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Critical period

In developmental psychology and developmental biology, a critical period is a maturational stage in the lifespan of an organism during which the nervous system is especially sensitive to certain environmental stimuli. If, for some reason, the organism does not receive the appropriate stimulus during this "critical period" to learn a given skill or trait, it may be difficult, ultimately less successful, or even impossible, to develop certain associated functions later in life. Functions that are indispensable to an organism's survival, such as vision, are particularly likely to develop during critical periods. "Critical period" also relates to the ability to acquire one's first language. Researchers found that people who passed the "critical period" would not acquire their first language fluently.

Some researchers differentiate between 'strong critical periods' and 'weak critical periods' (also known as 'sensitive' periods)—defining 'weak critical periods' / 'sensitive periods' as more extended periods, after which learning is still possible. Other researchers consider these the same phenomenon.

For example, the critical period for the development of a human child's binocular vision is thought to be between three and eight months, with sensitivity to damage extending up to at least three years of age. Further critical periods have been identified for the development of hearing and the vestibular system.

Strong versus weak critical periods
Examples of strong critical periods include monocular deprivation, filial imprinting, monaural occlusion, and Prefrontal Synthesis acquisition. These traits cannot be acquired after the end of the critical period.

Examples of weak critical periods include phoneme tuning, grammar processing, articulation control, vocabulary acquisition, music training, auditory processing, sport training, and many other traits that can be significantly improved by training at any age.

Critical period opening
Critical periods of plasticity occur in the prenatal brain and continue throughout childhood until adolescence and are very limited during adulthood. Two major factors influence the opening of critical periods: cellular events (i.e. changes in molecular landscape) and sensory experience (i.e. hearing sound, visual input, etc.). Both need to coincide for the critical period to open properly. At the cellular level, critical periods are characterized by maturation of the inhibitory circuits. More precisely, factors such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and orthodenticle homeobox 2 (Otx2) contribute to the maturation of a major class of inhibitory neurons: parvalbumin-positive interneurons (PV cells). Prior to the onset of the critical period, modulation of this circuit is hampered by early factors such as polysialic acid (PSA). PSA acts, in part, by preventing Otx2 interaction with PV cells. Soon after the opening of the critical period, PSA levels decrease, allowing PV cell maturation by activating inhibitory GABAa receptors that facilitate inhibitory circuit remodeling. Artificially removing PSA, or experimentally manipulating inhibitory transmission can result in early opening of the critical period. While the timing of these molecular events seems to be partially explained by clock genes, experience is crucial as sensory deprivation experiments have been shown to interfere with the proper timing of critical periods.

Activity-dependent competition
Hebbian theory guides the idea of activity-dependent competition: if two neurons both have the potential to make a connection with a cell, the neuron that fires more will make the connection.

Ocular dominance
This phenomenon of activity-dependent competition is especially seen in the formation of ocular dominance columns within the visual system. Early in development, most of the visual cortex is binocular, meaning it receives roughly equal input from both eyes. Normally, as development progresses, the visual cortex will segregate into monocular columns that receive input from only one eye. However, if one eye is patched, or otherwise prevented from receiving sensory input, the visual cortex will shift to favor representation of the uncovered eye. This demonstrates activity-dependent competition and Hebbian theory because inputs from the uncovered eye make and retain more connections than the patched eye.

Axon growth
Axon formation and growth is another key part of plasticity and activity-dependent competition. Axon growth and branching has been shown to be inhibited when the neuron's electrical activity is suppressed below the level of an active neighbor. This shows that axonal growth dynamics are not independent but rather depend on the local circuits within which they are active (i.e. the activity of the other neurons competing for connections).

Microglia
Microglia inherently play a role in synaptic pruning during adolescence. As resident immune cells of the central nervous system, microglia's main role is phagocytosis and engulfment. Studies have found that during critical periods in the visual cortex, neural synapses become the target of microglial phagocytosis. Neurons who received less frequent input from retinal ganglion cells during early postnatal periods were more prone to be engulfed and pruned by microglia, as per monocular deprivation experiments. Similar results were found when manipulating G-coupled purinergic receptors on microglial processes. Blocking these receptors or performing a knockout experiment significantly lowered microglial interactions and synaptic pruning during the early visual cortex critical period. More recently, the expression of the complement component 4 gene has been found to significantly contribute to abnormally high levels of microglial synaptic pruning during early stages of development in the neurons and microglia of schizophrenics, suggesting a genomic connection between the immune system and critical periods.

Spine motility
Dendritic spine motility is the altering of the dendritic morphology of a neuron, specifically the appearing and disappearing of the small protrusions known as spines. In early postnatal development, spine motility has been found to be at very high levels. Due to its most pronounced occurrence during postnatal days 11 through 15, spine motility is thought to have a role in neurogenesis. Motility levels significantly decrease before the start of the visual cortex critical period and monocular deprivation experiments show that motility levels steadily decrease until the critical period is over, hinting that motility might not be explicitly involved in this process. However, binocular deprivation before eye-opening resulted in a significant up-regulation of spine motility until the peak of the critical period, resulting in controversial findings regarding the role of dendritic spine motility.

Excitatory-inhibitory balance
Another critical component of neuronal plasticity is the balance of excitatory and inhibitory inputs. Early in development, GABA, the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the adult brain, exhibits an excitatory effect on its target neurons. However, due to changes in internal chloride levels due to the up-regulation of potassium chloride pumps, GABA then switches to inhibitory synaptic transmission. The maturation of the GABAergic inhibitory system helps to trigger the onset of critical periods. Strengthened GABAergic systems can induce an early critical period, while weaker GABAergic inputs can delay or even prevent plasticity. Inhibition also guides plasticity once the critical period has begun. For example, lateral inhibition is especially important in guiding columnar formation in the visual cortex. Hebbian theory provides insight on the importance of inhibition within neural networks: without inhibition, there would be more synchronous firing and therefore more connections, but with inhibition, fewer excitatory signals get through, allowing only the more salient connections to mature.

Perineuronal nets
Critical period closure has been shown to be modulated by the maturation of inhibitory circuits, mediated by the formation of perineuronal nets around inhibitory neurons. Perineuronal nets (PNNs) are structures in the extracellular matrix formed by chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans, hyaluronan, and link proteins. These structures envelop the soma of inhibitory neurons in the central nervous system, appearing with age to stabilize mature circuits. PNN development coincides with the closure of critical periods, and both PNN formation and critical period timing is delayed in dark-rearing. For example, PNN digestion by ABC chondroitinase in rats leads to a shift in ocular dominance upon monocular deprivation, which is normally restricted to its critical period much earlier in development.

Additionally, PNNs are negatively charged, which is theorized to create a cation-rich environment around cells, potentially leading to an increased firing rate of inhibitory neurons, thereby allowing for increased inhibition after the formation of PNNs and helping to close the critical period. The role of PNNs in critical period closure is further supported by the finding that fast-spiking parvalbulmin-positive interneurons are often surrounded by PNNs.

Perineuronal nets have also been found to contain chemorepulsive factors, such as semaphorin3A, which restrict axon growth necessary for plasticity during critical periods. In all, these data suggest a role for PNNs in the maturation of CNS inhibition, the prevention of plastic axonal growth, and subsequently, critical period closure.

Myelin
Another mechanism that closes the critical period is myelination. Myelin sheaths are formed by oligodendrocytes in the CNS that wrap around segments of axons to increase their firing speed. Myelin is formed in the early stages of development and progresses in waves, with brain areas of later phylogenetic development (i.e. those associated with "higher" brain functions like the frontal lobes) having later myelination. The maturation of myelination in intracortical layers coincides with critical period closure in mice, which has led to further research on the role of myelination on critical period duration.

Myelin is known to bind many different axonal growth inhibitors that prevent plasticity seen in critical periods. The Nogo receptor is expressed in myelin and binds to the axonal growth inhibitors Nogo and MAG (among others), preventing axon growth in mature, myelinated neurons. Instead of affecting the timing of the critical period, mutations of the Nogo receptor prolong the critical period temporarily. A mutation of the Nogo receptor in mice was found to extend the critical period for monocular dominance from around 20–32 days to 45 or 120 days, suggesting a likely role of the myelin Nogo receptor in critical period closure.

Additionally, the effects of myelination are temporally limited, since myelination itself may have its own critical period and timing. Research has shown that social isolation of mice leads to reduced myelin thickness and poor working memory, but only during a juvenile critical period. In primates, isolation is correlated with abnormal changes in white matter potentially due to decreased myelination.

In all, myelin and its associated receptors bind several important axonal growth inhibitors which help close the critical period. The timing of this myelination, however, is dependent on the brain region and external factors such as the social environment.

Neuromodulation
While the presence or absence of sensory experiences most robustly shapes brain development during the critical period, the behavioral context (i.e. the amount of attention, arousal, fear and reward experienced) concurrent with the sensory inputs have been suggested to be important in regulating the brain remodeling mechanisms. In terms of brain connectivity, these behavioral and contextual inputs activate the neuromodulatory system, which have substantial connectivity to the cortex. The molecular effectors released by the neuromodulatory system are called neuromodulators, which include acetylcholine, dopamine, and noradrenaline among others. Investigating the effect of these molecules, as well as the neurons that release and bind them, has been one approach to elucidate the biology of neuromodulation. Research using this approach has highlighted the role of neuromodulation in sensory processing during the critical period. For example, in kittens, a shift in ocular dominance resulting from monocular deprivation during the critical period is reduced by combined destruction of noradrenergic and cholinergic neurons. In addition, prenatal exposure to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) causes a shift in perceptual narrowing on language to earlier in development. On the other hand, neuromodulatory stimulation has been shown to induce brain plasticity in adult mice. While being subjected to cholinergic or dopaminergic stimulation, adult mice listening to a tone of specific frequency exhibited expansion of the tonotopic area in the auditory cortex that responds specifically to sounds of that frequency.

