title: Fehérvár FC

text: Fehérvár has won the Nemzeti Bajnokság I three times, in 2011, 2015, and 2018. They have also won the Magyar Kupa twice: in 2006, after defeating Vasas on penalties in the final, and in 2019, after defeating Budapest Honvéd FC. They won the defunct Hungarian League Cup three times in 2008, 2009, and 2012 and the also defunct Hungarian Super Cup two times in 2011 and 2012. Fehérvár is best known in European football for reaching the 1985 UEFA Cup Final, being led by Ferenc Kovács. Most recently, the team has participated in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League in the 2012–13 and 2018–19 seasons.


title: Fehérvár FC

text: The club colours are blue and red. Since 1967, Fehérvár has been playing its home matches the Sóstói Stadion, currently called MOL Aréna Sóstó due to sponsorship reasons. During the reconstruction of the stadium between 2016 and 2018, they played their home games in the Pancho Aréna in Felcsút.


title: Fehérvár FC

text: The original name of the football club, "Videoton", comes from the privately owned Hungarian company.


title: Fehérvár FC

text: On 1 July 2018, the club's name was changed from Videoton FC to MOL Vidi FC despite strong disagreement of the supporters of the club. A further change was made on 1 July 2019, becoming "Mol Fehérvár FC". This change won't affect anything else, as the "Vidi" brand will also be used by the club.


title: Fehérvár FC

text: Fehérvár was founded in 1941 as "Székesfehérvári Vadásztölténygyár SK". After several name changes, adopting the term "Videoton", the team played in the first division for the first time during the 1968 season but they were immediately relegated. Their first domestic success occurred in the 1975–76 season when they finished 2nd. Fehérvár's biggest domestic success happened in the 2010–11 season when they finished first. Later they repeated the success by winning the championship in 2015 and 2018.


title: Fehérvár FC

text: At international level, Fehérvár's biggest success has been reaching the 1985 UEFA Cup Final where they lost to Real Madrid CF 0–3. That season, the team was able to knock out PSG in the second round and Manchester United in the quarterfinals.


title: Fehérvár FC

text: Despite being Hungarian champions three times since 2000, Fehérvár have never qualified for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. They did, however, reach the group stage of the Europa League in 2012–13 and 2018–19. With qualification for the later stages being a possibility until the last match day each time, Fehérvár ultimately failed to reach the top two spots of their groups both occasions.


title: Fehérvár FC

text: The colours of the club are blue and red, representing the colours of the coat of arms of Székesfehérvár. The club used different crests and badges since their foundation in 1941. The crests also indicate the changes of the name of the club, however, the colours were always the same i.e. blue and red. The most famous nickname of the club is Vidi.


title: Fehérvár FC

text: The badge (which is being used since 2009 with minor changes following the renamings) is blue and red, and in the centre the castle refers to the symbol of the town: "vár" from "Székesfehérvár" means castle. The name and the year of the foundation can also be seen on the badge.


title: Fehérvár FC

text: The multi-purpose stadium of the club is located in Székesfehérvár, Hungary. The name of the stadium is Sóstói Stadion which originates from neighbouring Sóstó (in English Salt Lake). Its capacity is 14,300 (all seated) and it was opened in 1967. The record attendance was in 1985 when Videoton FC played Spanish giants Real Madrid in the first leg of the final of the 1984–85 UEFA Cup.


title: Fehérvár FC

text: The first ground of the club could be found in the Berényi Street. On 26 September 1946, the first match was played at the Berényi Street Ground. Videoton played its matches here from 1950 to 1959. From 1959, the team played on a grass turf until 1967. The club moved to the Sóstói Stadion three times. The first era spent at the stadium was between 1948–50 and 1959–62. In 1967, the club moved there permanently.


title: Fehérvár FC

text: In 2007, the academy of the team was founded in Felcsút, the village where Viktor Orbán, the Prime Minister spent his childhood. Videoton FC bought the team of Felcsút, which was played in the Nemzeti Bajnokság II and the team of the academy (named after Ferenc Puskás) competes in the Second League since that. The team is called Videoton-Puskás Ferenc Labdarúgó Akadémia (or Videoton II). Videoton-PFLA plays in Felcsút.


title: Fehérvár FC

text: Due to the reconstruction of the Sóstói Stadion, Videoton played their home matches at the Pancho Aréna in the 2016–17 Nemzeti Bajnokság I and 2016–17 UEFA Europa League season. The Pancho Arena is located in Felcsút and its main tenant is Nemzeti Bajnokság II club Puskás Akadémia FC. The director of Videoton chose Pancho Aréna as their home due to the club's strong ties with Puskás Akadémia. However, the capacity of the Pancho Aréna is much smaller than Videoton's original stadium.


title: Fehérvár FC

text: On 7 February 2017, László Horváth, project manager of Sóstó Konzorcium, said that the first phase of the construction ended. The demolition of the interior of the remaining main stand ended. The concrete of the demolished parts of the main stand will be reused in the building of the new stands. The Sóstó Konzorcium will have 14 months to finish the construction of the stadium.


title: Fehérvár FC

text: On 13 March 2017, László Horváth, project manager of Sóstó Konzorcium, said that thanks to the mild winter the construction of the new stadium is in good progress. The construction of the base of the stands were finished in March.


title: Fehérvár FC

text: On 27 March 2017, it was confirmed that the construction of the stadium would be finished by 16 January 2018. Péter Gönczöl, managing director of Strabag-MML Kft., said that the construction is in the most spectacular phase when the biggest panels are positioned into their places. András Cser-Palkovics, mayor of Székesfehérvár, said that due to the severe weather conditions during winter the construction could be finished by the deadline. Róbert Varga, director of Strabag-Hungary, added that the new stadium will be able to host 14,201 spectators and the stadium will be lying on a base of 10,199 square metres and the highest point of the stadium will be 21.28 metres.


title: Fehérvár FC

text: On 18 August 2017, it was announced that the main stand should also be demolished due to statical problems. Originally, the new stadium would have been built around the main stand. Due to the reconstruction of the main stand, the opening of the new stadium will be delayed to June 2018.


title: Fehérvár FC

text: On 14 August 2018, an article was published on the Hungarian news website, Index.hu, stating that there will be further delays in the opening of the new stadium. One day later, it was announced that the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League play-off matches will be played at Ferencvárosi TC's home stadium, Groupama Aréna in Budapest.


title: Fehérvár FC

text: The first match was played between Fehérvár FC and Újpest FC in the 2018–19 Nemzeti Bajnokság I season and it ended with a 1–0 victory for the home side. The first goal was scored by Roland Juhász. The new stadium was also renamed as MOL Aréna Sóstó for sponsorship reason. Since there was a MOL Aréna in Dunaszerdahely, Sóstó was added to the new name.


title: Fehérvár FC

text: Being the favourite football club of the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, from 2010, some of the most wealthy Hungarians started to appear in the VIP of the team (e.g. Sándor Csányi, president of the Hungarian OTP Bank and the Hungarian Football Association) by the side of the Prime Minister. The owner since December 2007 is István Garancsi, a friend of Viktor Orbán's.


title: Fehérvár FC

text: The supporters of the club are based in Székesfehérvár, in Fejér County, Hungary. One of the group of supporters is the Red Blue Devils which is considered the main ultras of the team (there are smaller groups like Red-Blue City, Sóstói Hableányok, G-pont). Fehérvár FC is in rivalry with the most famous Hungarian clubs such as Ferencváros, Újpest, Győri ETO, Haladás, and Debrecen. The club has a local rival, Puskás Akadémia FC, based in Felcsút, Fejér County, but the rivalry is relatively tame. These two clubs had a stadium share in Felcsut while Fehérvár's stadium was under renovation, 2016–18. Fejer county's second most populated city is Dunaújváros, but Dunaferr FC, formerly based there, no longer exists. Between 1997 and 1999, Videoton's local rival was Gázszer FC which was based in Agárd, Fejér County.


title: Fehérvár FC

text: Fehérvár FC has a selection of celebrity supporters such as the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán.


title: Fehérvár FC

text: MLSZ introduced the "Cooperation system" during the summer of 2019. It allows NB I clubs to send a maximum of 5 U21 players to one of the Nemzeti Bajnokság II teams. These players are eligible to play for their home clubs in every series and play in the league at their cooperation clubs. Fehérvár FC's cooperation partner is Budaörsi SC.


title: A Long Way Down (film)

text: A Long Way Down (originally titled Up & Down) is a 2014 black comedy film directed by Pascal Chaumeil, loosely based on author Nick Hornby's 2005 novel, "A Long Way Down". It stars Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, Imogen Poots, and Aaron Paul as four strangers who meet on the roof of a London building on New Year's Eve, each with the intent of dying by suicide. Their plans for death in solitude are ruined when they meet as they decide to come down from the roof alive, however temporary that may be. The film received mostly negative reviews, with criticism of the source material and the film's cast.


title: A Long Way Down (film)

text: Martin Sharp (Pierce Brosnan) is contemplating suicide on New Year's Eve on the roof of the Toppers Building, high above London's streets. He is interrupted by a woman, Maureen (Toni Collette), who has the same fate in mind. She shyly offers to wait her turn, until two other strangers, a young woman named Jess (Imogen Poots) and a pizza deliverer called J.J. (Aaron Paul), also turn up.


title: A Long Way Down (film)

text: Martin is recognised by the others, having been a popular television personality before going to prison for a relationship with a girl who turned out to be 15. After talking things over, the four strangers form a pact, vowing to wait at least until Valentine's Day before again attempting suicide.


title: A Long Way Down (film)

text: Maureen has a disabled son she adores, but little life beyond that. Jess is the daughter of a politician (Sam Neill) and their relationship is strained. J.J. is an American who once played in a band, but while his three new acquaintances are suicidally depressed, he claims that he is terminally ill with cancer.


title: A Long Way Down (film)

text: To profit from misfortune, Martin hatches a scheme that makes them the talk of London, claiming their mass suicide was interrupted by a vision. They end up on his old TV chat show, where Martin's former co-host Penny (Rosamund Pike) makes her guests feel humiliated and even more depressed.


