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Prostate

The prostate is both an accessory gland of the male reproductive system and a muscle-driven mechanical switch between urination and ejaculation. It is found in all male mammals. It differs between species anatomically, chemically, and physiologically. Anatomically, the prostate is found below the bladder, with the urethra passing through it. It is described in gross anatomy as consisting of lobes and in microanatomy by zone. It is surrounded by an elastic, fibromuscular capsule and contains glandular tissue, as well as connective tissue.

The prostate produces and contains fluid that forms part of semen, the substance emitted during ejaculation as part of the male sexual response. This prostatic fluid is slightly alkaline, milky or white in appearance. The alkalinity of semen helps neutralize the acidity of the vaginal tract, prolonging the lifespan of sperm. The prostatic fluid is expelled in the first part of ejaculate, together with most of the sperm, because of the action of smooth muscle tissue within the prostate. In comparison with the few spermatozoa expelled together with mainly seminal vesicular fluid, those in prostatic fluid have better motility, longer survival, and better protection of genetic material.

Disorders of the prostate include enlargement, inflammation, infection, and cancer. The word prostate comes from Ancient Greek προστάτης, prostátēs, meaning "one who stands before", "protector", "guardian", with the term originally used to describe the seminal vesicles.

Structure
The prostate is a gland of the male reproductive system. In adults, it is about the size of a walnut, and has an average weight of about 11 grams, usually ranging between 7 and 16 grams. The prostate is located in the pelvis. It sits below the urinary bladder and surrounds the urethra. The part of the urethra passing through it is called the prostatic urethra, which joins with the two ejaculatory ducts. The prostate is covered in a surface called the prostatic capsule or prostatic fascia.

The internal structure of the prostate has been described using both lobes and zones. Because of the variation in descriptions and definitions of lobes, the zone classification is used more predominantly.

The prostate has been described as consisting of three or four zones. Zones are more typically able to be seen on histology, or in medical imaging, such as ultrasound or MRI. The zones are:

The "lobe" classification describes lobes that, while originally defined in the fetus, are also visible in gross anatomy, including dissection and when viewed endoscopically. The five lobes are the anterior lobe or isthmus, the posterior lobe, the right and left lateral lobes, and the middle or median lobe.

Inside of the prostate, adjacent and parallel to the prostatic urethra, there are two longitudinal muscle systems. On the front side (ventrally) runs the urethral dilator (musculus dilatator urethrae), on the backside (dorsally) runs the muscle switching the urethra into the ejaculatory state (musculus ejaculatorius).

Blood and lymphatic vessels
The prostate receives blood through the inferior vesical artery, internal pudendal artery, and middle rectal arteries. These vessels enter the prostate on its outer surface where it meets the bladder, and travel forward to the apex of the prostate. Both the inferior vesical and the middle rectal arteries often arise together directly from the internal iliac arteries. On entering the bladder, the inferior vesical artery splits into a urethral branch, supplying the urethral prostate; and a capsular branch, which travels around the capsule and has smaller branches, which perforate into the prostate.

The veins of the prostate form a network – the prostatic venous plexus, primarily around its front and outer surface. This network also receives blood from the deep dorsal vein of the penis, and is connected via branches to the vesical plexus and internal pudendal veins. Veins drain into the vesical and then internal iliac veins.

The lymphatic drainage of the prostate depends on the positioning of the area. Vessels surrounding the vas deferens, some of the vessels in the seminal vesicle, and a vessel from the posterior surface of the prostate drain into the external iliac lymph nodes. Some of the seminal vesicle vessels, prostatic vessels, and vessels from the anterior prostate drain into internal iliac lymph nodes. Vessels of the prostate itself also drain into the obturator and sacral lymph nodes.

Microanatomy
The prostate consists of glandular and connective tissue. Tall column-shaped cells form the lining (the epithelium) of the glands. These form one layer or may be pseudostratified. The epithelium is highly variable and areas of low cuboidal or flat cells can also be present, with transitional epithelium in the outer regions of the longer ducts. Basal cells surround the luminal epithelial cells in benign glands. The glands are formed as many follicles, which drain into canals and subsequently 12–20 main ducts, These in turn drain into the urethra as it passes through the prostate. There are also a small amount of flat cells, which sit next to the basement membranes of glands, and act as stem cells.

The connective tissue of the prostate is made up of fibrous tissue and smooth muscle. The fibrous tissue separates the gland into lobules. It also sits between the glands and is composed of randomly orientated smooth-muscle bundles that are continuous with the bladder.

Over time, thickened secretions called corpora amylacea accumulate in the gland.

Gene and protein expression
About 20,000 protein coding genes are expressed in human cells and almost 75% of these genes are expressed in the normal prostate. About 150 of these genes are more specifically expressed in the prostate, with about 20 genes being highly prostate specific. The corresponding specific proteins are expressed in the glandular and secretory cells of the prostatic gland and have functions that are important for the characteristics of semen, including prostate-specific proteins, such as the prostate specific antigen (PSA), and the prostatic acid phosphatase.

Development
In the developing embryo, at the hind end lies an inpouching called the cloaca. This, over the fourth to the seventh week, divides into a urogenital sinus and the beginnings of the anal canal, with a wall forming between these two inpouchings called the urorectal septum. The urogenital sinus divides into three parts, with the middle part forming the urethra; the upper part is largest and becomes the urinary bladder, and the lower part then changes depending on the biological sex of the embryo.

The prostatic part of the urethra develops from the middle, pelvic, part of the urogenital sinus, which is of endodermal origin. Around the end of the third month of embryonic life, outgrowths arise from the prostatic part of the urethra and grow into the surrounding mesenchyme. The cells lining this part of the urethra differentiate into the glandular epithelium of the prostate. The associated mesenchyme differentiates into the dense connective tissue and the smooth muscle of the prostate.

Condensation of mesenchyme, urethra, and Wolffian ducts gives rise to the adult prostate gland, a composite organ made up of several tightly fused glandular and non-glandular components. To function properly, the prostate needs male hormones (androgens), which are responsible for male sex characteristics. The main male hormone is testosterone, which is produced mainly by the testicles. It is dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a metabolite of testosterone, that predominantly regulates the prostate. The prostate gland enlarges over time, until the fourth decade of life.

In ejaculation
The prostate secretes fluid, which becomes part of the semen. Its secretion forms up to 30% of the semen. Semen is the fluid emitted (ejaculated) by males during the sexual response. When sperm are emitted, they are transmitted from the vas deferens into the male urethra via the ejaculatory duct, which lies within the prostate gland. Ejaculation is the expulsion of semen from the urethra. Semen is moved into the urethra following contractions of the smooth muscle of the vas deferens and seminal vesicles, following stimulation, primarily of the glans penis. Stimulation sends nerve signals via the internal pudendal nerves to the upper lumbar spine; the nerve signals causing contraction act via the hypogastric nerves. After traveling into the urethra, the seminal fluid is ejaculated by contraction of the bulbocavernosus muscle. The secretions of the prostate include proteolytic enzymes, prostatic acid phosphatase, fibrinolysin, zinc, and prostate-specific antigen. Together with the secretions from the seminal vesicles, these form the major fluid part of semen.

In urination
The prostate's changes of shape, which facilitate the mechanical switch between urination and ejaculation, are mainly driven by the two longitudinal muscle systems running along the prostatic urethra. These are the urethral dilator (musculus dilatator urethrae) on the urethra's front side, which contracts during urination and thereby shortens and tilts the prostate in its vertical dimension thus widening the prostatic section of the urethral tube, and the muscle switching the urethra into the ejaculatory state (musculus ejaculatorius) on its backside.

In case of an operation, e.g. because of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), damaging or sparing of these two muscle systems varies considerably depending on the choice of operation type and details of the procedure of the chosen technique. The effects on postoperational urination and ejaculation vary correspondingly.

In stimulation
It is possible for some men to achieve orgasm solely through stimulation of the prostate gland, such as via prostate massage or anal intercourse. This has led to the area of the rectal wall adjacent to the prostate to be popularly referred by the anatomically incorrect term, the "male G-spot".

Inflammation
Prostatitis is inflammation of the prostate gland. It can be caused by infection with bacteria, or other noninfective causes. Inflammation of the prostate can cause painful urination or ejaculation, groin pain, difficulty passing urine, or constitutional symptoms such as fever or tiredness. When inflamed, the prostate becomes enlarged and is tender when touched during digital rectal examination. The bacteria responsible for the infection may be detected by a urine culture.

Acute prostatitis and chronic bacterial prostatitis are treated with antibiotics. Chronic non-bacterial prostatitis, or male chronic pelvic pain syndrome is treated by a large variety of modalities including the medications alpha blockers, non-steroidal anti-inflammatories and amitriptyline, antihistamines, and other anxiolytics. Other treatments that are not medications may include physical therapy, psychotherapy, nerve modulators, and surgery. More recently, a combination of trigger point and psychological therapy has proved effective for category III prostatitis as well.

Prostate enlargement
An enlarged prostate is called prostatomegaly, with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) being the most common cause. BPH refers to an enlargement of the prostate due to an increase in the number of cells that make up the prostate from a cause that is not a malignancy. It is very common in older men. It is often diagnosed when the prostate has enlarged to the point where urination becomes difficult. Symptoms include needing to urinate often (urinary frequency) or taking a while to get started (urinary hesitancy). If the prostate grows too large, it may constrict the urethra and impede the flow of urine, making urination painful and difficult, or in extreme cases completely impossible, causing urinary retention. Over time, chronic retention may cause the bladder to become larger and cause a backflow of urine into the kidneys (hydronephrosis).

