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Saving Face (2004 film)

Saving Face is a 2004 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Alice Wu, in her feature-length debut. The film focuses on Wilhelmina, a young Chinese American surgeon; her unwed, pregnant mother; and her dancer girlfriend. It was the first Hollywood movie that centered on Chinese Americans since The Joy Luck Club (1993).

The name itself is a reference to the pan-East Asian social concept of face.

Plot
Dr. Wilhelmina "Wil" Pang is a successful young American surgeon living in New York City. Wil is a lesbian but is closeted to her mother Hwei-Lan and her mother's friends. Wil is forced by her mother to come to a gathering at the restaurant Planet China with family friends where her mother has plans to set her up with a son of a friend, but Wil is drawn to Vivian, the daughter of one of the Chinese mothers who recently got a divorce. They run into each other at the hospital where Wil works, only to discover that Vivian's father is Wil's boss, Dr. Shing. Vivian and her father have a tense relationship since Vivian is currently pursuing her love of modern dance instead of the more respectable ballet.

Wil comes home to discover her mother has been kicked out by her grandfather for being pregnant out of wedlock, bringing shame to the family. Wil asks for the identity of the father, but Hwei-Lan refuses to answer. From then on, Hwei-Lan lives with Wil.

Vivian invites Wil to one of her dance shows and after the show, the two hang out. Vivian reveals the fact that they had met once before when they were children; Vivian kissed Wil on the nose after Wil rescued her from bullies; Wil ran away afterward. Vivian and Wil go to Vivian's apartment and the two kiss. The couple goes on several dates, but Wil is afraid of kissing Vivian in public. At Vivian's request, Wil presents Vivian to her mother as a friend so that they can meet and the three share an awkward dinner. It is revealed later that her mother knows of her homosexuality, but is in denial.

Set up by Wil, Hwei-Lan goes on several dates to find a man to be a father to her unborn child, but remains unattached. She debates on whether to accept the affections of Cho, a man who has loved her for 15 years and is willing to parent her child.

Vivian reveals to Wil that she was accepted into a prestigious ballet program in Paris and is considering the offer. Wil congratulates Vivian and gives her encouragement to accept the offer. While Vivian still debates on the offer, Vivian's father speaks to Wil and presses her to convince Vivian to accept the offer. Wil withdraws from Vivian, and Vivian accepts the job in Paris.

After Wil’s grandmother passes away unexpectedly, Hwei-Lan accepts Cho's marriage proposal. At the wedding, Wil interrupts with a love note from the father of the child saying how much he loves her and wants to marry her despite their age gap. Wil points out the elderly pharmacist, Old Yu, as the man she loves. Old Yu protests, and Little Yu, his son, stands up and announces that he is the one. Wil and her mother run out of the wedding and onto a bus, laughing. After an emotional talk with her mother, Wil rushes to the airport to catch Vivian. Wil apologizes, but Vivian challenges Wil to kiss her to prove her sincerity. Unable to publicly display her love out of fear, Wil is left at the terminal as Vivian leaves for Paris.

Three months later, Wil goes to another party at Planet China, where Hwei-Lan and Little Yu are now a couple. Wil sees Vivian, who has come to see her mother. Wil approaches Vivian and asks her to dance. They dance and kiss. Hwei-Lan and Vivian's mother smile at each other while giving a thumbs up. Some people leave in disgust, but Wil and Vivian ignore them, while everyone else joins in to dance.

In between credits, Hwei-Lan has Wil and Vivian (now engaged), family and friends over at her apartment for a function. Hwei-Lan asks Wil about having babies, to which she reacts with a spit take.

Cast

 * Michelle Krusiec as Wilhelmina Pang
 * Lynn Chen as Vivian Shing
 * Joan Chen as Hwei-Lan Gao (Mother/Ma)
 * Jin Wang as "Wai Gung" (Grandfather)
 * Guang Lan Koh as "Wai Po" (Grandmother)
 * Jessica Hecht as Randi
 * Ato Essandoh as Jay
 * Wang Luoyong as Dr. Shing
 * David Shih as Norman
 * Brian Yang as Yu
 * Nathaniel Geng as Stimson Cho
 * Mao Zhao as Old Yu

Origins
Alice Wu, who directed the movie, wrote the script several years earlier while working as a program manager at Cinemania and Music Central, Microsoft's CD-ROM entertainment department. She originally started writing a novel inspired by her experience coming out as a lesbian to her middle-aged mother. Wu came out to her mother in her last year of college and remembered her reaction as “she basically said, 'I don't think you're gay, and I never want to see you again.' We didn't talk for two years. But I never doubted her love for me. It had everything to do with her willingness to make changes in her own life to be happy." Later, Wu and her mother grew very close, resulting in Wu dedicating Saving Face to her mother because “[she] wanted her [mother] to know it’s not too late to fall in love for the first time. [Wu] want[ed] her to leave the theater feeling that sense of hope.” She has also explained that although she has a lot in common with Wil, the situation of the film is not based on her life. Alice Wu later realized that her novel would be a better fit for a movie and drafted the first script in three days during a 12-week screen writing class at the University of Washington. As advised by her instructor, Wu gave herself five years to make the movie, quitting her Microsoft job, moving to New York, and taking a filmmaking class taught by Alan Oxman.

Development
In 2002, Wu submitted her script for Saving Face to a contest sponsored by the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment and won. It was there that she met Teddy Zee, the president of Will Smith’s production company, Overbook Entertainment. Zee described the process as "an awakening for me about the Asian American experience in Hollywood, because I was always such a part of the studio system. Every day there are actors coming in who are Chinese American, who don't get an opportunity except to play prostitutes or waiters."

As a first-time director and writer, Wu faced many challenges in maintaining her vision of the film. Studios that saw potential in her script wanted to make it like My Big Fat Greek Wedding. She was asked to make the characters white so that they could cast Reese Witherspoon as Wil and Ellen Burstyn as her mother. The studio then tried to compromise and asked to make the love interest white so that a star like Scarlett Johansson could bring more attention to the film. Despite further proposals for script changes, Wu maintained that the Mandarin dialogue, lesbian romance, and her involvement as both writer and director were non-negotiable.

Casting
Alice Wu described the casting process as “a challenge” due to her difficulty in finding Mandarin-speaking actors. She felt the film needed to be bilingual in order to make it authentic and believable and thus met with over one thousand actors before finding the right cast. Wu also experienced an issue in casting one of the main roles because the actor was stuck in China due to visa problems; therefore, she had to use her second choice, who was in the United States.

Saving Face was Lynn Chen's first feature film and Michelle Krusiec's first lead role.

At her first audition, Lynn Chen played Vivian simply as a friend of Wil's in the vending machine scene because she did not have access to the script and was therefore unaware that it was a lesbian romantic comedy. She returned to audition four more times, once with Michelle Krusiec before securing the role of Vivian Shing.

Because she was not a native Mandarin speaker and the film required natural comedic timing, Wu allowed Krusiec's character to respond to her mother's Mandarin in English, which the director-writer said “is a very first-generation-American thing to do”. Wil was made to only speak in Mandarin “when she wants to elicit a response from her mother”. Before production began, Michelle Krusiec was flown out to Taiwan for three months to take an immersive Mandarin course.

Filming
Filming began in fall 2003 on the $2.5 million project. Saving Face was filmed on location in New York’s Flushing, Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan on 35 mm film. Featuring the New York City Chinese American community, the film features in a mixture of Mandarin Chinese and English.

The production team came across budgetary issues when Wu insisted that they include landscape shots of New York to ground the film in its environment. With little money left, the team was able to film in a helicopter that was being used to get aerial shots of Manhattan for the movie Hitch.

Release
Saving Face premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 12 September 2004, and made its way around the independent film circuit, screening at Sundance Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival. It was chosen as the opening night film in 2005 for the Florida Film Festival. The film was subsequently bought by Sony Pictures Entertainment and initially planned for release through their midbudget division Screen Gems before going into limited release in the US through arthouse division Sony Pictures Classics on May 27, 2005.

Box office
Saving Face initially opened at only 6 theaters, making $75,104 (averaging $12,517/theater) in its opening weekend, and went on to gross $1,187,266 from 56 theaters in its theatrical run. It grossed an additional $49,252 in the UK, for a worldwide gross of $1,236,518.

Critical reception
The critical reaction to the movie was mostly positive, with most critics praising the tender romance and the light-hearted comedy, although some critics lambasted it for a lack of depth and a "soap opera-like" ending.

Stephen Holden of The New York Times, Wesley Morris of the Boston Globe, Ed Park of Village Voice, among others, gave positive reviews, with Holden in particular calling it an 'amiable' romance spanning three generations of Chinese Americans. Holden's overall positive review noted that the film had failings at the end: "Sadly, as "Saving Face" ties up the strands of its story, it forfeits its credibility at a wedding finale with a series of instant feel-good solutions and reconciliations."

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly praised the movie’s interesting storyline and twists but stated that “the writer-director, Alice Wu, fudges a lot of the basics — I never believed the heroine was really a physician”.

David Rooney of Variety Media said that the film excelled at “spanning the fragile bridge between traditional values and independent spirit” and providing “gentle humor and [a] universal emotional experience”. However, despite the “satisfying payoff” he also criticized the film for its predictability, pacing, and momentum.

Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader was notably critical of the film, especially the latter half, describing it as collapsing into "nonsense".

Autostraddle ranked the film #2 of the best 200 Lesbian Movies of All Time.

On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an 86% approval rating based on reviews from 88 critics, with an average rating of 6.70/10. The site's consensus describes it as "A charming tale of a love affair that overcomes cultural taboos". On Metacritic it has a score of 65 out of 100 based on 28 reviews.

Awards
Saving Face was nominated for the Breakthrough Director Award at the 2005 Gotham Awards, the Viewer's Choice Award and the Best Actress Award for Michelle Krusiec at the 2005 Golden Horse Film Festival, and the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film in Limited Release at the 2006 GLAAD Media Awards. Out of these, it won the Viewer's Choice Award at the 2005 Golden Horse Film Festival.

Michelle Krusiec explained that the Golden Horse nomination enabled her to begin perceiving the Asian and Asian American communities as a legitimate audience, leading her to pursue roles that targeted both groups.

