Oophorectomy is the surgical removal of the ovaries of a female animal. In the case of non-human animals, this is also called spaying. It is a form of sterilization.
The removal of the ovaries together with the Fallopian tubes is called salpingo-oophorectomy. Oophorectomy and salpingo-oophorectomy are not common forms of birth control in humans; more usual is tubal ligation, in which the Fallopian tubes are blocked but the ovaries remain intact.
In humans, oophorectomy is most usually performed together with a hysterectomy - the removal of the uterus. Its use in a hysterectomy when there are no other health problems is somewhat controversial.
In animals, spaying involves an invasive removal of the ovaries, but rarely has major complications; the superstition that it causes weight gain is not based on fact. Spaying is especially important for certain animals that require the ovum to be released at a certain interval (called estrus or "heat"), such as cats and dogs. If the cell is not released during these animal's heat, it can cause severe medical problems that can be averted by spaying or partnering the animal with a male.
Oophorectomy is sometimes referred to as castration, but that term is most often used to mean the removal of a male animal's testicles.
Categories: 1958 births | Cinema actors | Film directors | Screenwriters | American actors | Best Supporting Actor Oscar
Tim Robbins (born October 16, 1958, also Timothy Robbins) is an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He is the longtime companion of actress Susan Sarandon, with whom he shares strong leftist political views.
Robbins was born in West Covina, California, but moved to Greenwich Village with his family at a young age while his father, Gil Robbins , pursued a career as a member of the folk music group The Highwaymen. Robbins joined Theater for a New City at age twelve, and participated in the drama club at Stuyvesant High School. Robbins spent two years at Plattsburgh State University, then returned to California to attend drama school at UCLA.
On graduation in 1981, Robbins founded the Actors' Gang in Los Angeles, an experimental theater group, with actor friends from his college softball team. He also took small parts in films, with a breakthrough part as pitcher "Nuke" LaLoosh in the 1988 baseball movie Bull Durham. On the set of that movie he began a relationship with fellow actor Sarandon that continues to the present day.
He received critical acclaim for his starring role as an amoral movie executive in the 1992 film The Player. His directorial and screenwriting debut was 1992's Bob Roberts, a mockumentary about a populist right-wing presidential candidate. Robbins then starred alongside Morgan Freeman in the critically acclaimed The Shawshank Redemption based on Stephen King's short story. Since that time he has written, produced, and directed several films with strong but subtle political content, such as the critically-acclaimed capital punishment saga Dead Man Walking in 1995, which earned him a directorial Oscar nomination, and 1999's Depression-era musical Cradle Will Rock. Robbins also continues to act in mainstream Hollywood thrillers like Arlington Road (1999) and Antitrust (2001), and to act in and direct Actors' Gang theater productions.
Robbins lives in New York City with Sarandon and their three children. He is a prominent spokesperson for anti-globalization, and vocally opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In 2003 a 15th-anniversary celebration of Bull Durham at the National Baseball Hall of Fame was cancelled due to controversy over his and Sarandon's public anti-war stance.
He won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar and the SAG Award for his work in Mystic River (2003).
Categories: 1958 births | Cinema actors | Film directors | Screenwriters | American actors | Best Supporting Actor Oscar