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Daily Archives: March 17, 2022
Global Integrative Health or Complementary and Alternative Medicine Market 2022 Growth Opportunity Arab Yoga Foundation (AYF), Soul Warrior, Sukoun,…
Posted: March 17, 2022 at 3:15 am
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Publication Frequency and Google Trends Analysis of Popular Alternative Treatments to Arthritis – Yale School of Medicine
Posted: at 3:15 am
Journal: Arthroplasty Today
Who: Neil Pathak, MD; Zachary J. Radford, MD; Joseph B. Kahan, MD, MPH; Jonathan N. Grauer, MD; Lee E. Rubin, MD
Public interest in alternative, nonoperative treatments for the management of arthritis has increased. Few have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The present study aimed to evaluate trends in public and scientific interest in 4 such treatments by assessing Google Trends and publication frequency data, respectively.
Turmeric, stem cell therapy, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy, and cannabidiol (CBD) were studied. For 2010-2019, Google Trends data and publication frequency data on PubMed were collected by year for arthritis and each of the 4 therapies. Linear, quadratic, and exponential regressions were applied, and the best model of growth was identified.
From 2010 to 2019, Google Trends annual scores for arthritis and turmeric (exponential; R2: 90.5%, P < .001), CBD (exponential; R2: 99.3%, P < .001), stem cell therapy (exponential; R2: 86.7%, P < .001), and PRP therapy (linear; R2: 80.6%, P < .001) increased significantly. Search term frequencies for arthritis and CBD exhibited the highest increase (12,929%). Publications in arthritis and turmeric (linear; R2: 74%, P = .001), stem cell therapy (linear; R2: 94.8%, P < .0001), and PRP therapy (linear; R2: 97.1%, P < .0001) increased from 2010 to 2019. However, publications relating to arthritis and CBD have not increased (P = .122).
Regression analysis indicates that public interest in alternative therapies have had a marked increase. The rise in public interest for CBD, and to a lesser extent, turmeric, stem cell therapy, and PRP, has dramatically outstripped scientific evidence on these therapies. Rigorously designed, clinical studies may be beneficial to keep up with the growing popularity of these treatments, especially CBD.
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No alternatives: Ugandans turn to herbs amid medicine shortage | Daily Sabah – Daily Sabah
Posted: at 3:15 am
Herbal medicine may be a disputed issue, but the high cost of drugs and their unavailability in public hospitals have been forcing people to turn to alternative solutions in the eastern African nation of Uganda, which experts fear may lead people to falling prey to fake so-called cures.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA) on the eve of World Medicine Day, which is being observed on Monday, Damali Nanfuka, a resident of the capital Kampala, said doctors were charging her 100,000 shillings ($29) to treat her diabetes. She dropped plans to consult the doctor further and turned to an herbal medicine clinic.
"I went to an herbal medicine clinic where I was given medicine at only 40,000 shillings ($11)," she said.
Patrick Kasadha, a pharmacist at a government hospital in the eastern Ugandan district of Iganga, said enough medicine was not stocked in government hospitals due to a paucity of funds. But Health Minister Ruth Jane Aceng recently told the media that some medical workers were stealing medicine and selling it to private clinics.
The problem has taken such acute turns that two weeks ago Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni closed all pharmacies operating in government hospital compounds, following reports that hospital authorities were stealing drugs and giving them to private pharmacies.
Abiaz Rwamwiri, a government official at the drug regulatory authority, said there were reports of people making fake herbal drugs.
"As the national drug authority, we are mandated to regulate drugs made here or imported. In our country some people are making fake herbal drugs," he said.
Isac Kiburaba, a pharmacist in Kampala, said some people simply mix conventional medicine with some concoctions from tree leaves to trick people. He said at some places, it was seen that these people mix medicine meant for malaria with water and mango leaves.
Rwamwiri noted that his authority has so far certified 194 herbal drugs for medical use after testing them in laboratories.
"There has been a fall back to herbal medicine. Due to many people turning to herbal medicine, many unscrupulous people are taking advantage and selling fake herbal medicine to unsuspecting people," he said.
Just on the outskirts of the capital Kampala, herbal medicine shops sell different concoctions, claiming they cure cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, malaria and all sexually transmitted diseases.
"We have medicine that relieves HIV, AIDS. We also treat toothaches without removing rotten teeth. We have medicine that makes barren women give birth and for weak men, we have medicine that makes them strong," claims Nakakawa, who manages the shop.
She said that her boss Andrew Luwanga, who calls himself a doctor, has inherited the medical practice from his late father.
She said that they get many people who come to buy their herbal medicine for the treatment of various diseases because conventional medicine is very expensive.
She said that government hospitals either lack medicine, or what little they have, are stolen by medical officers and sold to private pharmacies.
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No alternatives: Ugandans turn to herbs amid medicine shortage | Daily Sabah - Daily Sabah
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Orthopedic Institute Voted the #1 Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Practice in Sioux Falls by Consumers – PR Newswire
Posted: at 3:15 am
The Local Best Sioux Falls, SD, announced Sioux Falls consumers voted Orthopedic Institute the #1 Orthopedics & Sports Medicine practice in the region.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D., March 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --The Local Best Sioux Falls, SD, announced Sioux Falls consumers voted Orthopedic Institute #1 in Orthopedics & Sports Medicine for 2021.
"We have raving supportive fans, and we are honored to serve them. For nearly 50 years, the greater Sioux Falls region has placed its trust in Orthopedic Institute to provide the highest quality of care at the most efficient cost," said Peter Looby, MD. "Being voted #1 by our patients and our community is validation that our team consistently delivers on our patient experience pillars of prioritizing access, eliminating barriers, and being remarkable."
The Local Best enables consumers to find the best, most trusted businesses by asking locals to vote on their favorite businesses in over 200 different categories. "It's very effective and is one of the best word-of-mouth recommendations from locals who know which companies to trust." In addition, Nate Henry, of Sioux Falls Local Best, says, "Our award shows that a business has been 'pre-vetted' by others, trustworthy, and worth a premium."
