Ed
Erectile dysfunction (ED), formerly known as impotence, is defined as the persistent inability of a male to achieve or maintain a penile erection sufficient for satisfactory sexual performance.[1][2] It is a prevalent condition, impacting up to 30 million adult men in the United States and becoming increasingly common with age, with over 50% of men aged 40–70 experiencing some degree.[3][4] The condition arises from a complex interplay of physiological, vascular, neurological, hormonal, and psychological factors, with vascular issues—such as atherosclerosis impairing blood flow to the penis—accounting for the majority of cases in older men, often linked to comorbidities like diabetes, hypertension, and smoking.[5][1] Psychological contributors, including stress, anxiety, and depression, can exacerbate or initiate ED but are less dominant than organic causes in empirical studies.[2][4] Diagnosis typically involves medical history, physical examination, and laboratory tests to identify underlying causes, while treatments range from lifestyle modifications (e.g., exercise, weight loss, and smoking cessation) to pharmacological interventions like phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors (e.g., sildenafil), which enhance nitric oxide-mediated vasodilation for on-demand erection support.[3][1] Surgical options, such as penile implants, are reserved for refractory cases, with overall management emphasizing reversible risk factors over symptomatic relief alone.[5][4] Despite effective therapies improving quality of life for most patients, ED signals heightened cardiovascular risk, warranting proactive screening for systemic disease.[2][1]Personal names
Notable individuals
Ed Asner (September 15, 1929 – August 29, 2021) was an American actor who holds the record for the most Primetime Emmy Awards won by a male performer, with seven total, including five for his portrayal of Lou Grant in The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–1977) and its drama spin-off Lou Grant (1977–1982).[6][7] He voiced the lead character Carl Fredricksen in Pixar's Up (2009), contributing to its critical acclaim for animated storytelling. Asner served as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1981 to 1985, leading efforts to protect performers' rights amid industry changes.[8] Edward I. Koch (December 12, 1924 – February 1, 2013) served three terms as Mayor of New York City from January 1, 1978, to December 31, 1989, implementing austerity measures that ended the city's fiscal crisis following the 1975 near-bankruptcy.[9] His administration invested billions in infrastructure and housing, revitalizing areas like the South Bronx while adopting a tough-on-crime stance that contributed to reductions in urban decay and violence rates.[10] Koch publicly critiqued expansive welfare policies, arguing they fostered dependency rather than self-reliance, in line with his independent reformist approach.[11] Ed Sullivan (September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974) hosted The Ed Sullivan Show, a CBS variety program that aired from June 20, 1948, to June 6, 1971, attracting up to 20 million weekly viewers through diverse acts.[12] The show featured Elvis Presley's national television debut on September 9, 1956, and The Beatles' first U.S. appearance on February 9, 1964, which drew an estimated 73 million viewers and propelled their American breakthrough.[12] Sullivan's format emphasized live performance accessibility, influencing television's role in popularizing rock music.[13] Edward D. Wood Jr. (October 10, 1924 – December 10, 1978) directed, produced, wrote, and starred in low-budget films, most notably Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957), widely regarded as a benchmark for production errors like mismatched continuity and visible wires yet celebrated for its sincere sci-fi vision executed on minimal resources.[14] Despite commercial flops and Bela Lugosi's posthumous footage from a single day of shooting, Wood's persistence in independent filmmaking inspired later cult cinema and outsider artists valuing raw ambition over polish.[15] Edward H. Crane (born August 15, 1944) co-founded the Cato Institute in 1977 as a libertarian think tank in Washington, D.C., serving as its president until 2012 and advancing policies favoring free markets, individual liberty, and reduced government intervention in economic and personal spheres.[16] Under his leadership, Cato produced research critiquing regulatory overreach and fiscal expansion, framing debates around voluntary civil society versus state coercion.[17]Places
Geographical locations
