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James Galbraith

@gulbruth.bsky.social
898 followers 688 following 103 posts

Evolutionary biologist, Luddite, coffee addict. Postdoc at University of Edinburgh researching the evolution of weird chromosomes and sex determination in insects, opinions my own, he/him.

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Reposted by James Galbraith
Stephanie Lamy @stephlamy.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
For my ENG speaking followers Unprecedented High School blockades began in the outskirts of Paris in Créteil on the 21st of Sept. National mobilisations followed on the 29th of September, the 1st and the 6th of October. The movement is ongoing and has spread both in scope and scale. #tippingpoint
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Maya Voichek @mayavoichek.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Super excited to share my postdoctoral work at @imbavienna.bsky.social @viennabiocenter.bsky.social - We discovered that some retrotransposons, or "jumping genes" 🧬, are able to spread from cell to cell via a new viral infectivity route. A short thread: 🧵👇 (1/7)
AI-generated illustration of the soma-to-germline transmission of retrotransposons described in our work
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Laura Ross @laurarossevo.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Ever wondered why diverse organism shrink their genome in specific cells? We try to make sense of these curious cases of programmed DNA elimination in a review that came out today @naturerevgenet.bsky.social trebuchet.public.springernature.app/get_content/... @sandraduharcourt.bsky.social
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
@gianmarcosoresi.bsky.social: Theater Adult (WIP) I was one of the non-theatre kids who doesn't like musicals, and I quite enjoyed the show. I'll be intrigued to see how this show evolves. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Theater Adult celebrates the theatre kid in all of us, from first auditions to final bows, as performer and comedian Gianmarco Soresi, takes you on a hilarious journey through the highs and pitfalls of a life on stage. Enjoy stand-up, crowd work and even a showtune or two.
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Oisín McGann @oisinmcgann.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
This is set up for laughs, but it’s actually one of the best demonstrations I’ve seen of how being capable of producing convincing sounding language and understanding meaning are two completely different things. A chatbot does not understand you, it just has automated responses based on your words.
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Vittorio Angelone: you can't Say Nothing any more Perfectly put together, hilarious show, a fun reflection on history and how we relate to it depending on if we were in it or born after it. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Vittorio Angelone has always denied any involvement in the Edinburgh Fringe.
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Elouise Eftos: Aphrodite Smart. Funny. Sexy. (She said that). But more importantly a fantastic show about female empowerment. Looking forward to part 3. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Wheelchair Access, Wheelchair Accessible Toilets, Audio Enhancement System
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Dan Rath: Help Me Please The disjointed madness and hilarity I expected, my jowls are now sore. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Babes in arms policy: Babies are not allowed in the venue, please refer to the age suitability for the show
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Milo Edwards: Catamaran Another reliable laugh. A previous show mourned his parents through comedy, now he's discovered the comedy (and the horrors) of their unseen sides via their letters from the 80s. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Babes in arms policy: Babies are not allowed in the venue, please refer to the age suitability for the show
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Felicity Ward: I Wish I Could Come Out of My Shell Hadn't seen her since a mid 2010s Adelaide Fringe, and she's still got it. Discovering yourself in your early 40s makes for a great tale and a bunch of laughs. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Babes in arms policy: Babies are not allowed in the venue, please refer to the age suitability for the show
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Bella Hull: Mad Cow Disease More great use of props, discussion of difficult families, and a brilliant joke about watersports that will stick with me www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Wheelchair Access, Wheelchair Accessible Toilets
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roterote @roterote.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
I am seriously asking if you read his suspension letter before you jumped to defend Cofnas? Because it isn’t just about “unscholarly speech” he likely broke Belgian anti descrimination laws again advocating for racial supremacy. And it isn’t just that either.
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shaunt @shaunvids.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
it is not a unique space, you live on earth with the rest of us, i hate to break it to you. cofnas is not pursuing controversial questions where they lead, he is not astray or incorrect, he is a racist. people like him would gladly destroy your whole field in the name of racism
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
@tomcballard.bsky.social - Be Funny Challenge (Impossible) As always a reliable endless hour of laughs and skits. 3(+2) stars. Two years ago I had sore laughing muscles the next day and I fear I will again tomorrow. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Babes in arms policy: Babies are not allowed in the venue, please refer to the age suitability for the show