At the 2006 Asian Excellence Awards, Lynn Chen won the Outstanding Newcomer Award. Alice Wu also won the Visionary Award at the San Diego Asian Film Festival and the Audience Award for Best Narrative at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival in 2005.

Character development
Saving Face centralizes the relationships between women and their perspectives, mainly that of Vivian and Wil and Wil and Ma. At the start of the movie, Wil is guarded, focused on work and juggling her life as a lesbian in the city and a dutiful daughter in the Chinese community in Flushing, Queens. Vivian acts as a link between Wil's two worlds (the city and Flushing). By falling in love with Wil and wanting her to be open about their relationship, Vivian gave her the confidence to come out to her mother and her community. Eventually, Wil is able to come out which allows for her to start living her life as her true life which also inspires her to stop her mother's unwanted wedding, giving her the same gift of freedom.

Ma's character starts as being dependent, not open about her feelings and willing to marry a man only to restore her father's honour. After being banished from Flushing for her scandalous pregnancy, she is able to deepen her relationship with Wil while simultaneously becoming more independent and in tune with her own feelings. Furthermore, the film briefly addresses the issue of anti-Black racism in Asian communities when Ma insisted that Jay, Wil's African American neighbour use paper plates because it is "safer." However, as the movie progresses, Ma becomes close friends with Jay, demonstrating her ability to change her traditional views.

The evolution of the importance of saving face is also intertwined with the character development of Wil and Ma since as they become more empowered and sexually liberated, they begin to care less about saving face, implying the possibility of change in traditional Chinese family ethics. The ending scene of the movie included Ma, Wil, and Vivian as a way to indicate Wil's development where all aspects of her life have now become interconnected. The end is also a result of the relationships between these three women, further demonstrating the importance of their relationships in achieving "personhood and…empowerment…The progressive liberating process of coming out of the closet embraced by Ma and Wil in the end also invokes cultural change in the Chinese American community."

The concept of face
Like the title suggests, one of Saving Face’s major themes is the concept of face, a value central to many Chinese families where family members are “expected to perform his or her role properly to maintain the family reputation …and [is] strongly monitored by the community.” The very first scene in the film, Wil is wearing a face mask, indicating that she is hiding and not being her true self. When Ma shows up to Wil's apartment with her face covered by sunglasses, it is a physical manifestation of her father and her own loss of face since she has been banished from Flushing for being pregnant outside of wedlock.

The concept of face is especially clear during the climactic scene of the film: when Wil comes out to her mother by saying “I love you…and I’m…gay”. When Ma responds by saying “How can you say you love me, and throw that in my face?”, face has a double meaning. Wil's mother sees the impossibility of accepting her daughter's sexuality because she believes it is based on a “bad ideology” on top of it negatively affecting her reputation (face). In this way, the closet serves as a way to reinforce the concept of face because it is used to hide Wil's sexuality and in the same vein, Ma's pregnancy. Consequently, both characters perform normative forms of heterosexuality in order to hide these realities that are perceived as shameful by their community.

Stereotypical representation
This film has also been interpreted as an example of the blurring between mainstream and marginal representations of Chinese Americans in film. Wu uses stereotypes to establish a “Chinese authenticity” for the characters while also subverting others in important ways. As an intelligent surgeon, Wil is an example of the model minority while her mother is “germ-obsessed…and [a] meddling matchmaker”. Elders are generally shown to be maintainers of tradition who pressure their children to integrate. For instance, Wil's grandfather practices tai chi while Old Yu tells fortunes. Saving Face references mainstream Chinese American movies such as The Joy Luck Club, The Last Emperor, and Maid in Manhattan in the scene when Ma goes to the video store. There, she examines porn movies that stereotype Asian women as docile, the “China Doll” and “Dragon lady” who are all sexual objects for the Western white male gaze. By combining these stereotypes with ironic comments, consumption of porn meant for men, a homosexual storyline and characters, Wu questions these stereotypes.

Complex identities
Saving Face explores the experiences of being marginalized within an ethnic community and addressing “the multiple layers of minority status by examining intersections of gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation”. The complexities and contradictions of these experiences are displayed using the changing identities of Wil and her mother as well as their defiance of norms. Throughout most of the film, Wil's mother is both constrained by traditional Chinese values and the enforcer of these values. She decides to marry a man that she does not love in order to please her father and regain her family's honour while also setting Wil up with men even though she already knew that she was interested in women. Moreover, Ma's character defies norms despite this emphasis on filial piety: she is autonomous as she is pregnant, explores the city alone, and rents a porn DVD. These contradictions demonstrate Ma's flexibility, negotiation, and social construction of her values.

Incompatibility of homosexuality and traditional Chinese values
This film's dealing with the topic of the incompatibility of homosexuality with Chinese traditions and its evolution throughout demonstrate the fluidity of these traditions in accommodating new realities. Homosexuality is seen as a threat in traditional Chinese families because they threaten “filial piety, family continuity and family reputation” and is seen as linked to failed education and Americanization. The heteronormativity of the Chinese Flushing community is first displayed during the first dance hall scene when the shots alternate between those of men and women. These shots represent accepted heteronormative binary that places men and women on opposite sides.

Wil's mother's refusal to accept Wil's lesbianism despite having walked in on her with a woman demonstrates this incompatibility as she continues to set Wil up with men. The incompatibility of gay and Asian identities was also exemplified in Wil's coming out scene when Ma says “I am not a bad mother. My daughter is not gay”, relating homosexuality to a “bad ideology” that could not have come from Ma's traditional Chinese teachings and must therefore originate in Wil's Americanization. When Vivian and Wil break up near the end of the film, it seems as though these two identities are truly irreconcilable.

Yet at the end of the movie, this dichotomy between men and women at the dancehall is no longer present, and Wil and Vivian's kiss symbolize the breaking of this binary. While some of the partygoers leave, rejecting the inclusion of homosexual people in their community, others stay, including Wil's mother and grandfather. The happy ending shows that even though Chinese families are seen as traditional and static, they can transform to accept homosexuality.

Impact and legacy
In an interview with Asians on Film, Michelle Krusiec mentioned that although Saving Face did not make a dramatic impact on Hollywood through the box office, the film has remained relevant through its staying power. Saving Face has continued to be screened at festivals such as at the San Diego Asian Film Festival in 2019 and at the 30th annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival in 2012.

Looking back on the film at the eight-year anniversary reunion and press conference, Joan Chen, Michelle Krusiec, and Lynn Chen recalled that the movie was a special project that they continue to treasure. On this topic, Joan Chen said “I was always this tragic woman, and Alice gave me this opportunity to play in a comedy. In a lot of the movies that I did, before Saving Face, I had a dark period where I played a lot of awful roles in films like On Deadly Ground and Judge Dredd … But I really felt I wasn’t being authentic, and so Saving Face came along and gave me the opportunity to get the authenticity that I was craving for.” Similarly, Krusiec was appreciative of her role as a “fulfilling” opportunity to show “real depth” in a central role where she could develop her character. Lynn Chen also praised Alice Wu for her skill at directing and commanding the set and realized that she has not had as much of a special opportunity since filming Saving Face.

At the Saving Face reunion panel at Clexacon in 2017, Krusiec commented on the power of the movie, being one of the few lesbian movies with a happy ending. She explained that this film remains important because many viewers have told her that it has made them feel represented to the point where they were able to come out.

In an episode of Drunk Lesbians Watch posted in 2018 to YouTube, Michelle Krusiec and Lynn Chen appeared with the hosts and commented on specific scenes from the film, explaining the motivations and emotions of their characters in the scenes.

title: Saving Face (2004 film)


text:
Pro-Football, Inc. v. Harjo

Pro-Football, Inc. v. Harjo, 415 F.3d 44 (D.C. Cir. 2005), is a case in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia considered the decision of the United States Patent and Trademark Office's Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) to cancel the registration of the Washington Redskins football team, based on the claim that the name was disparaging to Native Americans. The Court of Appeals did not actually reach the merits of the TTAB's decision; it sent the case back to the trial court for consideration of a procedural issue.

Facts
In 1992, activist Suzan Harjo led seven Native Americans in petitioning the TTAB to cancel six trademark registrations owned by Pro-Football, Inc., the corporate entity that operates the franchise then known as the Washington Redskins. The TTAB granted the petition, and the owner appealed to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, which overturned the cancellation on two grounds. The District Court found that the TTAB lacked substantial evidence to find disparagement, and since the Redskins had registered their marks as early as 1967, the petition was barred by laches — an equitable legal theory which prohibits a party from waiting so long to file a claim that it becomes unfair to the other party.

The complainants then appealed this decision to the Court of Appeals.

Issue
The Court of Appeals was presented with several questions:
 * 1) Whether the complainants had indeed presented "substantial evidence" to the TTAB
 * 2) whether a laches defense should apply at all in a disparagement case; and
 * 3) if such a defense should apply, whether it would bar these particular complainants.

Opinion
The Native Americans claimed that laches should not apply to a disparagement claim at all, because the law specifies that such a claim can be brought "at any time". The Court rejected this, noting that other language in the same statute specifically permits equitable defenses, and laches is such a defense.

The Court then considered the applicability of laches to the case at hand. Because the defense depends on the laxity of the plaintiff in pursuing his rights - which can not effectively be pursued until the plaintiff has reached the age of majority - the Court found that the defense could not be applied against the youngest plaintiff, who was only one year old when the trademarks were first registered in 1967. It vacated the District Court's application of laches to that plaintiff, and remanded the case for further consideration on that issue only. It retained jurisdiction over the rest of the case (including the question of whether the TTAB's decision had been supported by substantial evidence), pending the District Court's resolution of the laches issue.

The Court acknowledged the assertion by the owner that this finding would leave trademarks disparaging a group with a constantly expanding population "perpetually at risk". The fact that Pro-Football may never have security in its trademark registrations stems from Congress's decision not to set a statute of limitations and instead to authorize petitions for cancellation based on disparagement "at any time".

Later developments
The case was remanded to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for further proceedings relating to the youngest plaintiff only. In July 2008, that court found that the doctrine of laches was still applicable to that plaintiff, since he had turned 18 eight years before the case was filed. On November 16, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court declined certiorari and refused to hear the Native American group's appeal.

