan [after the city Burdwan] fever", ""kala azar"" (black fever), or "Dumdum [a city in West Bengal] fever".


title: Leishmania

text: The causative parasite for the disease was identified in 1901 as a concurrent finding by William Boog Leishman and Charles Donovan. They independently visualised microscopic single-celled parasites (later called Leishman-Donovan bodies) living within the cells of infected human organs. The parasitic genus would later be classed as trypanosomatid protozoans under the phylogenetic designation, "Leishmania donovani". Several species have since been classified and grouped under two major subgenera i.e. "Leishmania Viannia" (generally located in the Neotropics) or "Leishmania Leishmania" (generally located in the Paleotropics, with the major exception of the "L. mexicana" subgroup).


title: Leishmania

text: "Leishmania" currently affects 6 million people in 98 countries. About 0.9–1.6 million new cases occur each year, and 21 species are known to cause disease in humans: it is considered a zoonosis.


title: Leishmania

text: "Leishmania" species are unicellular eukaryotes having a well-defined nucleus and other cell organelles including kinetoplasts and flagella. Depending on the stage of their life cycle, they exist in two structural variants, as:


title: Leishmania

text: The details of the evolution of this genus are debated, but "Leishmania" apparently evolved from an ancestral trypanosome lineage. The oldest lineage is that of the Bodonidae, followed by "Trypanosoma brucei", the latter being confined to the African continent. "Trypanosoma cruzi" groups with trypanosomes from bats, South American mammals, and kangaroos suggest an origin in the Southern Hemisphere. These clades are only distantly related.


title: Leishmania

text: The remaining clades in this tree are "Blastocrithidia", "Herpetomonas", and "Phytomonas". The four genera "Leptomonas", "Crithidia", "Leishmania", and "Endotrypanum" form the terminal branches, suggesting a relatively recent origin. Several of these genera may be polyphyletic and may need further division.


title: Leishmania

text: The origins of genus "Leishmania" itself are unclear. One theory proposes an African origin, with migration to the Americas. Another proposes migration from the Americas to the Old World via the Bering Strait land bridge around 15 million years ago. A third theory proposes a Palearctic origin. Such migrations would entail subsequent migration of vector and reservoir or successive adaptations along the way. A more recent migration is that of "L. infantum" from Mediterranean countries to Latin America (known as "L. chagasi"), since European colonization of the New World, where the parasites picked up their current New World vectors in their respective ecosystems. This is the cause of the epidemics now evident. One recent New World epidemic concerns foxhounds in the USA.


title: Leishmania

text: Although it was suggested that "Leishmania" might have evolved in the Neotropics. this is probably true for species belonging to the subgenera "Viannia" and "Endotrypanum". However, there is evidence that the primary evolution of the subgenera "Leishmania" and "Sauroleishmania" is the Old World. While the "Mundinia" species appear to be more universal in their evolution. One theory is that different lineages became isolated geographically during different periods and it is this that gave rise to this evolutionary mosaicism. But there is no doubt that the Leishmaniinae are a monophyletic group.


title: Leishmania

text: A large data set analysis suggests that "Leishmania" evolved 90 to 100 million years ago in Gondwana. The reptile infecting species originated in mammalian clades.


title: Leishmania

text: "Sauroleishmania" species were originally defined on the basis that they infected reptiles (lizards) rather than mammals. Based on molecular evidences, they have been moved to subgenus status within "Leishmania". This subgenus probably evolved from a group that originally infected mammals.


title: Leishmania

text: 53 species are recognised in this genus. The status of several of these is disputed, so the final number may differ. At least 20 species infect humans. To make things more complex, hybrids might be involved, as it has been reported in Brazil with a hybrid between "Leishmania (V.) guyanensis" and "Leishmania (V.) shawi shawi".


title: Leishmania

text: The genus is presently divided into 4 subgenera: "Leishmania", "Sauroleishmania", "Mundinia" and "Viannia". The division into the two subgenera ("Leishmania" and "Viannia") was made by Lainson and Shaw in 1987 on the basis of their location within the insect gut. The species in the "Viannia" subgenus develop in the hind gut: "L. (V.) braziliensis" has been proposed as the type species for this subgenus. This division has been confirmed by all subsequent studies. Shaw, Camargo and Teixeira created the subgenus "Mundinia" while revising Leishmaniinae in 2016.


