Conjoined twins – sometimes popularly referred to as Siamese twins – are twins joined in utero. A very rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 49,000 births to 1 in 189,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence in Southwest Asia and Africa. Approximately half are stillborn, and an additional one-third die within 24 hours. Most live births are female, with a ratio of 3:1.
Arnis, also known as Kali or Eskrima/Escrima, is the national martial art of the Philippines. The three are roughly interchangeable umbrella terms for the traditional martial arts of the Philippines, which emphasize weapon-based fighting with sticks, knives, bladed weapons, and various improvised weapons, as well as "open hand" techniques without weapons.
A loincloth is a one-piece garment, either wrapped around itself or kept in place by a belt. It covers the genitals and, at least partially, the buttocks. Loincloths which are held up by belts or strings are specifically known as breechcloth or breechclout. Often, the flaps hang down in front and back.
Noli Me Tángere is an 1887 novel by Filipino writer and activist José Rizal published during the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. It explores perceived inequities in law and practice in terms of the treatment by the ruling government and the Spanish Catholic friars of the resident peoples a hundred years ago.
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales is a 1985 book by neurologist Oliver Sacks describing the case histories of some of his patients. Sacks chose the title of the book from the case study of one of his patients who has visual agnosia, a neurological condition that leaves him unable to recognize faces and objects. The book became the basis of an opera of the same name by Michael Nyman, which premiered in 1986.
The Sinulog-Santo Niño Festival is an annual cultural and religious festival held on the third Sunday of January in Cebu City, and on the fourth Sunday of January in Carmen, Cebu, and is the centre of the Santo Niño Catholic celebrations in the Philippines.
Craniopagus parasiticus is an extremely rare type of parasitic twinning occurring in about 2 to 3 of 5,000,000 births. In craniopagus parasiticus, a parasitic twin head with an undeveloped body is attached to the head of a developed twin. Fewer than a dozen cases of this type of conjoined twin have been documented in literature.
A parasitic twin, also known as an asymmetrical or unequal conjoined twin, is the result of the processes that also produce vanishing twins and conjoined twins, and may represent a continuum between the two. Parasitic twins occur when a twin embryo begins developing in utero, but the pair does not fully separate, and one embryo maintains dominant development at the expense of its twin. Unlike conjoined twins, one ceases development during gestation and is vestigial to a mostly fully formed, otherwise healthy individual twin. The undeveloped twin is defined as parasitic, rather than conjoined, because it is incompletely formed or wholly dependent on the body functions of the complete fetus. The independent twin is called the autosite.
Francesco "Frank" Lentini was a Sicilian-American sideshow performer who toured with numerous circuses. Born with a parasitic twin, Lentini had three legs.
Miguel Malvar y Carpio was a Filipino general who served during the Philippine Revolution and, subsequently, during the Philippine–American War. He assumed command of the Philippine revolutionary forces during the latter, following the capture of resistance leader Emilio Aguinaldo by the Americans in 1901. According to some historians, he could have been listed as one of the presidents of the Philippines but, as of 2022, is not recognized as such by the Philippine government.
Philippe Petit is a French high-wire artist who gained fame for his unauthorized high-wire walks between the towers of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in 1971 and of Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1973, as well as between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City on the morning of 7 August 1974. For his unauthorized feat 400 metres above the ground – which he referred to as "le coup" – he rigged a 200-kilogram (440-pound) cable and used a custom-made 8-metre (30-foot) long, 25-kilogram (55-pound) balancing pole. He performed for 45 minutes, making eight passes along the wire.
Ischiopagi comes from the Greek word ischio- meaning hip (ilium) and -pagus meaning fixed or united. It is the medical term used for conjoined twins who are united at the pelvis. The twins are classically joined with the vertebral axis at 180°. However, the most frequent cases usually structures the ischiopagus twins with two separate spines forming a lateral angle smaller than 90°. The conjoined twins usually have four arms; two, three or four legs; and typically one external genitalia and anus.
Giovanni Silva de Oliveira, better known as Giovanni, is a Brazilian football manager and former player. He played as either an attacking midfielder or a forward.
Polycephaly is the condition of having more than one head. The term is derived from the Greek stems poly meaning "many" and kephalē meaning "head". A polycephalic organism may be thought of as one being with a supernumerary body part, or as two or more beings with a shared body.
Paulo Sérgio Rosa, usually known as Viola, is a former Brazilian footballer who played as a forward. He was given his nickname in his youth, which was a reference to the brand–name of his first pair of football boots.
Ricardo Ferretti de Oliveira, also known as Tuca Ferretti, is a Brazilian-Mexican professional football manager and former player.
Bienvenido N. Santos was a Filipino-American fiction, poetry and nonfiction writer. He was born and raised in Tondo, Manila. His family roots are originally from Lubao, Pampanga, Philippines. He lived in the United States for many years where he is widely credited as a pioneering Asian-American writer.
Polymelia is a birth defect in which an affected individual has more than the usual number of limbs. It is a type of dysmelia. In humans and most land-dwelling vertebrates, this means having five or more limbs. The extra limb is most commonly shrunken and/or deformed. The term is from Greek πολυ- "many", μέλεα "limbs".
Villa de Arevalo, commonly known as simply Villa or Arevalo, is one of the seven districts of Iloilo City in the province of Iloilo, on the island of Panay in Western Visayas, in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 55,476 people. Arevalo is the westernmost district of Iloilo City and it borders Oton to the west.
Lakshmi Tatma is an Indian girl born in 2005 in a village in Araria district, Bihar, with "4 arms and 4 legs." She was actually one of a pair of ischiopagus conjoined twins, one of which was headless because its head had atrophied and chest had not fully developed in the womb, causing the appearance of one child with four arms and four legs. She has undergone surgery to remove these extra limbs.