Mechanistically, neuromodulation is increasingly being recognized for its fine-tuning of the PV cell-mediated inhibition of excitatory pyramidal neurons' soma. Central to the neuromodulatory regulation of PV cell activity is the existence of distinct subsets of inhibitory neurons, which are responsive to activation by neuromodulators and which inhibit PV cells. Within these cells, some also inhibit specific pyramidal cell dendrites. By inhibiting PV cells activity, the neuromodulator-sensitive inhibitory cells such as those expressing vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) or somatostatin (SST) lift the inhibition of the pyramidal neurons; in other words, the activity of VIP and SST-expressing cells result in the disinhibition of pyramidal neurons. Then, by inhibiting only certain dendritic branches of these now dis-inhibited pyramidal neurons, the neuromodulation-activated cells allow select sensory inputs to excite the pyramidal neurons and be represented in the brain circuitry. Thus, in a landscape of global inhibition by maturing inhibitory signaling, neuromodulation allows windows of dis-inhibition, temporally and spatially, that allow behaviorally important sensory inputs the opportunity to influence the brain.

First language acquisition
The critical period hypothesis (CPH) states that the first few years of life constitute the time during which language develops readily and after which (sometime between age 5 and puberty) language acquisition is much more difficult and ultimately less successful. The hypothesis that language is acquired during a critical period was first proposed by neurologists Wilder Penfield and Lamar Roberts in 1959 and popularized by linguist Eric Lenneberg in 1967. Lenneberg argued for the hypothesis based on evidence that children who experience brain injury early in life develop far better language skills than adults with similar injuries.

Maria Montessori was one of the earlier educators who brought attention to this phenomenon and called it "sensitive periods", which is one of the pillars of her philosophy of education.

The two most famous cases of children who failed to acquire language after the critical period are the feral children Victor of Aveyron and Genie. However, the tragic circumstances of these cases and the moral and ethical impermissibility of replicating them make it difficult to draw conclusions about them. The children may have been cognitively disabled from infancy, or their inability to develop language may have resulted from the profound neglect and abuse they suffered.

Many subsequent researchers have further developed the CPH, most notably Elissa Newport and Rachel Mayberry. Studies conducted by these researchers demonstrated that profoundly deaf individuals who are not exposed to a sign language as children never achieve full proficiency, even after 30 years of daily use. While the effect is most profound for individuals who receive no sign language input until after the age of 12, even those deaf people who began learning a sign language at age 5 were significantly less fluent than native deaf signers (whose exposure to a sign language began at birth). Early language exposure also affects the ability to learn a second language later in life: profoundly deaf individuals with early language exposure achieve comparable levels of proficiency in a second language to hearing individuals with early language exposure. In contrast, deaf individuals without early language exposure perform far worse.

Other evidence comes from neuropsychology where it is known that adults well beyond the critical period are more likely to suffer permanent language impairment from brain damage than are children, believed to be due to youthful resiliency of neural reorganization.

Steven Pinker discusses the CPH in his book, The Language Instinct. According to Pinker, language must be viewed as a concept rather than a specific language because the sounds, grammar, meaning, vocabulary, and social norms play an important role in the acquisition of language. Physiological changes in the brain are also conceivable causes for the terminus of the critical period for language acquisition. As language acquisition is crucial during this phase, similarly infant–parent attachment is crucial for social development of the infant. An infant learns to trust and feel safe with the parent, but there are cases in which the infant might be staying at an orphanage where it does not receive the same attachment with their caregiver. Research shows that infants who were unable to develop this attachment had major difficulty in keeping close relationships, and had maladaptive behaviors with adopted parents.

The discussion of language critical period suffers from the lack of a commonly accepted definition of language. Some aspects of language, such as phoneme tuning, grammar processing, articulation control, and vocabulary acquisition can be significantly improved by training at any age and therefore have weak critical periods. Other aspects of language, such as prefrontal synthesis, have strong critical periods and cannot be acquired after the end of the critical period. Consequently, when language is discussed in general, without dissection into components, arguments can be constructed both in favor and against the strong critical period of L1 acquisition.

Second language acquisition
The theory has often been extended to a critical period for second language acquisition (SLA), which has influenced researchers in the field on both sides of the spectrum, supportive and unsupportive of CPH, to explore. However, the nature of this phenomenon has been one of the most fiercely debated issues in psycholinguistics and cognitive science in general for decades.

Certainly, older learners of a second language rarely achieve the native-like fluency that younger learners display, despite often progressing faster than children in the initial stages. This is generally accepted as evidence supporting the CPH. Incorporating the idea, "younger equals better" by Penfield, David Singleton (1995) states that in learning a second language there are many exceptions, noting that five percent of adult bilinguals master a second language even though they begin learning it when they are well into adulthood—long after any critical period has presumably come to a close. The critical period hypothesis holds that first language acquisition must occur before cerebral lateralization completes, at about the age of puberty. One prediction of this hypothesis is that second language acquisition is relatively fast, successful, and qualitatively similar to first language only if it occurs before the age of puberty. To grasp a better understanding of SLA, it is essential to consider linguistic, cognitive, and social factors rather than age alone, as they are all essential to the learner's language acquisition.

Over the years, many experimenters have tried to find evidence in support of or against the critical periods for second language acquisition. Many have found evidence that young children acquire language more easily than adults, but there are also special cases of adults acquiring a second language with native-like proficiency. Thus it has been difficult for researchers to separate correlation from causation.

In 1989, Jacqueline S. Johnson and Elissa L. Newport found support for the claim that second languages are more easily acquired before puberty, or more specifically before the age of seven. They tested second language learners of English who arrived in the United States at various ages ranging from three to thirty-nine, and found that there was a decline in grammatical correctness after the age of seven. Johnson and Newport attributed this claim to a decline in language learning ability with age. Opponents of the critical period argue that the difference in language ability found by Johnson and Newport could be due to the different types of input that children and adults receive; children received reduced input while adults receive more complicated structures.

Additional evidence against a strict critical period is also found in the work of Pallier et al. (2003) who found that children adopted to France from Korea were able to become native-like in their performance of French even after the critical period for phonology. Their experiment may represent a special case where subjects must lose their first language in order to more perfectly acquire their second.

There is also some debate as to how one can judge the native-like quality of the speech participants produce and what exactly it means to be a near-native speaker of a second language. White et al. found that it is possible for non-native speakers of a language to become native-like in some aspects, but those aspects are influenced by their first language.

Recently, a connectionist model has been developed to explain the changes that take place in second language learning assuming that sensitive period affects lexical learning and syntactic learning parts of the system differently, which sheds further light on how first and second language acquisition changes over the course of learners development.

Vision
In mammals, neurons in the brain that process vision actually develop after birth based on signals from the eyes. A landmark experiment by David H. Hubel and Torsten Wiesel (1963) showed that cats that had one eye sewn shut from birth to three months of age (monocular deprivation) only fully developed vision in the open eye. They showed that columns in the primary visual cortex receiving inputs from the other eye took over the areas that would normally receive input from the deprived eye. In general electrophysiological analyses of axons and neurons in the lateral geniculate nucleus showed that the visual receptive field properties was comparable to adult cats. However, the layers of cortex that were deprived had less activity and fewer responses were isolated. The kittens had abnormally small ocular dominance columns (part of the brain that processes sight) connected to the closed eye, and abnormally large, wide columns connected to the open eye. Because the critical period time had elapsed, it would be impossible for the kittens to alter and develop vision in the closed eye. This did not happen to adult cats even when one eye was sewn shut for a year because they had fully developed their vision during their critical period. Later experiments in monkeys found similar results consistent with the strong critical period.

In a follow-up experiment, Hubel and Wiesel (1963) explored the cortical responses present in kittens after binocular deprivation; they found it difficult to find any active cells in the cortex, and the responses they did get were either slow-moving or fast-fatiguing. Furthermore, the cells that did respond selected for edges and bars with distinct orientation preferences. Nevertheless, these kittens developed normal binocularity. Hubel and Wiesel first explained the mechanism, known as orientation selectivity, in the mammalian visual cortex. Orientation tuning, a model that originated with their model, is a concept in which receptive fields of neurons in the LGN excite a cortical simple cell and are arranged in rows. This model was important because it was able to describe a strong critical period for the proper development of normal ocular dominance columns in the lateral geniculate nucleus, and thus able to explain the effects of monocular deprivation during this critical period. The critical period for cats is about three months and for monkeys, about six months.

In a similar experiment, Antonini and Stryker (1993) examined the anatomical changes that can be observed after monocular deprivation. They compared geniculocortical axonal arbors in monocularly deprived animals in the long term (4 weeks) to short term (6–7 days) during the critical period established by Hubel and Wiesel (1993). They found that in the long term, monocular deprivation causes reduced branching at the end of neurons, while the amount of afferents allocated to the nondeprived eye increased. Even in the short term, Antonini and Stryker (1993) found that geniculocortical neurons were similarly affected. This supports the aforementioned concept of a critical period for proper neural development for vision in the cortex.

