These new findings suggest that structural changes in this collection of brain regions may be critical to Alzheimer’s disease onset and this could eventually lead to patients being diagnosed earlier.

“The default network was a vulnerable area and it was more vulnerable in those who would go on to develop the disease,” says 91��ɫ psychology Professor Gary Turner of the Cognitive Aging Neuroscience and Neurointervention Lab in the Faculty of Health.

The network of brain regions highlighted in red and yellow show atrophy in both healthy aging and neurodegenerative disease. These regions��are susceptible to normal aging and dementia

Turner and Cornell University Professor , the Rebecca Q. and James C. Morgan Sesquicentennial Faculty Fellow and director of the Laboratory of Brain and Cognition at Cornell, found that the brain’s grey matter in the default network shrinks with normal aging across the lifespan, but it does so much more sharply in those who go on to develop dementia, as well as those with a genetic predisposition for the disease. These changes were also associated with declines in general cognitive ability.

“Our data suggest that these structural brain changes may be detectable many years before behavioral signs appear,” says Turner.��This could allow for much earlier interventions for Alzheimer’s disease than is currently possible. Their paper, “”, was published this month online and in-print in The Journal of Neuroscience.

Turner and Spreng, co-principal investigators, measured brain volume using the brain images of 848 people, from age 18 to 94, to determine the role of the default network in neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s. They were able to analyze data collected as part of the Open Access Series of Imaging Studies, which provided a cross-sectional data set, and the longitudinal Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, which looked at the same people multiple times over several years. By combining these two large datasets, the authors were able to measure brain changes from young to older adulthood and from healthy aging to neurodegenerative disease.

Gary Turner

“What we were really interested in doing with this work was looking at how the brain is altered across the lifespan,” says Turner. “The default network is already known to be implicated in Alzheimer’s disease[…]but we believe this is one of the first reports demonstrating these structural network changes across the lifespan from young to older adulthood and into Alzheimer’s disease. And we were able to look at changes simultaneously across the whole default network.”

Core areas of the network include the posterior cingulate cortex, the medial prefrontal cortex, the medial temporal lobes and the lateral parietal cortex.

They also found that these declines in brain volume were greater in the cohort who carried the APOE4 gene, a genetic marker for potentially developing Alzheimer’s disease, and those with cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers of Alzheimer’s. This shows that structural changes in the default network may be associated with genetic risk of the disease.

“These results help us to better understand the pattern of brain change that occurs across the lifespan and into neurodegenerative disease,” says Turner, who received a two-year Canadian Institutes of Health Research grant of $85,000 to complete the project. “While not a central focus of this study, we hope that with further exploration these findings may, over time,��help to inform diagnostic and prognostic decision-making in the clinic.”

In the future, Turner said this research could lay the groundwork for a new series of studies leading to better biomarkers for the disease. “Certainly, these findings highlight the importance of this network as a constellation of brain regions that warrants further study in terms of early identification of the disease.”

The focus of Turner’s research, he says, is to translate these cognitive neuroscience research findings into rehabilitation interventions to enhance cognitive functioning in healthy aging and acquired brain injury and slow the trajectory of cognitive decline in brain disease.

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Debra Pepler

Creating Healthy Relationships to Prevent Bullying: Get the Tools to Take Action will take place June 19 at the Chestnut Conference Centre, 89 Chestnut St. in Toronto.

Wendy Craig

PREVNet (Promoting Relationships Eliminating Violence), a national network of 60 Canadian researchers from 27 universities and 50 national child and youth serving organizations, is led by 91��ɫ psychology Professor Debra Pepler and Queen’s University Professor Wendy Craig (MA ’89, PhD ’93), two of Canada’s experts in the field of bullying.

Coordinator of at the Toronto District School Board, Ken Jeffers, will deliver the keynote address, “Sex, Gender and Schools Oh My!”. A series of workshops will follow, where researchers, counsellors, parents, volunteers, youth and anyone else interested in bullying prevention will learn about the latest knowledge and gain practical tips regarding bullying from researchers and national community organizations.

Ken Jeffers

In the first workshop, Pepler will talk about ways to build healthy relationships with children and youth in any setting. Research is beginning to show how absolutely essential healthy relationships are for healthy development, she says. From the study of genetics at a cellular level through to studies of societal factors, clear links are emerging between the quality of children’s relationship experiences and their healthy development.

Professor of the University of Illinois will look at bullying and sexual harassment prevention and intervention among middle and high school students. In this talk, research will be presented to illustrate the prevalence and relations among bullying, homophobic teasing and sexual harassment among early adolescents. Masculinity and restricted gender expression also appear to be important factors contributing to these phenomena among adolescents.