Ed is a locality in Dals-Ed Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden, serving as the municipal seat. Located at approximately 58°55′N 11°56′E near the Norwegian border, it occupies an area of 3.710 km² and features terrain shaped by forests, lakes such as Övre Kyllsjön, and proximity to Tresticklan National Park.[18] The name originates from the Swedish term "ed," denoting an isthmus, which causally stems from the area's historical role as a narrow land bridge facilitating portage between waterways in a region dominated by dense woodlands and water barriers.[19] As of 2023 estimates, Ed has a population of 2,901 residents, supporting a local economy centered on small-scale services, tourism related to outdoor recreation, and events like the annual Eds Countryfest music festival.[18][20] The broader Dals-Ed Municipality, encompassing Ed, recorded 4,606 inhabitants as of December 31, 2024, with population stability reflecting rural demographics and limited urban migration.[21] Smaller or less documented locales named Ed exist globally, including hamlets in countries such as Iran and Germany, but lack significant census data or notable attributes beyond basic settlement status.[19] These instances typically arise from phonetic adaptations or local dialects rather than shared etymological roots with the Swedish example.Arts and entertainment
Fictional characters and media
In the anime series Cowboy Bebop, which aired from October 1998 to April 1999, the character Ed—full name Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV—serves as a highly intelligent, eccentric preteen hacker who joins the protagonist crew aboard the spaceship Bebop.[22] Her portrayal combines childlike whimsy and advanced computer skills, subverting expectations of female characters in sci-fi by emphasizing quirky autonomy over romantic or combative roles, which contributed to the series' appeal among viewers seeking unconventional narratives. The show's cultural endurance is reflected in its sustained fan discussions and adaptations, including a 2021 live-action Netflix version, though Ed's specific traits drew mixed reception for their exaggerated physicality and voice acting.[22] The Cartoon Network animated series Ed, Edd n Eddy, running from January 1999 to November 2009, centers on three boys including Ed, depicted as a strong but intellectually limited enthusiast of food and monsters, who participates in neighborhood scams driven by his friends' schemes. The program emphasized retro-styled humor and exaggerated childhood dynamics, achieving commercial success with consistent Nielsen performance across six seasons and a high-rating finale special that drew over 2.1 million viewers in Canada upon international premiere.[23] Audience metrics indicate broad appeal, with an IMDb score of 7.4/10 from 43,166 ratings, though later seasons faced criticism for repetitive plotting amid merchandising tie-ins.[24] The NBC sitcom Ed, broadcast from October 2000 to February 2004, follows Ed Stevens, a dismissed New York lawyer who returns to his Ohio hometown, purchases a bowling alley, and operates his practice there while pursuing local relationships. Initial episodes earned critical favor for blending legal drama with small-town charm, securing an 83% Rotten Tomatoes approval rating for season one based on 24 reviews. Viewership, however, never dominated primetime, stabilizing around mid-tier Nielsen ranks before declining in seasons three and four, prompting cancellation after 83 episodes due to formulaic romantic subplots and competition from edgier comedies.[25][26] In Disney's The Lion King (1994), Ed appears as a mute, giggling hyena among Scar's trio of henchmen, providing slapstick antagonism through nonverbal reactions rather than dialogue, which underscores the film's use of animal archetypes for villainy. His design and behavior amplified the sequence's comedic menace, contributing to the movie's box office gross of over $968 million worldwide upon release.Health and medicine
Medical terms and conditions
Erectile dysfunction (ED), defined as the persistent inability to achieve or maintain a penile erection sufficient for satisfactory sexual performance, primarily arises from physiological rather than psychological factors in most cases.[1] The Massachusetts Male Aging Study, involving 1,709 men aged 40–70, reported that 52% experienced some degree of ED, with prevalence increasing with age due to vascular impairments like atherosclerosis that reduce penile blood flow.[27] Primary causes include endothelial dysfunction linked to cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes, which affects up to 50% of diabetic men; smoking, with dose-dependent associations elevating risk independent of age; and obesity, which exacerbates insulin resistance and hormonal imbalances.[28][29][30] Cohort studies confirm these lifestyle-mediated etiologies, with poor diet contributing to metabolic syndrome that precedes ED onset, underscoring causal pathways beyond mere psychological stress.[31] Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) demonstrate that aerobic exercise, at intensities of 160 minutes weekly for six months, improves erectile function comparably to phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors like sildenafil (Viagra), particularly in men with physical inactivity-related ED, by enhancing vascular health and reducing inflammation.[32][33] Despite pharmaceutical interventions generating peak annual revenues exceeding $1.8 billion for Viagra prior to generic competition, reliance on such drugs overlooks evidence for sustainable lifestyle modifications, as meta-analyses show diet and exercise yield lasting benefits without dependency risks.