BPH can be treated with medication, a minimally invasive procedure or, in extreme cases, surgery that removes the prostate. In general, treatment often begins with an alpha-1 adrenergic receptor antagonist medication such as tamsulosin, which reduces the tone of the smooth muscle found in the urethra that passes through the prostate, making it easier for urine to pass through. For people with persistent symptoms, procedures may be considered. The surgery most often used in such cases is transurethral resection of the prostate, in which an instrument is inserted through the urethra to remove prostate tissue that is pressing against the upper part of the urethra and restricting the flow of urine. Minimally invasive procedures include transurethral needle ablation of the prostate and transurethral microwave thermotherapy. These outpatient procedures may be followed by the insertion of a temporary stent, to allow normal voluntary urination, without exacerbating irritative symptoms.

Cancer
Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers affecting older men in the UK, US, Northern Europe and Australia, and a significant cause of death for elderly men worldwide. Often, a person does not have symptoms; when they do occur, symptoms may include urinary frequency, urgency, hesitation and other symptoms associated with BPH. Uncommonly, such cancers may cause weight loss, retention of urine, or symptoms such as back pain due to lesions that have spread outside of the prostate.

A digital rectal examination and the measurement of a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level are usually the first investigations done to check for prostate cancer. PSA values are difficult to interpret, because a high value might be present in a person without cancer, and a low value can be present in someone with cancer. The next form of testing is often the taking of a prostate biopsy to assess for tumour activity and invasiveness. Because of the significant risk of overdiagnosis with widespread screening in the general population, prostate cancer screening is controversial. If a tumour is confirmed, medical imaging such as an MRI or bone scan may be done to check for the presence of tumour in other parts of the body.

Prostate cancer that is only present in the prostate is often treated with either surgical removal of the prostate or with radiotherapy or by the insertion of small radioactive particles of iodine-125 or palladium-103, called brachytherapy. Cancer that has spread to other parts of the body is usually treated also with hormone therapy, to deprive a tumour of sex hormones (androgens) that stimulate proliferation. This is often done through the use of GnRH analogues or agents (such as bicalutamide) that block the receptors that androgens act on; occasionally, surgical removal of the testes may be done instead. Cancer that does not respond to hormonal treatment, or that progresses after treatment, might be treated with chemotherapy such as docetaxel. Radiotherapy may also be used to help with pain associated with bony lesions.

Sometimes, the decision may be made not to treat prostate cancer. If a cancer is small and localised, the decision may be made to monitor for cancer activity at intervals ("active surveillance") and defer treatment. If a person, because of frailty or other medical conditions or reasons, has a life expectancy less than ten years, then the impacts of treatment may outweigh any perceived benefits.

Surgery
Surgery to remove the prostate is called prostatectomy, and is usually done as a treatment for cancer limited to the prostate, or prostatic enlargement. When it is done, it may be done as open surgery or as laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery. These are done under general anaesthetic. Usually the procedure for cancer is a radical prostatectomy, which means that the seminal vesicles are removed and the vasa deferentia are also tied off. Part of the prostate can also be removed from within the urethra, called transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). Open surgery may involve a cut that is made in the perineum, or via an approach that involves a cut down the midline from the belly button to the pubic bone. Open surgery may be preferred if there is a suspicion that lymph nodes are involved and they need to be removed or biopsied during a procedure. A perineal approach will not involve lymph node removal and may result in less pain and a faster recovery following an operation. A TURP procedure uses a tube inserted into the urethra via the penis and some form of heat, electricity or laser to remove prostate tissue.

The whole prostate can be removed. Complications that might develop because of surgery include urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction because of damage to nerves during the operation, particularly if a cancer is very close to nerves. Ejaculation of semen will not occur during orgasm if the vasa deferentia are tied off and seminal vesicles removed, such as during a radical prosatectomy. This will mean a man becomes infertile. Sometimes, orgasm may not be able to occur or may be painful. The penis length may change if the part of the urethra within the prostate is also removed. General complications due to surgery can also develop, such as infections, bleeding, inadvertent damage to nearby organs or within the abdomen, and the formation of blood clots.

History
The prostate was first formally identified by Venetian anatomist Niccolò Massa in Anatomiae libri introductorius (Introduction to Anatomy) 1536 and illustrated by Flemish anatomist Andreas Vesalius in Tabulae anatomicae sex (six anatomical tables) in 1538. Massa described it as a "glandular flesh upon which rests the neck of the bladder," and Vesalius as a "glandular body". The first time a word similar to 'prostate' was used to describe the gland is credited to André du Laurens in 1600, who described it as a term already in use by anatomists at the time. The term was however used at least as early as 1549 by French surgeon Ambroise Pare.

At the time, Du Laurens was describing what was considered to be a pair of organs (not the single two-lobed organ), and the Latin term prostatae that was used was a mistranslation of the term for the Ancient Greek word used to describe the seminal vesicles, parastatai; although it has been argued that surgeons in Ancient Greece and Rome must have at least seen the prostate as an anatomical entity. The term prostatae was taken rather than the grammatically correct prostator (singular) and prostatores (plural) because the gender of the Ancient Greek term was taken as female, when it was in fact male.

The fact that the prostate was one and not two organs was an idea popularised throughout the early 18th century, as was the English language term used to describe the organ, prostate, attributed to William Cheselden. A monograph, "Practical observations on the treatment of the diseases of the prostate gland" by Everard Home in 1811, was important in the history of the prostate by describing and naming anatomical parts of the prostate, including the median lobe. The idea of the five lobes of the prostate was popularized following anatomical studies conducted by American urologist Oswald Lowsley in 1912. John E. McNeal first proposed the idea of "zones" in 1968; McNeal found that the relatively homogeneous cut surface of an adult prostate in no way resembled "lobes" and thus led to the description of "zones".

Prostate cancer was first described in a speech to the Medical and Chiurgical Society of London in 1853 by surgeon John Adams and increasingly described by the late 19th century. Prostate cancer was initially considered a rare disease, probably because of shorter life expectancies and poorer detection methods in the 19th century. The first treatments of prostate cancer were surgeries to relieve urinary obstruction. Samuel David Gross has been credited with the first mention of a prostatectomy, as "too absurd to be seriously entertained" The first removal for prostate cancer (radical perineal prostatectomy) was first performed in 1904 by Hugh H. Young at Johns Hopkins Hospital; partial removal of the gland was conducted by Theodore Billroth in 1867.

Transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) replaced radical prostatectomy for symptomatic relief of obstruction in the middle of the 20th century because it could better preserve penile erectile function. Radical retropubic prostatectomy was developed in 1983 by Patrick Walsh. In 1941, Charles B. Huggins published studies in which he used estrogen to oppose testosterone production in men with metastatic prostate cancer. This discovery of "chemical castration" won Huggins the 1966 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

The role of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) in reproduction was determined by Andrzej W. Schally and Roger Guillemin, who both won the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this work. GnRH receptor agonists, such as leuprorelin and goserelin, were subsequently developed and used to treat prostate cancer. Radiation therapy for prostate cancer was first developed in the early 20th century and initially consisted of intraprostatic radium implants. External beam radiotherapy became more popular as stronger X-ray radiation sources became available in the middle of the 20th century. Brachytherapy with implanted seeds (for prostate cancer) was first described in 1983. Systemic chemotherapy for prostate cancer was first studied in the 1970s. The initial regimen of cyclophosphamide and 5-fluorouracil was quickly joined by multiple regimens using a host of other systemic chemotherapy drugs.

Other animals
The prostate is found only in mammals. The prostate glands of male marsupials are proportionally larger than those of placental mammals. The presence of a functional prostate in monotremes is controversial, and if monotremes do possess functional prostates, they may not make the same contribution to semen as in other mammals.

The structure of the prostate varies, ranging from tubuloalveolar (as in humans) to branched tubular. The gland is particularly well developed in carnivorans and boars, though in other mammals, such as bulls, it can be small and inconspicuous. In other animals, such as marsupials and small ruminants, the prostate is disseminate, meaning not specifically localisable as a distinct tissue, but present throughout the relevant part of the urethra; in other animals, such as red deer and American elk, it may be present as a specific organ and in a disseminate form. In some marsupial species, the size of the prostate gland changes seasonally. The prostate is the only accessory gland that occurs in male dogs. Dogs can produce in one hour as much prostatic fluid as a human can in a day. They excrete this fluid along with their urine to mark their territory. Additionally, dogs are the only species apart from humans seen to have a significant incidence of prostate cancer. The prostate is the only male accessory gland that occurs in cetaceans, consisting of diffuse urethral glands surrounded by a very powerful compressor muscle.

The prostate gland originates with tissues in the urethral wall. This means the urethra, a compressible tube used for urination, runs through the middle of the prostate; enlargement of the prostate can constrict the urethra so that urinating becomes slow and painful.

Prostatic secretions vary among species. They are generally composed of simple sugars and are often slightly alkaline. In eutherian mammals, these secretions usually contain fructose. The prostatic secretions of marsupials usually contain n-Acetylglucosamine or glycogen instead of fructose.