"People trust word-of-mouth recommendations, and we are privileged to have consumers trust us with their care," said Lynda Barrie, CEO. "Winning Local Best awards for multiple categories including Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and alternative medicine is a testament to our daily commitment to transforming lives through extraordinary orthopedic care."
With an average star rating of 4.8 out of 5 on Google My Business, the highest consumer satisfaction rating of any independent orthopedic practice in the region, Orthopedic Institute consistently outperforms larger health systems by creating an extraordinary patient experience that inspires individuals to live stronger.
"We are thankful to serve the orthopedic needs of our region. The Local Best voting reinforces patients feel Orthopedic Institute provides the highest-quality, compassionate orthopedic care at the most affordable prices in our community," said David Jones Jr., MD and Board President at Orthopedic Institute.
Consumers trust smaller independent businesses more than large businesses. According to the Better Business Bureau, 84% of consumers trust independent companies, compared to only 16% that trust large companies. In addition, consumers stated that these independent business owners "take better care of their customers" and are "more responsive to the varying needs of individual customers." With nearly 30 million local businesses in America that employ almost 60 million people, they may call these "small" businesses, but that is half of the US workforce in the U.S.
ABOUT ORTHOPEDIC INSTITUTE:
Orthopedic Institute (OI), one of the most highly respected independent physician groups specializing in orthopedics and sports medicine in the Midwest, was founded in 1972. Located on the Avera McKennan Health main campus, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the group has steadily grown in size and scope, with 19 physicians and over 200 employees serving 17 satellite locations in South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa. Through empowering the private practice model, OI delivers the most efficient, compassionate, and highest-quality care to the communities it serves. Nationally recognized and renowned in the region for providing extraordinary orthopedic care, OI is the proud sports medicine provider for local professional, university, and high school teams in southeast South Dakota, southwest Minnesota, and northwest Iowa. Visit orthopedicinstitutesf.com to learn more.
ABOUT THE LOCAL BEST SIOUX FALLS:
The LocalBest.com Sioux Falls is a unique business directory for the regions residents that is revolutionizing the way consumers search for businesses. Each year Local Best holds an online vote for just locals to select their favorite businesses. This competition helps businesses improve their customer service to win the hearts and minds of local consumers, in turn providing a better consumer experience to local consumers. The results of the surveys are businesses locals know they can trust. Visit thelocalbest.com/sioux-falls/ to learn more.
Media ContactChristopher Holman6127993019[emailprotected]
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The wellness communitys fight over COVID vaccine misinformation – Los Angeles Times
Posted: at 3:15 am
The vaccination selfie, showing a gloved hand holding a needle and a smiling face hidden behind a mask, looked like thousands of others posted to Instagram as the COVID-19 vaccine rolled out across the U.S.
But the comments it drew did not. Sell out puppet, sneered one user in response to Dr. Michael Gregers photo. Burning your book tonight in my fire pit, said a second. Another simply wrote: .
Greger is a prominent advocate for a plant-based diet, with a devoted following among people who believe food is the best medicine. But his statement on vaccines that sometimes, medicine is the best medicine put him directly at odds with many of his fans, and thrust him into the ugly, conspiratorial fight over vaccination roiling the online worlds of wellness and nutrition.
You cannot help but be bombarded by it, Greger said. The online wellness world, he said, is one of the rare spaces where you can say the most bats crazy things and get a million-dollar book deal as a reward. Its a no-holds-barred, almost a truth-free, area.
Health and nutrition influencers have whipped up a frenzy about the COVID-19 vaccine and other public health guidance during the pandemic, Greger said, steering people already skeptical of pharmaceutical companies and traditional healthcare away from vaccination and toward health-related conspiracy theories.
Some were Gregers colleagues and peers, including a filmmaker known for advocating for a low-fat, vegan diet who invited the doctor to a mask-burning party in Southern California.
The anti-vaccine movement has some overlap with right-wing politics and the QAnon conspiracy theory, which is popular in wellness and spirituality circles. But vaccine skepticism is a far more widespread phenomenon, drawing support from alternative medical practitioners, including chiropractors, as well as professional athletes, chefs, models, entrepreneurs and actors.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 69.3% of people 5 and older in the United States had been fully vaccinated as of Friday; 58 million have yet to receive even one dose of what medical experts say is the best line of defense against severe illness and death.
Americans influenced by misinformation are less likely to get vaccinated, polling shows. In a survey released in late December, the U.S. Census Bureau said 42% of those who have not been inoculated report that they dont trust the COVID-19 vaccine.
The tidal wave of misinformation about whats healthy and what isnt has pushed vaccine-hesitant people into unproven remedies against COVID-19, including strict elimination diets, tinctures of turmeric and quercetin, a battery of dietary supplements, and mega-doses of vitamins C, B-12 and D.
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Research has not shown that any supplement prevents COVID-19 or lessens the symptoms of the disease. Some can have serious side effects when taken in large quantities.
But people are drawn to influencers who push such narratives because they are frightened and need to feel control over their lives, said Rene DiResta, the technical research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory and part of the Virality Project, which tracks misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
These are natural human impulses, and its very, very hard to counter, DiResta said.
The desire for control has become clear in one house in the San Fernando Valley, where a high school science teacher found six bottles of vitamins stashed in the closet of her husbands home office.
Always skeptical of doctors and of big pharma, he is now avoiding genetically modified foods, wont use fluoridated toothpaste and, rather than get vaccinated against COVID-19, takes a battery of daily vitamins, said the teacher, who requested anonymity to speak frankly.
She said his interest in conspiracy theories grew after he became a fan of former President Trump and started following more YouTube channels, cryptocurrency influencers and activists on Telegram, the messaging app popular with anti-vaccine activists.
People who are conspiracy theorists cant deal with the unknown, the teacher said. But if you show that youre scared of something, thats a sign of weakness. So instead, theyre telling themselves that they know more about the virus than other people. It gives them a feeling of power.