[34][35] Emergency department (ED) refers to the specialized hospital unit providing immediate assessment and stabilization for acute, life-threatening conditions. In the United States, EDs recorded approximately 155 million visits in 2022, equating to 47 visits per 100 people, with rates highest among infants and varying by diagnosis such as injury-related cases comprising 28% of total volume.[36] Overcrowding, evidenced by average wait times exceeding four hours in many facilities, stems empirically from non-urgent presentations—up to 13.7% of visits per CDC data—exacerbated by policy-driven expansions in insurance coverage without corresponding capacity increases, leading to diversion of resources from critical cases.[37] Eating disorders (ED), encompassing conditions like anorexia nervosa and bulimia, exhibit rising prevalence correlated with ultra-processed food consumption, which disrupts satiety signaling and promotes addictive eating patterns akin to binge-type disorders.[38] Observational data link higher intake of such foods to increased risk of bulimia and binge eating disorder, with global prevalence estimates around 9% for women and 2% for men, though causal mechanisms involve metabolic responses to additives rather than isolated societal pressures.[39] Interventions prioritizing whole-food diets show preliminary efficacy in RCTs by addressing these physiological drivers over narrative-focused therapies.[40]Technology and computing
Software tools and technical processes
Theed utility is a line-oriented text editor originally developed by Ken Thompson at Bell Labs in 1971 as part of early Unix development, serving as a foundational tool for text manipulation in command-line environments.[41] It operates in a modal interface, accepting commands such as substitution (s/.../.../), deletion (d), and insertion (i) to process files line by line, which enabled efficient scripting and batch operations on systems with limited resources.[42] Unlike graphical user interface (GUI) editors like Vim or modern IDEs, ed requires minimal memory—typically under 100 KB—and lacks visual feedback, prioritizing portability and speed in embedded or remote terminal scenarios where GUIs are impractical.[43]
ed remains the POSIX-standard text editor, mandated for compliance in Unix-like systems to ensure interoperability for core utilities and scripts.[44] Its persistence stems from its role in automated workflows, such as grep pipelines or sed derivations, where non-interactive mode supports regex-based transformations without overhead; for instance, POSIX tests verify ed's handling of up to 32,767 lines and multibyte characters.[45] In resource-constrained settings like minimal Linux distributions or IoT devices, ed outperforms GUI alternatives by avoiding dependencies on libraries like X11, achieving sub-millisecond command latencies on modern hardware.[46]
Entity disambiguation (ED) refers to the natural language processing (NLP) task of resolving ambiguous entity mentions in text—such as distinguishing "Apple" as the corporation from the fruit—by linking them to unique identifiers in knowledge bases like Wikidata or DBpedia.[47] Traditional ED relied on supervised models with handcrafted features, but recent advances integrate large language models (LLMs) for zero-shot or few-shot inference, leveraging contextual embeddings to achieve F1 scores exceeding 90% on benchmarks like AIDA-CoNLL.[48] For example, LLM-based frameworks like AGNUS employ pairwise entity representations and graph neural networks, improving robustness to noisy inputs by 5-15% over prior methods in ablation studies.[48]
From 2023 to 2025, LLM-driven ED has advanced through generative reranking and multi-step reasoning, as in Verify-in-the-Graph, which uses interactive knowledge graphs to disambiguate entities during claim verification, reducing error propagation in fact-checking pipelines.[49] This enables bias-mitigated analysis by grounding ambiguous references to verifiable entities, countering narrative distortions in media by prioritizing empirical linkages over interpretive framing; for instance, disambiguating political figures across sources yields higher precision in cross-verification against ground-truth databases.[50] Open-source implementations, such as those extending Hugging Face transformers, demonstrate scalability, processing documents at rates of 100-500 entities per second on GPU hardware while maintaining micro-F1 scores above 0.92 for long-tail entities.[51]
Electronic design tools, often abbreviated in contexts like EDA (electronic design automation) workflows, include software for circuit simulation and layout, such as open-source suites like KiCad or Qucs, which automate schematic capture and verification but are distinct from line editors or NLP tasks.[52] These prioritize hardware description languages (e.g., Verilog) over text processing, with impacts limited to domain-specific verification rather than general scripting.[53]