Dorothy Espelage

A growing body of recent research, however, has documented the importance of social and emotional learning as critical to the creation of safe and caring learning environments, and ultimately as a foundation for academic success. Professor of the University of British Columbia will look at the importance of fostering social and emotional learning in schools.

Shelley Hymel

Criminal justice Professor of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire will discuss the challenges of cyberbullying, what parents and educators need to know about how youth use and misuse technology to harm their peers, and outline strategies for preventing and responding to cyberbullying.

Justin Patchin

Craig, along with Professor David Smith of the University of Ottawa, will talk about how organizations can choose a bully prevention program. Shelley Cardinal, aboriginal consultant and national manager of Walking the Prevention Circle at the Canadian Red Cross, and Claire Crooks, a psychologist at the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health’s Centre for Prevention Science, will look at engaging aboriginal communities and youth in violence prevention.

For more information, including a complete list of , visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The letter was delivered to Zoidl by 91��ɫ Vice-President Research & Innovation, Robert Haché, Faculty of Health Dean Harvey Skinner and Faculty of Science & Engineering Dean Janusz Kozinski.

Above: from left, Faculty of Health Dean Harvey Skinner; VP Research & Innovation Robert Haché; Professor and CRC Georg Zoidl; and Faculty of Science & Engineering Dean Janusz Kozinski

“On behalf of the 91��ɫ research community, I am delighted that Dr. Georg Zoidl’s research and appointment as Canada Research Chair in Mollecular and Cellular Neuroscience has been acknowledged by Canada’s Prime Minister through this correspondence,” said Haché.�� “Professor Zoidl is a highly accomplished, world-class researcher who we look to for leadership in the development of this exciting area of research and 91��ɫ's broader research agenda.”

Zoidl’s research examines the functions of nerve cells in the brain and the visual system as a means to understanding overall brain activity in health and disease.��The research explores the communication processes in the brain that contribute to disease-causing conditions. Even small changes in communication between these nerve cells might get amplified over a lifetime and will be at the heart of a wide spectrum of diseases.

He is addressing the role of electrical communication in the visual system and the brain using genetically-altered zebra fish; their brains and eyes utilize the basic communication principles found in humans. His research combines high-end imaging tools with careful molecular and cellular manipulations to track how information flows into the brain and eye under healthy and diseased conditions.��The research will foster insight into the molecular and cellular basis of epilepsy and could ultimately lead to improved treatment for vision loss.

“I am honored to receive this letter from Canada’s Prime Minister, which recognizes the importance of my research,” said Zoidl. “In Canada, securing and preserving quality of life is highly dependent on an individual’s prolonged and sustained quality of health. With vision loss listed in the top 10 most costly disease groups and approximately 15,500 new epilepsy patients each year, it is important to study the fundamental communication processes in the nervous system from molecules to systems in order to develop preventative health measures.”

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Pearlman, currently first-vice-president of the RCI, is the director of 91��ɫ’s Core Molecular Biology/DNA Sequencing Facility and former dean and associate dean of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Graduate Studies. He will be formally inducted at the institute’s Annual General Meeting on Thursday, May 10.

Ron Pearlman

The is the oldest scientific society in Canada, founded in Toronto in 1849 by a small group of civil engineers and surveyors led by Sir Sandford Fleming. Its mission is to enhance public awareness about science, and��it is best known for its free public lecture series held on Sunday afternoons in the fall and winter on the University of Toronto campus, and similar free lectures on Thursdays at the Mississauga Public Library.

“I’m grateful to have this opportunity to lead an organization with such an important mission,” Pearlman says. “Science impacts our lives on a daily basis, and in all areas. We need to have a science-literate population, and in a civil society we need a vibrant science culture.”

As president, Pearlman will continue to build on public outreach initiatives, such as making public lectures available via webcasts produced by 91��ɫ. Recent lectures have included top scientists like the University of Toronto’s Shana O. Kelley discussing the latest nanotech tools for diagnosing disease, and 91��ɫ’s own Ellen Bialystok on reshaping the brain through bilingualism. For a full list of lectures available online, click here.

“On behalf of the 91��ɫ research community, I would like to congratulate Dr. Ron Pearlman, University Professor Emeritus of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Science & Engineering, on his appointment as president of the Royal Canadian Institute for the Advancement of Science,” says Robert Haché, 91��ɫ’s vice-president research & innovation. “As a leading expert in the field of genomics, with a long-standing successful career, Ron has worked to advance scientific research on an international scale and has been a phenomenal ambassador for 91��ɫ research. This prestigious appointment is well deserved.”