title: A Long Way Down (film)

text: The four go on vacation to get away from London's attention. They enjoy each other's company, until it is revealed that J.J.'s claim about cancer was a lie and the intervention of a journalist named Kathy (Tuppence Middleton) drives them apart. After the vacation, the four resume their lives. When Maureen's son Matty suffers a heart attack, Jess and Martin visit Maureen in the hospital but J.J. cannot be contacted. They realise it is Valentine's Day and that their pact has ended. All four end up back in London on the very same rooftop with the other three coaxing J.J. off the edge successfully.


title: A Long Way Down (film)

text: On New Year's Eve that year, they video call each other. Martin is looking after his daughter, Maureen is enjoying herself at a New Year's party, and J.J. and Jess are in a happy relationship.


title: A Long Way Down (film)

text: Brosnan has stated that TV presenter Richard Madeley was an inspiration to him in playing the role. While reading the script for the film in the "Colombe D'Or" restaurant in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Brosnan stated that he saw Madeley and his wife Judy Finnigan and later said, "I think it's his sheer ebullience and enthusiasm. You have to be almost shamanic to do it, really, and really believe in yourself. And it's a thin line between being affable and being really annoying. So it takes a brave soul, really."


title: A Long Way Down (film)

text: "A Long Way Down" received negative reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 22%, based on 50 reviews, with an average score of 4.2/10. The site's consensus reads, "Tonally jumbled and conceptually ill-advised, "A Long Way Down" bungles its source material and wastes a talented cast." At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 34, based on 21 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".


title: A Long Way Down (film)

text: In 2015, the film won a Voice Award from the American Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: Paulo Roberto Falcão, or simply Falcão (; born 16 October 1953), is a Brazilian former footballer and football manager. He is the current sporting coordinator of Santos.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: Falcão is widely considered one of the best players in Internacional and Roma history, playing also for São Paulo. He is universally considered one of the greatest Brazilian players of all time, especially at his peak in the 1980s. At one stage, he was the world's highest paid footballer.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: Due to his success and performances with Roma, Falcão earned the nickname "the eighth King of Rome" from the fans, like Amedeo Amadei before him, and was inducted into the club's Hall of Fame in 2013.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: For the Brazil national team, Falcão was capped 34 times between February 1976 and June 1986. He appeared at the 1982 FIFA World Cup, playing in midfield alongside Zico, Sócrates and Éder, considered one of the greatest Brazilian national teams ever. He was named by Pelé one of the 125 Greatest Living Footballers at a FIFA Awards ceremony in 2004. Radamel Falcao's father was a footballer and football fan and named him after Falcão.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: Falcão began his professional career at Internacional of Porto Alegre, in Rio Grande do Sul, where he played from 1972 to 1980, winning three Brazilian National Championships (1975, 1976, 1979) and reaching the finals of the 1980 Copa Libertadores, eventually losing to Nacional. During his time at Internacional, he was surprisingly left out of the Brazil squad for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, though he made the shortlisted pre-tournament 40.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: In 1980, Falcão transferred to Serie A club Roma for £650,000. In his first season in Italy (1980–81), he was able to master the language and had his mother and sister living with him to help settle him in. He played well, scoring 3 goals in his 25 games as Roma finished second in Serie A to Juventus. This was a controversial championship, as Roma had a goal ruled out for an unclear offside against Juventus during a defining draw in Turin. Consolation came with a Coppa Italia win for Roma, beating Torino in the final on penalties – Falcão himself scored the decisive spot kick.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: Although Roma slipped to 3rd in his second season (1981–82), personally for Falcão it was better than the first, with 6 goals in 24 games, becoming one of the foreign stars in Serie A. At the end of this season, he was called up for the 1982 World Cup finals in Spain.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: After the World Cup, Falcão inspired Roma to win their second league title during the 1982–83 season, scoring 7 times in 27 games, and creating numerous others. Although Juventus's Michel Platini finished as top scorer in the league, and despite Juventus beating Roma in both league games, he was acknowledged as the star man in Serie A that season, also performing well as Roma reached the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup. At the end of this season, Falcão had earned the nickname "the 8th King of Rome".


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: In 1983–84 Juventus side won the title from Roma who finished second, but it was only won on the final day of the season. Falcão scored 5 goals in his 27 games. Roma's main goal this season, however, was the European Cup, especially as the final was to be played at Roma's own Olympic Stadium. He played every game as Roma swept past IFK Gothenburg, CSKA Sofia and SC Dynamo Berlin to reach the semi-finals against Dundee United.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: In a previous Serie A game, Falcão injured his knee, so missed the first leg of the semi-final, as Roma lost 2–0 in Dundee. He returned for the second leg as Roma won 3–0 to reach the final, but again injured his knee in the process. He was fit enough for the final against Liverpool, but played poorly as Roma were eventually defeated on penalties after a 1–1 draw, with Falcão declining to even take a spot kick. This was a marked turning point in his relationship with the club, and the beginning of the end of his time in Rome. Roma again won the Coppa Italia, but despite nearly winning the treble, the mood around the city was not a happy one.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: In season 1984–85, Falcão was more famous for his off field antics than his on field ones. Due to his knee troubles, he only managed four games and one goal in the league as Roma slumped to an 8th place in the championship. Falcão then flew off to New York City for an operation on his knee that was unauthorized by the club"s doctors, and Roma subsequently terminated his contract. He went back to Brazil after five years in Rome.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: While playing for São Paulo, Falcão won two titles. The first was a Campeonato Paulista in 1985 beating Portuguesa in the final with an aggregate score of 5–2, and the second one a Taça dos Campeões Rio-São, also in 1985, where he scored his one and only goal for the club in the second leg against Fluminense.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: Falcão retired from professional football after the 1986 World Cup. He is one of eleven members to have been inducted into the A.S. Roma Hall of Fame.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: Falcão starred in the midfield of the Brazil 1982 team, along with Toninho Cerezo, Zico, Eder and Socrates, generally seen as one of the best teams not to win the World Cup. He started all the games, as Brazil beat Soviet Union 2–1, scoring the last goal as Brazil then beat Scotland 4–1, and with another goal in the 4–0 win against New Zealand.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: In the 2nd phase of the World Cup, his team obtained a 3–1 win against the World Champions Argentina, meaning that the Brazilians needed only a draw in their next game against Italy to advance to the semi-finals. In this game, despite twice equalising, Brazil were beaten by a Paolo Rossi hat trick as Italy won 3–2. Falcão got the second equalising goal for Brazil against his adopted country with a drive from the edge of the area. After the match, he was said to be so distressed that he wanted to give up football.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: After muddling through a nondescript season for his club (although he helped to win the São Paulo State Championship in 1985), he managed to get a call up to the Brazil 1986 World Cup squad, mainly on reputation.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: During this World Cup, he only managed to play in two games (coming on as substitute against both Spain and Algeria). Brazil exited in the quarter finals against the French team of his old rival Michel Platini. After this World Cup, Falcão retired from football.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: From 1990 to 1991 Falcão was the manager of the Brazil national team. His second and longest coaching experience was with América from 1991 to 1993. He also coached Internacional in 1993. After a brief hiatus, in 1994, he was the manager of the Japan national team. In April 2011, after 16 years without managing a club, he was signed by Internacional, replacing Celso Roth. He was then sacked in July following three consecutive defeats in the Brazilian league.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: In February 2012, Falcão returned into management, signing an 11-month deal as head coach of Bahia. He only returned to coaching duties in September 2015, being appointed manager at Sport.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: Falcão returned to Internacional in July 2016, but was sacked after three losses and two draws, only one month later.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: An elegant and technically gifted player, with an eye for goal from midfield, and an ability to orchestrate his team's attacking moves, Falcão usually functioned as a deep-lying playmaker, although he was capable of aiding his team defensively, as well as creatively and offensively, due to his physique, work-rate, and tenacity. He was known in particular for his flair, control, vision, passing, and long-range shooting ability, as well as his tactical intelligence, organisational ability and leadership. His role has also been likened to that of a "metodista" ("centre-half," in Italian football jargon), due to his ability to dictate play in midfield as well as assist his team defensively.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: Falcão was born in Abelardo Luz, in the Southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. His father is Portuguese-Brazilian and his mother Azize has Italian origins, from Calabria.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: In 2003, Falcão married journalist and TV host Cristina Ranzolin with whom he has a daughter, Antônia, born in 2004.


title: Paulo Roberto Falcão

text: Falcão worked for many years as a football commentator for Rede Globo and for its sports oriented branch SporTV.


title: Annamalai University

text: The Annamalai University is a public state university in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India. The sprawling campus offers courses of higher education in arts, science, engineering, medical, management, humanities, agriculture, and physical education. The university also provides more than 500 courses through distance education. With over 32,480 students residing on campus, it is one of the largest unitary, teaching, and residential universities in Asia, and is among the most reputed and ranked universities in India including the rankings from NIRF, QS World University Rankings, Times University Rankings, CWTS Leiden Ranking, India Today Magazine.


title: Annamalai University

text: The National Assessment and Accreditation Council has conferred accreditation to the university in the fourth cycle, and subsequently with its highest 'A+' grade in 2022. Annamalai University is also recognized among the 18 universities in India having the 'Centre with Potential for Excellence in Particular Area (CPEPA)' with a focus on drug development and climate change.Established in 1929, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigious universities in India. The university was also ranked as 18th most influential institution in India and It is also among the topmost google searched universities in India as well as in the World.


title: Annamalai University

text: The university is also a permanent member of AMDISA (Association of Management Development Institutions in South Asia) that provides the SAQS Accreditation (South Asian Quality System) to the Institutions.


