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Hernando de Soto (economist)

Hernando Soto Polar (commonly known Hernando de Soto ; born June 2, 1941) is a Peruvian economist known for his work on the informal economy and on the importance of business and property rights. His work on the developing world has earned him praise worldwide by numerous heads of state, particularly for his publication The Mystery of Capital and The Other Path. He is the current president of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy (ILD), a think tank devoted to promoting economic development in developing countries located in Lima, Peru.

In Peru, de Soto's advisory has been recognized as inspiring the economic guidelines—including the loosening of economic regulation, the introduction of austerity measures and the utilization of neoliberal policies—that were ultimately adopted by the government of Alberto Fujimori and established in the 1993 Constitution of Peru. The policies prescribed by de Soto resulted with Peru becoming macro-economically stable following the period of price controls and increased regulation established during the Lost Decade. De Soto would go on to support Alberto's daughter, Keiko Fujimori, serving as an advisor during her presidential campaigns. De Soto worked closely with various Peruvian governments, even serving as a negotiator for the Peru-United States Free Trade Agreement. After years of speculation, de Soto ran for the Peruvian presidency in the 2021 presidential election, placing fourth in an atomized race of 18 nominees.

Internationally, de Soto helped inspire the Washington Consensus macroeconomic prescriptions and was credited by economist John Williamson, who coined the consensus' name. He also supported the creation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), with George H.W. Bush praising his promotion of free trade when announcing the North American agreement. Other heads of state have recognized de Soto, including Bill Clinton, Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. The ILD has received praise from other people including Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, World Bank President James Wolfensohn, and former UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar.

Early life and education
De Soto was born on 2 June 1941 in Arequipa, Peru. His father José Alberto Soto was a Peruvian diplomat and lawyer. After the 1948 military coup in Peru, his parents chose exile in Europe, taking their two young sons with them. His father worked for the International Labour Organization following their exile and would often send de Soto back to Peru during the summer months.

In exile, de Soto was educated in Switzerland where he attended the International School of Geneva. He studied social psychology in National University of Saint Augustine in Arequipa, Peru. He returned to Geneva and received a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Geneva. In 1967, he earned a master's degree in international law and economics from Graduate Institute of International Studies, also in Geneva.

His younger brother Álvaro served in the Peruvian diplomatic corps in Lima, New York City and Geneva and was seconded to United Nations in 1982. He retired from the U.N. in 2007 with the title rank of Assistant Under-Secretary-General; his last position was as the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.

There is some controversy around his surname, as his father's surname is Soto, while Hernando's one is de Soto. According to the Peruvian writer, and Nobel prize winner, Mario Vargas Llosa, he changed the surname in order to sound more "aristocratic".

Economics career
Following his post-graduate studies, he worked as an economist for the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, a precursor to the World Trade Organization, as well as president of the Committee of the Copper Exporting Countries Organization, CEO of Universal Engineering Corporation and a principal for Swiss Bank Corporation.

Founding of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy
De Soto returned to Peru on the behalf of gold placer investors at the age of 38 in 1979 at a time when neoliberal policy was moving from the fringes of economic theory to mainstream practice. Upon de Soto's return in 1979, he met with Friedrich Hayek, a free market proponent who helped create the Mont Pelerin Society. Hayek, who sought to promote neoliberalism through a network of "second hand dealers", choosing de Soto. After making connections with Hayek, de Soto was acquainted with Sir Antony Fisher, a British businessman who created the Atlas Network, a nonprofit libertarian umbrella group that consolidated funds and research from businesses in the United States and Europe in order to create neoliberal organizations in developing countries.

With the assistance and funding of Fisher and the Atlas Network, de Soto created the Institute for Liberty and Democracy (ILD) in 1981, one of the first neoliberal organizations in Latin America. De Soto would later state "Anthony gave us enormous amounts of information and advice on how to get organized. ... It was on the basis of his vision that we designed the structure of the ILD". In 1984, de Soto received further assistance from the United States president Ronald Reagan's administration, with the National Endowment for Democracy's Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) providing ILD with funding and education for advertising campaigns. In 2003, the CIPE would later describe the ILD as being one of its most successful programs. Other funding was then provided by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Smith Richardson Foundation, with USAID assisting the ILD with staging international networks to propagate their ideals. The ILD would then seek popular support in Peru by making informal housing their main concern.

Fujimori government
Between 1988 and 1995, de Soto and the Institute for Liberty and Democracy (ILD) were mainly responsible for some four hundred initiatives, laws, and regulations that led to significant changes in Peru's economic system. The ILD became involved with the Peruvian economy at the end of President Alan García's term. De Soto's group began to grow and advertised to the Peruvian public promoting their legislative goals, borrowing some advertisements from American lotteries.

De Soto then began to serve informally as "the President's personal representative" for the first three years of the administration of Alberto Fujimori. De Soto had originally been a part of the economics advisory team of the unsuccessful presidential candidate Mario Vargas Llosa in 1990, but Fujimori later requested de Soto's assistance in resolving the economic issues that were produced by the crisis of the 1980s. The New York Times described de Soto as an "overseas salesman" for the government of Alberto Fujimori in 1990, writing that he had represented the government when meeting with creditors and the United States representatives. Others dubbed de Soto as the "informal president" for Fujimori.

In a recommendation to Fujimori, de Soto called for a "shock" to Peru's economy. De Soto convinced then-president Fujimori to travel to New York City in a meeting organized by the Peruvian Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, secretary-general of the United Nations, where they met with the heads of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank, who convinced him to follow the guidelines for economic policy set by the international financial institutions. The policies included a 300 percent tax increase, unregulated prices and privatizing two-hundred and fifty state-owned entities. The policies of de Soto caused macroeconomic stability and a reduction in the rate of inflation, though Peru's poverty rate remained largely unchanged with over half of the population living in poverty in 1998. Peru would not see increased growth until the 2000s commodities boom.

University of Chicago political scientist Susan C. Stokes believes that de Soto's influence helped change the policies of Fujimori from a Keynesian to a neoliberal approach. De Soto also inspired Fujimori's anti-drug initiatives. The Cato Institute and The Economist magazine have argued that de Soto's policy prescriptions brought him into conflict with and eventually helped to undermine the Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) guerrilla movement. By granting titles to small coca farmers in the two main coca-growing areas, they argued that the Shining Path was deprived of safe havens, recruits and money, and the leadership was forced to cities where they were arrested. Attacks were launched against the ILD and de Soto in light of the statements by Shining Path leader Abimael Guzmán, who saw ILD as a threat.

Land title initiative
Between 1992 and 1994, de Soto's ILD piloted a land title program to formally register 200,000 Peruvian households and two years later, expanded the program to Lima and seven other metropolitan areas that held ninety percent of informal housing developments within Peru. The program concluded in 2004 with 1.4 million households being registered and 920,000 land titles being provided.

Contrary to de Soto's claims, the land title project provided no change to the access of credit to poor Peruvians. The ILD's figures reported that homeowners also saw their hours at work increase by seventeen percent, while working at home decreased by forty-seven percent and child labor was reduced by twenty-eight percent, with the group stating that the latter two statistics were due to homeowners and their children no longer being required to defend their homes from seizure. According to Timothy Mitchell, the ILD's findings were "implausible" since the conclusion was already framed by the ILD, neighborhoods were already collective with limited property conflicts and those included in the project were already pursuing work outside of their homes when they chose to become involved. Following the findings, the ILD would distance itself from advocating credit access and instead promote increased work hours among formal landowners.

Resignation and condemnation of Fujimori
De Soto resigned from his post as the "Personal Representative of the President" in January 1992, two months prior to the 1992 Peruvian coup d'état, and condemned Fujimori's motivations being influenced by Director of the National Intelligence Service Vladimiro Montesinos, hinting at signs of corruption. In his letter, he called into question "the validity of the anti-drug agreement" that Fujimori adopted. He stated his reasons to resigning as due to "drug trafficking from within the State that sabotages efforts in the fight against drugs", and reportedly due to differences with Montesinos. Both Montesinos and Fujimori would later be indicted for corruption and violation of human rights.

Two months after de Soto resigned, Fujimori launched a self-coup which de Soto again condemned as "stupid, unproductive and blatantly unconstitutional". According to de Soto, one month after the coup the Minister of Economy Carlos Boloña contacted de Soto in desperation, after dozens of countries sanctioned Peru economically by cutting it off from investment and credit in response to the undemocratic event. Boloña resigned from his ministerial post, and de Soto lastly travelled to the 1992 Organization of American States summit in the Bahamas with Fujimori and pressured him to accept democratic elections to prevent another macroeconomic crisis.

Washington Consensus
De Soto was a main contributor to the Washington Consensus, a set of ten economic prescription requirements set by International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and United States Department of the Treasury towards countries in economic crisis. Neoliberal economists in the United States utilized de Soto's arguments as a way to promote the consensus. English economist John Williamson, who coined the term "Washington Consensus", partly credited de Soto for the prescriptions, saying his work was "the outcome of the worldwide intellectual trends to which Latin America provided". For United States presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, according to Kate Geohegan of Harvard University's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, "de Soto's ideas offered a compelling new framework for explaining the problem of economic underdevelopment that seemed to affirm the wisdom of neoliberal policies like adjustment lending".

The Washington Consensus would result in socioeconomic exclusion and weakened trade unions in Latin America, resulting with unrest in the region. The consensus resulted with a shrinking middle class in Latin America that prompted dissatisfaction of neoliberalism, a turn to the political left and populist leaders by the late-1990s; in Bolivia, support for Evo Morales was established.

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
Upon its signing, de Soto expressed support for the creation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). When announcing NAFTA at the Annual Meeting of the Boards of Governors of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group on 27 September 1989, President George H. W. Bush – who had adopted de Soto's work for the United States' foreign policy towards the economies of developing countries – praised de Soto for helping inspire free trade.

In his speech announcing NAFTA at the 1989 meeting, Bush stated:

"All across the world, there has been an almost simultaneous rediscovery of the power created when individuals are given the freedom to act in their own best interests. ... True, we are here today mainly to discuss economic freedom. ... The Peruvian economist, Hernando de Soto, has helped us understand a worldwide economic phenomenon. ... When left alone by government, people everywhere organize their lives in remarkably similar ways. De Soto's prescription offers a clear and promising alternative to economic stagnation in Latin America and other parts of the world. ... All our nations have a responsibility to ensure a fair and open trading system."