One of the vitamin bottles contains 180 capsules and sells for $97.25 on the website of Dr. Mark Hyman, who advised Bill Clinton on his diet and wrote the preface for a book by anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Taking the recommended six pills per day would provide 618% of the needed daily amount of vitamin A, 666% of vitamin C and 41,567% of vitamin B-12, the labels show.
The wellness industry also has directed a wave of fat shaming and ableism at people who have disabilities and other underlying health conditions. Popular health influencers have posted anti-vaccination memes on Instagram that say things such as: If youre not athletic and healthy, your opinion on health is irrelevant, and, My diet wont work unless you stop eating cake.
The chief executive of Sweetgreen, the fast-casual chain that sells $15 salads, faced backlash in September for saying that no vaccine nor mask will save us, and proposed the concept of government health mandates.
Jonathan Neman added: What if we made the food that is making us sick illegal? What if we taxed processed food and refined sugar to pay for the impact of the pandemic? He has since taken down the offending LinkedIn post.
President Bidens November announcement that American companies with more than 100 employees must require the vaccine or weekly testing was the last straw for one Los Angeles influencer, who goes by the name Jonny Juicer. His feed is a steady stream of shirtless selfies and promotions for his $11 juicing e-book and a $10 book of plant-based dog food recipes.
He wrote to his 305,000 followers: Now youre being FORCED against your will to inject a synthetic, experimental concoction into your bloodstream (where a side effect has resulted in clotting, neurological issues & death) OR YOU LOSE YOUR JOB.
(The vaccines are based on more than a decades worth of research into mRNA technology, and have been put through standard safety testing. Many reports of post-vaccination injuries are self-reported and unverified. Bidens mandate has been tied up in the courts and has not gone into effect.)
Just a dozen people are responsible for spreading nearly two-thirds of online misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines, according to the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a U.K.-based research group. Eight are connected to health, wellness and nutrition, including osteopathic physicians, alternative-health influencers, and a Tennessee couple who gained a mass following by questioning chemotherapy and other traditional cancer treatments.
Perhaps the best-known is Dr. Joseph Mercola, a controversial osteopathic physician who was warned by the Food and Drug Administration last year to stop representing vitamin C, vitamin D3 and quercetin supplements as COVID-19 treatments. His YouTube channel was removed last fall after the platform banned anti-vaccine misinformation.
Much of the vaccination fight in wellness circles has played out on Instagram, rippling outward from influencers to everyday people searching for healthy lunch ideas and green smoothie recipes. The platform has implemented filters that flag posts discussing the vaccine; to avoid it, influencers use a creative array of misspellings of vaccine, including vacseen, the v and the Virgo emoji.
Celebrities have also pushed the debate into the public eye. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers told reporters that he was immunized before testing positive for the virus. The NFL Network said he had sought homeopathic treatment from his doctor in lieu of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Surfer Kelly Slater recently tore into Biden on Instagram, asking why the White House was focusing on vaccine mandates instead of promoting eating organic foods and taking the right supplements.
It seems no wellness brand that takes a stand on vaccination is safe from blowback. When the San Diego County organic soap company Dr. Bronners announced that every employee vaccinated against COVID-19 would receive a $1,000 bonus, a wave of criticism followed.
How about give all of your employees $1,000 to buy organic groceries, Vitamin C, zinc and quercetin? wrote one user with nearly 46,000 followers, who calls herself the Healing Cave Lady. She sells a COVID-19 immunity protocol bundle of 10 supplements online for $393.46.
Greger, the doctor who advocates for a plant-based diet, is still receiving nasty comments nearly a year after describing vaccination as a civic duty. His staff has been reluctant to post content about COVID-19 vaccines because anything that even vaguely mentions it is just a firestorm.
Doctors will always recommend a balanced and healthful diet, said Dr. Danielle Belardo, a cardiologist in Newport Beach. But believing a certain diet, supplement regimen or exercise routine will save someone from severe illness during a pandemic is rooted in the naturalist fallacy, that anything that isnt natural is harmful.
Belardo, a vegan, said many of her vegan patients initially questioned whether they needed to get vaccinated because they saw themselves as healthy. They are all vaccinated now, she said.
People who believe the vaccine is unhealthy or dangerous simply found the wrong echo chamber, she said, and are victims of people who peddle misinformation and products such as juice cleanses and dietary supplements.
They profit off of it, and they actually harm people, Belardo said. People who didnt get vaccinated and died, they listened to these gurus.
Belardo said she also was concerned to see some online diet communities once diametrically opposed veganism and the all-meat diet, high-fat keto and low-fat regimens have started to unite around a common hatred of vaccination.
Claims that diet, exercise and nutritional supplements can protect against COVID-19 are so common that Baltimores public health department tackled the topic in a series of public service announcements staffers jokingly dubbed mean PSAs.
Each was released as a meme, with a big image and a caption in bold red letters. One read: Green tea cant cure COVID, Trina. Another said: Salad doesnt cure COVID, Connor.
The department launched the series to confront issues people faced most often when they tried to persuade friends and family to get vaccinated, said Adam Abadir, who helped launch the series.
Yes, you are generally going to be better off if youre living a healthy lifestyle, said Abadir, who was the health departments director of communication and now works in the Baltimore mayors office. But dont let that be the reason that you dont get vaccinated.
A careful regimen of organic foods, special supplements or other wellness behaviors can help bring a sense of control to unknowable, uncontrollable world events, like a pandemic, said Heather Simpson, the co-host of a podcast called Back to the Vax, hosted by two former self-described anti-vaxxers.
Eating organic food, having a toxin-free lifestyle, it gives people a sense of control over their mortality, said Simpson, who is now vaccinated against COVID-19 and has brought her daughter up to date on her childhood vaccinations. I felt that if I fed my daughter and my family the healthiest foods, all organic, no toxins, that wed never get cancer, wed never have auto-immune diseases, wed never encounter anything bad.
What began for one Pennsylvania woman as a suspicion of traditional healthcare and an interest in alternative medicine escalated during the pandemic into something far more serious, said her daughter-in-law, who requested anonymity to speak openly.