title: Annamalai University

text: The university was founded in 1929 by the entrepreneur Rajah Sir S. Rm. M. Annamalai Chettiar in the aftermath of the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms. In the early 1920s, to serve the downtrodden and to promote Tamil literature, Rajah Sir S. R. M. Annamalai Chettiar founded Sri Minakshi College, Sri Minakshi Tamil College and Sri Minakshi Sanskrit College in a rural setup at Chidambaram. In 1928, Rajah Sir S. R. M. Annamalai Chettiar agreed with the local government to hand over the above said institution for establishing a university. Thus, on 1 January 1929 Annamalai University was established as per Annamalai University Act 1928 (Tamil Nadu Act 1 of 1929). The most significant development is the enactment of the Annamalai University Act, 2013 (Tamil Nadu Act 20 of 2013), which came into force from September 25, 2013, after obtaining the assent of the president of India.


title: Annamalai University

text: The university has ten faculties, namely agriculture, arts (including management studies), dentistry, education, engineering and technology, fine arts, Indian languages, marine sciences, Rajah Muthiah Medical College (medicine, de-affiliated in 2021) and science.


title: Annamalai University

text: The organizational structure of Annamalai University consists of the Senate, the Syndicate, the Academic Council, the faculties, the Finance Committee, and the Boards of studies. The governor of Tamil Nadu is the chancellor of the university. The vice-chancellor is the executive head of the university. The registrar of the university, who is the secretary of the Syndicate, is the custodian of all the records and chief administrator of the university. The examinations of the university is managed by Office of the Controller of Examinations.


title: Annamalai University

text: Annamalai University is one of the largest unitary, teaching, and residential Universities in Southern Asia consisting of 10 faculties and 49 departments of study. This university has played a pivotal role in providing access to higher education to thousands of youths cutting across the social spectrum, especially from economically and socially disadvantaged classes. In this respect, this university's service to the Nation is tremendous. Annamalai University is organized into ten main schools, each of which comprises multiple departments and centres as below.


title: Annamalai University

text: English, History, Political Science and Public Administration, Economics, Commerce, Sociology and Social Work, Population Studies, Business Administration, Library and Information Science, Centre for Rural Development, Philosophy.


title: Annamalai University

text: Department of Mathematics, Department of Statistics, Department of Physics, Department of Chemistry, Department of Botany, Department of Zoology, Department of Earth Sciences, Department of Biochemistry & Biotechnology, Department of Microbiology, Department of Computer and Information Science.


title: Annamalai University

text: Computer Science and Engineering (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning), Computer Science and Engineering (Data Science), Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Civil and Structural Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering, Information Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering (Manufacturing).


title: Annamalai University

text: Agronomy, Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Genetics and Plant Breeding, Microbiology, Plant Pathology, Entomology, Agricultural Economics, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Agricultural Extension.


title: Annamalai University

text: Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Pharmacology, Pathology, Microbiology, Forensic Medicine, Community Medicine, Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Pediatrics, TB & Chest Disease, Dermatology Venereology and Leprosy, Orthopaedics, Otorhinolaryngology, Psychiatry, Radiology, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Anaesthesiology, Neuro Surgery, Urology, Plastic Surgery, Nursing, Emergency Medicine.


title: Annamalai University

text: Periodontology, Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopaedics, Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology, Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Oral Medicine & Radiology, Public Health Dentistry, Prosthodontics and Crown & Bridge, Conservative Dentistry & Endodontics, Microbiology, Anatomy, Pharmacology, Physiology, Biochemistry, Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery.


title: Annamalai University

text: In July 2021 Higher Education Minister of Tamil Nadu Mr K. Ponmudy announced to change the status of Annamalai University from unitary to affiliating university. The university have colleges affiliated to it from four districts, namely Cuddalore, Kallakurichi Mayiladuthurai and Villupuram. In his recent announcement 14 more colleges of Mayiladuthurai district merged with Annamalai University which was earlier affiliated with Bharathidasan University.


title: Annamalai University

text: In March 2022, the UGC warned students against enrolling for any online and distance learning courses offered by the university as it did not have the requisite recognition to do so from the UGC.


title: Annamalai University

text: According to University Vice-Chancellor Mr. RM Kathiresan the degrees were offered as per the Madras High Court direction as the university is having a stay order to the UGC's direction imposing jurisdictional restriction is still valid. And all the hearings and proceedings were in the favour of our varsity. So Unless the UGC's gets that stay vacated the degree distance programmes are valid. He further added that a National Assessment and Accreditation Council review team visited the campus between March 16 and 18. As the results are expected anytime, we will go for distance education board approval and get it done. The problem will be sorted out soon.


title: Annamalai University

text: Mr. R Singaravel, director of distance education at the university, said the students degree will not become invalid with the UGC notice. As we are the oldest and most prestigious university under Government of Tamil Nadu and offering our programmes before the existence of UGC and IGNOU.


title: Annamalai University

text: UGC's circular that distance education courses at Annamalai University are not valid is incorrect. Contempt of court. The High Court issued a restraining order in our favor in 2018 in favor of the UGC Circular on the grounds that it was in our favor in relation to our university jurisdiction. The UGC reissued a similar circular while the injunction was in force. Subject to contempt of court. Students studying at our university actually have no legal issues. Their courses are legally valid.


title: Annamalai University

text: University officials also stated that Annamalai University Act 1929 was signed and approved by both the then governor general of the British government and the governor general of the central government.  The Annamalai University Act 2013 was approved by both the governor and the president of the state. Therefore, the jurisdiction of the Annamalai University. The same applies to the whole of India as it does to the central universities. Other state university laws are not like that. One approved by the governors of the State.


title: Annamalai University

text: And Annamalai University remote drive is something that appeared long before the emergence of Delhi IGNOU University. Distance Education as DEC. Something that appeared even before the Council appeared and announced the protocols.


title: Annamalai University

text: The National Assessment and Accreditation Council accredited Annamalai University with a grade of "A+" in 2022. The Faculty of Agriculture of Annamalai University is accredited with ICAR (NAEAB).


title: Annamalai University

text: The Annamalai University was ranked 1001+ in the world by the "Times Higher Education World University Rankings" of 2020 and 351–400 in Asia. It was ranked in the 151-200 band overall in India by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) for 2020 and in the 151-200 band among universities. NIRF also ranked it 12 in its pharmacy ranking in 2020.


title: Annamalai University

text: On 6 August 2022 Annamalai University was ranked 15th in India overall among government universities by the magazine "India Today".


title: Annamalai University

text: The Directorate of Distance Education was established in 1979 and offers more than 500 courses, including MBAs. All study programmes offered are approved by the Distance Education Council. The B.Ed. programme is approved by the National Council for Teacher Education.


title: Annamalai University

text: Annamalai University opened its first international office in Toronto, Canada, in 2006, named Annamalai Canada. As it does not have degree-granting authority in the province of Ontario, it acts as a recruitment office for international students for programs and courses in Tamil language, literature, arts, yoga and dance. It offers bachelor's, master's and Ph.D. degrees awarded by Annamalai University's main campus.


title: Annamalai University

text: Annamalai University is India's first and oldest university to offer distance education programmes after receiving assent from the central government.


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: Doctor's Advocate is the third studio album by American hip hop recording artist the Game, released on November 14, 2006, through Geffen Records. The album is his second major-label release, following 2005's "The Documentary", which was released on Aftermath/G-Unit. Due to his disputes with 50 Cent, Game left Aftermath/G-Unit and signed with Geffen Records, another label under Universal Music Group's Interscope-Geffen-A&M division to terminate his contractual obligations with G-Unit, in the summer of 2006.


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: Despite the absence of Dr. Dre, who executive produced Game's debut record, "The Documentary", the album featured production by four other returning producers—Kanye West, Just Blaze, Scott Storch and Hi-Tek—as well as will.i.am and Swizz Beatz. Production for the album was also contributed by DJ Khalil, Jellyroll, Jonathan "J.R." Rotem, Mr. Porter, Nottz, Reefa, Ervin "E.P." Pope and D-Roc, among others.


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: "Doctor's Advocate" debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. "Billboard" 200, selling over 360,000 copies in its first week, making it Game's 2nd No. 1 album in a row.


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: Guests featured on "Doctor's Advocate" include Busta Rhymes, Kanye West, Nas, Nate Dogg, Snoop Dogg, Tha Dogg Pound, Jamie Foxx and Xzibit. Upon its release, the album received favorable reviews, with music critics praising the album's production and the Game's improved lyricism. Game made a point to prove that he could still make good music and be a successful artist, as he did on "The Documentary", without the help from Dr. Dre or 50 Cent. As with "The Documentary", "Doctor's Advocate" was distributed in the United Kingdom by Polydor Records, which is the British distributor for Interscope-Geffen-A&M releases. Game later called "Doctor's Advocate" the best album of his career in 2012.


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: When Game signed onto Aftermath Entertainment, it was later arranged that he would work with 50 Cent and his hip hop group G-Unit. The sudden feud between the pair, who had been marketed as having a mentor/protégé relationship, started soon afterwards. The two were able to put their differences aside for the release of the Game's debut album, "The Documentary" which was released on January 18, 2005. The album was a success for Game and had three singles that featured 50 Cent. The release date of 50 Cent's second album, "The Massacre", was pushed back in order to accommodate Game's album, causing a rift between 50 Cent and Interscope Records. Tensions would rise during the filming of the music video for Game's third single, "Hate It or Love It", when 50 Cent refused to shoot a scene in the front seat of a car with Game, instead sitting in the back (Game's brother, Big Fase 100, would replace him).


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: 50 Cent later dismissed Game from G-Unit on Hot 97 radio. 50 Cent also claimed that he was not getting his proper credit for the creation of Game's debut album and he claimed that he wrote six of the songs, which Game denied. After the announcement, Game, who was a guest earlier in the evening, attempted to enter the building with his entourage. After being denied entry, one of his associates was shot in the leg during a confrontation with a group of men leaving the building. When the situation escalated, both rappers held a press conference to announce their reconciliation. Fans had mixed feelings as to whether the rappers created a publicity stunt to boost the sales of the albums they had just released. Nevertheless, even after the situation deflated, G-Unit criticized the Game's . The group denounced the Game and announced that he will not be featured on their albums. During a Summer Jam performance, the Game launched a boycott of G-Unit called "G-Unot".