According to de Soto in 1993, "the virtues of a modern society" were able to be introduced to Latin America as a result of NAFTA. He would later say in 2001 that Mexico's economy and institution would progress due to NAFTA, concluding "All poor countries are lumped together and all rich countries are lumped together; there's this imitation effect".

Advisory work
Following its foundation in Peru, de Soto's institute, the ILD, has worked in dozens of countries. Heads of state in over 35 countries have sought the ILD's services to discuss how ILD's theories on property rights could potentially improve their economies. After the split with Fujimori, he and his institute designed similar programs in El Salvador, Haiti, Tanzania, and Egypt and has worked beside the World Bank, though the institute did not advocate for land title programs and instead promoted longer work hours. De Soto has received criticism of having relationships with controversial political leaders such as Alberto Fujimori and Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi, with de Soto responding to such statements saying "I have advised dictators, but that is irrelevant".

In 2006, de Soto served as a personal representative of President Alan García, and negotiated the Peru-United States Free Trade Agreement after 11 rounds of negotiation. In 2009, the ILD turned its attention back to Peru and the plight of the indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazon jungle. In response to Peru's President García's call to all Peruvians to present their proposals toward solving the problems leading to the bloody incidents in Bagua, the ILD assessed the situation and presented its preliminary findings. ILD published a short videotaped documentary, The Mystery of Capital among the Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon, summarizing its findings from indigenous communities in Alaska, Canada and the Peruvian jungle.

After previously working with her father Alberto, de Soto joined Keiko Fujimori with her election campaigns for the 2011 and 2016 Peruvian general election when Fujimori committed to implementing de Soto's property rights reforms. In an interview during the first campaign ok Keiko Fujimori, he also stated that Osama bin Laden's death was achieved thanks to land titling, a concept he holds as a way out of poverty. As part of the Fuerza Popular team, he harshly criticized Peruvians for Change candidate Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, whom he described as a "deserter and coward." In an interview with the newspaper Perú21, De Soto said that Kuczynski "is a gringo who does not know Peru, because there are those who do. He is a foreigner to the Peruvian reality."

2001 Peruvian general election
For the 2001 Peruvian general election, de Soto sought to run for president with his Popular Capital party, though he failed to register the party on time in order to participate. At the time, he sought support from left-wing political groups for his candidacy, though they disagreed with his liberal economic policies. He would later become a critic of such groups.

After learning about de Soto's inability to register for the election, former president and leader of the APRA Alan Garcia offered the economist the APRA's presidential nomination. De Soto declined the offer, claiming that he would have been "a figurehead president susceptible to the whims of disciplined APRA congressmen". Later, Garcia offered de Soto the position of Prime Minister, a role that Alberto Fujimori had also offered de Soto. De Soto declined again, not wanting to be held accountable for Garcia's government policies.

2021 presidential campaign
De Soto announced his candidacy for president in September 2020 under the party Go on Country. Prior to the announcement, De Soto expressed hesitation to formally run for president lest politicizing and potentially delegitimizing work done by the ILD and himself on dead capital.

On 30 October 2020, De Soto presented his technical team, which included the former president of CONFIEP Miguel Vega Alvear, businessman Carlos Añaños, former Fujimori minister and first Vice President Francisco Tudela, former GEIN commander Marco Miyashiro, the former head of the Operation Chavín de Huantar José Williams, the diplomat Álvaro de Soto, among others.

On December 14, 2020, de Soto shared an alleged secret poll in Beto Ortiz's show in Willax Televisión. That poll ranked him first. De Soto spoke in the interview that: "The way this (the cadres) comes to us is because people very close to the state apparatus, it seems, were outraged at the enormous difference between the polls they handle."

In January 2021, a strike was filed that considered that the Go on Country electoral court had not been properly formed. This strike was declared unfounded by the JEE.

Another strike was filed against him by a citizen, because he points out that Hernando de Soto "has entered in the Academic Training section of the resume, which has the academic degree 'demi license en sciences economiques' awarded by the University of Geneva, which would have been obtained in 1964.”. But since this degree or title is not registered with SUNEDU, false information would be declared and it should be excluded from the candidacy.

On 24 February 2021, following an approach to advise Francisco Sagasti on the COVID-19 pandemic management in Peru, De Soto announced the first Peruvian shadow cabinet. Mainly composed of his campaign technical team, the main purpose of the opposition cabinet is to offer an alternative in order for the government to concur and apply during the crisis.

De Soto rejected the exclusion of Rafael López Aliaga, an electoral rival in the 2021 elections, for which he appeared at the demonstration of his followers on the outskirts of the JNE, in which Lopez Aliaga was, who praised him.

De Soto was caught in controversy surrounding Vacunagate, a scandal where political elites in Peru were able to be vaccinated against COVID-19 ahead of schedule. He initially denied having received a COVID-19 vaccine "from any Peruvian", though it was later reported that he flew twice to the United States to be vaccinated. During presidential debates de Soto promised to work with the United Nations to prevent foreign "criminals or poor people" from entering Peru, stating "Let their governments take care of them, we will take care of ours". He proposed reforming Peru's education for less foreign reliance and increasing the health budget.

Ultimately, de Soto placed fourth in an atomized race of 18 nominees.

Main thesis
The main message of de Soto's work and writings is that no nation can have a strong market economy without adequate participation in an information framework that records ownership of property and other economic information. Unreported, unrecorded economic activity results in that many small entrepreneurs lack legal ownership of their property, making it difficult for them to obtain credit, sell the business, or expand. They cannot seek legal remedies to business conflicts in court, since they do not have legal ownership. Lack of information on income prevents governments from collecting taxes and acting for the public welfare:

The existence of such massive exclusion generates two parallel economies, legal and extra legal. An elite minority enjoys the economic benefits of the law and globalization, while the majority of entrepreneurs are stuck in poverty, where their assets—adding up to more than US$10 trillion worldwide—languish as dead capital in the shadows of the law.

To survive, to protect their assets, and to do as much business as possible, the extralegals create their own rules. But because these local arrangements are full of shortcomings and are not easily enforceable, the extralegals also create their own social, political and economic problems that affect the society at large.

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, responsible nations around the developing world have worked hard to make the transition to a market economy, but have in general failed. Populist leaders have used this failure of the free market system to wipe out poverty in the developing world to beat their "anti-globalization" drums. But the ILD believes that the real enemy is within the flawed legal systems of developing nations that make it virtually impossible for the majority of their people—and their assets—to gain a stake in the market. The people of these countries have talent, enthusiasm, and an astonishing ability to wring a profit out of practically nothing`.

What the poor majority in the developing world do not have is easy access to the legal system which, in the advanced nations of the world and for the elite in their countries, is the gateway to economic success, for it is in the legal system where property documents are created and standardized according to law. That documentation builds a public memory that permits society to engage in such crucial economic activities as identifying and gaining access to information about individuals, their assets, their titles, rights, charges and obligations; establishing the limits of liability for businesses; knowing an asset's previous economic situation; assuring protection of third parties; and quantifying and valuing assets and rights. These public memory mechanisms in turn facilitate such opportunities as access to credit, the establishment of systems of identification, the creation of systems for credit and insurance information, the provision for housing and infrastructure, the issue of shares, the mortgage of property and a host of other economic activities that drive a modern market economy.

Work and research
Since 2008, de Soto has been refining his thesis about the importance of property rights to development in response to his organization's findings that a number of new global threats have "property rights distortions" at their root. In essays, that appeared from early 2009 into 2012 in media outlets in the U.S. and Europe, de Soto argued that the reason why the U.S. and European economies were mired in recession was the result of a "knowledge crisis" not a financial one. He has termed housing assets as "dead capital," in his papers on household ownership and deeds. "Capitalism lives in two worlds," De Soto wrote in the Financial Times in January 2012. "There is the visible one of palm trees and Panamanian ships, but it is the other – made up of the property information cocooned in laws and records – that allows us to organize and understand fragments of reality and join them creatively." De Soto argued that the knowledge in those public memory systems, which "helped Capitalism triumph," was distorted over the past 15 years or so. "Until this knowledge system is repaired," he wrote, "neither US nor European capitalism will recover."

In another series of articles that appeared in US and Europe in 2011, de Soto used the findings of ILD field research in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya to make his case for "the economic roots of the Arab Spring." The ongoing Arab revolutions, he argued, were "economic revolutions" driven mainly by the frustrations of 200 million ordinary Arabs who depended on the informal economy for their livelihoods. He pointed to the ILD's earlier 2004 findings in Egypt, which revealed the nation's largest employer with 92% of the property in the informal economy – assets worth almost $247 billion. Also, as proof of the extent of desperation among MENA’s entrepreneurs, he elaborated ILD's exclusive research on Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian street vendor whose public self-immolation in protest of the expropriation of his goods and scale literally sparked the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia, which spread unrest through the Arab world.

After losing core funding from USAID, ILD laid off the majority of their employees from their San Isidro office. In 2014–2015, de Soto and a small team working out of his house began to attempt to guide the political process in Peru, as presidential elections were due to take place in 2016, by finding solutions to the ongoing national mining crisis. De Soto has been a strong advocate for the formalisation of the informal miners that are scattered throughout Peru. Since 2014, several large national investment projects, including Las Bambas, and Tia Maria have been disrupted by violent protests by informal miners against government regulation and formal extractive industries. In July 2015, de Soto alleged that former Shining Path militants who have taken up the ecological cause were paralyzing some $70 billion in mining investment in Peru. Furthermore, recorded video debates between the former extremists and de Soto were published on ILD's YouTube channel and revealed that the Shining Path militants agree that property rights could be an important part of the solution to social conflicts in Peru. De Soto's stated goal is to determine the roots of informal hostility against multinationals and identify what is needed to build a national social contract on extractive industries that could harmonize their property interests with those of multinationals as opposed to creating conflict.

De Soto applies thesis to terrorism
In October 2014, de Soto published an article in The Wall Street Journal, "The Capitalist Cure for Terrorism", that stated an aggressive agenda for economic empowerment was needed in the Middle East in order to defeat terrorist groups like ISIL. He argued that the U.S. should promote an agenda similar to what was successfully used in Peru to defeat the Shining Path in the 1990s. He also mentions in the article that local policymakers in the Middle East are missing the fact that if ordinary people cannot play the game legally, they will be far less able to resist a terrorist offensive. The article received praise among high-level global Right-Wing politicians such as US presidential candidates Rand Paul and Jeb Bush.