The woman, a doctor, has refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Instead, she is taking spoonfuls of vitamin C powder at meals and more than 2,000 milligrams of niacin per day about 142 times the recommended daily amount as part of a protocol promoted on Telegram by a man with no medical degree. In large doses, niacin can cause blurred vision and liver damage.
She is having difficulty discerning truth from the misinformation and the disinformation that she keeps feeding herself, her daughter-in-law said. Shes now in an alternate information bubble that is completely separate from what is actually going on in the world.
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The wellness communitys fight over COVID vaccine misinformation - Los Angeles Times
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Medical cannabis & the future of cancer treatments – Open Access Government
Posted: at 3:15 am
Early-stage research suggests that cannabis-derived medicines could be effective in treating various cancers. Recent experimental treatments and small-scale clinical trials have shown the importance of showing the efficacy of these medicinal cannabis formulations and will be a crucial and necessary path leading the way for medical cannabis to enter mainstream treatment for cancer patients.
For centuries, the plant Cannabis sativa L., has been used across the world as a herbal remedy. After ending its 50-year prohibition, medical cannabis was legalised in 2018 in the UK sparking renewed interest and research into the plants properties.
In cancer treatment, cannabinoids, the group of molecules, including CBD and THC, which constitute the active compounds in cannabis, have been primarily used as a part of palliative care to alleviate pain, relieve nausea and stimulate appetite. However, early-stage research and testing have suggested that medical cannabis may also be a highly effective treatment for killing cancer cells itself.
Several pre-clinical laboratory studies have shown that cannabinoids may reduce cancer cell growth and could disrupt the blood supply to cancerous cells, including brain tumours [1], breast cancers [2,3] and prostate cancer [4], among others.
As medicinal cannabis moves away from the novel and into the mainstream, pharmaceutical companies will need to ensure that these medical formulations comply with current pharmaceutical gold standards with respect to consistent dosing, routes of administration, stability, clinical efficacy and safety. The new medicines will need rigorous protected intellectual property via defendable international patents, with actual clinical efficacy in patient data.
Understanding how cannabis can treat cancer depends on the cannabinoids and the type of cancer in question, thus complicating the matter.
Results have shown that different cannabinoids can cause cell death (apoptosis), block cell growth through various inhibitors, stop the development of blood vessels (mTOR inhibitors) which are needed for tumours to grow, reduce inflammation through induction of apoptosis, inhibition of cell proliferation, suppression of cytokine production and induction of T-regulatory cells [5], and reduce the ability of cancers to spread (cell migration and metastasis).
With over 100 naturally occurring cannabinoids, there is no one size fits all for medical cannabis in cancer treatment. Cutting edge work using artificial intelligence (AI) is being carried out to analyse cannabis plant genetics and phenotypes, to determine the best combination of cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids to target and optimise the treatment of various cancers.
Numerous scientific papers looking at cannabinoids and cancer have been published to date. However, due to years of prohibition, cannabis and its role in oncology currently lack the robust scientific evidence gained through extensive clinical trials.
Before authorising human trials, potential cancer treatments can be tested through 2D or 3D cell culture testing. 3D cell culture models allow researchers to recreate specific pathophysiological environments and tumorigenic processes to identify potential biomarkers for therapeutic targeting or assessing cell response to therapies and drug efficacy.
The improvement in 3D cell culture technology has led to the generation of in vitro models that can encompass more physiological and tissue-specific microenvironments, with the aim to overcome the drawbacks observed in other pre-clinical models and have better predictive value for clinical outcomes.[6]
Despite the advancements in pre-clinical testing, the key to gaining cannabis full acceptance in the scientific community is real human data from clinical trials.
In the UK, researchers at the University of Birmingham are looking at the efficacy of Sativex commonly associated with the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis in treating Glioblastomas, the most common and most aggressive form of brain cancer. The second phase of human testing will assess whether adding Sativex to chemotherapy could extend the life of those diagnosed with Glioblastoma, which sadly has an average survival of less than 10 months [7].
Over in Europe, the University Medical Centre Groningen, in the Netherlands, is in phase II of testing the effect of cannabis oil on 20 liver cancer patients who have exhausted all other treatment options [8]. The trial, which launched in 2021, will run for three years and uses Transvamix which contains 10% THC and 5% CBD [9].
These small scale clinical trials need to be licenced and expedited globally. Knowledge sharing in the scientific community will help remediate the years of lost research through prohibition.
As our understanding of medical cannabis and its potential in oncology continues to grow, scientists are assessing the role of personalised medicines. As mentioned, with over 100 naturally occurring cannabinoids and many different types of cancer, there is no one size fits all for treatment.
Personalised medicine recognises that we are all physiologically unique and uses individual DNA sequencing to target treatment according to human microbiomes. As all cancers have a genetic base, personalised medicine is already commonly used in the traditional treatment of cancer. When combined with the powers of AI, personalised medicine presents a huge opportunity for medical cannabis and the treatment of cancer. It is estimated that one in two of us will get cancer within our lifetime [10] and in 2019, cancer caused more than one in four of all deaths in the UK [11]. By researching new alternative treatments, such as medical cannabis, we stand a real chance at improving survival rates and extending lives.
References
(1) Rocha, F. C. M., dos Santos Jnior, J. G., Stefano, S. C., & Da Silveira, D. X. (2014). Systematic review of the literature on clinical and experimental trials on the antitumor effects of cannabinoids in gliomas. Journal of neuro-oncology, 116 (1), 11-24.
(2) Apollon Formularies plc, https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/apollon_formularies/news/rns/story/r726zjw, Accessed January 2022
(3) Apollon Formularies plc, https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/apollon_formularies/news/rns/story/xq749kw, Accessed January 2022
(4) Apollon Formularies plc, https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/apollon_formularies/news/rns/story/x8ql8jx, Accessed January 2022
(5) Nagarkatti P, Pandey R, Rieder SA, Hegde VL, Nagarkatti M. Cannabinoids as novel anti-inflammatory drugs. Future Med Chem. 2009;1(7):1333-1349. doi:10.4155/fmc.09.93
(6) Law, A. M., Grundy, T. J., Fang, G., Valdes-Mora, F., & Gallego-Ortega, D. (2021). Advancements in 3D Cell Culture Systems for Personalizing Anti-Cancer Therapies. Frontiers in Oncology, 11, 782766-782766.