title: Leishmania

text: "Endotrypanum" is closely related to "Leishmania". Some "Endotypanum" species are unique in that they infect the erythrocytes of their hosts (sloths). All species are confined to Central and South America. "E. colombiensis" infections have been found in man.


title: Leishmania

text: "Sauroleishmania" was originally described by Ranquein 1973 as a separate genus, but molecular studies suggest this is actually a subgenus rather than a separate genus.


title: Leishmania

text: The proposed division of the "Leishmania" into "Euleishmania" and "Paraleishmania" groups in 2000 emphasized the deep phylogenic distance between parasites, some of which had been named as "Leishmania" species. The "Euleishmania" included species currently placed in the subgenera "Leishmania", "Sauroleishmania", "Mundinia" and "Viannia". The proposed "Paraleishmania" included species of "Endotypanum," "Leishmamnia"-"L. colomubensis", "L. herreri", "L. hertigi"and "L. deanei" and "L. equatorensis". In a recent revision these species were given different generic status.


title: Leishmania

text: Four subgenera of "Leishmania" are now recognised - "Leishmania", "Sauroleishmania", "Viannia" and "Mundinia" (the "L. enriettii" complex). The genus "Endotrypanum" and "Porcisia" belong to the "Paraleishmania".


title: Leishmania

text: There are four "Mundinia" species - "L. (Mundinia) enriettii", "L. (Mundinia) martiniquensis", "L. (Mundinia) macropodum", and "L. (Mundinia) orientalis," which is found in Thailand.


title: Leishmania

text: The selenoenzyme "Seltryp" appears to be unique to this order. It has been removed from the subgenus "Viannia".


title: Leishmania

text: "L. deanei" and "L. hertigi", both of which infect porcupines have been moved to the genus "Porcisia."


title: Leishmania

text: The relationships between "Leishmania" and other genera such as "Endotrypanum", "Novymonas", "Porcisia", and "Zelonia" is presently unclear as they are closely related. "Endotrypanum colombiensis", ofter known as "Leishmania colombiensis," has been associated with both cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis in Venezuela.


title: Leishmania

text: The biochemistry and cell biology of "Leishmania" is similar to that of other kinetoplastids. They share the same main morphological features: a single flagellum which has an invagination - the flagellar pocket - at its base; a kinetoplast, which is found in the single mitochondrion; and a subpelicular array of microtubules, which make up the main part of the cytoskeleton.


title: Leishmania

text: "Leishmania" possesses a lipophosphoglycan coat over the outside of the cell. Lipophosphoglycan is a trigger for toll-like receptor 2, a signalling receptor involved in triggering an innate immune response in mammals.


title: Leishmania

text: The precise structure of lipophosphoglycan varies depending on the species and lifecycle stage of the parasite. The glycan component is particularly variable and different lipophosphoglycan variants can be used as a molecular marker for different lifecycle stages. Lectins, a group of proteins which bind different glycans, are often used to detect these lipophosphoglycan variants. For example, peanut agglutinin binds a particular lipophosphoglycan found on the surface of the infective form of "L. major".


title: Leishmania

text: Lipophosphoglycan is used by the parasite to promote its survival in the host and the mechanisms by which the parasite does this center around modulating the immune response of the host. This is vital, as the "Leishmania" parasites live within macrophages and need to prevent the macrophages from killing them. Lipophosphoglycan has a role in resisting the complement system, inhibiting the oxidative burst response, inducing an inflammation response and preventing natural killer T cells recognising that the macrophage is infected with the "Leishmania" parasite.


title: Leishmania

text: In order to avoid destruction by the immune system and thrive, the "Leishmania" 'hides' inside its host's cells. This location enables it to avoid the action of the humoral immune response (because the pathogen is safely inside a cell and outside the open bloodstream), and furthermore it may prevent the immune system from destroying its host through nondanger surface signals which discourage apoptosis. The primary cell types "Leishmania" infiltrates are phagocytotic cells such as neutrophils and macrophages.


title: Leishmania

text: Usually, a phagocytotic immune cell like a macrophage will ingest a pathogen within an enclosed endosome and then fill this endosome with enzymes which digest the pathogen. However, in the case of "Leishmania", these enzymes have no effect, allowing the parasite to multiply rapidly. This uninhibited growth of parasites eventually overwhelms the host macrophage or other immune cell, causing it to die.