Once again In January 2016, de Soto released his second article, How to Win the War on Terror, which focused on defeating terrorism through promoting strong property rights. The article was distributed by Project Syndicate and published in dozens of countries and languages, including in Switzerland by the World Economic Forum in advance of their 2016 forum.

De Soto challenges Thomas Piketty
In 2014, de Soto started to refute French economist Thomas Piketty’s thesis by arguing that his recent attacks against capital in his worldwide best seller book Capital in the 21st Century were unjustified. His op-ed article challenging Piketty, ‘The Poor Against Piketty’ (French: Les pauvres contre Piketty) was first published in France's news magazine Le Point in April 2015.

De Soto argued that Piketty's statistics ignore the ninety percent of the world population that lives in developing countries and former Soviet states, whose inhabitants produce and hold their capital in the informal sector. Furthermore, he states that his institute's global research proves that most people actually want more rather than less capital. Finally, he argues that the wars against capital, which Piketty claims are coming, have already begun under Europe's nose in the form of the Arab Spring in the Middle East and North Africa.

De Soto addresses Pope Francis
In February 2016, de Soto took a break from countering Piketty's work and wrote an article addressing Pope Francis’s trip to Mexico titled, A Mexican Impasse for the Pope. The article encourages the Pope and the Vatican to address the lack of property rights among the poor in countries like Mexico as a solution to global refugee crises.

A week later, de Soto published a second article in Fortune Magazine addressing the Pope's and US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s public spat over building a wall on the Mexican-USA border. The article titled, What Pope Francis Should Really Say to Donald Trump, conveys five property rights related thoughts that the Pope should use to respond to Trump. The article led to many different opinion articles featured in conservative outlets such as Breitbart and Investors Business Daily.

Blockchain work
In May 2015, de Soto attended the 1st Annual Block Chain Summit hosted by British billionaire Richard Branson at his private Caribbean residence, Necker Island. De Soto was one of three moderators, along with Michael J. Casey, former Wall Street Journal senior columnist and Matthew Bishop, editor at The Economist. Advocates of blockchain technology argue that it is well-suited to acting as a public ledger to help achieve de Soto's objective of formalising the informally held property rights of groups like the indigenous peoples of Peru.

De Soto presented a property application of Bitcoin to Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates and financial authorities of Abu Dhabi at a second Blockchain summit held in Abu Dhabi in 2015.

Ideology
De Soto's promotion of liberalism in developing countries has faced criticism as supporting the exploitation of poorer nations. Social scientist Joseph Hanlon described De Soto as "an economist of the far right" and that "the risk that people will be thrown off their land is fundamental to De Soto's system of bringing capitalism to the poor", summarizing that landlessness for some impoverished individuals "is intrinsic to his strategy". The Guardian described de Soto as "a radical free-market economist". Geohegan states that the United States government under President Ronald Reagan and his successor George H. W. Bush adopted de Soto's work as the main strategy of the United States' foreign policy towards developing countries since "de Soto's interpretation of underdevelopment seemed to validate the emerging 'neoliberal' US policies". According to de Soto, Peru was not poor because of international inequality enforced by the globalized economy but due to Peru's own economic regulation. Reagan – whose administration provided funding to found de Soto's ILD – George H. W. Bush and Bush's successor Bill Clinton would continue promoting de Soto's work. Timothy Mitchell says that de Soto's background as a European economist was often ignored by American neoliberals promoting him, writing that his popularity and experience "came to depend on his identity as a neoliberal from the third world, willing to describe the poverty of the global south as a self-inflicted injury unconnected to its relationship to the north". Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Andrew Natsios would later advocate de Soto's work, stating "Instead of seeing the developing world as victims of capitalism, Hernando argues 'We're inflicting our own wounds' ... Since he is Peruvian, he can make this argument credibly".

The promotion of neoliberalism by de Soto was not only utilized by officials in the United States; other neoliberal economists endorsed de Soto due to his origins from the developing world as well, with Mitchell stating that his background "transformed de Soto into a very useful asset for the neoliberal movement". President of the Atlas Network, Alex Chaufen, said that de Soto was often discussed among the neoliberal community, stating "During the years I spent with Antony [Fisher] at Atlas, I couldn't recall any conversation, any speech about think tanks, any fundraising letter where he did not mention Hernando".

As de Soto began to work with the government of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the Philippines in 2004, investigative journalism website Bulatlat described de Soto's work as "rich people's reformism", writing "The secret to de Soto's and ILD's popularity among political, economic and developmental elites ultimately lies in their unashamed conservatism, defense of the status quo and promise of capitalist wealth for the world's poor and exploited. ... Elites get to keep the property they value so much and can continue exploiting and oppressing while the poor – and historically exploited and oppressed – are diverted from systemic struggles by the chimera of becoming wealthy entrepreneurs themselves". In his Planet of Slums, Mike Davis argues that de Soto, who Davis calls "the global guru of neo-liberal populism", is essentially promoting what the statist left in South America and India has always promoted individual land titling. Davis argues that titling is the incorporation into the formal economy of cities, which benefits more wealthy squatters but is disastrous for poorer squatters, and especially tenants who simply cannot afford incorporation into the fully commodified formal economy.

Property rights
De Soto's works on property rights has voiced diverse views on the effect of the titling of land. The findings at the conclusion of his land title program under Alberto Fujimori found that providing land titles did not provide poor Peruvians with greater access to credit. De Soto has been criticized for methodological and analytical reasons, while some activists have accused him of just wanting to be a representative figure of the prioritizing property rights movement. Some state that his theory does not offer anything new compared to traditional land reform. His emphasis on title formalization as the only reason behind economic growth in the United States has been subject to criticism. Property formalization in the United States may have happened as a result of different reasons including establishment of law and order, increased state control, greater institutional integration, increased economic efficiency, increased tax revenue, and greater equality.

Reception from scholars
Empirical studies by Argentine economists Sebastian Galiani and Ernesto Schargrodsky found a modest relationship between titling and credit market access (contradicting de Soto's research), but have also pointed out that families with titles "substantially increased housing investment, reduced household size, and improved the education of their children relative to the control group". In a 2012 book by Yale University political science methodologist Thad Dunning, he argues that Galiani and Schargrodsky's studies provide "highly credible" claims because the studies rely on true randomization, whereas De Soto's study did not (and is thus vulnerable to confounding variables).

"De Soto’s proposal is not wealth transfer, but wealth legalization. The poor of the world already possess trillions in assets now. De Soto is not distributing capital to anyone. By making them liquid, everyone’s capital pool grows dramatically". While analysing Schaefer's arguments, Roy writes, "de Soto’s ideas are seductive precisely because they only guarantee the latter, but in doing so promise the former". Robert J. Samuelson has argued against what he sees as de Soto's "single bullet" approach and has argued for a greater emphasis on culture and how local conditions affect people's perceptions of their opportunities.

In the Journal of Economic Literature, Christopher Woodruff of the University of California, San Diego criticized de Soto for overestimating the amount of wealth that land titling now informally owned property could unlock and argues that "de Soto's own experience in Peru suggests that land titling by itself is not likely to have much effect. Titling must be followed by a series of politically challenging steps. Improving the efficiency of judicial systems, rewriting bankruptcy codes, restructuring financial market regulations, and similar reforms will involve much more difficult choices by policymakers."

Reception from governmental officials
The argument for private and often individualist property regime comes under the question of societal legitimacy, may not be justified even if de Soto eyes bringing a unified system in a state or unification with the global economy.

His work has also received praise from two United Nations secretaries-general: Kofi Annan – "Hernando de Soto is absolutely right, that we need to rethink how we capture economic growth and development" – and Javier Pérez de Cuéllar – "A crucial contribution. A new proposal for change that is valid for the whole world." UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, has questioned the insistence on titling as a means to protect security of tenure based on the risk that titling will undermine customary forms of tenure and insufficiently protect the rights of land users that depend on the commons, as well as the fear that titling schemes may lead to further reconcentration of land ownership.

A study commissioned by DFID, an agency of the U.K. government, further summarized many of the complications arising from implementing de Soto's policy recommendations when insufficient attention is paid to the local social context.

Reception from activists
Grassroots controlled and directed shack dwellers movements like Abahlali baseMjondolo in South Africa and the Homeless Workers' Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Teto – MTST) in Brazil have strenuously argued against individual titling and for communal and democratic systems of collective land tenure because this offers protection to the poorest and prevents 'downward raiding' in which richer people displace squatters once their neighborhoods are formalized.

Publications
Neoliberal politicians and organizations promoted de Soto's publications, with their endorsements and awards making his books bestsellers. Since the publication of The Mystery of Capital in 2000 and subsequent translations, his ideas have become increasingly influential in the field of development economics. Scholars have disputed that there is a significant relationship between land titles and credit market access.

In the World Development journal, a 1990 article by R. G. Rossini and J. J. Thomas of the London School of Economics questioned the statistical basis of de Soto's claims about the size of the informal economy in his first book The Other Path. The ILD responded in the same journal that Rossini and Thomas’ observations "neither [addressed] the central theme of the book, nor [did it address] the main body of quantitative evidence displayed to substantiate the importance of economic and legal barriers that give rise to informal activities. Instead, [they focused] exclusively on four empirical estimates that the book [mentioned] only in passing".

On January 31, 2012, de Soto and his publisher were fined by the Peruvian intellectual property rights organization INDECOPI for excluding the names of co-authors Enrique Ghersi and Mario Ghibellini in newer editions of his 1986 book The Other Path.

Relationship with elites
An article by Madeleine Bunting for The Guardian (UK) claimed that de Soto's suggestions would in some circumstances cause more harm than benefit and referred to The Mystery of Capital as "an elaborate smokescreen" used to obscure the issue of the power of the globalized elite. She cited de Soto's employment history as evidence of his bias in favor of the powerful. Reporter John Gravois also criticized de Soto for his ties to power circles, exemplified by his attendance at the Davos World Economic Forum. In response, de Soto told Gravois that this proximity to power would help de Soto educate the elites about poverty. Ivan Osorio of the Competitive Enterprise Institute has argued against Gravois's allegations, claiming that Gravois has misinterpreted many of de Soto's recommendations.