(7) The University of Birmingham, https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2021/08/cannabis-brain-tumour-clinical-trial.aspx, Accessed January 2022
(8) The University of Groningen, https://www.rug.nl/about-ug/latest-news/news/archief2021/nieuwsberichten/umcg-studies-cannabis-oil-for-liver-cancer-patients-with-no-further-treatment-options?lang=en, Accessed January 2022
(9) Bedrocan, https://bedrocan.com/umcg-starts-scientific-research-into-cannabis-oil-and-liver-cancer/, Accessed January 2022
(10) Ahmad, A. S., Ormiston-Smith, N., & Sasieni, P. D. (2015). Trends in the lifetime risk of developing cancer in Great Britain: comparison of risk for those born from 1930 to 1960. British journal of cancer, 112(5), 943-947.
(11) Cancer Research UK, https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/mortality/all-cancers-combined, Accessed January 2022
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Vapers and Hookah Users May Have Increased Risk of Diseases of the Nose – Everyday Health
Posted: at 3:15 am
People who smoke e-cigarettes and hookahs may be at a higher risk of inflammation and cancers of the nose, sinuses, and throat because of the way they exhale when using these devices, according to a new study.
Researchers found that vapers and hookah users are more than twice as likely to exhale particles through their nose than people who smoke cigarettes, who typically exhale the emissions from their mouth.
This matters because the way vapers and hookah smokers use their devices may expose the nose and sinuses to far more emissions than cigarettes, which may in turn increase their risk of upper respiratory diseases, says the study's lead author,Emma Karey, PhD, a postdoctoral research fellow in the department of environmental medicine at NYU Langone Health in New York City. The findings were published on February 28 in Tobacco Use Insights journal.
Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), electronic hookahs (e-hookahs), and vape pens allow the user to inhale a vapor that may contain nicotine as well as flavorings, solvents, and other chemicals. E-cigarettes and e-hookahs come in many shapes, including cigarettes, pipes, pens, USB sticks, cartridges, and refillable tanks, pods, and mods.
Cigarette smoking remains more popular than vaping; 16 percent of U.S. adults smoke, compared with 6 percent who report they have vaped (including the use of e-cigarettes) within the past week, according to a July 2021 Gallup poll.
Vaping is more popular among some groups:
To investigate how people used e-cigarettes, vaping devices, and hookahs, researchers discreetly observed 122 cigarette smokers and 123 vapers on the streets of New York City between March 2018 and February 2019. They also monitored 96 people smoking inside two Manhattan hookah bars.
They found 63 percent of vapers and 50 percent of hookah users exhaled through their nose, while only 22 percent of e-cigarette users did.
Investigators found that more than 70 percent of those who used pod-like devices exhaled through their nose at some point during the observation period, while 50 percent of modular tankstyle users did the same.
Dr. Karey points out that users may exhale through the nose because vaping products come in a variety of flavors, such as pineapple, bubblegum, and blue raspberry. Vapers may be more likely to exhale through their nose because scent enhances taste, she says.
In an earlier, related study, the researchers found increased damage in the nasal passages of vapers and hookah users. The device users had as much as 10 times higher inflammation than those who smoked traditional cigarettes.
This type of sustained inflammation is where we start to become concerned with pathologies and diseases; it suggests there may be sustained injury to that tissue, says Karey.
The link between how people smoke and their potential health risks has been seen before, says the study's senior author,Terry Gordon, PhD, a professor in the department of environmental medicine at NYC Langone Health. For example, when people smoke cigars, they dont inhale as deeply, and they get more oral cancers compared with cigarette smokers, who inhale more deeply, he says.
These findings are in line with what is already known about the risks these products bring, says Adam Goldstein, MD, MPH, a professor in the UNC department of family medicine and the director of tobacco intervention programs at the UNC School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Dr. Goldstein was not involved in the new research.
We have already known for a long time that combustible tobacco products, like cigarettes, water pipes, and cigars, cause multiple cancers in multiple different organs of the body, including elevated risks for cancers related to nasal sinuses. These cancer-causing agents enter the bloodstream and tissues of most every organ, says Goldstein.
Although vaping is likely safer than combustible tobacco, at least in laboratory studies, that doesnt mean its safe, he says. Vaping exposes users to many toxic chemicals. Regardless of how they're smoked, smoking products like hookah are deadly to the user as well as those exposed to secondhand hookah smoke, says Goldstein.
E-cigarettes, vaping pens, and hookahs all may carry a different type of risk depending on how they are used, says Karey. The most important health endpoints may no longer be a one-size-fits-all for these new and emerging alternative products how people are using them may change where the risk ends up, she says.
Diseases of both the nose and lungs should be considered when evaluating different smoking methods before judging whether one is riskier than another, adds Dr. Gordon.
Goldstein questions whether further research on different tobacco products or potential differences in risks based on subtle changes in smoking behavior is whats needed. For instance, we spent two decades believing that filters on cigarettes made them safer. This belief was entirely false, and it distracted from our need to understand much better how people can attempt to and stay quit, he says.
E-cigarettes and vape pens have not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a smoking cessation method, but some people use them that way. E-cigarettes have not been shown to be a safe or effective way to quit smoking, according to MedlinePlus.
Theres a divide in the health community about e-cigarettes and vaping, says Karey. These could be a harm-reducing tool if a person is going to either do this or smoke cigarettes. However, if adolescents are starting to smoke e-cigarettes and they never would have smoked cigarettes, youre introducing potential harm where there would have otherwise been no risk, she says.
The use of e-cigarettes may actually increase the likelihood of later cigarette smoking. A study published in February 2021 in Pediatricsfound that young people ages 12 to 24 who used e-cigarettes were three times more likely to eventually become daily cigarette smokers.