In 2012, another case was brought by Native Americans, Blackhorse v. Pro-Football, Inc. with younger plaintiffs whose standing was not hindered by laches. On June 17, 2014 the TTAB ruled to void the Washington Redskins trademark finding the name "disparaging of Native Americans". On July 8, 2015, Judge Gerald Lee of the Eastern District of Virginia upheld that ruling.

The Redskins nickname controversy ended shortly before the 2020 NFL season when, under pressure from team sponsors, owner Daniel Snyder dropped the "Redskins" nickname, with Washington Football Team used as a placeholder name until the new name of Washington Commanders was announced on February 2, 2022.

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

title: Pro-Football, Inc. v. Harjo


text:
Talk:Shock trooper

shock troopers
These clone troopers wore a red emblazoned armour,they are called imperial shock troopers or palpatine's personal security, they were the most elite ranking,clone troopers developed for the clone wars, the shock troopers served as Palpatine's personal guards on Coruscant and during their off-world trips. Commander Thire was a shock trooper incharge or in commander of the security shock troopers, he was also known as designated 4477.Though most clone troopers spent their accelerated formative years on storm-drenched kamino,developing under careful watch of politically ambivalent scientists,there are two units that were notable exceptions.The red armour shock troopers and the blue armour 501st legion were both raised and trained on well guared and secretive facilites on Coruscant.Shock troopers have been used in one form or another at the begining of the clone wars to the end of the Galactic Civil War. The first simple armies were cores of elite troopers which were used to secure a leader or commander's position in very large numbers of troopers.These troopers are often experts in defeating the average CSI soldiers and the rebel troopers.They had the most advanced military training among all the trooper units,their training and equipment were the best of the clone academy. They fought in the battle of Coruscant and the blue armoured 501st along with Darth Vader assaulted the jedi in the temple, they had emulate the skills and arms of the military's finest weapons. When the Empire arose, the shock troopers were stationed throughtout the senate building and executive towers to secure a peaceful transition of government. The blue helmeted 501st were assigned to Darth vader, the emperor's newly emissary of troopers stormed the Jedi temple and defeated a rebellion which was underway. The shock troopers eventually became the basis of the Coruscant guard, the elite storm troopers tasked with providing security on the Imperial capital. The 501st clone troopers and the shock troopers were the most feared battalion of storm clone troopers in the Galatic Empire.

title: Talk:Shock trooper


text:
Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

The Oblates of St. Francis de Sales (Latin: Oblati Sancti Francisci Salesii, O.S.F.S.) are a congregation of Catholic priests and brothers who follow the teachings of Francis de Sales and Jane Frances de Chantal. The community was founded in Troyes in 1875 by Louis Brisson and are affiliated with the Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales.

Foundation
An order of cloistered nuns, the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, was founded by Francis de Sales at the request of Jane Frances de Chantal in 1610. The establishment of an Oratory at Thonon, where Francis served as the first Provost, was a preparatory step toward carrying out his design, the accomplishment of which was prevented by his death. With Chantal's encouragement and assistance, Raymond Bonal of Adge, in France, carried out his plan, but this congregation died out at the beginning of the 18th century. Two hundred years later it was revived by Marie de Sales Chappuis (died 7 October 1875) and Louis Brisson, a professor in the Seminary of Troyes. In 1869, Brisson established Saint Bernard Collège, near Troyes. In September 1871, a priest by the name of Gilbert (died 10 November 1909) joined him and Emmanuel-Jules Ravinet, Bishop of Troyes, received them and four companions into the novitiate.

Pope Pius IX temporarily approved their constitutions on 21 December 1875. The first vows were made 27 August 1876. The definitive approbation of their constitution was given on 8 December 1897.

Development
The congregation gradually developed in France. It numbered seven colleges and five other educational houses when the Government closed them all, 31 July 1903. The founder retired to Plancy where he died 2 February 1908. The Generalate was transferred to Rome, and in 1909, the church of Sts. Celsus and Julian in was entrusted to them. Oblate refers to persons, especially in the Middle Ages, who offered themselves and their property to a monastery.

Today
The members of this religious order are of two states, clerics and lay brothers. Today the Oblates are located throughout the world, in Holland, Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, Italy, India, South Africa, Namibia, Benin, Ivory Coast, Uruguay, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, Haiti and the United States. The Generalate is located in Rome.

The order is governed by a superior general elected every six years; and four counsellors general elected by the general chapter. Each province is administered by a provincial superior, appointed by the superior general and his council for four years. He is assisted by three counsellors elected at each provincial chapter, which meets every four years, at an interval of six years between the regular general chapters.

Apostolate
Oblates engage in a wide variety of areas of service. Oblates are apostolates of education, parish work and foreign missions. They also work as teachers at religious and secular colleges and missionary areas as well as serving in military, campus, hospital, and convent chaplaincies and in inner-city social work.

Formation
The Oblates of St. Francis de Sales offer an Associate Program, designed to help young men discern a possible call to religious life and priesthood during their college years. The Postulate period lasts for a year, during which the candidate with and participates in the life of an Oblate community, in order to smooth the transition from his present lifestyle to Oblate community living. The one-year Novitiate is taken up with studies, particularly Salesian spirituality. For the first three years following first vows, Oblate renew their vows annually, and then profess perpetual vows. Generally, a Ministerial Internship takes place after the novitiate. Candidates for ordination pursue further studies in academic, professional and pastoral education.

In the early 20th century they had the following membership:

In Walmer (Kent, England) they operated a boarding school for boys, the chaplaincy of the Visitation Convent and Academy of Roselands and a small parish in Faversham. To this province belonged the Apostolic Vicariate of Orange River.

In Africa
When the Vicar Apostolic of Cape of Good Hope, John Leonard, heard that the Society of African Missions of Lyons had decided to recall its subjects from Namaqualand and the North Western Cape, he made a trip to Europe in 1880 in hopes of finding a Congregation willing to assume the responsibility of evangelizing these districts. In 1881, Brisson spoke with Pope Leo XIII and accepted a foreign mission to South Africa which put the governance of the Oblates under the Pope through the Propagation of the Faith. Brisson sent five missionary priests in 1882, to fulfill Leonard's request. South Africa Missions were founded in Pella in 1882, Matjieskloof in 1885, Nababeep in 1900, O'kiep in 1904, and Port Nolloth in 1904. Namibia Missions were founded in Heirachabies in 1896, Warmbad in 1907, and Gabis in 1907.

In North America
In 1893, the first Oblate priest arrived in the United States to serve as chaplain for the Sisters of the Divine Compassion, a religious community founded in 1886 in the Archdiocese of New York by Mary Dannat Starr and Thomas S. Preston. In 1903, the first English speaking province was established in Wilmington, Delaware, as was Salesianum School, a high school for boys.

In 1906, the order expanded by purchasing a 210-acre farm, at the edge of Childs, a village in northeastern Maryland. On the rolling hillside near the B & O Railroad, they had convenient access to nearby Wilmington. Once the buildings went up and the "Novitiate of the Oblate Farthers of St. Francis de Sales" was dedicated on October 6, 1907, a local newspaper reported. Today, the property is used by the order as a retirement facility.

After early years of modest expansion, the American Province flourished during the 1940s and 1950s with many vocations from schools it conducted in the Wilmington, Philadelphia, Toledo, Detroit, and Niagara Falls, New York, areas. DeSales Spirituality Services is a web based ministry of the Wilmington-Philadelphia Province offering resources in spirituality. As of 2017, there were 145 priests, brothers and seminarians in the Wilmington-Philadelphia Province.

In 1966, the American Province was split into the Wilmington-Philadelphia Province, which encompassed the eastern and southern states, and the Toledo-Detroit Province, which encompassed the central and western states.

Child abuse
McCartney v. Oblates of St. Francis De Sales was a court case appealed to the Ohio Court of Appeals in which a former teacher at St. Francis de Sales High School in Toledo, Ohio sued the principal and a student advisor for slander. In 1983, the teacher was convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor by providing alcohol to one of his students. Although his contract was subsequently not renewed, the teacher, a former yearbook advisor, remained in touch with the yearbook staff. On a subsequent yearbook "overnight", it was reported to the faculty advisor that his predecessor had been seen drinking beer in the school parking lot with two students and that they subsequently left the premises. The faculty adviser conveyed this information to the students' parents, along with information regarding the previous conviction. The former teacher sued the school for slander. The lower court found in favor of the school and the appellate affirmed court.

In 2015, James Roth, an Oblate priest, admitted that he perpetrated child sexual abuse in Ohio.

James Francis Rapp, an Oblate priest, was convicted in 1999 in Oklahoma and 2016 in Michigan of child sexual abuse.

Wilmington/Philadelphia Province

 * Bishop Ireton High School – Alexandria, Virginia (formerly staffed by the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales)
 * Saint Paul VI High School – Fairfax, Virginia (formerly staffed by the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales)
 * DeSales University – Center Valley, Pennsylvania
 * Northeast Catholic High School – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (merged into Father Judge after 2010 school year)
 * Father Judge High School – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
 * Nativity Preparatory School – Wilmington, Delaware
 * Salesianum School – Wilmington, Delaware

Toledo/Detroit Province

 * DeSales Catholic High School – Lockport, New York (formerly staffed by the Oblates)
 * Judge Memorial Catholic High School – Salt Lake City, Utah (formerly staffed by the Oblates)
 * Lumen Christi Catholic High School – Jackson, Michigan
 * St. Francis de Sales High School – Toledo, Ohio
 * St. Mary's High School – Stockton, California

title: Oblates of St. Francis de Sales


text: Category:Surplus stores

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Type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that originates when cells that make insulin (beta cells) are destroyed by the immune system. Insulin is a hormone required for the cells to use blood sugar for energy and it helps regulate glucose levels in the bloodstream. Before treatment this results in high blood sugar levels in the body. The common symptoms of this elevated blood sugar are frequent urination, increased thirst, increased hunger, weight loss, and other serious complications. Additional symptoms may include blurry vision, tiredness, and slow wound healing. Symptoms typically develop over a short period of time, often a matter of weeks if not months.