Awards and accolades
Time magazine chose De Soto as one of the five leading Latin American innovators of the century in its special May 1999 issue "Leaders of the New Millennium", and included him among the 100 most influential people in the world in 2004. De Soto was also listed as one of the 15 innovators "who will reinvent your future" according to Forbes magazine's 85th anniversary edition. In January 2000, Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit, the German development magazine, described de Soto as one of the most important development theoreticians. In October 2016, de Soto was honored with the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize, awarded by the William & Mary Law School during the 13th Annual Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference, in recognition of his tireless advocacy of property rights reform as a tool to alleviate global poverty. Hernando de Soto is honorary co-chair for the World Justice Project.

Among the prizes he has received are:

1990 1995 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2009 2010 2016 2017
 * The Fisher Prize from the Atlas Network
 * The Freedom Prize (Switzerland)
 * The Goldwater Award (USA)
 * Adam Smith Award from the Association of Private Enterprise Education (USA)
 * The CARE Canada Award for Outstanding Development Thinking (Canada)
 * Received the Downey Fellowship at Yale University
 * The Democracy Hall of Fame International Award from the National Graduate University (USA)
 * The Templeton Freedom Prize (USA)
 * The Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty (USA)
 * The Royal Decoration of the Most Admirable Order of the Direkgunabhorn, 5th Class, (Thailand)
 * An honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Buckingham (United Kingdom),
 * The Americas Award (USA)
 * Was named the Most Outstanding of 2004 for Economic Development at Home and Abroad by the Peruvian National Assembly of Rectors
 * The Prize of Deutsche Stiftung Eigentum for exceptional contributions to the theory of property rights
 * The 2004 IPAE Award by the Peruvian Institute of Business Administration
 * The Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award 2005 (USA) in tribute to his outstanding accomplishments
 * The BearingPoint, Forbes magazine's seventh Compass Award for Strategic Direction
 * Was named as a "Fellow of the Class of 1930" by Dartmouth College.
 * The 2006 Bradley Prize for outstanding achievement by the Bradley Foundation.
 * The 2006 Innovation Award (Social and Economic Innovation) from The Economist magazine (December 2, 2006) for the promotion of property rights and economic development.
 * The Poder BCG Business Awards 2007, granted by Poder Magazine and the Boston Consulting Group, for the "Best Anti-Poverty Initiative"
 * The anthology Die Zwölf Wichtigsten Ökonomen der Welt (The World's Twelve Most Influential Economists, 2007), included a profile of de Soto among a list that begins with Adam Smith and includes such recent winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics as Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen.
 * The 2007 Humanitarian Award in recognition of his work to help poor people participate in the market economy.
 * Honorary patron of the University Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin for having excelled in public life and made a worthy contribution to society.
 * The inaugural Hernando de Soto Award for Democracy awarded by the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) in recognition of his extraordinary achievements in furthering economic freedom in Peru and throughout the developing world.
 * The Hayek Medal for his theories on liberal development policy ("market economy from below") and for the appropriate implementation of his concepts by two Peruvian presidents.
 * The Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic (Council of Ministers) in recognition of his contribution toward the betterment of humankind and having worked for the future of the earth through his commitment.
 * The 2016 Brigham–Kanner Property Rights Prize from William & Mary Law School during a ceremony in The Hague, Netherlands, in October 2016.
 * Recipient of the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research 2017.

Books
De Soto has published two books about economic development: The Other Path: The Invisible Revolution in the Third World in 1986 in Spanish (with a new edition in 2002 titled The Other Path, The Economic Answer to Terrorism) and in 2000, The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else (ISBN 978-0465016150). Both books have been international bestsellers, translated into some 30 languages.

The original Spanish-language title of The Other Path is El Otro Sendero, an allusion to de Soto's alternative proposals for development in Peru, countering the attempts of the "Shining Path" ("Sendero Luminoso") to win the support of Peru's poor. Based on five years' worth of ILD research into the causes of massive informality and legal exclusion in Peru, the book was also a direct intellectual challenge to the Shining Path, offering to the poor of Peru not the violent overthrow of the system but "the other path" out of poverty, through legal reform. In response, the Senderistas added de Soto to their assassination list. In July 1992, the terrorists sent a second car bomb into ILD headquarters in Lima, killing 3 and wounding 19.

In addition, he has written, with Francis Cheneval, Swiss Human Rights Book Volume 1: Realizing Property Rights, published in 2006 – a collection of papers presented at an international symposium in Switzerland in 2006 on the urgency of property rights in impoverished countries for small business owners, women, and other vulnerable groups, such as the poor and political refugees. The book includes a paper on the ILD's work in Tanzania delivered by Hernando de Soto.
 * De Soto, Hernando. The Other Path: The Invisible Revolution in the Third World. Harpercollins, 1989. ISBN 0-06-016020-9
 * De Soto, Hernando. The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. Basic Books, 2000. ISBN 0-465-01614-6
 * De Soto, Hernando. The Other Path: The Economic Answer to Terrorism. Basic Books, 2002. ISBN 0-465-01610-3
 * De Soto, Hernando and Francis Cheneval. Swiss Human Rights Book Volume 1: Realizing Property Rights, 2006. ISBN 978-3-907625-25-5
 * Smith, Barry et al. (eds.). The Mystery of Capital and the Construction of Social Reality, Chicago: Open Court, 2008. ISBN 0-8126-9615-8

title: Hernando de Soto (economist)


text:
Gentleman thief

A gentleman thief, gentleman burglar, lady thief, or phantom thief is a stock character in fiction. A gentleman or lady thief is characterised by impeccable manners, charm, courtesy, and the avoidance of physical force or intimidation to steal, and often has inherited wealth. They steal not only to gain material wealth but also for the thrill of the act itself, which is often combined in fiction with correcting a moral wrong, selecting wealthy targets, or stealing only particularly rare or challenging objects.

In fiction
In fiction, the gentleman thief is typically superb at stealing while maintaining a gentleman's manners and a code of honour. For example, A. J. Raffles steals only from other gentlemen (and occasionally gives the object away to a good cause); Arsène Lupin steals from the rich who do not appreciate their art or treasures and redistributes it; Saint Tail steals back what was stolen or taken dishonestly or rights the wrongs done to the innocent by implicating the real criminals; Sly Cooper and his gang steal from other thieves and criminals. Another example would be Kaito Kuroba who only steals to amuse the audience, to find the Pandora Gem and find the people who killed his father.

Gentlemen/lady thieves
Notable gentlemen thieves and lady thieves in Western popular culture include the following:

 * A. J. Raffles, and his accomplice Bunny Manders, from the Raffles stories by E. W. Hornung, created in 1898.
 * Arsène Lupin, created by Maurice Leblanc in 1905.
 * Hercule Flambeau from the Father Brown short stories by G. K. Chesterton, introduced in 1910.
 * Jimmie Dale, also known as The Gray Seal, from the series of stories by Frank L. Packard, created in 1914.
 * Filibus, an air pirate in the 1915 adventure film Filibus, is a phantom thief in the tradition of Arsène Lupin, carrying out heists for the thrill of it.
 * Simon Templar, also known as "The Saint" from the novels and short stories by Leslie Charteris, created in 1928.
 * The Robber (unnamed) in Jewel Robbery (1932).
 * Bugs Bunny in Looney Tunes, introduced in 1940.
 * Selina Kyle, also known as Catwoman, from the Batman comic books, introduced in 1940.
 * Oswald Cobblepot, also known as The Penguin, from the Batman comic books, introduced in 1941.
 * Rick Blaine from Casablanca in 1942.
 * Jim Craddock, also known as Gentleman Ghost, from the DC Comics universe, introduced in 1947.
 * John Robie in Alfred Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief (1955).
 * Danny Ocean from the film Ocean's 11 (1960) and the Ocean's Trilogy (2001–2007).
 * Jimmy Bourne in The Happy Thieves (1961).
 * Sir Charles Litton, also known as "The Phantom" in The Pink Panther (1963).
 * Thomas Hewett Edward Cat from the TV series T.H.E. Cat (1966–1967).
 * Thomas Crown from The Thomas Crown Affair (1968).
 * Sir Oliver from the Alan Ford comics, created in 1969.
 * Captain Feeney in Barry Lyndon (1975).
 * Edward Pierce from The Great Train Robbery (1975).
 * Miss Eula Goodnight from Rooster Cogburn (1975).
 * Bernie Rhodenbarr, narrator of a novel series by Lawrence Block, created in 1977.
 * Felicia Hardy, also known as Black Cat, from the Spider-Man comics, introduced in 1979.
 * René Belloq in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
 * Carmen Sandiego, the title character from the Carmen Sandiego franchise, created in 1985.
 * Walter Donovan in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).
 * Remy Etienne LeBeau, also known as Gambit, from the X-Men comics, introduced in 1990.
 * Garrett, the Master Thief in Thief series of games (1998–2004).
 * Scipio Massimo in Cornelia Funke's The Thief Lord (2000).
 * Viper and also Valmont from the animated Jackie Chan Adventures (2000–2005).
 * The Toy Taker, aka Mr. Cuddles from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys (2001).
 * Sly Cooper, created in 2002.
 * Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean franchise (2003).
 * Moist von Lipwig from Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels; he is the main character of Going Postal (2004), Making Money (2007), and Raising Steam (2015).
 * R.J. in Over the Hedge (2006).
 * Locke Lamora from Scott Lynch's The Gentleman Bastard Sequence, created in 2006.
 * Irina Spalko in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).
 * Neal Caffrey in the television series White Collar (2009–2014).
 * David Goldman in An Education (2009).
 * Lady Christina de Souza from the Doctor Who episode "Planet of the Dead" (2009).
 * Pierre Despereaux, a recurring character in the television series Psych, portrayed by Cary Elwes, introduced in its fourth season in 2009.
 * Kasumi Goto from the Mass Effect video game series, introduced in 2010. Her name approximately translates to "phantom thief."
 * Flynn Rider in Tangled (2010).
 * Gru in Despicable Me (2010).
 * Megamind in Megamind (2010).
 * Michael De Santa and Devin Weston in Grand Theft Auto V (2013).
 * The Four Horsemen; Dylan Rhodes, Henley Reeves, J. Daniel Atlas, Jack Wilder, Lula, and Merrit McKinney in Now You See Me duology (2013–2016)
 * Surly Squirrel in The Nut Job (2014).
 * Constantine the Frog in Muppets Most Wanted (2014).
 * Josiah Trelawny in Red Dead Redemption II (2018).
 * Nolan Booth in Red Notice (2021).
 * Loba Andrade, a playable character from the game Apex Legends, introduced in its fifth season in Spring 2021.
 * Diane Foxington, Mr. Snake, Ms. Tarantula, Mr. Shark and Mr. Wolf in The Bad Guys (2022).
 * Nathan Drake of the Uncharted franchise.
 * Andrés de Fonollosa (Berlin) of the Money Heist franchise.