A few things to keep in mind when considering e-cigarettes, according to MedlinePlus:
Both the authors and Goldstein agree that the take-home message of the study should not be that vapers or hookah users should change the way they exhale. Instead, people should focus on the free resources that are available in every state to help people quit smoking for good, says Goldstein.
If you want to quit smoking, the CDC offers information and materials on how to get started.
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ECOWAS and Nigeria Agree on a Roadmap to Institutionalise a Government and Society Wide Approach – African Business
Posted: at 3:14 am
The Directorate of Humanitarian and Social Affairs organized a 3-day Coordination and Capacity Building workshop for Multi-Stakeholders in Nigeria, including MDAs (Ministries, Departments and Agencies) of the Federal Government, the Private Sector, CSOs (Civil Society Organizations) and the Media. The workshop was part of a two-phase Activity in Nigeria aimed at the adoption of a Roadmap and the establishment of an Integrated Protection and Human Security Coordination Mechanism, anchored and coordinated at the highest level of Government. This is towards the establishment of the Society Protection Web by strengthening of the Protection and Human Security architecture in the country and the region by extension.
At the opening Ceremony, the Director of Humanitarian and Social Affairs, Dr. Sintiki Tarfa Ugbe, represented by Hajiya Raheemat Momodu, Head of the Human Security and Civil Society (HSCS) Division welcomed the participants and expressed the appreciation of the ECOWAS Commission of the efforts made by stakeholders to address human security and protection concerns. She noted that these include the combat of human trafficking, advancing the rights of the child (including combatting VAC Violence Against Children) and addressing irregular migration. Others she said include drug abuse, IHL (International Humanitarian Law), GBV (Gender Based Violence) and Forced Displacement and Social Protection. She also expressed the appreciation of the Directorate to the Office of the Nigerian Permanent Representative to the ECOWAS Commission and the ECOWAS National Unit in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their support in co-organising the workshop.
Other speakers at the Opening Ceremony include the UNICEF Country Representative to Nigeria Mr. Peter Hawkins, represented by Mrs. Adebisi Arije and the Head of Delegation of the ICRC Mr. Yann Bonzon, represented by the ICRC Multilateral Liaison Officer Ms. Chinelo Agom-Eze. The ECOWAS National Unit in the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was represented by Mr. Johnson
Ogbole while the Workshop was opened by the Nigerian Permanent Representative to ECOWAS, Ambassador Musa Nuhu, represented by Mr. Victor Samuel Makwe.
At the end, the meeting agreed on the need for the establishment of the Nigerian Protection and Human Security Coordination Mechanism and set out key advocacy points for the 2nd phase of the Activity, namely the High-Level Advocacy component. It also made critical recommendations to facilitate the work of all stakeholders in driving the protection and human security agenda. These include: developing a centralized government database to track progress recorded in relation to protection and human security and ensure ease of coordination, eestablishment of specialized funds for supporting access to justice (specifically aiding impoverished victims in civil litigation against their victimizers) and linking all strategies relevant to countering crime against persons (justice system and police reforms; GBV, anti-TIP, child labour policies; humanitarian emergency response, etc.), ensuring effective witness and victim protection measures in dealing with victimization of vulnerable persons, amongst other recommendations.
In closing, the ECOWAS Commission reiterated its commitment in supporting all Member States in improving the protection and human security fortunes for all ECOWAS citizens and for all persons within the ECOWAS space. The Representative of the Nigerian Permanent Representative to ECOWAS Mr. Victor Samuel Makwe and the Minister of Foreign Affairs represented by Mr. Johnson Ogbole, Counsellor at the ECOWAS National Unit in the Ministry also congratulated ECOWAS and the participants for very engaging discussions and excellent outcomes and pledged to continue to work assiduously with ECOWAS to bring the outcomes to bear.
Participants at the Workshop included ECOWAS Staff, ECOWAS National Unit, Office of the Nigerian Permanent Representative to ECOWAS, Nigerian Ministries and Departments and Agencies including: Justice, Foreign Affairs, Defence, Women Affairs, Humanitarian Affairs, Labour and Employment, Health, Education, Nigerian Army, NPF, NSCDC, NDLEA, NIS, NAPTIP, NAFDAC, The Presidency- OSSAP-SDGs, NBS, NCFRMI, NEMA, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), NACCIMA, Civil Society Organizations including NACTAL, the CYPF, CISLAC, WOTCLEF, The International Academy for Gender and Peace,
Constituency Watch International, Impart Africa, Emechihu Favour Discovery Foundation and Media Institutions including the AIT, Channels TV, NTA, Arise TV, TVC News, Daily Trust, FRCN, Radio Nigeria, Premium Times, Vanguard Newspapers, The Cable, This Day, The Guardian, People and Power Magazine and NAN.
Partner Organizations in participation where UNICEF, IOM, ICMPD, GIZ and ICRC.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
This Press Release has been issued by APO. The content is not monitored by the editorial team of African Business and not of the content has been checked or validated by our editorial teams, proof readers or fact checkers. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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TMS 2.0 is finally here and its free – FreightWaves
Posted: at 3:11 am
Shippers and brokers are traditionally forced to use off-the-shelf transportation management systems because they cannot afford to build their own TMS.
These systems come at a steep cost despite the growing number of TMS solutions on the market, many fall drastically short of expectations and are prohibitively expensive.
Whats needed is a freight management solution that does it all, but is scalable and affordable perhaps even free.
This is the goal of MVMNT, a Chicago-based FreightTech startup.
MVMNT founder and CEO Michael Colin drew from his logistics background and passion for fintech to create a freight management solution that addressed the many inefficiencies and pain points that hinder this industry.
When booking a load, youve got your TMS open on one window, youve got your email open on another window, and then youve got a Chrome browser open with like 15 tabs, Colin said.
In this emerging era of streamlined freight technology, using three monitors at once just isnt the answer.
Its a transportation management system, right? Youre supposed to be able to manage all of your freight in it, Colin explained. You shouldnt have to use external, individual subscription-based software solutions built 15 years ago to do your job.