Studies of people whose sight has been restored after a long blindness (whether from birth or a later point in life) reveal that they cannot necessarily recognize objects and faces (as opposed to color, motion, and simple geometric shapes). Some hypothesize that being blind during childhood prevents some part of the visual system necessary for these higher-level tasks from developing properly. The general belief that a critical period lasts until age 5 or 6 was challenged by a 2007 study that found that older patients could improve these abilities with years of exposure.

Expression of the protein Lynx1 has been associated with the normal end of the critical period for synaptic plasticity in the visual system.

Imprinting
In psychology, imprinting is any type of rapid learning that occurs in a particular life stage. While this rapid learning is independent of the behavioral outcome, it also establishes it and can affect behavioral responses to different stimuli. Konrad Lorenz is well known for his classic studies of filial imprinting in graylag geese. From 1935 to 1938, he presented himself to a group of newly hatched gosling and took note of how he was instantly accepted, followed, and called to as if he were the one who laid them himself. As the first moving object they encountered, Lorenz studied the phenomenon in how quickly the geese were able to form such an irreversible bond. Through his work he demonstrated that this only developed during a brief "critical period", which was about a few hours after hatching, suggesting a strong critical period.

Lorenz also discovered a long-lasting effect of his studies, and that was a shift in the species' sexual imprinting as a result from imprinting upon a foster mother of a second species. For certain species, when raised by a second one, they develop and retain imprinted preferences and approach the second species they were raised by rather than choose their own, if given a choice.

Imprinting serves as the distinguishing factor between one's own mother and other mother figures. The mother and the infant both identify with each other, this is a strong bonding moment for humans. It provides a sort of model or guide to adult behaviors in addition to other factors such as nurture, protection in infancy, guidance, and nourishment. The imprinting process, Lorenz also found, brought about a sense of familiarity for the young animals. When such a strong bond is formed at such an early stage, it creates a sense of security and comfort for the subject and actually encourages the imprinting behavior.

Pheromones play a key role in the imprinting process, they trigger a biochemical response in the recipient, leading to a confirmed identification in the other individual. If direct contact between mother and infant is not maintained during the critical imprinting period, then the mother goose may reject the infant because she is unfamiliar with her newborn's scent. If that does happen, then the infant's life would be in jeopardy unless it were claimed by a substitute mother, possibly leading to awkward social behavior in later life. In relation to humans, a newborn during the critical period identifies with its mother's and other peoples' scents since its scent is one of the most developed senses at that stage in life. The newborn uses this pheromone identification to seek the people it identifies with, when in times of distress, hunger, and discomfort as a survival skill. Inferences could be made for newborns based upon Lorenz's studies. When imprinting on their mothers, newborns look to them for nourishment, a sense of security, and comfort. Human newborns are among the most helpless known with orangutang newborns ranking second. Newborns of these species have a very limited array of innate survival abilities. Their most important and functional ability is to form bonds with close individuals who are able to keep them alive. Imprinting is a crucial factor of the critical period because it facilitates the newborn's abilities to form bonds with other individuals, from infancy to adulthood.

Auditory processing
Many studies have supported a correlation between the type of auditory stimuli present in the early postnatal environment and the development on the topographical and structural development of the auditory system.

First reports on critical periods came from deaf children and animals that received a cochlear implant to restore hearing. Approximately at the same time, both an electroencephalographic study by Sharma, Dorman and Spahr and an in-vivo investigation of the cortical plasticity in deaf cats by Kral and colleagues demonstrated that the adaptation to the cochlear implant is subject to an early, developmental sensitive period. The closure of sensitive periods likely involves a multitude of processes that in their combination make it difficult to reopen these behaviorally. The understanding of the mechanisms behind critical periods has consequences for medical therapy of hearing loss. M. Merzenich and colleagues showed that during an early critical period, noise exposure can affect the frequency organization of the auditory cortex.

Recent studies have examined the possibility of a critical period for thalamocortical connectivity in the auditory system. For example, Zhou and Merzenich (2008) studied the effects of noise on development in the primary auditory cortex in rats. In their study, rats were exposed to pulsed noise during the critical period and the effect on cortical processing was measured. Rats that were exposed to pulsed noise during the critical period had cortical neurons that were less able to respond to repeated stimuli; the early auditory environment interrupted normal structural organization during development.

In a related study, Barkat, Polley and Hensch (2011) looked at how exposure to different sound frequencies influences the development of the tonotopic map in the primary auditory cortex and the ventral medical geniculate body. In this experiment, mice were reared either in normal environments or in the presence of 7 kHz tones during early postnatal days. They found that mice that were exposed to an abnormal auditory environment during a critical period P11-P15 had an atypical tonotopic map in the primary auditory cortex. These studies support the notion that exposure to certain sounds within the critical period can influence the development of tonotopic maps and the response properties of neurons. Critical periods are important for the development of the brain for the function from a pattern of connectivity. In general, the early auditory environment influences the structural development and response specificity of the primary auditory cortex.

Absolute pitch
Absolute pitch manifests itself almost always before adolescence and rarely if ever among individuals who are first exposed to music after mid-childhood, suggesting that exposure to music or similar phenomena (e.g., tonal languages) in early to mid-childhood is a necessary condition for its development or refinement. Studies that ask musicians and non-musicians to sing or hum well-known popular songs that have definitive recordings (and hence are sung in standardized keys) show that—on average—participants sing within a semitone of the standardized key but that outside the small subset of participants with absolute pitch there is broad variation (the "bell curve" that reflects the degree of approximation to the standard key is broad and flat). These results suggest that almost all humans have some innate aptitude for absolute pitch recognition—though other factors may enhance or limit the level of that aptitude. Also, the results' conjunction with the aforementioned chronological observations suggests that early to mid-childhood exposure to environments whose interpretation depends on pitch is a developmental "trigger" for whatever aptitude an individual possesses.

Vestibular system
In our vestibular system, neurons are undeveloped at neuronal birth and mature during the critical period of the first 2–3 postnatal weeks. Hence, disruption of maturation during this period can cause changes in normal balance and movement through space. Animals with abnormal vestibular development tend to have irregular motor skills. Studies have consistently shown that animals with genetic vestibular deficiencies during this critical period have altered vestibular phenotypes, most likely as a result of insufficient input from the semicircular canals and dopaminergic abnormalities. Moreover, exposure to abnormal vestibular stimuli during the critical period is associated with irregular motor development. Children with hypofunctioning vestibular receptors frequently have delayed motor development. The results of the studies done on ferrets and rats reinforced the idea that the vestibular system is very important to motor development during the initial neonatal period. If the vestibular receptors are present during the initial six months to a year when the infant is learning to sit and stand, then the child may develop motor control and balance normally.

The vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) is a reflex eye movement that stabilizes images on the retina during head movement. It produces an eye movement in the direction opposite to head movement, thus preserving the image on the center of the visual field. Studies in fish and amphibians revealed a sensitivity in their VOR. They launched into space flight for 9–10, some with developing VORs and others with already developed reflexes. The fish with developing reflexes developed an upward bend in their tails. The altered gravity resulted in a shift of orientation. Those who were already matured with the reflex were insensitive to the microgravity exposure.

Memory
Recent studies also support the possibility of a critical period for the development of neurons that mediate memory processing. Experimental evidence supports the notion that young neurons in the adult dentate gyrus have a critical period (about 1–3 weeks after neuronal birth) during which they are integral to memory formation. Although the exact reasoning behind this observation is uncertain, studies suggest that the functional properties of neurons at this age make them most appropriate for this purpose; these neurons: (1) Remain hyperactive during the formation of memories; (2) are more excitable; and (3) More easily depolarizable due to GABAergic effects. It is also possible that hyperplasticity makes the neurons more useful in memory formation. If these young neurons had more plasticity than adult neurons in the same context, they could be more influential in smaller numbers. The role of these neurons in the adult dentate gyrus in memory processing is further supported by the fact that behavioral experiments have shown that an intact dentate gyrus is integral to hippocampal memory formation. It is speculated that the dentate gyrus acts as a relay station for information relating to memory storage. The likelihood of a critical period could change the way we view memory processing because it would ultimately mean that the collection of neurons present is constantly being replenished as new neurons replace old ones. If a critical period does indeed exist, this could possibly mean that: (1) Diverse populations of neurons that represent events occurring soon after one another may connect those events temporally in the memory formation and processing; or (2) these different populations of neurons may distinguish between similar events, independent of temporal position; or (3) separate populations may mediate the formation of new memories when the same events occur frequently.

title: Critical period


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Talk:Unas

Untitled
Unas, was also called Unas, Slayer of the Gods. People claimed that he devoured gods to gain their powers. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.162.255.229 (talk • contribs) 02:56, 27 May 2005 (UTC)

 * The pyramid is supposed to be "Beautiful are the Places of Unas" not Teti. So it has been corrected. A source would be I.E.S. Edwards' "Pyramids of Egypt"   —Preceding unsigned comment added by Muirwood (talk • contribs) 07:23, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

 * I have rejigged this page a bit - might delete the 5300BC references, as this seems a bit wild - anyone got a reference for this ? 08:40, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

 * There was a bout of vandalism not so long ago, and someone added the text verbatim from this source (scroll to the bottom of the page): http://www.musicsonglyrics.com/N/nilelyrics/nileunasslayerofthegodslyrics.htm. This is from doing a Google search on a few words from the submitted "article". It appears to be some explanitory text for what I assume is a heavy metal rock band song. The information, as far as I can tell, is not incorrect, thought the 5300BC statement is definitely extreme, as are some of the comments with regard to the "magick" of the hieroglyphic text found on Unas' walls. Since the text is basically a cut and paste from another site, it should either be wholly removed for reasons of copyright infringement, or heavily re-written/edited (preferably with attributions) to make it fit.