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: After the performance at Summer Jam, Game responded with "300 Bars and Runnin'", an extended "diss" aimed at G-Unit as well as members of Roc-A-Fella Records on the mixtape "You Know What It Is Vol. 3". 50 Cent responded through his "Piggy Bank" music video, which features the Game as a Mr. Potato Head doll and also parodies other rivals. Since then both groups continued to attack each other. The Game released two more mixtapes, "Ghost Unit" and a mixtape/DVD called "Stop Snitchin, Stop Lyin".


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: G-Unit posted a cover of Game's head on the body of a male stripper for "Hate It or Love It (G-Unit Radio Part 21)" mixtape, as a response to Game displaying pictures of G-Unit dressed as Village People. Although he was signed to Aftermath Entertainment, the Game left the label due to his disputes with 50 Cent and signed with Geffen Records (another label under Universal Music Group's Interscope-Geffen-A&M division) to terminate his contractual obligations with G-Unit in the summer of 2006 (although others claim 50 Cent pressured Dr. Dre to kick him off). G-Unit member Spider Loc had also begun to insult the Game on various songs. In addition, the Game released "240 Bars (Spider Joke)" and "100 Bars (The Funeral)" both attacking G-Unit, Spider Loc and others. 50 Cent's response was "Not Rich, Still Lyin'" where he mocks the Game. Lloyd Banks replied to the Game on a Rap City freestyle booth session. The Game quickly released a "diss" record called "SoundScan" where the Game pokes fun at Lloyd Banks' album "Rotten Apple" falling thirteen spots on the "Billboard" 200 chart and disappointing second week sales. Lloyd Banks replied on his mixtape "Mo' Money in the Bank Pt. 5: Gang Green Season Continues" with a song called "Showtime (The Game's Over)". Lloyd Banks states that 50 Cent wrote half of the Game's first album "The Documentary" and pokes fun at the Game's suicidal thoughts.


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: In October 2006, the Game extended a peace treaty to 50 Cent, which was not immediately replied to. However, a couple days later, on Power 106, he stated that the treaty was only offered for one day. On "Doctor's Advocate", Game claims that the feud is over on several songs.


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: "Doctor's Advocate" contains various staples of West Coast hip hop albums including explicit rhymes about gang violence, drug use and sex. The album looks into the Game's relationship with his former mentor Dr. Dre on several tracks, most notably "Doctor's Advocate" which also features former Aftermath Entertainment rapper Busta Rhymes. This album is known for its heavy West Coast hip hop sound, something that didn't feature much in his debut "The Documentary". He worked with a number of west coast artists such as Nate Dogg, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit and Tha Dogg Pound. Rapreviews said "He is absolutely quintessentially relentlessly and unapologetically thugging it up on this CD, but unless your name is Joe Lieberman or Tipper Gore you're gonna enjoy the hell out of the dope beats and lyrical bravado and be begging for more." DJBooth praised his lyrical skills by saying "to briefly touch on the lyrics, only Eminem and Lil’ Wayne are currently equals." However, once again many critics panned the Game's namedropping throughout the album, but Steve Juon of "Rapreviews" says that "some accused him of being a "name dropper" back then and still will today, the references seem more in keeping with his "soldier of the West" philosophy and less like a filler for lack of content."


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: While the Game originally claimed Dr. Dre would still do production on the album in the November issue of "XXL" magazine, he admitted in September (after the "XXL" interview was conducted) during an interview on radio station Power 105 that Dr. Dre would not be producing any tracks (although four previously unreleased tracks produced by Dr. Dre were released on the internet, but no reason was given as to why they were not included on the album).


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: The production on the album was praised by critics. Allmusic writer David Jeffries stated: "beat-makers like Kanye West, Just Blaze, Scott Storch and Swizz Beatz are all on fire" and went on to praise will.i.am's return to his "hood sound after years with the polished Black Eyed Peas". A.V. Club's Nathan Rabin noted that the beats created a "gleaming, hydraulics-enhanced '64 Impala of an album to ride".


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: With its use of more West Coast-type beats, crispier drums, and deeper bass, the album leans more towards the West Coast sound than "The Documentary". The album's production stands out with its combination of sampling and live instrumentation. Tracks like "Why You Hate the Game" combine soul samples with string arrangements, and piano-playing, while other tracks like "Remedy" rely heavily on sped-up funk samples. "Too Much" was noted for being an "ABBA-inspired disco-thump", while "Remedy" revolves around "pilfering Public Enemy's hard-hitting sound". The production on "Ol' English" was depicted as "slow-rolling" music, and "Compton" was declared a "return to old-fashioned gangsta rap". "Why You Hate the Game" was driven by a "sparkling piano-heavy...track". Production for the album would also be contributed by DJ Khalil, Hi-Tek, Jellyroll, Jonathan "J.R." Rotem, Mr. Porter, Nottz, Reefa, Ervin "E.P." Pope and D-Roc.


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: "Doctor's Advocate" explicitly refers to Game's former mentor and producer Dr. Dre, whose name is dropped repeatedly. During several of the songs, Game uses words like "family" and "father" to pay tribute to their relationship before at Aftermath Entertainment. Dre associate Busta Rhymes is brought in as a guest on the title track.


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: As the release date of "Doctor's Advocate" approached, it became unclear, due to the G-Unit contract, whether the album be released by Aftermath Entertainment or Interscope Records. Due to his disputes with 50 Cent, in summer 2006 the Game left Aftermath Entertainment and signed with Geffen Records, another label under Universal Music Group's Interscope-Geffen-A&M, division to terminate his contractual obligations with G-Unit.


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: On September 7, 2005, the Game released a promotional mixtape, "Ghost Unit" through 101 Distribution and West Side Entertainment, intended to promote "Doctor's Advocate".


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: On December 3, 2005, the Game released another promotional mixtape album/DVD, "Stop Snitchin–Stop Lyin", through The Black Wall Street Records. The mixtape features artists Lil' Kim, Ice Cube, Lil Rob, Chingy, WC, Paul Wall and others. The DVD is directed by Éngel Thedford of AREA51 Media Group. This mixtape is the third of three diss mixtapes aimed at the G-Unit members. It is quite possibly the most popular of the three due to the DVD advertisement. It also features disses by other Black Wall Street Members. Repeatedly DJ Clue? says "Come on Game it's the last one" suggesting there would be no more diss tracks or mixtapes aimed at G-Unit any more. The track "Niggaz Bleed" is a subliminal diss to Suge Knight. In 2006 the mixtape was certified platinum in Ireland, which sold 15,000 units, and the DVD was certified gold.


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: The first single, "It's Okay (One Blood)", peaked at 71 on the "Billboard" Hot 100". The Game had earlier stated that the song would be released on July 31, 2006, but it was released on July 24. The song was originally to be released on July 4, but got pushed back by the Game. Jimmy Rosemond, head of Czar Entertainment and the Game's manager, explained how "One Blood" would receive positive radio airplay and prove the talent that the Game has. It features Junior Reid and is produced by Reefa. The second single, "Let's Ride", peaked at 46 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The song was written by the Game and Scott Storch and was released on September 25, 2006. The Game mentioned on radio station KDAY in Los Angeles, California that the track was recorded in Miami, Florida, but had the feel of a West Coast Dr. Dre record. The song heavily references Dr. Dre's 1993 hit "Let Me Ride". "Let's Ride" received mediocre reviews from music critics. "MusicOMH" wrote that the track "lacks in any of the vigour and enthusiasm that came with his debut major release album". "Pitchfork Media" gave the song a negative review saying, "What an embarrassment this song turned out to be, lumberingly obvious and poorly crafted from the first awkward gang reference to the last Dre namedrop." About.com's Henry Adaso called the track "just another boring mantra devoid of substance" with the Game delivering "a lethargic sprawl, replete with 50 Cent-esque crooning and tautological Dre odes ("Ain't nuthin' but a G thang, baby, it's a G thang")." "Entertainment Weekly", in a review of "Doctor's Advocate", wrote that the song "recycle[s] Dre's signature high-pitched synths and plinking pianos" and is "marred by stale rhymes chronicling cartoonish gangbanging." "Chocolate" magazine said the track "lacks charisma and substance, and is filled with 50 Cent-style tuneless crooning, endless name checks for Aftermath, Eminem and Dr. Dre and empty lyrics". The third single, "Wouldn't Get Far", peaked at 64 on the "Billboard" Hot 100". The song is produced by and features a verse from Kanye West. It contains a sample from Creative Source's "I'd Find You Anywhere" (which was also sampled on Jadakiss' "By Your Side"), and a sample from "Long Red (Live)" by Mountain. Kanye West revealed that the beat for the song was originally made for Common, and if the Game had turned it down, Kanye would have used it for himself.


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: The album debuted at No. 1 on the "Billboard" 200, selling well over 360,000 copies in its 1st week. The album would go on as the Game's 2nd No. 1 album in a row. The album also charted at No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and at No. 1 on the Top Rap Albums chart. As of October 2007, the album has sold 969,000 copies in the United States of America, according to Nielsen SoundScan.


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: "Doctor's Advocate" attained respectable international charting. In Australia the album entered the Australian Albums Chart at #20, in Austria the album entered the Austrian Albums Chart at No. 12, in Canada the album entered the Canadian Albums Chart at #2, in the Netherlands the album entered the Dutch Albums Chart at No. 19, in France the album entered the French Albums Chart at #9, in Germany the album entered the German Albums Chart at No. 17, in the Republic of Ireland the album entered the Irish Albums Chart at #8, in New Zealand the album entered the New Zealand Albums Chart at No. 15, in Norway the album entered the Norwegian Albums Chart at No. 14, in Switzerland the album entered the Swiss Albums Chart at No. 15.


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: In the United Kingdom the British Phonographic Industry certified the album Gold, and in New Zealand the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand also certified the album Gold.