Phantom thieves
Phantom thief (怪盗) is the term for the gentleman/lady thief in Japanese media such as anime, manga, and JRPGs. It draws inspiration from Arsène Lupin and elements in other crime fictions and detective fictions.

Notable phantom thieves in Japanese popular culture include the following:

 * Lupin III, from Lupin the Third (the grandson of Arsène Lupin, according to his creator, Monkey Punch),  created in 1967.
 * The Kisugi sisters (Hitomi, Rui and Ai) from the manga and anime series Cat's Eye, introduced in 1981.
 * Tuxedo Mask, also known as Mamoru Chiba, and later the husband of Sailor Moon, was at the start of the manga a thief searching for the Silver Crystal.
 * Kaito Kuroba, also known as the "Kaitō Kid", the main character of Magic Kaito and a recurring character in Detective Conan by Gosho Aoyama, created in 1987.
 * Kaitō Shinshi, the lady thief in The Kindaichi Case Files, introduced in 1992.
 * Meimi Haneoka, who transforms into Saint Tail, a phantom thief with acrobatic and magician skills, from Saint Tail by Megumi Tachikawa; created in 1995.
 * Dark Mousy the angel-like phantom thief from D.N.Angel by Yukiru Sugisaki, introduced in 1997.
 * Henry Agata (Hikaru Agata) A.K.A. Phantom Renegade (Kaito Retort) from Medabots, introduced in 1997.
 * Kamikaze Kaitō Jeanne, the title character in Phantom Thief Jeanne, created in 1998.
 * Ada Wong, from Resident Evil (Biohazard in Japan), a supporting and playable character originally appearing in 1998.
 * Clara, better known as the phantom thief Psiren, an exclusive character from the anime adaptation of the manga Fullmetal Alchemist, created in 2003.
 * Keith Harcourt / Black Rose, from Ashita no Nadja, created in 2003.
 * Bleublanc, also known as Phantom Thief B, from the Trails series, introduced in 2004.
 * Mask☆DeMasque, an Ace Attorney character, from the third game, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations.
 * Jack, also known as Joker, the title character from the anime and manga Mysterious Joker who sometimes works with other phantom thieves in the series, created in 2007.
 * Riko Mine Lupin IV of Hidan no Aria, the great-granddaughter of Arsène Lupin. Allegedly, she is the child of Lupin III and Fujiko Mine, whom her surnames are derived from; introduced in 2008.
 * Daiki Kaitō, portrayed by Kimito Totani, a character who can transform into Kamen Rider Diend from 2009 Kamen Rider Decade.
 * Arsène, Rat, Twenty, and Stone River comprise the Thieves' Empire (Kaitou Teikoku) in Tantei Opera Milky Holmes, created in 2010.
 * Loser, from Dimension W, introduced in 2011.
 * Raphael/Ralph, also known as the Phantom R, the main character of Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure, created in 2012.
 * Danjuro Tobita, also known as the "Gentle Criminal", from the anime and manga series My Hero Academia, introduced in 2014.
 * Joker and the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, from Persona 5, created in 2016.
 * Count night from Beyblade Burst Cho-Z created in 2018.
 * The Lupinrangers in Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger, created in 2018.
 * The Phantomirage in Secret × Warrior Phantomirage!, created in 2019.
 * Laurent Thierry, a con artist in Great Pretender, introduced in 2020.

 * The Bundoru Gang (ブンドル団), the main antagonists of Delicious Party Pretty Cure.

Perceptions of real historical figures

 * Charles Earl Boles (b. 1829; d. after 1888), known as Black Bart, was an English-born outlaw noted for the poetic messages he left behind after two of his robberies. Considered a gentlemanly bandit with a reputation for style and sophistication, he was one of the most notorious stagecoach robbers to operate in and around Northern California and southern Oregon during the 1870s and 1880s.
 * Willie Sutton, a gentleman bank robber of the 1920s who never harmed a person during his robberies and carried only unloaded weapons during the heists.
 * D. B. Cooper, the only unidentified hijacker in American aviation history, who, in 1971, extorted $200,000 from an airline before parachuting out of a plane during the cover of night. A flight attendant described him as calm, polite, and well-spoken, not at all consistent with the stereotypes (enraged, hardened criminals or "take-me-to-Cuba" political dissidents) popularly associated with air piracy at the time. Another flight attendant agreed: "He wasn't nervous," she told investigators. "He seemed rather nice. He was never cruel or nasty. He was thoughtful and calm all the time." He ordered a bourbon and 7 Up, paid his drink tab (and attempted to give a flight attendant the change), and offered to request meals for the flight crew during the stop in Seattle.
 * Bạch Hải Đường was known as the phantom thief (siêu trộm) in southern Vietnam from 1970 to 1982. He was wanted by both the pre-1975 National Police and the later Public Security Forces. Bạch Hải Đường was believed to have never killed anyone and that he had only actually used his gun once in a gold robbery, which was also the reason the police started to use lethal force on him. During one of his arrest, he confessed that he used all stolen money for himself. However, since Bạch Hải Đường wasn’t known to be a wasteful spender, there were rumours that he donated his money to charity.

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

title: Gentleman thief


text:
Autoinjector

An autoinjector (or auto-injector) is a medical device designed to deliver a dose of a particular drug. The injectors were initially designed to overcome the hesitation associated with self-administration of the needle-based drug delivery device.

Most autoinjectors are one-use, disposable, spring-loaded syringes (prefilled syringes). By design, autoinjectors are easy to use and are intended for self-administration by patients, or administration by untrained personnel. The site of injection depends on the drug loaded, but it typically is administered into the thigh or the buttocks.

Autoinjectors are sharps waste.

History
Automatic syringes are known since the 1910s, and many spring-loaded devices with needle protectors were patented in the first half of the 20th century, but it was not until 1970s when they became economically feasible to mass-produce (simple syrettes were used instead before). In 2023 an open source autoinjector was developed that could be digitally replicated with a low cost desktop 3D printer. It was tested against the then current standard (ISO 11608–1:2022) for needle-based injection systems and found to cost less than mass manufactured systems.

Design

Designs exist for both intramuscular and subcutaneous injection. Disposable autoinjectors commonly use a pre-loaded spring as a power source. This spring and the associated mechanical components form a one-shot linear actuator. When triggered the actuator drives a three-step sequence:

 * 1) accelerate the syringe forward, puncturing the injection site
 * 2) actuate the piston of the syringe, injecting the drug
 * 3) deploy a shield to cover the needle

Some injectors are triggered by simply pushing the nose ring against the injection site. In these designs, the protective cap is the primary safety. Other designs use a safety mechanism similar to nail guns: The injection is triggered by pushing the nose ring against the injection site and simultaneously, while applying pressure, pushing a trigger button at the rear end of the device.

Since spent autoinjectors contain a hypodermic needle, they pose a potential biohazard to waste management workers. Hence the protective cap is designed not only to protect the drug and keep the needle sterile but also to provide adequate sharps waste confinement after disposal.

Injectors intended for application through layers of clothing may feature an adjustable injection depth. Other typical features include: A drug inspection window, a color-coded spent indicator, and an audible click after the injection has finished.

Uses

 * Epinephrine autoinjectors are often prescribed to people who are at risk for anaphylaxis. Brand names include Anapen, EpiPen, Emerade, and Auvi-Q.
 * Rebiject, Rebiject II and Rebidose autoinjectors for Rebif, the drug for interferon beta-1a used to treat multiple sclerosis. An autoinjector for the Avonex version of this same medication is also on the market.
 * SureClick autoinjector is a combination product for drugs Enbrel or Aranesp to treat rheumatoid arthritis or anemia, respectively.
 * Subcutaneous sumatriptan autoinjectors are used to terminate cluster headache attacks.
 * Naloxone autoinjectors are being developed and prescribed to recreational opioid users to counteract the deadly effects of opioid overdose.

Military uses include:

 * Autoinjectors are often used in the military to protect personnel from chemical warfare agents. In the U.S. military, atropine and 2-PAM-Cl (pralidoxime chloride) are used for first aid ("buddy aid" or "self aid") against nerve agents. An issue item, the Mark I NAAK (Nerve Agent Antidote Kit), provides these drugs in the form of two separate autoinjectors. A newer model, the ATNAA (Antidote Treatment Nerve Agent Auto-Injector), has both drugs in one syringe, allowing for the simplification of administration procedures. In the Gulf War, accidental and unnecessary use of atropine autoinjectors supplied to Israeli civilians proved to be a major medical problem.
 * In concert with the Mark I NAAK, diazepam (Valium) autoinjectors, known as CANA, are carried by US service members.

Variants

Another design has a shape and size of a smartphone which can be put into a pocket. This design also has a retractable needle and automated voice instructions to assist the users on how to correctly use the autoinjector. The "Auvi-Q" epinephrine autoinjector uses this design.

A newer variant of the autoinjector is the gas jet autoinjector, which contains a cylinder of pressurized gas and propels a fine jet of liquid through the skin without using a needle. This has the advantage that patients who fear needles are more accepting of using these devices. The autoinjector can be reloaded, and various doses or different drugs can be used, although the only widespread application to date has been for the administration of insulin in the treatment of diabetes.

title: Autoinjector


text:
Common degu

The common degu (Octodon degus; ), or, historically, the degu, is a small hystricomorpha rodent endemic to the Chilean matorral ecoregion of central Chile. The name degu on its own indicates either the entire genus Octodon or, more commonly, just the common degu. Common degus belong to the parvorder Caviomorpha of the infraorder Hystricognathi, along with the chinchilla and guinea pig. The word degu comes from the indigenous language of Chile, Mapudungun, and the word dewü, meaning 'mouse' or 'rat'.