Skene's gland
Because the Skene's gland and the male prostate act similarly by secreting prostate-specific antigen (PSA), which is an ejaculate protein produced in males, and of prostate-specific acid phosphatase, the Skene's gland is sometimes referred to as the "female prostate". Although homologous to the male prostate (developed from the same embryological tissues), various aspects of its development in relation to the male prostate are widely unknown and a matter of research.

title: Prostate


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Talk:Prostate

Function after Prostate removal
There was an episode of the t.v. show King of Queens recently that stated that Doug's boss had his prostate removed due to cancer and because of that he had to urinate every 10 minutes and/or had urinary control issues. After having read what has been posted here I find it highly unlikely that this is a realistic depiction. When I was watching it I just assumed that maybe one of the writers on the show had some real life experience where this actually happened. Anyways I was wonder if that would really happen or if it wouldn't?

barouqeswinger. 18 August 2007.

Female Prostate Update
First let me apologies for those errors’ updates earlier this evening, I’ve not done this before and did not realize there was a “sand box” option. Sounds stupid I know but occasionally I revert back to my blond childhood and am reminded not only how wonderful it was for my hair to get darker with age but how pleasant it is that such moments have become fewer as well.

Second I have made updates to this article in regards to the female prostate and have provided documentation for all of them save one which as a female I fell uniquely qualified to make without but have left the request/option for documentation on it anyway.

So please read and let me know what you think.

Miss Tanit 9 June 2008

More references for female prostate
I had a discussion with someone recently about whether or not a woman has a prostate or not. After reading the current Wikipedia article on the matter, I felt that there wasn't enough information to prove or disprove that women do in fact have a prostate.

I have recently found a PDF document relating to this matter that does prove it, however I'm unsure on what to write on the main article. I was tempted to simply just put a reference to the document. For this reason I am placing a link to this document here so others can discuss it and possibly write up a good section about it.

PDF Document Titled "Newsbulletin 30 - December 2009" by "International Society for Sexual Medicine":

Active surveillance
The passage on active surveillance suggests that it is an infrequent treatment option. I think that is an obsolete opinion and would encourage a change. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.195.100.173 (talk • contribs)

Coagulating gland
The term "coagulating gland" redirects here. However there is no coagulating gland in humans as there is in mice and other mammals. Can someone knowledgeable add a brief description of such a gland under "Other animals" or somewhere? Thanks, Facts707 (talk) 23:44, 12 November 2022 (UTC)

Function?
While there is a "Function" section here, it actually gives very little details about the function of prostate fluid. Yes, it contributes volume to semen. Also a list of components is included. However, nothing concerning to function of the components or prostate fluid in general. Things I've heard are (a) brings the pH of the vagina more towards neutral. Would love to have more detail here if anyone can add. 164.47.179.32 (talk) 15:48, 24 April 2024 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Prostate


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Urinary system

The human urinary system, also known as the urinary tract or renal system, consists of the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and the urethra. The purpose of the urinary system is to eliminate waste from the body, regulate blood volume and blood pressure, control levels of electrolytes and metabolites, and regulate blood pH. The urinary tract is the body's drainage system for the eventual removal of urine. The kidneys have an extensive blood supply via the renal arteries which leave the kidneys via the renal vein. Each kidney consists of functional units called nephrons. Following filtration of blood and further processing, wastes (in the form of urine) exit the kidney via the ureters, tubes made of smooth muscle fibres that propel urine towards the urinary bladder, where it is stored and subsequently expelled through the urethra during urination. The female and male urinary system are very similar, differing only in the length of the urethra.

800–2,000 milliliters (mL) of urine are normally produced every day in a healthy human. This amount varies according to fluid intake and kidney function.

Structure
The urinary system refers to the structures that produce and transport urine to the point of excretion. In the human urinary system there are two kidneys that are located between the dorsal body wall and parietal peritoneum on both the left and right sides.

The formation of urine begins within the functional unit of the kidney, the nephrons. Urine then flows through the nephrons, through a system of converging tubules called collecting ducts. These collecting ducts then join together to form the minor calyces, followed by the major calyces that ultimately join the renal pelvis. From here, urine continues its flow from the renal pelvis into the ureter, transporting urine into the urinary bladder. The anatomy of the human urinary system differs between males and females at the level of the urinary bladder. In males, the urethra begins at the internal urethral orifice in the trigone of the bladder, continues through the external urethral orifice, and then becomes the prostatic, membranous, bulbar, and penile urethra. Urine exits the male urethra through the urinary meatus in the glans penis. The female urethra is much shorter, beginning at the bladder neck and terminating in the vulval vestibule.

Microanatomy
Under microscopy, the urinary system is covered in a unique lining called urothelium, a type of transitional epithelium. Unlike the epithelial lining of most organs, transitional epithelium can flatten and distend. Urothelium covers most of the urinary system, including the renal pelvis, ureters, and bladder.

Function
The main functions of the urinary system and its components are to:
 * Regulate blood volume and composition (e.g. sodium, potassium and calcium)
 * Regulate blood pressure.
 * Regulate pH homeostasis of the blood.
 * Contributes to the production of red blood cells by the kidney.
 * Helps synthesize calcitriol (the active form of Vitamin D).
 * Stores waste products (mainly urea and uric acid) before it and other products are removed from the body.

Urine formation
Average urine production in adult humans is about 1–2 litres (L) per day, depending on state of hydration, activity level, environmental factors, weight, and the individual's health. Producing too much or too little urine requires medical attention. Polyuria is a condition of excessive urine production (> 2.5 L/day). Conditions involving low output of urine are oliguria (< 400 mL/day) and anuria (< 100 mL/day).

The first step in urine formation is the filtration of blood in the kidneys. In a healthy human, the kidney receives between 12 and 30% of cardiac output, but it averages about 20% or about 1.25 L/min.

The basic structural and functional unit of the kidney is the nephron. Its chief function is to regulate the concentration of water and soluble substances like sodium by filtering the blood, reabsorbing what is needed and excreting the rest as urine.

In the first part of the nephron, Bowman's capsule filters blood from the circulatory system into the tubules. Hydrostatic and osmotic pressure gradients facilitate filtration across a semipermeable membrane. The filtrate includes water, small molecules, and ions that easily pass through the filtration membrane. However, larger molecules such as proteins and blood cells are prevented from passing through the filtration membrane. The amount of filtrate produced every minute is called the glomerular filtration rate or GFR and amounts to 180 litres per day. About 99% of this filtrate is reabsorbed as it passes through the nephron and the remaining 1% becomes urine.

The urinary system is regulated by the endocrine system by hormones such as antidiuretic hormone, aldosterone, and parathyroid hormone.

Regulation of concentration and volume
The urinary system is under influence of the circulatory system, nervous system, and endocrine system.

Aldosterone plays a central role in regulating blood pressure through its effects on the kidney. It acts on the distal tubules and collecting ducts of the nephron and increases reabsorption of sodium from the glomerular filtrate. Reabsorption of sodium results in retention of water, which increases blood pressure and blood volume. Antidiuretic hormone (ADH), is a neurohypophysial hormone found in most mammals. Its two primary functions are to retain water in the body and vasoconstriction. Vasopressin regulates the body's retention of water by increasing water reabsorption in the collecting ducts of the kidney nephron. Vasopressin increases water permeability of the kidney's collecting duct and distal convoluted tubule by inducing translocation of aquaporin-CD water channels in the kidney nephron collecting duct plasma membrane.

Urination
Urination, also sometimes referred to as micturition, is the ejection of urine from the urinary bladder to the outside of the body. Urine is ejected through the urethra from the penis or vulva in placental mammals and through the cloaca in other vertebrates. In healthy humans (and many other animals), the process of urination is under voluntary control. In infants, some elderly individuals, and those with neurological injury, urination may occur as an involuntary reflex. Physiologically, micturition involves coordination between the central, autonomic, and somatic nervous systems. Brain centers that regulate urination include the pontine micturition center, periaqueductal gray, and the cerebral cortex.

Clinical significance
Urologic disease can involve congenital or acquired dysfunction of the urinary system. As an example, urinary tract obstruction is a urologic disease that can cause urinary retention.

Diseases of the kidney tissue are normally treated by nephrologists, while diseases of the urinary tract are treated by urologists. Gynecologists may also treat female urinary incontinence.

Diseases of other bodily systems also have a direct effect on urogenital function. For instance, it has been shown that protein released by the kidneys in diabetes mellitus sensitizes the kidney to the damaging effects of hypertension.

Diabetes also can have a direct effect in urination due to peripheral neuropathies, which occur in some individuals with poorly controlled blood sugar levels.

Urinary incontinence can result from a weakening of the pelvic floor muscles caused by factors such as pregnancy, childbirth, aging, and being overweight. Findings recent systematic reviews demonstrate that behavioral therapy generally results in improved urinary incontinence outcomes, especially for stress and urge UI, than medications alone. Pelvic floor exercises known as Kegel exercises can help in this condition by strengthening the pelvic floor. There can also be underlying medical reasons for urinary incontinence which are often treatable. In children, the condition is called enuresis.

Some cancers also target the urinary system, including bladder cancer, kidney cancer, ureteral cancer, and urethral cancer. Due to the role and location of these organs, treatment is often complicated.

History
Kidney stones have been identified and recorded about as long as written historical records exist. The urinary tract including the ureters, as well as their function to drain urine from the kidneys, has been described by Galen in the second century AD.