 * Yes, most of this was stolen from the explanation to the song "Unas, Slayer of the Gods" by the South Carolina death metal band, Nile. Karl Sanders, one of the guitarists, vocalists, and the main lyric writer is well-versed in Egyptology, though he has no official degree.  Personally I would trust most of his information, but for the sake of wikipedia, the article needs a more authoritative source than a heavy metal musician with a hobby in Egyptology.  Plus it is plagiarism from the booklet of Nile album In Their Darkened Shrines

 * I have moved the section on the pyramid complex to its own article (and removed reference to 5300BC as this seems to be erroneous). I will tify up the new article, as it seems to be rather breathless in style. Markh 15:41, 20 November 2005 (UTC)

wenis redirect
What? Isn't wenis the hard skin at your elbow? Why's it redirect here? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.58.245.168 (talk) 05:45, 12 December 2006 (UTC).

 * Heh, you said wenis. Redsox7897 03:38, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

 * because that is one of the names he has been refered to as.

but it doesn't say that he has been referred to as wenis? it has Oenas, Unis, or Ounas. no wenis. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 118.209.238.62 (talk) 10:29, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

Who were Unas' parents?--Mychele (talk) 15:47, 10 June 2010 (UTC)
 * In spite of the complete lack of evidence bearing on the question, Egyptologist think Unas' father was probably his predecessor Djedkare Isesi (mostly because of the apparently smooth transition between the two). The identity of his mother is completely unknown. We might logically suspect one of Djedkare's queens, but the only candidate known to us is Meresankh IV, who was quite possibly a wife of Menkauhor Kaiu instead. (Sorry for the nearly five years delay to get your answer). Iry-Hor (talk) 07:33, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Phallic stone slab
Really? This almost seems like a joke considering the article name. Captain Skank (talk) 21:03, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

Good Article Review (2015)
— Preceding unsigned comment added by Tim riley (talk • contribs) 08:31, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

Sarcophagus
Article identifies the sarcophagus as black basalt. However, German WP sidebar about the Unas Pyramid states it's made of Greywacke, a type of sandstone: Am Fußende des Sarkophages aus Grauwacke (nach älteren Bestimmungen fälschlich auch als Basalt angegeben).... Also says sarcophagus contained remains of mummies, not "scattered bones."

(Disclosure: I know nothing about this subject, having discovered it via the July 5 TFA.) Sca (talk) 20:22, 5 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Thank you for the information, I am aware of this and I am not sure where the editors of the German wiki got this because in his book on Egyptian pyramids, Mark Lehner clearly state that the sarcophagus is of black basalt and contained a few bones, not a mummy. Iry-Hor (talk) 18:28, 18 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Alas, German WP is famous for being unreferenced. Sca (talk) 20:49, 18 July 2015 (UTC)

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Unas or Unis
While most references to this pharaoh seem to gravitate towards the "Unas" transliteration, I could find no source that clearly defined why this spelling has become more prominent than the "Unis" spelling. The actual hieroglyphic depiction of this pharaoh's name includes the reed symbol which is almost always transliterated as an "i" or on occasion "e", given this I don't see why "Unis" isn't the more common if not entirely dominate form of spelling. While my understanding of the subject is far from complete and I may be missing a key piece of information, I reckon the most prevalent and default spelling should be shifted to "Unis". 207.141.87.105 (talk) 07:59, 4 January 2023 (UTC)

See WP:COMMONNAME. Wikipedia follows whatever is the most prevalent spelling, regardless of whether it is logical. Furius (talk) 09:03, 4 January 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Unas


text:
World B. Free

World B. Free (born Lloyd Bernard Free; December 9, 1953) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1975 to 1988. Free was known as the "Prince of Mid-Air", "Brownsville Bomber", and most often as "All-World".

Early years
Born in Atlanta, Free grew up in Brownsville, New York, and attended Canarsie High School in Brooklyn, New York, before attending Guilford College in North Carolina. As a freshman, he led Guilford's basketball team and helped the team win the NAIA National Championship and was named MVP of the NAIA Tournament.

Professional career
Free played for the San Diego Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers and Houston Rockets in the National Basketball Association. He got his name from his days in Brooklyn, where a friend nicknamed him "World" because of his 44-inch vertical leap and 360 degree dunks. Free was known for his "rainbow" jump shots, referring to the extreme arch of the ball during the shot. He was also known for taking high risk shots and playing flamboyantly. During Free's time playing for the San Diego Clippers, fans would shout "shoot, shoot, shoot" whenever Free took possession of the ball. Free averaged 20.3 points per game over 13 seasons in the NBA.

Free began his career in the 1975–76 NBA season as a member of the 76ers, having been selected by the 76ers with the 23rd pick of the 1975 NBA draft. In the decisive game seven of the 1977 Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Sixers and the Boston Celtics, Free helped lead his team to victory with a game-high 27 points. The Sixers subsequently defeated the Rockets in the Eastern Conference Finals, but lost to the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1977 NBA Finals. Following the 1977–78 NBA season, Free was traded to the Clippers for a future pick in the 1984 NBA draft that was ultimately used to select Charles Barkley.

For both the 1978–79 and 1979–80 campaigns, George Gervin and Free were number 1 and 2 in the league in scoring. In 1979, Free led the Clippers to an improved 43–39 record, but they narrowly missed the playoffs. His best statistical season was 1979–80 with the Clippers, averaging 30.2 points per game, as well as 4.2 assists per game and 3.5 rebounds per game in 68 games. He was an All-Star that season as well, although the Clippers failed to make the playoffs again.

On August 28, 1980, San Diego traded Free to Golden State for Phil Smith and a first-round pick. During the 1981-82 NBA season, Free would help the Warriors to a 45–37 record, leading the team in assists per game at 5.4 while also scoring 22.9 points per game (second on the team only to Bernard King’s 23.2 per game average). However, despite their above .500 record, they would miss the postseason.

During the season, Free became the 39th player in league history to surpass 15,000 career points. During that year, now on the Cavaliers, Free made the playoffs for the first time since he was on the 76ers, and averaged career-playoff-highs of 26.3 points and 7.8 assists per game, during a 3-1 first round loss to the Celtics. In that series, Free led the Cavaliers to a 105-98 Game 3 win with a postseason-career-high 32 points.

Free later played in the United States Basketball League (USBL) for the Miami Tropics after being waived by the Philadelphia 76ers in March 1987. He was named the USBL Playoffs MVP after leading the Tropics to the title after scoring 30 points in the championship winning game against the Rhode Island Gulls. Following the USBL season, he joined the Houston Rockets for the 1987–88 season, which was his last NBA season. For Free, the highlight of that season was November 12, 1987, when he scored 38 points against the Sacramento Kings at ARCO Arena and brought the Rockets back to win the game.

In 1991, Free had a comeback with Atlanta Eagles of the USBL, before retiring permanently.

Player profile
Free loved to go one-on-one against a defender and either whirl around him or take a jump shot. His shot was possibly his greatest strength: a soft, high-arcing lob that stayed in the air longer than the average jump shot and was so straight when he was "on" that it barely jostled the net. When he was younger, on the playgrounds of New York City, his jump shot was a flat line drive, but he was tired of having the ball blocked, so he developed a new style of shooting.

Personal life
Free admired Muhammad Ali.

In 1979, Free was dating Lady B and rapped freestyle with her during a trip to New York City, after which Lady B would become a highly influential radio DJ.

Name change
On December 8, 1981, a day before his 28th birthday, he legally changed his first name to World. According to Free, "the fellas back in Brownsville gave me the nickname 'World' when I was in junior high... they just started calling me 'all-world', because all-city and all-county and things like that weren't good enough. Finally they just started calling me World... I'm still the same guy I was when I was Lloyd, though.  I'll say what I'm going to do, and then I'll go out and do it."

Post-playing career
Currently, Free is director of player development and a community ambassador for the Philadelphia 76ers. Among other things, he greets fans at 76ers home games in his flamboyant/colorful wardrobe. Free has also led the Sixers' "Summer Hoops Tour". On November 30, 2005, Free was honored as a Cleveland Cavaliers Legend at halftime of the Cavaliers game against the Los Angeles Clippers. On March 26, 2022, Free was honored with a spot on the Cavaliers Wall of Honor along with former players Lenny Wilkens and Campy Russell and former owner Gordon Gund. Dick Vitale often uses his name in college basketball season previews to give the award for best name.

title: World B. Free


text:
2001 Singaporean general election

General elections were held in Singapore on 3 November 2001. President S.R. Nathan dissolved parliament on 18 October 2001 on the advice of Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. The ruling People's Action Party (PAP) won 82 of the 84 elected seats in Parliament in a landslide victory. Due to the large number (55) of uncontested seats, only 675,306 of the 2,036,923 eligible voters (33%) had an opportunity to vote. As of the recent election in 2020, this was the most recent, and fourth overall (third consecutive) election PAP returned to power on nomination day with a majority of uncontested walkovers.