The cause of type 1 diabetes is unknown, but it is believed to involve a combination of genetic and environmental factors. The underlying mechanism involves an autoimmune destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Diabetes is diagnosed by testing the level of sugar or glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C) in the blood. Type 1 diabetes can typically be distinguished from type 2 by testing for the presence of autoantibodies and/or declining levels/absence of C-peptide.

There is no known way to prevent type 1 diabetes. Treatment with insulin is required for survival. Insulin therapy is usually given by injection just under the skin but can also be delivered by an insulin pump. A diabetic diet and exercise are important parts of management. If left untreated, diabetes can cause many complications. Complications of relatively rapid onset include diabetic ketoacidosis and nonketotic hyperosmolar coma. Long-term complications include heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, foot ulcers and damage to the eyes. Furthermore, since insulin lowers blood sugar levels, complications may arise from low blood sugar if more insulin is taken than necessary.

Type 1 diabetes makes up an estimated 5–10% of all diabetes cases. The number of people affected globally is unknown, although it is estimated that about 80,000 children develop the disease each year. Within the United States the number of people affected is estimated at one to three million. Rates of disease vary widely, with approximately one new case per 100,000 per year in East Asia and Latin America and around 30 new cases per 100,000 per year in Scandinavia and Kuwait. It typically begins in children and young adults but can begin at any age.

Signs and symptoms

Type 1 diabetes begins suddenly and can develop at any age, with a peak in onsets in childhood and adolescence but also significant numbers of onsets in adulthood. Adult onsets are often initially misdiagnosed as type 2. The major sign of type 1 diabetes is very high blood sugar, which typically manifests in children as a few days to weeks of polyuria (increased urination), polydipsia (increased thirst), and weight loss. Children may also experience increased appetite, blurred vision, bedwetting, recurrent skin infections, candidiasis of the perineum, irritability, and reduced scholastic performance. Adults with type 1 diabetes tend to have more varied symptoms, which come on over months, rather than days or weeks.

Prolonged lack of insulin can cause diabetic ketoacidosis, characterized by persistent fatigue, dry or flushed skin, abdominal pain, nausea or vomiting, confusion, trouble breathing, and a fruity breath odor. Blood and urine tests reveal unusually high glucose and ketones in the blood and urine. Untreated ketoacidosis can rapidly progress to loss of consciousness, coma, and death. The percentage of children whose type 1 diabetes begins with an episode of diabetic ketoacidosis varies widely by geography, as low as 15% in parts of Europe and North America, and as high as 80% in the developing world.

Cause
Type 1 diabetes is caused by the destruction of β-cells—the only cells in the body that produce insulin—and the consequent progressive insulin deficiency. Without insulin, the body is unable to respond effectively to increases in blood sugar. Due to this, people with diabetes have persistent hyperglycemia. In 70–90% of cases, β-cells are destroyed by one's own immune system, for reasons that are not entirely clear. The best-studied components of this autoimmune response are β-cell-targeted antibodies that begin to develop in the months or years before symptoms arise. Typically someone will first develop antibodies against insulin or the protein GAD65, followed eventually by antibodies against the proteins IA-2, IA-2β, and/or ZNT8. People with more of these antibodies, and who develop them earlier in life, are at higher risk for developing symptomatic type 1 diabetes. The trigger for the development of these antibodies remains unclear. A number of explanatory theories have been put forward, and the cause may involve genetic susceptibility, a diabetogenic trigger, and/or exposure to an antigen. The remaining 10–30% of type 1 diabetics have β-cell destruction but no sign of autoimmunity; this is called idiopathic type 1 diabetes and its cause is unknown.

Environmental
Various environmental risks have been studied in an attempt to understand what triggers β-cell autoimmunity. Many aspects of environment and life history are associated with slight increases in type 1 diabetes risk, however the connection between each risk and diabetes often remains unclear. Type 1 diabetes risk is slightly higher for children whose mothers are obese or older than 35, or for children born by caesarean section. Similarly, a child's weight gain in the first year of life, total weight, and BMI are associated with slightly increased type 1 diabetes risk. Some dietary habits have also been associated with type 1 diabetes risk, namely consumption of cow's milk and dietary sugar intake. Animal studies and some large human studies have found small associations between type 1 diabetes risk and intake of gluten or dietary fiber; however, other large human studies have found no such association. Many potential environmental triggers have been investigated in large human studies and found to be unassociated with type 1 diabetes risk including duration of breastfeeding, time of introduction of cow milk into the diet, vitamin D consumption, blood levels of active vitamin D, and maternal intake of omega-3 fatty acids.

A longstanding hypothesis for an environmental trigger is that some viral infection early in life contributes to type 1 diabetes development. Much of this work has focused on enteroviruses, with some studies finding slight associations with type 1 diabetes, and others finding none. Large human studies have searched for, but not yet found an association between type 1 diabetes and various other viral infections, including infections of the mother during pregnancy. Conversely, some have postulated that reduced exposure to pathogens in the developed world increases the risk of autoimmune diseases, often called the hygiene hypothesis. Various studies of hygiene-related factors—including household crowding, daycare attendance, population density, childhood vaccinations, antihelminth medication, and antibiotic usage during early life or pregnancy—show no association with type 1 diabetes.

Genetics
Type 1 diabetes is partially caused by genetics, and family members of type 1 diabetics have a higher risk of developing the disease themselves. In the general population, the risk of developing type 1 diabetes is around 1 in 250. For someone whose parent has type 1 diabetes, the risk rises to 1–9%. If a sibling has type 1 diabetes, the risk is 6–7%. If someone's identical twin has type 1 diabetes, they have a 30–70% risk of developing it themselves.

About half of the disease's heritability is due to variations in three HLA class II genes involved in antigen presentation: HLA-DRB1, HLA-DQA1, and HLA-DQB1. The variation patterns associated with increased risk of type 1 diabetes are called HLA-DR3 and HLA-DR4-HLA-DQ8, and are common in people of European descent. A pattern associated with reduced risk of type 1 diabetes is called HLA-DR15-HLA-DQ6. Large genome-wide association studies have identified dozens of other genes associated with type 1 diabetes risk, mostly genes involved in the immune system.

Chemicals and drugs
Some medicines can reduce insulin production or damage β cells, resulting in disease that resembles type 1 diabetes. The antiviral drug didanosine triggers pancreas inflammation in 5 to 10% of those who take it, sometimes causing lasting β-cell damage. Similarly, up to 5% of those who take the anti-protozoal drug pentamidine experience β-cell destruction and diabetes. Several other drugs cause diabetes by reversibly reducing insulin secretion, namely statins (which may also damage β cells), the post-transplant immunosuppressants cyclosporin A and tacrolimus, the leukemia drug L-asparaginase, and the antibiotic gatifloxicin.

Diagnosis
Diabetes is typically diagnosed by a blood test showing unusually high blood sugar. The World Health Organization defines diabetes as blood sugar levels at or above 7.0 mmol/L (126 mg/dL) after fasting for at least eight hours, or a glucose level at or above 11.1 mmol/L (200 mg/dL) two hours after an oral glucose tolerance test. The American Diabetes Association additionally recommends a diagnosis of diabetes for anyone with symptoms of hyperglycemia and blood sugar at any time at or above 11.1 mmol/L, or glycated hemoglobin (hemoglobin A1C) levels at or above 48 mmol/mol.

Once a diagnosis of diabetes is established, type 1 diabetes is distinguished from other types by a blood test for the presence of autoantibodies that target various components of the beta cell. The most commonly available tests detect antibodies against glutamic acid decarboxylase, the beta cell cytoplasm, or insulin, each of which are targeted by antibodies in around 80% of type 1 diabetics. Some healthcare providers also have access to tests for antibodies targeting the beta cell proteins IA-2 and ZnT8; these antibodies are present in around 58% and 80% of type 1 diabetics respectively. Some also test for C-peptide, a byproduct of insulin synthesis. Very low C-peptide levels are suggestive of type 1 diabetes.

Management
The mainstay of type 1 diabetes treatment is the regular injection of insulin to manage hyperglycemia. Injections of insulin via subcutaneous injection using either a syringe or an insulin pump are necessary multiple times per day, adjusting dosages to account for food intake, blood glucose levels and physical activity. The goal of treatment is to maintain blood sugar in a normal range—80–130 mg/dL before a meal; <180 mg/dL after—as often as possible. To achieve this, people with diabetes often monitor their blood glucose levels at home. Around 83% of type 1 diabetics monitor their blood glucose by capillary blood testing: pricking the finger to draw a drop of blood, and determining blood glucose with a glucose meter. The American Diabetes Association recommends testing blood glucose around 6–10 times per day: before each meal, before exercise, at bedtime, occasionally after a meal, and any time someone feels the symptoms of hypoglycemia. Around 17% of people with type 1 diabetes use a continuous glucose monitor, a device with a sensor under the skin that constantly measures glucose levels and communicates those levels to an external device. Continuous glucose monitoring is associated with better blood sugar control than capillary blood testing alone; however, continuous glucose monitoring tends to be substantially more expensive. Healthcare providers can also monitor someone's hemoglobin A1C levels which reflect the average blood sugar over the last three months. The American Diabetes Association recommends a goal of keeping hemoglobin A1C levels under 7% for most adults and 7.5% for children.

The goal of insulin therapy is to mimic normal pancreatic insulin secretion: low levels of insulin constantly present to support basic metabolism, plus the two-phase secretion of additional insulin in response to high blood sugar, then an extended phase of continued insulin secretion. This is accomplished by combining different insulin preparations that act with differing speeds and durations. The standard of care for type 1 diabetes is a bolus of rapid-acting insulin 10–15 minutes before each meal or snacks, and as-needed to correct hyperglycemia. In addition, constant low levels of insulin are achieved with one or two daily doses of long-acting insulin, or by steady infusion of low insulin levels by an insulin pump. The exact dose of insulin appropriate for each injection depends on the content of the meal/snack, and the individual person's sensitivity to insulin, and is therefore typically calculated by the individual with diabetes or a family member by hand or assistive device (calculator, chart, mobile app, etc.). People unable to manage these intensive insulin regimens are sometimes prescribed alternate plans relying on mixtures of rapid- or short-acting and intermediate-acting insulin, which are administered at fixed times along with meals of pre-planned times and carbohydrate composition. The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence now recommends closed-loop insulin systems as an option for all women with type 1 diabetes who are pregnant or planning pregnancy.