From carrier procurement to pricing, load dispatching to making payments, MVMNT is the all-in-one freight management platform that encapsulates what a TMS should be.
We dont charge for connections made on our platform, he said. Were not in the business of making decisions for our customers; were just in the business of helping facilitate those decisions and making them quicker and more efficient.
MVMNTs free-to-use model takes capital constraints out of the equation when it comes to choosing freight management software.
If youre a small brokerage, not only do you have to think about making money but you also have to think about cash flow, Colin said. Transportations an industry where cash flow is incredibly important.
Colin stressed that cash flow goes beyond the books it can better position companies to make a direct impact in the market.
Cash flow is not just an accounting function by being able to pay your carriers quickly, you drive stronger retention, get better rates and are more competitive in the market, said Colin. Our QuickPay-embedded financing solution brings the benefits of paying carriers immediately to small and medium-sized businesses that otherwise wouldnt be able to.
He described MVMNT as unlike other free-to-use products, many of which sacrifice quality for accessibility.
We really want to make sure that this isnt true for our platform, Colin said. The ability to build something very strong that solves end users problems while also being free I think thats a really powerful combination.
Colin founded MVMNT in response to the challenges he faced at a large freight brokerage in Chicago. As then-director of business operations, he was frustrated with a number of technology constraints that made things inefficient.
What MVMNT has created is a reverse-engineered TMS, dubbed TMS 2.0, one that Colin said hed love to have used when he was in the trenches. The platforms familiarity and simplicity among industry leaders has quickly led to its widespread adoption. In just two years, over 30,000 carriers have joined the platform.
Weve redefined what your TMS should be able to do and found a way to give it away for free to everyone in the market, Colin said. And unlike many startups trying to enter the space, we are building MVMNT from the inside out as industry operators that believe in a strong command of operations via technology.
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The public impact of academic and print media portrayals of TMS: shining a spotlight on discrepancies in the literature – BMC Medical Ethics – BMC…
Posted: at 3:11 am
We used qualitative methods to study the ethics of the presentation of TMS in the literature. In order to assess the publicly available information regarding TMS, we performed an extensive database search that allowed us to analyze the full body of relevant texts that have been published from 2014 to 2019 in both the academic and print medialiterature. Focusing first on the academic literature, we used the PubMed database to search for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and the relevant MESH termsFootnote 2 in the period from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2019. From this, we yielded 2273 articles for our retrieved sample. We then applied the following exclusion criteria to the retrieved sample: (1) papers without an English abstract or available full text in English; (2) papers detailing techniques other than TMS; (3) papers reporting the use of TMS during surgery or on patients under anesthesia; (4) TMS applied to nonhuman models (e.g., rat models); (5) TMS applied to areas other than the brain/outside of typical TMS scope; and (6) unpublished proofs. These criteria led to the exclusion of 641 articles, leaving a final count of 1632 relevant papers.
Applying similar techniques, we used the NexisUni database to gather a comparable print media sample. Print media sources were selected exclusively for three primary reasons. First, focusing on print media allowed us to create a manageable dataset for analysis. For a simple comparison, as of 2018, there are approximately 1300 daily print newspapers in the United States [28] compared to the ever-increasing volume of news sources online, which range from the online platform of The New York Times to social media accounts [29]. Second, print media remains more conducive to systematic study owing to the refined filtering capacities of databases at university libraries and platforms like NexisUni. Third, print media remains better preserved in accessible archives. A recent study showed that a quarter of links of a major media outlet like The New York Times were corruptedmeaning the links were dead and the linked pages were either deleted, changed, or moved without HTML redirection [30]. Focusing on print media afforded the opportunity to create a more stable and more replicable archive, which will benefit future studies.
We used the search terms transcranial magnetic stimulation and (enhancement or therapy) from the period of January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2019, and limited our search to the categories of newswires & press releases, newspapers, and magazines & journals in order to gather the full body of print media articles. This search yielded 1420 print media articles. Here, our exclusion criteria were as follows: (1) sources targeting medical professionals; (2) irrelevant article types (e.g., obituaries, clinical trial reports, economic/market reports); (3) articles primarily detailing another neurostimulation/treatment technique; (4) duplicates; (5) online-only articles; and (6) articles unavailable in English. After applying these criteria, the final print media sample was 468 relevant papers (952 excluded). Our final sample thus consisted of 2100 articles in total, which we kept separated into an academic sample and a print media sample.
We organized both the academic and print media samples by publication date, sorting them from oldest to most recent, and selected every tenth article from these two compilations to create two pilot samples. Doing so provided us with a sample that was 10% of the size of the overall body of data (163 academic articles and 47 print media articles), making a more manageable sample for analysis that would allow us to establish inter-coder reliability while still allowing us to draw some conclusions about the larger sample as a whole.
The articles were coded independently by two coders (AS and JM for the academic sample, AS and LO for the print media sample), with a third coder (VD) consulted to settle any discrepancies. Our coding structure included the identification of (1) type of source, (2) year of publication, (3) purpose of TMS application, (4) population, (5) overall tone, and (6) specification of TMS parameters. If they were specified in the article, we further coded for what specific parameters were given (i.e., specific forms of TMS, like repetitive TMS (rTMS); frequency of TMS being applied; shape of the TMS coil; and brain region targeted by TMS). The coders then convened to discuss edits that needed to be made to the methods and finalized the coding structure for the larger project sample.
Ultimately, our coding structure consisted of seven mandatory coding categories for the entire 2100 article sample: (1) type of source, (2) year of publication, (3) purpose of TMS application, (4) age of subjects (5) population, (6) overall tone, and (7) specification of TMS parameters. Figure1 shows a more extensive breakdown of these code classes and the subnodes that we coded for under each one. These codes were selected because they each pinpointed some point of variability in either the application or the presentation of the technology, best leading us to where the discrepancies in the TMS universe might exist. Namely, since TMSs reach as a technology is broad, the categories of type of source, year of publication, purpose of TMS application, age of subjects, and population help narrow the specific areas of interest to scientists and the public. Overall tone and specification of TMS parameters allow for examination of the attitudes and specificity the contributing authors take in their writings. Each of the seven codes was marked in every article of the 2100 article sample, and each code was assigned only one subnode per article. Additionally, each of the subnodes was assigned a numerical valueFootnote 3 (also shown in Fig.1 in bold) to allow us to perform additional analyses on our results across the whole sample.