The first to examine the ureter through an internal approach, called ureteroscopy, rather than surgery was Hampton Young in 1929. This was improved on by VF Marshall who is the first published use of a flexible endoscope based on fiber optics, which occurred in 1964. The insertion of a drainage tube into the renal pelvis, bypassing the ureters and urinary tract, called nephrostomy, was first described in 1941. Such an approach differed greatly from the open surgical approaches within the urinary system employed during the preceding two millennia.

title: Urinary system


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Talk:Urinary system

Original version of this article was taken from NIH Publication No. 02-3195, a public domain resource which can be found at http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health/urolog/pubs/yrurinar/index.htm —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.253.40.133 (talk) 08:36, 10 June 2002
 * The link is broken. I removed the link from the article. (Probably should be added as a source, though.) // Habj 18:39, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

Unencyclopedic?
The sections Who can help me with a urinary problem? and Points to remember do not appear to be particularly encyclopedic, but instead seem to be something that one would expect to be found at the source that this was taken from. I'd suggest renaming and re-writing the first section to make it more encyclopedic, and deleting the second section entirely. — Asbestos | Talk 12:41, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)

 * The whole article needs editing to remove "you". Encyclopedia articles do not directly address their readers. JFW | T@lk  22:19, 5 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I have finally decided to get rid of the dumbing down and preaching. We now have something that closer resembles an encyclopedia article. JFW | T@lk  07:30, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I bet my soap is bigger than yours, and my beans don't look like kidney beans. Jidanni 04:02, 27 September 2007 (UTC)
 * The reference on bean goes straight to the bean page, and kidney beans in particular. I'm sure readers don't need to be told that kidneys are "kidney bean" shaped and I'm unsure what other comparison would be fair. Readers can compare beans by reading that page. Also, I wonder if the "size of a bar of soap" is even necessary, insofar as there is also a reference to the kidney page. If you prefer why don't you change it to "smooth encapsulated organs describing a concave arc around 10 centimeters long".  I don't care except that it is a little prolix. Markjohndaley 13:03, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

Proposed Merge
In various sources such as Encyclopedia Britannica, the excretory and urinary systems are indeed the same system. If a merge follows, the name should be changed to Excretory system as this is the proper name. --I Are Scientists 19:31, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

 * I absolutely dispute this. This topic is a medical one and, for instance, the 33rd edition of Gray's Anatomy calls it the Urogenital system (which would be a better name if a change was warranted). Bern and Levy, Physiology 5th edition, refers to the urinary tract (pg 630).  Excretory system is an ambiguous lay term (like using the term 'church' instead of the catholic 'mass').Markjohndaley 14:25, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

 * I've gotta say I'm with MarkDaley here - he's hit the nail right on the head with this point --leopheard 10:03, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

 * I'm not even paying you that much. Hey I've been helping with endocrine system if you wanna lend a hand too. Markjohndaley 16:42, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

Get out yer books.. need to reference this thing
It's not really a system if its not systematic. Some combined anatomy/physiology books will have enough detail to put references to the quotes and facts, most of the science is over 30 years old so almost anyone has something they can use to reference this.. I myself am going to bed. (dont be fooled the 16:4X really means 02:47 around here.)Markjohndaley 16:48, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

Urinary system
Summary of urinary system 41.210.143.40 (talk) 19:58, 13 January 2022 (UTC)

Human urinary system
The article describes human urinary system, but it doesn't says that about it. Is it intended to describe only human urinary system or may be mammalian? I'm asking because birds doesn't have urinary bladder. And only some reptiles have it. And there is a common duct in lower vertebrate's urinary system. The article needs some clarifications. --D6194c-1cc (talk) 08:43, 22 May 2022 (UTC)

Some details are probably incorrect
According to this section, urine exits the bladder through the internal urethral orifice and enters the prostatic urethra through the external urethral orifice. This is not true if "external urethral orifice" refers to the urinary meatus; does it refer to a different structure here? Jarble (talk) 21:18, 20 March 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Urinary system


text:
Governor-general

Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy to represent the monarch of a personal union in any sovereign state over which the monarch does not normally reign in person (non-UK Commonwealth realm). Governors-general have also previously been appointed in respect of major colonial states or other territories held by either a monarchy or republic, such as Japan in Korea and Taiwan and France in Indochina.

Current uses
In modern usage, in the context of governors-general and former British colonies, the term governor-general originated in those British colonies that became self-governing within the British Empire. Before World War I, the title was used only in federated colonies in which its constituents had had governors prior to federating, namely Canada, Australia, and the Union of South Africa. In these cases, the Crown's representative in the federated Dominion was given the superior title of governor-general. The first exception to this rule was New Zealand, which was granted Dominion status in 1907, but it was not until 28 June 1917 that Arthur Foljambe, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, was appointed the first governor-general of New Zealand.

Since the 1950s, the title governor-general has been given to all representatives of the sovereign in independent non-UK Commonwealth realms. In these cases, the former office of colonial governor was altered (sometimes for the same incumbent) to become governor-general upon independence, as the nature of the office became an entirely independent constitutional representative of the monarch rather than a symbol of previous colonial rule. In these countries the governor-general acts as the monarch's representative, performing the ceremonial and constitutional functions of a head of state.

The only other nation which currently uses the governor-general designation is Iran, which has no connection with any monarchy or the Commonwealth. In Iran, the provincial authority is headed by a governor general (Persian: استاندار ostāndār), who is appointed by the minister of the interior.

British Empire

Until the 1920s, governors-general were British subjects, appointed on the advice of the British government, who acted as agents of the British government in each Dominion, as well as being representatives of the monarch. As such they notionally held the prerogative powers of the monarch, and also held the executive power of the country to which they were assigned. The governor-general could be instructed by the colonial secretary on the exercise of some of his functions and duties, such as the use or withholding of royal assent from legislation; history shows many examples of governors-general using their prerogative and executive powers. The monarch or imperial government could overrule any governor-general, though this could often be cumbersome, due to the remoteness of the territories from London.

The governor-general was also usually the commander-in-chief of the armed forces in his or her territory and, because of the governor-general's control of the military, the post was as much a military appointment as a civil one. The governors-general are entitled to wear a unique uniform, which is not generally worn today. If of the rank of major general, equivalent or above, they were entitled to wear that military uniform.

Commonwealth realms
Following the Imperial Conference, and subsequent issuing of the Balfour Declaration in 1926, the role and responsibilities of the governor-general began to shift, reflecting the increased independence of the Dominions (which were in 1952 renamed realms; a term which includes the UK itself). As the sovereign came to be regarded as monarch of each territory independently, and, as such, advised only by the ministers of each country in regard to that country's national affairs (as opposed to a single British monarch ruling all the Dominions as a conglomerate and advised only by an imperial parliament), so too did the governor-general become a direct representative of the national monarch only, who no longer answered to the British government. The report resulting from the 1926 Imperial Conference stated: "It is an essential consequence of the equality of status existing among the members of the British Commonwealth of Nations that the Governor General of a Dominion is the representative of the Crown, holding in all essential respects the same position in relation to the administration of public affairs in the Dominion as is held by His Majesty the King in Great Britain, and that he is not the representative or agent of His Majesty's Government in Great Britain or of any Department of that Government." These concepts were entrenched in legislation with the enactment of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, and governmental relations with the United Kingdom were placed in the hands of a British High Commissioner in each country.

In other words, the political reality of a self-governing Dominion within the British Empire with a governor-general answerable to the sovereign became clear. British interference in the Dominion was not acceptable and independent country status was clearly displayed. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand were clearly not controlled by the United Kingdom. The monarch of these countries (Charles III) is in law King of Canada, King of Australia, and King of New Zealand and only acts on the advice of the ministers in each country and is ostensibly in no way influenced by the British government. Today, therefore, in former British colonies that are now independent Commonwealth realms, the governor-general is constitutionally the representative of the monarch in his or her state and may exercise the reserve powers of the monarch according to their own constitutional authority. The governor-general, however, is still appointed by the monarch and takes an oath of allegiance to the monarch in right of his or her own country. Executive authority is also vested in the monarch, though much of it can be exercisable only by the governor-general on behalf of the sovereign of the independent realm. Letters of credence or letters of recall are in some realms received or issued in the name of the monarch, but in others (such as Canada and Australia) are issued in the name of the governor-general alone.

At diplomatic functions where the governor-general is present, the visiting diplomat or head of state toasts "The King" or "The Queen" of the relevant realm, not the governor-general, with any reference to the governor-general being subsidiary in later toasts if featuring at all, and will involve a toast to the governor-general by name, not office. (e.g., "Mrs. Smith", not "Her Excellency, the Governor-General". Sometimes a toast might be made using name and office, e.g., "Governor-General Smith".)

Except in rare cases (for example, a constitutional crisis), the governor-general usually acts in accordance with constitutional convention and upon the advice of the national prime minister (who is head of the nation's government). The governors-general are still the local representatives of the sovereign and perform the same duties as they carried out historically, though their role is for the most part ceremonial (or partly ceremonial). Rare and controversial exceptions occurred in 1926, when Canadian governor general the Viscount Byng of Vimy refused Prime Minister Mackenzie King's request for a dissolution of parliament; in 1953 and 1954 when the governor-general of Pakistan, Ghulam Mohammad, staged a constitutional coup against the prime minister and then the Constituent Assembly; and in 1975, when the governor-general of Australia, Sir John Kerr, dismissed the prime minister, Gough Whitlam (to name a few). It should be remembered that while governors-general do not normally take drastic action, he or she still has a responsibility to ensure that the constitution is respected and followed at all times. In many ways, the governor-general acts as an umpire/mediator (who must remain independent/non-partisan and objective) in the political scene. In some realms, the monarch could in principle overrule a governor-general, as governors-general are representatives of the monarch rather than holding power in their own right, but this has not happened in recent times.