title: Leishmania

text: Transmitted by the sandfly, the protozoan parasites of "L. major" may switch the strategy of the first immune defense from eating/inflammation/killing to eating/no inflammation/no killing of their host phagocyte and corrupt it for their own benefit. They use the willingly phagocytosing polymorphonuclear neutrophil granulocytes (PMNs) rigorously as a tricky hideout, where they proliferate unrecognized from the immune system and enter the long-lived macrophages to establish a "hidden" infection.


title: Leishmania

text: Upon microbial infection, PMNs move out from the bloodstream through the vessels' endothelial layer, to the site of the infected tissue (dermal tissue after fly bite). They immediately initiate the first immune response and phagocytize the invader by recognition of foreign and activating surfaces on the parasite. Activated PMN secrete chemokines, IL-8 particularly, to attract further granulocytes and stimulate phagocytosis. Further, "L. major" increases the secretion of IL-8 by PMNs. This mechanism is observed during infection with other obligate intracellular parasites, as well. For microbes like these, multiple intracellular survival mechanisms exist. Surprisingly, the coinjection of apoptotic and viable pathogens causes by far a more fulminate course of disease than injection of only viable parasites. When the anti-inflammatory signal phosphatidylserine usually found on apoptotic cells, is exposed on the surface of dead parasites, "L. major" switches off the oxidative burst, thereby preventing killing and degradation of the viable pathogen.


title: Leishmania

text: In the case of "Leishmania", progeny are not generated in PMNs, but in this way they can survive and persist untangled in the primary site of infection. The promastigote forms also release "Leishmania" chemotactic factor (LCF) to actively recruit neutrophils, but not other leukocytes, for instance monocytes or NK cells. In addition to that, the production of interferon gamma (IFNγ)-inducible protein 10 (IP10) by PMNs is blocked in attendance of "Leishmania", what involves the shut down of inflammatory and protective immune response by NK and Th1 cell recruitment. The pathogens stay viable during phagocytosis since their primary hosts, the PMNs, expose apoptotic cell-associated molecular pattern (ACAMP) signaling "no pathogen".


title: Leishmania

text: The lifespan of neutrophil granulocytes is quite short. They circulate in bloodstream for about 6 to 10 hours after leaving bone marrow, whereupon they undergo spontaneous apoptosis. Microbial pathogens have been reported to influence cellular apoptosis by different strategies. Obviously because of the inhibition of caspase3-activation, "L. major" can induce the delay of neutrophils apoptosis and extend their lifespan for at least 2–3 days. The fact of extended lifespan is very beneficial for the development of infection because the final host cells for these parasites are macrophages, which normally migrate to the sites of infection within two or three days. The pathogens are not dronish; instead they take over the command at the primary site of infection. They induce the production by PMNs of the chemokines MIP-1α and MIP-1β (macrophage inflammatory protein) to recruit macrophages.


title: Leishmania

text: An important factor in prolonging infection is the inhibition of the adaptive immune system. This occurs especially during the intercellular phases, when amastigotes search for new macrophages to infect and are more susceptible to immune responses. Nearly all types of phagocytes are targeted. For example, mincle has been shown to be targeted by "L. major". Interaction between mincle and a protein released by the parasite results in a weakened immune response in dendritic cells.


title: Leishmania

text: To save the integrity of the surrounding tissue from the toxic cell components and proteolytic enzymes contained in neutrophils, the apoptotic PMNs are silently cleared by macrophages. Dying PMNs expose the "eat me"-signal phosphatidylserine which is transferred to the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane during apoptosis. By reason of delayed apoptosis, the parasites that persist in PMNs are taken up into macrophages, employing an absolutely physiological and nonphlogistic process. The strategy of this "silent phagocytosis" has the following advantages for the parasite:


title: Leishmania

text: However, studies have shown this is unlikely, as the pathogens are seen to leave apoptopic cells and no evidence is known of macrophage uptake by this method.