The animal may be kept as a domestic pet, though there are prohibitions on their ownership in some territories. As a pet, the animal is larger than a golden hamster but smaller than a fancy rat.

Description

The common degu is a small animal with a body length of 25.0 to(-) and a weight of 170 to 400 g. It has yellow-brown fur above and creamy-yellow below, with yellow around the eyes and a paler band around the neck. It has a long, thin tail with a tufted, black tip, dark sparsely furred ears, and pale grey toes. Its fifth toe is small with a nail, rather than a claw, on the fore feet. Its hind feet are bristled. Its cheek teeth are shaped like figures-of-eight, hence the degu's genus name Octodon.

Social behavior

Common degus are highly social. They live in burrows, and, by digging communally, they are able to construct larger and more elaborate burrows than they could on their own. Degus digging together coordinate their activities, forming digging chains. Females living in the same group have been shown to spontaneously nest communally; they nurse one another's young. They spend a large amount of time on the surface, where they forage for food. When foraging, their ability to detect predators is increased in larger groups, and each animal needs to spend less time in vigilance.

Common degus exhibit a wide array of communication techniques. They have an elaborate vocal repertoire comprising up to 15 different sounds, and the young need to be able to hear their mother's calls if the emotional systems in their brains are to develop properly. They use their urine to scent mark, and experiments have shown that they react to one another's marks, although in males the hormone testosterone may suppress their sense of smell somewhat. Common degus are seasonal breeders; the breeding season for wild degus begins in the Chilean autumn when day and night are roughly equal, with pups born in early to mid-spring. Female degus are pregnant for approximately ninety days, having a comparatively long gestation period compared to other non-caviomorph rodents. Female pregnant weight varies over the course of gestation and according to litter size; litters contain an average of six pups, but size can range from one or two up to twelve young. Common degu pups are born relatively precocial, fully furred and with eyes open, and their auditory and visual systems are functional at birth. Unlike most other rodents, male common degus also take part in protecting and raising their pups until they are old enough to leave the family.

Unlike some other octodontids, common degus are diurnal (active during the day), and they have good vision. Their retinas include rod cells and two types of cone cells, corresponding to peak sensitivity in the green and ultraviolet regions of the spectrum. Behavioral experiments have shown that degus are able to discriminate ultraviolet light from the wavelengths visible to humans; it is likely that this ultraviolet sensitivity has a social function, since both their ventral (stomach) fur and their urine are highly UV reflective.

Diet

Common degus are strictly herbivorous, in the wild feeding on grasses and browsing the leaves of shrubs, though they will also take seeds. Throughout much of the year forage is dried and so common degus are specially adapted to a very high fibre intake, and this varies between food types and environmental conditions. Like some other herbivores such as rabbits, they perform coprophagy (faecal reingestion) so as to extract more nutrition from their diet. This also serves to maintain healthy gut function during times when food is scarce. Although they are active by day, in high summer they do not leave their burrows in the middle of the day and instead emerge to forage in the mornings and evenings.

Perhaps the most remarkable feature of common degu physiology is their intolerance of dietary sugar. Common degus have been found to have a divergent insulin structure (one of the hormones that regulate blood glucose level) and so are highly susceptible to developing diabetes mellitus when fed regularly on a diet containing free sugars. This is thought to be due to evolutionary pressure arising from the lack of availability of free sugars in the degu's natural environment. Because of this, the ingredients of non-degu-specific hard feed formulations given to captive common degus should be checked for sugar-laden ingredients, such as molasses, honey, and glucose syrup.

Research subjects
Common degus entered the research spotlight due to their unique relationship with sugar and diabetes, but are also studied for a wide variety of other reasons. Neuroscientists at the Riken Institute in Tokyo, Japan, used common degus for research into tool use in animals with good eye-and-paw coordination, in which they spontaneously learned to use a tiny rake to retrieve out-of-reach seeds. Common degus have also been found to spontaneously stack objects in order of decreasing size. In both cases it is the first time these behaviours have been recorded in animals other than apes and birds.

Another interesting area of common degu research is circadian rhythm function, i.e. the ability of the brain to tell what time of day it is. Degus have the ability to show both diurnal and nocturnal rhythms if the environment permits, allowing a unique opportunity for study. Common degus can take cues that do not relate to day length, such as temperature, melatonin levels and even scents from other degus to adjust their rhythms.

Common degus are also invaluable in development and aging studies. Research has shown that separation anxiety caused by separating pups from their mother from an early age for periods of half an hour or more can cause developmental and behavioural changes in later life, similar to ADHD in humans. In elderly common degus, neural markers have been discovered which are remarkably similar to those in humans with Alzheimer's disease, which is the first time this has been seen in a wild-type rodent.

As pets

After initial interest into common degus as research subjects, they have become popular as pets, though until recently they were seldom found in pet shops. Their advantages over traditional small pets are their diurnal habits, bubbly personalities, the haired tail (as compared to rats and mice) and their lifespan: they are reported to live up to 13 years under ideal circumstances (though a poor gene pool or genetic background often reduces a pet degu's lifespan significantly). The average lifespan of a common degu in captivity is typically around six to eight years of age.

One disadvantage of the common degu as a pet is their predisposition to chewing, due to their continually growing incisor and molar teeth. For this reason, common degus cannot be housed in plastic-bottomed cages typically found in pet stores. A metal cage with multiple levels made for rats and secured double latches works best. It is important to line the levels with grass mats or a soft fabric so that the common degus do not get bumblefoot.

Untamed common degus, as with some other small animals kept as pets, can be prone to biting, but their intelligence makes them easy to tame. Regular non-predatory handling and food offerings help with this transition. It is important to never try to catch a common degu by the tail because the skin and tuft at the end is easily "shed" (pulled off). This helps common degus in the wild elude capture by predators, but it is painful to the creature and the tail end will not grow back. When tail shedding occurs, common degus will chew off the damaged portion. This can reduce the chances of infection.

Common degus often "groom" their human owners with a gentle nibbling action, and readily bond with any person spending time with them. Common degus need regular sand baths, like Chinchillas need dust baths, to keep their coats healthy and free from grease. Chinchilla sand is ideal for this. They should have access to these baths regularly, preferably two or three times a week for half an hour at a time. However, daily sand bathing can make their coats soiled.

Prohibitions
Some jurisdictions consider common degus as a potential invasive species and forbid owning them as a pet.

In the United States, they are illegal to own in California, Utah, Georgia, Connecticut, and Alaska.

title: Common degu


text:
West Anglia Great Northern

West Anglia Great Northern, commonly shortened to WAGN, was a train operating company in England. It operated the West Anglia Great Northern franchise between January 1997 and March 2004, as well as the Great Northern franchise between April 2004 and March 2006. It was initially owned by Prism Rail, and was subsequently acquired by the British transport conglomerate National Express.

The West Anglia Great Northern franchise was created as part of the privatisation of British Rail, the recently-founded company Prism Rail successfully bid for it, being awarded a seven year concession for its operation during December 1996. It took over operations from British Rail on 5 January 1997. The company set about overhauling its inherited rolling stock, such as the Class 313 and Class 317 electric multiple units. By 1999, WAGN was amongst the best performing franchises according to statistics compiled by the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising. However, proposed open access services between Peterborough and Doncaster by WAGN were rejected by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) due to a lack of capacity.

During July 2000, Prism Rail, along with WAGN, was acquired by the British transport conglomerate National Express via a £166 million deal. In January 2002, as part of a wider reorganisation of the various franchises conducted by the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA), it was announced that the franchise would be divided, and that the West Anglia portion would be merged into the Greater Anglia franchise. On 10 May 2002, a northbound WAGN service derailed at Potters Bar, resulting the deaths of seven people and the injury of a further 76; services were heavily disrupted and special measures were implemented in response. In December 2005, the Department for Transport (DfT) awarded the recently-created Thameslink franchise to rival company FirstGroup, thus the services operated by WAGN were transferred to the new operator First Capital Connect on 1 April 2006.

History
During 1995, amid the privatisation of British Rail, several individuals from the bus industry decided to found their own company, Prism Rail, to bid for some of the newly-created rail franchises. In its bid for the West Anglia Great Northern franchise, Prism promised that it would make a premium payment of £24.8 million to the franchising office in 2004. During December 1996, it was announced that that Prism had been awarded a seven year concession to operate the franchise, which was the company's fourth awarding of a passenger train franchise at that time.

On 5 January 1997, West Anglia Great Northern commenced operations, taking over service from British Rail, including their rolling stock. During the late 1990s, West Anglia Great Northern submitted an application to operate extended services on an open access basis between Peterborough and Doncaster; however, the proposal was rejected by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) due to a reported lack of capacity on the route.

By 1999, according to statistics compiled by the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising, West Anglia Great Northern was amongst the best performing franchises, being one of only seven franchises to obtain a B grade, for which its average punctuality had to be above 90 per cent while its average reliability figures had to be exceed 99 per cent.

During July 2000, it was announced that Prism Rail, and thus West Anglia Great Northern as well, had been acquired by the British transport conglomerate National Express in exchange for £166 million. That same month, the company had agreed to invest £20.5m into the network, and had reported that the Great Northern portion of the franchise' operations were running at a profit.

In January 2002, as part of a wider reorganisation of the various franchises conducted by the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA), it was announced that the franchise would be divided, and that the West Anglia portion would be merged into the Greater Anglia franchise. During December 2003, the SRA awarded the Greater Anglia franchise to National Express, resulting in the transfer of the West Anglia services to One on 1 April 2004. The company was also granted a two-year extension on the West Anglia Great Northern franchise; thereafter, the Great Northern services were retained with the company commonly referring to itself as WAGN rather than West Anglia Great Northern.

On 10 May 2002, a major rail accident involving a northbound WAGN service occurred at Potters Bar, resulting the deaths of seven people and the injury of a further 76. The train, a four-coach Class 365 Electric multiple unit, had derailed while passing over a set of points just south of Potters Bar railway station at 97 mph (156 km/h); these points had unintentionally moved while still underneath the third coach. In the aftermath of the accident, WAGN services were heavily disrupted and delayed, leading to a special timetable being implemented for a time. During April 2004, the railway infrastructure services company Jarvis plc admitting liability for the accident.