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
@annathommy.bsky.social - How to Juggle A Ferret. Hehe, that was great, best use of props so far. If you're a fellow 30-something, battling clothes piles in your bedroom and jealously of friends with a life on Instagram this'll be very relatable. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Babes in arms policy: Babies are not allowed in the venue, please refer to the age suitability for the show
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Becky Umbers: Tell That Horse To Keep His Mouth Shut (WIP) So glad I saw this tonight as it was her last night. It's always fun to laugh about the conspiracies and lies humans tell ourselves to feel comfortable. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Babes in arms policy: Babies are not allowed in the venue, please refer to the age suitability for the show
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Many still to see this coming week including @gianmarcosoresi.bsky.social , @tomcballard.bsky.social @annathommy.bsky.social
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Stamptown The pure madness and hilarity it always is, so good I'm seeing it again. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Wheelchair Access, Wheelchair Accessible Toilets
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
@gracejarvisohno.bsky.social : Getting Dragged Backwards Through a Hedge A fellow Australian immigrant to the UK with the most relatable set so far. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Wheelchair Access, Wheelchair Accessible Toilets
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
@sofiehagen.bsky.social – I Think Some of This Is My Fault Ouch, this hit home hard. Funny, while also being a great reflection on how posting is not praxis. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Wheelchair Access, Wheelchair Accessible Toilets
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Naughty Cabaret. Hehehe, rather naughty and a whole lot of fun. If you like clowning around and can see to funny side of nudity you'll enjoy this one. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Wheelchair Access, Wheelchair Accessible Toilets
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Emma Holland: The Dog Dies at the Start Grief ain't easy, but laughing about the things we do while trying to cope can help. Very moving while also very funny. And she was correct, her ATAR was better than mine. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Wheelchair Access, Wheelchair Accessible Toilets
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
@jinhaoli.bsky.social : Falling From a Moon A masterclass in everyone in word play and storytelling, with jokes so fast it reminded be of Arrested Development. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Wheelchair Access, Wheelchair Accessible Toilets, Audio Enhancement System
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Ray O'Leary: I Can See O'Leary Now The Ray Has Gone A great anthology of funny stories and asides compared to the typical narrative. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Wheelchair Access, Wheelchair Accessible Toilets, Audio Enhancement System
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Olga Koch: Fat Tom Cruise Somehow it's even better than Olga Koch comes from money. Another must-see. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Wheelchair Access, Wheelchair Accessible Toilets, Audio Enhancement System
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Paul Hilleard: Grogg Funny insight into life rural Wales, dealing with a breakup, and polyamory. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Babes in arms policy: Babies are not allowed in the venue, please refer to the age suitability for the show
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
@littlemaddles.bsky.social: Legend Classic British standup. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Wheelchair Access, Wheelchair Accessible Toilets
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Elf Lyons is The Woman on the Edge: An amazing blend of solo-theatre and standup comedy, both funny and incredibly moving. A must see. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Wheelchair Access, Wheelchair Accessible Toilets, Audio Enhancement System, Captioning
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Marty Gleeson: Dog Ear Hilariously absurd humour, really enjoyed the jokes around the horse art. Set a benchmark on what good stand-up is. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
edfringe.com
Wheelchair Access, Wheelchair Accessible Toilets, Audio Enhancement System
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James Galbraith @gulbruth.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
After this year's Edinburgh Fringe I'll have seen more acts than any Fringe before, even the 2020 Adelaide Fringe what was hectic. Here's my (brief) thoughts on each show I've seen so far with links. If I seem overly positive it's because I've been much picker than usual!
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Darrin T. Schultz @dts.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Our new paper in Science Advances asks how animals' genomes have changed since their origin from a common ancestor over 600 million years ago, and what patterns in their DNA have arisen in the churn of speciation and extinction. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Five-panel diagram explaining fusion-with-mixing in chromosome evolution. Red and blue represent two different ancestral chromosomes throughout.

A, Fusion-with-mixing: a red chromosome and a blue chromosome fuse into one half-red, half-blue bar. Down the page, successive rows show inversions, drawn as X-shaped crossings between rows, progressively interleaving the two colors until the bottom bar is finely striped. A widening gray wedge labeled Entropy runs alongside an arrow marked Time plus evolution, pointing down.