Pearlman was recently recognized with a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his outstanding contributions to the RCI, and his support of science culture and literacy in Canada. In addition to his role at 91��ɫ, he is also associate scientific director of the Gairdner Foundation and co-ordinates its student outreach program. His research interests include molecular biology and biochemistry, cell biology and genetics utilizing the new genomic and proteomic technologies.

The RCI and 91��ɫ are also among the sponsors of the upcoming , an annual cross-country event that brings science and technology face to face with the Canadian public in a non-intimidating, festival atmosphere at many academic institutions as well as in public spaces.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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91��ɫ Professors Natasha Myers and Thilo Womelsdorf have been awarded $100,000 each in funding under the Ontario government’s Early Researcher Awards program. ��

Ontario’s Ministry of Economic Development��& Innovation announced the awards Monday. ��91��ɫ’s research investment of $50,000 will match the funds for the award.

The program helps promising, recently appointed Ontario researchers build research teams of undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, research associates and technicians. The goal of the program is to improve Ontario’s ability to attract and retain the best and brightest research talent. Ontario’s Early Researcher Awards investment of $8.68 million will support 62 emerging researchers and their teams at 19 institutions across the province.

Professor , of the Department of Biology in the Faculty of Science��& Engineering and member of 91��ɫ’s Centre for Vision Research, is studying how individuals focus their attention on one object, thought or event, while ignoring other external information. ��His research examines the three major regions of the brain that guide and determine selective attention, to find out how they work and interact.����Womelsdorf’s research will identify how networks of brain cells coordinate separable attention information using state-of-the-art technologies and will critically advance hotly-debated, neuro-economic decision making theories.��The research will lead to a better understanding of various diseases that widely affect health, education and the economy of Ontario.

Professor Natasha Myers, of the Department of Anthropology in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, examines how plants are acquiring new status and visibility in our culture. Specifically, she explores the ways that artists and scientists are transforming our everyday assumptions through artworks and experiments that render plants as active, sensing organisms. This ethnographic research with practitioners both in Ontario and at international sites will shed light on the ethical and political significance of these shifts in perception about nonhuman life and the order of things.

“I am most pleased that the Ministry of Research and Economic Development has recognized the achievements of 91��ɫ Professors Natasha Myers and Thilo Womelsdorf, who are actively engaged in conducting globally competitive research in the early stages of their careers,” said Robert Haché, 91��ɫ’s vice-president research & innovation. “Our early career researchers represent the future of research at 91��ɫ and contribute to building Canada’s knowledge-based economy. ��The funding provided by the Ministry will provide these emerging researchers with resources to build their innovative research programs.” ��

“This research work is important to helping us meet our health care challenges while fostering long-term job creation and economic growth,” said Brad Duguid, minister of economic development and innovation.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The saying, “looking at things with fresh eyes”, may be more than just a metaphor, according to new studies led by Professor Kari Hoffman of 91��ɫ’s Centre for Vision Research, which have been published in scholarly journals.

Left: Kari Hoffman

While searching for experiments to use in a research methods course, Hoffman took a fresh look at an old visual perception test and realized it might hold a clue to understanding how we see things and when we remember them. Hoffman says the insight came when she was reviewing results of a flicker-change blindness test, a simple classroom experiment used to show how difficult it is for people to see the difference in two almost identical images or scenes. She realized that what was once a trick of the eye was no longer effective due to her memory of the images.

That led Hoffman and biology graduate student Vivian Chau (right) to develop an experiment that would monitor the eye movement of test subjects as they tried to solve the visual puzzle. What they found was striking: when the viewer remembered the image, the eye movement that indicated the time it took to search and locate the part of the scene that had changed was dramatically reduced compared to when they were viewing it for the first time. This suggested that it was possible to tell when a person was looking at an image for the first time and when they recognized it from memory.

“Not everyone shows the fast search times, though,” says Hoffman. “A participant with amnesia failed to remember the changing objects and his eyes told the story. This participant had suffered damage to his medial temporal lobe, a region which is especially affected in Alzheimer’s patients and has been associated with memory function in healthy aging,” said Hoffman. “So we now have a task to help us study how that brain region functions to support memory formation.”

The study results were published in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience ().

After seeing that eye movements could reflect memory, the outcome of brain processing, Hoffman and her lab team wondered if eye movements might also take part in influencing the inputs – how our brain processes images. In a second study, she and psychology graduate student Adrian Bartlett (right) found that eye movement is also an indication of the brain gearing up to process an image – a kind of neural “smart refresh” that created optimal conditions for seeing.