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: Upon its release, "Doctor's Advocate" received generally positive reviews from music critics. It received an average score of 73 out of 100 based on 20 reviews. Allmusic writer David Jeffries wrote that while the album "is nothing new" from "The Documentary", "the fact remains that every track here is as good as or better than those on his debut." "Entertainment Weekly" disagreed, saying "it doesn't live up to the nihilistic brilliance" of his previous album. Christian Hoard of "Rolling Stone" stated that the album "isn't the classic that message boards are calling it, but it is a middling yet pleasurable record." Hoard also wrote that "lyrically, it's a mixed bag. The Game is still kind of corny, but his skills have improved... He's more nimble and more assured than before, and he switches up his flow more often".


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: . "Stylus Magazine" noted that the Game "brought his personality—occasionally funny, disarmingly needy, a little lunkheaded—into the booth" and that despite Dr. Dre's absence, "the album sounds just as big-budget and lavishly appointed as "The Documentary"". "The New York Times" shared this view saying, "this album sounds much more like a Los Angeles album than its predecessor" and that the rapper "has a terrific voice, bassy and raspy." Similarly, "The A.V. Club" wrote that the Game "boasts a raspy-voiced, belligerent charisma" and that the album "succeeds primarily on the strength of its beats." The album received a near perfect 4.5 mic rating from "The Source".


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: Pitchfork Media stated "As rap music, the "Doctor’s Advocate" is good; as tangled psychodrama, it's better." Jeff Vrabel of PopMatters wrote "Slapping Dre’s name so front and center just tastes weird, like Alanis re-recording Jagged Little Pill or Queen touring without Freddie Mercury: Awk-ward. Ultimately, for all its naked ambition, "Advocate" ends up proving that without the guiding hand of Dre, Game can ... sound like Dre. Just listen to him, he'll tell you. But without that ability to hammer out his own identity, the Game is still in progress." "Stylus Magazine" stated "Despite the fact that Dre had nothing to do with this project, the album sounds just as big-budget and lavishly appointed as "The Documentary". Like his mentor, Game knows how to tweak the bone-rattling clap of the snare and play up the percussive aspect of keyboards."


title: Doctor's Advocate

text: The album appeared on numerous music critics' and publications' end-of-year albums lists. Stylus Magazine placed the album at number 35 on its list of their Top 50 Albums of 2006. Kelefa Sannehof of The New York Times named it the sixth best album of 2006, on its list of Best Albums of 2006. They also said that it was the best hip hop album of the year. Prefix named it the tenth best album of 2006, on its list of Best Albums of 2006.


title: Boston butt

text: A Boston butt is the slightly wedged shaped portion of the pork shoulder above the standard picnic cut which includes the blade bone and the "lean butt" (which is boneless), both extensions of the tenderloin cut and can be used in place of the tenderloin. Generally the pork shoulder is considered a primal cut with the picnic and butt sections being sub-primal cuts however, some sources do refer to the butt as a primary cut.


title: Boston butt

text: The Boston butt gets its name simply from the fact that it is the wider end of the front shoulder. Butt is old English for “wide end” like the butt of a gun.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: Jade City is a 2017 fantasy novel by Fonda Lee. It won the World Fantasy Award in 2018 and is the first in the "Green Bone Saga". It was followed by "Jade War" in 2019 and "Jade Legacy" in 2021.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: The titular Jade City is a nickname for Janloon, the capital of the island of Kekon in the novel's secondary world setting. One reviewer described Kekon as "an analog of mid-20th-century Hong Kong" although Lee has alluded to the setting being inspired by Asia more generally, stating that Kekon is not "Hong Kong or Taiwan or Japan or China or any of those places." She has stated that one of her goals for the novel was to "write an epic fantasy that was not set in medieval Europe," featuring "the scheming and politics and clash of noble houses elements" in a "different cultural setting but also different time period."


title: Jade City (novel)

text: The events of "Jade City" take place a generation after the end of the Many Nations War, a conflict roughly analogous to World War II, during which the One Mountain Society, a national liberation movement, successfully fought to end foreign occupation of Kekon. After the war, a dispute over opening Kekon to international trade led to the One Mountain Society disintegrating into a number of rival clans, with the most powerful being the isolationist Mountain clan led by the Ayt family and the internationalist No Peak clan led by the Kaul family.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: The organization of the clans is similar to the crime families in "The Godfather", in which the Corleone family has a don, underboss and "consigliere"; the clans each have a Pillar, Horn and Weather Man. The Pillar is the head of the clan, the Horn leads its street fighters and the Weather Man is responsible for business activities.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: The Horn oversees the clan's Fists, who each command a number of Fingers, similar to caporegimes and soldiers in the American Mafia. Unlike in the Mafia, the Weather Man manages an office in the business district, staffed by clan members known as Luckbringers.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: Outside of the family but still part of the clan are the Lantern Men, business owners who were civilian accomplices in the liberation movement. After the war they began to pay financial tribute to the clans in return for protection from criminal gangs of untrained jade users.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: Clan members who wear jade are known as Green Bones. They are governed by the aisho honor code, which prevents them from killing unjaded family members of their enemies except in very specific circumstances (clan informants who wear no jade are known as White Rats, and can be killed without violating aisho).


title: Jade City (novel)

text: Kekon contains the world's only supply of jade, a mineral that endows its wearer with enhanced abilities. Safe use of jade requires a combination of genetic predisposition and intense training in the six disciplines of Strength, Steel, Perception, Lightness, Deflection and Channelling.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: Before writing "Jade City", Lee received an MBA from Stanford, worked as a business strategist and wrote science fiction novels. She has stated that she "[treats] the magic almost in a science fictional way" and as "a way to have the international trade and politics play out in the storyline." Jade is the only magical element in the novel, and while the Kekonese regard it as having mystical properties, the Westerners refer to it as "bioenergetic jade," something explicable by science.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: An individual's response to jade is determined by their genetic makeup. The aboriginal population of Kekon, the Abukei, are completely immune to its effects, while individuals from outside Kekon are too sensitive to it. Only the Kekonese, with mixed aboriginal and settler ancestry, have the necessary combination of resistance and sensitivity to be able to use it long-term, although there are wide variations in jade ability among the population, for reasons not well understood. In addition, some Kekonese are born with a recessive genetic trait that makes them immune to jade. These individuals are known as "stone-eyes", and are considered unlucky by other Kekonese. Lee has commented that she tied jade ability to a combination of genetics and luck as "a way to subvert that trope of the blood talent... the chosen ones."


title: Jade City (novel)

text: Kekonese jade users have to spend years in training at the clan academies to use it safely. Overexposure to jade leads to The Itches, a condition causing madness and eventual death. Jade tolerance can also be increased through injections of a drug called SN1 or "shine." Shine is used as a medicine to treat Green Bones, and in addition is traded on the black market and used illicitly by Kekonese who want to wear jade but who do not have academy training. It is also used outside Kekon to facilitate military use of jade by non-Kekonese troops.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: Use and production of jade on Kekon is governed by various traditions and institutions. Green Bones are entitled to claim the jade from enemies they kill in combat. Jade use is supposed to be kept out of government, so members of the Royal Council of Kekon, a representative assembly with lawmaking powers, are banned from wearing it. Jade mining is overseen by the Kekon Jade Alliance (KJA), a private business consortium whose shares are split between the clans. The KJA makes allocations of jade to various organizations including the temples of Deitism, Kekon's main religion, where it is used in rituals.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: Bero, a minor thief, attempts to steal jade from a No Peak Fist while he is dining in a clan-affiliated restaurant, but Bero and his Abukei accomplice Sampa are quickly caught and brought to Hilo for punishment. After they are beaten, a remark by Sampa about a recent murder in clan territory leads Hilo to take the two boys to be questioned in the presence of his brother Lan, the clan Pillar.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: Hilo attempts to convince Lan that the Mountain clan is squeezing No Peak territory, but he is opposed by Doru the Weather Man, who suggests it is a misunderstanding and counsels a peaceful solution. Feeling frustrated and unsupported by Doru, Lan asks his grandfather for permission to replace him as Weather Man, but Kaul Sen refuses to allow it. A short time after this, Shae returns to Kekon, looking for a job that will not require her to wear jade.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: The Mountain comes close to violating aisho by kidnapping Anden, who is still in his final year at the Academy. Ayt Mada offers Anden a position in her clan, signalling that she wishes to unite the Mountain and No Peak. Her purpose is partially to send a message that she considers Hilo an unsuitable Horn.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: Once Anden has been returned safely, Lan begins to move against the Mountain. He proposes a new law preventing any one clan from gaining control of the Kekon Jade Alliance, and he sends Shae to audit the KJA's accounts, looking for irregularities.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: Their message to Anden having been disregarded, the Mountain makes an attempt on Hilo's life. In retaliation, No Peak threatens to storm their training complex. To prevent this, the Mountain apologizes, gives up the would-be assassins and makes a territorial concession. The more senior of the assassins offers Lan a clean blade, demanding to be killed in combat. Believing that he needs to prove himself to the clan in order to remain Pillar, Lan accepts and wins the duel, but only barely.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: In the aftermath, Hilo asks his brother for permission to marry his girlfriend Wen, and Lan, despite misgivings about his brother marrying a stone-eye from a disreputable family, gives his permission.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: Lan has been injured in the duel and his jade tolerance has been affected, but he cannot be seen to show weakness by failing to wear the additional jade he has won. He arranges for Anden to bring him packages of shine. When Anden realizes what he is delivering he pleads with Lan to stop using the drug, but Lan swears him to secrecy. When Shae comes to see Anden he tries to tell her about the shine, but misses his opportunity.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: Shae reports to Lan that someone in the KJA is skimming jade, and that either Doru doesn't know about it and is incompetent, or he is allowing it to happen. Lan sends Doru overseas to get him out of the way and tells his allies on the Royal Council that he is going to suspend jade production. Lan receives a letter from his estranged wife, but can't bring himself to open it.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: Meanwhile Bero has been stealing shipments from the Docks. Through his fence he meets a mysterious Mountain Green Bone, who gives Bero a submachine gun and tells him to use it to shoot up the gentleman's club Lan frequents. Lan accidentally takes an overdose of shine while visiting the club, and when Bero attacks him he falls into the sea and drowns.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: When Shae hears about his death she immediately goes to the bank where her jade is kept and puts it all back on. Hilo is now Pillar and she persuades him to strike back by reclaiming some disputed territory rather than launching an all-out attack on the Mountain. She takes part in the battle, fighting several Mountain Green Bones and killing two. Afterward, Hilo asks her to become his Weather Man and she agrees. She cements her position by gaining the support of her main rivals for the role, and she spares Doru's life on condition that he gives up his jade, renounces clan business and spends his remaining days as a companion for her grandfather.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: The clans are now in a state of open war. Shae and Hilo attend negotiations with Ayt Mada and her Weather Man until Hilo accuses the Mountain of skimming jade from the KJA and supplying it to non-Green Bones, then storms out. Ayt arranges to meet Shae on safe ground and tries to talk her into betraying No Peak, but Shae refuses, knowing that she is putting her life in serious jeopardy by doing so. She tells Hilo that No Peak can only hold out for another six months.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: Wen asks Shae to make her a spy for the clan, without Hilo's knowledge. Shae sends her to a foreign military base with a shipment of jade worth millions, re-establishing the supply that has been disrupted by the KJA's suspension of jade production.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: Kaul Sen gives his jade to Doru, and Doru uses it to attack his guards and escape, defecting to the Mountain with all his knowledge of No Peak's business dealings. The Mountain continues to use its superior position to maim and kill No Peak Green Bones. On New Year's Day, Hilo marries Wen, then has Anden drive him into Mountain territory to be killed in combat, in return for clemency for the remaining No Peak clan members. Hilo kills several Green Bones but is overwhelmed. When Gont Asch steps in to finish him, Hilo and Anden together kill the Horn of the Mountain.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: The fight leaves Anden in a coma. When he regains consciousness, he learns that the loss of its Horn has dealt the Mountain a serious blow and given No Peak a temporary advantage in the war. Anden returns to the Academy for his graduation ceremony, but when he is presented with his jade he declares he does not want to be a Green Bone. He tells Hilo he does not want a life of violence, and when the Pillar rebukes him Anden runs from the Academy to Lan's grave.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: Later, under cover of darkness, Bero also visits the grave. He is still looking for jade, and in the former Pillar's coffin there is a generous supply.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: "Publishers Weekly" called the novel "an engaging blend of crime drama and Asian martial arts film tropes" and it received a starred review from Library Journal.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: "Jade City" won the 2018 World Fantasy Award (tied with Victor LaValle's "The Changeling") and the Aurora Award, and was a finalist for the Nebula, Locus, Ignyte and Dragon Awards.