Services
West Anglia Great Northern operated all-stops and limited stops West Anglia services out of London Liverpool Street to Chingford, Enfield Town, Hertford East, Stansted Airport, and Cambridge, and all-stops and limited stops Great Northern services out of London King's Cross to Cambridge, King's Lynn and Peterborough, including the Hertford North loop line.

Rolling stock
West Anglia Great Northern inherited a fleet of Class 313s, Class 315s, Class 317s, Class 322s and Class 365s from British Rail.

Between 1997 and 1999, two of the five Class 322 electric multiple units were loaned to First North Western, after which all five units were transferred to ScotRail during 2001.

The first trains to undergo overhaul work were twenty-four Class 317/2 multiple units; these were adapted to be more suitable for long-distance use, changes included the installation of lower-density seats throughout, an improved first class area, the addition of carpet, and repainting. Dedicated bicycle and wheelchair spaces and improved lighting were also provided, while the exterior received a new white, grey, blue and red livery.

West Anglia Great Northern also opted to improve its suburban trains, such as the Class 313 multiple units, which gained new seats with higher backs, provisions for wheelchair users, and minor improvements to fittings such as stanchions in the passenger areas. These emerged from refurbishment at Railcare, Wolverton in a plain white undercoat, before a metallic purple livery was introduced in 2001.

Between 1999 and 2000, nine Class 317/1s were refurbished for use on the dedicated Stansted Express service, they were reclassified Class 317/7. These multiple units featured improved interiors and a new metallic blue Stansted Express livery.

During 2004, sixteen Class 365s were transferred to WAGN from South Eastern Trains. Before their entry into service, these multiple units had their original DC shoe gear removed and pantographs fitted instead.

Depots
West Anglia Great Northern's fleet was maintained at Hornsey and Ilford depots.

Demise
As part of a franchise reorganisation by the Strategic Rail Authority, the Great Northern services were merged into the Thameslink franchise. In December 2005, the Department for Transport awarded the Thameslink franchise to FirstGroup with the services operated by West Anglia Great Northern transferring to First Capital Connect on 1 April 2006.

title: West Anglia Great Northern


text:
Golden Horns of Gallehus

The Golden Horns of Gallehus were two horns made of sheet gold, discovered in Gallehus, north of Møgeltønder in Southern Jutland, Denmark. The horns dated to the early 5th century, i.e. the beginning of the Germanic Iron Age.

The horns were found in 1639 and in 1734, respectively, at locations only some 15–20 metres apart. They were composed of segments of double sheet gold. The two horns were found incomplete; the longer one found in 1639 had seven segments with ornaments, to which six plain segments and a plain rim were added, possibly by the 17th-century restorer. The shorter horn found in 1734 had six segments, a narrow one bearing a Proto-Norse Elder Futhark inscription at the rim and five ornamented with images. It is uncertain whether the horns were intended as drinking horns, or as blowing horns, although drinking horns have more pronounced history as luxury items made from precious metal.

The original horns were stolen and melted down in 1802. Casts made of the horns in the late 18th century were also lost. Replicas of the horns must thus rely on 17th and 18th-century drawings exclusively and are accordingly fraught with uncertainty. Nevertheless, replicas of the original horns were produced, two of them exhibited at the National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, with copies at e.g. the Moesgaard Museum, near Aarhus, Denmark. These replicas also have a history of having been stolen and retrieved twice, in 1993 and in 2007.

The horns are the subject of one of the best-known poems in Danish literature, "The Golden Horns" (Guldhornene), by Adam Oehlenschläger.

Description

Both horns consisted of two layers of gold sheet, the inner sheet of lesser quality, amalgamated with silver, the outer sheet of pure gold. The outer sheet was constructed from a number of rings, each covered with cast figures soldered onto the rings, with yet more figures chased into the rings between the larger figures. The second horn bore an Elder Futhark inscription in Proto-Norse which is of great value for Germanic linguistics.

Both horns were once the same length, but a segment of the narrow end of the second (shorter) horn, which was missing when it was found (1734), had already been plowed up and recovered prior to 1639. It also was subsequently melted down and lost. The longer horn in its restored state was 75.8 cm in length, as measured along the outer perimeter; the opening diameter was 10.4 cm., and the horn weighed 3.2 kg.

Because the casts made of the horns were lost, it is uncertain whether the horns were simply curved or whether they had a winding, helix-like curvature like a natural ox-horn.

Runic inscription
The second horn bore the following Elder Futhark inscription (DR 12 †U), identifying the maker as Hlewagast:

This inscription is among the earliest inscriptions in the Elder Futhark that record a full sentence, and the earliest preserving a line of alliterative verse.

The meaning of the given name Hlewagastiz is debated: it may mean either "lee guest" or "fame guest". Holtijaz may either be a patronymic, "son (or descendant) of Holt", or express a characteristic such as "of the wood".

Possible cipher runes
The two rows of images in the top segment of the longer horn have been taken as a cipher encoding a runic text of 22 letters, although there is no universally accepted decipherment. Hartner (1969) read  luba horns ens helpa hjoho, an "apotropaic sentence" translated by Hartner as "may I, the potion of this horn, bring help to the clan".

Iconography
The figures embossed on the horns combine depictions of numerous anthropomorphic, zoomorphic and hybrid motifs. In addition to the main figures which are soldered to the horn, protruding from the horn surface, there are a number of additional figures and ornaments realized by chasing.

There have been numerous attempts at their interpretation, all speculative. Interpretation is especially difficult since it has to rely on the imprecise drawings made before the loss of the original horns. Interpretations usually try to align the iconography with Germanic mythology, although Mediterranean (Byzantine) elements are also cited.

Obvious parallels with Germanic Migration Period art are rather limited. There are large considerable number of serpents, some of them intertwining in the fashion of the wider animal style of Dark Age Europe. A figure holding a horn may be compared to the "valkyrie" shown on the Tjängvide image stone. Two masked figures armed with sword and shield on the smaller horn are reminiscent of other Germanic depictions of sword-dances, e.g. on the Sutton Hoo helmet. Two other armed figures with large horns or antlers may be compared to horned helmet iconography, or to the "Cernunnos" figure on the Gundestrup cauldron. The peculiar image of a tricephalous (three-headed) figure has been taken as a pagan predecessor of depictions of a tricephalous Christ symbolizing the Trinity in Christian iconography but is difficult to place in a contemporary context. Olrik (1918) nevertheless recognized a number of Norse gods among the figures, including Tyr, Odin, Thor and Freyr.

Frankfurt historian of science Willy Hartner in 1969 published an interpretation involving gematria and archaeoastronomy, taking many of the figures as representing constellations, claiming that the iconography refers to a lunar eclipse of 4 November 412 and a solar eclipse of 16 April 413.

The first horn (A) had figures arranged in seven segments, The second horn (B) had six segments including the narrow one containing the runic inscription around the rim.

First horn
The longer horn was discovered on 20 July 1639 by a peasant girl named Kirsten Svendsdatter in the village of Gallehus, near Møgeltønder, Denmark when she saw it protrude above the ground. She wrote a letter to King Christian IV of Denmark who retrieved it and in turn gave it to the Danish prince Christian, who refurbished it into a drinking-horn, adding a golden pommel to be screwed on at the narrow end to close it up.

The Danish antiquarian Olaus Wormius wrote a treatise named De aureo cornu on the first Golden Horn in 1641. The first preserved sketch of the horn comes from this treatise. Wormius notes that he had not seen the horn in the state in which it was found, and it cannot now be determined whether the rim and the narrow segments devoid of ornamentation were modern additions like the pommel.

In 1678, the horn was described in the Journal des Savants.

Second horn
About 100 years later on 21 April 1734 the other (shorter, damaged) horn was found by Erich Lassen not far from the first horn. He gave it to the count of Schackenborg who in turn delivered it to King Christian VI of Denmark and received 200 rigsdaler in return. From this moment both horns were stored at Det kongelige Kunstkammer (The Royal Chamber of Art) at Christiansborg, currently the Danish Rigsarkivet (national archive). The shorter horn was described in a treatise by archivist Richard Joachim Paulli in the same year.

Original horns
On 4 May 1802 the horns were stolen by a goldsmith and watchmaker named Niels Heidenreich from Foulum, who entered a storage area containing the horns using forged keys. Heidenreich took the horns home and melted them down to recycle the gold. The theft was discovered the next day and a bounty of 1,000 rigsdaler was advertised in the papers.

The grandmaster of the goldsmiths guild, Andreas Holm, suspected that Heidenreich had been involved, since he had tried to sell Holm forged “pagodas” (Indian coins with god motifs), made from bad gold mixed with brass. Holm and his colleagues had kept watch on Heidenreich and saw him dump coin stamps in the town moat. He was arrested on 27 April 1803 and confessed on 30 April. On 10 June Heidenreich was sentenced to prison, and not released until 1840. He died four years later. His buyers returned the recycled gold, which ended up in coins, not copies of the horns.

A set of plaster casts of the horns had been made for a cardinal in Rome, but they had already been lost in a shipwreck off the Corsican coast. Approximate copies were instead created from sketches. The horns pictured above are newer copies, made in 1980.

Copies

In 1993, copies of the horns were stolen from Moesgaard Museum, which were shortly after recovered ditched in a forest near Hasselager. These copies are made of gilded brass.

On 17 September 2007 a set of modern gilded silver copies were stolen from Kongernes Jelling museum at 4:30 in the morning, but were recovered shortly after on 19 September 2007.

Literature

 * Arthur Beer: Hartner and the Riddle of the Golden Horns, Journal for the History of Astronomy, Vol. 1, p. 139 (1970).
 * Ottar Grønvik: Runinskriften på gullhornet fra Gallehus. In: Maal og Minne. Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo 1999, 1, 1–18.
 * Willy Hartner: Die Goldhörner von Gallehus F. Steiner, Stuttgart (1969), reprint 1998,  ISBN 3-515-00078-X.
 * Heinz Klingenberg: Runenschrift – Schriftdenken – Runeninschriften. Carl Winter, Heidelberg 1973. ISBN 3-533-02181-5
 * H. F. Nielsen, W. Heizmann, M. Axboe: Gallehus. In: Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, ed. Heinrich Beck. Bd 10. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin-New York 1998, pp. 330 ff. ISBN 3-11-015102-2

title: Golden Horns of Gallehus


text:
Talk:List of antidepressants

Untitled
This just seems to be a list of psychiatric drugs in general, rather than anti-depressants in particular(specified).

e.g.