In Australia, the present king is generally assumed to be the head of state, since the governor-general and the state governors are defined as his "representatives". However, since the governor-general performs almost all national regal functions, the governor-general has occasionally been referred to as the head of state in political and media discussion. To a lesser extent, uncertainty has been expressed in Canada as to which officeholder—the monarch, the governor-general, or both—can be considered the head of state.

A governor-general is usually a person with a distinguished record of public service, often a retired politician, judge or military commander; however, some countries have also appointed prominent academics, members of the clergy, philanthropists, or figures from the news media to the office.

Traditionally, the governor-general's official attire was a unique uniform, but this practice has been abandoned except on occasions when it is appropriate to be worn (and in some countries abandoned altogether). In South Africa, the governor-general of the Union of South Africa nominated by the Afrikaner Nationalist government chose not to wear uniform on any occasion. Most governors-general continue to wear appropriate medals on their clothing when required.

The governor-general's official residence is usually called Government House. The governor-general of the Irish Free State resided in the then Viceregal Lodge in Phoenix Park, Dublin, but the government of Éamon de Valera sought to downgrade the office and the last governor-general, Domhnall Ua Buachalla, did not reside there. The office was abolished there in 1936.

In most Commonwealth realms, the flag of the governor-general has been the standard pattern of a blue field with the royal crest (a lion standing on a crown) above a scroll with the name of the jurisdiction. In Canada, however, this was replaced with a crowned lion clasping a maple leaf. In the Solomon Islands, the scroll was replaced with a two-headed frigate bird motif, while in Fiji, the former governor general's flag featured a whale's tooth. In New Zealand, the flag was replaced in 2008 with the shield of the coat of arms of New Zealand surmounted by a crown on a blue field.

Governors-general are accorded the style of His/Her Excellency. This style is also extended to their spouses, whether male or female.

Appointment
Until the 1920s, governors general were British, and appointed on the advice of the British Government.

Following the changes to the structure of the Commonwealth in the late 1920s, in 1929, the Australian prime minister James Scullin established the right of a Dominion prime minister to advise the monarch directly on the appointment of a governor-general, by insisting that his choice (Isaac Isaacs, an Australian) prevail over the recommendation of the British government. The convention was gradually established throughout the Commonwealth that the governor-general would be a citizen of the country concerned, and would be appointed on the advice of the government of that country, with no input from the British government; governor general of Canada since 1952 and governor-general of New Zealand since 1967. Since 1931 as each former Dominion has patriated its constitution from the UK, the convention has become law, or, since 1947, when the first realms established with a patriated constitution, India and Pakistan, were established, was always law, and no government of any realm can advise the Monarch on any matter pertaining to another realm, including the appointment of a governor-general. The monarch appoints a governor-general (in Canada: governor general) as a personal representative only on the advice of the prime minister of each realm; for example, the governor-general of New Zealand is appointed by the king of New Zealand on the advice of the New Zealand prime minister, the governor-general of Tuvalu is appointed by the king of Tuvalu on the advice of the Tuvaluan prime minister, and the governor-general of Jamaica is appointed by the king of Jamaica on the advice of the Jamaican prime minister. In Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, the prime minister's advice is based on the result of a vote in the national parliament.

The formalities for appointing governors-general are not the same in all realms. For example: When appointed, a governor-general of Australia issues a proclamation in his own name, countersigned by the head of government and under the Great Seal of Australia, formally announcing that he has been appointed by the monarch's commission, previously issued also under the Great Seal of Australia. The practice in Canada is to include in the governor general's proclamation of appointment, issued under the Great Seal of Canada, the monarch's commission naming the governor general as commander-in-chief of the Canadian Forces. Also dissimilar among the realms are the powers of governors-general. The Belizean constitution provides the governor-general with the power to assent or to withhold assent to laws, while Papua New Guinea has no requirement for royal assent at all, with laws entering into force when certified as having been passed in Parliament by the Speaker.

Temporary replacement
Different realms have different constitutional arrangements governing who acts in place of the governor-general in the event of his or her death, resignation, or incapacity.

 * In Australia, an administrator of the Commonwealth may be appointed to perform the necessary official functions, pending a decision by the sovereign, on the advice of the prime minister, about a permanent replacement as governor-general. The administrator has usually been the senior state governor. Each state governor normally holds what is known as a dormant commission. Cases have however occurred where a state governor has fallen out of favour with the federal government, causing the latter to revoke that governor's dormant commission. The most recent example was that of Sir Colin Hannah, governor of Queensland, in 1975.
 * In the Bahamas, Canada, Jamaica, and New Zealand, it is the chief justice.
 * In Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu it is the Speaker
 * Many have a specific office of deputy governor-general, who act in their place—but often e.g. only for temporary incapacity.

Former
The title has been used in many former British colonies or other territories, which became independent realms and then later became republics. Each of these realms had a governor-general.

 * In Africa
 * Governor-General of the Gambia (1965–1970)
 * Governor-General of Ghana (1957–1960)
 * Governor-General of Kenya (1963–1964)
 * Governor-General of Malawi (1964–1966)
 * Governor-General of Mauritius (1968–1992)
 * Governor-General of Nigeria (1960–1963)
 * Governor-General of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (1953–1963) (Although the position was called governor-general, the federation was neither a dominion nor an independent country.)
 * Governor-General of Sierra Leone (1961–1971)
 * Governor-General of the Union of South Africa (1910–1961)
 * Governor-General of Tanganyika (1961–1962)
 * Governor-General of Uganda (1962–1963)
 * In Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), a unique situation arose following the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965, unrecognised by the United Kingdom. The Rhodesian Front government of Ian Smith recognised Elizabeth II as "Queen of Rhodesia", but refused to recognise the authority of her governor, Sir Humphrey Gibbs, whose duties were performed by an "officer administering the government", Clifford Dupont (1905–1978). Dupont served in the post until 2 March 1970, when Rhodesia was declared a republic (an act also unrecognised internationally), and he became president. The country became an independent republic within the Commonwealth as Zimbabwe on 18 April 1980.

 * In the Americas
 * Governor-General of the West Indies Federation (1958–1962) (Although the position was called governor-general, the federation was neither a dominion nor an independent country.)
 * Governor-General of Barbados (1966–2021)
 * Governor-General of Guyana (1966–1970)
 * Governor-General of Trinidad and Tobago (1962–1976)

 * In Asia
 * Governor-General of Ceylon (1948–1972)
 * Governor-General of India (1833–1950)
 * Governor-General of Pakistan (1947–1956)

 * In Europe
 * Governor-General of the Irish Free State (1922–1936)
 * Governor-General of Malta (1964–1974)

 * In Oceania
 * Governor-General of Fiji (1970–1987)

Belgium

 * Belgian Congo;
 * Ruanda-Urundi

Brazil
In Brazil, after a few governors, from 1578 until its promotion in 1763 to a viceroyalty (though various members of the nobility since 1640 had assumed, without sovereign authority, the title of Viceroy).

France
The equivalent term in French is gouverneur général, used in the following colonies:
 * From 1887 to 1945 the French appointed a governor-general to govern French Indo-China (now Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia); the function of the high commissioner in the Pacific Ocean, from 22 March 1907 held by the governors of New Caledonia, was used to coordinate that colony, the other French settlements in Oceania and the other governors of French Indochina and the resident commissioners of the New Hebrides and the residents of Wallis and Futuna were subordinated to him.
 * The governor-general of New France was the vice-regal post in New France from 1663 until 1760 and was the last French vice-regal post. It was replaced by the British post of governor of the Province of Quebec following the fall of New France. While the districts of Montreal and Trois-Rivières had their own governors, the governor-general of New France and the governor of the district of Quebec were the same person.
 * From 1699 to 1947, the French appointed a governor and general commander (Gouverneur de Pondichéry et commandant général des établissements français aux Indes orientales) to administer French India (including Pondichéry).
 * Governors-general of the Mascarene Islands (under control of the chartered Compagnie des Indes to 14 July 1767) from 4 June 1735 (succeeding to governors), and after its split-up of Mauritius (Réunion and the Seychelles got lower-styled commandants or governors), until 25 September 1803
 * Haiti January 1714 – 31 December 1803; last incumbent Jean-Jacques Dessalines shortly maintained the title after the January I, 1804 independence before proclaiming himself Emperor Jacques I
 * Since its creation on 16 June 1895 in French West Africa (AOF), until 4 April 1957; the last stayed on as first of two high commissioners
 * Madagascar
 * From 28 June 1908 (previously it had a Commissaire général, i.e. commissioner general) to 4 April 1957 (the last stayed on as first of three high commissioners) in French Equatorial Africa (AEF); during several periods he also acted as governor of the constitutive colony Congo Brazzaville.