title: Jade City (novel)

text: In August 2020, it was reported that Peacock is developing a television series adaptation of the novel. The series will be produced by Universal Television with Dave Kalstein as writer and executive producer, Breck Eisner as director and executive producer and Dean Georgaris as executive producer. In June 2022, Lee announced that the series was not moving forward at the service and would be shopped again.


title: Wade Morissette

text: Wade Morissette was born on 1 June 1974 at Riverside Hospital of Ottawa in Ottawa, Ontario, the son of Georgia Mary Ann Feuerstein, a Hungarian-born teacher, and Alan Richard Morissette, a high school principal of French and Irish descent. Wade is the twin brother of Alanis Morissette, whom he names as "one of the biggest influences in my life"; they have an older brother, Chad.


title: Wade Morissette

text: Wade took to music at an early age, studying piano as a child and guitar and djembe in his teens. During a trip to India, he encountered devotional yoga and chanting, and decided to combine his interests in yoga and music, to create his own blend of indie rock/pop music with Sanskrit and English chants.


title: Wade Morissette

text: In 2004, Wade was asked to be an ambassador for Lululemon, the popular yoga-inspired athletic apparel company. At the same time, he had self-released his debut album, Sargam Scales of Music. This turned into a world tour to promote both his album and the clothing line with the company signing on as a sponsor. The Lululemon Yoga Pilgrimage kicked off in 2005 and took Wade to Tokyo, Hong Kong and 32 cities in North America and continued on through early 2006 with stops in Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico.


title: Wade Morissette

text: In late 2006, Nettwerk Music Group CEO and yoga enthusiast Terry McBride signed Wade to the label's Nutone Music division. Wade has since released his second and third albums, Strong as Diamonds: Om Vajra Kaya Namaha, in 2007 and Maha Moha – The Great Delusion in 2008.


title: Wade Morissette

text: During live performances, Wade often begins with bliss dance and ends with a kirtan. Wade, on guitar and harmonium, sings out a phrase; the audience responds until the musicians and audience mesh.


title: Wade Morissette

text: Wade has been practising and teaching yoga since 1995. He has completed Iyengar, Classical Ashtanga and Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga teacher training. He has studied Vinyasa, Viniyoga, Anusara and Kriya yoga, as well as zazen, Vedic chanting, and active movement and sound meditations with some of the best-known teachers in Canada, North America, and India. He is also a Reiki master, certified Phoenix Rising yoga therapist, and Viniyoga Therapist. He leads teacher trainings, workshops, retreats, and music-dance evenings internationally.


title: Wade Morissette

text: Wade has had features published in the Yoga Journal and Maclean's Magazine. His work also includes the book "Transformative Yoga: Five Keys to Unlocking Inner Bliss" (2009), which he co-authored with his twin Alanis Morissette. He is also planning a series of motivational seminars.


title: The Matrix Online

text: The Matrix Online (abbreviated as MxO) was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) initially developed by Monolith Productions and later, a few months after launch, by Sony Online Entertainment. It was advertised as a continuation of the storyline of "The Matrix" films, as The Wachowskis, the franchise's creators, gave their blessing to the notion of gamers "inherit[ing] the storyline". The game began closed beta-testing in June 2004 which was then opened for people who pre-ordered the game in November 2004. Warner Bros. and Sega released "MxO" on March 22, 2005 in the United States. It was released in Europe on April 15, 2005. In June, Warner Bros. sold the rights to the game to Sony Online Entertainment, and the game's development and operation was transferred to the latter on August 15, 2005. Sony Online Entertainment shut down operation of the game on July 31, 2009.


title: The Matrix Online

text: Ubisoft backed out of an agreement to co-publish the game, not long after canceling plans for another MMORPG. Ubisoft and Warner Bros. stated that this did not have a negative impact on their relationship. At the time, doubts about the game circled within the industry, based on the lackluster reception of the second and third "The Matrix" films and an overcrowded MMORPG market.


title: The Matrix Online

text: In "The Matrix Online", the player assumes the role of a redpill, a human who was formerly trapped inside the Matrix and has since been freed and shown the truth of humanity's imprisonment. When creating a new character, the player is given the choice of taking a blue pill that will return them to their former life (quit the game) or a red pill, which will free their mind from the Matrix and allow them to take the body of a physical human and experience reality. Characters who are unaware of the fact that they are in the simulation are often referred to as "bluepills" because they have either taken the blue pill or have not been given the choice yet. People who are aware of the simulation (players) are referred to as "redpills" because they have taken the red pill (or, in very rare cases, when a character has self-substantiated out of the Matrix on their own). Following the choice between the two pills, the player is then taken through a basic tutorial of the game's mechanics, including mission interaction and the combat system. After the tutorial, they are then free to roam the Mega City (the large metropolis that the entire Matrix story is set in).


title: The Matrix Online

text: Combat in the game is divided into two separate parts: Free-fire and Interlock. Free-fire mode allows for large gun battles to take place, while Interlock is often broken down into bullet-time-affected martial arts moves and close-quarters gunfire.


title: The Matrix Online

text: There are three main classes in "The Matrix Online": Coder, Hacker, and Operative. Coders create a special "simulacrum" that fights for them. Hackers manipulate the code of the Matrix to affect friends and enemies from a distance, either damaging them, downgrading their combat abilities, or healing them and upgrading their powers. Operatives are the common soldiers seen from the movies - Martial Artists, Gunmen, and the new Spy class, which revolves around stealth fighting and knife throwing. Magazines never seem to run out of bullets and knife throwers also have an unlimited supply.


title: The Matrix Online

text: In free-fire mode, operatives exchange damage with each other. Gunmen and Hackers are well-equipped for this, with their ranged attacks and abilities. Martial Artists must get close to their targets to be effective, and although a Spy's most dangerous abilities are initiated out of Interlock, they also pull their opponents into Interlock. Each attack or ability is used at timed intervals, based on the system of damage per second (D.P.S.). For example, the strongest rifle in the Matrix does 15 damage points per second and has a fire rate of 3.5 seconds, which, in free-fire, causes the rifle to have a base damage of 52.5, to be altered by the player's own stats. Opposed to such, a Hacker's stronger attack ability such as Logic Barrage 4.0 does 63 D.P.S., but with a short casting timer, does base damage of only 120-180 damage.


title: The Matrix Online

text: In Interlock or Close Combat, two players exchange damage in rounds. Each round lasts exactly four seconds. For each round, the two players' accuracies are pitted against each other's defenses, which are slightly affected by a random "luck" roll. There are three different outcomes to a round: hit-hit, hit-miss, or miss-miss. In hit-miss, one of the players will hit the other while dodging or blocking their attack. In miss-miss, both players will parry each other without doing damage. In hit-hit, one player will damage the other, only to be damaged themselves in a counterattack. When special abilities are used, however, there can be no hit-hit round, although the miss-miss round can still apply.


title: The Matrix Online

text: When taking or dealing damage, one player's damage influences are pitted against another player's resistance influences of the same damage type (i.e. a gunman's ballistic damage versus an opponent's ballistic resistance). Higher resistance versus lower damage means that the defending player will not take as much damage.


title: The Matrix Online

text: When attacking or defending against attacks, one player's accuracy influences are pitted against another's defense influences of the same attack type.