This election marked the first time that total eligible voter population exceeded the 2 million mark.

Background
The ruling PAP's secretary-general and Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong initially scheduled for the election to be held in 2002, but pushed to November after Singapore faced an economic crisis due to the events of September 11 attacks in the United States.

For the first time since 1963, a formal political umbrella emerged from within the opposition. The four-party Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA), which consist of the leader party Singapore People's Party (SPP), the National Solidarity Party (NSP), Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura (PKMS) and Singapore Justice Party (SJP), was led by Chiam See Tong. SDA fielded the most candidates in the election, where NSP provided the bulk of nine candidates, SPP with four, and PKMS providing a required minority candidate.

Former Workers' Party (WP) Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, who lost his seat after being declared a bankrupt owing to lawsuits by PAP leaders, resigned from the party, citing disagreements with the present leadership. The only WP Member of Parliament, Low Thia Khiang took over as secretary-general. During nomination day, WP was nominated on only two wards (Hougang and Nee Soon East SMC), as their sole GRC team who attempt to nominate in Aljunied Group Representation Constituency was disqualified for filing incomplete papers.

A seat had been vacated in 1999 after the conviction of Jalan Besar GRC's MP Choo Wee Khiang over commercial crimes, but no by-election was held as the seat was within a GRC. Under the law, an entire electoral constituency (for both single member and GRC seats) has to be vacated before a by-election could be called, as this was done during the Marine Parade GRC by-election of 1992.

Campaign
This election saw its shortest campaigning period of 17 days after opening of the register of electors, as well as the absence of four-member GRCs from the electoral map (four-member GRCs would reappear again in the 2011 elections, in nearly a decade later). Another increase of the election deposit amount this time was the most significant one in history, which almost doubled.

The result saw WP's Low and SDA's Chiam retaining their seats, but saw their winning margins slashed from the 1997. With these two opposition wins, one NCMP seat was offered to and accepted by Steve Chia of Singapore Democratic Alliance, who became the youngest and first-ever non-WP NCMP.

Chee Soon Juan incident
Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) leader Chee Soon Juan came under fire in the media when he encountered Prime Minister Goh while campaigning at a hawker centre. He used a megaphone to ask Goh, "Where is the $18 billion that you have lent to (Indonesian President) Suharto?". Goh and Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew sued Chee for defamation shortly after the election.

Chee lost the lawsuits and was ordered to pay damages of S$300,000 to Goh and S$200,000 to Lee. On 10 February 2006, Chee was declared bankrupt by the High Court after failing to pay the damages owed to Goh and Lee, and was unable to stand in the elections held later May that year, until on 23 November 2012 where Chee was discharged from bankruptcy, and later returned to participate in the 2015 elections.

Outgoing/New MPs
There were a total of 40 (25 PAP) candidates making their political debut in the 2001 election. Notable figures were Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Halimah Yacob, both of which would later go on to become Presidents of Singapore. 24 incumbent MPs retired prior to the announcements. 15 candidates outside PAP were also new, among which new faces include Chee Siok Chin, sister of the SDP's leader Chee Soon Juan, as well as Desmond Lim, who would later lead the newly formed SDA in future years, and a future Perennial candidate Ooi Boon Ewe.

 * 1) Richard Hu initially announced that he would seek another term in leading a team for the new Holland–Bukit Panjang GRC, but the idea was scrapped.

Results
PAP won a landslide victory and its best result since 1980. The party achieved its third highest score among the general elections it has contested since 1959. The PAP's vote percentage of 75.3% signalled an overwhelming endorsement of the PAP to lead the nation out of the crisis that came at a time of great uncertainty over world security and the recession that came after the September 11 attacks.

Two candidates, Tan Kim Chuang and Tan Lead Shake, had each forfeited their $9,000 election deposit, the latter being a straight contest where Tan Cheng Bock won the best performing election result at 87.96% in Ayer Rajah Constituency; This is the last election to date where there was a forfeiture of election deposit outside multi-cornered contests.

title: 2001 Singaporean general election


text: User talk:70.187.130.215

title: User talk:70.187.130.215


text:
Bloody Tubs

The Bloody Tubs or Blood Tubs were a 19th-century gang of opportunistic street thugs in Baltimore, Maryland, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who worked primarily for Nativist Know Nothing politicians to commit election fraud.

Formation
Formed in the mid-1850s, the gang became known as the Bloody Tubs for their method of dunking political opponents in slaughterhouse tubs. Other sources claim it was derived from the "bloody oaths" members took upon joining the gang. The gang's violent tactics included blocking voting booths and attacking opposing voters, discouraging many people from the polls altogether.

Attempt to assassinate Abraham Lincoln
During the presidential election of 1860, the Blood Tubs reportedly planned to abduct, or possibly assassinate, President-elect Abraham Lincoln when he visited Baltimore. This was connected to the Baltimore Plot.

Support for the Union
At various times they also championed the Union cause. After the infamous Pratt Street Riot, the Blood Tubs could be seen sailing up and down the harbor flying U.S. flags.

Disestablishment
The gang operated for more than a decade before their brutal acts caused so much public outrage that politicians were forced to withdraw their political support, and after 1870 the gang was eventually broken up by police "head smashers" or "strong arm squads," as were many other gangs of the era.

title: Bloody Tubs


text:
Refael Reuvain Grozovsky

Refael Reuvain Grozovsky (Рафаэль Гразоўскі; 1886, Minsk, Belarus – 1958, United States) was a leading Orthodox rabbi, Jewish religious leader and rosh yeshiva ("dean") known for his Talmudic analytical style.

Early years
He was the son of Rabbi Shimshon Grozovsky, the leading dayan (Halachic judge) of Minsk. He attended Yeshiva Knesses Yisrael, known as the Slabodka yeshiva, and studied under Rabbis Moshe Mordechai Epstein and Nosson Tzvi Finkel. In 1919, Rabbi Grozovsky married the daughter of Rabbi Baruch Ber Lebowitz, whose analytical method of textual study continues to be extremely influential in modern-day yeshivas. After his marriage, Rabbi Grozovsky moved to the Vilna suburb of Lukishuk. Later, he moved with his father-in-law to Kaminetz and continued to learn at the yeshiva there (Knesset Beit Yitzhak) under the tutelage of his father-in-law, whom he considered his main teacher. Rabbi Grozovsky had two sons and two daughters. He eventually became the dean of the Kaminetz Yeshiva.

Rabbi Grozovsky was known to lead a simple and sparse life. Sometimes he and his wife had to borrow money from his students. They shared a cramped apartment with his wife's parents, both because of Grozovsky's modest way of life and his desire to learn as much as possible from his famous father-in-law.

Life in America
During World War II, Rabbi Grozovsky escaped Europe and the Holocaust with a group of his students and arrived on the west coast of the United States. He then journeyed to New York City where he joined Rabbis Aharon Kotler and Avraham Kalmanowitz in leading the Vaad Hatzalah's efforts to save Jews from the Nazi Holocaust, including lobbying and fundraising. In the process, he also brought 110 members of the Kaminetz community to safety in America.

Rabbi Grozovsky was extremely active in the Agudath Israel of America organization. However, he preferred to work behind the scenes. His concern for the spiritual state of affairs in Israel was well known. He read many magazine and newspaper articles about Israel and asked students to translate articles written in English. As a result of his knowledge, in May 1951 he organized a public demonstration protesting the unilateral action of the Israeli government in involuntarily sending religious refugee children to anti-religious kibbutzim ("communes").

Rabbi Grozovsky was asked by Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz to head the Yeshiva Torah Vodaas located in Brooklyn, New York. There he earned a reputation for incisive analytical reasoning combined with vast Talmudic knowledge and a humble and modest personality. Although he spent less than a year in this position, his influence on the Yeshiva belies the relatively short time he was associated with it.

Reb Reuvain's schedule would have worn out many men who were physically stronger. He arrived at Beth Medrash Elyon in Monsey, NY, every Thursday and remained awake all night preparing for the Friday Talmudic lecture. The same routine was followed the next night, when after his Shabbos meal, he would prepare for his Sunday afternoon lecture. He then returned to Brooklyn on Monday to present the same lecture, modified for his different audience, on Tuesday.

Six years before his death, he was struck by a car under suspicious circumstances [Rumour has it was the butcher meat mafia who arranged it, though there were other suspects]. He then suffered a stroke which impaired his physical functioning. Nonetheless, the Rosh Yeshiva remained mentally alert and was able to study until his death in 1958. He was survived by his sons, Rabbi Chaim Grozovsky and rabbi Shamshon Grozovsky and his sons-in-law, Rabbis Don Ungarischer (Rosh Yeshiva of Beth Medrash Elyon) and Levi Krupenia.

Talmudic method
The thrust of Rav Grozovsky's method of Talmudic analysis was an emphasis on extreme thoroughness. This manifested in two areas:

 * 1) Thoroughness of thought: the cornerstone of his methodology was the application of the maximum effort of thought into all ideas being studied in the Talmud and the related rabbinical literature and finding the underpinnings of even "simple" ideas. Rabbi Grozovsky taught that the casual acceptance of seemingly "simple" ideas is the scholar's enemy. Only a deep examination of all facets of the subject matter can reveal the true depth. This approach is evidenced in his published works, Chidushei R' Reuvain.
 * 2) The examination of all options: Rabbi Grozovsky held that the proper understanding of Talmud demands examining even those alternatives that one instinctively dismisses. One cannot dismiss any possibility outright without arguments. Rather all options must be subjected to full scrutiny.