A non-insulin medication approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treating type 1 diabetes is the amylin analog pramlintide, which replaces the beta-cell hormone amylin. Addition of pramlintide to mealtime insulin injections reduces the boost in blood sugar after a meal, improving blood sugar control. Occasionally, metformin, GLP-1 receptor agonists, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, or SGLT2 inhibitor are prescribed off-label to people with type 1 diabetes, although fewer than 5% of type 1 diabetics use these drugs.

Lifestyle
Besides insulin, the major way type 1 diabetics control their blood sugar is by learning how various foods impact their blood sugar levels. This is primarily done by tracking their intake of carbohydrates, the type of food with the greatest impact on blood sugar. In general, people with type 1 diabetes are advised to follow an individualized eating plan rather than a pre-decided one. There are camps for children to teach them how and when to use or monitor their insulin without parental help. As psychological stress may have a negative effect on diabetes, a number of measures have been recommended including: exercising, taking up a new hobby, or joining a charity, among others.

Regular exercise is important for maintaining general health, though the effect of exercise on blood sugar can be challenging to predict. Exogenous insulin can drive down blood sugar, leaving those with diabetes at risk of hypoglycemia during and immediately after exercise, then again seven to eleven hours after exercise (called the "lag effect"). Conversely, high-intensity exercise can result in a shortage of insulin, and consequent hyperglycemia. The risk of hypoglycemia can be managed by beginning exercise when blood sugar is relatively high (above 100 mg/dL), ingesting carbohydrates during or shortly after exercise, and reducing the amount of injected insulin within two hours of the planned exercise. Similarly, the risk of exercise-induced hyperglycemia can be managed by avoiding exercise when insulin levels are very low, when blood sugar is extremely high (above 350 mg/dL), or when one feels unwell.

Transplant
In some cases, people can receive transplants of the pancreas or isolated islet cells to restore insulin production and alleviate diabetic symptoms. Transplantation of the whole pancreas is rare, due in part to the few available donor organs, and to the need for lifelong immunosuppressive therapy to prevent transplant rejection. The American Diabetes Association recommends pancreas transplant only in people who also require a kidney transplant, or who struggle to perform regular insulin therapy and experience repeated severe side effects of poor blood sugar control. Most pancreas transplants are done simultaneously with a kidney transplant, with both organs from the same donor. The transplanted pancreas continues to function for at least five years in around three quarters of recipients, allowing them to stop taking insulin.

Transplantations of islets alone have become increasingly common. Pancreatic islets are isolated from a donor pancreas, then injected into the recipient's portal vein from which they implant onto the recipient's liver. In nearly half of recipients, the islet transplant continues to work well enough that they still do not need exogenous insulin five years after transplantation. If a transplant fails, recipients can receive subsequent injections of islets from additional donors into the portal vein. Like with whole pancreas transplantation, islet transplantation requires lifelong immunosuppression and depends on the limited supply of donor organs; it is therefore similarly limited to people with severe poorly controlled diabetes and those who have had or are scheduled for a kidney transplant.

Donislecel (Lantidra) allogeneic (donor) pancreatic islet cellular therapy was approved for medical use in the United States in June 2023.

Pathogenesis
Type 1 diabetes is a result of the destruction of pancreatic beta cells, although what triggers that destruction remains unclear. People with type 1 diabetes tend to have more CD8+ T-cells and B-cells that specifically target islet antigens than those without type 1 diabetes, suggesting a role for the adaptive immune system in beta cell destruction. Type 1 diabetics also tend to have reduced regulatory T cell function, which may exacerbate autoimmunity. Destruction of beta cells results in inflammation of the islet of Langerhans, called insulitis. These inflamed islets tend to contain CD8+ T-cells and – to a lesser extent – CD4+ T cells. Abnormalities in the pancreas or the beta cells themselves may also contribute to beta-cell destruction. The pancreases of people with type 1 diabetes tend to be smaller, lighter, and have abnormal blood vessels, nerve innervations, and extracellular matrix organization. In addition, beta cells from people with type 1 diabetes sometimes overexpress HLA class I molecules (responsible for signaling to the immune system) and have increased endoplasmic reticulum stress and issues with synthesizing and folding new proteins, any of which could contribute to their demise.

The mechanism by which the beta cells actually die likely involves both necroptosis and apoptosis induced or exacerbated by CD8+ T-cells and macrophages. Necroptosis can be triggered by activated T cells – which secrete toxic granzymes and perforin – or indirectly as a result of reduced blood flow or the generation of reactive oxygen species. As some beta cells die, they may release cellular components that amplify the immune response, exacerbating inflammation and cell death. Pancreases from people with type 1 diabetes also have signs of beta cell apoptosis, linked to activation of the janus kinase and TYK2 pathways.

Partial ablation of beta-cell function is enough to cause diabetes; at diagnosis, people with type 1 diabetes often still have detectable beta-cell function. Once insulin therapy is started, many people experience a resurgence in beta-cell function, and can go some time with little-to-no insulin treatment – called the "honeymoon phase". This eventually fades as beta-cells continue to be destroyed, and insulin treatment is required again. Beta-cell destruction is not always complete, as 30–80% of type 1 diabetics produce small amounts of insulin years or decades after diagnosis.

Alpha cell dysfunction
Onset of autoimmune diabetes is accompanied by impaired ability to regulate the hormone glucagon, which acts in antagonism with insulin to regulate blood sugar and metabolism. Progressive beta cell destruction leads to dysfunction in the neighboring alpha cells which secrete glucagon, exacerbating excursions away from euglycemia in both directions; overproduction of glucagon after meals causes sharper hyperglycemia, and failure to stimulate glucagon upon hypoglycemia prevents a glucagon-mediated rescue of glucose levels.

Hyperglucagonemia
Onset of type 1 diabetes is followed by an increase in glucagon secretion after meals. Increases have been measured up to 37% during the first year of diagnosis, while C-peptide levels (indicative of islet-derived insulin), decline by up to 45%. Insulin production will continue to fall as the immune system destroys beta cells, and islet-derived insulin will continue to be replaced by therapeutic exogenous insulin. Simultaneously, there is measurable alpha cell hypertrophy and hyperplasia in the early stage of the disease, leading to expanded alpha cell mass. This, together with failing beta cell insulin secretion, begins to account for rising glucagon levels that contribute to hyperglycemia. Some researchers believe glucagon dysregulation to be the primary cause of early stage hyperglycemia. Leading hypotheses for the cause of postprandial hyperglucagonemia suggest that exogenous insulin therapy is inadequate to replace the lost intraislet signalling to alpha cells previously mediated by beta cell-derived pulsatile insulin secretion. Under this working hypothesis intensive insulin therapy has attempted to mimic natural insulin secretion profiles in exogenous insulin infusion therapies. In young people with type 1 diabetes, unexplained deaths could be due to nighttime hypoglycemia triggering abnormal heart rhythms or cardiac autonomic neuropathy, damage to nerves that control the function of the heart.

Hypoglycemic glucagon impairment
Glucagon secretion is normally increased upon falling glucose levels, but normal glucagon response to hypoglycemia is blunted in type 1 diabetics. Beta cell glucose sensing and subsequent suppression of administered insulin secretion is absent, leading to islet hyperinsulinemia which inhibits glucagon release.

Autonomic inputs to alpha cells are much more important for glucagon stimulation in the moderate to severe ranges of hypoglycemia, yet the autonomic response is blunted in a number of ways. Recurrent hypoglycemia leads to metabolic adjustments in the glucose sensing areas of the brain, shifting the threshold for counter regulatory activation of the sympathetic nervous system to lower glucose concentration. This is known as hypoglycemic unawareness. Subsequent hypoglycemia is met with impairment in sending of counter regulatory signals to the islets and adrenal cortex. This accounts for the lack of glucagon stimulation and epinephrine release that would normally stimulate and enhance glucose release and production from the liver, rescuing the diabetic from severe hypoglycemia, coma, and death. Numerous hypotheses have been produced in the search for a cellular mechanism of hypoglycemic unawareness, and a consensus has yet to be reached. The major hypotheses are summarized in the following table:

In addition, autoimmune diabetes is characterized by a loss of islet specific sympathetic innervation. This loss constitutes an 80–90% reduction of islet sympathetic nerve endings, happens early in the progression of the disease, and is persistent though the life of the patient. It is linked to the autoimmune aspect of type 1 diabetics and fails to occur in type 2 diabetics. Early in the autoimmune event, the axon pruning is activated in islet sympathetic nerves. Increased BDNF and ROS that result from insulitis and beta cell death stimulate the p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR), which acts to prune off axons. Axons are normally protected from pruning by activation of tropomyosin receptor kinase A (Trk A) receptors by NGF, which in islets is primarily produced by beta cells. Progressive autoimmune beta cell destruction, therefore, causes both the activation of pruning factors and the loss of protective factors to the islet sympathetic nerves. This unique form of neuropathy is a hallmark of type 1 diabetes, and plays a part in the loss of glucagon rescue of severe hypoglycemia.

Complications
The most pressing complication of type 1 diabetes are the always present risks of poor blood sugar control: severe hypoglycemia and diabetic ketoacidosis. Hypoglycemia – typically blood sugar below 70 mg/dL – triggers the release of epinephrine, and can cause people to feel shaky, anxious, or irritable. People with hypoglycemia may also experience hunger, nausea, sweats, chills, dizziness, and a fast heartbeat. Some feel lightheaded, sleepy, or weak. Severe hypoglycemia can develop rapidly, causing confusion, coordination problems, loss of consciousness, and seizure. On average, people with type 1 diabetes experience a hypoglycemia event that requires assistance of another 16–20 times in 100 person-years, and an event leading to unconsciousness or seizure 2–8 times per 100 person-years. The American Diabetes Association recommends treating hypoglycemia by the "15–15 rule": eat 15 grams of carbohydrates, then wait 15 minutes before checking blood sugar; repeat until blood sugar is at least 70 mg/dL. Severe hypoglycemia that impairs someone's ability to eat is typically treated with injectable glucagon, which triggers glucose release from the liver into the bloodstream. People with repeated bouts of hypoglycemia can develop hypoglycemia unawareness, where the blood sugar threshold at which they experience symptoms of hypoglycemia decreases, increasing their risk of severe hypoglycemic events. Rates of severe hypoglycemia have generally declined due to the advent of rapid-acting and long-acting insulin products in the 1990s and early 2000s; however, acute hypoglycemia still causes 4–10% of type 1 diabetes-related deaths.