title: The Matrix Online

text: There is no turn-based combat in the Matrix Online. All combat takes place in "real-time", and large-scale battles are often decided by the sheer numbers of forces of one side versus others. Amassing a large number of players to control the battlefield is affectionately dubbed "zerging".


title: The Matrix Online

text: Items that characters drop in the game world can be picked up, granting powers to the player that lugs them around. These are called "luggables".


title: The Matrix Online

text: "The Matrix Online" has a unique class system. Players can load abilities they have either purchased or produced (by the "Coder" class, known in-game as "coding") at "Hardlines", provided they have enough memory and the abilities that precede the loading one. These abilities can then be switched out at a Hardline at a moment's notice. This leads to a very flexible class system, without players being stuck in one class.


title: The Matrix Online

text: The three main archetypes are Hacker, Coder, and Operative. They are similar to the classes Mage, Crafter, and Fighter in other MMORPGs. These classes then branch out into sub-classes, with Coder, for example, is divided into Programmer (out of a battle item and ability maker) and Code Shaper (creates simulacrums to fight with, similarities to a necromancer/summoner in other MMOG's). The game has a total of 21 end-game classes with an additional two stubs.


title: The Matrix Online

text: After an initial set of introductory missions, players can join one of three organizations working in the Matrix, each with a different set of goals, beliefs, and methods: Zion, the Machines, and the Merovingian.


title: The Matrix Online

text: In order to receive increasingly critical and sensitive missions, players are expected to run missions for their chosen organization, which will increase their standing with their chosen organization but will also lower it with the other two.


title: The Matrix Online

text: Zion is the last remaining human city on Earth, hidden deep underground and is concerned chiefly with protecting its citizens from the Machines who see those who have "awakened" as a threat to those still connected to the Matrix. Those who choose to work for Zion usually enlist in the Zion Military and see this as the best way to protect the ideals of freedom.


title: The Matrix Online

text: The main motivation for choosing to side with the Machines is that this organization is seen as the most conducive towards maintaining the status-quo of the Matrix and protecting the lives of those still connected to it, i.e., bluepills. However, there are also those who feel that the only way to improve relations between man and machine is to work with them as closely as possible and see joining this organization as the best way to do so.


title: The Matrix Online

text: Those who work for the Merovingian are in a unique position in that they need not concern themselves with the traditional hostilities between Zion and the Machines, preferring instead to act only when the situation would prove advantageous for themselves or the organization as a whole. However, this organization has also been chosen by some players as it is the only one out of the three that fights to protect the Exiles who reside within the Matrix.


title: The Matrix Online

text: Players cannot run missions for these organizations although in storyline terms they are now quite separate from their original "parent" organization, even receiving their own Live Events:


title: The Matrix Online

text: Members of EPN are devoted to what they deem "Neo's legacy". This mostly involves giving all human beings the opportunity to question the true nature of their "reality", the Matrix, and to have the choice of the red or blue pill. Very much against the Machines, and Cypherites in particular, there are some more fundamentalist schools of thought within this organization who believe that the only solution to humanity's problems is to free the entire human population from the Matrix. They are led by The Kid with his old friend, Shimada - who also acts as their mission controller.


title: The Matrix Online

text: Usually seen as the more extreme elements of the Machine organization, Cypherites follow in the footsteps of Cypher, wanting to be reinserted into the Matrix as bluepills so that they may be blissfully unaware of the true nature of the Matrix as a computer program. The name of their hovercraft, Blue Dreamer, reflects this philosophy. They are currently led by Cryptos and his second-in-command, the Zion traitor, Veil. During the time that Cryptos was revealed to be a Machine Program inhabiting a redpill's body, Veil assumed control of the organization.


title: The Matrix Online

text: As of Chapter 11.3, the Cypherites and EPN have effectively been withdrawn as a playable organization within the game. Existing factions that have been granted their respective "EPN/CYPH" tags in their faction name will continue to hold said tags unless they disband or reform, but no new splinter org tags will be granted. In addition, no Live Events will occur for these organizations in the future.


title: The Matrix Online

text: Another of "The Matrix Online"'s defining and differentiating aspects was its inclusion and emphasis on what was called "The Continuing Story". This is to say the game itself is the official continuation of the universe, story and characters established in "The Matrix" series of fictional works including the film trilogy, "The Animatrix" short films, the "Enter the Matrix" video game and a series of officially written and produced Matrix comic books.


title: The Matrix Online

text: This continuation was written by comic book writer Paul Chadwick. It was also confirmed as having seen verification and input from "Matrix" creators The Wachowskis through the end of Chapter 9.


title: The Matrix Online

text: "The Matrix Online" used a system of organization akin to that of software versioning to keep track of its chronological progression. Each "Critical" mission and development is given its own unique tag within this system.


title: The Matrix Online

text: It has been stated by "MxO" developer Rarebit, that this numbering system was meant purely for chronological measuring and game design (for the various rewards associated with completing past critical missions in a system called The Mission Archive). The chapters and sub-chapters are not intended as self-contained units. Rather, they are each equally relevant to the unfolding of the story as a whole.


title: The Matrix Online

text: The LESIG (Live Event Special Interest Group) was originally devised under Monolith's operation of the game to give developers insight into the player sentiment around live events, with the creation of a live events program, including the development of in-game event tools and server-specific event teams made of community members, as a long term goal.


title: The Matrix Online

text: However, when "The Matrix Online" moved to Sony Online Entertainment, the program underwent a radical change in direction as part of similar changes to the other story telling devices, most importantly, the scale and frequency of live events following the departure of a dedicated Live Events Team.


title: The Matrix Online

text: The group were given the new task of playing minor supporting roles (known as organization liaison officers) during future live events or even more permanent characters to enhance interaction between players, essentially replacing the paid staff of the LET with volunteer players.


title: The Matrix Online

text: In June 2009, Sony Online Entertainment stopped serving "The Matrix Online" due to low subscription numbers. The service was officially shut down on August 1, 2009. At the time, it had fewer than 500 active players.


title: The Matrix Online

text: The days leading up to the closing, as well as the end of the servers themselves, were chronicled on the gaming website Giant Bomb in a video series titled "Not Like This", a reference to a line in "The Matrix"s first movie.


title: The Matrix Online

text: After the closing, the website remained operational for a limited period of time. Visitors were greeted with an invitation to peruse the official memory book, which had been posted as a parting gift to the fans. The book included a summary of the storyline and various nostalgic items.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is a type of hearing loss in which the root cause lies in the inner ear or sensory organ (cochlea and associated structures) or the vestibulocochlear nerve (cranial nerve VIII). SNHL accounts for about 90% of reported hearing loss . SNHL is usually permanent and can be mild, moderate, severe, profound, or total. Various other descriptors can be used depending on the shape of the audiogram, such as high frequency, low frequency, U-shaped, notched, peaked, or flat.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: "Sensory" hearing loss often occurs as a consequence of damaged or deficient cochlear hair cells. Hair cells may be abnormal at birth or damaged during the lifetime of an individual. There are both external causes of damage, including infection, and ototoxic drugs, as well as intrinsic causes, including genetic mutations. A common cause or exacerbating factor in SNHL is prolonged exposure to environmental noise, or noise-induced hearing loss. Exposure to a single very loud noise such as a gun shot or bomb blast can cause noise-induced hearing loss. Using headphones at high volume over time, or being in loud environments regularly, such as a loud workplace, sporting events, concerts, and using noisy machines can also be a risk for noise-induced hearing loss.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: "Neural", or "retrocochlear", hearing loss occurs because of damage to the cochlear nerve (CVIII). This damage may affect the initiation of the nerve impulse in the cochlear nerve or the transmission of the nerve impulse along the nerve into the brainstem.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: Most cases of SNHL present with a gradual deterioration of hearing thresholds occurring over years to decades. In some, the loss may eventually affect large portions of the frequency range. It may be accompanied by other symptoms such as ringing in the ears (tinnitus) and dizziness or lightheadedness (vertigo). The most common kind of sensorineural hearing loss is age-related (presbycusis), followed by noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL).


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: Frequent symptoms of SNHL are loss of acuity in distinguishing foreground voices against noisy backgrounds, difficulty understanding on the telephone, some kinds of sounds seeming excessively loud or shrill, difficulty understanding some parts of speech (fricatives and sibilants), loss of directionality of sound (especially with high frequency sounds), perception that people mumble when speaking, and difficulty understanding speech. Similar symptoms are also associated with other kinds of hearing loss; audiometry or other diagnostic tests are necessary to distinguish sensorineural hearing loss.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: Identification of sensorineural hearing loss is usually made by performing a pure tone audiometry (an audiogram) in which bone conduction thresholds are measured. Tympanometry and speech audiometry may be helpful. Testing is performed by an audiologist.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: There is no proven or recommended treatment or cure for SNHL; management of hearing loss is usually by hearing strategies and hearing aids. In cases of profound or total deafness, a cochlear implant is a specialised hearing aid that may restore a functional level of hearing. SNHL is at least partially preventable by avoiding environmental noise, ototoxic chemicals and drugs, and head trauma, and treating or inoculating against certain triggering diseases and conditions like meningitis.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: Since the inner ear is not directly accessible to instruments, identification is by patient report of the symptoms and audiometric testing. Of those who present to their doctor with sensorineural hearing loss, 90% report having diminished hearing, 57% report having a plugged feeling in ear, and 49% report having ringing in ear (tinnitus). About half report vestibular (vertigo) problems.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: For a detailed exposition of symptoms useful for screening, a self-assessment questionnaire was developed by the American Academy of Otolaryngology, called the Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults (HHIA). It is a 25-question survey of subjective symptoms.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: Sensorineural hearing loss may be genetic or acquired (i.e. as a consequence of disease, noise, trauma, etc.). People may have a hearing loss from birth (congenital) or the hearing loss may come on later. Many cases are related to old age (age-related).