Furthermore, in Napoleonic Europe successive French governors-general were appointed by Napoleon I in:
 * the German states of Brandenburg (various others got "mere" governors), two incumbents between 27 October 1806 and 10 December 1808, during the French occupation
 * Province of Courland under the French occupation (from 1 August 1812, Duchy of Courland and Semigallia and District of Pilten nominally re-established under joint French-Saxon protectorate 8 October 1812 – 20 December 1812) : Jacques David Martin, baron de Campredon (1761–1837)
 * Parma and Piacenza under occupation, (after a commissioner) 15 February 1804 – 23 July 1808, later annexed as département under a "prefect of Taro".
 * principality of Piombino May 1806 – 1811: Adolphe Beauvais (d. 1811)
 * annexed Tuscany, two incumbents, over prefects for Arno, Méditerranée [Mediterranean] and Ombrone:
 * May 1808 – 3 March 1809 Jacques François de Boussay, baron de Menou (1750–1810)
 * 3 March 1809 – 1 February 1814 Elisa Baciocchi Bonaparte (with courtesy style of Grand Duchess of Tuscany) (1777–1820)
 * the Illyrian provinces (comprising present Croatia, Slovenia and even adjacent parts of Austria and Italy), annexed as part of the French Empire proper, 14 October 1809 – August 1813

Japan
From 1895 to 1945, Japanese-administered Taiwan had a governor-general. From 1910 to 1945, Japanese-administered Korea had a governor-general. From 1905 to 1910, Japan had a resident-general in Korea.

Netherlands
From 1610 to 1942 the Dutch appointed a gouverneur-generaal ("governor-general") to govern the Netherlands East Indies, now Indonesia. Between the capitulation of the Dutch East Indies in 1942 and the formal end of colonial rule over Indonesia by the Dutch in 1949, no governor-general was appointed.

While in the Caribbean, various other titles were used, Curaçao had three governors-general between 1816 and 1820:
 * 1816–1819 Albert Kikkert
 * 1819–1820 Petrus Bernardus van Starkenborgh
 * 1820 Isaäk Johannes Rammelman Elsevier

Portugal
The equivalent word in Portuguese is governador-geral. This title was only used for the governors of the major colonies, indicating that they had, under their authority, several subordinate governors. In most of the colonies, lower titles, mainly governador (governor) or formerly captain-major (capitão-mor), prevailed
 * In the Portuguese State of India (Estado da Índia, capital Goa) the style was changed repeatedly for another, mostly vice-rei (Viceroy). The viceroy title was usually reserved for members of the Portuguese royal family, the remaining governors receiving the title of governador-general;
 * in Africa, from 1837 Portugal appointed a governor-general to govern the overseas province of Angola, and another to govern the province of Moçambique. For some time, a governor-general was also appointed to rule Cape Verde and Portuguese Guinea, while these territories were united in a single province. Between 1921 and 1930, additional powers were given to some of the Angola and Mozambique governors, who were restyled in full Alto-comissário e governador-geral (high commissioner and governor-general).

Philippines
The Philippines from the 16th through the 20th century had a series of governors-general during the Spanish and American colonial periods, as well as the brief Japanese occupation during World War II.

Spain
Beginning 21 November 1564, the Spanish East Indies had a governor-general, which was under the Viceroy of New Spain based in Mexico. After the successful Mexican War of Independence in 1821, the governor-general reported directly to Spain.

United States
From 1899 to 1935 under initial military rule then Insular Government, the Philippines was administered by a series of governors-general, first military and then civilian, appointed by the United States federal government.

Greece
The Balkan Wars of 1912–13 led to the Greek acquisition of the so-called "New Lands" (Epirus, Macedonia, Crete and the islands of the eastern Aegean), almost doubling the country's territory. Instead of fully incorporating these new lands into Greece by dividing them into prefectures, the Ottoman administrative system continued in existence for a while, and Law ΔΡΛΔ΄ of 1913 established five governorates-general (Γενικαὶ Διοικήσεις, sing. Γενική Διοίκησις): Epirus, Macedonia, Crete, Aegean and Samos–Ikaria. The governors-general had wide-ranging authority in their territories, and were almost autonomous of the government in Athens.

Law 524 in 1914 abolished the governorates-general and divided the New Lands into regular prefectures, but in 1918 Law 1149 re-instated them as a superordinate administrative level above the prefectures, with Macedonia now divided in two governorates-general, those of Thessaloniki and Kozani–Florina. The governors-general of Thessaloniki, Crete and Epirus were also given ministerial rank. To these was added the Governorate-General of Thrace in 1920–22, comprising Western Thrace and Eastern Thrace (returned to Turkey in the Armistice of Mudanya in 1922). The extensive but hitherto legally rather undefined powers of the governors-general created friction and confusion with other government branches, until their remit was exactly delineated in 1925. The governorates-general, except for that of Thessaloniki, were abolished in 1928, but re-established in December 1929—for Crete, Epirus, Thrace, and Macedonia—and delegated practically all ministerial authorities for their respective areas. Over the next decade, however, in a see-saw of legislative measures that in turn gave and took away authority, they gradually lost most of their powers in favour of the prefectures and the central government in Athens.

Following liberation from the Axis occupation, in 1945 the Governorate-General of Northern Greece was established, initially with subordinate governorates for West Macedonia, Central Macedonia, East Macedonia, and Thrace, the first three of which were then grouped anew into a new Governorate-General of Macedonia, albeit still subject to the Governorate-General of Northern Greece. This awkward arrangement lasted until 1950, when the administration of Macedonia was streamlined, the junior governorates abolished and only the Governorate-General of Northern Greece retained. Finally, in 1955, the Governorate-General of Northern Greece was transformed into the Ministry of Northern Greece, and all other governorates-general elsewhere in Greece were abolished.

Sweden
From 1636 to 1815, the king of Sweden typically appointed the governors-general of Sweden for the Swedish Dominions on the eastern side of the Baltic Sea and in northern Germany, but occasionally also for Scania.

Other

 * From 1809 to 1918 Russia designated governors-general of Finland in the Grand Duchy of Finland; Governors-General of Poland in Vistula Land and other Governors-General in various other governorates-general.
 * From 1939 to 1944, during the German occupation of Poland, in that part of the country designated the General Government the Nazi official Hans Frank had the title Governor-General (Generalgouverneur für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete – Governor-General of the occupied Polish areas).
 * The Kingdom of Saxony had two governors-general during the period of Allied control of the after the defeat of the French emperor Napoleon I:
 * 28 October 1813 – 8 November 1814 Prince Nikolay Grigorievich Repnin-Volkonsky (Russia) (1778–1845)
 * 8 November 1814 – 8 June 1815 Eberhard Friedrich Christoph Ludwig, Freiherr von der Recke (Prussia) (1744–1826)
 * During the occupation of Serbia by Austrian-Hungarian and Bulgarian forces in World War I, the Austrian-Hungarian government appointed three consecutive governors-general:
 * 1 January 1916 – July 1916 Johan Ulrich Graf von Salis-Seewis (1862–1940)
 * July 1916 – October 1918 Adolf Freiherr von Rhemen zu Barensfeld (1855–1932)
 * October 1918 – 1 November 1918 Hermann Freiherr Kövess von Kövessháza (1854–1924; a former military commander in northern Serbia)

Asian counterparts

 * From 1644 to 1911, in Qing dynasty China, a governor-general or viceroy was the highest official of joint military and civil affairs in one or several provinces.
 * The hereditary shōgun of Japan (征夷大将軍, sei-i tai-shōgun) who ruled in the name of the emperor from 1185 until 1868 were equivalent to governors-general, though they often had far greater power than a governor-general would ordinarily have.
 * Imperial Japan:
 * From 1895 to 1945, Taiwan was administered by the Japanese governor-general of Taiwan (Japanese: 台湾総督, taiwan sōtoku).
 * From 1910 to 1945, Korea was administered by the Japanese governor-general of Korea (Japanese: 朝鮮総督, chōsen sōtoku).
 * Islamic Republic of Iran
 * The provincial authority is headed by an appointed governor-general (Persian: استاندار, ostāndār).

title: Governor-general


text:
Chronology

Chronology (from Latin chronologia, from Ancient Greek χρόνος, chrónos, "time"; and -λογία, -logia) is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It is also "the determination of the actual temporal sequence of past events".

Chronology is a part of periodization. It is also a part of the discipline of history including earth history, the earth sciences, and study of the geologic time scale.

Related fields
Chronology is the science of locating historical events in time. It relies mostly upon chronometry, which is also known as timekeeping, and historiography, which examines the writing of history and the use of historical methods. Radiocarbon dating estimates the age of formerly living things by measuring the proportion of carbon-14 isotope in their carbon content. Dendrochronology estimates the age of trees by correlation of the various growth rings in their wood to known year-by-year reference sequences in the region to reflect year-to-year climatic variation. Dendrochronology is used in turn as a calibration reference for radiocarbon dating curves.

Calendar and era
The familiar terms calendar and era (within the meaning of a coherent system of numbered calendar years) concern two complementary fundamental concepts of chronology. For example, during eight centuries the calendar belonging to the Christian era, which era was taken in use in the 8th century by Bede, was the Julian calendar, but after the year 1582 it was the Gregorian calendar. Dionysius Exiguus (about the year 500) was the founder of that era, which is nowadays the most widespread dating system on earth. An epoch is the date (year usually) when an era begins.

Ab Urbe condita era
Ab Urbe condita is Latin for "from the founding of the City (Rome)", traditionally set in 753 BC. It was used to identify the Roman year by a few Roman historians. Modern historians use it much more frequently than the Romans themselves did; the dominant method of identifying Roman years was to name the two consuls who held office that year. Before the advent of the modern critical edition of historical Roman works, AUC was indiscriminately added to them by earlier editors, making it appear more widely used than it actually was.

It was used systematically for the first time only about the year 400, by the Iberian historian Orosius. Pope Boniface IV, in about the year 600, seems to have been the first who made a connection between these this era and Anno Domini. (AD 1 = AUC 754.)