Opposition to Zionism
Grozovsky was a fierce opponent of Zionism and the State of Israel. He wrote several essays attacking the Zionist movement and describing how Haredim should deal with the State. These essays were later collected and published in the book Ba'ayos Hazman. In one essay, Grozovsky stressed that Agudath Israel differed from the extreme anti Zionist Neturei Karta only in tactics, not in ideology. He also participated in demonstrations against various actions of the Israeli government, and spoke against it in strong terms.

R. Reuven said that Jews love Eretz Yisroel is due to the holiness with which Hashem sanctified it - "but all of this is only when it comes from belief in Hashem and His Torah."

R. Reuven commented on the verse in Samuel "for all the nations are planted in their land and language, but we are planted in Hashem and his Torah."

title: Refael Reuvain Grozovsky


text:
Chinese alchemy

Chinese alchemy is a historical Chinese approach to alchemy, a pseudoscience. According to original texts such as the Cantong qi, the body is understood as the focus of cosmological processes summarized in the five agents of change, or Wuxing, the observation and cultivation of which leads the practitioner into alignment and harmony with the Tao. Therefore, the traditional view in China is that alchemy focuses mainly on longevity and the purification of one's spirit, mind and body, providing, health, longevity and wisdom, through the practice of Qigong and wuxingheqidao. The consumption and use of various concoctions known as alchemical medicines or elixirs, each of which having different purposes but largely were concerned with immortality.

Pao zhi (炮制; Pao chi) or Processing (Chinese materia medica) is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine, such as honey or wine frying and roasting with toxic metals such as mercury, lead, and arsenic.

Daoism had two distinct parts, the classical Daojia (道家 Tao chia), which was mystical and stemmed primarily from Laozi and Zhuangzi, and the more popular Daojiao (道教 Tao chiao), which was the popular, magical and alchemical side of Daoism. In general, classical Daojia was more austere, whereas Daojiao was more practiced by the general populace.

Chinese alchemy was introduced to the West by Obed Simon Johnson.

Process and purpose
By refining bases into gold and ingesting the "fake" or synthetic gold as a prepared pill, or jindan (金丹), alchemists believed that immortal life would be delivered. The idea that fake gold was superior to real gold arose because the alchemists believed the combination of a variety of substances (and the transformation of these substances through roasting or burning) gave the final substance a spiritual value, possessing a superior essence when compared to natural gold. Gold and mercury (in the form of cinnabar) were the most sought-after substances to manipulate and ingest. These metals were believed to have an inner essence of longevity due to them being relatively chemically inert and resistant to weathering as opposed to common metals like copper and iron, and are thus hypothesized to transfer their essence to the consumer and extend life as a result.

Cinnabar is a mineral with a reddish-brown colour and is the most common source of mercury in nature. The significance of its red colour and difficulty with which it was refined implied to alchemists its connection with the search for immortality. The colour was significant to symbolic belief as well, red being considered in Chinese culture to be the "zenith of the colour representing the sun, fire, royalty and energy." Cinnabar could also be roasted, which produced liquid mercury (also known as quicksilver). This substance was ingested but it could also be combined with sulphur and burned again to return to its natural form of cinnabar, the solid seen as the yang to quicksilver's yin. In China, gold was quite rare, so it was usually imported from other surrounding countries. However, cinnabar could be refined in the mountains of Sichuan and Hunan provinces in central China.

Although the majority of xian (immortality) elixirs were combinations of jindan, many other elixirs were formed by combining metallic bases with natural herbs or animals bi-products. The rhinoceros' horn was commonly used in medicines and elixirs and was held to have fertility-increasing abilities. Elixirs could also have more lethal components like arsenic and sulphur as ingredients.

East Asian vs Eastern Mediterranean views
Both the Eastern practice and the later Western practice of alchemy are remarkably similar in their methods and ultimate purpose. To be sure, the desire to create an elixir of immortality was more appealing to the Taoists, but European alchemists were not averse to seeking out formulas for various longevity-boosting substances. The secret of transmuting one element into another, specifically base metals into gold or silver, was equally explored by both schools for obvious reasons.

In the European outlook, the ability to turn relatively worthless materials into gold was attractive enough to allow medieval alchemy to enjoy extensive practice long after the Chinese form had been forgotten. Alternatively, transmutation was also a means of accruing the precious metals that were key in making life-extending elixirs, and were otherwise expensive and difficult to obtain. Alchemical knowledge in the East and West favored different opinions of the true form of alchemy due to different theological views and cultural biases, however these disputes do not lessen the integrity of alchemy's canonical nature.

Chinese alchemy specifically was consistent in its practice from the beginning, and there was relatively little controversy among its practitioners. Definition amongst alchemists varied only in their medical prescription for the elixir of immortality, or perhaps only over their names for it, of which sinology has counted about 1000. Because the Chinese approach was through the fundamental doctrine of Yin and Yang, the influence of the I Ching, and the teachings of the Five Elements, Chinese alchemy had its roots considerably more in obtaining a higher mental-spiritual level.

In the West, there were conflicts between advocates of herbal and "chemical" (mineral) pharmacy, but in China, mineral remedies were always accepted. In Europe, there were conflicts between alchemists who favored gold-making and those who thought medicine the proper goal, but the Chinese always favored the latter. Since alchemy rarely achieved any of these goals, it was an advantage to the Western alchemist to have the situation obscured, and the art survived in Europe long after Chinese alchemy had simply faded away.

Origins
Despite much research, many scholars are still unable to marshal conflicting evidence in order to determine when exactly Chinese alchemy started. It was thought that China was making gold about one thousand years before Confucius' time, but this is contradicted by other academics stating that during the 5th century BCE there was no word for gold and that it was an unknown metal in China.

However, despite the uncertain origins, there are enough similarities in the ideas of practices of Chinese alchemy and the Daoist tradition so that one can conclude that Laozi and Zhang Daoling are the creators of this tradition. In her article, Radcliffe tells that Zhang rejected serving the Emperor and retreated to live in the mountains. At this time, he met Laozi and together they created (or attempted to create) the Elixir of Life (Radcliffe, 2001), by creating the theory that would be used in order to achieve the making of such an elixir. This is the starting point to the Chinese tradition of alchemy, whose purpose was to achieve immortality.

One of the first evidence of Chinese alchemy being openly discussed in history is during the Qin's First Emperor's period when Huan Kuan (73-49 BC) states how modifying forms of nature and ingesting them will bring immortality to the person who drinks them. Before Huan Kuan, the idea of alchemy was to turn base metals into gold. Conflicting research on the origins of alchemy are further demonstrated by Cooper, who claims that alchemy "flourished well before 144 BCE, for at that date the Emperor issued an edict which ordered public execution for anyone found making counterfeit gold". This suggests that people were well aware of how to heat the metals in order to change them into a desired form. A further counter to Pregadio from Cooper is the latter's contention that an emperor in 60 BCE had hired "a well-known scholar, Liu Hsiang, as Master of the Recipes so that he could make alchemical gold and prolong the Emperor's life." All of these conflicting origins considered, it is nearly impossible to claim any absolute knowledge on the origins of Chinese alchemy. However, historical texts of Daoist teaching include alchemical practices, most of which posit the existence of an elixir or the Golden Elixir that, when ingested, gives the drinker eternal life.

As there is a direct connection between Daoism and Laozi, some suggest he played a major role in the creation of Chinese alchemy. Zhou Dynasty philosopher Zou Yan is said to have written many of the alchemical books, although none of them have ever been found, nor have the existing ones been credited to him. The likeliest proponents of Chinese alchemy are as previously stated, Laozi, and Zhang Daoling as well as Zhuangzi. Each of these men are major icons in Daoist teachings. Although these three are credited with the creation of alchemy, there is no definitive proof to suggest or dispute that they were responsible for its creation.

Yin and Yang
The concept of yin-yang is pervasive throughout Chinese alchemical theory. Metals were categorized as being male or female, and mercury and sulphur especially were thought to have powers relating to lunar and solar respectively.

Prior to Taoist tradition, the Chinese already had very definitive notions of the natural world's processes and "changes", especially involving the wu xing: Water, Fire, Earth, Metal and Wood. These were commonly thought to be interchangeable with one another; each were capable of becoming another element. The concept is integral, as the belief in outer alchemy necessitates the belief in natural elements being able to change into others. The cyclical balance of the elements relates to the binary opposition of yin-yang, and so it appears quite frequently.

Outer and inner alchemy

Chinese alchemy can be divided into two methods of practice, waidan or "external alchemy" and neidan or "internal alchemy". Doctrine can be accessed to describe these methods in greater detail; the majority of Chinese alchemical sources can be found in the Daozang, the "Taoist Canon".

Outer alchemy (Waidan)
The meaning of waidan derives from wai (outside, exterior) and dan referring to alchemical operations, such as the preparation of chemical elixirs, made from cinnabar, realgar, and other substances generally involving mercury, sulfur, lead, and arsenic or else the animal and botanical products which are found in Chinese herbology and Traditional Chinese medicine. Waidan refers to practices relating to the process of making an elixir often containing herbal or chemical substances found outside of the body. This process involves esoteric oral instructions, building a laboratory, kindling and sustaining the special fires used in the production process, rules of seclusion and purification for the alchemist to follow, and various practices including the performance of ceremonies to protect the self and the ritual area. Waidan can also include following a dietary regimen which prescribes or proscribes certain foods. Preparing medicines and elixirs can be referred to as outer practices or waidan as these practices occur outside of the body until they are verified by the ingestion of medicines, herbs, and pills to bring about physical changes within the body, separate to the soul.