The other persistent risk is diabetic ketoacidosis – a state where lack of insulin results in cells burning fat rather than sugar, producing toxic ketones as a byproduct. Ketoacidosis symptoms can develop rapidly, with frequent urination, excessive thirst, nausea, vomiting, and severe abdominal pain all common. More severe ketoacidosis can result in labored breathing, and loss of consciousness due to cerebral edema. People with type 1 diabetes experience diabetic ketoacidosis 1–5 times per 100 person-years, the majority of which result in hospitalization. 13–19% of type 1 diabetes-related deaths are caused by ketoacidosis, making ketoacidosis the leading cause of death in people with type 1 diabetes less than 58 years old.

Long-term complications
In addition to the acute complications of diabetes, long-term hyperglycemia results in damage to the small blood vessels throughout the body. This damage tends to manifest particularly in the eyes, nerves, and kidneys causing diabetic retinopathy, diabetic neuropathy, and diabetic nephropathy respectively. In the eyes, prolonged high blood sugar causes the blood vessels in the retina to become fragile.

People with type 1 diabetes also have increased risk of cardiovascular disease, which is estimated to shorten the life of the average type 1 diabetic by 8–13 years. Cardiovascular disease as well as neuropathy may have an autoimmune basis, as well. Women with type 1 DM have a 40% higher risk of death as compared to men with type 1 DM.

About 12 percent of people with type 1 diabetes have clinical depression. About 6 percent of people with type 1 diabetes also have celiac disease, but in most cases there are no digestive symptoms or are mistakenly attributed to poor control of diabetes, gastroparesis or diabetic neuropathy. In most cases, celiac disease is diagnosed after onset of type 1 diabetes. The association of celiac disease with type 1 diabetes increases the risk of complications, such as retinopathy and mortality. This association can be explained by shared genetic factors, and inflammation or nutritional deficiencies caused by untreated celiac disease, even if type 1 diabetes is diagnosed first.

Urinary tract infection
People with diabetes show an increased rate of urinary tract infection. The reason is bladder dysfunction is more common in people with diabetes than people without diabetes due to diabetes nephropathy. When present, nephropathy can cause a decrease in bladder sensation, which in turn, can cause increased residual urine, a risk factor for urinary tract infections.

Sexual dysfunction
Sexual dysfunction in people with diabetes is often a result of physical factors such as nerve damage and poor circulation, and psychological factors such as stress and/or depression caused by the demands of the disease. The most common sexual issues in males with diabetes are problems with erections and ejaculation: "With diabetes, blood vessels supplying the penis's erectile tissue can get hard and narrow, preventing the adequate blood supply needed for a firm erection. The nerve damage caused by poor blood glucose control can also cause ejaculate to go into the bladder instead of through the penis during ejaculation, called retrograde ejaculation. When this happens, semen leaves the body in the urine." Another cause of erectile dysfunction is reactive oxygen species created as a result of the disease. Antioxidants can be used to help combat this. Sexual problems are common in women who have diabetes, including reduced sensation in the genitals, dryness, difficulty/inability to orgasm, pain during sex, and decreased libido. Diabetes sometimes decreases estrogen levels in females, which can affect vaginal lubrication. Less is known about the correlation between diabetes and sexual dysfunction in females than in males.

Oral contraceptive pills can cause blood sugar imbalances in women who have diabetes. Dosage changes can help address that, at the risk of side effects and complications.

Women with type 1 diabetes show a higher than normal rate of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). The reason may be that the ovaries are exposed to high insulin concentrations since women with type 1 diabetes can have frequent hyperglycemia.

Autoimmune disorders
People with type 1 diabetes are at an increased risk for developing several autoimmune disorders, particularly thyroid problems – around 20% of people with type 1 diabetes have hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism, typically caused by Hashimoto thyroiditis or Graves' disease respectiveley. Celiac disease affects 2–8% of people with type 1 diabetes, and is more common in those who were younger at diabetes diagnosis, and in white people. Type 1 diabetics are also at increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, autoimmune gastritis, pernicious anemia, vitiligo, and Addison's disease. Conversely, complex autoimmune syndromes caused by mutations in the immunity-related genes AIRE (causing autoimmune polyglandular syndrome), FoxP3 (causing IPEX syndrome), or STAT3 include type 1 diabetes in their effects.

Prevention
There is no way to prevent type 1 diabetes; however, the development of diabetes symptoms can be delayed in some people who are at high risk of developing the disease. In 2022 the FDA approved an intravenous injection of teplizumab to delay the progression of type 1 diabetes in those older than eight who have already developed diabetes-related autoantibodies and problems with blood sugar control. In that population, the anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody teplizumab can delay the development of type 1 diabetes symptoms by around two years.

In addition to anti-CD3 antibodies, several other immunosuppressive agents have been trialled with the aim of preventing beta cell destruction. Large trials of cyclosporine treatment suggested that cyclosporine could improve insulin secretion in those recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes; however, people who stopped taking cyclosporine rapidly stopped making insulin, and cyclosporine's kidney toxicity and increased risk of cancer prevented people from using it long-term. Several other immunosuppressive agents – prednisone, azathioprine, anti-thymocyte globulin, mycophenolate, and antibodies against CD20 and IL2 receptor α – have been the subject of research, but none have provided lasting protection from development of type 1 diabetes. There have also been clinical trials attempting to induce immune tolerance by vaccination with insulin, GAD65, and various short peptides targeted by immune cells during type 1 diabetes; none have yet delayed or prevented development of disease.

Several trials have attempted dietary interventions with the hope of reducing the autoimmunity that leads to type 1 diabetes. Trials that withheld cow's milk or gave infants formula free of bovine insulin decreased the development of β-cell-targeted antibodies, but did not prevent the development of type 1 diabetes. Similarly, trials that gave high-risk individuals injected insulin, oral insulin, or nicotinamide did not prevent diabetes development.

Epidemiology
Type 1 diabetes makes up an estimated 10–15% of all diabetes cases or 11–22 million cases worldwide. Symptoms can begin at any age, but onset is most common in children, with diagnoses slightly more common in 5 to 7 year olds, and much more common around the age of puberty. In contrast to most autoimmune diseases, type 1 diabetes is slightly more common in males than in females.

In 2006, type 1 diabetes affected 440,000 children under 14 years of age and was the primary cause of diabetes in those less than 15 years of age.

Rates vary widely by country and region. Incidence is highest in Scandinavia, at 30–60 new cases per 100,000 children per year, intermediate in the U.S. and Southern Europe at 10–20 cases per 100,000 per year, and lowest in China, much of Asia, and South America at 1–3 cases per 100,000 per year.

In the United States, type 1 and 2 diabetes affected about 208,000 youths under the age of 20 in 2015. Over 18,000 youths are diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes every year. Every year about 234,051 Americans die due to diabetes (type I or II) or diabetes-related complications, with 69,071 having it as the primary cause of death.

In Australia, about one million people have been diagnosed with diabetes and of this figure 130,000 people have been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Australia ranks 6th-highest in the world with children under 14 years of age. Between 2000 and 2013, 31,895 new cases were established, with 2,323 in 2013, a rate of 10–13 cases per 100,00 people each year. Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander people are less affected.

Since the 1950s, the incidence of type 1 diabetes has been gradually increasing across the world by an average 3–4% per year. The increase is more pronounced in countries that began with a lower incidence of type 1 diabetes. A single 2023 study suggested a relationship between COVID-19 infection and the incidence of type 1 diabetes in children; confirmatory studies have not appeared to date.

History
The connection between diabetes and pancreatic damage was first described by the German pathologist Martin Schmidt, who in a 1902 paper noted inflammation around the pancreatic islet of a child who had died of diabetes. The connection between this inflammation and diabetes onset was further developed through the 1920s by Shields Warren, and the term "insulitis" was coined by Hanns von Meyenburg in 1940 to describe the phenomenon.

Type 1 diabetes was described as an autoimmune disease in the 1970s, based on observations that autoantibodies against islets were discovered in diabetics with other autoimmune deficiencies. It was also shown in the 1980s that immunosuppressive therapies could slow disease progression, further supporting the idea that type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder. The name juvenile diabetes was used earlier as it often first is diagnosed in childhood.

Society and culture
Type 1 and 2 diabetes was estimated to cause $10.5 billion in annual medical costs ($875 per month per diabetic) and an additional $4.4 billion in indirect costs ($366 per month per person with diabetes) in the U.S. In the United States $245 billion every year is attributed to diabetes. Individuals diagnosed with diabetes have 2.3 times the health care costs as individuals who do not have diabetes. One in ten health care dollars are spent on individuals with type 1 and 2 diabetes.

Research
Funding for research into type 1 diabetes originates from government, industry (e.g., pharmaceutical companies), and charitable organizations. Government funding in the United States is distributed via the National Institutes of Health, and in the UK via the National Institute for Health and Care Research or the Medical Research Council. The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), founded by parents of children with type 1 diabetes, is the world's largest provider of charity-based funding for type 1 diabetes research. Other charities include the American Diabetes Association, Diabetes UK, Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation, Diabetes Australia, and the Canadian Diabetes Association.

Organ replacement
Pluripotent stem cells can be used to generate beta cells but previously these cells did not function as well as normal beta cells. In 2014 more mature beta cells were produced which released insulin in response to blood sugar when transplanted into mice. Before these techniques can be used in humans, more evidence of safety and effectiveness is needed.