title: Leishmania

text: An important aspect of the "Leishmania" protozoan is its glycoconjugate layer of lipophosphoglycan (LPG). This is held together with a phosphoinositide membrane anchor, and has a tripartite structure consisting of a lipid domain, a neutral hexasaccharide, and a phosphorylated galactose-mannose, with a termination in a neutral cap. Not only do these parasites develop postphlebotomus digestion, but it is also thought to be essential to oxidative bursts, thus allowing passage for infection. Characteristics of intracellular digestion include an endosome fusing with a lysosome, releasing acid hydrolases which degrade DNA, RNA, proteins and carbohydrates.


title: Leishmania

text: The genomes of four "Leishmania" species ("L. major", "L. infantum", "L. donovani" and "L. braziliensis") have been sequenced, revealing more than 8300 protein-coding and 900 RNA genes. Almost 40% of protein-coding genes fall into 662 families containing between two and 500 members. Most of the smaller gene families are tandem arrays of one to three genes, while the larger gene families are often dispersed in tandem arrays at different loci throughout the genome. Each of the 35 or 36 chromosomes is organized into a small number of gene clusters of tens-to-hundreds of genes on the same DNA strand. These clusters can be organized in head-to-head (divergent) or tail-to-tail (convergent) fashion, with the latter often separated by tRNA, rRNA and/or snRNA genes. Transcription of protein-coding genes initiates bidirectionally in the divergent strand-switch regions between gene clusters and extends polycistronically through each gene cluster before terminating in the strand-switch region separating convergent clusters. "Leishmania" telomeres are usually relatively small, consisting of a few different types of repeat sequence. Evidence can be found for recombination between several different groups of telomeres. The "L. major" and "L. infantum" genomes contain only about 50 copies of inactive degenerated "Ingi"/L1Tc-related elements (DIREs), while "L. braziliensis" also contains several telomere-associated transposable elements and spliced leader-associated retroelements. The "Leishmania" genomes share a conserved core proteome of about 6200 genes with the related trypanosomatids "Trypanosoma brucei" and "Trypanosoma cruzi", but around 1000 "Leishmania"-specific genes are known, which are mostly randomly distributed throughout the genome. Relatively few (about 200) species-specific differences in gene content exist between the three sequenced "Leishmania" genomes, but about 8% of the genes appear to be evolving at different rates between the three species, indicative of different selective pressures that could be related to disease pathology. About 65% of protein-coding genes currently lack functional assignment.


title: Leishmania

text: "Leishmania" species produce several different heat shock proteins. These include Hsp83, a homolog of Hsp90. A regulatory element in the 3' UTR of Hsp83 controls translation of Hsp83 in a temperature-sensitive manner. This region forms a stable RNA structure which melts at higher temperatures.


title: Leishmania

text: A microbial pathogen's reproductive system is one of the basic biologic processes that condition the microorganism's ecology and disease spread. In 2009 Akopyants et al. demonstrated that "L. major" has a sexual cycle, including a meiotic process. Hybrid progeny are formed that have full genomic complements from both parents. Mating only occurs in the sand fly vector, and hybrids can be transmitted to the mammalian host by sand fly bite. In "L. braziliensis" matings in nature are predominantly between related individuals resulting in extreme inbreeding. The rate of outcrossing between different strains of "Leishmania" in the sand fly vector depends on the frequency of co-infection. Such outcrossing events appear to be rare in "L. major" and "L. donovani".


title: Leishmania

text: "L. infantum" produces proteins BRCA1 and RAD51 that interact with each other to promote homologous recombinational repair. These proteins play a key role in meiosis. Thus, meiotic events provide the adaptive advantage of efficient recombinational repair of DNA damages even when they do not lead to outcrossing


title: Darna Zaroori Hai

text: Darna Zaroori Hai (translation: "Fright is necessary") is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language anthology horror film produced by Satish Kaushik, and Ram Gopal Varma. The film is a sequel to "Darna Mana Hai". It stars a host of Bollywood actors including Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Sunil Shetty, Riteish Deshmukh, Bipasha Basu, Randeep Hooda, Arjun Rampal, Mallika Sherawat, Sonali Kulkarni, Rajpal Yadav and more. The film was archived at the New York Institute of Technology, as part of the film course.


title: Darna Zaroori Hai

text: "Darna Zaroori Hai" interweaves six stories into one film. Five children get lost in the middle of a forest, where they find a deserted house. Inside, they meet an old woman who agrees to tell them six scary stories, and they will all compete on who is able to sit through all six stories without getting scared.