Astronomical era
Dionysius Exiguus' Anno Domini era (which contains only calendar years AD) was extended by Bede to the complete Christian era (which contains, in addition all calendar years BC, but no year zero). Ten centuries after Bede, the French astronomers Philippe de la Hire (in the year 1702) and Jacques Cassini (in the year 1740), purely to simplify certain calculations, put the Julian Dating System (proposed in the year 1583 by Joseph Scaliger) and with it an astronomical era into use, which contains a leap year zero, which precedes the year 1 (AD).

Prehistory
While of critical importance to the historian, methods of determining chronology are used in most disciplines of science, especially astronomy, geology, paleontology and archaeology.

In the absence of written history, with its chronicles and king lists, late 19th century archaeologists found that they could develop relative chronologies based on pottery techniques and styles. In the field of Egyptology, William Flinders Petrie pioneered sequence dating to penetrate pre-dynastic Neolithic times, using groups of contemporary artefacts deposited together at a single time in graves and working backwards methodically from the earliest historical phases of Egypt. This method of dating is known as seriation.

Known wares discovered at strata in sometimes quite distant sites, the product of trade, helped extend the network of chronologies. Some cultures have retained the name applied to them in reference to characteristic forms, for lack of an idea of what they called themselves: "The Beaker People" in northern Europe during the 3rd millennium BCE, for example. The study of the means of placing pottery and other cultural artifacts into some kind of order proceeds in two phases, classification and typology: Classification creates categories for the purposes of description, and typology seeks to identify and analyse changes that allow artifacts to be placed into sequences.

Laboratory techniques developed particularly after mid-20th century helped constantly revise and refine the chronologies developed for specific cultural areas. Unrelated dating methods help reinforce a chronology, an axiom of corroborative evidence. Ideally, archaeological materials used for dating a site should complement each other and provide a means of cross-checking. Conclusions drawn from just one unsupported technique are usually regarded as unreliable.

Synchronism
The fundamental problem of chronology is to synchronize events. By synchronizing an event it becomes possible to relate it to the current time and to compare the event to other events. Among historians, a typical need is to synchronize the reigns of kings and leaders in order to relate the history of one country or region to that of another. For example, the Chronicon of Eusebius (325 A.D.) is one of the major works of historical synchronism. This work has two sections. The first contains narrative chronicles of nine different kingdoms: Chaldean, Assyrian, Median, Lydian, Persian, Hebrew, Greek, Peloponnesian, Asian, and Roman. The second part is a long table synchronizing the events from each of the nine kingdoms in parallel columns.

By comparing the parallel columns, the reader can determine which events were contemporaneous, or how many years separated two different events. To place all the events on the same time scale, Eusebius used an Anno Mundi (A.M.) era, meaning that events were dated from the supposed beginning of the world as computed from the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Pentateuch. According to the computation Eusebius used, this occurred in 5199 B.C. The Chronicon of Eusebius was widely used in the medieval world to establish the dates and times of historical events. Subsequent chronographers, such as George Syncellus (died circa 811), analyzed and elaborated on the Chronicon by comparing with other chronologies. The last great chronographer was Joseph Justus Scaliger (1540-1609) who reconstructed the lost Chronicon and synchronized all of ancient history in his two major works, De emendatione temporum (1583) and Thesaurus temporum (1606). Much of modern historical datings and chronology of the ancient world ultimately derives from these two works. Scaliger invented the concept of the Julian Day which is still used as the standard unified scale of time for both historians and astronomers.

In addition to the literary methods of synchronism used by traditional chronographers such as Eusebius, Syncellus and Scaliger, it is possible to synchronize events by archaeological or astronomical means. For example, the Eclipse of Thales, described in the first book of Herodotus can potentially be used to date the Lydian War because the eclipse took place during the middle of an important battle in that war. Likewise, various eclipses and other astronomical events described in ancient records can be used to astronomically synchronize historical events. Another method to synchronize events is the use of archaeological findings, such as pottery, to do sequence dating.

Examples

 * Parian Chronicle
 * List of timelines – specific chronologies
 * Timelines of world history – overall historical chronology

Christian chronology

 * Dionysius Exiguus' Easter table
 * Easter
 * Lunar cycle
 * Millennium question
 * Paschal full moon
 * Solar cycle

General

 * Annals
 * French revolutionary era
 * Historiography
 * Traditional Jewish chronology

Fiction writing
Aspects and examples of non-chronological story-telling:
 * Flashback
 * Flashforward
 * Linearity (writing)
 * Reverse chronology

Published in the 18th–19th centuries

 * Weeks, J. E. (1701). The gentleman's hour glass; or, An introduction to chronology; being a plain and compendious analysis of time. Dublin: James Hoey.
 * Hodgson, J., Hinton, J., & Wallis, J. (1747). An introduction to chronology:: containing an account of time; also of the most remarkable cycles, epoch's, era's, periods, and moveable feasts. To which is added, a brief account of the several methods proposed for the alteration of the style, the reforming the calendar, and fixing the true time of the celebration of Easter. London: Printed for J. Hinton, at the King's Arms in St Paul's Church-yard.
 * Smith, T. (1818). An introduction to chronology. New York: Samuel Wood.

Published in the 20th century

 * Keller, H. R. (1934). The dictionary of dates. New York: The Macmillan company.
 * Poole, R. L., & Poole, A. L. (1934). Studies in chronology and history. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
 * Langer, W. L., & Gatzke, H. W. (1963). An encyclopedia of world history, ancient, medieval and modern, chronologically arranged. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
 * Momigliano, A. "Pagan and Christian Historiography in the Fourth Century A.D." in A. Momigliano, ed., The Conflict Between Paganism and Christianity in the Fourth Century, The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1963, pp. 79–99
 * Williams, N., & Storey, R. L. (1966). Chronology of the modern world: 1763 to the present time. London: Barrie & Rockliffe.
 * Steinberg, S. H. (1967). Historical tables: 58 B.C.-A.D. 1965. London: Macmillan.
 * Freeman-Grenville, G. S. P. (1975). Chronology of world history: a calendar of principal events from 3000 BC to AD 1973. London: Collings.
 * Neugebauer, O. (1975). A History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy Springer-Verlag.
 * Bickerman, E. J. (1980). The Chronology of the Ancient World. London: Thames and Hudson.
 * Whitrow, G. J. (1990). Time in history views of time from prehistory to the present day. Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press.
 * Aitken, M. (1990). Science-Based Dating in Archaeology. London: Thames and Hudson.
 * Richards, E. G. (1998). Mapping Time: The Calendar and History. Oxford University Press.

Published in the 21st century

 * Koselleck, R. "Time and History." The Practice of Conceptual History. Timing History, Spacing Concepts. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2002.

title: Chronology


text:
Eric Corley

Eric Gordon Corley (born December 16, 1959), also frequently referred to by his pen name of Emmanuel Goldstein, is a figure in the hacker community. He directs the non-profit organization 2600 Enterprises, Inc., publishes a magazine called 2600: The Hacker Quarterly (which has associated monthly meet-ups around the world), and hosts the hacker convention Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE). His pseudonym is derived from the fictional opposition leader in George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.

In 1993, Corley testified before the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Telecommunications. Corley was questioned in relation to the content of 2600 as part of discussions concerning the Digital Telephony Bill; also known as the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act.

Corley is the editor of The Best of 2600: A Hacker Odyssey which was released July 2008. The book consists of articles from the magazine 2600: The Hacker Quarterly set in chronological order to show the evolution of the internet and technology. A follow-up book, ''Dear Hacker. Letters to the Editor of 2600'', was published in 2010.

Corley is the host of both the weekly radio programs Off the Hook on WBAI-FM and Off the Wall on WUSB-FM. While Off the Hook often includes a panel of guests and is frequently centered on technological topics, Off the Wall is usually narrated by Eric Corley himself and has covered a wide range of topics. Off the Hook has been on the air since 1988.

Filmography
Corley directed the 2001 film Freedom Downtime, a documentary about the incarcerations of Kevin Mitnick and Bernie S that also examines alleged distortions in mainstream media coverage of Mitnick's case.

A second movie from 2600 Films, Speaker's World has been discussed on previous episodes of Off the Hook.

title: Eric Corley


text:
2600: The Hacker Quarterly

2600: The Hacker Quarterly is an American seasonal publication of technical information and articles, many of which are written and submitted by the readership, on a variety of subjects including hacking, telephone switching systems, Internet protocols and services, as well as general news concerning the computer "underground."

With origins in the phone phreaking community and late 20th-century counterculture, 2600 and its associated conference transitioned to coverage of modern hacker culture, and the magazine has become a platform for speaking out against increased digital surveillance and advocacy of personal and digital freedoms.

Publication history
The magazine's name comes from the phreaker discovery in the 1960s that the transmission of a 2600 hertz tone – which could be produced perfectly with a plastic toy whistle given away free with Cap'n Crunch cereal, discovered by friends of John Draper – over a long-distance trunk connection gained access to "operator mode," and allowed the user to explore aspects of the telephone system that were not otherwise accessible. The magazine was given its name by David Ruderman, who co-founded the magazine with his college friend, Eric Corley. Ruderman ended his direct involvement with the magazine three years later.

The magazine traces its origins to early Bulletin Board Systems as a place for hackers to share information and stories with each other. It was launched in January 1984, coinciding with the book of the same name and the break-up of AT&T. It is published and edited by its co-founder Emmanuel Goldstein (a pen name of Corley which is an allusion to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four) and his company 2600 Enterprises, Inc. 2600 is released on the first Friday of the month following a season change, usually January, April, July, and October.