There has also been substantial effort to develop a fully automated insulin delivery system or "artificial pancreas" that could sense glucose levels and inject appropriate insulin without conscious input from the user. Current "hybrid closed-loop systems" use a continuous glucose monitor to sense blood sugar levels, and a subcutaneous insulin pump to deliver insulin; however, due to the delay between insulin injection and its action, current systems require the user to initiate insulin before taking meals. Several improvements to these systems are currently undergoing clinical trials in humans, including a dual-hormone system that injects glucagon in addition to insulin, and an implantable device that injects insulin intraperitoneally where it can be absorbed more quickly.

Disease models
Various animal models of disease are used to understand the pathogenesis and etiology of type 1 diabetes. Currently available models of T1D can be divided into spontaneously autoimmune, chemically induced, virus induced and genetically induced.

The nonobese diabetic (NOD) mouse is the most widely studied model of type 1 diabetes. It is an inbred strain that spontaneously develops type 1 diabetes in 30–100% of female mice depending on housing conditions. Diabetes in NOD mice is caused by several genes, primarily MHC genes involved in antigen presentation. Like diabetic humans, NOD mice develop islet autoantibodies and inflammation in the islet, followed by reduced insulin production and hyperglycemia. Some features of human diabetes are exaggerated in NOD mice, namely the mice have more severe islet inflammation than humans, and have a much more pronounced sex bias, with females developing diabetes far more frequently than males. In NOD mice the onset of insulitis occurs at 3–4 weeks of age. The islets of Langerhans are infiltrated by CD4+, CD8+ T lymphocytes, NK cells, B lymphocytes, dendritic cells, macrophages and neutrophils, similar to the disease process in humans. In addition to sex, breeding conditions, gut microbiome composition or diet also influence the onset of T1D.

The BioBreeding Diabetes-Prone (BB) rat is another widely used spontaneous experimental model for T1D. The onset of diabetes occurs, in up to 90% of individuals (regardless of sex) at 8–16 weeks of age. During insulitis, the pancreatic islets are infiltrated by T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes, macrophages, and NK cells, with the difference from the human course of insulitis being that CD4 + T lymphocytes are markedly reduced and CD8 + T lymphocytes are almost absent. The aforementioned lymphopenia is the major drawback of this model. The disease is characterized by hyperglycemia, hypoinsulinemia, weight loss, ketonuria, and the need for insulin therapy for survival. BB Rats are used to study the genetic aspects of T1D and are also used for interventional studies and diabetic nephropathy studies.

LEW-1AR1 / -iddm rats are derived from congenital Lewis rats and represent a rarer spontaneous model for T1D. These rats develop diabetes at about 8–9 weeks of age with no sex differences unlike NOD mice. In LEW mice, diabetes presents with hyperglycemia, glycosuria, ketonuria, and polyuria. The advantage of the model is the progression of the prediabetic phase, which is very similar to human disease, with infiltration of islet by immune cells about a week before hyperglycemia is observed. This model is suitable for intervention studies or for the search for predictive biomarkers. It is also possible to observe individual phases of pancreatic infiltration by immune cells. The advantage of congenic LEW mice is also the good viability after the manifestation of T1D (compared to NOD mice and BB rats).

Chemically induced
The chemical compounds aloxan and streptozotocin (STZ) are commonly used to induce diabetes and destroy β-cells in mouse/rat animal models. In both cases, it is a cytotoxic analog of glucose that passes GLUT2 transport and accumulates in β-cells, causing their destruction. The chemically induced destruction of β-cells leads to decreased insulin production, hyperglycemia and weight loss in the experimental animal. The animal models prepared in this way are suitable for research into blood sugar-lowering drugs and therapies (e.g. for testing new insulin preparations). They are also the most commonly used genetically induced T1D model is the so-called AKITA mouse (originally C57BL/6NSIc mouse). The development of diabetes in AKITA mice is caused by a spontaneous point mutation in the Ins2 gene, which is responsible for the correct composition of insulin in the endoplasmic reticulum. Decreased insulin production is then associated with hyperglycemia, polydipsia and polyuria. If severe diabetes develops within 3–4 weeks, AKITA mice survive no longer than 12 weeks without treatment intervention. The description of the etiology of the disease shows that, unlike spontaneous models, the early stages of the disease are not accompanied by insulitis. AKITA mice are used to test drugs targeting endoplasmic reticulum stress reduction, to test islet transplants, and to study diabetes-related complications such as nephropathy, sympathetic autonomic neuropathy, and vascular disease. for testing transplantation therapies. Their advantage is mainly the low cost, the disadvantage is the cytotoxicity of the chemical compounds.

Virally induced
Viral infections play a role in the development of a number of autoimmune diseases, including human type 1 diabetes. However, the mechanisms by which viruses are involved in the induction of type 1 DM are not fully understood. Virus-induced models are used to study the etiology and pathogenesis of the disease, in particular the mechanisms by which environmental factors contribute to or protect against the occurrence of type 1 DM. Among the most commonly used are Coxsackie virus, lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, encephalomyocarditis virus, and Kilham rat virus. Examples of virus-induced animals include NOD mice infected with coxsackie B4 that developed type 1 DM within two weeks.

title: Type 1 diabetes


text:
Hessischer Rundfunk

Hessischer Rundfunk ("Hesse Broadcasting"), shortened to HR (stylized as hr), is the German state of Hesse's public broadcasting corporation. Headquartered in Frankfurt, it is a member of the national consortium of German public broadcasting corporations, ARD.

Studios
Dornbusch Broadcasting House, in Bertramstraße, Frankfurt am Main, is home to HR's principal radio and television studios. There are additional radio and television studios in Kassel and Wiesbaden, as well as further radio studios in Darmstadt, Fulda, and Gießen. HR also maintains offices in Berlin, Eltville, Erbach, Limburg an der Lahn, and Marburg.

In 2000, HR opened studios on the 53rd floor of the Main Tower in Frankfurt city centre. The corporation is also responsible for the management of ARD's studios in Madrid and Prague.

Finance
Licensing fees are currently €17.50 per month. Since 2013, every household has been liable for this fee, whether or not there are radio or TV receivers present. The fee is collected by Beitragsservice von ARD, ZDF und Deutschlandradio.

Television
HR contributes to the programming of the main German public-service broadcasting channel Das Erste, and also to that of the associated 3sat, ARTE, KI.KA, and Phoenix.

Like other regional public broadcasting corporations in Germany, HR has its own, regional "channel three" (i.e. in addition to the national ARD and ZDF channels). From 1964 until 1983 this was known as Das Hessisches Fernsehprogramm ("The Hesse Television Programme"). It was then rebaptized as Hessen Drei ("Hesse Three"), before it was rebaptized hessen fernsehen ("Hesse Television") in 1997. Most recently, in October 2004 the channel became hr-fernsehen. Since December 2013 the channel has also been available in HDTV.

hr1
hr1 plays almost exclusively middle of the road and easy listening music, chiefly from the 1965 to 1985 era, and is aimed at a 40- to 60-year-old demographic. Until 2004 hr1 had been HR's main information channel.

hr2-kultur
hr2-kultur is HR's cultural and classical-music radio channel.

hr3
hr3 is an adult-oriented popular music programme. Relaunched in the early 80s as a service targeted principally at young people, the station has aged together with its audience.

hr4
hr4 is aimed at an older listenership. It broadcasts regional news and German popular music (schlagers) and "evergreens", as well as instrumental music, folk, and light classical music.

hr-iNFO
hr-info is a 24-hour news radio. On weekday daytime, it provides rolling news, with bulletins every 20 minutes. At all other times (except overnight), it broadcasts special in-depth-reports on a range of topics, alongside a quick news summary every half-hour.

YOU FM
YOU FM is HR's music programme for young people. It has also become famous outside of Hesse and Germany for its Saturday night techno music transmissions.

Former radio channels

 * hr-klassik – classical music programme (closed September 2005)
 * hr XXL – independent music programme for young people (1998–2003, now replaced by YOU FM)
 * hr-chronos – information programme (closed 2003)
 * hr-skyline – business-oriented information programme (1998–2004), now replaced by hr-info)

Musical organizations
Hessischer Rundfunk maintains three resident ensembles:
 * hr-Sinfonieorchester (Frankfurt Radio Symphony) – Founded in 1929 by HR's predecessor, the Südwestdeutsche Rundfunkdienst (1924–33), the orchestra is an internationally renowned ensemble. Its 112 musicians perform the whole spectrum of symphonic music dating from the Baroque era to the present day, initiating various new forms of presentation as well as undertaking experimental projects. Although the orchestra is based in Frankfurt, working principally in the German State of Hesse, it is a frequent guest at important international festivals and regularly tours the world. Since the 2021/2022 season Alain Altinoglu has been the orchestra's chief conductor. Important predecessors have included Dean Dixon, Eliahu Inbal, Dmitri Kitayenko, Hugh Wolff, Paavo Järvi and Andrés Orozco-Estrada.
 * hr-Bigband (Frankfurt Radio Big Band) – The Frankfurt Radio Big Band started life in 1946 as the Radio Frankfurt Dance Orchestra. Since the 1970s it has developed into a jazz big band with the focus on concerts. The Frankfurt Radio Big Band plays approximately 50 concerts every year, performing in every possible jazz-style as well as crossing over into classic, pop, ethno-, and electronic music. After three years as the band's artist in residence, Jim McNeely assumed the position of chief conductor in 2011.
 * hr-Jazzensemble – In 1958 the German All-Stars led by Albert Mangelsdorff became the Jazztett des Hessischen Rundfunks or alternatively the Albert Mangelsdorff Jazztett, then finally the Jazzensemble des Hessischen Rundfunks, today called the hr-Jazzensemble. The initial idea for a steadily working studio jazz band came from Horst Lippmann. With regular studio recording dates but only seldom live appearances and album releases they initially played arrangements by Joki Freund but increasingly original compositions by Heinz Sauer, Günter Lenz, and Ralf Hübner who all joined in 1961 and in the 1970s also experimented with electronic and computerized sounds and later with sampling techniques. Albert Mangelsdorff, who led the ensemble until his death in 2005, his brother Emil, Freund and Peter Trunk were part of the initial line-up, Bob Degen and Christof Lauer came during the 1970s, all staying over decades. The ensemble could also invite guest musicians especially from the United States like Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz, Jimmy Giuffre, Joe Henderson, Terri Lyne Carrington and Bill Frisell; European guests were among others Alan Skidmore, Tomasz Stańko, Eberhard Weber, Joachim Kühn, Marc Ducret, Simon Nabatov, and Theodosii Spassov. A retrospective double album that documented their work from 1967 to 1993 was awarded with the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik in 1995.