Inner alchemy (Neidan)
The term Neidan can be divided into two parts: Nei, meaning inner, and Dan, which refers to alchemy, elixir, and cinnabar (mercury). Neidan uses techniques such as: composed meditation techniques, visualization, breathing and bodily posture exercises. Breathing exercises were used to preserve jing or "life essence" and bodily postures were used to improve qi or "energy" flow in the body. Neidan comprises the elixir from the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the cultivation of substances already present in the body, in particular the manipulation of three substances in the body known as the "Three Treasures".

The three treasures are:
 * 1) Jing ("life essence"). A person is born with Jing and it governs the developmental growth processes in the body. Since people are born with a certain amount of Jing, it is taught that a person can increase their Jing through dietary and lifestyle practices.
 * 2) Qi (translated as "energy" or "vital energy"). Qi energy results from the interaction of yin and yang. A healthy body is constantly circulating Qi.
 * 3) Shen (translated as "spirit", "mind" or "spiritual energy"). Shen is the energy used in mental, spiritual and creative functioning (Lu, 30).

The three treasures are also associated with locations in the body where the alchemical process takes place. These locations include major organs and energy centers, called dantians. During the Han dynasty and after, Neidan and Daoist martial arts gradually merged into one, becoming Neijia martial arts. Famous Taijiquan masters who practiced Neijia include Wu Tunan (吳圖南) and Chen Weiming (陳微明).
 * 1) Jing is found in the Kidneys and possibly the adrenal glands.
 * 2) Qi resides in Lower Dantian or "elixir field" and it is located about an inch down from the navel.
 * 3) Shen is seated in the Middle Dantian, which is the Heart.

Associated risks
When ingested, these compounds did not always result in the desired outcome. Many individuals died or had psychological difficulties after taking certain elixirs. However, the loss of life may not have seemed a large risk, when compared with the promise of the afterlife. Although these elixirs were lethal or dangerous, there is some contention that these individuals were not ignorant of the fatality of some of the materials they were ingesting.

There were certain grades of immortality, so if the practiced alchemist died, the level of immortality they achieved was determined by their corpse. If their corpse was sweet-smelling, it was said that they had achieved immortality in an ephemeral state. Likewise, if their corpse disappeared, leaving behind only the clothes, such as in the death of the adept Ge Hong (Ko Hung) according to the legend, this was another form of immortality known as shih chieh hsien (corpse-free immortals).

Conception of medicine
Medicines can be used to heal ailments on the exterior or interior of the body, to control the ageing of the body, or even to prevent death. The term medicine and elixir are virtually interchangeable because of the array of ailments they can influence. The difference between defining an elixir from a medicine was that many medicines were composed mainly of all natural products like herbs and animal products. Never the animals themselves, only their products, which could consist of dung or fur. Although metal compounds are more potent when curing ailments, herbs were used because they were easier to combine and more abundantly available. To make medicines one would use ingredients like: Reynoutria, which would be used in famous longevity pills like Fo-Ti; Asparagus, which was used because it was known to increase strength; sesame, which prevents senility; and pine which has over 300 different uses. Mushrooms were and still are very popular, they are known as the Lingzhi (Ganoderma) and have thousands of purposes within Chinese alchemy.

Chinese women alchemists
With the rise of alchemy in Chinese civilization, alchemy began to be seen as an art. Among many practitioners, a significant number of women were known to have mastered this art. The earliest recorded woman alchemist had the family name of Fang, and lived around the first century B.C. Raised in a scholarly family skilled in the alchemical arts, she studied alchemy with one of the Emperor Han Wu Ti's spouses, and therefore had access to the highest levels of society. Fang was credited with the discovery of the method to turn mercury into silver. It was believed that she may have used the chemical technique of silver extraction from ores using mercury, where pure silver residue is left behind from the boiled mercury. Fang's husband was Cheng Wei (see zh:程偉). Details of Fang's life were recorded by author and alchemist Ge Hong.

Keng Hsien-Seng (circa A.D. 975) was another female alchemist who, according to the science writings of Wu Shu "mastered the art of the yellow and white [alchemy] with many other strong transformations, mysterious and incomprehensible". Wu Shu also described Keng as being acquainted with other Taoist techniques and was believed able to control the spirits. She also mastered the transformation of mercury and "snow" into silver, probably using the technique of extraction of silver from its ores, as well as using a primitive type of Soxhlet process to continuously extract camphor into alcohol.

Other female alchemists who have been recognized in Chinese literature are Pao Ku Ko (third century A.D.), Thai Hsuan Nu, Sun Pu-Eh (12th century), and Shen Yu Hsiu (15th century).

Additional bibliography

 * Jefferson, R.B., Doctrine of the Elixir. Coombe Springs Press 1982. ISBN 0-900306-15-7.
 * Miller, James, and Elijah Siegler. "Of Alchemy and Authenticity: Teaching About Daoism Today". In Teaching Theology and Religion, Vol. 10 (2007): 101-108. ISSN 1368-4868.
 * Pregadio, Fabrizio. The Seal of the Unity of the Three: A Study and Translation of the Cantong qi, the Source of the Taoist Way of the Golden Elixir. Mountain View: Golden Elixir Press, 2011. ISBN 978-0-9843082-8-6. Partial online version, retrieved March 29, 2012.
 * Pregadio, Fabrizio. The Way of the Golden Elixir: A Historical Overview of Taoist Alchemy. Mountain View: Golden Elixir Press, 2012. [PDF, 60 pp., free download.]
 * Pregadio, Fabrizio. Chinese Alchemy: An Annotated Bibliography of Works in Western Languages. Mountain View: Golden Elixir Press, 2009.
 * Radcliffe, Jeannie. "Alchemy and Daoism" . 2001.
 * Rouselle, Irwin. "Spiritual Guidance in Contemporary Taoism". In Spiritual Disciplines, Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks. Princeton University Press, 1985. ISBN 0-691-01863-4.
 * Sivin, Nathan. "The Theoretical Background of Laboratory Alchemy". In Joseph Needham et al., Science and Civilisation in China, vol. V, part 5. Cambridge University Press, 1980, pp. 210–305.
 * Sivin, Nathan. "Comparing Greek and Chinese Philosophy and Science". In Medicine, Philosophy and Religion in Ancient China, chapter 1. Variorum, 1995.
 * Smith, Huston. The World's Religions. Harper Collins, 1991.
 * Wang, Mu. Foundations of Internal Alchemy: The Taoist Practice of Neidan. Golden Elixir Press, 2011. ISBN 978-0-9843082-5-5.
 * Wilhelm, Richard. Secret of the Golden Flower. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1931. ISBN 0-15-679980-4.
 * Yu, Lu K'uan, Taoist Yoga. Rider, 1970. ISBN 0-7126-1725-6.

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Category:Pskov Oblast

Pskov Oblast (Russian: Пско́вская о́бласть) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Pskov. The oblast borders the European Union countries of Estonia and Latvia, as well as Belarus.

title: Category:Pskov Oblast


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Bryan Clark

Bryan Emmett Clark (born March 14, 1964) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) under the ring names The Nightstalker, Adam Bomb, Wrath and his real name. He is a former two-time WCW World Tag Team Champion and one-time AJPW World Tag Team Champion with his KroniK teammate, Brian Adams.

American Wrestling Association (1989–1990)
Clark made his wrestling debut in 1989 under the ring name The Nightstalker and quickly rose to a main event status wrestler. Clark competed in the Minnesota-based American Wrestling Association. He appeared at live AWA house and television events, mainly in the mid-west area of The United States. Some of these matches were broadcast on the ESPN, AWA Championship Wrestling show. (ESPN Classic continues to air re-runs of the show). Wrestling legend Ox Baker began to manage Clark during this time, providing for some classic promotional segments with Baker on the mic. The Nightstalker had a heated feud with The Trooper (Del Wilkes, later to be known as The Patriot). This began as The Nightstalker appeared during a Trooper match versus W.T. Jones on April 13, 1990, at an ESPN televised show in Rochester, Minnesota. Ox Baker began to challenge any and all wrestlers to include Larry Zbyszko, even telling The Trooper that he "couldn't even join the boy scouts". Clark's in ring look included black and white face paint, while gripping an over-sized hatchet.

World Championship Wrestling (1990–1991)
As the AWA went into dormancy in the fall of 1990, Clark made the jump to World Championship Wrestling. He made his first appearance on the November 10 edition of WCW Saturday Night and defeated Gary Jackson. Ten days later Clark faced Sid Vicious at Clash of the Champions XIII: Thanksgiving Thunder and was defeated. He then formed an alliance with The Big Cat and was scheduled to team with him against Vicious and Dan Spivey at Starrcade. Clark would miss the pay-per-view and be replaced by The Motor City Madman.

Clark would be absent from WCW until October 1991, when he made an appearance as a masked "ghoul" at Halloween Havoc. Two months later he replaced an injured Diamond Studd at Starrcade to team with Rick Steiner in a losing effort to Vader and Mr. Hughes.