 * Diazepam is benzo hypnotic and anxiolytic.
 * Haloperidol is a phenothiazine typical antipsychotic.

Will rename to List of psychiatric drugs. - Vaughan 13:29, 1 Aug 2003 (UTC)

OK, should now list anti-depressants only. It's not exhaustive, particularly in the trade names for drugs, so more should be added.

- Vaughan 14:03, 1 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Abilify
This page/article should include Abilify (aripiprazole) to this list. It is from Otsuka America / Bristol-Myers Squibb. It is a D2 Partial Agonist, a D3 & 4 Antagonist, a 5-HT1A, 2A, & 2C Partial Agonist, a 5-HT7 Antagonist, an SRI (Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor), a α-adrenergic antagonist, and mACh receptor antagonist. It is (to my knowledge) the only antidepressant which can be taken on top of other antidepressants. It is also used for the treatment of Bipolar Disorder, as well as Major Depression, Autism, and there is some evidence to suggest that it blocks cocaine-seeking behavior. Apparently it also has antihistamine properties.

Psychonaut25 (13375p34k!) 5:01 AM EST, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

 * Okay, so I added a bunch of subcategories to the Miscellaneous category under which to put Abilify, all of which (so far) only have Abilify in them (although there may be other drugs which would fall under those categories) and the only reason I had to add so many is because Abilify is ALL of them (the ones I mentioned above).

 * Psychonaut25 (13375p34k!) 4:07 PM EST, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Vilazodone moved to 5-HT 1A
"Vilazodone (Viibryd) is a related drug but does not fit into this category as it does not act as a serotonin antagonist, acting as a 5-HT1A receptor partial agonist instead." Was in the middle of the article, I moved the listing to the appropriate sub-section. 129.59.8.10 (talk) 19:43, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

mianserin in twice
mianserin appears as a TeCA as well as a NaSSA. Also mirtazapine is repeated in the same way. It seem that this must be in error. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.74.169.21 (talk) 15:35, 11 March 2014 (UTC)
 * My understanding is 'tetracyclic' describes the chemical structure (4 rings) while 'Noradrenergic and specific serotonergic' describes the mechanism of action, so not mutually exclusive. Woodywoodpeckerthe3rd (talk) 18:01, 11 March 2014 (UTC)

title: Talk:List of antidepressants


text:
Kogo Noda

Kogo Noda (野田 高梧) was a Japanese screenwriter most famous for collaborating with Yasujirō Ozu on many of the director's films.

Born in Hakodate, Noda was the son of the head of the local tax bureau and younger brother to Kyūho, a Nihonga painter. He moved to Nagoya after completing elementary school and later went to Waseda University. After graduating, he worked for the city of Tokyo while also serving as a reporter for Katsudō kurabu, one of the major film magazines, using the pen name Harunosuke Midorikawa. On the recommendation of a scriptwriter friend from junior high, Takashi Oda, he joined the script department at Shōchiku after the Great Kantō earthquake. He soon became one of the studio's central screenwriters, penning for instance Aizen katsura (1938), one of its biggest pre-war hits.

He is most known for his collaborations with Ozu, which began with Noda supplying the script for the director's first feature Sword of Penitence (1927), and led to such postwar works as Tokyo Story (1953), regarded by many critics as one of the greatest films of all time. He co-wrote thirteen of Ozu's fifteen post-war films.

When the Writers Association of Japan was formed in 1950, Noda served as its first chair.

title: Kogo Noda


text:
List of psychiatric medications

This is an alphabetical list of psychiatric medications used by psychiatrists and other physicians to treat mental illness or distress.

 * The list is not exhaustive.
 * All mentioned drugs here are generic names.
 * Not all drugs listed are used regularly in all countries.

A
Acamprosate, Alprazolam, Amisulpride, Amitriptyline, Amoxapine, Amphetamine, Mixed Amphetamine Salts, Aripiprazole, Atomoxetine

B
Benperidol, Bromazepam, Bupropion, Buspirone

C
Calcium carbimide, Carbamazepine, Chloralhydrate, Chlordiazepoxide, Clorgiline, Chlorpromazine, Citalopram, Clomipramine, Clonazepam, Clonidine,Clorazepate, Clozapine

D
Desvenlafaxine, Dextroamphetamine, Diazepam, Disulfiram, Duloxetine

E
Escitalopram, Eszopiclone

F
Fluoxetine, Fluphenazine, Flurazepam, Fluvoxamine

G
Gabapentin, Guanfacine

H
Haloperidol

I
Imipramine, Indalpine, Itopride

L
Lamotrigine, Lemborexant, Levoamphetamine, Levomepromazine, Lisdexamfetamine, Lithium, Lorazepam, Loxapine, Lumateperone, Lurasidone

M
Maprotiline, Melperone, Meprobamate, Mesoridazine, Methamphetamine, Methaqualone, Methylphenidate, Mianserin, Mirtazapine, Mixed Amphetamine Salts, Moclobemide, Modafinil

N
Naltrexone, Nitrazepam, Nortriptyline

O
Olanzapine, Oxazepam, Oxcarbazepine

P
Paliperidone, Pargyline, Paroxetine, Perphenazine, Phenelzine, Phenytoin, Pipamperone, Pimavanserin, Pimozide, Pipotiazine, Pramipexole, Pregabalin, Primidone, Prochlorperazine, Promethazine, Prothipendyl, Protriptyline

Q
Quetiapine

R
Reboxetine, Risperidone, Rozerem, Rubidium chloride

S
Scopolamine, Selegiline, Sertraline, Sodium Thiopental, Sulfonmethane, Sulpiride

T
Temazepam, Thioridazine, Thiothixene, Topiramate, Tranylcypromine, Trazodone, Triazolam, Trifluoperazine, Trimipramine

V
Valbenazine, Valproate, Venlafaxine

Z
Zaleplon, Zimelidine, Ziprasidone, Zolpidem, Zopiclone, Zotepine, Zuclopenthixol

title: List of psychiatric medications


text:
Love & Pop

Love & Pop (ラブ&ポップ) is a 1998 Japanese experimental coming-of-age film directed and co-written by Hideaki Anno, based on the novel Topaz II by Ryū Murakami. It was Anno's first live action feature-length film. The film was shot almost entirely on hand-held digital cameras and contains unorthodox camera work, including many different mounted camera positions, such as on a model train riding on tracks. The film also flips from widescreen to fullscreen, distorts (with effects such as a fisheye lens), confuses, and makes use of overlays stacked in layers to convey the character's emotions.

An official English-language DVD was released in 2004 by Kino on Video.

Plot
Hiromi Yoshii is a high school girl living in Tokyo. She has three friends: Nao, who is interested in computers, Chieko, who is older and more mature, and Chisa, who plans to drop out of school to become a professional dancer. Hiromi feels that she lacks direction in comparison to her friends. All four routinely go out with older men in exchange for payment.

On July 19, 1997, Hiromi wakes up and goes to Shibuya. There, she meets Nao, who, earlier that day, had met a gay man named Kobayashi who gave her a cell phone. They then meet Chieko, and all three leave voice messages on the phone, stating that they are interested in meeting with older men that day.

Planning to go to the beach together soon, they meet with Chisa and go out to buy swimwear. While shopping, Hiromi finds a topaz ring on sale. She cannot afford it, but plans to gather the money and return to buy it before the shop closes later that day. All four friends then go to karaoke with an older man, who pays the cost of the ring in exchange. Despite this, Hiromi refuses to take the money for herself, insisting that they split the money evenly. Shortly after, the four part ways.

Hiromi receives a phone call from a man named Yoshio, who says that his kitten is sick and he is leaving Kobayashi. She then checks the messages she has received from interested men. She contacts one of the men, Uehara, and takes a taxi to meet him. Uehara takes her to a video rental store, with Hiromi posing as his girlfriend. There, they go to the adult video section, where Uehara grabs Hiromi's hand and uses it to masturbate. Disgusted, Hiromi runs away; Uehara pays her anyway.

Hiromi receives a call from Kobayashi, where she relays the information she had heard from the previous call. She chooses to meet another man who had left a message, who calls himself Captain EO, and carries a Fuzzball stuffed animal. The two go to a love hotel, where they talk and Hiromi fixes the stuffed animal. Hiromi takes a shower, but Captain EO intrudes, berating her for choosing to go on a date with him. He admits that he had planned to assault Hiromi, rape her, and steal her money, but does not. He pays her very little, and leaves.

Hiromi meets Kobayashi to return the cell phone. He thanks her for saving his cat's life, but says that he and Yoshio had broken up. Hiromi repeats one of Captain EO's remarks, to which Kobayashi replies that whoever had said that must see great value in her. Hiromi then returns home, and ruminates on her life and her failure to buy the ring before falling asleep.

Cast

 * Asumi Miwa - Hiromi Yoshii (吉井 裕美)
 * Kirari - Chisa Noda (野田 知佐)
 * Hirono Kudō - Nao Yokoi (横井 奈緒)
 * Yukie Nakama - Chieko Takahashi (高橋 千恵子)
 * Mitsuru Hirata - Kagegawa
 * Mitsuru Fukikoshi - Yoshimura
 * Moro Morooka - Yazaki
 * Tooru Tezuka - Uehara
 * Ikkei Watanabe - Kobayashi
 * Tadanobu Asano - Captain EO
 * Kotono Mitsuishi - Radio DJ (voice)
 * Akira Ishida - Yoshio (voice)
 * Megumi Hayashibara - Telephone Dialing Voice
 * Nana Okada - Hiromi's Mother
 * Leo Morimoto - Hiromi's Father

DVD variations
An SR-Ban version was released in Japan on 24 July 2003. Apparently, it is the director's cut, has two minutes of extra footage and has been transferred directly from the original tape, whilst the American and Japanese DVDs appear to come from a different source. The American version appears to be the original interlaced version, whilst the Japanese, non-director's cut, appears to have been de-interlaced and given the impression of a pseudo-progressive style. Both non-director's cuts have more subdued colors, whilst the director's cut is more vivid and the motion is fluid. This fluidity in motion is due to the 60 fps high frame rate, compared to the normal 24 fps frame rates on the non SR-Ban DVDs.

title: Love & Pop