Notable programmes

 * Abendstudio (1948–2003)
 * Die Hesselbachs (1949–1967)
 * Chippie (1990–1995)

Notable programme hosts

 * Peter Frankenfeld
 * Bernhard Grzimek
 * Hans-Joachim Kulenkampff

Transmitters

 * Biedenkopf: FM
 * Darmstadt Weiterstadt/Darmbach: FM
 * Frankfurt (Funkhaus Bertramstraße): FM
 * Frankfurt-Main-Tower: FM
 * Großer Feldberg: DAB, DVB-T, FM
 * Hardberg am Odenwald: FM
 * Hoher Meißner: FM
 * Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe: FM
 * Marburg: FM
 * Rimberg: DAB, DVB-T, FM
 * Schlüchtern: FM
 * Würzberg: DVB-T, FM

Internet streaming
Each of HR's six radio channels is streamed online.

title: Hessischer Rundfunk


text:
Oscar González Loyo

Oscar González Loyo (11 April 1959 in Mexico City - 7 February 2021 ) was a comic book artist, author of Karmatrón y Los Transformables. González Loyo was the son of late comic book artist Oscar González Guerrero. He was also the founder and a main partner of the company ¡Ka-Boom! Estudio.

Career
Oscar González Loyo did his first semi-professional comic art page in 1973, in the Mexican comic Las Aventuras de Capulina, when he was only 14 years old. He has cited Walt Disney, Osamu Tezuka and Will Eisner as important influences in his art style.

Over the years, he has worked on titles like Las Aventuras de Cepillín, Las Aventuras de Parchís, Katy la Oruga, El Monje Loco, The Flintstones, Karmatrón y Los Transformables, The New Speed Racer color book, Tiny Toons, Looney Tunes, The Simpsons Comics and ''Bart Simpson Comics. ''

González Loyo also worked on the covers of the Astroboy, Kimba and Gigantor's American VHS and Laser Disc editions in the late eighties and early nineties.

From 1996 to 2000 he storyboarded animations for the Latin American version of Sesame Street, including the show's opening credits.

In 2000, he earned the Eisner Award at Comic-Con International for his work on Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror, along with Jill Thompson, Steve Steere Jr., Scott Shaw, Sergio Aragonés, and Doug TenNapel.

González Loyo also published the webcomic Joe's World (until 2014) and was working in the remake of Karmatrón.

Awards

 * 2000 Eisner Award for Best Humor Publication / Best Comics Publication for a Younger Audience (shared with Jill Thompson, Steve Steere Jr., Scott Shaw!, Sergio Aragonés, and Doug TenNapel).

title: Oscar González Loyo


text:
Ascot Park (speedway)

Ascot Park, first named Los Angeles Speedway and later New Ascot Stadium, was a dirt racetrack located near Gardena, California. Ascot Park was open between 1957 and 1990. The track held numerous United States Auto Club (USAC) national tour races and three NASCAR Grand National (now NASCAR Cup Series) races. The Turkey Night Grand Prix was held at the track for several decades.

History
Ascot Park was the fourth of four Ascot sites in Los Angeles after the original one-mile Ascot Speedway at Central & Florence was open between 1907 and 1919. A second site named Legion Ascot Speedway held races between 1924 and 1936. Legion Ascot closed after 24 drivers died while racing at the track. A third site named Southern Ascot held races between 1937 and 1942 in South Gate on a half mile dirt oval.

Los Angeles Speedway opened in 1957, on the site of a former city dump. It was built less than 1 mi from the former site of Carrell Speedway, which had been closed in late 1954 to make way for the Artesia Freeway. The track was renamed to New Ascot Stadium in October 1958 as part of a management change. The track assumed the name it held until its closure, Ascot Park in 1961. J. C. Agajanian promoted major races at the venue, and later leased the track from 1976 until his death in 1984, when his family continued operating the venue. His radio advertisements ended with the phrase "Come to Ascot, where the 110, the 405 and the 91 freeways collide!".

With seating for only 7,500, Ascot Park was smaller than the other tracks of the area including the Ontario Motor Speedway (closed in 1980), and the Riverside International Raceway (closed in 1989). However, the park was equally well-known, due to its being surrounded by freeways for easy access, its regularly scheduled races, and its heavy radio advertising.

The half-mile course featured tight semi-banked turns, long straight-ways, and a tacky surface that was conducive to dramatic sprint car racing. Other motorsport events, such as Figure 8 racing and motorcycle flat track, TT racing and motocross, were also held at Ascot.

The dirt racetrack hosted races in the United States Auto Club (USAC) sprint car championship, the AMA Grand National Championship motorcycle series. Ascot was also the site of the annual USAC Turkey Night Grand Prix midget race on Thanksgiving.

Though he began doing stunt jumps in 1966 at small venues such as fairs and carnivals, Evel Knievel (Robert Craig Knievel) gained international attention with his first televised jump on ABC’s Wide World of Sports at Ascot Park Raceway on March 25, 1967, successfully clearing 15 cars.

The racetrack was also used in movies and TV shows like the original Gone in 60 Seconds, A Very Brady Christmas, Pit Stop, T J Hooker and CHiPs.

The 50th annual Turkey Night Grand Prix for USAC midget cars became the last of more than 5,000 main events held since the track opened. Ascot Park was closed in November 1990. It remained unused after a failed development project occupied the former site for a number of years. The track site was later replaced by Insurance Auto Auctions building and storage yard.

ESPN was hosting live races of Thursday Night Thunder sprint car racing from 1988 to the track's closing in 1990 and later went over to Indianapolis Raceway Park and the show was later moved to Saturday night, some of the most famous driver to race at Ascot was Jeff Gordon, Sleepy Tripp, Dick Mann among others.

NASCAR race results
Three NASCAR Grand National Series events were held at the track. The 1957 event was held on the 0.5 mi track. It was won by Eddie Pagan. The second NASCAR event was a 500 lap event on the 0.4 mi track, and it was won by Parnelli Jones. The final event was held in 1961 on the 0.5 mi track. Eddie Gray lapped the field for the win.

title: Ascot Park (speedway)


text:
Talk:Geography of Illinois

Don't delete! I'm adding information! --Marcusscotus1 02:32, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

Added copy of data already in Illinois article, it's lame, I know. I've got some good reference books on the interesting geology of the state. -- Marcusscotus1 02:38, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

Chicago is NOT known as windy because of the wind. It is known as the "Windy City" because in the late 1800s, early 1900s, our our politicians were known as windy. Our politicians would not shut up. Don't put that information back. --76.214.201.100 22:38, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

well yeah —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.175.210.130 (talk) 18:43, 29 October 2009 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Geography of Illinois


text: Category:Schools for the blind

title: Category:Schools for the blind


text: Category:Schools in Massachusetts

title: Category:Schools in Massachusetts


text:
Sokuon

The sokuon (促音) is a Japanese symbol in the form of a small hiragana or katakana tsu. In less formal language, it is called chiisai tsu (小さいつ) or chiisana tsu (小さなつ), meaning "small tsu". It serves multiple purposes in Japanese writing.

Appearance
In both hiragana and katakana, the sokuon appears as a tsu reduced in size:

Use in Japanese
The main use of the sokuon is to mark a geminate consonant, which is represented in most romanization systems by the doubling of the consonant, except that Hepburn romanization writes a geminate ch as tch. It denotes the gemination of the initial consonant of the symbol that follows it.

Examples: • Pocky, a Japanese snack food, is written in kana as ポッキー, which is

In rōmaji, this is written pokkī, with the sokuon represented by the doubled k consonant.

•, the te form of the verb, is composed of:

In the rōmaji rendering, matte, the sokuon is represented by the doubling of the t consonant.

•, meaning "here", is composed of:

In Hepburn romanization, kotchi, the sokuon is represented by the t consonant, even though the following consonant is ch. This is because rōmaji ch actually represents (voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate), and the sokuon before it doubles the sound. The Kunrei-shiki and Nihon-shiki romanization systems write this syllable as ti (and its geminate version as tti) so the exception does not arise.

The sokuon never appears at the beginning of a word or before a vowel (a, i, u, e, or o), and rarely appears before a syllable that begins with the consonants n, m, r, w, or y. (In words and loanwords that require geminating these consonants,, , , , and are usually used, respectively, instead of the sokuon.) In addition, it does not appear before voiced consonants (g, z, d, or b), or before h, except in loanwords, or distorted speech, or dialects. However, uncommon exceptions exist for stylistic reasons: For example, the Japanese name of the Pokémon species Cramorant is ウッウ, pronounced.

The sokuon is also used at the end of a sentence, to indicate a glottal stop (IPA, a sharp or cut-off articulation), which may indicate angry or surprised speech. This pronunciation is also used for exceptions mentioned before (e.g., a sokuon before a vowel kana). There is no standard way of romanizing the sokuon that is at the end of a sentence. In English writing, this is often rendered as an em dash. Other conventions are to render it as t or as an apostrophe.

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, the sokuon is transcribed with either a colon-like length mark or a doubled consonant:
 * "come" (来て) –
 * "postage stamp" (切手) – or
 * "clams" (あさり) –
 * "easily" (あっさり) – or

The sokuon represents a mora, thus for example the word Japan consists of only two syllables, but four morae: ni-p-po-n.

Use in other languages
In addition to Japanese, sokuon is used in Okinawan katakana orthographies. Ainu katakana uses a small ッ both for a final t-sound and to represent a sokuon (there is no ambiguity however, as gemination is allophonic with syllable-final t).

Computer input
There are several methods of entering the sokuon using a computer or word-processor, such as,  ,  , etc. Some systems, such as Kotoeri for macOS and the Microsoft IME, generate a sokuon if an applicable consonant letter is typed twice; for example   generates った.

Other representations
Braille:

 * Computer encodings

title: Sokuon