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: Hearing loss can be inherited. More than 40 genes have been implicated in the cause of deafness. There are 300 syndromes with related hearing loss, and each syndrome may have causative genes.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: Recessive, dominant, X-linked, or mitochondrial genetic mutations can affect the structure or metabolism of the inner ear. Some may be single point mutations, whereas others are due to chromosomal abnormalities. Some genetic causes give rise to a late onset hearing loss. Mitochondrial mutations can cause SNHL i.e. m.1555A>G, which makes the individual sensitive to the ototoxic effects of aminoglycoside antibiotics.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: Progressive age-related loss of hearing acuity or sensitivity can start as early as age 18, primarily affecting the high frequencies, and men more than women. Such losses may not become apparent until much later in life. Presbycusis is by far the dominant cause of sensorineural hearing loss in industrialized societies. A study conducted in Sudan, with a population free from loud noise exposures, found significantly less cases of hearing loss when compared with age-matched cases from an industrialized country. Similar findings were reported by a study conducted of a population from Easter island, which reported worse hearing among those that spent time in industrialized countries when compared with those that never left the island. Researchers have argued that factors other than differences in noise exposure, such as genetic make up, might also have contributed to the findings. Hearing loss that worsens with age but is caused by factors other than normal aging, such as noise-induced hearing loss, is not presbycusis, although differentiating the individual effects of multiple causes of hearing loss can be difficult. One in three persons have significant hearing loss by age 65; by age 75, one in two. Age-related hearing loss is neither preventable nor reversible.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: Most people living in modern society have some degree of progressive sensorineural (i.e. permanent) noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) resulting from overloading and damaging the sensory or neural apparatus of hearing in the inner ear. NIHL is typically a drop-out or notch centered at 4000 Hz. Both intensity (SPL) and duration of exposure, and repetitive exposure to unsafe levels of noise contribute to cochlear damage that results in hearing loss. The louder the noise is, the shorter the safe amount of exposure is. NIHL can be either permanent or temporary, called a threshold shift. Unsafe levels of noise can be as little as 70 dB (about twice as loud as normal conversation) if there is prolonged (24-hour) or continuous exposure. 125 dB (a loud rock concert is ~120 dB) is the pain level; sounds above this level cause instant and permanent ear damage.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: Noise and ageing are the primary causes of presbycusis, or age-related hearing loss, the most common kind of hearing loss in industrial society.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: An increase of 6 dB represents a doubling of the SPL, or energy of the sound wave, and therefore its propensity to cause ear damage. Because human ears hear logarithmically, not linearly, it takes an increase of 10 dB to produce a sound that is perceived to be twice as loud. Ear damage due to noise is proportional to sound intensity, not perceived loudness, so it's misleading to rely on subjective perception of loudness as an indication of the risk to hearing, i.e. it can significantly underestimate the danger.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: While the standards differ moderately in levels of intensity and duration of exposure considered safe, some guidelines can be derived.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: The safe amount of exposure is reduced by a factor of 2 for every exchange rate (3 dB for NIOSH standard or 5 dB for OSHA standard) increase in SPL. For example, the safe daily exposure amount at 85 dB (90 dB for OSHA) is 8 hours, while the safe exposure at 94 dB(A) (nightclub level) is only 1 hour. Noise trauma can also cause a reversible hearing loss, called a temporary threshold shift. This typically occurs in individuals who are exposed to gunfire or firecrackers, and hear ringing in their ears after the event (tinnitus).


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: Some over-the-counter as well as prescription drugs and certain industrial chemicals are ototoxic. Exposure to these can result in temporary or permanent hearing loss.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: Some medications cause irreversible damage to the ear, and are limited in their use for this reason. The most important group is the aminoglycosides (main member gentamicin). A rare mitochondrial mutation, m.1555A>G, can increase an individual's susceptibility to the ototoxic effect of aminoglycosides. Long term hydrocodone (Vicodin) abuse is known to cause rapidly progressing sensorineural hearing loss, usually without vestibular symptoms. Methotrexate, a chemotherapy agent, is also known to cause hearing loss. In most cases hearing loss does not recover when the drug is stopped. Paradoxically, methotrexate is also used in the treatment of autoimmune-induced inflammatory hearing loss.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: Various other medications may reversibly degrade hearing. This includes loop diuretics, sildenafil (Viagra), high or sustained dosing of NSAIDs (aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, and various prescription drugs: celecoxib, etc.), quinine, and macrolide antibiotics (erythromycin, etc.). Cytotoxic agents such as carboplatinum, used to treat malignancies can give rise to a dose dependent SNHL, as can drugs such as desferrioxamine, used for haematological disorders such as thalassaemia; patients prescribed these drugs need to have hearing monitored.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: Prolonged or repeated environmental or work-related exposure to ototoxic chemicals can also result in sensorineural hearing loss. Some of these chemicals are:


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: There can be damage either to the ear itself or to the central auditory pathways that process the information conveyed by the ears. People who sustain head injury are susceptible to hearing loss or tinnitus, either temporary or permanent. Contact sports like football (U.S. NFL), hockey and cricket have a notable incidence of head injuries (concussions). In one survey of retired NFL players, all of whom reported one or more concussions during their playing careers, 25% had hearing loss and 50% had tinnitus.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: These are much more common in premature babies, particularly those under 1500 g at birth. Premature birth can be associated with problems that result in sensorineural hearing loss such as anoxia or hypoxia (poor oxygen levels), jaundice, intracranial haemorrhages, meningitis. Fetal alcohol syndrome is reported to cause hearing loss in up to 64% of infants born to alcoholic mothers, from the ototoxic effect on the developing fetus, plus malnutrition during pregnancy from the excess alcohol intake.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: Iodine deficiency and endemic hypothyroidism are associated with hearing loss. If a pregnant mother has insufficient iodine intake during pregnancy it affects the development of the inner ear in the foetus leading to sensorineural deafness. This occurs in certain areas of the world, such as the Himalayas, where iodine is deficient in the soil and thus the diet. In these areas there is a high incidence of endemic goitre. This cause of deafness is prevented by adding iodine to salt.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: Brain stroke in a region affecting auditory function such as a posterior circulation infarct has been associated with deafness.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: Sensory hearing loss is caused by abnormal structure or function of the hair cells of the organ of Corti in the cochlea. Neural hearing impairments are consequent upon damage to the eighth cranial nerve (the vestibulocochlear nerve) or the auditory tracts of the brainstem. If higher levels of the auditory tract are affected this is known as central deafness. Central deafness may present as sensorineural deafness but should be distinguishable from the history and audiological testing.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: Hearing impairment may be associated with damage to the hair cells in the cochlea. Sometimes there may be complete loss of function of inner hair cells (IHCs) over a certain region of the cochlea; this is called a "dead region". The region can be defined in terms of the range of characteristic frequencies (CFs) of the IHCs and/or neurons immediately adjacent to the dead region.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: Outer hair cells (OHCs) contribute to the structure of the Organ of Corti, which is situated between the basilar membrane and the tectorial membrane within the cochlea (See Figure 3). The tunnel of corti, which runs through the Organ of Corti, divides the OHCs and the inner hair cells (IHCs). OHCs are connected to the reticular laminar and the Deiters’ cells. There are roughly twelve thousand OHCs in each human ear, and these are arranged in up to five rows. Each OHC has small tufts of 'hairs', or cilia, on their upper surface known as stereocilia, and these are also arranged into rows which are graded in height. There are approximately 140 stereocilia on each OHC.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: The fundamental role of the OHCs and the IHCs is to function as sensory receptors. The main function of the IHCs is to transmit sound information via afferent neurons. They do this by transducing mechanical movements or signals into neural activity. When stimulated, the stereocilia on the IHCs move, causing a flow of electric current to pass through the hair cells. This electric current creates action potentials within the connected afferent neurons.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: OHCs are different in that they actually contribute to the active mechanism of the cochlea. They do this by receiving mechanical signals or vibrations along the basilar membrane, and transducing them into electrochemical signals. The stereocilia found on OHCs are in contact with the tectorial membrane. Therefore, when the basilar membrane moves due to vibrations, the stereocilia bend. The direction in which they bend, dictates the firing rate of the auditory neurons connected to the OHCs.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: The bending of the stereocilia towards the basal body of the OHC causes excitation of the hair cell. Thus, an increase in firing rate of the auditory neurons connected to the hair cell occurs. On the other hand, the bending of the stereocilia away from the basal body of the OHC causes inhibition of the hair cell. Thus, a decrease in firing rate of the auditory neurons connected to the hair cell occurs. OHCs are unique in that they are able to contract and expand (electromotility). Therefore, in response to the electrical stimulations provided by the efferent nerve supply, they can alter in length, shape and stiffness. These changes influence the response of the basilar membrane to sound. It is therefore clear that the OHCs play a major role in the active processes of the cochlea. The main function of the active mechanism is to finely tune the basilar membrane, and provide it with a high sensitivity to quiet sounds. The active mechanism is dependent on the cochlea being in good physiological condition. However, the cochlea is very susceptible to damage.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: SNHL is most commonly caused by damage to the OHCs and the IHCs. There are two methods by which they might become damaged. Firstly, the entire hair cell might die. Secondly, the stereocilia might become distorted or destroyed. Damage to the cochlea can occur in several ways, for example by viral infection, exposure to ototoxic chemicals, and intense noise exposure. Damage to the OHCs results in either a less effective active mechanism, or it may not function at all. OHCs contribute to providing a high sensitivity to quiet sounds at a specific range of frequencies (approximately 2–4 kHz). Thus, damage to the OHCs results in the reduction of sensitivity of the basilar membrane to weak sounds. Amplification to these sounds is therefore required, in order for the basilar membrane to respond efficiently. IHCs are less susceptible to damage in comparison to the OHCs. However, if they become damaged, this will result in an overall loss of sensitivity.


title: Sensorineural hearing loss

text: The traveling wave along the basilar membrane peaks at different places along it, depending on whether the sound is low or high frequency. Due to the mass and stiffness of the basilar membrane, low frequency waves peak in the apex, while high frequency sounds peak in the basal end of the cochlea. Therefore, each position along the basilar membrane is finely tuned to a particular frequency. These specifically tuned frequencies are referred to as characteristic frequencies (CF).