Hoffman says there is a noticeable change in a subject’s brain wave patterns when images are viewed with moving eyes as opposed to the more standard experimental method of viewing images with a fixed eye. “The neural populations become more synchronized,” she explains, “this can make processing an image easier and faster.” ��They found that the brain has a kind of “smart refresh” period when it gets ready to process visual information. If the presentation isn’t synched to that cycle, the brain is not as good at processing the image.

Designers of learning materials can use this knowledge to create visual presentations that interact with a viewer’s movements, making the displays more easily processed and therefore more effective. The study was published in the Journal of Neuroscience ().

Illustration above shows the path the viewer’s eyes followed when scanning the photo for the first time and then again the next day

“Although scientists often study movement as a separate process from perception and cognition,” Hoffman says, “our results reveal examples of how eye movements are intertwined with perceptual and cognitive processes. In both studies, the eye movements give us a more complete picture of perceptual and memory processes,” Hoffman explains.

Exercising the brain in this way, Hoffman says, may be optimal for neural rewiring or “plasticity” that leads to better learning, more efficient performance and recovery after loss of function, such as following stroke. “This provides support for a more integrative view of brain function – one in which actions help shape brain performance.”

For more information on the Perception & Plasticity Lab, visit their website.

The studies, which were conducted in collaboration with researchers Jennifer Ryan, Shayna Rosenbaum and Nikos Logothetis, were funded through an NSERC Discovery Grant and an Ontario MRI Early Researcher Award. Hoffman is a professor in psychology & biology in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health and a member of the Neuroscience Graduate Diploma Program.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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“Your ability to recognize objects and your ability to recognize scenes are independent,” says Steeves.��

Their study is published in the December issue of the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience – “TMS to the Lateral Occipital Cortex Disrupts Object Processing but Facilitates Scene Processing”.

Left: Psychology Professor Jennifer Steeves applies rTMS stimulation to��PhD candidate Caitlin Mullin. Images of Mullin's brain can be seen on the adjacent screen��

The finding discounts an earlier theory that scene perception relies on the recognition of individual objects and instead finds that the gist of a scene can be ascertained by its spatial layout alone.

Steeves and Mullin conducted two experiments. Both showed that when the ability to see objects is impaired, the brain can still determine what it’s looking at by taking in the scene. But what surprised the researchers is that when object recognition was temporarily knocked out, the ability to categorize scenes, such as distinguishing a forest from a cityscape, increased.

“It’s like you can see the forest better when you can’t see the trees,” says Steeves, who heads up the Perceptual Neuroscience Lab��in 91��ɫ's . “We didn’t expect this at all. The stimulation��must be releasing some inhibitory process in people's brains.”

The experiments involved nine individuals with healthy brains. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) was applied to the left lateral occipital cortex (LO), the object processing area of the brain just behind each ear, to disrupt object processing. This was done while showing the subjects pictures of scenes and objects.

Right: Jennifer Steeves

The idea was to see how the LO contributed to the perception of scenes. The rTMS momentarily scrambled the neurons in the LO, preventing the subject from recognizing the objects, but they were able to categorize the scenes more quickly and accurately than before. The first experiment involved using a longer disruption time for object processing than that used in the second experiment.

“There was a split second interruption to the brain in the second experiment,” says Steeves. Still, the second experiment confirmed the findings of the first. “It’s a really robust effect. The TMS showed us that even though the two functions are independent, they still work together.”

Steeves and Mullin are now doing research find out what other parts of the brain are affected when rTMS is applied to specific areas. “We’re finding so far that stimulating one region can have an effect on other areas,” says Mullin.

The research is part of the nuts and bolts of mapping the brain, which could have implications down the road in helping people with brain injuries or informing computer modelling. “What’s nice is we’re learning about networks in the brain,” says Steeves. And that is where it all starts.

The experiments were funded through grants from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Research Fund and the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada.

By Sandra McLean, YFile writer

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Researchers at the two institutions set out to study differences in how genes are turned on and off in the brains of worker bees (females) and drone bees (males), to understand the striking differences in behaviour between the two sexes, and to learn about the genetics behind altruistic behaviours. Their study, published this month in the journal Genes, Brain and Behavior, found massive differences in the brain profiles of male and female honey bees.

“It’s like a bee battle of the sexes. Male honey bees do not help out around the hive. They wait for female bees to feed them and then when they mature, they go out on mating flights,” says Amro Zayed (left), a biology professor in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Science & Engineering. “In a sense, they are the solitary members within highly social societies.”

The research, performed at the University of Illinois’ Bee Research Facility, looked at one-day-old and 21-day-old honey bees, to examine changes in gene expression – how genes are turned on and off – as bees mature. Worker bees spend the first few weeks of their life working inside the hive until they mature and start foraging for pollen and nectar. Male bees also spend a period of time inside the hive before going on mating flights, but do not take part in the division of labour.