Goldstein has published a compilation of articles from the magazine entitled The Best of 2600: A Hacker Odyssey. The book, an 888-page hardcover, has been available from July 28, 2008, in the US and August 8, 2008, in the UK and is published by Wiley.

"Hacker" term
In the usage of 2600 and affiliates, the often loaded term "hacking" refers to grey hat hacking, which is generally understood to be any sort of technological utilization or manipulation of technology which goes above and beyond the capabilities inherent to the design of a given application. This usage attempts to maintain neutrality, as opposed to the politically charged and often contentious terms white hat hacking (which some consider hacking motivated exclusively by good, benevolent intentions—such as hardware modding or penetration testing), and black hat hacking – which some consider to be hacking motivated exclusively by malicious or selfish intentions, such as electronic theft, vandalism, hijacking of websites, and other types of cybercrime. ) Other hackers believe that hat-color labels are an oversimplification and unnecessary designation, best suited for use by the media, and suggest that people who use hacking to commit crimes already have a label, that of criminal.

Conferences and meetings
2600 established the H.O.P.E. (Hackers on Planet Earth) conference in 1994, marking the publication's tenth anniversary. The conference is held at the Hotel Pennsylvania, in Manhattan, New York City, and has occurred every two years with the exception of the second HOPE in 1997, held at the Puck Building in Manhattan. The convention features events such as presentations, talks, concerts, and workshops. Speakers have included computer security figures and hackers such as Kevin Mitnick, Steven Levy, Richard Stallman, and Steve Wozniak, as well as whistleblowers William Binney, Daniel Ellsberg, and Edward Snowden, and countercultural figures like Jello Biafra and The Yes Men.

There are monthly meetings in over 24 countries. The meetings are listed in the back of the magazine, and are advertised as being open to anyone regardless of age or level of expertise.

In other media
2600 Films produced a feature-length documentary about famed hacker Kevin Mitnick, the Free Kevin movement and the hacker world, entitled Freedom Downtime, and is currently working on one titled Speakers' World.

Corley is also host of Off The Wall and Off the Hook, two New York talk radio shows. Both shows can be downloaded or streamed via the 2600 site, and are also broadcast on various radio stations:

 * Off the Hook is broadcast on WBAI (99.5 FM)
 * Off The Wall is broadcast on WUSB (90.1 FM).

In the 1995 movie Hackers, a character named Emmanuel Goldstein, also known as "Cereal Killer", was portrayed by Matthew Lillard.

Court cases
2600 has been involved in many court cases related to technology and freedom of speech alongside the Electronic Frontier Foundation, perhaps most significantly Universal v. Reimerdes involving the distribution of DVD copy protection tool DeCSS, where courts upheld the constitutionality of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act anti-circumvention provisions.

The magazine itself received a copyright claim for the ink spatter stock image featured on the Spring 2012 issue from Trunk Archive, an image licensing agency, using an automated image tracking toolkit. While Trunk Archive identified its own image that featured the ink spatter as the source, it was discovered that the original ink spatter was created by the Finnish artist Jukka Korhonen, on DeviantArt, who had released it into the public domain. Trunk Archive later retracted the claim and sent a letter to 2600 apologizing for the mistake.

title: 2600: The Hacker Quarterly


text:
User:Abdul qodir

Let's Save Women and Children ..... Say No to Pornography !!!! Pornography

depok@justice.com

Pornography is the explicit depiction of human sexual behaviour or sexually related imagery in film, novels, short stories, magazines, etc., with the generally accepted goal of sexual arousal. In its original meaning, the word was literally "writing about prostitutes." It evolved into writing about anything sexual, especially in a base manner, and grew to include sexually related material of all kinds, both written and graphical. The term pornography is often used with a negative connotation of low quality as compared to the more esteemed erotica.

The euphemisms Adult Film and Adult Video are generally preferred within the industry producing these works.

There are recurring urban legends of snuff movies, in which murders are filmed for pornographic purposes. No confirmed snuff movies have ever been found.

Legal situation Sometimes a distinction is made between soft-core and hard-core pornography. The former refers to materials which feature nudity and some sexually suggestive scenes but are usually tame enough to be sold in general stores and (in some countries) to be shown on TV. Hard-core pornography features close-ups of genitalia and sexual activities and is normally only available in adult bookstores (sometimes also in gas stations), and (in some countries) via special satellite TV channels. The term X-Rated is also used for these materials.

The legal status of pornography varies widely. While child pornography is illegal almost everywhere, most countries allow at least some form of pornography. In Japan until very recently, no genitals could be shown, but there is no taboo regarding sex and violence and also much less general concern about portraying teenagers as sexual beings (this applies to both out-and-out pornography and works dealing with other themes). Most western countries have some restrictions on pornography involving violence or animals, and they also restrict the sale of pornography to businesses which are open only to adults. The Netherlands have the most liberal rules: pornography is sold openly at normal newsstands and material involving animals is legal. In Sweden material involving animals is de-facto legal but subject to animal-welfare laws. Porn movies can be viewed beginning at age 15, and there are no age restrictions for magazines. In Britain, hard pornography has been illegal until recently, and it remains illegal (but tolerated) in Norway.

Anti-pornography movement Criticism of pornography comes from two directions: conservative and religious forces, and feminism.

Religious conservatives, exemplified by the American Rev. Jerry Falwell, decry pornography because they see it as immoral; sex is reserved for married couples, and pornography is thought to lead to an overall increase in immoral behavior in society.

In the United States, a 1968 Supreme Court decision which held that people could view whatever they wished in the privacy of their own homes caused Congress to fund and President Lyndon Johnson to appoint a commission to study pornography. The commission's report recommended sex education, funding of research into the effects of pornography, restriction of children's access to pornography, and recommended against any restrictios for adults. The report was widely criticized and rejected by Congress.

In 1985, President Ronald Reagan appointed another commission to study pornography issues. It was headed by Attorney General Edwin Meese and is generally known as the Meese commission. The commission's report, released in 1986, found that pornography is harmful and can lead to violent acts. These findings have been criticized for not reflecting the empirical evidence.

The feminist position on pornography is divided. Some feminists view pornography as a crucial part of the sexual revolution which lead to women's liberation, and see conservative views of morality as designed to fortify an oppressive status quo. Other feminists, most vocally Andrea Dworkin? and Catharine MacKinnon?, see pornography as degradation of women which leads to violence against women. They have attempted to create laws which allow sexually abused and otherwise affected women to sue pornographers. One such attempt in Indianapolis was struck down by the US Supreme Court in 1986. In a 1992 decision, the Canadian Supreme Court upheld the Canadian obscenity law, accepting the feminist argument that the law is intended to create gender equality and prohibits materials that harm women, rather than "immoral" materials. Dworkin herself favors a civil law approach and opposes all criminal pornography prohibitions.

The criticisms of Linda Boreman, who herself worked as a porn actor under the name Linda Lovelace, focus on the exploitative practices of the porn industry, rather than on pornography's societal effects.

History Pornography has possibly a very long history. Nude human beings and sexual activities are depicted in some paleolithic art. However it is not certain that the purpose was sexual arousal, the images may have had instead a spiritual significance. There are numerous pornographic paintings on the walls of ruined Roman buildings in Pompeii. One notable example is a brothel in which the various sexual services are advertised in murals above each door. In Pompeii you can also see phalluses (an erect penis and testicles) engraved in the sidewalks, pointing the way to the prostitution and entertainment district, to aid visitors in finding their way.

In the second half of the 20th century, pornography became available in "men's magazines" such as Playboy. These magazines usually featured nude or semi-nude women, sometimes engaging in the act of masturbation. Other magazines evolved into more explicit displays, featuring sexual penetration, lesbianism and homosexuality, group sex, and fetishes?.

The movie camera has been used for pornography throughout its history, and with the arrival of the home video tape recorder? the pornographic movie industry grew massively, people being able not only to view pornography in the privacy of their own home without having to go out to a theater, but also to make their own pornography.

Pornographic computer games have also existed almost since the start of the industry.

With the arrival of the Internet, the availability of pornography increased greatly. Many of the most successful internet entrepreneurs are those who operate pornographic internet sites. As well as conventional photographic or video pornography, some sites offer "interactive" video-game-like entertainment. Due to the international character of the Internet, it provides an easy means for consumers of pornography that is illegal in their country to simply acquire such material from sources in another country where it is legal or not prosecuted.

The almost-zero cost of copying and shipping of digital data boosted the formation of private circles of people swapping pornography. This type of exchange is especially popular for material that is illegal, most notably child pornography.

Magazines:

Playboy (originally only in US, nowadays has editions in many countries) Penthouse? Hustler Magazine? (originally only in US, nowadays has editions in many countries) Private (Established in Stockholm, Sweden in 1965 as the world's first full color hardcore sex magazine) Le Ore? (Italy), once an ordinary newspaper, in the 1970s had a notable turn in editorial line and represents now the most important title of a wide network of sex related magazines in central Europe. Movies:

Deep Throat Personalities:

Hugh Hefner Larry Flynt? John Holmes? Ron Jeremy Nina Hartley? Marilyn Chambers? Linda Lovelace Georgina Spelvin? Annie Sprinkle? Ilona Staller Moana Pozzi? Karin Schubert?

title: User:Abdul qodir