Breakdown of the main codes with quantitative identifiers. Dark blue bubbles represent the seven main codes. Light blue outlined bubbles branching down from the dark blue bubbles represent the subnodes that may be assigned in each main coding category
In the subsections below, we provide a brief description of each code and their respective subnodes for the purpose of clarity before presenting our results.
The code for type of source, comprised of the subnodes academic or print media, corresponds to the broad bodies of literature we sought to evaluate in our search. Articles obtained from PubMed were marked as academic, while articles obtained from NexisUni were marked as print media. This code was used to divide our sample into the two subsamples to be analyzed.
This code, comprised of the subnodes 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, indicates the year that each article was published. The code was intended to illuminate the volume of articles being published each year regarding TMS, which we then take as a quantifiable proxy for measuring popular interest in TMS technology. For consistency in our coding, the academic articles are coded based on the year that they were published in print rather than the year they were published online.
The code for purpose of TMS application, comprised of the subnodes enhancement, diagnostic/therapeutic, technical, and investigative, was designed to show how TMS is being employed in application (cf. [1]). With it, we sought to understand which applications of TMS are of most interest to both scientists and the general public. Articles coded as enhancement indicate that TMS was being used in healthy populations for the purpose of giving people physical, mental, or emotional abilities beyond their natural baseline state (e.g., enhanced memory capabilities). Articles coded as diagnostic/therapeutic indicate that TMS was being used either to diagnose or to treat a disease or ailment in non-healthy populations, such as for the treatment of major depressive disorder. Articles coded as technical indicate scenarios where TMS was being used or operated to change or better the technology itself. For example, several articles reported on simulated TMS on computer models to compare the effectiveness of different coil shapes in TMS. Finally, articles coded as investigative indicate that TMS was being used as a measurement device or probing tool for the sake of understanding different biological processes. Investigative uses include mapping the localization of brain function, understanding disease progressions without the goal of incorporating TMS into treatment, and other such uses.
This code, comprised of the subnodes N/A, adult, and children/adolescents, refers to the age range of subjects for whom TMS was being used. The age of subjects helped us determine the general age population that is represented in academic or print media literature on TMS technology in its various applications to help us understand the technologys current target audience. The subnode N/A includes both articles in which no population was used, such as those that demonstrated TMS with a computer model, and review articles, which demonstrated TMS broadly and did not focus on any one particular age range of people. The adult subnode refers to articles which either specified a population of 18years old or older or else centered around a condition that necessitated an older population (e.g., Alzheimers disease). The children/adolescents subnode, in contrast to this, refers to articles that specified a focus on children, adolescents, or otherwise young people in their discussion.
The population code, comprised of the subnodes N/A, healthy subjects, mental health, motor function/chronic condition, neurodevelopmental/neurodegenerative disorders, addiction, and miscellaneous, underscores the broad classes of issues being addressed by TMS. This further narrows the group of people who interact with or benefit from TMS technology in its various applications by illuminating which categories the technology served during this period according to the articles in our sample. Articles coded as N/A indicate articles that, as stated above, used no population or reviewed several populations. Articles coded as healthy subjects indicate those articles in which no underlying condition was being targeted and TMS was being used on healthy individuals. Articles coded as mental health indicate that TMS was being used in populations suffering from some form of mental illness or psychiatric condition, such as depression or OCD. Articles given the subnode motor function/chronic condition refer to populations suffering from some kind of physical deficit (e.g., stroke) or who are afflicted with an ongoing condition (e.g., fibromyalgia or Parkinsons disease). Articles coded as neurodevelopmental/neurodegenerative disorders indicate TMS was being used to address one of those two types of conditions, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, and dementia or Alzheimers disease. Articles coded as addiction indicate TMS was being used to address both addictive social behaviors (e.g., gambling) and substance addictions (e.g., smoking, heroin), and finally, the miscellaneous subnode covered articles that addressed any condition which did not fit into the prior five codes (e.g., obesity). Articles coded miscellaneous did not receive their own subnode because they occurred in such small numbers (less than 0.5% each) with no discernable link to one another such that their occurrence could not be reported as a trend.
This code, comprised of optimistic, critical, and neutral/balanced subnodes, contains our assessment of the attitude of each article in our sample. We shifted our focus to what attitude on the whole authors took towards the subject of TMS in order create a top-level understanding of the sentiments of both the print media community and scientific communities. Optimistic indicates an overtly positive stance towards TMS technology and refers to articles which either presented only the benefits of TMS and not the drawbacks (e.g., side-effects), or used an abundance of hype language, such as calling TMS a miracle cure or life changing (see, e.g., [31] in the academic sample and [32] in the print sample). Critical indicates an overtly negative stance towards TMS and refers to articles that either overly stressed the drawbacks or dangers of TMS and failed to present the benefits of the technology, or used doom and gloom (cf. [21]) language about the technology, such as calling TMS a hoax (see, e.g., [33] in the academic sample and [34] in the print media sample). Finally, neutral/balanced articles adequately presented the benefits of TMS as well as the drawbacks and used no hyperbolic language, contributing to an overall realistic picture of the TMS technology.
Our final code, specification of TMS parameters, was comprised of only two subnodes, unspecified and specified, and it targeted the degree of specificity authors were using with regards to different TMS paradigms. By ascertaining the degree of specificity, we hoped to understand how well-founded the authors conclusions were in scientific backing. As mentioned earlier, we set aside four key pieces of TMS paradigms that we coded where applicable (general TMS paradigm, TMS frequency, shape/orientation of TMS coil, and brain region targeted). Here, articles coded as unspecified indicate that none of the four parameters we outlined were mentioned in the article. In contrast, articles coded as specified mentioned at least one of the parameters.
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