B, Independent regulation: two separate chromosomes, one red and one blue. In each, a regulatory element, drawn as an oval, acts by an arrow on a gene within its own chromosome only.

C, FWM and novel regulation: on a fused, mixed chromosome, a red gene and a blue gene now sit next to each other across an inversion breakpoint. Red and blue arrows show regulatory elements reaching across it to act on the other chromosome's gene.

D, Regulatory entanglement: an extensively mixed chromosome, finely striped. Below it, a row of alternating red and blue genes is linked by a dense web of crossing curved arrows, so many overlapping regulatory connections that unmixing the chromosome would break them.

E, Emergence of entangled loci: a five-species phylogeny. A red and a blue chromosome fuse at an ancestral node, and helical icons on later branches mark continued mixing. Colored boxes mark four new red-blue regulatory interactions arising after inversions. Species A keeps its two chromosomes separate. In species B through E, the two earliest interactions, cyan boxes 1 and 2, are present in every descendant lineage, while later ones, yellow 3 and magenta 4, appear in fewer.
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Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Folks thinking that uploading confidential material to their favorite AI is safe because of of their special fences should be reminded that this past month, AI agents at all major AI companies broke out of their sandbox (much more secure fences that yours) and attacked another company!
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Anne Roulin @anneroulin.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
A good way to end the week: some rain and a new preprint! 🌧️🧬 Big 👏 to @lpiat.bsky.social for tackling a tricky genome assembly problem! We assembled the genome of a Swiss Lolium multiflorum ecotype, a forage grass with a large (~2.2 Gb), highly heterozygous genome. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
A chromosome-scale genome assembly of the Swiss Lolium multiflorum ecotype Tremona reveals a scalable method to purge spurious duplications
Italian ryegrass ( Lolium multiflorum ) is a key temperate forage species underpinning livestock production in Europe. Genomic resources remain limited by its large (2.2 Gb), repetitive, and highly he...
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 17/08/2026
7. It's yet another thing that AI has stolen away from the current generation of scientists. Yet again, AI proves to be an anti-egalitarian force in that these abuses force us to abandon the Mertonian norm of universalism for increased reliance on credentials, reputation, and personal connections.
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Geoff Faulkner @faulknerlab.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Our study published today @science.org shows that X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) attracts L1 mutations to the human X chromosome: doi.org/10.1126/scie... With outstanding Perspective from @aurelien-doucet.bsky.social & @retrogenomics.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1126/scie...
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KamilSJaron.bsky.social @kamilsjaron.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
New preprint: 338 coleopteran genomes reveal exceptional rearrangement variation compared to other insect orders. Big congrats to @arf-mln.bsky.social, for getting this giant piece together. Big collaboration of @joanameier.bsky.social's and my groups. 🧵👇 doi.org/10.64898/202...
Phylogeny of 338 species with tips painted by the chromosomal ancestry of their contemporary genomes (well separated colours indicate only few changes, while blending indicates rearrangements). Colouring of the branches is by the number of rearrangements. The ring between paints and phylogeny indicates wether the chromosomal rearrangement was fusion dominated (brown) or fission dominated (teal) process.  
Photo credits: Udo Schmidt, Lech Borowiec, JL Tachet, David Navrátil, Fred Chevaillot, Siga, Cosmin Manci, John Hallmén, Igor Souza-Gonçalves, Alex Hyde, H. Coiffait, David Ignace, Yves Bousquet.
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David Milner @davemilbo.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Here's my story from Pine Gap. "The fight to end the US military occupation of Australia (and the entire world)" It's a photo-essay this time because I took a tonne of pics, the country being this stunning, to help convey the Arrernte's struggle.
theshot.net.au
The fight to end the US military occupation of Australia (and the entire world) - The Shot
For 64 years – an insignificant speck of time under a sky this large – from a stolen, sacred site...
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kyleayers.bsky.social @kyleayers.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Not saying that game was stolen from Egypt but it is now on display at museum in London.
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Andrew Carroll @acarroll.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
How good is MiniBWA, the successor to BWA? To test it, I ran MiniBWA on sequencing from 76 different species, comparing mapping speed, rate and accuracy with BWA MEM. In short, it's really good. If you map short reads, it's well worth your time. andrewcarroll.github.io/2026/06/30/t...
