A-77636 is a synthetic drug which acts as a selective D1 receptor full agonist. It has nootropic, anorectic, rewarding and antiparkinsonian effects in animal studies, but its high potency and long duration of action causes D1 receptor downregulation and tachyphylaxis, and unlike other D1 full agonists such as SKF-82,958, it does not produce place preference in animals. A-77636 partially substituted for cocaine in animal studies, and has been suggested for use as a possible substitute drug in treating addiction, but it is better known for its use in studying the role of D1 receptors in the brain.
Ayaka Hirahara (平原 綾香, Hirahara Ayaka?, born May 9, 1984 in Tokyo) is a Japanese pop singer affiliated with the Dreamusic label.
Hirahara comes from a musical family; her father, Makoto Hirahara, is a saxophone player, her grandfather, Tsutomu Hirahara, was a trumpet player, and her older sister, Aika Hirahara, also is a singer under the EMI Music Japan label. Ayaka was a member of the Matsuyama Ballet for 11 years, beginning at age 6. She started playing saxophone when she was 13 years old, then learned classical saxophone at Senzoku Gakuen High School. Currently, she is studying in the Faculty of Jazz majoring in saxophone at Senzoku Gakuen College of Music. Her first single, "Jupiter", was released in Japan in December 2003, and went on to be one of the biggest selling singles of 2004. The melody of the song is based on the "Jupiter" movement in The Planets Suite by Gustav Holst. Similarly, the melody of her song, "Siciliana", is based on "Siciliano" by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Hirahara's song Reset, from the album Yottsu no L was used in Capcom's 2006 title, Ōkami, as the ending song. A orchestral version, "Reset – Thank You Version", also was made by Hiroshi Yamaguchi.
Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. As a songwriter, she has composed over 3,000 songs, the best known of which include "I Will Always Love You" (a two-time U.S. country chart-topper for Parton, as well an international pop hit for Whitney Houston), "Jolene", "Coat of Many Colors", "9 to 5" and "My Tennessee Mountain Home". As an actress, she starred in the movies 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias, Straight Talk, Unlikely Angel and Joyful Noise. She is one of the most successful female country artists of all time; with an estimated 100 million in album sales, Dolly Parton is also one of the best selling artists of all time. She is known as "The Queen of Country Music".
She was born in Sevierville, Tennessee, the fourth of twelve children of Avie Lee Parton (née Owens; October 5, 1923 – December 5, 2003) and Robert Lee Parton (March 22, 1921 – November 12, 2000), a tobacco farmer. Her siblings are: Willadeene Parton (born March 24, 1940), David Wilburn Parton (born March 30, 1942), Coy Denver "Denver" Parton (born August 16, 1943), Bobby Lee Parton (born February 18, 1948), Stella Mae Parton (born May 4, 1949), Cassie Nan Parton (February 12, 1951), Randel Huston "Randy" Parton (born December 15, 1953), Larry Gerald Parton (born and died July 6, 1955), Floyd and Frieda Estelle Parton (born June 1, 1957), and Rachel Ann Parton (born August 31, 1959). Her family was, as she has described them, "dirt poor". She outlined her family's lack of money in a number of her early songs, notably "Coat of Many Colors" and "In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)". They lived in a rustic, dilapidated one-room cabin in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, a hamlet just north of the Greenbrier Valley, in the Locust Ridge area of the Great Smoky Mountains in Sevier County, a predominantly Pentecostal area.