The study found that both maturation and sex had huge effects on the brain profiles of honey bees. Workers and drones had expression differences in thousands of genes, many of which are known to affect behaviour, learning and memory.��

“But the biggest surprise was that most of the brain changes associated with maturation were shared by both drones and workers,” says Gene Robinson, a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

It was previously thought that most of the changes coinciding with the worker’s maturation were directly associated with the altruistic behaviours of nursing and foraging, but this study suggests that this is not the case, because male bees experience similar changes in brain profiles as they mature but do not nurse or forage. The findings support the concept that altruistic behaviours in the honey bee evolved using existing genetic platforms found in insects.

Genes that are expressed as worker bees mature are most likely to help us better understand bees’ great ability to navigate, says Zayed, as well as to learn and remember the location of profitable flowers and communicate this information to their nest-mates.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The study, published yesterday in the Journal of Neuroscience, focuses on the superior colliculus, a structure buried deep within the brain, inherited from animals like frogs and toads. This ancient visual system orients primitive animals toward food, danger and sexual partners.

“We found that the superior colliculus performs a similar function in higher animals such as humans,” says study co-author Joseph DeSouza, a psychology professor in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health. “This ‘inner eye’ is oriented towards survival, feeding and reproduction. As such, these types of gazes are more difficult to suppress.”

Right:��Joseph DeSouza

Working with a team of investigators at the University’s ��(CVR), DeSouza and fellow 91��ɫ psychology Professor Doug Crawford found that superior colliculus neurons produce a burst of activity during combined eye-and-head gaze shifts.

Crawford explains that they determined what the superior colliculus codes were by recording neural activity during natural, variable eye and head movements. They then compared this activity to target locations (briefly displayed visual stimuli) and gaze end-points (where the subjects actually looked), measured relative to the eye, head or body.

“Despite being movement-related, superior colliculus neurons gave the most consistent activity compared to one simple variable: target location relative to the eyes. In this sense, the superior colliculus provides an ‘inner eye' that drives eye and neck muscles toward the target,” says Crawford, the Canada Research Chair in Visuomotor Neuroscience.

Left: Doug Crawford��

In previous work at the University of Western Ontario, DeSouza showed that a much newer system, the prefrontal cortex, is required to suppress these primitive responses. Refreshingly, both sexes are equally “toad-like” when it comes to wandering eyes.

“The superior colliculus is gender neutral. Both women and men have trouble suppressing these primitive gazes. There is, however, the question of whether one gender tends to be more obvious about it,” DeSouza says.

The study, “Intrinsic Reference Frames of Superior Colliculus Visuomotor Receptive Fields During Head-Unrestrained Gaze Shifts,” was funded by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research grant to Crawford and DeSouza. The article’s other authors are: Gerald Keith, CVR post-doc; Xiaogang Yan, CVR research associate, Gunnar Blohm, professor of neuroscience at Queen’s University, former CVR post-doc; and Hongying Wang, CVR research associate.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The talk, “My Brain in Space”, will take place, Tuesday, Dec. 13, at 4pm at 519 91��ɫ Research Tower , Keele campus. A reception hosted by the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation will follow the event.

Right: Dave Williams in his astronaut suit

, a medical doctor since 1983, joined the Canadian Space Agency in 1992 and participated in two spaceflights. He was on the space shuttle Columbia in 1998, where he spent 16 days experimenting on the effect of weightlessness on the brain. In 2007, he was a mission specialist on the space shuttle Endeavour as it made its way to the International Space Station. In total, he logged 28 days and 15 hours in space. It was during his Endeavour mission that he set the record for not only the number of spacewalks, three of them, but for time spent outside in space – 17 hours and 47 minutes.

He also participated in two NASA missions to Aquarius in the Florida Keys, the world’s only underwater research laboratory, to become Canada’s first dual astronaut and aquanaut.

Left: Dave Williams

Between space missions, Williams was director of the Space and Life Sciences Directorate at the Johnson Space Center in Texas. He was also the first deputy associate administrator for Crew Health and Safety in the Office of Space Flight at NASA headquarters.

Williams was a professor in the Department of Surgery at McMaster University’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine and director of the McMaster Centre for Medical Robotics at St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton, from 2008 to 2011. He was chief medical officer of Patient Safety and Quality at St. Joseph’s, from 2010 to 2011.

In 1992, he served as director of emergency services at Sunnybook Hospital and as an emergency physician at Kitchener General Hospital/St. Mary’s General Hospital, from 1989 to 1990.

To read a Q&A interview by NASA with Williams, .

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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