andrewcarroll.github.io
The Best of Both Worlds - Assessing MiniBWA
Recently, Heng Li released MiniBWA (GitHub) alongside a paper by Heng Li and Nils Homer describing the method (paper). MiniBWA builds on the approaches in Minimap2 (also by Heng Li), but falls back on...
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Mercè Montoliu Nerín @mmontonerin.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Presenting my progress working with lichen genomics at #SMBE2026 in the symposium L04 Understanding adaptive evolution through the lens of hologenomics 🙆🏻‍♀️
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Katie Abson @katieabson.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Our paper is out! 📣 we find that molecular measures of genetic variation do not predict heritable genetic variation across species - important implications for the application of genomic data for conservation! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
Nucleotide diversity is a poor predictor of short-term adaptive potential | PNAS
The capacity to adapt is essential for a population to avoid extinction in a changing world and is recognized as a global conservation priority. Ad...
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Nils Homer @nilshomer.com · 28/06/2026
🚀 new bwa-mem3 is out. Why use it? - 🏛️keep using a bwa-mem variant (avoid revalidation/reprocessing) - 🚅 1.7x faster/20% less memory than bwa-mem2 - 🧬native methylation support (asymmetric scoring) - ✅ matches bwa-mem2 output - 👊opt-in knobs to go even 2x faster bwa-mem3.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
bwa-mem3.readthedocs.io
Home - bwa-mem3
Accelerated short-read alignment, derived from bwa-mem2
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Heng Li @lh3lh3.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Minibwa is a hybrid of bwa-mem and minimap2 and the successor of bwa-mem for short-read mapping. ~4X/2.5X as fast as bwa-mem/bwa-mem2 for WGS reads at comparable accuracy. Native support of directional bisulfite-seq. Applicable to long reads. Preprint at arxiv.org/abs/2606.15357
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Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Ask how many more shifts they’d let a surgeon work after a week in which they severely harmed 12-15% of their patients
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Clément Goubert @clementgoubert.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Major development in the #Transposon world! Repbase is joining the Dfam project and becomes open-access! link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Unifying Repbase and Dfam: a new open foundation for transposable element research - Mobile DNA
Repbase and Dfam, the two foundational resources for transposable element annotation, are being unified into a single, fully open access framework, with Repbase released under CC-0 and its core curati...
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Markella Moraitou @markella-morait.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
My main PhD paper is out on bioRxiv! 🎉 The microbiomes of wild animals, besides the gut, remain unexplored. To help remedy this, we used museum-preserved dental calculus to characterise the oral microbiome of 34 diverse mammal species. 💀🦠🦷 Read here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Phylum-level composition of the oral microbiome across 34 mammal species, representing 8 taxonomic orders, 4 dietary categories, and including 3 marine species.
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Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Over the moon! It's an incredible honour to be named a Lister Prize fellow. And excited to begin this project! We will be building genetic tools (esp. GAL4/UAS) in #Drosophila testacea, a non-model mushroom-feeding fly with a *natural balancer chromosome* to study immune evolution 🧬🪰🍄 1/2
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LIB @leibnizlib.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Biodiversity doesn’t always arise through isolation. Genomic analyses of sailfin silversides from Sulawesi reveal that ancient and recent gene flow fueled their adaptive radiation, contributing to the evolution of unique forms within a single lake system. #LIBresearch © De Keyzer et al., CC BY 1/3
Map showing the Malili Lakes system location on Sulawesi on the left and a detailed map of Lake Matano with inflow river Lawa and outflow river Petea on the right, six sampling sites along the lake and one in the inflow marked, images of six fish species from the sharpfin and roundfin clades labeled with letters at top right and bottom right.
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Karolin Luger @nucleosomepolice.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Please share this gift article from The New York Times with friends, family, sceptics, and People who think that studying weird things is a waste of money. Then follow up with meaningful discussion about what I call 'free range science'. Free without subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/20/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The Science That Turned Lizard Venom Into GLP-1s Is Under Attack
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