Universal Wrestling Federation (1992)
Clark moved to Herb Abrams' Universal Wrestling Federation, making his first appearance on June 19, 1992, at a TV taping in Spartanburg, SC. He had three matches, defeating Johnny Kid and Jake Steele while losing by disqualification to Death Row 3260.

Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1992–1993)
Clark joined Smoky Mountain Wrestling in October 1992 and made his debut on a show in Knoxville, TN, losing to SMW Champion Brian Lee by countout. He later defeated Tracy Smothers to become the promotion's second-ever "Beat The Champ" Television Champion on February 2, 1993. He lost the title to Tim Horner six days later.

World Wrestling Federation (1993–1995)
On March 8, 1993, Clark received a tryout match for the World Wrestling Federation, wrestling Reno Riggins at a WWF Superstars taping in North Charleston, South Carolina as The Nightstalker. He had another tryout match the following night at a WWF Wrestling Challenge taping, defeating Ricky Nelson. In May 1993, Clark debuted as Adam Bomb, the newest client of Johnny Polo. Wearing luminous green contact lenses, and sporting a red tongue. Bomb's gimmick was that of a survivor of the infamous Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown accident, which was further emphasized by his ring name being a pun on the "atom bomb". Furthermore, the Adam Bomb character was actually billed from Three Mile Island. Seven months after his debut, Harvey Wippleman replaced Polo as Bomb's manager because Polo wanted to focus on managing WWF Tag Team Champions The Quebecers. The Adam Bomb concept and costume was designed and created by Tom Fleming.

Bomb made his pay-per-view debut at Survivor Series, where he teamed up with Irwin R. Schyster, Diesel and "The Model" Rick Martel against Razor Ramon, The 1-2-3 Kid, Marty Jannetty and "The Macho Man" Randy Savage in an elimination match. His team went on to lose the match, though he was the last remaining wrestler for his team before being pinned by Jannetty after a roll-up.

Following this, he participated in the 1994 Royal Rumble, where he was the final entrant in the match. However, he lasted less than five minutes before being eliminated by Lex Luger. He also was one of nine wrestlers who helped Yokozuna beat Undertaker during a Casket match. Following the Rumble and a feud with Earthquake, at WrestleMania X, Bomb lost to Earthquake in 35 seconds. Bomb turned face after his manager Harvey Wippleman turned on him and helped new client Kwang attack him. As a face, he would throw rubber nuclear missiles into the audience as he walked to the ring and after he won a match. After briefly feuding with Kwang and Bam Bam Bigelow, Bomb was moved down the card and began competing exclusively on WWF Superstars before leaving the promotion in August 1995. Adams cited unhappiness with pay and the rigorous WWF travel schedule as his reasons for leaving. Adams also claims that a promised run with the WWF Intercontinental Championship which was not followed through on was a big part of why he left.

Independent Circuit and England (1995-1996)
After leaving WWF, Clark continued using the Adam Bomb name in the independent circuit and England in 1996 where he worked for Hammerlock Bomb Alert Tour with Andre Baker.

Blood Runs Cold (1997–1999)
At Uncensored on 1997-3-16, Clark rejoined WCW as Wrath, a helmeted martial artist, who joined Mortis to attack Glacier after Glacier defeated Mortis. Wrath would then team with Mortis as the two were managed by James Vanderberg to feud with Glacier. Wrath's first televised match occurred on the May 12 episode of Nitro, in which he defeated Scotty Riggs. At Slamboree, Wrath attacked Glacier during a rematch between Glacier and Mortis, and then Wrath and Mortis double-teamed Glacier until the debuting Ernest Miller made the save. Miller began teaming with Glacier to feud with Wrath and Mortis. The four characters, collectively known as "Blood Runs Cold", was WCW's attempt to tap into the popularity of the Mortal Kombat video games. Wrath would then compete in his first pay-per-view match at The Great American Bash against Glacier, which Wrath lost. At Bash at the Beach, Wrath and Mortis defeated Glacier and Miller to hand Glacier, his first pinfall loss in WCW.

Wrath and Mortis would then feud with The Faces of Fear (Meng and The Barbarian), defeating them in a match at Fall Brawl. The following night, on Nitro, Wrath and Mortis unsuccessfully challenged The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) for the World Tag Team Championship. At World War 3, Wrath participated in the namesake match to earn a future World Heavyweight Championship opportunity. Scott Hall won the match. The Blood Runs Cold angle continued until 1998 when Clark suffered an injury.

After recovery, he returned to singles action later in the year as a face, debuting both a new attire and finishing move called the Meltdown while all Blood Runs Cold references were phased out. Wrath had a lengthy undefeated streak on WCW television, defeating various wrestlers including Meng at Halloween Havoc and Glacier at World War 3. Due to the impressive win record, Clark was rumored to be slated to become a future challenger to Bill Goldberg but had his momentum stopped on the November 23 episode of Nitro in a big loss to Kevin Nash. Wrath would continue to gain many victories into 1999 and entered a feud with Bam Bam Bigelow, leading to a match between the two at Souled Out, which Wrath lost. Clark tore his ACL in a match against Jerry Flynn on April 15, 1999, and spent a year recuperating.

KroniK (2000–2001)
Clark returned to the ring in April 2000, now using his real name. He formed a tag team with Brian Adams known as KroniK, and both became members of the New Blood. However, KroniK switched allegiances to the Millionaires Club after Vince Russo betrayed them and, on May 15, 2000, they defeated Shane Douglas and The Wall to win the vacant World Tag Team Championship. They later lost the title on May 30 to New Blood members Shawn Stasiak and Chuck Palumbo. KroniK was granted a rematch for the title at Bash at the Beach on July 9, and was successful in reclaiming World Tag Team Championship. KroniK then entered a feud with the entire Natural Born Thrillers stable, but retained the title against the Thrillers before losing it to Vampiro and The Great Muta at New Blood Rising on August 13. Following the title loss, KroniK turned heel after Vince Russo managed to bribe them in order to have them attack Bill Goldberg, who would be fired if he lost a single match. However, Goldberg managed to overcome the odds and pinned both Clark and Adams in a handicap match at Halloween Havoc. KroniK continued working as "hired muscle" by helping The Boogie Knights battle The Filthy Animals, and eventually helped their former enemies the Natural Born Thrillers before turning face once again in January 2001 by siding with Ernest Miller.

KroniK was sidelined when Clark needed stitches for a wound from a chair shot while Adams was hospitalized with appendicitis. While they were injured, WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation in March 2001.

Return to World Wrestling Federation (2001)
Clark and Adams returned to the WWF on the September 4, 2001, episode of SmackDown! by attacking and double chokeslamming The Undertaker. The team would go on to face The Brothers of Destruction at Unforgiven 2001 in a match for the WCW Tag Team Championship, which Clark and Adams lost. After two dark matches and a pay-per-view appearance that WWF officials were unhappy with, Clark was asked to go in developmental and he left the meeting on the spot, getting released from his contract while Adams began working for the Heartland Wrestling Association, which served as WWF's developmental territory.

Late career and retirement (2001–2003)
After Adams & Clark were released from the WWF in November 2001, as KroniK they made a number of appearances on the independent circuit, as well as the start-up promotion World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) and prominent Japanese promotion All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). During their time in AJPW, they defeated Keiji Mutoh and Taiyō Kea for the AJPW World Tag Team Championship on July 17, 2002. KroniK were later stripped of the title due to contract problems, and they wrestled their last match together in January 2003, losing to Goldberg and Keiji Mutoh. Shortly afterwards, both Adams and Clark retired from wrestling due to injuries.

Personal life
In February 2006, Clark had surgery on his lower back for injuries sustained during his in-ring career. He owns the Trademarks to the KroniK, Adam Bomb and Wrath gimmicks from his time in WCW and the WWF. Following the death of his partner Brian Adams, Clark considered their time together as part of KroniK to be the highlight of his career. He occasionally trains other wrestlers and appears at conventions.

In July 2016, Clark was named part of a class action lawsuit filed against WWE which alleged that wrestlers incurred traumatic brain injuries during their tenure and that the company concealed the risks of injury. The suit was litigated by attorney Konstantine Kyros, who has been involved in a number of other lawsuits against WWE. The lawsuit was dismissed by US District Judge Vanessa Lynne Bryant in September 2018. The lawsuit is now being heard by the Supreme Court in the fall of 2021.

In February 2020, Clark was indicted in Maricopa County, Arizona on five felony charges relating to alleged acts between January and April 2019. Charges included conspiracy, drug possession, illegal control of enterprise, transporting or selling narcotics, and possessing a weapon during a drug offense. He pleaded not guilty to all charges. On June 18, 2021, all charges were "dismissed by prosecution motion" in the Superior Court of Maricopa County. thus causing Clark's entire case to be thrown out.

Clark is a United States Air Force veteran.

Championships and accomplishments

 * All Japan Pro Wrestling
 * World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Brian Adams
 * Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 * Ranked No. 47 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the year in the PWI 500 in 1995
 * Ranked No. 466 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003
 * Smoky Mountain Wrestling
 * SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship (1 time)
 * World Championship Wrestling
 * WCW World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Brian Adams
 * Wrestling Observer Newsletter
 * Worst Tag Team (2000, 2001) with Brian Adams
 * Worst Worked Match of the Year (2001) with Brian Adams vs. The Undertaker and Kane at Unforgiven

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